Over 1 million UK users already for Google+ and despite not personally having huge social circles that really help demonstrate the correlation on everyday search results, the potential impact is still pretty staggering.  Already by optimizing your profile on Google+, as an individual, your digital footprint can be easily identified by Google. Recommended pages are increasingly visible, tailoring a search that is specific to you. Once those in your circles make the most of their accounts and Sparks are less US focused, then Google becomes less of a search engine …

I’ve been doing some work recently with The Times, helping them out on a feature about the issue of unemployment amongst the over 50’s. I was called upon to offer my expertise on how job seekers can use social networking to help them find work. The feature was based on a number of case studies, two of which I spent the afternoon with, coaching them through the different sites they could use and tactics they could implement. The piece is now live online (behind pay-wall I’m afraid):
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/career/article3039242.ece
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/career/article3039002.ece
It also featured in …

I was slightly concerned this week when listening to a crisis comms ‘expert’ talk about digital crisis planning. Why? Because there seems to be a misunderstanding when dealing with a crisis in social media all you need to do is simply adapt your crisis procedures so that responses are more ‘timely’? Yes of course speed is of the essence but to think this is the only thing we need to raise as a consideration to clients is an underestimation of how much due diligence needs to go into online crisis …

Having been recruiting for various social media roles over the past couple of months I find it incredible the CV is still considered a credible descriptor of a person’s employment history. No more! I refuse to look at these pieces of paper which are crying out for a role in digital comms and yet show no passion for the medium these candidates want to work in day in, day out. No URL’s – nothing, just an email address.  So, to the humble Google search, then LinkedIn…Twitter. Ok obvious but it …

So this week I got all legal and attended a briefing on the ASA’s extended digital remit which, if you weren’t aware of already, comes into effect on the 1st March. To date, company websites have been excluded from ASA regulations which basically means they can say what they want about their products and services without validation. This is the first thing that is being addressed. Non paid for space (ie: social media channels) which are under the control of a brand/organisation as well as ‘earned media’ (user generated content) …

A piece in today’s Observer on how leading academics in the US believe that communicating through social networking sites is isolating rather then empowering, got me thinking to my University dissertation on online consumption and identity.
Some of Sociologist, Sherry Turkle’s, points seem initially alarmist (‘Under the illusion of allowing us to communicate better, it is actually isolating us from real human interactions in cyber-reality that is poor imitation of the real world’) and show a misunderstanding of how social media is being used to enhance real world interactions but, when …

I’m feeling pretty powerful at the moment with a word- of-mouth influencer score of just under 300,000. Actually this figure is ridiculous but it certainly acts as an trigger to start wielding my opinion around on new  ‘have a complaint (rant)’ site Gri.pe.
According to their About Page Gri.pe:  “lets you share public praise or complaints that get sent to the business for response, while being spread by your friends, followers and beyond!” – basically it allows you a very public forum to moan in the hope that you’ll get some …

Working in both PR and digital comms I have been involved with a number of blogger relations campaigns throughout the years. The most recent one I’ve been involved with has been for one of my clients, ‘make mine Milk’, where we invited mummy (and, not to be forgotten daddy) bloggers down to the London School of Coffee for a morning of Barista training and low fat semi-skimmed milk discussion.  After chatting to many of the attendees about how they liked being approached by PRs, plus some of their worst PR …

After revelations that Yell.com were ‘faking’ 1 in 8 of reviews on their review platform Trusted Places by incentivising staff to write them, it got me thinking about the importance of review sites and how users really rely on them to make informed decisions. The question is, when it comes to review sites have we ever really taken some stranger’s opinion as gospel – the answer is no. Whether it’s an online publication who is reviewing a product as part of a PR process or if it’s a review left …

Ever used to the 3 for 2 and BOGOF offers we see for gifts in stores over Christmas, this year it’s all about how we can make the most of our technology and online recommendations to get the best deals. Moving beyond the massively useful voucher codes sites we’re talking about geo-location, mobile coupon and crowd sourcing discount services. We are also talking about the trust people put into recommendations from friends and family (as well as general – non biased opinions) and the influence these can have on overall …