You don’t want to miss this Sunday’s episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

You might remember my behind-the-scenes look at Extreme Makeover in Washington, DC last year. Airing on Valentine’s Day, this episode will feature not one, but two remodel projects. And if you’ve seen the show before, you know these remodels are over the course of just seven days. Quite a feat.

Our client, Serious Materials, donated their windows to both projects. What makes these remodels special is that both were built to be as near to net zero energy buildings as possible, meaning near zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions annually. The products included to make this happen were SIPs panels provided by Winter Panel, solar electric systems from Aurora Energy, insulated concrete foundation forms from Leep Green, and super-insulating high R-value windows from SeriousWindows.

It’s interesting to see a mainstream, primetime show like Extreme Makeover put the focus on energy-efficiency. Not surprising, though. As we saw at Greenbuild late last year, greenwashing is going out of style. Builders and consumers alike are looking for the most eco-friendly, energy-efficient products out there protect our environment and make buildings as sustainable as possible.

So tune in to ABC this Sunday at 9/8 Central for an episode that will leave you reaching for the hammer and ready to start tackling those home improvement projects. (Oh, and Tyler Perry makes an appearance!)

New technologies are always evolving and changing the way we communicate. According to research from IPG’s Universal McCann and AOL, “One out of every seven minutes of media consumption today takes place via mobile devices…That’s expected to grow by 60 percent over the next two years.” Many of our clients are looking into website redesigns in order to make them more mobile-friendly. It’s interesting to see this shift. No longer is just having a blog good enough. Now it must be mobilized. And in doing so, we are finding that content must be refreshed more frequently, so as not to get lost in the shuffle

MediaPost recently reported on a new survey by Princeton Survey Research International, which found that 90 percent of Internet users between 18 – 29 use video sharing sites, up from 72 percent one year ago. But that’s not all. Online adults ages 30 – 49 also showed big gains over the past year; 67 percent now use video-sharing sites, up from 57 percent in 2008. So we now work with our clients to produce more video content and add pictures and videos to press releases.

Additionally, how we get news and information is changing on a regular (dare I say, daily?) basis. As PR professionals, we focus on people who are influencers. Traditionally, this has been the media or industry analysts. While these folks remain influential, there is a new group of influencers. There are blogs that comment on or repackage the news, some of whom have larger followings than the original content (e.g. Gawker).  People  now regularly forward news to their friends and colleagues via social networks and Twitter.

PR is also an ever-evolving game. Not so long ago, press releases went out via fax. You read that right, fax. That little machine in the corner of the copy room that the interns look at in bewilderment. That was cutting edge. Then came e-mail. Now, as how people get their news is in a state of constant change, we are continually adapting to make sure that we are getting the word out to the right people in the way they want to receive it.  I guess it is not surprising that change has come to news, which after all, is the business of reporting on change.

2009 has been coined a time of “change.” From the White House administration to the green movement, from technology to journalism and communications, change is a constant theme no matter what industry you’re in.

While new technology and online media are forcing a lot of the change in the field of public relations, the same is being done in the field of journalism. There is no denying that economic pressures are partly responsible for forcing some sort of change, but what isn’t always recognized is that these pressures can also stimulate innovation and reinvention.

What we have seen over the past few months is that some of the publications we regularly read have only taken a brief hiatus to reinvent the wheel, and come back with a new approach to getting the news out to the audience that has respected their editorial expertise for the past several years. Most recently, Network Computing has resurfaced with its first digital issue. RCR Wireless News is also on its way back, and set to re-launch come September 1, distributing its news online and via e-newsletters. Both of these are examples of publications that have reinvented the wheel in an otherwise difficult time.

So while “change” can have varying definitions depending on circumstances, in this case we see it as a welcome occurrence for these tech publications, and look forward to gathering our news from them once again.

It’s time for a fractured fairy tale: Spinning the Web: P.R. in Silicon Valley, courtesy of the New York Times.  Once upon a time in a Sand Hill Road conference room, an entrepreneur, a VC and a PR consultant met to discuss the launch of Wordnik, a website about language and word usage. The PR person suggests a press tour of leading tech blogs (TechCrunch, GigaOm, etc.).  This suggestion is rejected by the VC as not a good match for a language website. Instead, they decide that they would have influential Silicon Valley entrepreneurs mention Wordnik in social media.  As so it came to be.  Digg founder, Kevin Rose, twittered that Wordnik was “truly amazing.”

From there, people started madly retweeting, which led to Wordnik becoming a trending topic on Twitter. Then, everyone in the Valley was abuzz about Wordnik. People will look back on these past few months as the “Summer of Wordnik.” And they all lived happily ever after.

Except that in the real world, the launch of Wordnik went virtually unnoticed.  As Michael Arrington reported in TechCrunch, Wordnik received a small blip in traffic and then quickly returned to its previous minuscule level. Since this is a fractured fairy tale, the frog doesn’t get turned into a prince.  But there are some lessons to be learned.

Hipsters vs. Word Nerds:  Before starting a launch plan, the first imperative is to determine “who is the target audience?” Then, look for the best way to reach them.  Here the target audience was …. Wordniks. The VC was correct that word nerds really don’t follow mainstream tech blogs.  But targeting hipsters using twitter is more about making a fashion statement than a viable launch plan for a language website.  

Something Old, Something New:  Much of the debate generated by the Times article is about whether social media is replacing PR. This is based on a false premise. The rise of new technologies doesn’t mean that the old technologies are banished to a virtual thrift shop. The new supplements the established. The old technology adapts to fit in with the new. At the time of the original Fractured Fairy Tales, PR people mailed press releases to the local newspapers. Today, the number of communication tools and influencers has increased exponentially. But press releases now incorporate SEO and still remain in the mix.

PR and Social Media, Better Together: Combining PR and social media into an integrated strategy can deliver great results. PR provides an efficient way to quickly gain traction with the targeted influencers and audience. Social media builds connections with these folks.  By social media, I mean participating in conversations on Twitter and Facebook, joining the blogosphere by writing and commenting on blogs rather than having Internet celebrities tweet on your behalf. You could argue it would be better to just use social media to gradually grow an audience (especially with a niche product).  But these days, VCs and board members want to see immediate results, as evidenced by Wordnik’s VC participating in the PR discussion. Though prior to launching a PR campaign, it is important that the product is ready for the attention (see: PR for Tech Start Ups – Are you ready for your close up?).

The Happy Ending: Completion of a product launch should be the first of many interactions with customers, partners, and influencers. There are many opportunities to build, even on a less than successful launch. After all, it’s more important where you end, than how you start. And this is where this post happily ends.

Given the short week, Vantage Points is taking the week off as far as new posts are concerned. Stealing a page (and a title) from our friends in the TV and radio businesses, we are digging into the archives for some of our favorite undiscovered  posts:

Rebuilding the way we look at Green Building: Most people assume green building is expensive. An interesting post about a recent study published by Good Energies, a global energy efficiency and renewable energy investment company, shows some surprising conclusions about green building costs…

Millionaire Cat – Marketing Promotion Hits the Litter Box: Channel surfing last night, I came across Meow Mix Think Like a Cat Game Showwhich purported to be the first game show in which “catestants” (I did not make that one up) and their owners compete as a team for $1 million….

A Global PR Perspective: Differences in China and the United States: High tech companies are eager to enter the Chinese market for its endless opportunities, and successful PR will help them to engage the local markets….

It begins with energy…: Green building in particular is thriving in America right now.  Michael Kanellos of Greentech Media said it best yesterday, “For green building companies, the good times have just begun.”…. 

We hope you enjoy these posts and will be back with fresh ones next week. Have a great holiday weekend and stay cool!

Popular social networks, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter seem to  think that they would be better if they more like one of the other social networks. Instead, they really should follow the advice of Popeye whose motto was “I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam.”

LinkedIn: LinkedIn has developed a case of Facebook envy. Each person’s page now has a Facebook-like status box at the top asking “What are you working on now?”.  I can’t recall anyone actually using this box (other than reposts from Twitter or Facebook). 

Attaching a social element to LinkedIn is the equivalent of a three piece suit with a backwards baseball cap. People use LinkedIn because it is all business. This means there is no risk of an embarrassing photo turning up in a search by a potential employer or customer.

Facebook: Facebook is turning itself into Twitter with pictures. A person’s home page is now dominated by Twitter-like status updates, accompanied by photos and attachments. Welcome to the slide show from Hell.  Facebook now puts pictures of kids, pets, and vacations front and center on a daily basis. As much I like keeping up with friends and family, I prefer the ability to decide when and if I want to see another cute cat picture or a 2×3 picture of someone’s dinner.

Once popular Facebook applications have been moved to the four corners of the site. Once popular applications like Superpoke (thowing sheep!) , Funwall and “Cities I Have Visited” now are the Web 2.0 equivalents of Golden Oldies that evoke nostalgia for a bygone era. While many of these applications were time wasters, Facebook is draining the social part that makes it unique.  

People who are power status updaters eventualy move to Twitterand and make Facebook a secondary source via an application that posts their tweets on Facebook. Take a look at your Facebook news stream and you will likely see many standard Twitter abbreviations and hashtags. More and more, Facebook  is making it seem like all of the action is on Twitter.

Twitter: Twitter’s identity crisis revolves around what is wants to be when it grows up. Twitter still does not have a viable revenue model. In a recent blog post, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said that it is looking  at account authentication, management tools, and discovery mechanisms. Twitter has done some preliminary experiments with advertising on user’s profile page.

But I think that they will look to follow Google and monetize on search. By virtue of Twitter posts mostly being public,  a company can search Twitter to find out what people are saying about them, their competitors, and the hot issues in the markets in near real-time. Twitter can derive revenue from selling ads on search pages, premium search tools, or making a deal with with one of the large search companies.

Sticking to short communications in real time and monetizing like Google should be a personality that wears well for Twitter.

On our drive home from the office the other night, while driving through a residential neighborhood in the pouring rain, I came to the embarrassing and distressing realization that we were completely out of gas.  I hurried to try to reach the gas station that was less than a mile away when the car began to sputter and we were left motionless on the side of the road.  I used my GPS-enabled iPhone to call AAA and give them the exact location of our car.  They informed me that the wait would be about 45 minutes and my wife, my 7-month old daughter, and my 3-year old daughter began a long, uncomfortable wait with me. 

My wife and I both knew that there was a gas station less than a ½ mile away.  She quickly pointed out to me that before technology, I would have gotten out of the car and walked in the rain to be a “knight in shining armor” to her and our two daughters.  Instead, there I sat, breathing the stale air of a disabled automobile, ashamed for not checking the gas and leaving my family stranded for 45 minutes while we wait on a tow truck driver to be the hero for my family.    

This got me thinking.  Has technology killed the chivalrous man?

I asked some female friends and colleagues if they felt the same way, and got some interesting stories:

• Rather than a card and flowers, my friend Amanda recently got a simple text message from her boyfriend that read, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
• Rachel noted that since buying a car with remote door locks six years ago, her husband has not opened the car door for her even once. 
• Ashley recently went on a first date with a guy who “poked” her on an Internet dating site.  When he arrived at her apartment he called from his cell phone to let her know he was downstairs waiting for her in his car.
• Melanie says that she and her husband had a long standing tradition of going out to dinner and a movie every Friday night, but in the 6-months since her husband discovered On-Demand movies on cable, the routine has turned into leftovers and a movie on the couch much to her dismay.

For the record, I don’t think I was non-chivalrous by not walking ½ mile in the rain.  I think I made the smart and logical choice.  Personally, I’m not sure that technology has killed chivalry; I think that technology just gives some men an excuse to let it fade away.

Nine months and two Facebook redesigns ago, Jennifer Kutz wrote a post about the Wisdom of the Crowd Goes to a Trade Show. She discussed the trend of trade shows opening the show agenda selection process to their audience.  She mentioned one proposed panel in particular: Privacy and Personalization – Oxymoron or the Perfect Match?, for the SXSW Interactive show in Austin, and invited people to vote for that panel.

As SXSWi just completed, I thought it would be fun to fill you in on how things turned out. Our efforts to get the word out about the panel was successful. Privacy and Personalization – Oxymoron or the Perfect Match? received enough support that it was selected. The Guardian featured the panel in an article: @SWSXi: The impossible balance between privacy and personalisation?, and called the topic: “one of SXSWi’s core conversations.” The picture on the top left of this post is from the panel courtesy of the Guardian.

The experience also gave us an insight into the power of blogs and social media to create conversation about key issues.  We used Facebook and Twitter to point people to Vantage Points to get the word out. Rather than asking or pitching people to vote for our client, all we did was to discuss the topic and offer people a link to vote. This was a departure from the traditional PR model. But we believed facilitating conversation was more appropriate for topic and the SXSWi show audience.

The wisdom of the crowd approach has extended to voting for awards. This year, CTIA is allowing people to vote for its Emerging Technology Awards and Best of Show.  One of  our clients, Ditech Networks is nominated for its cool mStage platform which allows people to use their voice to access web applications in the middle of a mobile phone call.  You can read more about it in Technology Review. If you would like to vote for mStage for Best of Show, follow this link and choose mStage (third from left on the third line) as one of your favorites.  Feel free to check out and vote some of the other great nominated products too. It is good to part of the crowd that leads.

As you probably already know, last week was the first week of the new show “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”While I don’t watch many late night shows myself, his is truly one that I have come to enjoy. He brings geeky to a whole new level. Not only is he on Twiter, but he recently attended this year’s CES show.

On Monday night, Jimmy brought on Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky to talk about the new Palm Pre. Not very familar with the other two guests, I quickly jumped to the end of the show to catch this hilarious, but awesome interview. Acting like good ol’ buddies, Jimmy and Josh discussed the new Palm Pre and how it competes with the iPhone.

What really gets me is the fact that so many of my friends don’t know about Twitter or Engadget for that matter! A fellow geek, Jimmy is pushing all of the blogs, articles, social media, etc. that we deal with on an everyday basis into the view of others. Not only that, but he COMMUNICATES to the rest of the world. Commenting on other tech blogs, getting interview questions from Twitter, regularly updating his show’s blog - these are all actions that I find really impressive.

Want to satisfy your inner-geekiness too? Catch Late Night with Jimmy Fallon each weeknight at 12:35E/11:35c (or DVR it!). If not for the geek factor, then at least for the Like it for $10 and other fun segments! Follow @jimmyfallon and @joshuatopolsky for some additional entertainment.

This year, I used the power of social networks to expand my Mobile World Congress experience. In past years, I took a tunnel vision type approach to the show with my experience the sum of previously scheduled meetings and press briefings at the show.  With social networks, you get the sense of being part of a larger experience.

Following other Mobile World Congress attendees on Twitter gives the effect of flipping across multiple channels where you tune in and out of different people’s show experience. Before the show everyone is preparing for and traveling to the show. The effect is like the opening number of a Broadway show, where everyone sets up their roles in the show – like Putting it Together from Sunday in the Park with George. It is hard not to get caught up in the anticipation and the sense that you are part of something bigger.

Each day before I arrived at the show, I checked in on Facebook and Twitter to see what my Tweeps were up to at the show. It ranged from reporters who were providing real-time reports from a seemingly endless run of handset and OS press conferences to hung over people that missed their first meetings of the day. If it was happening people were tweeting it and it created a fascinating kaleidoscope.

Readers of Vantage Points know that I was part of arranging the first Mobile World Congress Tweet Up (an in-person meeting of people on Twitter and other social networks). The Tweet Up was an opportunity to share opinions about the show and the future of mobile. It also generated over 300 hits to Vantage Points. Between the Tweet Up and posts on Facebook and Twitter, I now am part of the global mobile community, although I never had met most of the people before the show.

As we move from Mobile World Congress to CTIA, I intend to build on expanding this social approach to trade shows. Look for a Tweet Up in Las Vegas, and more interaction with the global mobile social community.