(This article was originally published on the Huffington Post.)
Does the notion of “me time” almost always mean “we time” in this decidedly social age (even if me plus one or more is virtual)?
I wonder what Greta Garbo (who infamously crafted a reluctant catchphrase in the movie Grand Hotel: “I want to be alone”) would think of alone time circa 2011? Later in life she discounted the plea and said, “I never said, ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, [...]

Remember when you had those thoughts that were best kept to yourself? When privacy meant something and was a sacred, heavily guarded, and fortified construct? Well, let me jog your memory a bit, by cutting to your so-called (teenaged) life. How you had that special pen to champion your teenage angst as you wrote your troubles away in your diary? Though it may seem so very analog now, there was a time in the not-so-distant past when we had thoughts [...]

What we’ve learned in the past decade is that brands that want momentum, relevance and reach must ensure they are digital to the core. That means a lot more than having a cool website and delegating some people to talk about the brand in social media. In just the past few years, ordinary consumers have taken digital into every room of their house and with them everywhere they go. They’ve become digital to the core.
Digital is already massive, and it’s [...]

Whether or not, like Woody Allen, you’ve experienced sex as the most fun you’ve ever had without laughing, some days I can’t help but think that the online erogenous zone deserves another one of the comic’s lines: “When it comes to sex, there are certain things that should always be left unknown, and with my luck, they probably will be.”
I’ve been looking this week at how e-seekers of romance, love and eroticism feel about the new possibilities of the Internet [...]

Around Valentine’s Day 2011, our thoughts immediately turn to…social media. Well, why not? Social media is linking people in more ways than we can imagine and changing every day. It’s driving trends across all kinds of sectors and all parts of real life. But what are the new norms of love online today? Are there any universally accepted virtual behaviors that are contributing now to a cultural e-dating code?
Euro RSCG Worldwide, the parent company of [...]

There’s a certain set of consumers who don’t just passively consume goods and services; they proactively seek them out, help to produce them and help to propagate them. Alvin Toffler coined the term Prosumers in his 1980 book The Third Wave to label people similar to the leading-edge consumers we were studying at Euro RSCG Worldwide, the parent company of the PR agency I head up. When we started using the term later, it [...]

It’s Valentine’s Day once again, when lonely hearts turn to thoughts of love, Cupid’s lets his bow fly, and e-dating across the U.S. and the EU approaches a whopping $1.6 billion market.
But even as cyber-matchmakers here grow e-dating conferences and invent netiquette for the ethics of finding romance or dissuading cyberstalkers, this engine of moving parts raises a lot of questions. It’s a 21st-century McLuhan-esque stage, and the medium might still be the message, but [...]

“Powerful Social Expressions” is a series showcasing some of ERWW PR’s most successful uses of social media in the past year.
Yéle Haiti: The Six-Month Push
Six months after a massive earthquake struck Haiti, we wanted to remind the public that the country still needed help, and we wanted to make Yéle Haiti and its co-founder, Grammy-winning musician Wyclef Jean, the face and voice of that initiative.
We released a statement, pegged to the anniversary, regarding Jean’s strong call to action for continued [...]

“Powerful Social Expressions” is a series showcasing some of ERWW PR’s most successful uses of social media in the past year.
What’s yEuro Opinion?
To get the twittersation started, ERWW PR president Marian Salzman devised a plan to encourage the global agency to engage on a regular basis in the important discussions happening all the time on Twitter. She spearheaded a daily interactive e-mail, called “What’s yEuro Opinion?,” that calls out the top tweets from @ERWWPR and beckons the Euro world to [...]

As the dust settles over the debate about whether social media is indeed worth all the hype, the medical fraternity has been slowly pointing the needle (pun intended) towards a yes.
The lure of social media notwithstanding, the medical community has been apprehensive about using it. Lack of clear knowledge of usage and value, skeptical response and industry regulations have combined to turn social media into a Pandora’s Box in the minds of many who have taken the Hippocratic Oath.
Times have [...]