Social Media Monitoring

Recently a student has been jailed over racist comments over the social networking site of twitter in regards to Bolton Wanderers football player Fabrice Muamba who collapse during a game. The student was arrested after many complaints were filed from people who saw the posts. More information found here.

Student Liam Stacey who was sentenced over twitter posts

Trolling is another way of internet bullying when comments are made against people passed away or sensitive issues. The World Wide Web and social networking has millions of users over the globe with twitter having 1,000 posts a minute. Many companies, organisations and specialist agencies have a way of monitoring information but to the rest of us there are no tools in use or standard procedure over the social networking of making complaints. Is there any way of monitoring and policing the internet so these cases do not happen in the future? From country to country laws and legislations change and the way people are dealt with in these situations. An example of this would be in the UK the student previously mentioned got sentenced for 56 days where as Sean Duffy who posted offensive images of a victim of suicide only got community service. I think this calls for a social media/ Web procedure to be in place with people who make the remarks and a standard and agreed on way to punish those who do commit the office. This may be challenging as the rate of the growth of social media only makes this harder and scope of the web is so large is there really any way of monitoring everything?

Wrigley 5 Gum

Recently I attended Wrigley's 5 Gum launch party for the new citrus flavor at pulse London. I received tickets through a competition entry on Facebook which they use as one of their main tools of communication with the public. They use this for competitions, photos, latest news and a space where two way communication can take place. At the event various artists performed such as Labrinth, Yasmin DJs and more. I was impressed with the integration of social media and a event, as we first attended we were given lanyards which was signed up to our personal Facebook accounts with our permission which could be used to tap on stands around the venue which would automatically update your profile. There was a hash tag created f

or the use of twitter and an photo both where pictures co

uld be emailed or uploaded to Facebook.

Post made on behalf of 5 gum on Facebook

Recently new technology has been made an added to plants so that when a plant is needing water it will post a twitter update to let you know. Growing up with social media and rapidly technology change was amazing to see this happening and think of the possibilities for further use of social media in the future.

Finding PR Placements/Internships

Throughout the duration of my Public Relations course I have continuously looked for work experience in this industry. I have worked hard and gained some but also lost many. Experience is key in this industry and learning theories and skills in class are very different when putting them into practice in the working environment. The process of finding these opportunities are very hard and a majority not paid. This may change with laws as previously talked about within the industry but if this does happen does this mean that the amount of internships decrease, the cream of the crop will only get opportunities and who you know will be much stronger than what you know? Nick Clegg has support is some sort of payment to interns; "interns should be paid minimum wage or “at least” get reasonable expenses"

Some good employers will display opportunities online and pay expenses. If not it is always worth giving organisations a phone call or an email to the one displayed online. Once getting through make sure you know your stuff and the companies profile its self. If you show general ability and interest in the PR industry most people will take you on from 2 weeks to 6 months.

Good Luck!

CIPR vs PRCA

In the past year the PRCA (Public Relations Consultants Association) has become more involved with students studying Public Relations courses at University over the UK. They have held events, asked for feedback and suggestions on what the students would like to see. They help to get students and graduates into the PR industry and employment. They have also provided membership rates for students. Although this is available to students there is also the CIPR(Chartered Institute of Public Relations). They have been supporting students for many years but to access a majority of the information a fee is also required to join. They run a student

representative programme every year with the chance of winning an award for student of the year. The CIPR represents individuals in the PR industry over a variety of sectors. Although both are now made available to students i see there is some potential competition in membership and followings. Many students do not have the money to sign up to both or go to paid events organised. Back in October last year i tweeted "CIPR or PRCA" and got direct emails from both if i wanted more information. Is there any room in the future for it to be free to students then the PRCA and CIPR could work together in improving courses for students rather than both individual flows of communication?

Noticed For The Wrong Reasons?

For many years every time fashion week comes around everyone knows who is sitting in the front row but are they there for the right reasons? It has been discovered that the dirty little secret of the fashion world is that these people and celebrities are being paid substantial amounts of money or other favours to sit in the front row. Although many do go and support designers for free this is the right way. Is it fair that a designer can receive media coverage just because of the people in attendance not the collections on display? I think not as there are many talented designers out there but do not have pockets full of money to pay people to attend their fashion show. It may not be the designers decision who is on front row but those of publicity and PR teams.

Katy Perry in attendance at Paris Fashion Week, can you remember what shows she attended?

Jeff Banks an British Designer is all for the paying of people sitting on the front row “These days, hiring celebrities is an integral part of the big labels’ marketing strategies. Whether they’re wearing your clothes on the red carpet or sitting on the front row at your show, the effect is the same. It’s expensive, but some labels will consider it money well spent…And if you’re going to pay Charlize Theron £1.3  million to advertise perfume, why not apply the same logic to getting coverage for your fashion shows?”, read here for more. Surely there is a differentiation between advertising and supporting maybe designers need to be educated on the value of earned media, it may save them a few quid as well.

The Constant Rise of Social Media

HBI- Hertfordshire Business Independent (What i contributed whilst at my internship)

Over June and July i undertook the position of an intern at Media Jems an PR Consultancy in Norwich. They also edit and contribute to the HBI. Below is what i contributed to the magazine for the July/August issue.

Read Online- http://www.businessindependent.co.uk/

The old family joke!

Enjoy

One to Watch- Jai Paul

BTSU


Baby Beat Preview

Twenty Twelve... Brand manager from PR a joke

The Olympic “mockumentary”, Twenty Twelve is a 6 episode comedy programme running on BBC which follows the Olympic deliverance commission in the run up to the 2010 Olympics to be held in London. Siobhan Sharpe is a character played by Jessica Hynes who is the naïve and clueless brand manager from a PR agency who is constantly on her phone, rude and comes up with the most ridiculous suggestions; “for national heroes to be Olympic torch-bearers include Bruce Forsyth and Gok Wan, and she confuses the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy with the Welsh singer Duffy.” When a crisis occurs she does not deal with the situation but merely steers around it, when the 2012 clock in Tate Modern, does not work or know how to work it or why the artist created it a certain way, just a stunt with no information.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8380409/Twenty-Twelve-new-BBC-sitcom-mocks-Britains-Olympic-preparations.html

The brand manager is shown in a bad light, for years PR has constantly needed PR for its self as the perception they have is mainly spin. Although a comedy show, it does not help the insight of PR. Do we need filters on how PR professionals and the industry is portrayed, if we are always being judged do we need to constantly do PR on top, or will the stigma always stick?

Twenty Twelve is available to watch on BBCi Player online

My Week in Mobile Pics!

My Bulgarian Easter BBQ
Cousin, Sister, Me, Aunt, Niece and Nephew back in Norwich giving my dad the bad finger!
The new "crew" out in Bromley, always one to remember
First week back at Uni means SU time! Alex, Polly, Me
Gypsi Moth in Greenwich, The woman thought wrapping herself like a mummy and putting it all over the floor would clean up "the smell of beer"
Scribbles when Bored... taken from Luxi
Walk to Canary Wharf today!

"Always a Leader, Never a Follower" Monster Beats

Beats was established back in 2008 in conjunction with successful rapper Dr.Dre and Monster Cable, it has now become one of the leading and recognizable brands in the headphone and music industry mainly due to its marketing strategy that has taken place globally. Providing an excellent music experience for all in a range of affordable prices, there are also headphone in the range designed by Lady GaGa, P.Diddy and Justin Bieber. Listed below are some of the channels of communication they have used in their strategy.

• Media- Press conferences when launching a new product, music and lifestyle magazines.

Chrysler cars and Beats partnership press release- http://www.beatsbydre.com/press/docs/Chrysler-BeatsFinalReleasewithlogos_V2.pdf

• Video- Having a live youtube channel and videos on the products website online presence with the target market the videos showing how products work, press conferences, speeches by the makers but also the music videos. They also use this channel for internal communication education retailers on certain products.

• Celebrities- have been one of the main channels of communication for beats being shown in music videos, films, being endorsed by them, product placement. They have created a lifestyle what people want a part of and experience of the brand. Most of the placements are by the creators such as GaGa, Dr Dre and P.Diddy. Many athletes also endorse the product such as football teams whilst in South Africa for the 2010 world cup.

  

Beats Appearances;

· Dr Dre- Kush

· Lady Gaga- Poker Face

· Lady Gaga- Telephone

· Lady Gaga- Lovegame

· David Guetta- Who’s that chick

· Far East Movement- 2gether

· Far East Movement- Like a G6

· Nicole Scherzinger- Don’t Hold Your Breath

· Will.I.Am- Check it out

· The Book Of Eli- Film

· Black Eyed Peas- Current album cover and various music videos

· Kelis- 4^th July

& numerous more

• TV advertisements- with collaborations such as HP and again a celebrities endorsement by Alicia keys.

• Blogs- There has been many blogs written about beats headphones both positive and negative. The negative aspect being are the headphones worth the large amount of money, is it for quality or the experience of having the product which turns heads.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/02/are-300-headphones-worth-it.html

• Events- Beats set up their own events such as at the American superbowl they have a Beats stage where artists performed like The Black Eyed Peas who are big endorsers of the brand. They also sponsor other events by providing free products for prizes, an example of this would be the Flavor Battle DJ Competition held i n America.

  

It is no doubt that Beats have had a great response from the public, and the strategy they have used has reached the appropriate target market. They also widen the target marketing by having collaborations with many other products such as laptops and cars. It has defiantly become recognizable and leader in the industry. The question that is still unanswered at the end of the day is, is it worth it?

Location Based Networking

Location based networking (LBN) is a new form and trend of social networking using the location of where you are blogging/networking from at that point in time. It is mainly used with the use of smart phones and notebooks, individuals to big corporations have stated to this way of networking. Listed below are just some of the most popular and well known uses of LBN.

Foursquare- Application for smart phones and mobile devices that uses GPS to use your location. Foursquare allows people to check into certain places such as cafes, Universities, housing and many more. When checking into these places you gain rewards and points to build your profile up and build up your ranks like a game. It also allows you to view where your friends have checked in, and who is nearby your own check in. It currently has 7million users worldwide.

https://foursquare.com/

Twitter- A current new feature allows your followers to see where you have twittered. It is usually a link which comes up as a map and shows your direct location. Tweeters can opt out of using the location feature. Twitter has a registered estimated 190 million users.

www.twitter.com

Facebook- On smart phones and mobile applications FB allows you to check in to your current location and tag others with yourself, a further link allows others to see specifically where the position is. “Facebook has more than 500 million active users”.

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

LBN currently came around as the websites felt that people didn’t just want to know what was going on but where it was. There have been many negative comments about LBN arguing that it is a breach of someone’s privacy. Many companies have taken advantage of LBN giving users discounts, one that I have experienced myself is checking into a Wetherspoons chain pub and receiving 15% discount on my order. People in the PR industry think that it will take off mainly because of LBN and that it is great PR spreading the information by word of mouth but whilst doing this having to look after brand reputation as many can take advantage of this.


”According to a rather speculative report by research firm ABI Research, location-based social networks like Brightkite, GyPSii, Pelago and Loopt could reach revenues as high as $3.3 billion by 2013. The report, however, also warns that the business models might differ from what most analysts are expecting today. According to ABI research, most of these networks will make their money from licensing and revenue-sharing with network providers or handset manufacturers.” http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/location_based_social_networking_3_billion.php

My current Love- Maverick Sabre

"LONDON BORN, IRISH RAISED SINGER SONGWRITER MAVERICK SABRE IS BREAKING THE MOULD. WITH HIS SOULFUL VOICE AND SKILLFUL GUITAR PLAYING, HE DRAWS AUDIENCES IN A LEAVES THEM IN WONDER"

Mixing hip hop, r'n'b, soul creating great sounds, performing beside artists such as Tinie Tempah, Jessie J, Professor Green, Chase & Status and more. Could he be the next Plan B?

I Need

Look What I've Done- First official single

The Travelling Man Mixtape is available for download for free and his album and The Lost Words EP is currently out to buy.

Context MC ft.Vertex

Norwich Boy!