Drew B's take on tech PR

Google hiring 70 PR people

"Word on the street is that Google is looking to hire some 70 PR people at its head office in Mountain View in the near future," according to Next Fifteen's Tim Dyson. If it's true, as he says, that'll shake up the PR market.

The Guardian's Meg Pickard on productive commuting

Meg says that she's done some thinking about the heirachy of seating in the London Underground. Quite a funny post about the best and worst places you have to sit if you're forced to use the tube.

She's done this because of her new commute (she moved from AOL to The Guardian a month ago) and she's doing something constructive with that two hours extra a day she says she's spending on public transport.

I don't use the tube - I take the train then the bus. If I can wrench myself away from the BlackBerry and the MacBook that I'll try doing something similar for train and bus too :-)

BarCampSheffield in swing

BarCampSheffield's on today and tomorrow. I've been working with PlusNet, the organiser, in the run-up, and am gutted I couldn't be there, but it's just a bit too far. I was up at Internet House Sheffield earlier in the week though and the set-up's all spot on.

Have a look at the webcams in Internet House to have a gander at what's going on. PlusNet has also rigged up groups on Flickr for pics (already 191 up there), Blip.tv for vids, they're linking to buzz on Technorati, Google and del.icio.us. They've got some people feeding some cool content to these sites too.

PR Week on social networks

PR Week has done an analysis of social networking sites, with a focus on Facebook, in this week's issue. The article is titled: NEWS ANALYSIS: Linking up to the ultimate network.

"Social networking sites are being used by a growing number of PROs to stay in touch with clients, journalists or prospective staff," it starts. "Once seen as the domain of quirky ­exhibitionists or video-sharing teen­agers, social networking sites have hit the mainstream with a bang."

Argh!!!!!!! This is wrong on so many levels!

I think that if someone who had not heard about Facebook were to read this article they might find it of interest in a PR context. Probably somewhat misleading too. But let's face it. At lest eight out of ten of the PR industry must be on one network or another, whether that's Facebook, Myspace, Upcoming, Flickr, YouTube, blogs, Twitter, Jaiku, or whatever. So is a feature as strangely-slanted as this really of any use to anyone in the industry?

Facebook and Twitter create new PR word of mouth opportunities

Today a couple of the most networked and rapidly growing online social utilities, Facebook and Twitter, came together and the new marriage will have a huge impact on word of mouth PR and marketing.

From inside Facebook, you can now post to your Twitter feed and have your message piped out to your Twitter buddies and have it appear in your Facebook timeline. One post from one site and your message goes out on IM, SMS, RSS (and through RSS to email if you want) and most importantly, where the big network is in the UK - to your Facebook community.

So, for example, you want to get product PR awareness for a target demographic that loves Facebook but which is also hyper-connected. They use mobiles, IM and RSS loads too. A campaign using all these comms tools managed from one place is what Facebook and Twitter have brought out today.

What great timing that PR Week publishes a really (really) basic feature on social networks this week, focusing mainly on Facebook. For anyone coming at the debate fresh, it's maybe worth reading But worth watching out for more is the impact intermingling networks will have on word of mouth PR and marketing.

So I'm writing this post to my blog, from my BlackBerry on the train on my way home. Shortly after I'll FaceTwitter, or whetever it will be called. Then it's the long weekend at last.

Business cats and dogs week

One of BusinessWeek's staffers added me to her Facebook yesterday, so I was reading her profile and it made me laugh out loud (not wise to get me started on cats).

Through the keyhole then... who has a profile like this:

Activities: Cats
Interests: Dogs
Favorite Music: It's Raining Cats and Dogs
Favorite Movies: Cats and Dogs, Catwoman, My Life as a Dog
Favorite Books: Heart of a Dog

Twitter's newest glitch

Bobbie Johnson wrote an interestng post on The Guardian's blog today about a glitch in Twitter tht's meant private account being made public. Not sure if any big secrets came out, or how many users use the private function of Twitter, but the app seems dogged by problems at the moment. I've almost stopped using it as it's just never working on IM (which is how I use it). Fix yourself please Twitter.

Events and social networks

Here's a great round-up of events that PRs that are into Web 2.0 should think about going to, thanks to Mike Butcher's tbites. You should get into Upcoming.org and Meetup.com too if you want to track stuff down that's near you, that your buddies are going to or that's about your niche area. Here's mine.

links for 2007-05-22

• Financial Times: New features for Facebook as visitors soar
  Visits to Facebook have surged since the social networking site opened its doors to the general public last September, although its market share continues to lag behind that of MySpace, according to new data released on Monday.
• China blocking popular blogs « Scobleizer
  Robert Scoble realises that his blog is one of the many sites blocked in China
• LEWIS 360°: Open Coffee branches out to Manchester
  The Open Coffee movement branches out up north

links for 2007-05-17

• » The Blair Years sixtysecondview: Sixty second interviews from pr, media and politics
  "this will be fascinating reading and a required text for all in the UK PR industry and anyone interested in Tony Blair’s 10 year reign"
• XTech 2007: The Ubiquitous Web from Guardian Unlimited: Technology
  Kevin Anderson is blogging from Parix XTech for the Guardian
• bojo » Are you connected?
  Bobbie Johnson reviews Twitter in an article for The Guardian: "Like all these networks, Twitter’s real strengths only appear when you have the right friends."