UK's Top Ten PR Blogs

According to Cision’s latest list of the UK’s top 10 public relations blogs my modest little blog here has made the top ten:

1. NevilleHobson.com
2. Drew B’s take on tech PR
3. Wadds’ PR and Media blog
4. A PR Guy’s Musings – Stuart Bruce
5. PR STUDIES
6. PR Media Blog
7. The Red Rocket
8. Mediations
9. SimonWakeman
10. iangreen.com

Not sure whether this blog merits the mention but it’s interesting to read their methodology and how Cision have chosen iangreen.com. They have also created a great resource of the top ten blogs on a wide range of topics from tech to fashion.
Like Stuart Bruce it’s interesting to note that I have engaged with all the other bloggers listed here either through social media and eventually face to face.
The other interesting point to note is that Cision still regards blogs as having a key purpose in the media mix. About eight moths ago there was a big discussion about whether blogs were past their sell by date with the rise of Facebook and Twitter.
However, some blogs have such a devoted audience that many PR companies are pitching product and stories to them as they appreciate the influence they have.
The other aspect of course now corporates are now seeing the sense of have a dedicated blog alongside their “traditional” website and news feed. This is all great but I suspect the real reason is that corporates and other have finally realised how potent social media is as a means of enhancing a website’s search engine optimisation.
And I need to hold my hadn up here because at GREEN Communications we are advocating this approach for that very reason – especially when some SEO specialists are charging the less-media savvy clients over £5,000 a month to manage their SEO.

How to start a mass movement

There is a brilliant presentation on how to start a mass movement in three minutes’ by Derek Sivers, an inspirational entrepreneur speaking at the TED conference
It features a crazy guy dancing by himself at a rock festival. Within three minutes his reality - and world - is transformed by a mass stampede of festival go-ers wanting to part of the new next must-do thing. Sivers brilliantly deconstructs and analyses the process:

• First you need to lone nut.
• The lone nut needs to a dance (or equivalent) that’s distinctive but easily copy-able.
• Crucially, you need a #2 fan who is willing by themselves to join the lone nut.
• With the support and encouragement of the lone nut, the #2 fan is nurtured into being able to do the dance.
• #3 nut joins in. This is also crucial; there is no longer a lone nut, but a discernable group emerging.
• Quickly, other early adopters join-in.
• Next thing you know there is now a panic as people rush to join, anxious not to be left out.

Well, we at GREEN know how it feels to be a lone nut. We have put our head above the parapet and urged others to join in the crusade for Twixtmas.
You cannot underestimate how good it feels when you get a positive response. It is even more gratifying when people start to take massive action.
David Taylor, the famous motivational writer and author of the Naked Leader did not just smile, and politely think Twixtmas was a nice idea. He could have become the example of a #2 fan as he then circulated the Twixtmas message to the entire readership of his newsletter.
Thank you David for your courage, and positive action.
Could you now pluck up the courage to be a#3 or #4 or #5 or #6-fan?
Can you take action beyond acknowledgement? Can you make the world different through doing something now for Twixtmas?

Hope for Bhopal

President Obama was elected on a mandate for HOPE.
He, quite rightly, held BP accountable for the recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and their liability is already estimated at $40billion.
The 1984 Bhopal disaster has NEVER been cleaned up. Toxic waste, from the factory that caused the disaster, has contaminated the drinking water of many tens of thousands of people. They are being poisoned TODAY.
An American company, Dow Chemical, are legally responsible for this contamination. President Obama has elected the CEO of Dow Chemical, Mr.Andrew Liveris, to his 'India-US CEO forum'. On Monday Obama will address the Indian Parliament and the people of Bhopal still HOPE for justice. Please circulate this image...

Happy Apple Day

Recruiting again at GREEN

GREEN Communications is recruiting again. This time we are looking for a talented Account Manager and Account Executive with a sound knowledge of the consumer and business sectors to join our highly motivated team.
You will need to hit the ground running and have a passion for creative media relations, a desire to deliver outstanding coverage for your clients, the ability to think on your feet and work as part of a large team.
The ideal candidate will need a broad spread of media contacts across consumer, lifestyle and business within the broadcast, national press, consumer press, online as well as freelancers. An interest in social media is also desired.
The work you will be required to undertake will have a broad business and consumer focus and will include working on high profile campaign activity.
Further information call Ian Green on 0845 4503210. Send CVs with covering letter to Ian at Green Communications, Wakefield Media Centre, 19 King Street, Wakefield, WF1 2SQ or email: ian@greencomms.com.

PR still doesn't get social media

Nearly 60% of PR agencies and departments that monitor social media spend no more than two hours a week doing so, despite its perceived importance.
These findings form part of a research project carried out by Daryl Willcox Publishing into the social media habits of the PR industry. The publication of the research coincides with the launch of a new whitepaper examining tools to monitor social media.
Of 376 PR departments and agencies surveyed, 85% said they monitored social media, including blogs and forums, for coverage and conversations.
Thirty one per cent of these said they dedicated an hour or less each week monitoring social media, while 26% spent between one and two hours. More than a third (36%) spent between three and six hours monitoring with 7% putting aside at least a day each week.
Ninety per cent of departments and agencies monitoring social media said they did so because it was an important element of their media monitoring.
Sixty eight per cent of respondents said they used free online tools and search engines to monitor, while 42% said they visited each social platform individually.
“The consensus now in the PR industry is that social media is of real importance and our survey findings support that,” said Daryl Willcox, chairman and founder of Daryl Willcox Publishing. “Our research also suggests there could be room for greater emphasis on monitoring social media despite the many online tools, free and paid-for, now available to help PR professionals pick up online conversation.”
The research also discovered reluctance among PR professionals to join in with online conversations. Almost half (49%) of departments and agencies only joined in when people were getting things factually wrong while 17% did not get involved at all.
Twenty six per cent of respondents said they did engage and declared their PR role while 8% hid who they were representing in online conversations.
Of the 15% which did not monitor social media, 51% cited a lack of resource, 29% said a lack of knowledge stopped them and 11% felt there was no value in it.

Well all of this is from a DWP press release. But bloody hell! It’s not that difficult to monitor social media 24/7 given all the tools available to PR professionals.
At GREEN, I would hope that we know exactly what is being said about our clients all the time and that we engage with those people who are talking about the brands that matter to us most. The point is with social media it’s not just about listening and monitoring. It’s about getting involved and sharing views – whether they are good, bad or indifferent.

Good Dads and Truthiness

From Andy: Just seen a great new film, The World’s Greatest Dad starring Robin Williams. I will not spoil your treat by giving away the plot, but just to say there is a twist half way through which turns the world upside down of the lead character played by Robin Willliams. (There is also a comic moment of great genius - you know these when the well behaved cinema audience responds with totally raucous laughter.)
The film’s other remarkable quality was its parody of how we choose to create our own reality of events, or own interpretation – and re-interpretation in the case of the film, of what we believe to be true – our ‘truthiness’.
Truthiness is an important concept for anyone being creative, generating creative ideas, and also in brand communications in getting your ideas accepted.
Sometimes you can get insight from someone outside the field of study, a non-expert in the domain.
A major philosophical concept, well at least a label, was not created by a philosopher - but by a comedian. During an episode of the political satire show The Colbert Report comedian Stephen Colbert coined the word ‘truthiness’. It means in essence: ‘the quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts.’
Our reality is that we all see the world through ‘truthiness glasses’. Perceptions, are just as valid as facts in our mental landscapes,
People erect barriers in their mental landscape preventing the recognition of ‘the truth’ of any new information with which they might feel uncomfortable.
They did not want the dissonance, the anxiety to upset their existing world view, which acts as a magnet for any negative information about things you dislike, and precludes contradictory data; otherwise your definition of truth would need to be re-evaluated.
So, it does not matter if a fact exists or not, in terms of being validated by data. You can have your own facts.
On the one hand truthiness is what some people want to exist.
On the other hand it is what some people don’t want to exist.
And that’s the truthiness of it. My truthiness is that The World’s Greatest Dad is a great film.

What the F**k is Social Media NOW?

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

What the F**k is Social Media NOW?

View more presentations from Marta Kagan.

Echo & the Bunnymen - Cutter

Bibliophile's delight in Addingham

Just spent a delightful day in Addingham, in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire. Addingham is quiet near to us and we often go to The Fleece Inn for lunch during a walk to Bolton Abbey.
However, we have never really explored the village so after lunch we took a walk up the main street and discovered a real retail gem at the TP Children’s Bookshop where we met the delightful Lou Harrison.
The bookshop is a delight for bibliophiles – especially those who retain a fondness for the books they read as a children – and Lou is a fund of knowledge on the authors and the books themselves. She’s not just a collector, she’s a reader too.
And we spent a happy half hour in conversation whilst browsing the shelves collectible copies of Enid Blyton, Rosemary Sutcliff, BB, Captain WE Johns, Richmal Crompton... the list goes on.
My wife, Annie, was particularly charmed with the girls literature - of which I know nothing - and she and Lou had a long conversation about books I’ve never encountered. These included The Abbey Girls series, The Susan Books by Jane Shaw and Rosemary Sutcliff’s Queen Elizabeth.
I was particularly pleased to find a copy of BB’s Little Grey Men – a book which charmed me as a child - and which I bought on the spot. Suffering from mild dyslexia as a child I didn’t learn to read or write until was about nine and I think it was BB that got me started.
BB was a prolific and successful writer and illustrator of children's books, his crowning achievement being The Little Grey Men, the story of the adventures of the last four gnomes in England, which won the prestigious Carnegie Medal in 1942.
The seeds of the idea for The Little Grey Men were sown when, as a small child, BB saw 'a diminutive being. It had a round, very red, bearded face about the size of a small crab apple. It wasn't a dream I can still see the little red astonished face.'
In later years, as a child alone (he was sickly and educated at home) BB explored the countryside around his home and created a mind set of the adventures of the gnomes, Dodder, Baldmoney, Cloudberry and Sneezewort and their life along the Folly Brook.
In 1944, Brendon Chase, a stirring tale of three runaway schoolboys living in a forest, like Robin Hood and his merry men, confirmed BB as an established writer of children's fiction.
In 1946, Down the Bright Stream, the follow-up to The Little Grey Men appeared, and in the same year, BB's Fairy Book: Meeting Hill. This book relates the magical experiences of two children, Peter and Johanna, and contains extracts from classic fairy stories, It also includes 15 exquisite colour plates by BB's alter ego Denys Watkins-Pitchford.
Anyway, if you’re ever in Addingham check out the TP Children’s Bookshop and give our regards to Lou.

Daily Mail caught red handed nicking internet content

This is a guest posting from former colleague Simon Collister:
A few weeks ago the Daily Mail caused a bit of a brouhaha by accusing brands that monitored social media to help identify and solve customer’s problems of “snooping” and “spying”.
I really can’t get anywhere near the level of hysteria generated by the article not even if I attempted a Brasseye-style spoof. Basically you should go and read it, although you actually shouldn’t as it’ll increase their site traffic.
Anyway, while there’s been enough discussion of this particular incident online I wanted to follow-up with another story of the Mail’s disgusting audacity and hypocrisy that happened to a friend.
Now, just imagine if a company was to trawl through the Internet – not unlike those companies that snoop on customers. But imagine if instead of helping people, this company used the Internet to steal things that belong to Members of the Great British Public.
Then imagine that when an aforementioned law-abiding citizen tells the company that it has broken the law and stolen something the company (or a representative of said company) was to deny it and attempt to cover up the crime by offering desultory sums of money to buy the victim off.
Just imagine if that company was none other than the Daily Mail itself!
Yes. That’s right. The sanctimonious Daily Mail was trawling the web on election night for pictures of voters across the UK reacting to polling stations being closed without all voters being able to cast their vote.
Friend and film-maker, Emily James, just happened to be in one of those polling stations and snapped away on her phone, uploading the images to Twitpic.
While other media outlets saw the images, requested permission to use, credited and paid Emily for her work the Mail simply lifted the images then claimed they were in the public domain which meant they could use them with impunity.
Emily, knowing her rights, asserted that Twitpic’s T&Cs copyright remained with the photographer and invoiced the Mail for a reasonable amount.
What followed was a series of exchanges with the Mail’s Pictures Online Picture Editor, Elliot Wagland, and the Mail’s Group Managing Director, Alex Bannister.
I’d urge you to go and read the full saga over at the Just Do It blog as it unfolds and savour in the sheer hypocrisy of the Daily Mail that on the one hand criticises companies for using the Internet to help its customers while on the other hand is happy to steal content from people. Part 1 is here and Part 2 here
Aside from the audacity of the Mail it’s also slightly worrying that its Online Pictures Editor fails to grasp the basics of copyright in relation to key social media platforms.
However, as Martyne Drake observes on his blog about this particular story, although the Mail’s Group Managing Editor claims this was a one-off
“given the number of times I’ve seen them [Daily Mail] attribute copyright wrongly and use pictures from Twitpic and other services (which retain the original copyright of the photographer), it’s not so much an incident that’s happened by accident or carelessness, but downright arrogance.”
Enjoy!

EDL, Bradford and Social Media

Just spent a few hours reviewing the events in Bradford with the English Defence League. Obviously I wasn't with them I was just looking at what was going on with them in West Yorkshire's second city.
That the the EDL were allowed to protest in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country – Bradford has a huge Asian population - was travesty. However, reviewing the conversation on the web it’s heartening to see that the bulk of the social media platforms are being manned by people who clearly deplore what’s going on and are resorting to Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, blogs, podcasts etc to register their disgust.
A few EDL members are also using the same tools. I saw one Tweet by a bigot boasting how he had punched a paki! However, the bulk of the conversation appears to be lead by people who deplore the EDL.
What has been heartening for me is that the EDL-meme has been captured by social media. I say this because I have just pulled together a presentation entitled What Is Social Media Now? Which I hope to use for new business pitches but also at a few conferences and BarCamps I will be attending shortly.
My main point is that social media IS THE MEDIA. Today there has been little coverage of the events in Bradford on mainstream media – either on the nearest radio stations at BBC Leeds, Real Radio or others.
Most of the first-hand accounts I have picked up have been on Twitter (Twitterfall is particularly good for this), blogs, flickr and YouTube.
Social media works – and the EDL can f**k off.

Star Wars in the silent era

Anachronisme
Uploaded by LesSingesHurlants. - Arts and animation videos.

Feel the HEAT

Just back from my holidays and having cleared out the emails and other new business propositions we are working on I have finally alighted on this month’s edition of Insider which has devoted a whole feature to public relations companies in Yorkshire.
Of course a lot of the feature was given over to social media. However, the most sensible quote on this issue was: “No-one is an expert in social media… we’re all still learning as we go along. If anyone tells you they are a real expert don’t believe them.”
I broadly agree with that although there are some genuine experts out there and I can think of three operating in Yorkshire.
However, what heartened us most at GREEN was that we were among the top three PR agencies ranked by “heat”. HEAT was calculated by votes submitted by agencies for other agencies.
GREEN was ranked third behind Finn and Wolfstar _ two agencies which we genuinely like because of the work they have done and their innovative approach to the total communications mix. So it’s good to be in such exalted company.
It’s also encouraging that in such a competitive sector other agencies are willing to cast aside any gripes and vote for their peers - which must say something good about the regional business community.

Halewood Village Memories

Some fascinating pictures from the town I grew up in - just outside of Liverpool - found at the Halewood Parish History Website.
My parents moved here in 1964 when Liverpool city council was shifting the white working class communities out of the city centre into the brave new world of New Towns like Huyton, Halewood and Kirkby with their sprawling council estates. We moved from Netherfield Road, just north of Liverpool city centre - a sprawling landscape of back-to-backs and Georgian and Victorian town houses which have now all been swept away.
In spite of perjortive associations of "council estate" we still regarded it as a village - we all knew each other, went to the same schools, worked in the same factories(14,500 of them in the Ford car plant) and drank in the same clubs and pubs. And, while the population of Halewood bulged from a couple of thousand to 20,309 in the Sixties - a village (the posh part) remained at it's heart. Here are some pictures from the "old" village much of it recognisable from my childhood still, much of it gone but lot's remaining.
Bailey's Lane - these cottages remain in place.

The Barracks - still there and still in disrepair.

Bridgefield - I used to play on the rubble, year's before it was demolished in the woods behind Bridgefield School. It was obviously surrounded by grand gardens with rhodedendrons, Japanese maple and azallias.

Brewery Lane, adjacent to the Eagle and Child Pub and, eventually the road down to the local comprehensive school.


The Eagle and Child Pub - when we first arrived my Dad remembers them serving beer from a jug from the cellar.

Leathers Cottage - presumably why the street on which we lived was called Leathers Lane.

Interesting that the map also shows the River Mersey to the west.

Ghost Tube Stations

The Ghost Tube Stations of London - courtesy of penneydesign.com via How To Be A Retronaut

BarCamp returns to Barnsley

In October GREEN is supporting BarCamp Barnsley which is being sponsored by Bmedia and is being supported by Enterprising Barnsley and the town’s Digital Media Centre.
The Barnsley gig is seeking to build on the success of the BarCamp we did in May in Bradford and other barcamps in Yorkshire which have been a great success in Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield.
If you have never been to a BarCamp - you’ve been missing out. BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.
If you’re a creative, digital freak, geek or entrepreneur you’ll love it.
Attendees arrive on the day armed with talks and decide which ones they want to go along to! The talks can be on anything, from android application development to learning the British Sign Language to new trends in Drupal.
We’d love for you to come - if you’re a creative, an artist, a writer, blogger, technologist, or a developer, geek, entrepreneur, academic researcher, gamer or investor please join us. If you were just curious and interested in digital culture - we’d love to meet you too. Come and demo, talk, share or just hang out! Follow us on @BarCampBarnsley for further updates.
If you want to come make sure you register here. To find out more visit BarCampBarnsley.

Green Communications: News Articles: Get a free PR audit

Green Communications: News Articles: Get a free PR audit

Blogging for Business Workshop

Over at GREEN we are running a series of informal training event. It starts with an all-day workshop on Blogging for Business. At the end of this training session you will have a fully-functioning blog live on the web.

Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm
Where:The Art House, Drury Lane, Wakefield, WF1 2TE
Cost: £199.00 + VAT - Get a 20% Discount if you book before June 24

REGISTER HERE

The power of a good blog should never be underestimated - they're flexible and powerful. Get it right and they can open doors to new clients and recruits, grow your organisation and improve your Google search results. A blog should be at the centre of your social media strategy even if you do have a website.
The day will be led by men and colleague Thomas Atcheson. Between us we have many years experience in digital media having worked in the past with Venturedome.com, Fuelmyblog.com, Annanova, Insider and others.
We have also worked on strategies for the likes of the Children’s Workforce Development Council, Greens Health & Fitness, Soppa e Sotra, LINPAC, Blue Monday, Wensleydale and the Alchemist’s Foundation.
Includes lunch and refreshments!

Course Programme
Introduction

What are blogs?
Different types of blogs and platforms
Typical features and functionality of blogging platforms
How can they be used?

Strategy
The role of blogs in communications and business
Introducing the link economy and the role of
Blogs in search engine optimisation
How your blog can become the key element in your social media strategy
What else can blogs be used for - campaigns, websites, microsites, live events and more.

Developing a content strategy
Segmentation - identifying your readers and who you are communicating with
What to write? Identifying relevant topics and subject matter.
Considering blog post length
Resourcing and identifying writers
Case studies and examples

Blogging basics - Where you do the work
Setting up your blog
An introduction to templates and simple ways to make it look good
Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad - what suits you?
Adding authors
Comment moderation
Understanding posts and pages
Setting up a blog roll
Creating content

How to write a post
Tips on writing posts and how to optimise for best results
Adding links and images

Benefits
Following this training course, you will be able to:
Recognise the importance of blogs and their role
Create business objectives and manage expectations from your blog
Use a blog to connect with your audiences
Increase visitor numbers to your website and influence sales
Encourage interaction with your prospects as well as loyal customers
Manage your blog effectively
Create a strategy for your company blog

For further information email info@greencomms.com or call us on 0845 4503210.