Alan Weinkrantz PR Web Log

Listening in on the Israel/Gaza Situation via Twitter

@NewsIsrael

@From Israel

@IsraelNews2

@JerusalemPost - Jerusalem Post - mainstream

@israelconsultate 

@QassamCount - Updates about rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel

@AJGaza  - The latest news from Al Jazeera English on the violence in Gaza

@AJBreakingNews Al Jazeera - Setting the News Agenda

@gazanews - We Are Gaza

5th in a Series... My Personal Best of 2008: Being A Part of The Texas Israel Chamber Commerce

I'm going on my 16th year of getting to work with some of the brightest minds in the world that are driving Israel's technology economy.

This year I was able to become a Board Member of the Texas Israel Chamber of Commerce.

We're really getting going on our full second year and look forward to bringing new business opportunities, deal flow and exchanges of IP with Texas and Israel technology based companies.

4th a Series... My Personal Best of 2008: Getting N-trig a Profile in "The New York Times" Sunday Edition

Over the last 20 or so years, I've made pitches to, and have successfully had clients profiled in leading media such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, Inc., CNN and many more. 

After going back and forth for six months with The New York Times' Michael Fitzgerald, this blog became an easy to use and search reference tool for Michael where I had built a repository of content resulting in a story featuring client, N-trig, appearing on page 3 of the Sunday business section.

Read the piece here

Client, Promisec Announces Major Branded Antivirus Software Not Always Reporting When Software is Working; Statistics Show 25% of All PCs With AntiVirus Software is Missing or Disabled

Client, Promisec, today announced that its latest study conducted on thousands of endpoints points to the fact that antivirus management consoles from leading vendors are not accurately reporting when their software isn't working.

This study was conducted from June 08 - November 08 and marks the second survey done this year. It's most recent survey of more than 100,000 computers across a number of industries, more than one-fourth of all computers were found to have missing or disabled antivirus software. Furthermore, network administrators weren't being alerted to the problem by the vendors' management consoles.

Download the press release here:
Download Promisec antivirus release v7

How And Why I Use Twitter. (And Here's Where You Can Start)

Twitter is a great tool for networking, seeing what's on the minds of people that I follow, and a wealth of information and data specific to PR and Social Media.  You can find me on Twitter here.

Here's how I am using Twitter:

1.  Engaging and listening to people where I live in San Antonio.   I've made new "real" friends who are not just into the craft of communications but are really interesting and nice people.  That is benefit #1.

2.  Self promotion.  OK.... so I do have to self-promote myself and my business.  Since I blog here and over at 3Screens.net, I can tweet to the world about a post that I think is not only self promotional, but helpful to others.

3.  And speaking of being helpful, that is something I am really focusing on with Twitter.  I figure if I am helpful to others, others will be helpful to me and so on and so on.  Sort of a version of Pay it Forward, if you will.

4.  Sharing my human side.  Yup, I am human and real.  This weekend I was in Galveston, Texas and was Tweeting my impressions of the destruction of the hurricane that you still see present.  The during Thanksgiving shopfest known as Black Friday, I shared my impressions of people shopping vs. buying in San Antonio, Houston and Galveston.   The week before, I went to see BB King and Tweeted my video that I shot at the concert.

5.  Direct conversation.  You can direct conversation with other members... sort of like SMS on your cell, but via your computer.  Very efficient and direct.

So where can you start?

1.  Think of an objective or two?  Make new friends.  Expand your network.  Learn about a new social media and communications platform.  Promote a cause.

2.  Sign up.  You can sign up here.

3.  Start following.  Here's a post from Darren Rowse on 10 people you can start following now.

4.  Start a conversation or two.  Tweet something interesting and helpful to others who are liked minded.  You'll be amazed at the responses and the followers you will attract.

5.  Don't spam others.  A huge no-no.

6.  Broadcast news or your insights on the major news events.  If you are live where something is happening, Tweet about it. 

7.  Tweet at least once  day.  I am finding Twitter to being sort of addictive, particularly on my iPhone where I use Twitterific.  It's a great way to check in several times a day, in between meetings, just to scan and when appropriate chime in on conversation.

8.  Find people with similar interests.  They could be where you live or around the world.  I still go back to one of the greatest benefits of Twitter is that I have made new real friends right where I live.

9.  Go offline from Twitter.  Sometimes, I don't want to have a conversation with someone on Twitter.  I will share my cell or a secondary  email address to engage further.

10.  Traveling?  Meet up with Tweet-Ups with other like minded Twitter people when you travel.  I've done it and it's great to meet like minded people in other cities.