For some of us with more than a few gray hairs, insights into younger people can be extremely useful, both in navigating life and in our marketing and business activities. Rebecca Thorman, writing in the blog modite.com, shares insights in her post, “Generation Y is too quiet, too conservative.” Source of her insight? She is one. Excerpt: “Generation Y is so overly focused on the yin of consensus that we’ve lost its yang of conflict.” Read story.

The Economist penned this very revealing article pointing out that, somewhat counterintuitively, PR is thriving despite the recession. The reasons are many, and the article has major insights about why firms are stepping up their use of PR in a time of turmoil. Read article.

A talk by futurist Gerd Leonhardt at Google, March 13, 2009. Extremely thought-provoking and highly recommended for media professionals.

No, social media isn’t the quick cure to marketing ailments, but it can invite prospective customers and clients to get to know you better, writes Jay Baer in his interesting blog, Convince&Convert. I particularly liked this point:

Social media is the perfect conversion half-step. Not sure whether you’re ready to buy a Toyota? Visit us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter, or read our blog, or watch our videos. Each of them will show you what our brand is REALLY like, and you won’t have to wade through all this pesky navigation and flash movies to get what you need.

You may find value in reading the whole post.

Late autumn sees us helping out clients Progressive Democrats of America and Character Development Systems, plus sister firm Wells Communications. We are also developing a prototype for an online publication called The Boulder Reporter – still very undone but you’re welcome to look. We’ve been deepening our in-house capabilities with Wordpress, Twitter, and other Internet tools. And, yes, we have time to talk or correspond with you about new projects or investments. – BW, October 29, 2009

This is an MP3 audio file of a talk by Robert McChesney in Portland, February, 2009, “Journalism and the Future of Democracy.” McChesney is Professor of Communications at University Of indiana. (Audio file courtesy of Alternative Radio, Boulder, Colorado). Play or download MP3 file

Very useful insights into how innovators all rush to live together in about 40 regions worldwide. That’s just one “big idea” from this presentation by author Richard Florida, delivered earlier this year on the Google campus in Silicon Valley.

Richard Florida, “Who’s Your City?” from Bob Wells on Vimeo.