Many people are under the false impression that twitter is website solely for the self-absorbed looking to boost their ego. While this might be true for some tweeps, PR firms are utilizing the social networking site to build their business and increase visibility.

At AMP3 PR, you can find our team members at: @AlyAmp3,@DionRoy,@Termeh, @JoAnaSwan.

We use twitter to:

- Promote our clients: Events, CD releases, product releases, etc

- Acquire new leads: We search twitter to find tweeps in need of PR and respond to PR inquiries from users.

- Build and/or maintain relationships with valuable media outlets: bloggers, journalists, critics, etc on a more personal level.

- Communicate with and/or observe followers of a target market to keep up with trends and news.

- Gain feedback from other industry professionals and consumers.

- As a PR channel to keep audiences informed of what’s going on at AMP3 PR.

So you’ve created a twitter account, written a bio, start adding people but now you’re stuck? Here are some helpful tools to improve your twitter experience:

TweepSearch: Enter keywords (name, subject, location, etc) to acquire search results pulled from twitter bios.

Wiki: To view a list of PR firms on twitter and start following them. 

Sarah Evans Journ Chat: Publicist Sarah Evan hosts a weekly 3 hour journ chat where publicists,bloggers and journalists can connect, share ideas, and build relationships. The journchat is generated by tweets. To connect with the journ chat use #journchat

It’s important to have some sort of strategy, keep up with your tweets, relevant replies, and direct messages etc in order to take full advantage of this micro-blogging website. To get the most out of Twitter, you should devote time each day to search and respond. Be more than just another tweep, build a community. Lastly, always remember to Tweet with caution!

"House" truly is one of the best procedural shows on TV...

Spoiler: This will deal with already disclosed information regarding an upcoming episode of (ed. one of my favorite shows) “House.”  To not learn who does something to themselves or someone else, stop reading.

Kal Penn’s character, Kutner, commits suicide.  

The leak of the upcoming offing is a pretty good Entertainment PR scheme to help boost ratings for a show that’s doing quite well on its own (both with new episodes AND in syndication).  But Penn’s reason for leaving the show is far more interesting than his character’s reason for committing suicide.

Approached by the Obama camp, Penn will be the associate director in the White House Office of public liason (big pay cut, but still an impressive resume addition).

Now, there are countless actors that go into politics (Reagan, Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, etc), but it’s interesting to see an actor move from a successful show to join the bureaucracy.  What’s interesting is that Penn’s move is from entertaining to Political PR, where his talents for spin and feigned concern might come in quite handy.

What people fail to recognize is that a Political PR and Entertainment PR are incredibly similar: both fields try and represent their clients in the best light possible, both often find themselves dealing with clients embroiled in scandal, and both work ’round the clock to keep their business dealings in the public’s positive light.

While I’ll sorely miss Kutner on “House,” it’ll make for some interesting fall out, which, ironically, I’m sure Penn’s move to Washington will, too.

For an in-depth interview with Penn as well as “House” creators David Shore and Katie Jacobs, check out this “House Exclusive.”

Jackie for AMP3pr.com

@JackieBrook