End of an era for Twitter?

As a New Year emerges, many have added to their resolution list the decision to quit Twitter and return to the real world. Stephen Fry has had a rocky relationship with the micro-blogging site during the past year and whilst he claims it is only a temporary parting, he acknowledges it is necessary in order to get some real work done. Similarly before Christmas, Lily Allen admitted an addiction with the site and announced that she is going cold turkey when it comes to technology.

If 2009 was the boom year for Twitter, it seems we are on the brink of its demise and Chris Hughes’ SocialTrance this evening, his attempt at mass hypnosis, reveals a more sinister side to the site which makes scenes from Doctor Who not seem so far from reality. A recent article from PC World stated that 2010’s top security threats include Facebook and Twitter so even if the site remains popular for some time to come, there are various risks involved which could warrant it some bad press.

Google have recently added Twitter to their search engine in an attempt to keep up with the speed of breaking news, yet this blends a search engine full of useful information with a blogging site which contains a lot of pointless comments so this could be a dubious marriage.

What does this all mean for those undertaking PR evaluation? Nielsen reported that growth on Twitter reached a peak in May 2009 before leveling off, though it did report that the greatest demographic was 35 - 49 and that it could become important within marketing strategies amid the unstable economic conditions. However, they demonstrated that when researching a new purchase online, blogs garnered more trust amongst consumers than Twitter or Facebook, suggesting that blogs are a more effective means of communication for maintaining a brand. Whilst there is a lot of talk about measuring Twitter, and a number of tools with which to do so, many of our clients choose only to measure influential blogs in depth when considering social media, though it can be useful to see how much ‘noise’ is created in other sites. Essentially though, as we begin a new decade traditional media is still valued as trustworthy and some social media sites may become old news before long.

Whistle-blowing: How to get it wrong

Listened with interest last night to the reports on the sale of data by T-Mobile. The first reports were followed with denials by all the leading players and a no comment from T-Mobile, the clear implication being that this was the 'guilty' party. Only later were we to learn that it was indeed T-Mobile who had drawn the attention of the authorities to the situation - surely at some point it might have been considered wise to have a statement prepared which could have been released in a timely fashion when the news entered the public domain. It could conceivably have turned this negative in to a positive.

Interested to know if T-Mobile has some crisis comms evaluation in place.

PR Evaluation Award

If you are “into” PR research and measurement, and have used it extensively in one of your PR campaigns this past year, you might want to consider entering the Jack Felton Golden Ruler Award for Excellence in PR Measurement and Evaluation. Entries of all types are welcome – including research using social media! The award recognizes superb examples of research used to support public relations practice. Winners are feted at the Institute for Public Relations Summit on Measurement in October in Portsmouth, NH, and it’s quite a big deal. But hurry! Entries are due August 15th. Here’s How to Enter, and see these terrific examples of previous winners’ entries: Padilla Speer Beardsley's Winning Entry 2007 or Shell's Award Winning Entry 2008 for ideas – and there are more on the site.

The fear of flu

The growing debate surrounding Swine Flu, or should I say Influenza A, or even H1N1, has turned to the media handling of this event, causing many to argue that it has been overhyped. So as consumers of media become more analytical and savvy, how do we know which media to trust and will this become a case of crying wolf? Many argue that other viruses such as SARS were hyped so the news is now falling on deaf ears. We’ve had the credit crunch spreading through the papers for months now; this is something new.

Maureen Taylor, previously the national medical reporter for CBC Television News, gave some timely advice to journalists in a recent article in which she advises against predicting outcomes. Radio 2 recently discussed the ‘worst case scenario’ and the Guardian ran the headline ‘Up to 1.2 million could be hospitalized in Britain in event of pandemic’. Hardly reassuring news and it is speculation not fact, as we continuously hear of the ‘possible’ pandemic. Thomas Abraham, spokesman for the WHO added: ‘We have consistently said a pandemic is imminent’ but the outcome is about as uncertain as the name we are meant to use for the virus, so why does the British media assume the worst? The fact is it makes a more dramatic story than the news that 27 people in Britain have the virus and seem to be okay.

The US government are now saying that it will be ‘less severe than feared’ yet despite having fewer cases and no deaths, we in Britain remain more cautious with Sir Liam Donaldson calling this ‘premature’. Perhaps it’s a cultural difference that we prefer to focus on the negative. Maureen writes that she doesn’t feel the Canadian media hyped SARS and it would be interesting to compare this with the reporting in the UK.

Our media industry analysis at Mediatrack for clients around the globe often calls for a comparison of markets and how the media report international events. What is clear about Swine Flu is that readers are losing a degree of faith and trust in the media they read, posing a bigger threat to the future of public relations, which is not to be sneezed at.

The value of evaluation

In the words of Francis Ingham, PRCA director general: “the best way to fight budget cuts is to demonstrate the value you are adding.” It is certainly encouraging to see that as the PR industry matures, more MDs are recognising the need for evaluation; a survey complied by the PRCA revealed that 84 per cent consider it “very important to the credibility of PR”. We couldn’t agree more.

You would be forgiven for thinking, we would say that. Yet we are finding that as the recession overshadows business it is ever more crucial to be aware of factors affecting reputation. Many organizations are fighting a crisis in confidence so it is key to send out the right signals to your audience.

Media industry analysis will soon tell you which areas of your strategy are working, as well as identifying those that aren’t. It might be that you choose to condense your source list to the titles that really matter to your audiences because targeted, quality measurement is more relevant. It’s also crucial to hone your messages and channel resources effectively to weather the storm.

Social Media: A Healthy Balance

The news that social media can damage your health has sparked much debate yet it is ironically the very forums such as Twitter that have propagated discussion on the matter. These sites do enable connections to be made across society and create active publics who can engage in debates more freely. They also make the world a smaller place; it is now possible to chat to people anywhere on the planet with ease, and to find out what’s happening in the world.

Interestingly the responses to the BBC article included many people who are already isolated in society and find solace in social media which enables those with disabilities for example to connect with others; Second Life has proved popular with the disabled community.

However for others it has become a replacement for being sociable, adding another time-consuming layer to our lives. The word ‘social’ is really a paradox - defined as being part of a community rather than being alone, but spending hours on the internet can be a lonely process. I can see how that could be deemed unhealthy.

Nonetheless social media is an inherent part of the future of public relations, particularly as the next generation are early adopters of new technology. Some of the recent public relations successes have used these platforms to reach their key audiences in a medium they understand. Cadbury’s Wispa campaign is a point in case and as PR professionals embrace social media in their campaigns, so too will they need to apply media content analysis to the medium.

So it can be good for business but on a personal level I follow that old mantra – everything in moderation.

Winter worries

As we observe the distinct lack of emails on a day when parts of the country are seeing the first real snow for 18 years, I noticed some interesting comments on the BBC website. Robert Penn, co-author of The Wrong Kind of Snow: The Complete Daily Companion to the British Weather notes that there is not much “Dunkirk spirit” and Steve Hopwood adds “We seem to be getting worse at coping”. This news has overshadowed a report out today about the children of Britain, which emphasises the changing nature of the media agenda. So why do we crumble amidst extreme conditions? Perhaps we are used to having it easy – and that could easily apply to another type of crunch we’re feeling at the moment.