News is what's new. Sheen isn't news.

I don't know about you, but the sheen is rapidly coming off this whole Charlie Sheen thing. Frankly I don't care about how he lives his life. It's his business.

What's becoming very annoying is not being able to escape the incessant coverage of how he lives his life. I'm an early riser and within in moments of tuning in the local news at 5:30am I learned that Charlie now has 670-thousand followers on Twitter. Despite switching from channel to channel, local and national, it was all Charlie all the time.

I thought that's what TMZ.com was for? You know, if you're interested in this sort of thing, you have a place to go to. But the media has taken that choice away from me.

Having made the news sausage at one time in my career, I understand at least partly why. NBC and ABC are all over it because it's a chance for them to slam CBS which airs "Two and a Half Men" under the guise of news. Pretty sneaky huh?

Local stations struggle to fill gigantic multi-hour news blocks and Charlie coverage is easy. Cut, paste and air. Plus you also fill air time when the anchors giggle or shake their heads.

Impactful stuff. Meaningful on Main Street.

My news writing mentor Merv Block, who used to write for Uncle Walter taught me "News is what's new." Hollywood "celebs" self-destructing isn't news. So please, can at least one news outlet NOT cover the life and times of Charlie Sheen? I'd like to tune in for...uh...news.

Thank you.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

The difference between a Pipeline and a Pipeline

Pipelines carry stuff from here to there and vice-versa, depending on your location. Most associate the term with oil and gas. But pipelines also carry water, in fact any liquid asset.

Pipelines also carry information. A website is a pipeline of information. So is Twitter and YouTube. Your favorite local radio or television news station is a pipeline. Ditto for a newspaper, if you still have one where you live.

A generation ago we had a limited number of pipelines. If you're old enough to remember it, think of the Iran Hostage Crisis. Far fewer sources for news compared to today. You actually had to wait for news. The crisis in fact, created a pipeline, an ABC broadcast called "America Held Hostage." Today you know it as Nightline. You can watch the show off-air, via satellite or cable and of course the show has its own website. Which connects to numerous other pipelines.

Much is made of the ever growing number of communication pipelines. Each day it seems, comes a new one. Better, bolder, hotter than the others.

"My pipeline is cooler than your pipeline!"

Sadly, lost in the conversation is the conversation itself, i.e. CONTENT.

To be blunt, crap is crap, regardless of how it's delivered. Crap in, crap out.

Holy crap.

Creating impactful content for your pipeline(s) is what we do at Conversation Starters. Your message has to be meaningful on Main Street. Let us help you do just that.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters LLC

L*O*S*T. A Social Media Phenom

As I write this, the early ratings are in for the LOST Finale; 9.0, which isn't even close to the finale of one of television's most beloved shows, M*A*S*H.

But as Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast my friend."

The difference between how people talked about M*A*S*H and LOST after an episode was the traditional Watercooler vs the "E-Cooler" i.e. the myriad number of podcasts, fan pages etc that evolved during the run of LOST.

My two favorites LOST Podcasts are The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack and The Transmission. Both heavily involve fans of the show itself, plus you can blog, twitter, post comments on Facebook and the list goes on. That conversation will continue for months to come, if not years. The conversation continues!

One of the real challenges of Social Media is how to measure it as compared to traditional television ratings. But one thing for sure is, lovers and yes, haters of LOST are empowered to talk about the show, be involved and you can bet the networks monitor the more successful podcasts and fan pages.

As in my last posting here, viewers controlled the brand far more than ABC ever did. It's the brave new world of social media. It can be overwhelming sometimes, but Social Media can be an effective and powerful communication tool for your association or business. It's a medium where it's not enough to dip your toe into it, you have to jump in. Just make sure you know how deep the "E-Water" is!!

We don't claim to be experts in social media, frankly there aren't any "experts." Just people with a lot of experience with what works and doesn't work. Social media can and must be custom designed to meet your exact needs. One size does not fit all.

So today, people are all over the web chiming in on those final scenes of LOST, just like they did a generation ago around the traditional water cooler about the final scenes from M*A*S*H. But with Social Media, you can be part of a conversation involving millions instead of just a few.

It's what we help you do at Conversation Starters. Check us out.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters LLC