Throughout his seven Tour de France victories, Lance Armstrong earned adulation from around the world. And why not? He came back from cancer and transformed himself from a middle-of-the-pack racer to the best cyclist the world has ever seen.

Not surprisingly, his success fuelled whispers of steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. Books and magazine articles have been written alleging his transgressions and several high profile legal battles have ensued. It doesn’t matter how many times he has denied the rumours. And it doesn’t matter which authority has come to his defence. People are inclined to either believe the worst or put an asterix next to his achievements.

And then along came Twitter.

And how does the micro-blog social network help him? Let me count the ways.

Armstrong has been on Twitter for several months now and has become one of the most followed people on the network. Twitter allows him to communicate instantly several times a day to his nearly half a million ‘followers.’ So when he recently crashed during a Spanish race breaking his collar bone, he was able to relay the news nearly as fast as the news networks.

I’m alive! Broken clavicle (right). Hurts like hell for now. Surgery in a couple of days. Thanks for all the well wishes.

For the past week or so he’s reported on his subsequent surgery, return to the United States and ongoing recovery. He’s also posted links to video messages and continued to promote his other main passion - fighting cancer through his Livestrong Foundation.

But where Twitter has really helped is with the drug tests. Twitter has given Armstrong a tool to broadcast to the world exactly when and where he is being visited by drug testers. You need only follow him for a few days to notice the frequency of the visits. Here are a few tweets following his March 17th test:

March 17:

Yet another “surprise” anti-doping control. 24th one. This one from the French authorities. Urine, blood, and hair! Classic..

So I’m clear - never complaining about these tests. Def part of the job. Feel targeted? Of course. But anything to prove I’m clean. Onward.

March 18:

I’m hearing from a lot of folks that there’s a lot of press clips re: my hair test/drug test yesterday and I was surprised and asking ?’s.

First off, I’m never surprised anymore. What does surprise me is that AFLD feels the need to publicly comment on confidential matters. (AFLD = the French anti-doping agency)

The Tweets about the ongoing drug tests are illuminating. Taking Armstrong at his word, they’re almost always a suprise; testers are frequently awaiting him at his home or hotel just after training rides; they come at odd times and are conducted by multiple agencies.

Reporting these events as they happen is a powerful means to rehabilitate his reputation to those who question whether he’s clean. Simply reporting after the fact that he’s been tested x times over x days by x agencies just doesn’t have the same credibility as reading about the tests as they happen.

I’ve always wanted to believe in Armstrong. His story is so good that it’s hard not to pull for him. I really hope he recovers from his current injury in time to compete at this year’s Tour de France and I hope he goes on to win for a record eighth time. If he does, and if he continues to use Twitter the way he has been, his reputation will be polished to a high gloss shine.

What a blunder. What a perfect case study in what NOT to post to your professional blog. Yesterday, Jeremiah Owyang, a senior Forrester Research analyst, posted an item that attacked Mzinga, a company he follows.

Gah, it’s painful stuff to read. It’s clear within the first two sentences that this is a post that should never have been published. Relying on hearsay, this respected social media industry analyst hints that Mzinga is a shaky company on the verge of falling apart.

He never lays out the evidence of the company’s failings - surely there must be something bad - because he says he doesn’t want to start rumours. Yet he succeeds in doing only that by dealing solely with innuendo… and then, in a rhetorical flourish that only a self-important analyst could write: I strongly recommend that any Mzinga clients or prospects stall any additional movement till they brief me next Monday.

Really? I mean, really? Lawyers, start your engines.

The blog post blazed a fast and broad trail through the Twitterverse and the comments that followed the original post correctly blasted Owyang. It was an irresponsible post made without much, if any, forethought. Owyang responded quickly, to his credit, but with only a weak apology.

There are times in everyone’s professional life when you want to strike out publicly at a client, or a vendor or a rival. In almost every case, it’s best to keep your mouth shut at least until you have all the information (and often afterward too).

Maybe he was frustrated with a perceived lack of response from the company and he wanted to use his bully post to whip the company into line. That’s something my first journalism instructor Mack Laing called the phallic typewriter syndrome. Maybe Owyang was tired and wasn’t thinking clearly. Or maybe he was just plain sloppy.

Always take care in what you write and how you write it.

In my book, good communications is vital to sound decision making in business. Trying to separate  business management from corporate communications and public relations is like a surgeon removing a vital organ without caring to find a replacement. It kills companies as surely as a botched transplant will kill a patient. And like incompetent doctors, CEOs and other executives that continue to lead their companies without regard to how they communicate their strategies and actions deserve to be fired… immediately.

Take AIG for a particularly egregious example.  Over the past few days, the company has been pilloried for its decision to pay out $165 million in bonuses to employees despite the fact the company is currently on life support thanks to taxpayer-funded bailouts. Compounding this incredibly wrong-headed move is that some of the bonuses apparently went to the derivatives traders who almost single-handedly reduced the former insurance heavyweight to a welfare case.

Anyone with an instinct for public relations strategy could tell you that the decision to pay the bonuses was a bad one. Anybody with an understanding of how corporations need to interact and communicate with people today would have instantly recognized the folly of proceeding with the payouts. If something smells this badly from a communications perspective, it’s almost always a bad business decision.

Good businesses act with integrity. When good businesses  speak, they do so honestly with a view to enhancing their reputations. What good businesses do in the face of difficult circumstances reveals the character of their management teams.

If AIG were a good business with a good management team it would have found another way.

This isn’t a matter of upholding contracts. Insurance companies routinely challenge policies on flimsier grounds than congress is currently challenging these bonuses. It’s a matter of doing what’s right and managing the business for the many (the shareholders, the customers and the employees), not just for the privileged few.

I think AIG’s true character has been revealed. Time to break up the company and let someone else run the show.

There was good news for fans of quality, locally-produced food and supporters of the Manitoba cattle industry earlier this week: Keystone Processors Ltd. opened its doors and announced it was shipping Manitoba-raised beef to local stores.

Dooley Communications organized an official “tenderloin cutting” ceremony (in lieu of a ribbon) that generated a significant amount of publicity. Media covering the event included: Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Sun (I love that print reporters make video now), CBC English TV, CBC French TV, CTV Winnipeg, CKX Brandon, CITY TV Winnipeg, Global Winnipeg and the Manitoba Cooperator. The story was picked up by a number of other print and radio outlets across the province.

So why is a new beef packing plant a big deal? Well, if you’re a fan of high quality, locally-produced food, then you’ll be pleased to learn that Keystone Processors is planning on launching a new premium-quality brand of aged, Manitoba-raised beef this spring. It’s difficult to find premium, aged beef as it is and nearly impossible to find Manitoba-raised products.

But more important is the potential impact the plant could have on the provincial cattle industry. The company plans to make this the first sizable, federally-inspected beef packing plant opened in this province in a generation. That federal licence is needed to sell to national retailers and to export our beef products to the world, including fast growing markets in Asia (where forecasters are predicting most food demand growth will be in the next 50 years).

It also marks the start of the creation of a Manitoba brand of beef. Keystone Processors has an opportunity to capitalize on consumers’ demand for high quality, premium products.

Having a local plant will also be a great benefit to local cattle producers who currently are forced to truck their animals across the continent (Alberta, Ontario or into the U.S.) to get them to market. Once Keystone Processors ramps up its operation, there’ll be another local option that will create more competition among buyers of cattle and one that will save local cattle producers significant transportation costs.

Dooley Communications is working with Keystone Processors on its branding and public relations efforts. Stay tuned. We cooking up some good things together.

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA–(Marketwire - March 5, 2009) - The Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Public Relations Society has named Heather Plett Manitoba’s Communicator of the Year for her work directing a national campaign to raise money and grain donations for distribution to developing countries, and to educate and engage people in hunger-related advocacy.

Plett is the director of resources and communication with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB), a Winnipeg-based, national non-profit organization.

Award sponsor Marketwire - one of North America’s leading newswire and media distribution companies - will present the honour at a gala luncheon on March 18 at the Fort Garry Hotel.

Plett was chosen by a panel of senior CPRS Manitoba members for her success in targeting diverse audiences across the country with a multi-platform campaign and a limited budget. With a clearly articulated strategy, Plett and her team rebuilt CFGB’s website, added a microsite for a special campaign (www.endhungerfast.com), developed videos, ran their first direct mail campaign and employed social media tools to reach her organization’s goals. These tactics resulted in widespread media coverage in both rural and urban outlets, a nationwide campaign in which thousands of people “fasted for change,” and a record year in donations totalling more than $11 million.

“This year’s winner demonstrates that small shops with small budgets can get big results,” says Adam Dooley, past president of the Manitoba CPRS chapter, and chair of CPRS Manitoba’s Communicator of the Year committee. “Heather Plett and her team launched a national campaign with results that resonated on a global scale.”

Plett was among a distinguished field of nominees for the second annual award, which CPRS Manitoba established to honour those who have demonstrated excellence in public communications.

This year’s gala will offer a special morning program of professional workshops on government relations, which is sponsored by CNW Group.

For ticket information, go to www.cprs.mb.ca and click on the Communicator of the Year icon.

Twitter has lately become all the rage. It’s the tops. It’s da bomb. It’s the new black.

So what is Twitter really? Technically, it’s called a microblog, which allows users to record what they’re doing  or thinking or finding interesting in small 140 character messages. It’s also called a newsfeed in that it constantly feeds news about its users to whomever wants to receive it.

But I’ve got another definition for people who are unfamiliar with both blogging and feeds: Twitter is your own personal broadcasting outlet. You start by following a few people like your friends, family members and work colleagues. Then they’ll follow you. Voila, you have the beginning of your audience. Then you can start following other people and organizations you find interesting. Find mavens like popular bloggers or journalists or thought leaders. Follow the people they’re following.

Find other people living in your home town, province or state (you can use Twitter’s search or you might want to use Twellow for this). Look for people in the same line of work or with the same interests as you. In time, you’ll notice more and more people following you.

If all your posts are just notes about your morning breakfast and what the cat’s doing to the couch, you may not care too much about who’s following you. But if you’re running a business or interested in networking, Twitter can be your best friend. There is currently no faster (or free) way to reach such a huge targeted audience as quickly as Twitter. And as more and more people join the service, it’s becoming an increasingly robust means to target people by demographic group, interest and geographic region.

Twitter hasn’t turned a profit yet, but its owners seem confident in their plan:

Todd Dagres, founder of one of the venture capital firms backing the microblog, Spark Capital, recently told blog Innovation Economy, “We know how we’re going to do it, and we’re very confident about how we’re going to do it, and it’s not necessarily in our interest to tell people how we’re going to do it. There is a biz model that has yet to be implemented. Of course, I can’t guarantee it’s going to work.”

Speaking of Twitter: if you’re already using it (or even if you’re not), why don’t you join us for our Winnipeg Tweet-up next Tuesday, March 10 at 5 p.m. at the Confusion Corner Bar and Grill. #wpgtweetup