New Year’s Resolutions 2024

Last year, I did pretty well, keeping my New Year’s resolutions. I feel that I did increase my fitness – I made 10,000 steps almost every day of the year. I started a strength routine that — while patchy — showed me that strength training is important to my well-being. I achieved my Kayak levels …

A deep convo about strategy

This post features a sequence of four videos about strategy, in which I have a conversation with Mark John Stewart, an entrepreneur of note (Wentworth Strategy, FlyPrint), not-for-profit co-founder (Empowerment Squared) and MCM strategy instructor. We really got into it. Enjoy. These videos were recorded to serve the community of learners who are seeking Accreditation …

New Year’s Resolutions 2021

This year was a strange year. COVID-19 kept us at home and made many of us sick – I had extended family members who caught COVID-19 and survived, thankfully. As many of you know, my life revolves around my work as a professor of communication studies and communications management at McMaster University and my work …

Endings and beginnings

The gathering of students, faculty and alumni who came together for my last Residency Gala Dinner as MCM Director, at Trius Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake. A lovely night. I was very grateful. Sometimes we immerse ourselves so completely in something, that we don’t see the years roll by, focused as we are on the exciting task …

What makes the McMaster-Syracuse MCM program so special?

Last week, I was happy to host my 17th residency as director of the Master of Communications Management program, offered in partnership McMaster University and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. It was, as they all have been, a beautiful, warm, exciting and fascinating experience. The MCM program and community is …

Alternative facts, social media bubbles, assortative mating/friendships and diversity

We all like to think we have a handle on what’s real — it’s natural. However, with the pervasive nature of opinion media broadcasting 24/7 on television and now on the internet, it can sometimes be hard to get a handle on the situation. This is compounded by the echo chambers of our social media …

Back from research leave

This Canada Day marked my return from a year’s research leave. It has been a good year- I moved into a new home, got involved in the federal election, made a bunch of great new friends, and wrote most of a new book on social media in Canada. I also became pescetarian and mindfully started …

Computers I have used and video games I have played

I have been a computer enthusiast since I was a young boy. My first computer was a Texas Instruments Ti99/4A on which I first learned the joys of video games and computer programming. After that we had a Macintosh SE, with a whopping 10MB hard drive. It felt like a supercomputer! My first laptop was a …

Measurement in #PR – Social network analysis

At the heart of public relations practice is the relationship. Whether they are internal or external, relationships are the currency that we deal in. One metric that we don’t pay enough attention to is how networks of affinity build around a brand. A network analysis can help with this. The challenge is that network analysis …

Strategic PR and the value chain, pt 5: building relationships in social media

In yesterday’s post, I discussed how public relations became more strategic, as it evolved into a two-way symmetrical model, focused on building relationships between organizations and their publics. Today, I will  discuss how social media has changed the landscape and evolved PR strategy from a two-way symmetrical model to a two-way dialogical model. Social media has …