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.

Well after criticising Google a few weeks ago for thier Streetview tool…I’ve got to hand it to them. This week they’ve launched a couple of great new features. The Similar Images tool is a new way of searching for pictures, using images rather than words, and it works pretty well. There is also GoogleLabs, which offers users the chance to look at the thousands of new innovations the Google team are working on, and a chance to meet the developers.

GoogleTrends is also an entertaining way to spend a few minutes. You can look at what the top searches are in a number of different companies, by region and city and read news stories about each trend. There are also graphs showing the changing popularity of different trends and searches. GoogleTrends is genuinely useful for marketers and public relations practitioners looking for the next big thing.

But my favourite has to be GoogleTimeline. It chronologically orders and presents news already available in Google in a simple to use and appealing format. You can also select what type of news stories and features you want to search for. I think this is a genuinely useful tool, especially if you are researching something in particular. For example, search the timeline for the Iraq War and you get all the key dates and events laid out for you to examine. The timeline goes back to the 1400s, and even if you just want to look up things that happened on the day you were born, its great fun.

So after suffering a bit of a backlash over Streetview, Google have not been resting on their laurels and have come up with a couple of great new tools. Google’s mission statement is “…to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”, and I think they have really delivered on this time. After doing some research for a recent university project into organisational identity, image and reputation, I found too many companies who did not live their values or embody their mission. Google’s commitment to their mission statement is the reason why they are the most popular search engine in the world. It’s a lesson for practitioners and marketers, that delivering on your promises to your stakeholders should be a primary concern.

So Spotify thought the adverts (sorry, commercial messages) would annoy us so much we would all cave in and pay £9.99 a month to rid ourselves of them. Turns out they were wrong and we will subject ourselves to a bit of marketing for free music.

As a result, Spotify, the free music streaming service, are launching a paid download branch with 7digital, taking users out of the application if they want to purchase tracks. Spotify are also working on a function which will allow users to stay in Spotify while purchasing. The same sorts of deals have been struck with other streaming services such as lastfm and Imeem.

But who is going to be paying for the music? I won’t be. It’s free! I already have the music I want on my iPod, if I really really want to buy something I’ll probably just get it off the user friendly  iTunes, or super cheap from HMV. That’s the way it is for music now.

The people behind Spotify thought that listeners would be more willing to put their hands in their pockets. According to a BBC interview with analyst Mark Mulligan, “It [Spotify] went into this thinking it was going to be a premium subscription business,” he said. “The problem is what’s proven to be the successful part is the free bit.” The best things in life really are free. Why would we pay when an advert every 20 minutes is all you have to cope with? (That’s what the mute button is for right?)

Mulligan makes the point that Spotify are “…going through the process of relearning its business.” I think this quote is especially pertinent because it can be applied to so many organisations and businesses in this Web 2.0 age. We are all becoming familiar with the idea that consumers are becoming powerful citizens, and can demand the highest standards of service. We can also demand how those services operate, how they engage with us, and we can question and probe their methods and intentions.  

It is businesses and organisations who don’t communicate or engage with their stakeholders, or respond to their behaviours and demands who will suffer. At least Spotify are trying to do something about it.

Well, apparently you’re not the only one. A new term, ’snarking’, has entered our lexicon dedicated entirely to malicious internet gossip. Not a new phenomenon, but the fact it has its own name is a sign of its growth. David Denby, author of ‘Snark’ thinks its about time the reach snarking has is brought to our attention. The majority of internet users will be aware of chief snarking sites such as PerezHilton, Gawker and TMZ, in fact many of us have probably visited them and have a good laugh at the celebrities being mocked. A BBC news report this morning covered the campaign to halt online snarking and gave the very

Liskula Cohen

For PR practitioners and marketers the implications are clear; your company, organisation or client could well fall victim. Richard Stokoe, head of news at the Local Government Association (LGA), wrote a column in PR Week (06/03/09) detailing how the LGA had been the subject of ‘frittering’, or in plain English, fraudulent twittering. The fritterer was impersonating the LGA’s chief executive, using his picture, gaining followers (almost 500) and twittering frequently.

Stokoe and his media team discovered the identity impersonation by chance, and subsequently contacted Twitter urging it to remove the false profile. Three weeks later there is still no response from Twitter. Stokoe makes a compelling point in his column, “Web 2.0 has not only brought an entirely new way for organisations to communicate with people – it has also brought an entirely new way for people to damage the reputation of that very same organisation.”

Reputation management is also not a new concept, but with the advent of Web 2.0, a whole new industry dedicated to online reputation management and monitoring has been born. And its big business, with tools like Radian6, Sentiment Metrics and BuzzMonitor in wide use by vast numbers of organisation. Reputation is a vital yet intangible asset to an organisation or individual, it not only dictates how your stakeholders may feel about you or your organisation, but affects significant areas of business strategy. Projecting a strong brand image is essential, it can distinguish you from your competitors, help stakeholders recognise you in a crowded marketplace, cement repeat business, and attract positive media coverage. It is especially important during the current global recession as renowned American academics Fombrun and Van Riel have written, “Reputation is proving to be a resilient asset to some companies in a difficult marketplace.”

It seems an offensive strategy against snarking, frittering, and whatever other new term might appear in the next few weeks is the best way forward. Organisations and businesses may not recognise the business potential of social networking tools or internet engagement, but by staying out of the Web 2.0 sphere, they run the risk of being ignorant about what is being said concerning their business. And loss of reputation could sound the death knell for companies battling in this tough environment.

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/