Strive Notes

I’m back at my desk for the first full day since the Christmas break and my head is full of thoughts of RSS (never chocolate). It started on my trans-Atlantic flight on New Year’s Day. I was starting to think about what my work priorities were for this week. I was surprised to realise how much I had missed checking out all the RSS feeds I subscribe to. So the very first thing I did was go through all my feeds to get caught up on all the news I had missed and immediately, I felt better. Then I wrote a Tech Talk column for The Isle of Man Examiner on the merits of RSS for business. It runs next week so watch out for it.

Also on the subject of syndicating content online…did you hear about Thortons, the chocolate retailer’s, recent problems in Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria. It seems their new store’s manager branded the community a sh!t-hole on his MySpace blog. Locals descended on the shop, broke the windows and the police had to be called. The blogger, Steve Beall, has now left his post and Thornton’s has apologised to the town.
Smart way to launch a new shop just in time for Christmas, and a lesson in why every company should be aware of what employees are doing online. Good luck in your job search Steve.

Filed under: public relations