Introduce yourself right up!

[David Cushman]

Welcome welcome welcome.
Sit down and tell us something about yourselves.
We're all ears!

[Mike Spataro]

Greetings,

I'm a VP of Client Strategy in Boston for Visible Technologies, a firm that specializes in online reputation management in the areas of social media and search. Prior to joining VT, I spent nearly a decade as EVP of Web Relations, the online PR division for Weber Shandwick Worldwide. You can track me down at anytime through my online bio site http://mikespataro.typepad.com/

Glad to be here.

[Daryl Willcox]

I run various services used by PR professionals and journalists - increasingly those working in digital media. These include the FeaturesExec Media Database, Response Source Journalist Enquiries System, our online press release wire and the Freelance Journalist Directory. I blog at www.dwpubsporadic.com and you can find me on Twitter.
As an ex-journalist I'm very interested in the digitisation of media and the new direct to consumer power PR people now have at their fingertips with online and social media.

[Garrett MacCarthy]

Hi,

I am a colleague of Andy's here at PR Newswire and in the same manner I am looking forward to seeing where social media takes us in the next few years. Looking forward to connecting and sharing ideas on the road ahead.

Garrett

Andy Bowman said:

Hi Everyone,

I'm a Strategic AM at PR Newswire here in London and a Kiwi relatively fresh off the boat. I've been working in various arms of Media Intelligence for the past 5 years but am increasingly shifting my focus towards optimising engagment of social media and PR Newswire's digital offering. I'm really looking forward to connecting with as many of you as possible.

[Paul Lincoln]

I have recently set up two networks: gGoldenlane.ning.com which covers the estate where I live in central
London; and talkinglandscape.org which I set up for work and is a forum for landscape architects so I was pleased to discover that there is a forum to discuss how to build on all of this. Both of these sites are ning-based.

[FoluB]

Hi,

I work for Macmillan Cancer Support as a Press Officer (Corporate Partnerships). We've just started working on our digital strategy and exploring the world of social media. We've got a long way to go, but a lot of people really excited about the potential (not just for PR but fundraising, donor care, etc).

@Folub

[Jamie Burke]

Folu great to see you here. I believe I will be seeing you at the event on the 26th.

[Deborah H. French]

I'm the publications director at a PR firm in Great Neck, NY, and am currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in media psychology at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, CA. Trying to immerse myself in various social media outlets to better understand how these tools can be most effective.

[Villu Arak]

Greetings, I run the Estonian office at Hill & Knowlton. Through my former PR and blogging roles at Skype, I managed to zap the lazy PR-as-usual gene in my communication DNA. But the conversation-sparking business is one continuous learning curve, so I hope to avoid (or at least postpone) social-media atrophy through this community of smart beautiful people.

[Alison Campbell]

My background is journalism and pr. I run Stillwater Publishing. The strap line for my business is 'written content creation' because most of what I do, these days, ends up online as well as in print. I feel the term 'copywriter' is outdated and inadequate (just my opinion) but that's essentially what I do. Most of my clients are IT companies, which is an industry I fell into 18 years ago and - boy - am I glad I did! That said, I have also written for businesses outside of IT (including rubber car mats - now try making that sexy - and a world class equestrian venue). I am also a keen blogger and social enterprise networker. I am currently establishing http://thinkingpersonscrumpet.ning.com, which is essentially a 'what do we like?' for thinking people. What is a thinking person? Yet to be defined - but I'm thinking about it (you see what I did there ;-)). Anyway, thanks for the welcome and I am looking forward to P2PR developments over the coming months.

[Rebecca Sykes]

I'm a final year Marketing, Advertising and PR student and freelance brand and digital consultant (business is fledgling to say the least, but promising). I love the new era of marketing and everything that comes with that, greater transparency, immediacy, community.

I am currently writing a dissertation, which I hope proves useful, about the effectivesness of new media in changing attitudes and behaviours. There is a focus on the automotive industry as I managed email and was involved in digital for some of the brands at General Motors for a year, but hopefully the results will be transferable.

I would be happy to share any insights or nuggets of interest that come out of it and would be hugely appreciative if anyone with interesting thoughts/opinions/experiences of new media could answer a (very) short survey at:

http://dinx22.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/new-media-survey/

Thanks in advance for any digital wizardry you have 5 minutes to bestow!