Wednesday, December 23, 2009 What’ll be behind the big buzz of 2010?

“But everyone is posting their lists of what’ll be big in 2010,” I’d hear you cry if I was listening.

1. HYPERBLOGGING



Automatically sharing content across your social networks, sites and feeds will be the new way of publishing. LinkedIn talks to Twitter, Posterous has been reborn and more things talk to your Facebook account that you know. 2010 will see us turn into personal content networks.

2. MEASURING STUFF



Brands are still OK with digital campaigns that aren’t measured. But next year marketing professionals are going to have show some skills in measurement. You may tweet 100 times are day but does anyone read them and buy your stuff?

3. DIGITAL HIJACKING



If Ann Summers can hijack Google searches for ‘British Airways’ with cheeky ads for sex toys then you can too. Fast-moving communications strategies that match with online trending topics – some which only last hours – are going to be the in thing next year.

4. CONTENT ANARCHY



The iPod Nano has a video camera. Flips and Vados are cheap, easy-to-use and ubiquitous. Netbooks toting more power than your work PC are on the shelves for less that £250. Fuelled by interconnected platforms (see #1) we’re tooled up to give other people their 15 seconds of fame.

5. THE BACKLASH



‘Social media’ will become a hackneyed term. ‘Social media gurus’ will be outed as relentless puff peddlars, absorbed in building their own personal brands with no real knowledge of how influence really works. When digital is everything you do, you don’t need specialists...

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 Christmas clearout

I've just had a giant Winterval clearout of my RSS reader. Oh yes, this is big time exciting. Try to contain yourself.

I'm down to 83 feeds. Ones that I know work best in Google Reader, and that I don't catch up with elsewhere (like iGoogle, Twitter, Facebook or my browser bookmarks).

But I'm stuck with loads of uncategorised blogs. So I'm going to have a sort out here too. These are not news sources or blogs I *need* to read every day. Most are PR, but a few aren't.

Here's the list I'm working with - you never know, there might be some you haven't discovered yet...

A PR Guru's Musings
PR Blogger
Morgan McLintic on PR
Drew B's take on tech PR
Confused of Calcutta
Charles on... Anything that comes along
Blue Soup
Just Juiced
Journalistics
PR nowandthen
PR Studies
renaissance chambara
The Journal of Rockett Science
Ross Mayfield's Weblog
Rough Type
Simon Wakeman
sixtysecondview
Brendan Cooper
The Opposite Direction
PR, the Universe and Everything
W(EB)2.0
Word Wise

Monday, December 21, 2009 I know it's been a tough year but...

The Observer's 2009 quiz, sweetly headlined 'This one's for all the family' features 100 questions so miserable I only got halfway through before needing a lie down.

Some example questions:

• What is cello scrotum?
• More than 600 TV jobs are being lost, mainly in Leeds, due primarily to the closing of which two programmes?
• Six people were injured after auditions for a reality show turned into a shambolic stampede in the streets of New York, during which three people were arrested. Which show?
• Everyone knows the name Phil Spector, who was finally jailed this year for murder. But can you remember the name of his female victim?
• American Dr Tiller was shot dead in his church by anti-abortionists. He worked in one of only three clinics in the States which continues to perform terminations after how many weeks?

And my personal favourite:

• Artist Maurice Agis was fined £10,000 for having breached health and safety protocols when his inflatable sculpture Dreamspace burst free of its moorings and floated away in 2006, with people inside. How many people died?

Fun for all the family! I can imagine the conversations going on across Britain as people settle down with a mulled wine and some mince pies...

"Was it five?"
"No, I think it was less. Some were just maimed."
"Does it count if they've died since 2006?"
"Hang on, wasn't this quiz supposed to be about 2009?"

Saturday, December 19, 2009 Working out who will be UK Christmas number one (using Twitter)

Here is the Twendz (the Waggener Edstrom Twitter sentiment analyser) results screen for 'Rage Against The Machine'. You'll notice the current breakdown of sentiment is 24% positive, 67% neutral and 9% negative.



And here is the same snapshot for 'X Factor'. This shows a much more even split - with 29% positive, 30% neutral and 41% negative tweets.

X Factor really polarises opinion, while Rage Against The Machine seems to be avoiding too much harshness. But what does it all mean?

I'll tell you what it means - that you need to tweet more nice things about RATM. (Now do what I tell you.)

Rage Against The Machine FTW!

Friday, December 11, 2009 Story in The Metro is a gift (horse)

I have been known to type entire stories from The Metro onto these pages, just to feel what it's like to write words of such genius. Today is one of those days.

71-year-old avoids jail over horse sex

A pensioner who performed a sex act on a horse has avoided being sent to prison.
David Chamberlin, 71, was spotted in a field with the horse's head in his groin by the animal's owner.
'The witness was shaken and disgusted by what he saw,' prosecutor Noelle Brockbank told Teeside Magistrates' Court.
'He picked up a stick and struck the defendant. That startled the horse, causing it to run off, dragging the defendant with it.'

Wednesday, December 09, 2009 Music meets irony as Vevo goes Gaga

Vevo, Google's new site designed to stream music videos legally, launched yesterday in New York.

The site will be an alternative to YouTube for people wanting higher-quality content in exchange for watching higher-value (read 15-second roadblock) ads.

Lady Gaga was the special guest, performing a song from her new album. Which someone in the audience videoed...

And put on YouTube. Aaah, the irony.

Friday, December 04, 2009 Am I the last person in the world to discover 'Kemp Folds'?

I'm glad the Internet still has the power to surprise and delight.



A colleague just introduced me to the haunting beauty of the 'Kemp Folds' movement - the art of folding pictures of soap-actor-turned-documentary-hardman Ross Kemp.

*BONUS ROSS KEMP FACT*
I once saw him in Fulham Sainsburys being very loud and enthusiastically shaking hands with everyone while shopping.

Aaaaaargh! I have been locked out of my Twitter account!

And it's the PERFECT thing to Twitter about! #takesitoutonhisbloginstead



Chillax? CHILLAX?!

Thursday, December 03, 2009 What happens when Stephen Fry mentions your website on Twitter?

Watch my video of a lucky site getting 'Fryed'.

What did Tiger really mean?

As a journalist / copywriter / PR person I find it fascinating how public figures formulate their press statements. Following the coverage of an incident involving his 4x4, a tree, a golf club and a couple of alleged affairs, Tiger Woods released his statement yesterday via his website.

Here are my views on his language. Overall, it's a carefully crafted piece that admits nothing, consistently reinforces his family values, appeals to the public for support, and blames the press for everything.

"I have let my family [starts with this point to make sure people realise they are the most important thing, first use of word 'family'] down and I regret those transgressions [biblical term appeals to US audience / also means 'violation of the norm' suggests it was out of character] with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values [again, underlining these weren't really him] and the behavior my family [second use of 'family'] deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect [infers that people thought he was perfect, reinforces that his goal is to return to form]. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors [criticism of press coverage] with my family [third use of 'family']. Those feelings should be shared by us alone [criticism of press coverage]."

Click to zoom in on the rest of my markups.