The UK press today is blaming social media for helping spread information and details about the riots in Tottenham and elsewhere and two platforms in particular are getting the coverage/blame – Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger.

Twitter’s getting attacked for the real-time nature of updates while BlackBerry Messenger is being attacked for being a private communications network (that’s free, hence the popularity).

And while some are asking if this is another kick in the downward spiralling BlackBerry, could it actually be the opposite and be seen as a defining moment in securing the teen marketplace ahead of iPhones and Android devices?

Read more…

The BBC seems to be in a bit of a muddle regarding social media use for staff, according to politics site Guido Fawkes. Business Editor Robert Peston cracked a sexual joke about the Royal Wedding and was asked to remove the joke, which he did (you can see what the gag was here). And it’s not the first time the BBC has had problems with Twitter.

Now you can read Guido’s article as BBC bashing but it does have a fair point – are the feeds the staff post on personal or private? Apparently, they are private. In which case, does the BBC have a right to censor it?

What’s the lesson here for businesses in Scotland and elsewhere thinking of social media?

Read more…

I do a fair chunk of speaking and social media workshops and while I enjoy them, I’ve noticed lately that I’m relying too much on PowerPoint and Keynote and being a bit lazy. On top of that, in Scotland – a country where for many in the media ‘digital’ (never mind ‘customer engagement’) is still a dirty word – could do with raising its game a bit, so this is my efforts at trying to raise the baseline.

To that end, below there’s a link to a series of social media presentations I’ve done – free to you – over the last year or so, covering social media successes, social media in a crisis, social media basic advice and some semi-advanced (for Scotland) social media advice. There’s versions for iPods and computers as well as the plain PDFs. (And yes, some parts may be a little out of date, but the general material is sound.)

If you’ve ever been curious about social media, wondered about how authors, lawyers, accountant, hotels, bars, general businesses can make social media/digital engagement work, then these are the podcasts for you.

Read more…

Think about it. Many of the senior people in marketing (who are male, which is still the case more often than not) at the moment are all going “we want blogs, we want Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, podcasts, Foursquare, blogs, Flickr stream, everyone will love us if we have all of this – and we want it now, if not yesterday, because in an hour there will be something else we need to sign up to.”

And, when you think about it, that’s how many men see having two penises as well. They think that it would be great, people would love them for it, it would get them all the hot buzz that they crave.

And in both cases they would be wrong.
Read more…

Following on from talking about if you can’t say something nice, STFU… apprently some people feel I’ve been dissing the upcoming Scotland140 event and that I, little megamouth me, should STFU.

Well, no. And here’s where I explain why as well as pointing out the power of words and why people shouldn’t be all about the ‘wooo!’.

Read more…

AdWeek has an article which states the average value of a Facebook follower is $3.60. I say: mince.

Read more…

Just a heads up for those who follow both @craigmcgill and @cm_pr_tips. The latter has changed to @content_ly but will still offer a selection of the best social media tweets from around the web.

@craigmcgill will do similar from Craig but also have his thoughts on other things (but not popular entertainment – that’s what @thethumbcast is for (blog and podcast link) – or being a parent  - he has @scottish_dad for that (and a blog for that here – feel free to vote in the MAD Awards for him).

Sarcasm will of course still be across all accounts.

Just a quick heads-up for those who are eligible to go, I’m speaking on Thursday night (yes, tomorrow) at a CIPR Stirling event at Stirling University on digital media.

I’m going for the slightly offbeat topic of the problems digital media faces in Scotland and what the next generation of PR can do to overcome it to build brands. There will no doubt also be a few case studies thrown in there.

Looks to be a good night with the other speakers being:

• Jason Wassell on Crisis Communication: Role of Communicators in tackling national emergencies.
• Tom Fox on Tailoring Public Relations to Suit Not For Profit Organisations: The Case of the Scottish Prison Service.
• Emma Diamond: The role of professional associations and CPD
• Julie McGarvey: Sports Public Relations (3×1)

Anyway, for those who can’t make it, I’ll post my presentation up here on Friday and if the others give permission, I’ll add theirs too.

In a little break from the normal “three speakers, three topics” style we have for the Scottish Social Media Dinners, we have the first themed event taking place in Glasgow on April 21 at the Urban Bar & Brasserie, Glasgow City Centre, starting at 6.30pm.

And not only is it the first themed night, it’s also the first time we’ll have a speaker from the USA…
Read more…

Look at the Stuart Maclennan saga of today. He’s certainly a loser in it, the chattering classes and social media pundits (like myself) have come out a winner, but do you know who the biggest winner was? The Scottish Sun and traditional media.

Why? Because Maclennan has been tweeting for months and nothing said digitally ever cost him his job. Within 14 hours of The Scottish Sun being printed, he was out on his ear. That’s impact and result.

Read more…