Drew B's take on tech PR

How 4Chan found the little old lady who put a cat in a bin, in Coventry

If you have ever wondered how sites like 4Chan manifest themselves across the net - anonymous, swarming, uncensored picture messaging forums - read on. This is fascinating. 

Yesterday in a few places in the news, a story emerged that a little old lady, whilst walking down the street, lured a friendly cat towards a wheelie bin and when nobody was looking - THREW THE CAT IN THE BIN. Sadly for her, but happily for the cat, she was caught on CCTV. 

Even more sadly for her, the video of the CCTV footage made it on to the web. And then on to the site described by Boing Boing as 'the best and worst of the internet' - 4Chan. I will let Boing Boing describe the rest of what happened. Have a read of their full post. And the video of cat bin lady is below. 

Between Monday and Tuesday this week - "4Chan happened"

"Often dismissed as little more than a gang of anonymous bullies, there is some truth to the notion that the site is simultaneously the best and worst of the internet, and that when they put their collective minds together, there is no stopping them... 

"Almost immediately after the video started making the internet rounds yesterday, the 4chan legion set out to find this woman and destroy her life. Within a few hours she was identified as Mary Bale, 50, of Coventry (England). 

"But there's more: they also found out where she worked. They posted the phone number and name of her boss. They found out where she lived, and posted a Google map of that address. They found her Facebook profile. 

"And because of what some suggested should be done with this info, the local police stepped in and helped her hide. Probably not a bad idea."

The conclusions: you can find out anything about anyone on the net Foursquare / Places / Pleaserobme.com or not. Swarms are powerful. Cats are sacred. And 4chan remains a force to be reckoned with. 

Here's the video: 

Seven things that Facebook Places mean for PR and marketing

Facebook now has over 500 million users and in the last week the social network launched a new feature in the US called Places. It will allow you as a user to say where you are. It will allow you to see where your friends are. And if you are a business, it will let you claim your 'Places' and get to know its activity better than you've been able to before.  

Facebook has been very busy lately. It has recently launched Questions, threaded comments, ad reviews, multi-user advertising accounts, and no more boxes. 

If you are a brand and looking for what Facebook Places means for you from a PR or marketing perspective, here are 10 things you might like to know and to think about in advance of its UK launch: 

[Pic courtesy of Digital Influence Mapping Project] 

1. As a company, register your place before someone else does, so you can see user activity. Inside Facebook shows you how to do this here 
2. Facebook Places works from the user's phone, not their computer. Users will need an iPhone or HTML5 on their mobile browser to be able to use it
3. Places should be here in the UK soon. It does currently work in the UK, but only in Private Beta for employees (as referenced in this Tweet). So launch will happen when Facebook decides, probably no need for a lengthy wait for technology to be ready
4. Your default settings will be opt-in. Places will not be automatically recording users' location
5. Security settings will be default set to private, but users will be able to share more widely (we anticipate this being allowed to be totally open, so open check-ins will be visible to all visitors to a venue)
6. Friends will be able to check one-another into places. The same as how a photo can have one user tag many people. This could make real life places into viral events
7. If you're in the UK and you want to take a look, refresh your app and you'll see Places live in there. You'll only be able to see what your friends in the US are doing with Places, but it's a way to get to see what it will look and feel like

Comms etiquette: How to use Skype / Instant Messenger

One important and useful by-product of using social networks when you work in communications, I have always found, is that you can learn more about the people you need to know. Like doing your homework, networking, etc. Whether it's knowing a journalist doesn't like being left voicemails, a blogger who is fond of product reviews but not interviews, and so on.  

So I wanted to share this blog post from TechCrunch's Mike Arrington, talking about why he he has spent five years using Skype, why it's such an important comms tool for him, and how NOT to use it. Quite amusing, but a must-read for most people that have 'important' people on their IM. 

A synopsis of Mike's top five Skype etiquette tips: 

1. Only start the conversation once both sides are engaged
2. IM before you call
3. Be sparing of the enter button
4. Don't assume video calls are ok
5. IM chats are not confidential

Check Mike's full post. Some good examples in there of when it goes wrong. 

I'm going to try to post some comms etiquette from other technologies, like email, Twitter, etc. If you see any, let me know. 

One week of Twitter making all my decisions... and survived. Here's how it went

One week ago I started asking Twitter whenever I needed to make a decision. My post from last week explains why I did it and what it entailed. Also, to read about how it happened, lookup the Twitter hashtag #asktwitter and you'll see a lot of the conversations.

[a grocery trip when Twitter is in charge] 

Now that the seven days are up, I thought I would post some observations and highlights: 

• People on Twitter decided how I travelled, what went in the shopping trolley, what and when I drank, read, ate, wore, how I listened to music, and what I bought. 
• I now ride a bike. On day one, I asked how I should travel into work. Twitter consensus said I should start riding the bike. Specifically, the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme that started in London a week ago. So I spent the week cycling into work. I'm now properly addicted to exercise and will be biking into work for the foreseeable future. 
• I have some great new recommendations for beers and coffees to try
• Instead of just buying some trainers, I am going to get my 'gait' analysed (?)
• Twitter is REALLY good when you want a recommendation for a lunch venue. That got by far the most useful responses
• Strangely, I seem to make fewer decisions than I thought on a day to day basis. Someone thought that was a sign of a good manager. Whilst flattered, I disagree. It's just the way life seems to be. I would recommend this to anyone though. It won't ruin your life at all, but you will find out a heap of interesting stuff in the process. 

New study claims time spent on socialnets harms the economy

If you like reading about the impact of social media on the workplace, there is a scaremongery news story over on Mashable worth taking a look at.

Random job network My Job Group has done a 1,000 person survey that shows 55% of people polled access social media at work, with 6% doing so for more than an hour each day (I was not polled, but I expect I would be off th chart...).

Somehow the poll has calculated that social media is costing the UK economy billions in lost work time. Based on the fact that time spent reading / speaking / playing online has a negative effect on the rest of your day.

Even if people do waste more time at work now on the net than they used to on things like solitaire, emailing friends or talking to people, I disagree that the amount of time left to spend working is equal to total productivity.

I'm a strong believer in using focus, batching, channelling creativity, and Parkinson's law. If you ask me, even if your job can't be done better using the net in some way, you can definitely do better work when you are focusing by spending time not focusing, if you get what I mean.

So thanks My Job Group for the PR survey, but I don't think you've nailed the social media bit or the workplace productivity bit either.

My experiences of taking the Boris Bike into work (including some web nuggets)

Last week some bike racks popped up all over London. It was for the launch of the new Barclays Cycle Hire scheme from Transport For London. Or the Boris Bike, as people are calling it. With the scheme going live last Friday, I decided to register and start using it. My key arrived on the weekend, and I took my first ride on the bike this morning for the Euston Train Station to Clerkenwell part of my commute. 

In no particular order, here are my observations: 

• It's more costly than you think, but still dead cheap. The leaflets claim "Journeys under 30mins are FREE!". Well, first you have to buy a key fob by registering online. That's £3. Then you have to pay a minimum of £1 for every 24hr period that you're using the bike. THEN it's free to use for under 30mins. Beats the tube on cost, but it's not really free, Boris
• I feared there wouldn't be enough supply at my pick-up station, or enough spaces for giving it back when I arrived at the office. I found this morning that TFL have a google maps site that gives you live updates of how many bikes and empty docking spaces there are for you to use - this will really help to avoid problems especially when you're in a rush and can't be cycling around the block looking for a docking station

 

• There are gears! The right handlebar when you twist has three gears, to help you cope with speeds of more than one mile per hour
• The unlocking and depositing is really easy. Touch wood, no problems. you just wait for the green light
• For someone like me who is not used to riding expensive bikes, it's not a bad bike. Brakes work well, it's stable, and considering it has slash-proof tyres, it's not too bad
• The seat does adjust. And it's default setting is child-height low. So make it higher, so you don't look like an eejit (like I did)

Update - 12th August

In the first one and a half weeks of using the Boris Bike, I've encountered a number of problems. Of course there will be teething problems with this new scheme, but it does seem riddled with bugs. Here are the ones I've encountered so far: 

• Day 2 (problems 1 and 2): Fob didn't work and Pay Station didn't work. I had to call them up and have them reset my account to enable me to use it again. Easily solved, but 10mins on an 0845 number from the mobile to do it. 
• Day 4 (problem 3): No bikes. At my station at my office there were no bikes, so I had to take the Tube. 
• Day 5 (problem 4): Bike wouldn't release. The only bike left wouldn't come out of the stand. So Tube it was again. 
• Day 6 (problem 5): No parking slots. I arrived at my destination and there were no free parking slots. I had to go around the block to find another station, almost missing my train in the process. 
• Day 7 (problem 6): Bad bike seat. The bike seat wouldn't stay at the right height, even when fully tightened. It meant I had to spend most of the journey sitting at the height of a child. 
• Day ?? (problem 7): Like many others, I have been overcharged! I'm not sure for which journey, but instead of £1 I was charged £4. Cheeky Boris. I've had an email saying that I will be refunded. 
• Day 9 (problem 8): I arrived at Euston Station at 8pm to catch my train home. First and second bike racks I tried were full. Third had two spaces. I was 10mins late for my train having had to cycle around the block.

Regardless of these problems, I am enjoying riding a bike when I can. 

Case study in how not to speak to bloggers: Warner Bros' spam machine stuck 5yrs in the past

Understanding when a story that comes from a company's PR or marketing team is of value to a social media site of some sort is one of the most basic elements of social media relations. Yet it seems some teams, clinging to their word of mouth marketing accreditations, are still adopting some terribly spammy tactics and not seeing anything wrong either. 

The below case study comes from a blogger word of mouth marketing blitz currently being carried out by Warner Bros. It's like they are stuck five years in the past making mistakes any good team worth their salt would wince at. 

It comes from Adam Singer's blog, The Future Buzz. It's well worth a follow. 

Here is a synopsis, but the full blog post is a must-read. It contains most of the blog pitches and responses. 

"...Maybe it’s time for the entertainment industry to stop fighting the future at every turn and work on understanding their audience and developing relationships instead of treating us like numbers.

When much smaller private companies truly understand how to pitch a blogger, it’s amazing how public companies with billions in revenue get it so wrong.

In essence: Warner Bros. could care less about anyone they pitched. To them, we’re just numbers. The reasons we know this?

1. They say “my blog uniquely stood out as dynamic, informative and highly creative” yet they didn’t even personalize the email. Obviously they said this to everyone.
2. On the landing page they linked me to in the email, (I took that part out, they do not deserve link love) they mention it’s to receive information for a TV show. Except, blog readers here know I don’t even watch TV. So why would I possibly care about this?
3. I am vocally opposed to paid blogging. Of course any time someone tries to pitch me on paid blogging I’m going to react negatively.
4. I blogged about EMI for doing something very similar in a not-so-positive light. Clearly I’m going to share these pitches with the web.

They are taking the spray and pray, direct marketing approach to social media. Except, the social web is not merely a numbers game."