Just to wish Jeremy of Juicy Print all the best on his recovery from a frightening episode on the M6.

So much for taxi drivers.

It is not as uncommon as you might think.

Mark Simpson (pictured in Second Life), a tax planning director at Simpson Burgess Nash, has published an interesting piece on how taxes apply to businesses in virtual worlds, such as Second Life.

It might seem comic but there have been US Dollar millionaires and the US Congress is about to publish a report on how to and to what extent taxes should be applied.

It is a little complex: how do you tax capital gains tax on property if it increases in value and only exists on a server? Moreover, Second Life reserves the right not to compensate you if you lose a property because of a technical problem.

There are plenty of other issues: inheritance tax, income tax, domicile, capital allowance.

A bit of fun you might think; the Second Life economy currently generates an annual turnover of $500 million and is growing at 10-15% monthly. Simpson Burgess Nash has established a presence - marketers as well as accountants.

My local adult education college is now offering courses in social media networking or more precisely how to customise your My Space page.

While it has seen a demand and you could say its marketing is proactive, has it missed the boat already?

As one client in IT put it (more or less) to me when I expressed my surprise at the course being offered, next to traditional lines in cooking and ceramics: “Shouldn’t it focus on Facebook, My Space is already on its way out.”

From time to time PR blogs complain about journalists who complain about PRs phoning them to see if they received the e-mail that did not bounce back.

It makes good blog copy - comments abound after such entries.

It also brings up the question of following up. Generally if a journalist has received your e-mail they have made a decision on whether your release or offer is worth pursuing and they get back to you or use without correspondence.

So far, so good.

However, I have been following up today on 2 articles I have propositioned last week for a client.

The response initially was not so good although the proposition I believed was. It could be that many journalists are still on holiday and combined with deadlines looming I did not get the overwhelming flood of interest I expected. It could be my e-mail could have been better written.

I followed up and have had some expressions of interest, including a one page feature agreed and one highly likely. If I get one more then it will be a very good use of my time.

What strikes me is that some journalists do not read their e-mails or do not have time to read their in boxes thoroughly.

There is a delicate balance. However, sometimes it does seem wider than that; there is a difference between attracting attention to something that can be of some value that might have been missed and simply haranguing and pressuring a journalist.

I am not sure if the title’s assertion is obvious or not or if anyone agrees.

The most likely answer would be who you pick as your PR including DIY PRs.

However, I have come round to the fact that the clients’ enthusiasm, interest in their communications, how they rate PR in terms of priority, relationship with PR agency and what they have to say are at least half the equation, if not more. You would expect the PR to be enthusiastic and reasonably knowledgeable as given, wouldn’t you?

On the other side of the coin people are busy and PR is often an extra thing to occupy their time.

So how to square things? It is as much about the agency picking the client as it is about the client picking the agency.

One of the perennial problems of many a good agency and a boon to the bigger players is having a client that counts supplier size, kudos and higher fee as a key consideration in selecting their agency.

Of course, if you are a small agency it would probably not be feasible that a blue chip such as Tescos or British Gas is going to hire you. It is not impossible, especially if you have some very specialised and sought after skill, but unlikely.

However, for many clients size should not be everything. I wrote, with an advertising client called The Agency, a piece that reflected this sentiment for a notable marketing magazine. (For the record their MD has done well in establishing relationships with some impressive names). The article expressed that enthusiasm, skill and client understanding are not the sole preserve of a few larger players.

I once had a conversation that demonstrates how some clients and potential clients can misunderstand the options available. John, for this illustration, had hired a big agency for all their marketing. I called up 6 months later to see how they were getting on and they were not PR wise although the agency’s other services had been fine.

John had initially said that a bigger agency was able to get more coverage because it had more sway and influence, just like a media buyer! This obviously would make all small to medium agencies redundant and there are many smaller agencies about.

Anyway, he said they had spent a lot but the fees must be worth it for a big agency.

I happened, at a Christmas quiz, to sit with a member of the agency he hired. When I mentioned John and his company the reply was, “Small account, the girl behind me works on it.”

I think that says almost everything.