So the dreaded deadlines are over, the exam is complete, and I’m feeling strangely free (and no I’m not thinking about my rather enormous dissertation to be done – minor detail at this point).

It’s nice to have some free time on my hands, and some lounging around at home time, it has also been different to spend some time on my computer which doesn’t involve frantic checking of word counts every 2 minutes or commiserating on facebook with classmates about work!

So, I thought this week I would peruse the magnificent web for some undiscovered fun, but I found it strangely boring! Being on my computer just seems to give me sore shoulders (and ‘mouse-arm’) these days! And sad to say my internet routine remains fairly predictable, my homepage is BBC news so I run through the headlines there, then I head over to facebook (of course), then I check my email, and Spotify will be already up and running by this time.

I suppose I’m one of those hard to reach audiences, I really don’t seek out new stuff online, I’d rather wait for someone to send me a link or suggest something to me, I’m what ‘word of mouth’ was invented for! But I’m not the only one out there, so savvy PR practitioners and marketers have to come up with some pretty interesting and attention grabbing stunts to create some buzz. I and my other lazy web users won’t come looking for you; you have to come to us.

I’m sure we’ve all seen Blendtec’s ‘will it blend’, which is ridiculous yet vaguely compelling; it’s proved a pretty successful marketing campaign despite its silliness. Some organisations do these kinds of PR stunts really well; I found one that really tickled me. Science and technology website Scenta had commuters in uproar over a new Cloning Scenta which was really just an advertisement for the website but had some gullible people thinking that a human cloning centre was due to open.

These are the new rules of engagement for PROs and marketers, it’s their job to make apathetic people like me sit up and take notice of their organisation in a cluttered business and consumer environment.

You know its serious when even donut companies realise the value of web strategy. A small item in this week’s PRWeek about the UK arm of American donut company Krispy Kreme tickled me when I read it. Krispy Kreme have engaged Edelman’s digital division to redevelop the Krispy Kreme website and monitor comments on social network sites.

One of Edelman’s key roles will be to aggregate comments from sites such as Facebook and Twitter onto the official Krispy Kreme homepage. The website already shows tweets by staff mentioning the brand and a fan page for customers to submit their best donut stories. Amazing. Donut stories.

Krispy Kreme are not alone however, Skittles recently re-launched its website to showcase all tweets and comments in which they are mentioned. I wonder though, does this mean that if I go on Twitter and say ‘Skittles are crap’, will it appear on their website?

It’s an interesting question, because brands and organisations opting for this strategy are exposing themselves to a good degree of risk. But with risk comes the opportunity for gain. Web 2.0 is all about engaging with and creating dialogue with your stakeholders; by highlighting their comments on your homepage, be they good or bad you are inviting their dialogue into your business.

So plaudits to the companies taking the risk in order to stand out. The organisations doing this are one step ahead of the crowd. So while I may laugh, it’s a win for the donuts, high fat food doesn’t get much love these days but I think they are doing a good job here!

Politics and digital media have been fighting something of a running battle this week. It’s been a case of Web 2.’Oh no’ for the Labour party, as they struggle to recover from a couple of blunders made in the ether which have come back to haunt them. And the Metropolitan Police force are having a torrid time fighting back against allegations of civil liberties infringements as more footage recorded by citizens makes its way onto youtube and into the public domain.

Paul Blanchard, a Labour Councillor, made some ill-advised remarks on facebook concerning the disappearance of missing chef Claudia Lawrence. An avowed atheist, Blanchard dismissed the calls for prayers for Lawrence’s safety, saying, “Of all the pointless things to do, praying wins the prize.” Whatever his personal beliefs, which he is entitled to hold, Blanchard should have exercised some discretion. As a public figure, and one representing a number of constituents, to post contentious comments on a sensitive subject on the world’s biggest social networking site ranks amongst the most stupid things a politician could do.

Gordon Brown and Damian McBride

And finally, the Metropolitan Police are suffering at the hands of two incidents, filmed by protesters at the recent G20 summit in London. Both pieces of footage appear to show some heavy handed tactics be police officers marshalling protesters. The first incident which came to light showed the apparent unprovoked attack on Ian Tomlinson, who was not even protesting that day, by a nearby officer, Tomlinson died from

Ian Tomlinson

In fact, this is the lesson for all of the politicians and public figures making stupid mistakes for all to see this week, remember we are watching!!!

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has this week been accused of ‘’completely fumbling the transition to digital journalism’’ by Adam Tinworth, Reed Business International’s head of blogging development. (As an aside, the fact that large business organisations such as Reed have job posts dedicated to blogging strategy is significant in itself.)

Tinworth’s post caused some consternation within the NUJ; he was contacted by a senior member of the NUJ and asked to consider his blog content and its implications before publishing his post. Is it fair the NUJ are asking for what amounts to censorship? This is Tinworth’s personal blog and represents his personal opinion, therefore should be viewed as such. This issue relates to something I blogged about not too long ago, the shrinking of boundaries between our personal and professional lives as a result of increased use of social/digital media.

It also raises the question of ethics in how we operate online, whether we are at home or at work. Anything or anyone is fair game on the internet isn’t it? Isn’t the internet generally considered as a largely unregulated forum for discussion and conversation? Is it right that I can say something potentially damaging, insulting or inaccurate about anyone I know, or indeed don’t know, or make comment against an organisation or company?

Cyber-bullying is an unwelcome yet common occurrence in schools and workplaces across the globe. Precisely because there are so few boundaries online, even behaviour which breaks the law (visiting offensive websites, illegal media downloads, identity fraud) is widespread and presents a mammoth task to those regulators whose task is to rid the internet of this criminal activity. With the proliferation of sites such as facebook, twitter, bebo etc this behaviour is surely set to continue.

It feels like not an hour has gone by these past few weeks without somebody mentioning Twitter. Is anyone else starting to get a bit sick of hearing about it? I am. Not because I don’t like Twitter, but just because I’m sick of talking about it! You are either on it, or you aren’t. And if you aren’t on it, then you should at least by now know what it is.

All the talk at present is of Web 2.0, and even Web 3.0 which I heard mentioned this week, and while Twitter is 2009’s current favourite, what is next for social networking? I myself am getting tired of keeping track of all my different profiles on numerous different social networking websites, and I know I’m not alone in this. In the past week, two of my friends have done the unthinkable and removed themselves from facebook simply because they were ‘bored of it’. Both of my friends have said they don’t miss it at all, and what’s more, their phones have been ringing off the hook this week with friends who want to actually talk to them rather than just ‘facebook’ them.

The opportunities social networking provide for organisations and businesses are undeniable, but is the backlash beginning? Are people getting tired of having an online conversation rather than an actual conversation?

Although the figures show that the use of social networking sites continues to rise, I’m beginning to wonder if we are all going to ‘bored of it’ soon…

Faith Popcorn

Uber-cocooning.

If that sounds a little strange, that’s because it is. But according to Faith Popcorn, renowned trend predictor and marketing consultant, it’s what 2009 is all about. Her BrainReserve predictions for the year ahead are significant in discussing the changing roles of PR and Marketing, especially in the current global economic climate.

Popcorn gives us 4 R’s to define 2009; reclaim, retrench, reset, reinvent.

Popcorn’s key message is about how we will be reframing our relationships with the companies we engage with. Cocooning, the notion that consumers want everything from entertainment to goods available from their homes, has been around for the past three decades. But uber-cocooning, Popcorn states, is born from worldwide economic uncertainty and the desire of consumers to stay in their homes and familiar surroundings, to ‘retrench’.

Popcorn goes as far to say that consumers should no longer just be called consumers, but citizens; citizens who ask questions, who do their own research and can demand exactly what they want. The power relationships in business and the public domain have shifted; there is a new kind of consumerism. Central to this concept, as Popcorn says, is the essential need for organisations to rebuild trust relationships with their citizens, especially governments, Fortune 500s, and of course, banking institutions.

Whether you tend to agree with Popcorn or not, her predictions sound pretty accurate to me. When I think about my behaviour as a consumer it further cements this. I buy most of the things I want online, including entertainment and music, and I don’t really have to leave my house for anything if I didn’t want to! In addition, I don’t trust my bank or its bosses and I feel let down by my government.

PR practitioners and marketers are beginning to realise the potential of online tools in business and communication. Twitter, although not particularly new in the fast-moving online world and already a favourite of many, has appeared daily in the news and media as the ‘next big thing’, and it inevitably won’t be too long before a new site pops up to take its place. Faith Popcorn is critical of practitioners who fail to spot these trends or recognise the advantages of social networking and Web 2.0 in their practice. The best way to build, or indeed, repair a reputation is on the web. Word of mouth is the best PR, we listen to and trust our friends and family’s recommendations, and more importantly, we read their tweets and updates and online posts. If they are saying something good about your organisation they we are more likely to agree with it too.

So while uber-cocooning might be a rather corny title, we would be remiss as students, practitioners, consumers and citizens if we don’t take notice.

Sourced from:  http://www.faithpopcorn.com/

Whichever social network site you use, whether you facebook, Orkut, mypsace or otherwise, it’s a safe bet there is at least one member of your family on your friend list. Be it your cousins, siblings, aunts, or heaven forbid, your mother, one of your relatives will be privy to Saturday night’s excesses kindly posted by your real-life friends for all to see.

Now personally, I don’t mind my sisters or my cousins laughing at my drunk dancing, but my mother? There are just some things your mum doesn’t need to see. My mum is far from naïve, and I’m sure she’s not in the dark about the less academic side of my university life. But I’d really rather not have to have a hung-over conversation on a Sunday morning about why my status update reads, “Michelle is not sure if she’s wearing her own pants this morning…” And just because your mum isn’t on facebook herself doesn’t stop one of your well intentioned cousins asking her, “So, how is Michelle after her arrest?” Thanks cuz.

Similarly, I’m not naïve enough to think that my mum and dad didn’t get up to their fair share of mischief in their younger days, but they didn’t have the evidence plastered all over the internet for all to see within a few hours of stumbling home. It kind of makes me jealous, where they had plausible deniability, I can only hit the ‘untag’ button with the vain hope no one recognises me eagerly attempting to do the YMCA.

A friend recently told me he has closed his facebook profile except to his friends because he is aware that potential employers may well look at his profile for more information. What a terrifying thought, I really don’t want potential employers or colleagues reading through my favourite quotations or my friend’s silly messages. I might know what they mean but things are often misconstrued, especially on the internet.

It got me seriously thinking about where the boundaries in our social networks lie, both virtual and real-life. We are all well aware of the threat of identity theft, or computer hackers. But how many of us seriously think about the ramifications of sharing our pictures and stories with untold numbers of people? Is it fair for your private life to be subject to scrutiny from your boss? It is after all, private isn’t it?

Of course, you could always close your profile or limit outside access…but then how could you possibly know what your friends are getting up to…?