Audio conference for Bulldog Reporter's PR University:  Write Like a Journalist: Newsroom Vets and PR Wordsmiths Reveal How to Write Compelling, Credible Copy That Sells.

Other panelists are Joan Stewart of Publicity Hound fame, Paul Furiga of Wordwrite Communications and Sandra Allen of Columbia College Chicago.

  

Audio conference for Bulldog Reporter's PR University:  Write Like a Journalist: Newsroom Vets and PR Wordsmiths Reveal How to Write Compelling, Credible Copy That Sells.

Other panelists are Joan Stewart of Publicity Hound fame, Paul Furiga of Wordwrite Communications and Sandra Allen of Columbia College Chicago.

  

Today happens to be my birthday (nope, not telling my age). How do I know? Well, Dec. 11th* is part of my Facebook profile and some of my Facebook "friends" are sending me Happy Birthday messages. I'm not complaining. It's very nice to get birthday wishes.

But the truth is that I don't know many of these "friends" very well. We have a virtual -- albeit warm -- acquaintance. Often I've met them face-to-face at conferences or other

Today happens to be my birthday (nope, not telling my age). How do I know? Well, Dec. 11th* is part of my Facebook profile and some of my Facebook "friends" are sending me Happy Birthday messages. I'm not complaining. It's very nice to get birthday wishes.

But the truth is that I don't know many of these "friends" very well. We have a virtual -- albeit warm -- acquaintance. Often I've met them face-to-face at conferences or other engagements, but not always.

Facebook birthday wishes drive home that we're living in a wild wacky world where privacy is a thing of the past, your latest social networking contact knows more about you than your neighbors and... "authenticity" is, well, perhaps not as authentic as it used to be.

I'm hoping my…