Cardiff CIPR

To Cardiff to speak as their first guest of 2010 for their Rise n Shine breakfast briefings. An impressive 50+ attendees to hear my thoughts on the future of evaluation, current best practice and of course what Mediatrack was advising in regard to social media. Judging from the questions the challenges of twitter, blogs, etc are at the forefront of minds. I hope that by giving our view on how to make the interaction manageable we may have helped a few people appreciate that there are straightforward measures that when taken can prevent information overload.

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.

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.