Month: November 2008

Twitter’s role in the media process #2

Posted on by Becky Green (was McMichael)

I posted a while ago about social media tool, Twitter, and its role in disrupting the media process.  Charles Arthur rightly pointed out:

Except… this is only accurate about “disrupting the flow of the news process” where “news” means “news about technology stuff”.

We in technology PR and media are living in a bubble to a certain extent and mainstream media in other industries are yet to use the tool widely. Rory Cellan-Jones, tech correspondent at the BBC posted this morning about his recent experience using Twitter:

When I said in a “Tweet” last week that I was looking into addiction to online games I immediately got useful replies, including one which sent me to a psychiatrist at the Tavistock who became the key figure in my story. Then, minutes after I did the story on Today, I got more Twitter messages attacking me for being unfair to gamers. I was then able to point them at a blog post I’d written with more detail and that became a forum for a vigorous debate about the pros and cons of online games.

Yes it is a technology topic but it is slightly more mainstream in reach and provides a great case study of how journalists are using Twitter these days.

Yesterday at the Future of Mobile event in London, Guardian writer and lover of Twitter, Jemima Kiss said Twitter is one of the most important tools of her job.

I hope PR folks are listening and taking note…

Courtesy of Paul Walsh via Twinkle

Courtesy of Paul Walsh via Twinkle

Cross-posted on Ruder Finn Uk’s blog

PR Week UK ups its digital presence

Posted on by Becky Green (was McMichael)

PR Week has kicked off a couple of new activities aimed at the UK’s digital PR folks today – Peter Hay, digital editor, upped his Twitter activity picking up a host of new followers and the mag launched a facebook group for UK PR folks.

There has been a Twitter feed set up from PR Week UK for a while (hat tip Chris Reed at Fishburn Hedges) but the personal tweets should be a great addition to this.

Up to now, other than conferences on the topic and a small column in the tech sector highlighting industry bloggers, the magazine hasn’t had a very large UK digital focus or presence.

We’re looking forward to hearing about future plans in this area though.

Cross posted on Ruder Finn’s blog

professional nomads – recommendation #1

Posted on by Becky Green (was McMichael)

natexheaderChances are if you work from home a lot and travel for business, you book a fair amount of train tickets.  I was recommended the National Express site by pal and fellow collocator, Stephen Waddington last week and it seems great.  There was far more availablity that Trainline, lower prices and it seemed a lot more flexible about changing tickets etc (although i have yet to try the latter).

My rating: ****

someone once told me

Posted on by Becky Green (was McMichael)

Someone Once Told Me, Mario CacciottoloCame across this last week through a direct message on twitter from Mario Cacciottolo asking if I would have my pic taken for a new art project and hadn’t heard much about it…..in the tradition of good PR though, by lunchtime Saturday I had seen people discussing it on Twitter and read a review of it in The Guardian Guide.

Billed by said paper as:

“A compelling photography project. The idea is simple: people are photographed at random or by appointment, holding up sheets of paper with the words of something that was once told to them that has stuck in their minds ever since – whether it was a text message from a mate or words of wisdom from a grandparent.”

The site looks great – as intriguing as Post A Secret was when I first came across combined with Mario’s evident talent for interesting and stylish photography.

I am looking forward to doing mine early next month now.