June 2010 – Page 5 – Andy writes!

While doing some blog housekeeping this week, I decided to weed out a raft of blogs in the higher ed category of my blogroll. Gone from the roll are those higher ed blogs that were either extremely stale (no posts since 2009 or earlier) or missing in action.

These blogs have been purged. May they rest in peace:

http://www.admissionary.com/

http://emerille.wordpress.com/

http://radio-weblogs.com/0114870/

http://mattherzberger.com/

http://inspiredannualgiving.com/

http://imhe.blogspot.com/

http://www.karlynmorissette.com/

http://www.omnivore.us/blog/

http://www.professional-lurker.com/

http://www.steincommunications.com/thescoop/

http://ublog.usphere.com/

http://ubrander.wordpress.com/

http://mchron.net/site/edublog.php

http://zenwrites.com/blog

I hated to let some of them go, because they were fine blogs in their day. But if they’ve been abandoned by their creators, why should I attempt to keep them on life support?

P.S. – If you are the owner of one of these blogs and you do start posting again, please let me know so I can resurrect your link on the blogroll.

P.P.S. – While housecleaning, I added four other noteworthy blogs to the higher ed blogroll: EMG’s Brand Manager’s Notebook, Ron Bronson’s edustir, Dave Olsen’s Mobile in Higher Ed blog and Rachel Reuben‘s blog.

P.P.P.S. – I know I also need to prune the other blogroll categories. (One of these days.)

It had to happen, I guess. The popularity of the faux Twitter account @BPGlobalPR has spawned a legion of imitators. As Mashable reported recently, “The @[insert name here]GlobalPR Twitter account is a true blue meme.”

*Just a few of the @__________GlobalPR accounts now floating around Twitter.*

Faux Twitter accounts are nothing new. (Remember @FakeSarahPalin?) But it takes timing, originality and just the right level of acerbic satirical commentary to pull it off. The success of @BPGlobalPR comes from the mix of those three elements.

@IsraelGlobalPR may also have what it takes to separate from the pack of imitators. The account’s timing was impeccable — it launched the same day Israeli commandos raided that flotilla headed for Gaza — and its focus is narrow enough and its voice consistently in character. But other copycat GlobalPR accounts, such as @USAGlobalPR, are just horrible imitations. My Twiter pal @KyleJudah and I agree that this slew of faux Twitter copycats are more lame than meme-worthy.

Maybe the whole @[insert name here]GlobalPR meme just needs better PR. Sadly, I don’t think @PRGlobalPR is up for that challenge.