MWC 2009 and Twitter collide

Well it’s Wednesday night and delegates, journalists and exhibitors at Mobile World Congress can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The four-day conference – which comes to an end tomorrow – is surely was of the most intense in the tech event calendar.

This year – for the first time in four years  - I didn’t make the annual pilgrimage to Barcelona. Part of me is disappointed and feels like I’ve missed out, another part of me (my feet and liver certainly) isn’t so concerned. One thing though is for sure – the connectivity of journalists at the show with their audiences means that non-attendees could feel more part of the congress than ever before.

Online news stories, videos and podcasts flooded the Internet straight from the beginning of the show – Steve Ballmer’s early presentation on Monday providing the focus for the first postings.

But perhaps the biggest revelation for me this year was tracking journalist activity on Twitter.

Senior telco journalist Alan Burkitt-Gray updated us regularly on where he was and who he was talking to, breaking news on Twitter about Blyk.

Rory Cellan-Jones - Twitter devotee – tweeted prolifically through-out the duration of the show – promoting his blog entries, discussing the phones and technology he had seen, detailing the good press conferences he’d been to, extolling the virtues of the Barcelona metro, even updating on the weather.

“At Voda presser – unveiling HTC Magic…they’re not calling it the G2″

“tweeting live via LTE from the motorola van driving round barcelona”

“Lovng the Barca metro – you can use your mobile. You can even tweet. http://twitpic.com/1jhyv “

I also followed with interest the movements of new media blogger Mike Butcher. Again Mike was prolific at the show keep us updated on anything and everything. But one particular comment in particular caught eye.

Today Mike wrote, “At MWC UKTI lunch with a panel discussion. Opening statements taking a LONG time. Getting better tho.”

Now, it’s not necessarily a new thing for some journalists to blog from within a press conference or roundtable. But with the ease of Twitter you don’t even need a sophisticated phone to let the world know who you’re listening to and what you think of them. This could be incredibly powerful – imagine being being able to track what your audience is thinking and saying whilst you are delivering a presentation. A skilled presenter would be able to address the audience whilst monitoring their Twitter updates – in doing so they could address the questions, concerns, doubts etc of their audience as they go.

I’m not sure who this approach would scare more – the speaker or the recipient – but nevertheless I think that this is very doable. I also think that preparing spokespeople for this real time online communication is an area where PR’s could add real value.

The Digital Britain Report has landed

Stephen Carter, author of the report

Slightly later than initially anticipated the Digital Britain Report came out today with the media and tech commentators quick to offer their reaction.

A main focus for the attention falls on the Government’s ambitious broadband proposals to make 2 megabit-per-second broadband avaiable to the whole of the UK by 2012. Whilst this proposal will surely be welcomed by all it was the reports other rulings over internet usage which divide opinion. The government has annouced that it will back the music industry in its attempt stamp out file sharing and music piracy – the report will place a new focus on the ISP’s to monitor illegal activity and turn this information over to the relevant authorities.

The telegraph writes “To tackle the problem of people illegally copying and sharing music and films over the internet, Lord Carter, the technology minister, called for the creation of a Rights Agency. The new body would be funded via a levy on internet service providers (ISPs) and the music and film industry.” This will no doubt be music to the ears of the likes of the British Phonographic Association – but will not please many of the ISP’s who are reluctant to take on the role police officer or informants on their subscribers.

The report did however categorically state that the UK will not introduce the net neutrality laws which have come into effect in the US – this will allow UK ISP’s the opportuntiy to traffic shape and offer tiered levels of servicing to customers. This theoretically will prevent the throttle which bandwidth sapping services like iPlayer cause.

Top Global Websites

Some interesting stats published yesterday by PC Adviser. They list the top 15 global websites based on unique visits. Baidu the Chinese search engine comes in at number 14. This is the only non-English language site – It will be interesting to see if this remains the Chinese search engine of choice and rises up the rankings or if any competitors will emerge.

Google unsuprisingly tops the table. Here’s the full listing:

1. Google: 775,980,000
2. Microsoft: 646,915,000
3. Yahoo!: 562,571,000
4. AOL: 273,020,000
5. Wikimedia: 272,998,000
6. eBay: 240,947,000
7. Facebook: 221,791,000
8. Amazon: 187,354,000
9. CBS: 178,844,000
10. Fox Interactive: 172,841,000
11. Ask: 164,513,000
12. Apple: 161,500,000
13. Tencent: 158,617,000
14. Baidu: 152,447,000
15. Adobe: 123,623,000

Contender for viral campaign of the year? It’s ‘Little Gordon’

Thanks to my personal media spotter Margot, for sending me a link to this great viral marketing video. It’s a 3 part video promoting the website Caterer.com and features ‘Little Gordon’. It’s a great example of what  a viral video should be: short, funny, well produced and easy for viewers to forward to friends to create the all important snowball effect. The videos have been around since July and have received over 700,000 hits on YouTube.

As the recession bites and marketing spend is tightened, expect to see a continued decrease in traditional ad spend and an increase in joined-up digital campaigns. These sorts of viral ads are great for numerous reasons, not least because the organisation can track the success of each video, every click through can be monitored and every enquiry can be attributed to a particular person. Return on investment will be top of every marketing execs wish list in 2009. Clever digital campaigns with the appropriate analytics behind the content can be very effective, delivering results and ROI.

I’d love to know what the success of the campaign was and how it measured against their objectives. If anyone knows than do get in touch.

Here are the videos…

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Beyond the Tipping Point

What do spaghetti sauce, Side Show Bob and best selling books have in common? It’s Malcolm Gladwell of course!

The best selling author was in the UK at the end of last month for one night only at the Lyceum in London – curiously replacing the Lion King (the normal big ticket draw at this particular West End spot). Gladwell was in town to promote his new book “Outliers – The Story of Success” and with tickets for the event quickly snapped, despite the hefty price tag, Gladwell is perhaps well placed to lecture on the topic of success.

Gladwell is perhaps best known for his second book The Tipping Point. Indeed it is this book which I am most familar with and something which I dipped in to several times whilst studying for my CIPR Diploma. Less academically draining than many texts, I found Gladwell to be entertaning whilst having genuinly interesting ideas that seemed to make sense in the real world. In much the same way I found The Naked Truth and Cluetrain Manifesto to be the types of books which you discuss in the boardroom as much as in the pub – Infact I think Cluetrain is more conceivable after a few pints.

Having read a little of Gladwell’s work, but never really taken much note of the person himself I found it particularly interesting to study the way the press have covered him in the run up to his lecture and in the following week. I can think of few academics who would be able to elicit such strong opinion and such column inches in the mainstream media.

In a lengthy preview, the Independent remains pro the author giving a relatively balanced view of the man. The Guardian gushes in it preview writing, “he writes books, about trainers and policemen and dullard prodigies. They sell by the palletload while being elegantly written and stimulating to read.” The Guardian’s review of his lecture is however, less favourable stating, “You end up wondering “why am I here with all these people in expensive spectacles sending text messages?”, and, more insidiously, “wouldn’t I prefer to be watching The Lion King?”. Humourous but not devistating, but then today I came across an article in The Register – The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell: A guru for the brain dead.

The article begins, “Have you ever had the nagging sense that there’s something not quite right with the adulation that follows Malcolm Gladwell – the author of Tipping Point? But you couldn’t quite put your finger on it? We’re here to help, dear reader.” The article continues to debunk Gladwell’s theories and his ‘homespun homelies.’

These leave me to wonder just what it is about Gladwell which causes such criticism and borderline hatred? Is it his success, the fact that he has only written three books, his unusual ‘afro/Side Show Bob’ appearance, is he too populist – not enough of an academic, derided by so called real academics just as David Starkey is by many history academics… or is good old fashioned jealousy?

Make up your own mind. Here he is in February 2004 presenting his Spaghetti Sauce’ lecture.

To be popular does not guarentee success – don’t be flattered by the web

Google has published a list of the most used search terms over the last year. The stand out stat which people seem draw to is that Sarah Palin was more searched for than Barrack Obama.

Oscar Wilde famously said, “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Well in this case I think even Oscar would admit he is wrong. Palin may have been more regularly searched for but this most probably due to her perpetual gaffs and on camera disasters, all of which shared across the intenet within moments of them taking place.

Obama – as I blogged before – used new media to its full effect and reaped the rewards.

Fastest rising global search terms

1. Sarah Palin
2. Beijing 2008
3. Facebook login
4. Tuenti
5. Heath Ledger
6. Obama
7. Nasza Klasa
8. Wer Kennt Wen
9. Euro 2008
10. Jonas brothers

There are many unflattering clips of Sarah Palin on YouTube, here is a collection of her ‘greatest hits’. The web is an unforgiving environment.

Wikipedia stung by ISP’s over Scorpion album cover

We’re quite used to hearing about oppressive regimes curtain citizens use of the internet and banning certain sites and removing data deemed to be inflammatory (usually for political reasons. There seems to have been something of a flood over the last few weeks. China (famous for it’s internet oppression) clashed with the country’s leasing search engine provider Baidu over the placement of sponsored ads. In a more bizarre tale 70 of Argentina’s leading celebrities have joined together in an attempt to remove controversial comments made in chat rooms and on gossip sites. This action resulted in the removal and blocking of huge amounts of information including that of Argentina’s most revered hero/villain – Diego Maradona and finally Turkey has recieved significant bad press about the censrship of supposedly insulting articles.

 

However, at the start of this week Wikipedia – a bastion of the digital age and darling of the web 2.0 fraternity – came a cropper and was the subject of universal editing by – count them – 6 leading internet service providers. Which demonic dictatorship was responsible for this heinous act of the censorship?… the UK of course.

 

The facts as they stand are… that German rock band Scorpion released an album in he mid 70′s entitled Virgin Killers – at time the album courted controversy because of its cover featuring a young, naked girl only moderately concealed by a crack in the camera lens. The cover was deemed to be offensive and removed in a number of countries and replaced by a (no doubt even more offensive) shot of the band. End of story, well not quite. The Wiki page for Scorpion contains a comprehensive resume of the band and carries the offending picture. However, it was only when an internet advisory body – IWF – flagged the image as potentially child porn and potentially in violation of the Child Protection Act that ISP’s took note and promptly replaced the image with a holding page stating that the page could note be found, in some case the whole page was blocked and unobtainable.

 

For me there are a number of issues here.

1. ISP’s should be transparent, if they are going to block an image they should state the reasons why they have done it – placing a fake holding page is not transparent.
2. It is more worrying that some ISP’s removed the whole page – it’s one thing to block an image but the text was never in question so why should it be taken down?
3. Should it be the role of ISP’s to govern the content that sites carry or the sites themselves?

 

From a reputation perspective the UK must set itself tough standards regarding the freedom of information. We can’t afford to sit in our ivory towers casting distain on developing countries whose fear of the net is palpable, if our own house is not in order. Of course regulators, ISP’s and the authorities have a duty to keep illegal content off the web but there is a fine line, particularly when dealing with the arts, between protecting internet users and censoring content. Openness and transparency – so often the watchwords of great communications – are once again the order if the day.

 

Not the offending image… just men with waxed chests, leather jackets and bad hair.

How speech writing and the internet played a part in US history

I’d like to make just a few brief observations about last nights US election. Firstly on the merits of being a great orator and secondly on the impact of the internet.

1.  Speech writing is a tool which probably ought to sit in every PR practitioners tool kit. But for many of us it’s a skill which we don’t get to develop and one we rarely ever have the chance to use. As PR moves increasingly to facilitating open and honest communication from our employers to their stakeholders then I don’t really envisage this changing.

Nevertheless great speeches are something to behold and last nights address by Barrack Obama should be held up as a masterclass in magnificent speech writing and delivery. Whilst a cynic would argue that the crowd was already so high on Obama fever that anything would have sufficed, I maintain that the content was linguistically and scientifically perfect. The use of rhetoric, repetition, personal interest etc etc are classic examples of what makes the perfect speech. But what’s more is it was delivered with immeasurable heart and conviction. A formidable combination.

2. My second observation about this election is the ways in which the internet has been used. This isn’t the first time by any stretch that voters have used the internet during an election. Chat rooms, blogs, interactive forums, video sharing sites, online polls etc are all part and parcel of many people’s communication outlets. But Obama has been cited by many as the first politician to truly embrace the internet as a form of communication. This comes in many forms utilising video streaming to convey messages to voters, to using the internet as a means to raise money which has phenomenally bankrolled his election. 

The pervasiveness of video either via television or the internet means that a single gaffe or misplaced  word can be caught on camera and distributed to huge networks of people in a very short period of time. McCain has been guilty of being caught out during the election and made to look foolish, whereas Obama has used it to his advantage, always conveying a statesman-esque image.

As PR’s (and readers of my previous blog entries will know) I strongly believe web 2.0 technologies can be used to bring a person or organisation closer to stakeholders. It helps to remove perceived barriers and can help people identify with one another. I wonder though to what extent politicians should use these types of web2.0 technologies? Our own presidential wannabe is of course David Cameron. And to his credit David Cameron has embraced web technology from the early days as leader of the Conservative Party through the nattily titled ‘WebCameron’. The aim quite clearly in the WebCameron videos is for us, the voting public, to get close to Cameron, to see what really goes on behind the scenes and for us to ultimately see him  as one of us and to trust him. However, having seen the statesman approach of Obama, I wonder if Cameron is guilty of letting us too far in and subsequently losing his edge.

Here’s how WebCameron covered the breaking US election news in the early hours of this morning. Take a look and see what you think…

Euprera’s most prestigious award presented to CIPR Diploma Graduate

Stephen Smith, a graduate of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Diploma, has been awarded the prestigious European Public Relations Education and Research Association Jos Willems Award for the best dissertation at Masters’ level by a public relations or communication studies student.

Sue Wolstenholme, Chair of the CIPR Qualifications Awarding Body & President of EUPRERA, said “This was the first time that CIPR graduates were invited to enter, where it was felt that they should compete with Masters entries, as they are studying at postgraduate level, so it is a great achievement for Stephen.” 

Stephen was given his award at this year’s EUPRERA conference, which was held in Milan from 16-18 October 2008. In addition to his award Stephen received an all expenses paid trip to the conference where he presented his dissertation findings.

Stephen’s dissertation focused on social media and PR – in particular it looked at the perceptions of blogging as a tool for PR practitioners to help convey their clients’ messages. The project highlighted a difference between best practice academic theory and actual practitioner behaviour. Whilst the academic theory recommends an open approach to blogging, Stephen’s research shows that practitioners are divided and how many see blogging as a medium for conveying controlled PR messages.

Stephen said: “Studying for the CIPR Diploma gave me an opportunity to pursue an area of PR which particularly interested me.  It gave me the framework to develop a comprehensive and meaningful piece of work which combined both real-life PR practitioner experience and academic theory.”

Heather Yaxley, CIPR Diploma course leader at Cambridge Marketing College where Stephen studied, was also in attendance at the conference.  Heather said “Stephen’s enthusiasm for social media and PR was apparent in his dissertation and I am sure that his ability to combine real-world experience with academic theory brought an original approach to the research.  Stephen’s approach in seeking to bring together academic theory and practitioner behaviour for a really contemporary area of PR led to his successful award of the Jos Willems prize.”

ENDS

http://www.cipr.co.uk/news/index.htm

Goatherds make excellent financial reporters

To say that the media has taken something of an interest in covering the economic meltdown over the last few months would be an understatement of proportions as epic as the national debt of Iceland. Indeed certain reporters now wield significant (arguably too much) influence over what is happening in the market and the decisions which the institutions and government are making. Robert Peston’s blog has most notably come in for criticism for his ‘exclusive’ reports some of which have been questioned as being self fulfilling prophecies. But what we rarely consider is the experience and qualifications which reporters and industry commentators have to report, and pass their own opinion on this very unique of crises.

So thanks to Gorkana for bringing a very interesting article to my attention. The G2 on Friday ran an interview with the FT’sAssistant Editor, Gillian Tett. Gillian has a PhD in Social Anthropology (which involved living as a Tajik goatherd for a year) and claims that this has given her an “unusual, but wholly valid perspective of the financial markets.” As our economy because increasingly globalised and connected, it is refreshing to read about someone with such a holistic view of the markets and economy.

 

Read the full article here.

Notes and Asides.

I notice Peston was due to appear a recent edition of Have I Got News for You but was pulled at the last minute from the show. The reason given was it wasn’t deemed appropriate for finance journalist to be on a comedy programme in the current climate. However, I wonder if it was also an attempt to dampen Peston’s ‘celebrity’, I hear he has a book out soon.