Under Discussion Media

This is irresponsible rumor-mongering, but I really think Gothamist would be a good fit for Gannett’s local news agenda. Gothamist is in many cities in the US and other countries where there are hotels that deliver the USA Today outside your hotel room day at 5am in the morning. This would be a great way to expand for both companies. Do it now before the bubble bursts in 1st quarter 2008!

Read the September issue of Radar and I just don’t get it.   Prince Harry’s on the cover and it has stories on celebrity brands, Vegas clubs and Larry David’s wife.  I can’t really figure out who is the target reader. It’s a hodge podge of bits, but it’s not cohesive.  Plus, some stories has a short shelf live that lends more to blogging than to magazine.  Maybe Radar would be better as a weekly.

One thing of note: Meghan Cleary (who I have brunched with) is an expert on shoes in this funny piece called “Shoe and Tell”.  Joining her as experts are Simon Doonan, Fonzworth Bentley and John Fluevog.  I wish they would a pitch a talk show that featuring the four of them for a show called, “The Shoe”.  Though I can’t decide if Simon or Fonzworth would be the  “Elizabeth Hasselback” of the quartet.

Hearst buys Kaboodle. It sounds like a good idea. I wonder if Time Inc or Conde Nast is going to make a play for one of the other social shopping site like Wists.com, ThisNext.com, or The Find.There’s no bubble; only bubble wrap.

clipped from susanmernit.blogspot.com This is a smart purchase by Hearst, and evidence that they’ve learned alot from their recent acquisition of several teen–focused properties…it is going to be fun to see this brand integrate–and power–new aspects of their big brands–as well as get an infusion of marketing for Kaboodle itself. Fun. And shrewd. And a way to hold off Glam.com and other like it from pulling an Engadget on their categories

Interesting article from Steve Rubel. I just suggested this to a friend today to build an audience for her show.

clipped from www.micropersuasion.com

This begs the question - if social networking is a backbone that will pervade almost all of our online activities, what about PR?

Most of the stories you see on TV, in print publications or, increasingly online, PR professionals had a hand in, at least in part. In some cases we were called to respond to supply information. Other times, we successfully generated the story. Relationships are what makes PR work.

Many PR professionals are good pitchers. They know how to sell a story to a reporter. Email is the primary way this happens. Thousands of story pitches are circulated daily.

However, I believe that as more of us in the trade join the massive movement to participate in social networks, big things will happen. Social networks will become the primary theater of operations for PR.

Quiet as it is kept, Nick Denton is an investor in Treehugger.  Discovery Channel just snapped up Treehugger for 10 million. See the blog post here.

VSL is the “very short list” email newsletter than I subscribed to and I really like.  I remember that when it started, I heard that Barry Diller’s company had something to do with it and Kurt Andersen is the editor.  Yesterday, I actually paid attention to the ads on the newsletter and I noticed that it was DVF–Diane vonFustenberg.

Then I looked at the footer and see that VSL is published by Box Media LLC. I google “Box Media LLC” and see that it is part IAC which is owned by Barry Diller.

BTW, Barry Diller is married to Diane VonFustenberg.  I wonder how much are the ad rates? I bet bargain basement prices!