The Now Is Gone blog seeks to help businesses embrace New Media (and Social Media) intelligently. Blog entries are created by authors Geoff Livingston, Ike Pigott (a critical source for the book) and Professor Lauren Vargas. Book co-author Brian Solis also provides periodic contributions. Together, we’re providing relevant blog entries, discussing new updates since the book Now Is Gone was drafted, linking to corporate social media initiatives, as well as providing updates on the book itself. Again, the goal is to help executives and entrepreneurs figure out new media.

Geoff Livingston, Primary Author

Geoff has worked as a marketing strategist in the Washington, DC region for 15 years. Dubbed a “local blogging guru” by the Washington Post, Geoff’s Buzz Bin blog is nationally recognized, and is the top ranked independent PR blog in the Washington, DC region. He successfully launched FortiusOne’s GeoCommons using an aggressive social media strategy, and marketed Godsmack lead singer Sully Erna’s bio using a diversified My Space and blogosphere campaign. Geoff’s book on new media “Now is Gone” was released last autumn by Bartleby Press.

He creates marketing strategy, media relations, branding and Internet marketing campaigns for public and private organizations. Some of his experiences include work for AT&T, the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bartleby Books, BEA Systems, General Dynamics IT, Hughes Network Systems, ManTech, the Washington Nationals, Intelsat, Verizon Wireless and many others.

Brian Solis, Contributing Author

Brian is Principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning PR agency in Silicon Valley. Solis blogs at PR2.0, bub.blicio.us, and regularly contributes PR and tech comments and articles to industry sites and publications. Solis is co-founder of the Social Media Club, is an original member of the Media 2.0 Workgroup, and also is a contributor to the Social Media Collective.

Solis has been actively writing about new PR and the idea of PR 2.0 since the mid 90s to discuss how the Web was redefining the communications industry. He is considered an expert in traditional PR, media relations, and also Social Media. He has dedicated his free time to helping PR professionals adapt to the new fusion of PR, Web marketing, and community relations. Brian is ranked in the Ad Age Power 150 index of leading marketing bloggers.

Ike Pigott, Blog Contributor

Ike Pigott is an Emmy Award-winning writer who has turned his focus off the grind of daily news, and into a wider realm of communications. Now the Director of Communications and Government Relations for the American Red Cross Southeast Region, Ike’s work at the frontiers of social media and disaster communications was featured as a case study in the book Now is Gone. Before leaving television news, Ike began consulting businesses, schools, and law enforcement agencies in the principles of crisis communications and relationship-building. His personal blog, Occam’s Razr, features some of the strongest analysis of social media, as well as some interesting satire. He brings an eclectic spirit to the Now is Gone Blog, drawing upon his experience as a Kung Fu instructor, his interest in complex systems and quantum mechanics, and his fondness for the clever turn of phrase. He lives in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, with his wife and two children.

 

Professor Lauren Vargas, Blog Contributor

 

Lauren Vargas, APR, is a public relations professional in Dallas, TX. She is author of Communicators Anonymous and is a contributor to Now is Gone and Marcom Colloquy blogs. Despite initial deer-in-the-headlights expressions, Vargas incorporates social media tools into her marketing communications classes as a professor at Northwood University. Born on the cusp of Generation Y, Vargas is anything but a slacker and approaches life with tremendous vim and vigor. Growing up as a military dependent gave Vargas the opportunity to live and experience different cultures. She views the world with an openness and acceptance to adapt to new situations, viewpoints and environments. Vargas talks communication theory versus practice and how to develop the next PR generation.