The social networking juggernaut MySpace, owned by News Co was the No. 1 video site in July, topping YouTube, seasoned Internet companies, like Yahoo and and older companies in this area like Viacom says MarketWatch.
This is pretty significant considering that YouTube and Google Video have considerable media coverage and are regarded to be leaders. But now that third-party figures are available for individual sites, we're beginning to see who's actually attracting those coveted eyeballs.
According to a new video report that comScore Media Metrix will begin offering starting Tuesday morning, 37.4 million unique individuals watched a video on MySpace in July.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Richard Branson get the buzz
Charles Pretzlik in his FT blog has been examining what the bloggersphere has been saying about the Branson announcement last week. He reports:
The first id that a journalist has not only looked but commeneted in depth and critically at what the bloggersphere is saying.
Secondly that the buzz created by the announcent has been of a dimention to make it newsworthy.
Third, is the acknowledgement that bloggers are making a serious contribution.
I also noted that the FT is using its blogs for informed comment. In many ways bringing the style of the Economist to FT blogs.
The web has been buzzing this weekend with discussion of Sir Richard Branson’s decision to devote $3bn to alternative energy, announced at the Clinton Global Initiative. Chris Hughes explained in Saturday’s FT how this “amounts to a massive ‘asset allocation’ switch out of transport and into green energy” and he went on to ask if this was wise. But the bloggers (see below) have been providing their own answers.There are a number of important outtakes from the article.
The first id that a journalist has not only looked but commeneted in depth and critically at what the bloggersphere is saying.
Secondly that the buzz created by the announcent has been of a dimention to make it newsworthy.
Third, is the acknowledgement that bloggers are making a serious contribution.
I also noted that the FT is using its blogs for informed comment. In many ways bringing the style of the Economist to FT blogs.
David Davis launches new PR training service
David Davis has extended his askdd service.
The service ( www.askddtraining.com ) from “agony uncle” and former vice chairman of Edelman, the world’s largest independent PR company, comprises:
* Training needs analyses & planning
* Customised in-company workshops which are practical and tailored to meet the needs of individuals and their employers
* Continuous post-workshop mentoring
* Quality support materials
* Confidential management reports
* 1-2-1 coaching
The askdd service has a single fee of just £245 for up to a maximum of eight delegates at an askdd training workshop with a guaranteed 100% refund if there is any dissatisfaction with the quality of the service.
“This is a fairer way to charge. It doesn’t mean any lowering of standards and most importantly it brings professional PR training into the reach of even the smallest agency or in-house department.” David said.
David said that currently there was a mixed picture of PR training in Britain. On the bright side universities and professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations successfully offer longer term PR training to achieve a qualification for those who had the time and money; at the same time the large companies with HR departments invest heavily in improving the skills of their own people.
However, he notes, it was a serious concern that many PR companies and their people were being left behind in the training stakes because the public workshops were not delivering what is needed.
He had, he says, received many complaints about PR training workshops which critics claimed were often:
* Irrelevant with excessive focus on theory
* Did not meet individual needs
* Provided no follow up support
* Too expensive
If some of the blogging courses we see are anything to go by, one can but agree. So many of them identify 'control' as a key outcome. Silly really.
The service ( www.askddtraining.com ) from “agony uncle” and former vice chairman of Edelman, the world’s largest independent PR company, comprises:
* Training needs analyses & planning
* Customised in-company workshops which are practical and tailored to meet the needs of individuals and their employers
* Continuous post-workshop mentoring
* Quality support materials
* Confidential management reports
* 1-2-1 coaching
The askdd service has a single fee of just £245 for up to a maximum of eight delegates at an askdd training workshop with a guaranteed 100% refund if there is any dissatisfaction with the quality of the service.
“This is a fairer way to charge. It doesn’t mean any lowering of standards and most importantly it brings professional PR training into the reach of even the smallest agency or in-house department.” David said.
David said that currently there was a mixed picture of PR training in Britain. On the bright side universities and professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations successfully offer longer term PR training to achieve a qualification for those who had the time and money; at the same time the large companies with HR departments invest heavily in improving the skills of their own people.
However, he notes, it was a serious concern that many PR companies and their people were being left behind in the training stakes because the public workshops were not delivering what is needed.
He had, he says, received many complaints about PR training workshops which critics claimed were often:
* Irrelevant with excessive focus on theory
* Did not meet individual needs
* Provided no follow up support
* Too expensive
If some of the blogging courses we see are anything to go by, one can but agree. So many of them identify 'control' as a key outcome. Silly really.
ANTHONY HARRINGTON
When a reporter is immoral or dissolute or prostitutes their trade, they deserve such just one epithet. The Scotland on Sunday reporter fits the bill well.
He writes:
CORPORATE social responsibility (CSR) may at one stage have been little more than a public relations exercise for a good section of corporates. Today, however, it is central to how many leading-edge companies do business.
Is it, I ask, moral to be the user of information from Public Relations people and yet call what they do as 'no more than an exercise'?
In the article he even reports what Public Relations people say and called them to get more information. There is no restraints in his use of the work of people who only do this as 'no more than an exercise'. The service is in one moment worthless and at another accepted as part of his work. Indeed, it s the primary route by which information is derived for the article.
Is this the proper conduct of a journalist in seeking the truth. Is the checking of fact so evidently outside the influence of despised pariah Public Relations?
Even more improper is his passing reference to the identification of publics without proper investigation of the truths and sciences behind them.
He airily notes that
In broad terms, CSR reporting is generally seen as having four facets or "impact areas" across which companies measure themselves. These are the marketplace, the workplace, the environment and the community.
His view is partial, Fredmanseque and lacks any depth, an unrestrained blurting opinion, based on peripheral knowledge of a dissipated who has lost any sense of journalistic rectitude.
Just spin then!
Vitues and Vices
Gideon Rachman of the FT reflects
"Over the summer a strange array of politicians started blogging. They included Hillary Clinton, who hopes to be the next president of America; Lionel Jospin, who hopes to be the next president of France; and Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, who is already president of Iran.
"Blogging as a medium has virtues: speed, spontaneity, interactivity and the vast array of information and expertise that millions of bloggers can bring together. But it also has its vices. The archetypal political blog favours instant response over reflection; commentary over original research; and stream-of-consciousness over structure.
"Was that last judgment fair? Does it really follow logically from the rest of the argument? I am not sure and I have no time to think about it further. I have to get back to my blog."
His references to some blogs are also helpful and include:
David Cameron: David Miliband: Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad: Lionel Jospin: ; Hillary Clinton: Segolene Royal: Ferenc Gyurcsany
How blogs and podcasts can give PR a human face
Steven Vass, Media Correspondent of the Sunday Herald reports and gets it wrong. Blogs will never give Public Relations a human face. PR can help organisations express themselves in human terms to publics.
But he starts off ok:
But he starts off ok:
THE Thomson holiday people have got it right. Guinness has got it wrong. L’Oréal started off badly but has made a good recovery. Most Scottish companies, on the other hand, are not even at the races.These are some of the conclusions delegates can expect at a conference about the business benefits of blogs, podcasts and other new media taking place in Edinburgh next week.....
JupiterResearch get into Social marketing Research
JupiterResearch has launched a new ‘Social Marketing research’ service which will specialise in online social networking and user-generated media, otherwise known as consumer-generated media or CGM.
The service aims to provide marketers and site owners with recommendations on how to profit from the use of consumer-generated content, blogs, podcasts, and other emerging media tools. The ‘Social Marketing’ offering will form part of the firm’s Marketing & Advertising suite of research products, which also includes Advertising & Branding, E-mail Marketing, Online Behavior & Demographics, Search Marketing, and SMB Marketing.
The service aims to provide marketers and site owners with recommendations on how to profit from the use of consumer-generated content, blogs, podcasts, and other emerging media tools. The ‘Social Marketing’ offering will form part of the firm’s Marketing & Advertising suite of research products, which also includes Advertising & Branding, E-mail Marketing, Online Behavior & Demographics, Search Marketing, and SMB Marketing.
Banks in social space
Financial services firms are exploring the use of 'social media' channels to connect with new customer markets, and in particular the youth market, says Finestra.
Dutch bank ING Direct, for instance, has launched a viral video marketing campaign that promotes its new 'orange mortgage' to renters and potential first time home buyers.
The backbone of the campaign is a new Web site which features content, video clips and games. ING says the site also features a hidden secret mortgage offer that effectively reduces the closing costs on the mortgage to zero.
ING says the campaign is designed to reach first time home buyers through creative, interactive activities and links with other Internet destinations most familiar to the majority of the audience.
dot cwm
icWales has this report about a Welsh domain. A little change which could unite all Welsh people and those who belong to the world-wide Welsh community. That thing is .cym
Yes, the campaign for a Top Level Domain (TLD) for the Welsh language and linguistic community is up and running and is gaining strength as Welsh and Welshness looks for status on the world wide web.
I am thinking of running one for Wiltshire. dot wilt would be useful. imagine a domain called www.thou.wilt or www.myroses.wilt.When pitching leave contact details
I talked about specialist vertical search engines yesterday and got a comment that was really a pitch.
It was anonymous. There is no evidence of who owns and runs the company, there is no contact address and it may easily be a scam from the Spanish Mafia without delving into the labyrinth of Companies House. The sites that are being promoted equally do not have contact information that helps so we do not know who this is and are expected to reveal our email address to them.
On yer Bike!
Of course I will not post spam comment especially if it could come from the man in the moon. But this serves as a lesson in how not to do online PR in the bloggersphere. Transparency is vitally important.
This is what the comment said:
As it happens, the site is registered to Enrique Dominguez of Rossello 277 6, BArcelona, 08034, Spain and was registered in March.
I still would not trust this site with my email address.
It was anonymous. There is no evidence of who owns and runs the company, there is no contact address and it may easily be a scam from the Spanish Mafia without delving into the labyrinth of Companies House. The sites that are being promoted equally do not have contact information that helps so we do not know who this is and are expected to reveal our email address to them.
On yer Bike!
Of course I will not post spam comment especially if it could come from the man in the moon. But this serves as a lesson in how not to do online PR in the bloggersphere. Transparency is vitally important.
This is what the comment said:
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Vertical Search":
Hi, David We would like you to check our vertical search sites: - Trovit Jobs - Trovit cars, second hand cars - Trovit Homes, real estate We hope you like them!
As it happens, the site is registered to Enrique Dominguez of Rossello 277 6, BArcelona, 08034, Spain and was registered in March.
I still would not trust this site with my email address.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Xanga have criminal tendancies
A social networking website has agreed to pay a $1m fine to settle with authorities over allegations that it collected, used and disclosed personal details of children under 13 says The Register.
The Xanga site stated that children under 13 could not join, but then allowed visitors to create Xanga accounts even if they provided a birth date indicating they were under 13, it said.
Xanga has 25m registered members (mostly in the USA).
Of course, it should be shut down. Marc Ginsberg and John Hiler, the founders, need to be exposed for what they are.
The Xanga site stated that children under 13 could not join, but then allowed visitors to create Xanga accounts even if they provided a birth date indicating they were under 13, it said.
Xanga has 25m registered members (mostly in the USA).
Of course, it should be shut down. Marc Ginsberg and John Hiler, the founders, need to be exposed for what they are.
Hype or Hip
Madgex, the UK market leader in B2B online publishing systems, today announces its new product Backnetwork, a revolutionary social networking tool ....
Oh Yea! This Second Life look alike may be interesting but would you want to partner an organisation that was soooo deep into scream marketing?
most comprehensive
function-rich
like never before
Well if you do want an online tool for delegates attending a conference, this could be interesting - but what ever you do, don't let the salesman in. You might end up with an iceberg in your coffee.
Oh Yea! This Second Life look alike may be interesting but would you want to partner an organisation that was soooo deep into scream marketing?
most comprehensive
function-rich
like never before
Well if you do want an online tool for delegates attending a conference, this could be interesting - but what ever you do, don't let the salesman in. You might end up with an iceberg in your coffee.
70,000 Freshers Get It
Univillage.com, the social networking website backed by lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman, claims it is on target to sign 90% of all UK university first years, making student recruitment tough for US rival Facebook.
The site, which officially launched last month, is targeting the 400,000 freshers entering university and, ultimately, the 1.2 million full-time students in the UK.
"It is clear British is best when it comes to social networking, with freshers preferring a site dedicated to UK students to something adapted from a generic US model," said Mr Hoberman, a strategic adviser and non-executive director at the company.
Does your web site pass the eye test?
Nomensa, has been looking at web accessibility guidelines put in place to make it easier for people with disabilities such as sight impairments to use the internet. This affects an online population of 10 million disabled people in the UK who, according to the Disability Rights Commission, have a collective spending power of £80bn.
AAccordingto Nomensa, reported in Silicon.com
AAccordingto Nomensa, reported in Silicon.com
"The study of the top 30 retail websites found that not one homepage achieves single-A compliance, which is the minimum requirement by law for making websites more accessible for disabled people in accordance with the globally recognised Web Content Accessibility Guidelines3 version 1.0."
Vertical Search
There is a form of public relations that is quite powerful.
It is in the creation of vertical search engines. TechCrunch talks of the new Estate agent search engine Nestoria today which is an example. The application of the principle need not be so detailed and can be used in many applications from law to second hand cars.
It is in the creation of vertical search engines. TechCrunch talks of the new Estate agent search engine Nestoria today which is an example. The application of the principle need not be so detailed and can be used in many applications from law to second hand cars.
Considering the Internet
A major report of the future of the Internet is published today and is reported by the BBC.
For most people this is not of great interest. It is after all about what will be happening in 15 years time.
For policy makers, such as the CIPR, which is about to embark on policy making in relation to social media, this document is important calling, as it does, on 742 of the best informed experts world wide.
There will be 'bubbles' on the way but this report is about the long run. Its insights infest the core of organisation and the way we manage governance and defend our way of life. It has to be noted that this is about the Internet. Riding on this wave will be the communications platforms and multitude of channels for interaction (not just communication from now on) that will mediate all PR programmes.
If the institutions where to identify how these developments will be affecting organisations in 15 years time and were to put some goal posts between now and then, policies and plans for influence over the legislative regime, education institutions and so forth can be developed. It takes five years for legislation to be changed. Education programmes are just as unwieldy, investment cycles are still this long and so, using the agenda provided by the 742, we can see what has to be achieved over the next five years.
On the agenda:
Mobile
Application online not on computers
Luddite counter culture
Ownership of the network
Embedded/near field technologies
Interoperability
Regulation
Powerful will be less transparent
Privacy
Virtual worlds
This should lead to considerations as to what is sensible for future developments in education, practice, tools and technologies, business practice, risk assessment (and insurance).
For most people this is not of great interest. It is after all about what will be happening in 15 years time.
For policy makers, such as the CIPR, which is about to embark on policy making in relation to social media, this document is important calling, as it does, on 742 of the best informed experts world wide.
There will be 'bubbles' on the way but this report is about the long run. Its insights infest the core of organisation and the way we manage governance and defend our way of life. It has to be noted that this is about the Internet. Riding on this wave will be the communications platforms and multitude of channels for interaction (not just communication from now on) that will mediate all PR programmes.
If the institutions where to identify how these developments will be affecting organisations in 15 years time and were to put some goal posts between now and then, policies and plans for influence over the legislative regime, education institutions and so forth can be developed. It takes five years for legislation to be changed. Education programmes are just as unwieldy, investment cycles are still this long and so, using the agenda provided by the 742, we can see what has to be achieved over the next five years.
On the agenda:
Mobile
Application online not on computers
Luddite counter culture
Ownership of the network
Embedded/near field technologies
Interoperability
Regulation
Powerful will be less transparent
Privacy
Virtual worlds
This should lead to considerations as to what is sensible for future developments in education, practice, tools and technologies, business practice, risk assessment (and insurance).
One great reason for having a real voice
An article published today by the BBC Spam trail uncovers junk empire gives a clue about the size of some 'marketing programmes'.
This scam is about retailing pharmaceuticals using spam. The numbers are jaw dropping:
...Every day for 14 days the spammers behind the junk mail campaign pumped out more than 100m messages.
...there were more than 2,000 variations in the content of the messages making up the ... run.
....Over the course of the weeks when the spam was being sent a new variant of message was despatched every 12 minutes.
...more than 100,000 hijacked home computers spread across 119 nations had been used to despatch the junk mail.
This is one of the reasons why, even on a small scale, people have to be alert to spam tendencies whether it is spamming emails, blog posts, trackbacks, wikis and other forms of communication infrastructure.
It also emphasises the advantage of the 'real' and human voice.
A recommendation on a citizen blogger is useful and human. A recommendation from an organisation may be informative but if you mix up the two it is spam and the penalty when found out will get ever greater as the online community gets ever more fed up with being hijacked by 'marketing programmes'.
This scam is about retailing pharmaceuticals using spam. The numbers are jaw dropping:
...Every day for 14 days the spammers behind the junk mail campaign pumped out more than 100m messages.
...there were more than 2,000 variations in the content of the messages making up the ... run.
....Over the course of the weeks when the spam was being sent a new variant of message was despatched every 12 minutes.
...more than 100,000 hijacked home computers spread across 119 nations had been used to despatch the junk mail.
This is one of the reasons why, even on a small scale, people have to be alert to spam tendencies whether it is spamming emails, blog posts, trackbacks, wikis and other forms of communication infrastructure.
It also emphasises the advantage of the 'real' and human voice.
A recommendation on a citizen blogger is useful and human. A recommendation from an organisation may be informative but if you mix up the two it is spam and the penalty when found out will get ever greater as the online community gets ever more fed up with being hijacked by 'marketing programmes'.
The Google way of business
The Fortune magazine article reproduced on CNN Money about Google is fascinating.
It is about cultures and boundaries and how to have a fast moving company.
PR with Business studies students should see this and see how it fits in with the European ISO 9000 culture and working hours directives.
I guess its also about where the fun is.
This of the relationship between Google and Rupert Murdoch!
It is about cultures and boundaries and how to have a fast moving company.
PR with Business studies students should see this and see how it fits in with the European ISO 9000 culture and working hours directives.
I guess its also about where the fun is.
"He goes down there and sort of hangs with them for a while and comes back and says, 'You know, I'm really sure we should do this.' And it's not a numbers argument. It's a feeling of commitment."
This of the relationship between Google and Rupert Murdoch!
Geekier than thou
Via Andrew Lark I have come across another list of Social Media tools that may be useful or which might spark off a creative on-line PR idea. From Read/Write Web comes a list that is just full of new ideas.
Here is a small sample:
Here is a small sample:
| Data Security Systems | Internet authentication and security | DSSS, as a leader in the Authentication Security space, consistently strives to be in the frontier of the technology. Our state-of-art technology serves to provide enterprises and organisations from different arena protection against compromising of security |
 Eluma | Social marketing | Eluma is the only brandable desktop application that drives customer loyalty and incremental revenue through the power of communities. Eluma enables marketers to create an always-on connection to their users, and to leverage the best aspects of social networking in order to provide users with the ability to collaborate with their most trusted source of information - their peers. |
 eSnips | Online sharing | We created eSnips while thinking about how YOU would want to share your stuff. We believe that just like us, you have lots of things to share online. And just like us, you probably want to do it all in ONE place, to have the freedom to share ANY type of information, and to have control over what you share and how you share it. |
 EyeSpot | Video editing and sharing | We set out to build a site which makes it easy to upload, organize and share all that video, photos, and music. Interact with the community, collaborate, and get some great content to work with too. |
 Flurry | Email on any cell phone | Introducing flurry - free mobile email for everyone. With revolutionary ease of use, you can access your email from your mobile phone anywhere and anytime. |
So that will be £200m paid to publishers then
I do not recall a time when the media complained about the amount if money governments spend on press advertising.
I am getting fed up with hearing snide remarks from journalists, some anonymous as in the case of the Evening Standard who say:
Spin doctors are mostly journalists who like to put their own 'spin' on a news story. Public relations people are involved in building mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their constituencies.
Ergo ...I wonder what sort of back-handers have been made to the anonymous journalists employed by the Evening Standard to spin ggovernment stories - or am I reading too much into this?
Judging by how well newspapers are doing, this may simply be a hidden subsidy to the publishers.
I am getting fed up with hearing snide remarks from journalists, some anonymous as in the case of the Evening Standard who say:
.....recent figures showed a vast rise in the Government's spending on spin doctors and public relations - up from £111million in 1997 to more than £300million last year.
Spin doctors are mostly journalists who like to put their own 'spin' on a news story. Public relations people are involved in building mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their constituencies.
Ergo ...I wonder what sort of back-handers have been made to the anonymous journalists employed by the Evening Standard to spin ggovernment stories - or am I reading too much into this?
Judging by how well newspapers are doing, this may simply be a hidden subsidy to the publishers.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)