Better Google serach for the blind

This is an upgrade from Goole for easier searching for the visually impaired.

Major communication channel upgrade

Today, the Google Groups team launched a new beta version, available to anyone at groups-beta.google.com. It may have been awhile since you thought of Groups as cool or sexy — if you ever did — but I couldn’t have been more excited to work on the team responsible for making the current Google Groups better.

Google Groups is the old Usenet rendered as web pages.

In many subjects it competes with Blogs for comment, criticism and content.

It is one of the really big online channels for communication and this has potential. It is quite MySpace in its way.

Google haf vays off making you tell zee truth

Jim Horton was really on the ball with this one. He posts:

No doubt you read this story in the last day or so about Google's CEO predicting a way on the internet for anyone to check the accuracy of a politician's statements. To some degree, that exists, but one has to dig. Schmidt is predicting in five years there will be an easy way for any citizen to do it and for a service like Google to render a probability of truthfulness.

What he failed to say is that similar truth-telling approaches will be applied to companies as well, such as this blog posting comparing the cost of car services for two chief executives in New York. Once facts are available somewhere, they are potentially available everywhere on the internet. It's a matter of building search and database functions.

monitoring, searching and fact checking is a habit. For the PR industry its time to hone those skills and for 'creatives', stretching the truth has a five year half life but even better we will get rid of the marketing speak garbage such as 'XXX company leader in...'.

Hooray!

Why we need Ajax

Now this is going to be difficult. Its about Ajax an approach to software development and what is comming up.

In the tech world Ajax its cool.

To PR practitioners its about being able to use information from one source and mix it with another source as an understandable page of information.

Look boss - no hands.

The process allows data to interact without you doing anything. It allows you to look at data from different perspectives. Er... should this photo be top right or bottom left and which title are we going to use for the MD.. is he a CEO today?

With XPRL (of course I expect that you are already demanding that any data coming into your company or agency is compliant) you can get Ajax software people to knock up all sorts of gizmo's really fast and really cheap (but you need XPRL to make it REALLY cheap).

One of the reasons all this is cool is at Read/Write today.

They comment on the Ektron and SitePoint survey of 5,000 web developers in a report entitled The State of Web Development 2006/2007.


One thing to note is that most development is XML based (blogs, RSS, wikis etc all depend heavily on XML standards) . The other thing to note is the sort of stuff that developers think are critical this year.

• Real-time visual 3D view and navigation of a site
• more standards compliance, responsible use of technologies and semantics
• portable information progress
• Paradigm shift: you will not search the Web for information. You will define what you want, and the Web will collect it for you.
• Voice interactivity/navigation
• "...total immersion. Cell phones, PDAs, laptops, PCs, TVs – so many different ways exist to access the Web and more are added every day. The Web is going to become –if it hasn’t already – the hub on which the world spins."
• "Integration of Internet technologies into everyday life that does not involve a desktop or even a mobile/cell/PDA"

PR's looking in wrong direction

'The speed of technological change' is a phrase frequently used in the media. It creates an image of a fast-paced world in which the advancement of gadgets is relentless. But the man on the street, it seems, is being left behind.

Sounds like Director General of my acquaintance. Actually it comes from a certain Haymarket publication hiding behind passwords that i have not got time to fiddle with.

Of course, this writer is wrong. He is just looking in the wrong direction. He can't see that technology is not just about a PC in the bedroom.

This stuff is not about Q: 'do you know about blogging?' ..... A: 'No but I have a few web sites I go to - an sometimes I comment'... You don't have to call it a blog to be able to use it.

You don't have to call it near field communication - you can call it an Oyster card or a season ticket.

The £5000 people spend each year on gadgets is of no consequence? Best of Stuff, claims that 30% of Brits own up to 15 gadgets, with mobile phones voted as 'top gadget' by 26% of respondents.

More than one million Freeview digital TV boxes or televisions with built-in digital tuners are being sold every three months as Britons prepare for the digital switchover, industry regulator Ofcom said on Wednesday.

The use of things like Oyster cards to get into football matches, the uptake of digital TV (zero to over 50% in less than a year) and all those things have passed this contributor by.

So much for the platforms but what then of football podcasts and blogs, YouTube look alike products and BeBo being the fastest growing searched for brand this year.....

The man in the street, far from being left behind is buying beers with his cell phone.

Its the PR industry that is being left behind.

Podcasting football - wshat opportunities

The second Connacht podcast is here! Rob Murphy talks with Connacht Coach Michael Bradley & captain John Fogarty about the game against Leinster and the up-coming clash with Ulster in Galway next Friday night.

He has provided a full podcast for the supporters club of his interviews with the Connacht Coach and Captain.

Podcasting is popular in football but the key here is the range of outlets that have been created.

Here are some used and suggestions for further distribution:

Club site
Local papers, radio (yes why not?) and TV sites
Email distribution
Club blog
Fan blogs
Local Pub/club/sports shop sites
iTunes etc
CD's

The list goes on... all in the name of creating communities

When you get cut off

Seth Godin has an object lesson in managing an issue.

When web sites don't work, its your organisation that is cut off from the world and not the world cut off from you. The world goes somewhere else.

This then is an issue for people who are responsible for relationships - its a PR issue.

Back to Seth:

It's easy to riff and agitate and brainstorm about the marketing message, about authenticity, about treating people the way you want to be treated... but if your building burns down, it doesn't really matter so much.

Amazon's shopping cart has been broken, off and on, for days now. I can't find a status blog for them, so it might just be me and a few colleagues, or it might be everyone in the world.

That's like every single Walmart in the country unable to open their doors because the locks are jammed. Suddenly, having good locksmiths on staff is really important.

As the bar keeps getting raised for what people expect from an online experience, the collection of things that you MUST get right keeps going up. It's expensive, but so is rent. It's part of the deal.

A million visitors every month

MAYO Communications, a Los Angeles public relations and marketing agency is celebrating its first anniversary of a prototype website that offers free publicity tips for marketing communications. www.MayoPR.com. It

MAYO evolved from a high tech public relations firm to servicing entertainment publicity clients and nonprofit organizations. MayoPR.com, which was launched a year ago this month now receives an average of 1.230 million visitors a month according the Urchin Statistics, which tracks the website.

This is an example of how one can build a presence on-line to attract people. It PR!

If its mobile its (still) news

Tech Digest has caught up with Leverwealth:

It's not news that online social networking sites are going mobile. MySpace took its first steps into mobile earlier this year in the US (with mobile operator Helio).

But talk seems to be intensifying, as the big Web 2.0 sites realise that mobile will be an important part of their future development.

Bebo plans to launch its own mobile service next year, possibly in partnership with O2.

A call for a 'press listing' of Social Spaces

Introducing Weblo, a new virtual world where the networking is more financial than social.

Members can buy and sell property and virtual domain names, as well as become the online publicity manager for a celebrity of their choice. All this based on real-world assets too, from buildings to celebs, while the domain names are the sames as ones owned out on the 'real' Web.

It is said to be doing well. But here is yet another communication channel to watch. Its all about which niche publics want to use it. In PR we now need the equivalent of a Media list to keep track of all these emerging channels for conversations.

Shropshire Star football blog

ShropshireStar.com is joining the fun with the launch of our new Shrewsbury Town fan’s blog.

This is another newspaper using blogs as a marketing tool as much as a communication and social group building offeringbr

Their Shrewsbury Town blogger is fan David Craig, who will be sharing his thoughts on the comings and goings and the ups and downs at his favourite club.

Check out his blog in their Community section and see whether the Shrews gave him a happy birthday last weekend.

Political bloggers

By Tom Burgis at the FT gives a run down of the blogs that are providing excitement in Tory Party Conference week.

Big blog boris is on the list and is a VERY human voice.

As the Conservatives seek to recast themselves as a modern party, au fait with iPods and fretting over carbon footprints, Tories have eagerly been following their leader into the blogosphere - and the blue blogs have been abuzz with gossip and vim this week from the party’s conference in Bournemouth

Your job explianing the stuff

Nielsen//NetRatings has released a survey that shows the latest internet trends and technologies are still a mystery to many UK consumers, reports e-consultancy.

This means PR people have a role to play in educating the public to help just as the Sun newspaper is doing (and very, very well).

The report shows 52% of British web users believe online and digital technologies make their life easier, but a similar percentage say they find them difficult to follow.

The least-heard-of terms include VOD (75%), Wikis (70%), and IPTV and Really Simple Syndication (both 69%), while 67% aren’t aware of Web 2.0. One in seven also know of the iPod but don’t know what one is.

While many of these technologies aren’t especially visible, the results suggest the industry could be failing to adequately educate internet users about new developments.

Readers flock to newspapers

Wired News reportes that:

The average number of monthly visitors to U.S. newspaper websites rose by nearly a third in the first half of 2006, a study released on Wednesday said, though print readership at some larger papers fell…

The average number of unique visitors to online newspaper sites in the first half was more than 55.5 million a month, the study said. That compares with 42.2 million a year earlier….

The Washington Post’s website increased its audience reach among readers aged 25 to 34 by more than 60 percent…

The number of page views at newspaper sites rose by about 52 percent in the first half…

Of course, it is content online that is making waves.

So its silly for newspapers to put barriers to entry as in Belgium.

As a practitioner, of course, you need to be sure that any story run by a publications will be available in print AND online.

But we all know that don't we?

Kevin Anderson is reporting on the AOL meeting.

His current contribution is great and reports on contributions from:

• Tom Bureau, CNET Networks UK
• Adriana Cronin-Lukas, Big Blog Company
• Lloyd Shepherd, Yahoo!

From which I took these thoughts, which I like:

This is not about technology but a developing culture. This about creating content and distributing it like never before. The one trend driving this on all sorts of fronts. The consumer is no more. The monolithic is no more. People are contributing. Does this technology allow people to do what they could not do before?

In the early days, lots of people see the internete as another channel. TV, print, radio and internet are just seen as another distribution channel. But the internet is a sea for the other channels. It is creating leaks from these other channels. We all swim in the same pool. The internet is not a one way channel.

The internet is a network. Users are rerouting around the gatekeepers.

It's important to think about who you serve. There is only a small sliver of groups who will contribute, but they are very important. Try to focus on the top third of level of passion/expertise and numbers. Do not try to reach the 'true freaks' but with 'avid contributors' with a very deep way.

Transforming a newspaper into a multimedia house

Kevin Anderson reports on the way Ulrik Haagerup has transformed his traditional newspapers.

This was the second time in a year that I've heard Ulrik speak, and it's a real treat. I first heard him talk at an IFRA convergence workshop last summer. His ideas are compelling, but his new media leadership is some of the best in the world. He clearly communicates a plan of action for media organisations but he also has a management framework that helps organisations help staff through the change.

They now have a multimedia newsroom. They don't have newspaper reporters or radio reporters. They have reporters. They create story for all media, but not all stories are created for all media. He broke it down this way as media and their strengths:
TV- feelings
Radio- here and now
Web- searchable and depth
Mobile- everywhere
Traffic paper- find time
Weekly- to everyone
Daily- stops time

We are seeing this in the changes at the FT and Daily Telegraph. The item makes interesting reading.

Blogging ROI

Kent Newsome Makes some excellent point in the debate about blogging ROI. I like this comment:

This never ending effort to treat blogging as some new age business plan continues to read to me like someone furiously trying to stuff a round peg into a square hole. But sometimes you take the conversation where and as you find it, so let's take a look.

Publicis to take majority stake in Freud

By FT reporters Tim Burt in New York and Gary Silverman in London

Published: June 17 2005 03:00 | Last updated: June 17 2005 03:00

Publicis, the French marketing services group, is to take majority control of Freud Communications of the UK in a deal valuing the privately-owned public relations business at about €70m-€80m ($85m-$97m).

Video in Social space needs contextual relationship

Forrester Research has just released a comprehensive study examining online video consumption and the effectiveness of online video advertising. For those of us trying to figure out how online video advertising will work, this is a very valuable report (see BeetTV for more info)

Senior Analyst Brian Haven speaks with Beet.TV from his Cambridge, Massachusetts office. His take on the nascent online video advertising space is both optimistic and harsh. He writes that video ads seen on clips as "pre-roll" don't yet resonate with consumers: they don't notice the ads, don't interact with them and are fairly negative about ads that interfere with their viewing enjoyment. He says that 82 percent of consumers say that ads within a video clip are "annoying."

Easiest creation of a television channel in history

Ian Douglass at the Telegraph wants to point you towards a few things. The first is the easiest creation of a television channel in history. Terry Teachout, drama critic at the Wall St Journal, was dismayed at the lack of arts coverage on television so he scoured YouTube.com for things he liked and linked to them from his blog. The result, he argues, is a new arts-based on-demand channel (he calls it ArtsTube) that includes film of Picasso at work, Elvis Presley performing Blue Suede Shoes and Willhelm Furtwängler conducting Die Meistersinger in a hall full of swastika banners.