South Florida Greg

Living my best life in the Sunshine State. Humor, aesthetics, and poolside wisdom. Powered by 100% renewable negronis.

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

Fisking an example of bad corporate PR:

https://t.co/plCwL74g5x

[Charles Bukowski Quotes @bukowskiquoteus]

Another reason to keep your nose in a book.

[Charles Bukowski Quotes @bukowskiquoteus]

“I write right off the typer. I call it my ‘machinegun.’ I hit it hard, usually late at night while drinking wine and listening to classical music on the radio and smoking mangalore ganesh beedies.”

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

@WriterScience @david_perell He also says that AI helps in getting images from one's head onto the page. "Every pixel is exactly where it needs to be. The challenge is describing that image to somebody else." But this challenge is called "writing." He is describing how AI is replacing writing and thought.

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

@WriterScience @david_perell He also says that AI helps in getting images from one's head onto the page. "Every pixel is exactly where it needs to be. The challenge is describing that image to somebody else." But this challenge is called "writing." He is describing how AI is replacing writing and thought.

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

>""Corporate communications" itself is now an oxymoron, as nothing meaningful can be communicated by a faceless committee."

[Lulu Cheng Meservey @lulumeservey]

GO DIRECT: THE MANIFESTO

I. TRADITIONAL PR IS DEAD.

For too long, founders have yielded control over their narratives to media and middlemen.

Before the internet, it was by necessity. The way to reach large audiences was through the media, and the way to get media coverage was through professional publicists.

Today, most of the planet is directly reachable by social media or email. There’s no longer a need to go through traditional gatekeepers of information and brokers of reputation — especially as their own credibility has plummeted.

The old PR playbook of relying on third parties with misaligned interests is obsolete.

But while the world has changed, comms norms have not. Still encased in amber are the old habits: prioritizing media over social media, fishing for clicks instead of fostering communities, and avoiding risk by recycling worn-out tactics.

“Corporate communications” itself is now an oxymoron, as nothing meaningful can be communicated by a faceless committee. If press releases read like they were written by a baker’s dozen of middle managers, that’s because they were. Their only discernible purpose seems to be to avoid upsetting anyone and jeopardizing the future job prospects of those middle managers.

The resulting stories are bland and generic, with passion reduced to pablum. Traditional comms is an anachronism.

II. COMMUNICATION IS THE FOUNDER’S JOB.

For a decade, we’ve been told that tech founders are cartoon villains, venture-funded startups are grifts, and new technologies will destroy us all.

Maybe there was a time when founders could just focus on building — they were seen by the media establishment as a curiosity, not a threat to the natural hierarchy who needed to be put in their place. But if that time ever existed, it is now long gone.

You may not be interested in The Discourse, but it is interested in you. And if you bow out, you are forfeiting your license to build a movement and thus build a company.

Building a movement is hard, but it must be done, and it must be done by founders. A founder’s passion, vision, and conviction can’t be simulated by others — least of all the press-release-enjoying middle managers already scouting for their next jobs.

The best spokesperson for any endeavor is not the one who has the most polish, the longest tenure, or the “right” credentials. It’s the person who holds the secret knowledge upon which the enterprise is built, the person who can not only describe the idea but, in the face of inevitable opposition, fight for it and win.

Founders need to take their narrative as seriously as they take the rockets or robots. They would never outsource their product — and when it comes to convincing others to support the mission, the story is the product. Outsourcing comms is as bad as outsourcing code.

As evangelists, founders are irreplaceable.

III. GO DIRECT OR GO HOME.

Going direct to the people who matter is how founders retain control over their narratives and preserve their companies’ uniqueness. Those who are stubborn, unorthodox, and disagreeable should never have their edges filed down for fear of offending entrenched interests.

But going direct doesn’t mean going it alone. It doesn’t mean refusing help or spurning others who can amplify your message. And it certainly doesn’t mean just poasting more.

Going direct means crafting and telling your own story, without being dependent on intermediaries.

Just as founders might have more natural talents at product, management, or engineering, some founders will be naturals at communicating while others have a harder time.

The good news is that going direct and building a movement, while not easy, are skills that can be developed with discipline and time. The bad news is that, unlike with engineering or management, communications failures are immediately public and personally humiliating. It’s not surprising that many are loathe to take on this responsibility.

At the same time, founders willing to pick up that gauntlet will find that it gives them a massive edge in recruiting, fundraising, selling, and shaping the information environment needed for their companies to thrive.

IV. IT’S TIME TO REBUILD THE ROSTRA.

At the center of Rome, as it transitioned from a Republic to an Empire, stood a speaker’s platform from which the city’s leaders would address the public directly.

It was called the Rostra, so named because it stood atop the captured battle rams (or rostrums) of enemy warships. From here, speeches were given that would sway opinion, change regimes, and alter history.

That physical structure has been lost to time, but we now have something much more powerful: a free and open internet with which to build a speaker’s platform of limitless scale. All we need is the will to build it.

The conventional way of communicating has its allure. Outsource your message, let some removed third party go through the motions of getting “impressions,” and spare yourself the risks and discomfort that come with putting your own name on the line.

But that way is incompatible with greatness.

Reject convention — build your own platform, build your own audience, and build your own narrative.

Go direct.

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

>"If there were a lot of circumstances that conspired to keep me from writing, would I still write because I love it? - If you can say yes to that, you ought to write, no matter what happens to what you write or what happens to you." -James Dickey

https://t.co/wkbroM70n3

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

https://t.co/CMQMmYoHfj

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

The outlook seems grim. Just 15% of journalism majors become news reporters or editors early in their career. Recent years have seen a continuing flurry of news and media layoffs. The number of newspaper reporters is plunging.

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

Newspapers are dying but other formats are rising - so there are still job opportunities for tenacious journalists and wordsmiths. But you might have to work at a nonprofit, a university, or a company that's not a media outlet.

https://t.co/P68kfOONbv

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

>Employ a weak headline and lots of manipulative tripe, patronizing fluff, passive-aggressiveness and sarcasm.

>Say nothing of substance in 425 words.

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

Fisking an example of bad corporate PR:

https://t.co/plCwL74g5x

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

The art of saying absolutely nothing while pissing off your customers:

>Don't acknowledge the concerns that prompted your statement in the first place.

>Write sentences like: "You've also shown us that we could've done a better job sharing who we are and who we'll always be."

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

@shagbark_hick Yes.

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

Every Tuesday evening, a youthful horde of runners descends on Miami’s financial district. Running, jogging, and power walking, the semi-organized group of exercise enthusiasts streams over the sidewalks and streets of Brickell and Downtown. But why?

https://t.co/n6G2njUEl6

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

Public relations is another field that's hungry for writers. PR flaks outnumber reporters nearly 2 to 1. Journalists call it the "dark side," but thinking like a journalist and creating high-quality written content will likely be a significant part of your work in PR.

[South Florida Greg @SoFloGreg]

Reporters gained the most jobs in the categories of online publishing, independent journalism, newswires, and nonprofits. In fact, the number of reporters working at nonprofits doubled in the two decades through 2024, with nearly 1 in 10 reporters working at nonprofit orgs.

[Joel Franco @OfficialJoelF]

Miami World Tower has completed construction at Miami Worldcenter

Residents will start moving into their units which start at $2,755/month for a studio and can go as high as $5,485 for a 2/2

There’s a total of 565 apartments, 401 parking spaces and 3,000 sf of commercial space in the building

It’s conveniently located near various modes of transportation within walking distance and plenty of retail/restaurants, including many still to come

[Joseph John Nichols - Mortgage @josephjnichols]

I actually got attacked by a pit bull once while jogging in a rougher area of Miami.

You have to kick. I squared up and kicked it so hard in the face it flipped completely over. Don’t try and hold it back with your hands or any of that nonsense. Kick it like a soccer ball in the face

[Mr Family Office @MrFamilyOffice]

scenes over on Reddit 👀