Who invented the skip?

RIP Google Reader – but RSS remains an important PR tool

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 16:33:43 +0100

What I wrote for the Spark blog the other week

There was plenty of hullabaloo across the PR and journalist community last month with the announcement that Google was killing off Google Reader from the start of July. Indeed for many users (including me) the popular RSS reader was one of the main sources of keeping updated on the latest news. Yet at the same time it has become apparent that people’s online news consumption habits are changing with the advent of the likes of Twitter or tablet-inspired news aggregation services such as Flipboard

Clearly Google is of this opinion, with rumours it has a replacement news offering in the works. However, certainly in the fields of PR and journalism there is still clearly very much a need for the trusted RSS. For me it still remains the best way to monitor your chosen news sources on a daily basis without having to filter out the noise of social media chatter. It just isn’t as easy to find an interesting technology story amongst tweets about holidays, football and the latest celebrity meltdown!

Indeed being able to keep on top of the breaking news agenda is also a great way to capitalise on those important issues response opportunities – so I would recommend any one getting into PR that setting up an RSS feed (to monitor key publications, analyst houses, clients and their competitors) should be one of the first things they do.

So with the upcoming demise of Google Reader here are some of the alternative RSS services you can sign up to. (NB. I have signed up to Feedly which also has a couple of excellent iPhone and Android apps. It appears many other people have made that move too in the last month).

Interesting array of shop services

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:42:39 +0100

Interesting array of shop services

Some good Sky Sports proofing going on here

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 23:04:59 +0000

Some good Sky Sports proofing going on here

This looks like a cinematic classic and only 99p too!

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:18:52 +0000

This looks like a cinematic classic and only 99p too!

May the face be with you (credit Metro) - one scary child!

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:37:48 +0000

May the face be with you (credit Metro) - one scary child!

Who knew Kate Middleton was a big fan of Rory McIlroy?

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:05:44 +0000

Who knew Kate Middleton was a big fan of Rory McIlroy?

PR & Journalism – Everything changes but you

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 23:57:02 +0000

What I wrote for the Spark blog:

Excuse the Take That song lyric, but I was going to do a blog post on some of the best and worst examples of PR in 2012 but (a) that wasn’t very original and (b) Apple Maps was bound to feature (yawn!). So I was delighted to see that the PR Buzzword report for 2013 had been published, which was a lot more interesting.

The report highlighted the PR jargon and practices that inflame journalists and there was a lot of chatter about it online from both PRs and journalists regarding its merits. What it did highlight is that whether we like it or not, there is still a lot of PR bad practice out there. So it is understandable that journalists get annoyed, especially in today’s online world where they are expected to write anywhere up to 5 or 6 stories per day. From reading the report what is clear is that beyond the age old complaints about “have you got my press release?” calls, use of language does seem to be a big bugbear. It makes me wonder how many potentially interesting PR stories haven’t seen the light of day as a result of resembling a buzzword bingo scorecard. So the ability to pitch stories in a way that will interest journalists remains a key skill.

That said it isn’t all one way traffic. Lorna Gozzard, blogging for PR Week, has stuck her head above the parapet to list what journalists do to annoy PRs – many of which did seem to ring true from my experiences of PR. What is clear is that journalists and PRs still very much have a love/hate relationship. But if things are really going to improve for the better it really does take two to tango - then again we’d all have to find something else to moan about!

Funny correction in today’s FT, unless Buzz Lightyear has...

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:32:40 +0000

Funny correction in today’s FT, unless Buzz Lightyear has been running Apple for the last 12 months

Pillow rice?

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:41:41 +0000

Pillow rice?

When shopping displays go wrong

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:27:50 +0000

When shopping displays go wrong

Mad Men meets Rick Astley - what is there not to love?

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:45:54 +0100

Mad Men meets Rick Astley - what is there not to love?

Bigfoot is in my living room (Taken with Instagram)

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 11:51:06 +0100

Bigfoot is in my living room (Taken with Instagram)

Night at the Olympic Beach Volleyball

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 20:14:33 +0100

Night at the Olympic Beach Volleyball

Day at the Olympic Park

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 21:59:35 +0100

Day at the Olympic Park

Tweet, Tweet, who's there?

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:38:43 +0100

What I wrote on the Spark blog this week:

I’ve come to the conclusion that with social media it can be all too easy to concentrate on the negatives when things have gone wrong. You only have to look at a couple of the posts that I have written for the Spark blog to confirm that is the case. However, over the last few weeks I’ve seen a couple of instances which have shown that humility can go a long way in appeasing customers venting their frustrations over the likes of Twitter and Facebook.

A lot has been written about the recent O2 outage and indeed this was an issue that one of Spark’s clients Compuware had a strong opinion about. But there was also a lot of generally positive coverage regarding how the company dealt with the crisis over Twitter, showing customers a human side in the face of a barrage of complaints.

On a more personal front after receiving what seemed like my weekly piece of junk mail from Virgin Media I tweeted “Finally found someone who appreciates Virgin Media Junk mail” with a picture of my 5 month old daughter eating the said junk mail. This was then followed the morning afterwards with a tweet directly from @Virginmedia who replied “Haha! Very cute =)”. It may not have stopped the barrage of junk mail just yet but it did get me thinking of Virgin Media in a much more positive light – so it is one up for their social media team.

Clearly many companies can be very heavy handed when it comes to interacting on social media; you only have to look at Yodel going directly to Twitter to try and have negative tweets removed (NB. the irony being that based on recent personal experience, Yodel’s Twitter team seem to be doing a relatively good job fixing the mistakes of their delivery staff). Like most things in life a calm (and sometimes humorous) approach is the best way forwards and in social media it isn’t any different.

It’s Star Wars mash up time - the cast sing Call Me Maybe

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 20:56:18 +0100

It’s Star Wars mash up time - the cast sing Call Me Maybe

Finally found someone who likes Virgin Media junk mail!

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 19:18:15 +0100

Finally found someone who likes Virgin Media junk mail!

Leona Lewis looks a lot different since the last time I saw her!

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 18:14:41 +0100

Leona Lewis looks a lot different since the last time I saw her!

Repost: Power to the people?

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:25:01 +0100

What I wrote on for the Spark blog this week:

Last week there was huge furore over the banning of the NeverSeconds blog by a local council in Scotland. It appeared that some councillors were unhappy about a local pupil taking a photo of her school meal each day and reviewing it. Once the story broke, the Twittersphere (sorry a horrid word I know!) was ablaze with support for the blog with #NeverSeconds soon becoming a trending topic.

Of course by the end of day the council had backed down and the ban on the pupil taking photos at the school had been lifted. The BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones even suggested (tongue in cheek) it was a PR masterstroke by the council to raise the profile of the local area!

What the whole saga does illustrate is that there are still a host of organisations out there that fail to grasp the power and influence of social media. The advent of blogging and the likes of Twitter have empowered people more than ever before to speak out and share their opinions. Many organisations are now playing with fire if they simply ignore social media and deem it just as a ‘PR annoyance’. As shown by the NeverSeconds story, campaigns can quickly take a life of their own, so organisations need to be prepared to respond in a timely manner otherwise they risk losing face.

Whether we like it or not the world is becoming more social. Ultimately how organisations react to social media is as important as how they interact with it.

Apparently my iPhone knows more about my daughter than I do

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 22:54:59 +0100

Apparently my iPhone knows more about my daughter than I do