No.

Well, that’s what I always tell PRs when I run training sessions. Why? Because I find it impossible to explain to twitter newbies exactly how and when it *might* be OK to do so. But am I too hardline?

Maybe.

I mean when I run training sessions most people are new to Twitter full stop, forget the marketing applications (ick) of the service. But could PRs have an authentic and relevant conversation about a client on Twitter? Hmmm…

Willing to accept I am not the Social Media equivalent of a Delphi Priestess I instead asked some of my on- and offline writing contacts to “B*tch about the Twitter Pitch”. Over to them……

The majority said:
“Not at all” or “Not unless I know you”“

However some pointed out that if you know eachother, you already know how they prefer to be pitched, and would have their email/phone contacts to do so.

Of those who were fine with it (and I’m not listing their names to avoid them getting inundated) they advised:

• DM’s preferable
• Further to the above, ONE DM ONLY, preferably with a link to further info
• Once you’ve said it,  then leave it with them, don’t pester
• Relevancy is still important! Don’t just pitch them because they have a lot of followers…
• Works best if you can see they’re online and having a relevant conversation, otherwise email would be better

In general Twitter feels quite personal to people, they would prefer for you not to try and start a “business” conversation with them unless they open themselves up to it, for example with a request for information via Twitter.

Oh, and most said the personal nature of Twitter went double for Facebook. So don’t switch your pitch to there.

Good luck out there.

I  say that in PR you always get the short straw. Being the liaison between journalists (who can be a tad tough to deal with sometimes) and a client who may not always understand how important it is that you get the correct pricing, stockist and hi-res image in 30mins for a deadline is tough.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard “PR is incompetent”. The reality is that you do your best, working on behalf of a number of people’s interests, and always having to put on a happy face.

You can’t exactly say

“sorry, my client thinks you’re Tier Three press and hates your reviews“

likewise to the client

“The journalist didn’t even want to include your cr*ppy product in their feature.”

Despite the amount of un-niceness there is working in public relations, the role implys you can actually relate to the public. Which is why this story about a PR rep telling a blogger that images of them wearning  the designer’s clothes were bad publicity had me astounded.

Is it so hard to be nice? It doesn’t matter if you’re a blogger, write for Vogue or just someone posting pics to your Facebook profile. Surely this is not an example of bad practice in blogger relations it’s an example of just bad relating.

Unfortunately when it comes to bloggers there is still an ingrained attitude of agression from PRs. Could we all be a little nicer to eachother?

The FT’s reported on new research by HSBC on how business is expected to develop over the next 20 years. New technologies and working practices are, of course, at the heart of it. I was interviewed for the report and am profiled as

a “referral economist”, a new breed of business matchmaker who profits from connecting people

That alone sounds a little shady but in context it’s about using your network to connect with business opportunities and connect other businesses to eachother.

A lot of people think “networking” is ego-driven, greasy sales types at events handing out business cards and trying to get closest to the most important person in the room. That’s just a misconception like the idea that Twitter is just ego-centric, over-sharing of the minutae of life.

Networks (and social technologies like Twitter)  are about connecting people. The social media revolution has already massively impacted industry by connecting brands and customers. The next phase is when businesses connect to eachother. Wikinomics fascinates me by exploring that idea, and the concept of  Amplified 09 goes further looking at what happens when we connect across industries.

I know it’s cheesy but we really do live in exciting times.

"Strait Jacket" can be worn as t-shirt or dress. Patriziabel Sito

Cottage industry is on the rise with the success of online store fronts like Etsy and NOT JUST A LABEL (NJAL) is just such a site taking it’s existing social network of rising fashion stars and enabling them to sell one-off designer peices via the launch of a new online store.

Based on market research by the company showing that “today’s consumer is looking for unique and one-off designer garments” the new store will feature items selected by the NJAL team plus key industry figures. The idea is a new concept to showcase design talent by selling fashion which may not normally be considered commercially viable.

Will it work? New, exclusive, limited, alternative – sounds like a recipe for fashion success to me.

In December last year I attended a bloggers briefing held by Transport for London on how they’re planning to communicate transport info to the public, particularly via web and mobile.

Although I never typed up my thoughts from that meeting the clever folks at Inreal Technologies, a Cambridge based start-up, spotted a comment I’d left on Annie Mole’s blog stating that what most interested me would be mobile applications for transport info.

Inreal offers a free app called byunderground which differs from similar sites (like TFL’s wap service). Here’s some of the key features:

• Minimised navigation: The opening page provides a view of the status information for all lines in the London underground (excluding DLR). The user doesn’t have to click any links in order to see the line status of any one particular tube line
• Familiar look and feel: The Line status view uses a layout that regular LU users are familiar with. Exceptions in tube line services are marked with a coloured background (yellow=minor, red=severe, blue=planned) which aims to help identify affected lines
• Details view: When a line is experiencing delays, details of the incident can be viewed by clicking on the status hyperlink of the given line. In addition to the description of the problem, the details view also tells you how long the problem has been ongoing (Since: H hours M minutes ago). If the browser on the handset supports the feature, the user is also offered a link to forward the report as an SMS
• Line closed information: When the last tube has completed its service (early hours of the day) the line status view shows the status as ‘Planned closure’. In the morning when the first tube departs the status changes to ‘Good service’ unless otherwise reported

If you want to try it just open http://byunderground.com in your mobile’s browser.

The Telegraph annoys users

While I’m not a prolific blog commentor I really like commenting on friends’ posts. So, it was with great excitement that I clicked over to the Telegraph to start reading Katie Lee’s new blog.

Unlike many of my peers I actually rate The Telegraph. It’s informative, has good coverage of global events and let’s be honest now, does a decent weekend magazine which is the only time I really buy a newspaper.

But it’s so frustrating when “old media” do their version of “new media” features and generally balls it up.

To leave a comment you have to register. It’s a pain, but I can cope. But the registration process is EPIC. It forces you to create a MyTelegraph profile and this process is more time consuming than any sane person could be bothered with.

To add to my despair, there was some weird glitch where typing in my email address I couldn’t see all of what I was typing. After trying to double-check I hadn’t made a mistake (it’s quite long) I’ve of course made a boo boo somewhere, ensuring I’ll never be able to access my profile. Create another one? Forget about it.

Sorry Katie, I’m loving your column, but will be enjoying in silence.

Lights on but nobody home

Event Essential: The Goody Bag

Following on from  How not to run a social media conference in London I saw this from Gemma Cartwright praising The Body Shop for a recent bloggers event and explaining why it worked. [Organisers Headstream should take a bow for this]

If you’re collecting advice then back in the day I also wrote on the Shiny Red blog  top tips pitching to the UK’s top tech bloggers following a panel discussion.

The Former New Piccadilly Restaurant

With that darned iPhone everywhere I’ve been feeling left out on the mobile apps front while still touting last years “it” phone the N95. Then, BT MyPlace launched and with it’s mobile element I had high hopes for it quietly becoming very useful for me.

But I honestly can’t tell you much how it’s worked for me because, after signing up, I’ve never been able to get a handle on the service. I use web and mobile services all the time, well beyond the average consumer, but getting running using this service has me hitting a wall. Why? A couple of things haven’t helped:

• there’s no getting started process or prompts. You sign up and then that’s it, you have to proactively start accessing the service like a pro
• wi-fi: I never use on my mobile in London or think about logging on to a BT OpenZone with my laptop just to use this service for free

I really wanted to make Bt MyPlace work. It’s a strong idea, they have all the local knowledge to make it good, it’s new, it’ll grow and develop, right?

If you want to try it for yourself (and then show me how) there’s no time like the present because you can currently win an Acer Netbook.

Just go to www.btmyplace.com, log-on to the competitions section and tell them your ‘best kept secrets in Westminster’. Could be your favourite pub, church, shop, market stall, greasy spoon, monument, cafe, cemetary…

Plebble manages feedback about companies and organisations online. Now managing customer complaints on the web is not new, I mean I’ve previously posted about what happened when I had a wee rant on Twitter once and that seems to be more and more common these days, but this new site has got me excited.

It’s not just another channel for ‘Disgruntled of Tunbridge Wells’ to spout bile on. Plebble is managing those conversations in a number of ways and converting dialogue into opportunity by providing businesses with  feedback and access to customers.

The democratisation of the web has already come and revolutionised the way we do business. More and more customers are turning to the web to leverage their consumer power. The days are fading when brands ask me how to “stop bloggers saying mean things” and even more are looking at how best to nurture conversations.

Plebble brings together some of the best elements of online customer feedback and takes into account there will always be some brands, big and small, that:

• nobody wants to hang out with on a brand site or in social spaces like Facebook
• will mainly get negative mentions online (in some sectors, happy customers are quiet customers)
• are strapped for cash to resource online CRM

This is true “e-mocracy”, as Prebble calls it, with a framework to prevent it descending into some Lord of the Flies style brand persecution. I like it.

P.S. British Gas, I am watching you…

I’ve been trialling the eCairn Conversation(TM) Dashboard for just over a year now (thanks to some clever outreach and the persistance the lovely Laurent Pfertzel).

The product has really evolved and now ticks a lot of boxes for PRs conducting social media outreach programmes;

• Build a network of Social Media communities using your own lists OR their search feature and collated blog lists
• Measure influence of your network
• Track conversations across multiple platforms inc Twitter, Video sites, forums
• Organise and manage team activity online
• Measure impact of engagement

The company has a nice approach to building an authentic network and the product’s intended to give you the tools to manage & measure that process. They must know what they’re doing too as they’ve managed to nurture a relationship with me over the months and now look, here I am advocating you sign up for free trial!

Of course I’d still like to see some changes but their responsiveness to feedback and speed of development gives me confidence this is a Social Media tool with a lot of potential.