Feeding the hand that bites you

I'm playing catch-up with news but one story has stopped me in my tracks.

According to PR Week, Edelman has hired the eminence grise behind satirical blog The World's Leading. Not many people would use public mockery of the tech PR sector as a way of personal advancement within the same industry but Mark Pinsent (for it is he) has moved from Text 100 to Edelman via this interesting interlude.

Despite our intimate Facebook friendship I never got to know your name. So congratulations all round; to Pinsent, to PR Week and to Edelman.

Comments

[Mark Pinsent]

Hi Richard - thanks for the congratulations. I should probably clear a few things up.

Much as I might like to, I can't take all the credit for The World's Leading...I was involved, sure, but then so were other people.

Though much of TWL's content was mockery (which is probably too kind a term..!) we did also take the odd serious look at the industry's practices and these were often the pieces that drew the most response from readers.

Finally, I'm not sure it's entirely fair to say that I used TWL for personal advancement. I've been doing PR for 15 years and have known the guys at Edelman well since 2001 - in fact, I've worked for Edelman as a freelancer in fits and starts since 2003, so they knew me before any TWL shenanigans.

Having said that, the 18 months that the TWL blog lived was a phenomenal learning experience with regard to social media. My understanding of how to attract and enagage an online audience is greater than it would otherwise had been and (I've seen already) will allow me to do a better job for clients in this crazy new world.

[Richard Millington]

Did Edelman know you were one of the people behind TWL when you attacked them in a post?

[Mark Pinsent]

Hi Richard. Which post? There were a few.

But yes, Edelman knew I was involved in TWL for a good while.