Drew B's take on tech PR

Future of location based social networks: Facebook changes and my CIPR talk

Yesterday the good people at Facebook PR gave me a briefing on some of the changes coming through from the grand social network. It's great getting the inside story from brands, as you often come to your own conclusions when there is a launch based on what a bunch of bloggers and media have to say. Facebook announced a 'kitchen sink' of new features on Tuesday night, and the one the stood out for me was the killing off of Facebook Places. 

Judging by the briefing notes, it seems the plan for Facebook is to integrate location based info, ie the check-in, into the status update. A video on what's happening to Places is here on Facebook's 'location' page. I think this is really interesting as it makes the check-in or the location-based bit of social networking much more integrated into the overall experience. 

It's good timing for me too. I did a talk last week at the Chartered Institute of PR on how to get the most out of Foursquare and Facebook Places. Updating my talk with the above brings it all bang up to date... here are the slides I used. 

CIPR Social Summer - Location Location Location

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Twitter, PR and moving from challenger to mainstream

As reported just now in Ad Age, Twitter is rumoured to be on the hunt for a PR agency and is in talks with a number of New York shops. The Ad Age article says that Twitter may also be looking at London firms.

As someone who runs a UK PR firm which represents digital and technology brands, I'm no stranger to the challenges faced by brands in the limelight. The need to manage and shape reputations is in many ways more difficult for 'famous' names than it is for challenger brands.Twitter's battle with the mainstream's front covers over recent months has certainly brought its challenges, from super injunctions to the UK riots. I hugely admire Twitter's people and the brand.

Its executives and founders received their fair share of requests to work for them from a certain PR consultant over the years :) I make no secret of it.

But in this new era Twitter's challenges are all about establishing a platform with stakeholders that creates trust, inspires confidence around issues such as user privacy, and persuades brands' media buyers that spend on Twitter is worth its weight. I'm certainly looking forward to the next era of Twitter's mainstream evolution.

The new blogger reviews: Foursquare launches lists

Tonight the daddy of location based social networking launched its killer app: lists. 

Lists on Foursquare are going to transform the way brands participate in the social network. Now, check-ins on Foursquare can be surfaced not just through the traditional experience of social networking - by seeing your friends' activity in real-time or browsing through their history - but bu users creating curated groups of places, tips and plans. 

Here is my first list, complete with a map: places near my office to get coffee and lunch!

Here's how to create a list, in case you're looking for a starter for 10: 

1. Go to Foursquare.com and click on your profile / 'Me'
2. Create a list will be an option in a large green box
3. Choose a name, then start adding places that you've been. Foursquare will predict these as you type them in, to jog your memory
4. Foursquare will then suggest places to add to your list, and suggest photos of the places and tips from each place
5. Your list then has a vanity URL to share

We should quickly expect to see lists of experiences, venues and tips popping up and with a little luck, they might become a really engaging and trusted way for us to find places to go and things to experience along the way. Is so, brands will look for ways to get into lists and into people's social recommendations. 

 

7 ways social media was used for good in the UK riots

The tabloid media slammed social media for being a dark force in this week's London riots. 'Nail The Twitter Rioters', said The Sun in its main story. Reports abound of David Cameron looking to ban Facebook and Twitter at times of civil unrest.  

However, as anyone personally participating in social media this week will testify, social media was by far and away used more as a force for good amidst the rioting. The smart organisation of people, sharing of information and transfer of news was like nothing seen before. 

Here are seven highlights: 

1. Bristol cyclist takes requests for updates over Twitter, cycles to affected areas and tweets facts [link] (my favourite!)
2. @RiotCleanup harnesses communities within hours, 85,000 followers [link] [link]
3. Police forces take to Twitter to report on breaking issues and report from the courts [link]
4. Bloggers club together to help raise £20,000 to repair 89-year-old barber's destroyed shop [link]
5. Posterous site RiotCleanup.com used to share leaflets and spread the word of good being done in communities [link]
6. The Met Police share photos of rioters for crowsourced ID-ing on Flickr [link]
7. Facebook pages and blogs set up to aid the police to catch looters [link] [link]

If you have seen any more, do let me know in the comments.

10 disciplines for good communication and 3 rules for good discipline

I started a new job a month ago and working across different offices and businesses is new to me. Information overload however isn't (one of the questions I get asked the most is: 'how do you find time to tweet / blog / think?) and so I'm trying to apply some of the tricks I have picked up over the years to help give stucture, discipline and best practice to my work in communications. 

Here is an article called the Email Charter which lists 10 commandments of email best practice. Worth a read. As the giver, respect recipients' time, and don't be open ended. As a receiver, cutting contentless responses is a good rule of thumb too. 

And this piece in the Harvard Business Review takes a fresh look at discipline and using food and diet as an analogy, it gives three rules of best practice to adding discipline and focus to work. Very much applicable to life as a communications consultant. Have fig big to-do items for your year and make everything flow from them; share your commitments; and make your to do list your calendar. 

This last point leads me to a new service I'm hoping to try out soon called Zendone. It joins your to do list with your calendar. As someone who uses the cloud (namely Evernote) to manage my to do list, I would find this way of turning actions into time slots a neat way to better manage things. Here's to that Beta invite hey guys :)

Here's the Zendone promo video for happy GTD viewing: