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Last week the WannaCry ransomware raged around the world. David goes into some of the specifics, and has more on his blog if you want links to the exact operations of the malware who has been hurt by its attack. There are several great stories from the media about how one British researcher accidentally tripped a kill switch and gave American IT managers a bit of a breather, and how Microsoft has created patches even for Windows XP versions to try to stop its spread. But there are some important lessons for PR pros who want to become newsjackers. Both Paul and David received dozens of emails with insipid quotes and me-too “sky is falling” non-news releases. Instead, the next time one of these events occurs, try to be fresh, be quotable, be unusual, find the story within the story. Don’t just trot out your CEO or expert, but look for something specific that your client can leverage.

Next, we pay homage to Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. We reference this article in Recode.

Both David and Paul owe Walt a lot in terms of how they approached their own work over their decades in tech, along with how reviews were constructed and how sources were accessed. The Recode article looks at the current crop of mass media tech reviewers and what they owe to the great man himself. We also talk about how reviews have changed over the years and the prominence of Google and the crowdsourced reviews sites. Sadly, vendors today are getting too sensitive about negative reviews, don’t understand that good reviews take money and experience, and think that “placement” is more important that the actual content of the review itself.

About David Strom

David Strom is a former editor-in-chief of Network Computing and Tom's Hardware who has written two computer networking books and thousands of articles about B2B IT.

About Paul Gillin

Paul Gillin, host of FIR B2B, is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. Full bio