Shady PR and why my neck hurts
No editor is going to pick up the following two news releases. But, I will -- although not for the reasons they'd prefer. Writing a news release is easy, if you believe web-based PR services that will post whatever you hand them. Writing a news release that editors will consider seriously? That's tougher. Look, for example, at "Slide Share Publishes News About Serial Entrepreneur Vince Thadani," found on MyPRGenie.com. This news release promises "interesting news about the legendary commercial figure Vince Thadani ." And it never delivers. For starters, the mechanics are wrong. You don't use your email address as a dateline. You don't use two cities -- New York and San Francisco -- as datelines. You should think twice about quoting a self-written SlideShare presentation as a news article. ( Hint: SlideShare.com doesn't post news. ) And billing yourself as a "serial" anything isn't a wise strategy, if what you're really do...