100 rpm

I can tell when it's assignment deadline time

I've been particularly rubbish at updating this blog recently - so much so that I've started to see the point of microblogging - but I check the stats a couple of times a week to see who's reading.   And I have to confess to being surprised that my new(ish) and infrequently updated blog still manages to get 3-10 hits per day - albeit all relating to the same post.

In October 2009, to help out some of my students with a blogging assignment, I wrote the clumsily titled "Potential blog topics – the list that PR students won’t need after a month"

I hope it helped my students but, with their assignments now completed, the post is still being read.  So I've come to the conclusion that there must be an awful lot of students in other universities who are seeking inspiration with their blogging assignments, since most of the traffic comes via Google - usually as the result of using search terms such as "Student" "Blogging" and "PR." I hope they find it useful

Some coffee time reading for PR students ...

The US-based Institute for Public Relations (IPR) is "an independent nonprofit that bridges the academy and the profession, supporting PR research and mainstreaming this knowledge into practice through PR education." It's a fantastic resource for students and lecturers alike who are researching topics relating to PR practice - and this isn't just because of the breadth and depth of research papers in the archives, but also because there's no paywall.

On Monday, while talking to my second year PR students about PR evaluation and why they had to understand and know how to measure AVEs in order to critique them, an email from the IPR arrived in my inbox.  By coincidence, it was alerting me to a just-published research paper on media measurement. 

"A New Paradigm for Media Analysis: Weighted Media Cost looks at a new way to analyse media coverage.  'Weighted Media Cost' looks at the correlation between media space achieved by PR activities, time, and business outcomes.    While I've got some issues with this methodology as a way of proving the value of public relations activities (most of these issues, in fairness, the authors raise, although don't dwell on too much) it's an interesting read.

Student tweets give the inside track on placements

Although bosses claim that PR employees  lack key social media skills, universities are doing what they can to change this situation.   For instance, at De Montfort University in Leicester, social media theory and practice is intergrated into PR programmes and our PR students are assessed on their industry-related blogging and tweeting.

I’m finding that student tweeting (in particular) is having some unexpected benefits.    In the January of their programme, our postgraduate MA in PR students carry out a four-week work placement.  Although I’ll be in touch with the employer during this time to check that everything is OK, I don’t usually hear from the student unless there is a problem (they’re too busy!).  

However, with Twitter, all this is changing.  Over half the MA cohort are tweeting about their placements,  and I’m getting  a live, fascinating and very real insight into the ups and downs of their working lives that the 'official' assessed post-placement portfolios and reflective journals wouldn’t normal give me.

So thanks to@aliceimobo @d_airey @ghgems @renster157 @hannalakiw @romerossoldier @rajbedi87 @smallcrystal and @sarahmess81 for sharing their placement experiences on Twitter.  It's great hearing what you are all up to.

Book Review: Personal Reputation Management: Making the Internet Work for You

Philip Young's review of Louis Halpern and Roy Murphy's Personal Reputation Management: Making the Internet Work for You reminded me that I'd bought a copy before Christmas and hadn't seen it since.  After a search lasting several days, I found that it had become a victim of my daughter's savage 'posting' game and was lying crushed and unloved under a mattress alongside George Monbiot's Captive State, Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler's Monkey Puzzle and Eric Hill's Spot's First Walk.

Now these aren't titles that I'd put in any list of 'books that changed my life.'  But, by writing about them online, I am linked with these books forever -  so perhaps I should change them to something a bit more erudite?  After all, the authors suggest that I should be asking whether what appears online about me enhances my professional reputation, and I'm not sure that connecting myself with Spot's First Walk really helps my cause.

A book focussing on personal reputaton management is well overdue.  As PR academics we're constantly telling students to guard and build their online reputation, but until now have only been able to offer a few blog posts and articles as 'proof' for our argument, thus rather contradicting our usual mantra of not relying on non-peer reviewed sources for justification.

(The only 'online PR' book which had discussed online reputation management with any specificity to date was Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge's Putting the Public Back into Public Relations.  Others might, but thorough indexing appears to be going out of fashion for business books, which makes it slightly tricky to find what you're looking for).

I read Halpern & Murphy's book expecting to have a basic, but interesting, canter through some of the concepts surrounding personal relationship management, coupled with lots of helpful tips and case studies.  On this front it succeeds, and much of the material is useful, but a book about reputation consists of more than just its content.  Unfortunately the book has a feel of one which was rushed to publication due to the number of typos and inconsistencies, detracting from the book's message and in my case, my confidence in it.  There's also a reliance on Wikipedia as a source (see the 'References' and 'Picture Credits' sections), which makes me wince.

Also, as Philip Young points out, this book uses a lot of white space to fill its 200 pages and to me some of the illustrations seem a bit pointless (do we really need to know what the Google home page looks like?). 

This aside, the authors take a strategic and readable approach to building a personal brand (how do you want to see yourself?) and the step-by-step approach to creating an online presence will no doubt be helpful to many.  However, I found that the really difficult reputation issues (what happens if you have a popular name - say, David Cameron - and you want to increase your online presence?  How do you rebuild a tarnished reputation?) were quickly sidestepped.  I would also have liked to see more discussion on the ethics and practicality of changing your online name to increase your 'Google juice' and some practical guidance on the long-term maintenance and development of your online presence.

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record the book's lack of indexing and cross referencing makes it tricky to just dip into, which is frustrating  - you really need to read it all in one go and trust that everything will be explained in the end (which to be fair, it usually is).

While I'll be adding this book to my undergraduate and postgraduate reading lists (it does help answer the "why should I bother blogging?" question), it will be to get students starting to think how they create and establish their personal brand.  For maintaining that reputation over the next decade or longer, however, they need to start thinking and working things out for themselves.

My decade in review

Inspired by Simon Wakeman, I thought I'd run through a few of my personal goals, trials and achievements of the decade.  Of course, what I think is worth writing about today I might decide is meaningless and superficial tomorrow, so before I change my mind ...

2000

On 23 December 1999 I got together with Adam, who I'd dated a couple of years  previously.  There's a picture of us climbing on Christmas Eve (if you're interested in these things he's slapping for the top of Meringue (HVS) at Lawrencefield, me belaying).   At the time, I was working for a PR agency in Birmingham as an account director, living in Nottingham and enduring a 100 mile round trip every day.  I hated the job, I hated the drive, and I'd been in one car crash too many in the past year.  I spent all my spare time climbing, running and travelling, taking 'burning the candle at both ends' to extremes. 

2001

I changed jobs, took a salary cut, and became an account director at Paskett PR, a specialist PR agency (gardening and food) in Derby.  I nearly didn't start the job as I suffered a head injury in February whilst winter mountaineering, and spent most of the spring seeing everything tinged in green.

Just as I thought life was pretty settled and good (working at Pasketts was huge fun, if not particularly challenging), Adam was offered a job in Iceland, which he took.  We got engaged in August 2001 just before he was due to leave. In September I  won my first ever running-related prize - a set of candles for coming third in a fell race. The date was 11/9/01 Guess a lot of people hadn't turned up due to the events of the day.

I then suffered a serious knee injury and couldn't run for six months.

2002

Adam and I got married in January.  I decided that I'd rent out my house and move to Iceland.  I loved my job, but couldn't see myself working in PR forever, and wanted a chance to try other things.  I moved in May and by July was working ...ironically for a PR agency, Kom ehf, where I ran training courses and liaised with their international clients.

I ran my first Icelandic mountain rance - the Þorvaldsdalsskokk - a grueling 20k across path-free tundra and snow slopes.  I got a medal (I think for coming third) and a strained ankle.  It was one of those races where everyone finishes covered in blood and bruises.

I was only working part-time, so had plenty of time to run, walk, cycle, read and decide what to do next. 

2003

We lived in Akureyri, below the ski resort of Hlidarfjall .  I spent the winter snowboarding, and would for the next three winters, getting quite good (I don't do tricks, I just like going very, very fast).  We really made the most of our time in Iceland, and despite the hardships - not the weather but the bureaucracy, the sheer remoteness (we were a six hour drive from the bright lights of Reykjavik and an international airport) and some aspects of the culture - had an amazing three years.

I started an MA in Mass Communications via distance learning at the University of Leicester.   I ran a lot, and picked up a second place in the Lake Myvatn Midnight Sun marathon (3:43 - which I thought was a personal best (pb) but on consulting my running diaries years later found out it wasn't). 

Was really starting to enjoy my cycling and taught myself to swim 'properly.'  Took part in my first sprint distance triathlon at Husavik and won.

2004

More snowboarding, more running, more travelling, more studying.  Flew back to the UK to run the London Marathon in a personal worst time, but was greatly cheered afterwards to meet up with some of my virtual friends who I'd met on-line through a running discussion forum.  I'd hardly heard the term 'social media' but there I was, drinking in a bar in London with a group of people I'd only ever chatted with via my laptop.

As we had the previous summer, we spent a month with our tent and climbing gear in France and Spain, climbing hard and living a simple life in the sun.

Ran my first Olympic distance triathlon (at Husavik again) and won (again) in 2:28. I immediately retired from triathlons, quitting while I was ahead.

2005

Won the Akureyri Vetrahlaup (winter run) series.  Did some guest lecturing at the University of Akureyri. I knew by this stage that I wanted to make the switch from PR practitioner to academic, and was slowly putting everything in place to make it happen. Living in Iceland, it was easy to see the economic crash coming (it was obvious, even then) and decided to come 'home' while our salaries were still worth something, moving back to the UK in May.  Started working at Eden PR in Nottingham.  Finished my MA, but missed  getting a distinction by a couple of marks (darn!).  

2006

Was offered a position as senior lecturer in PR and media at De Montfort University in Leicester in January 2006, with a specific brief to set up an MA in PR and run an undergraduate module.  

Did a lot of fellrunning and won my running club's fellrunner's championship - the first woman to do so.  Also made a foray into the world of women's road racing (road bikes that is) which was exciting and terrifying in unequal parts.

Did the Fred Whitton Challenge - a nice 108 mile day out over the Lake District's hardest passes.  Finished in 8:28, so one of the fastest women, but knew I could have gone faster ...

2007

A tough year.   We were trying and failing to recruit a new PR lecturer at work, so I was doing two jobs while trying to keep up with the running and cycling, but neither were going too well.  I had papers accepted at a couple of conferences, so was making a start to my academic career.  I then had a cancer scare (thankfully a false alarm) but it took me a while to get over the illness that led to the scary symptons.  Picked up a few minor race placings, and won my first UK race but wasn't getting any faster.  Decided on a new approach, set myself some goals but frustratingly just got slower in November and December.  It wasn't until Christmas Eve that I discovered why ...

2008

IsabelleHafdís was born in August 2008.  Despite pregnancy, I still managed a couple of fell races, and a snowboarding holiday, while getting increasingly huge. Had papers accepted at conferences in Cardiff, Miami and Brussels, so made the most of my last few months of 'freedom.'  Despite a c-section was out on my bike after five weeks and running after six.

2009

Isabelle is growing up into a lovely toddler but it's true that having kids changes everything.  We still managed to go camping in the south of France in the summer, but life moves at a different pace now.  I started racing again, but lacked the time/opportunity to train well, so achieved no great results and subsequently just treasured the times I could get out for a decent ride or run.  I went back to work in June, thankfully only doing one job this time (at work, at least). Having participated in, researched and taught social media for half a decade I decided that it was time that I started blogging at 100rpm.  Which is where you are now.

Social media snake oil salesperson or guru? It's the new Christmas game

I'm lying in bed, it's 5:00am, and I'm thinking about novel ways to get students to engage critically with the public relations texts they read ... 

Then I had an idea inspired by David Armano's recent post Life after social media snake oil:  I'd present students with a selection of passages on social media - some written by social media authorities whose status is ascribed by others, and some that I'd found on the Internet written by self-proclaimed 'social media gurus.'  It would then be up to the students to separate the real experts from the flaky bandwagon jumpers. 

Of course, I couldn't just photocopy the texts - students are smart enough to recognise a peer-reviewed journal article when they see it - so I'd type up each extract (hmm, let's hope I can copy and paste otherwise this idea will never see the light of day) and present them to the students.

Of course, each extract would need to be a reasonable length (500 words or so - on the grounds that everyone writes a duff paragraph from time to time) and on a similar theme.   Then, through considering the author's perspective, the claims made and the level of analysis, the student would decide whether the author was an authority in their field or a snake oil salesperson, jumping on the latest bandwagon.

Would it work?  Would (insert guru name of choice) be condemned as an intellectual lightweight, whose specialist subject is stating the obvious?   Or would the semi-literate ramblings of a bandwagon-jumping 'guru' be considered to be groundbreaking analysis?  Hey, who knows?    It would be fun to find out what students really think when the veneer of association is stripped from a text. 

I'm now starting to think that this exercise has life beyond the classroom.  If you have a group of PR or social media-type people in your house at Christmas, you can sit them round the Christmas tree, read extracts from social media texts and play "Expert or snake oil salesperson?" in the comfort of your own home.   Well, it beats Trivial Pursuit.

Facebook: Networks can cause problems, but is removing them the solution?

When I opened Facebook this morning, I saw an open letter by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg flagged at the top of the page.

In the blog post, written hours earlier, Mark announces that Facebook "plans to remove regional networks completely and create a simpler model for privacy control where you can set content to be available to only your friends, friends of your friends, or everyone."

The reason seems to be that "some of these regional networks now have millions of members and we've concluded that this is no longer the best way for you to control your privacy."

Everyone has Facebook settings that allow them to limit who sees their information (in a sliding scale it's friends, friends-of-friends, network, everyone).    If you join a network and don't want people in it to see your details, it doesn't take long to adjust the settings.  However, most people don't, which means that all a stalker/recruiter/journalist needs to do is join your network to capture your information.

I'm not sure that Facebook's sledgehammer-type response is appropriate and I'm wondering what the reaction from users will be (let's hope that Facebook's PR team are on the ball today).  Surely making privacy settings simpler and more understandable (which Facebook is planning to do anyway), and educating people in their use  would be more effective?

De Montfort University MA in Public Relations student blogroll

Our MA in Public Relations students have now been blogging for a couple of months, and are approaching the task (it also forms part of their assessed work) with real enthusiasm and insight. I'm really enjoying (and am frequently challenged, amused and inspired) their posts.

Here's the class blogroll.  All I need to do now is persuade a few more of them to enter the EUPRERA Social Media Awards 2010 ...

Annika Wahl
http://hannalakiw.blogspot.com/

Donna Airey
http://www.marketing.co.uk/donna-airey

Sarah McKenna
http://sarahlmckenna.blogspot.com

Shih-Yu Chen

http://chen-crystal.blogspot.com

 

Raj Bedi

http://watchthisspace123.blogspot.com/

Nick Rennie

http://isallpublicitygoodpublicity.blogspot.com/

Gemma Holder
http://ghgems1726.blogspot.com

Alice Treherne
http://alice-i-alice.blogspot.com/

Charlotte Lee
http://prstudentdmu.blogspot.com/     

Chris White
www.romerossoldier.typepad.com/romeros_soldier

Tony Sunner
http://tonylorenzoprblog.blogspot.com

Navdeep Birak

www.navdeepbirak.blogspot.com

A walk on the {client} side: Twitter and transparency

A couple of days ago I noticed that a PR friend of mine, Aaron Huckett, digital manager with Publicasity, was suffixing all client-related tweets with this:  {client}. I thought that  this was a great step forward in terms of Twitter transparency (I’m often confused as to whether a PR practitioner really, really loves a new product or is just tweeting on behalf of a client) and asked Aaron to tell me more about his reasons for adding {client} to client-related tweets. A flurry of Twitter DMs and emails resulted in Aaron kindly agreeing to be my guest blogger so that we could find out more. Here’s his take on transparency and Twitter. Thanks Aaron!

Aaron writes:  Transparency and covert promotions are a major issue in online public relations.  In the USA the FTC recently announced that it wants to start fining bloggers and twitterers who fail to disclose information about payment for endorsements . In other words, you could get in a lot of trouble for saying how much you like this particular cake if you don’t say that you are being paid by Mr Kipling! Working in PR, this can be a big problem. Seeding is a big part of getting the message across, and while I am more than happy to flag up any interesting product/client updates on my personal Twitter account (aaronhuckett), after reading this article I thought it would be wise to think about how to go about this with transparency.

Simple solution – whenever I mention or refer to a client in my tweets or retweets I simply type {client} at the end of the tweet. This makes the tweet totally transparent and lets the reader know my intention with that tweet – and this is something I have noticed a couple of PR agencies doing in their Twitter accounts.

I have also been relayed this into my company’s (Publicasity) Twitter accounts (@publicasity and @digicasity) which usually feature updates on the industry or about things going on in the office – but where we are openly promoting a client, I think it is wise to use the {client} tag.

What do you think? Reckon there is an easier way to put it? Got a good argument for still being secretive about these things?

The accent is on ... pitch and professionalism

"Many of my female colleagues adapt a higher pitch, making themselves sound girly, small and unthreatening when on the phone, whereas male colleagues do not fluctuate in the way that they speak on and off of the phone" writes Natalie Torbett, commenting on a story in PR student magazine Behind the Spin  on diversity, discrimination and regional accents.

I've always hated my voice - too monotonous and too 'Estuary' - and spent my years working in PR trying to cultivate a no-nonsense and professional tone when talking to journalists, as did my colleagues.  The last thing we ever wanted to be perceived as being was a 'PR girl' (although why 'girl' and 'girly' should become pejorative terms in this context is something for another post).  We wanted to be seen as equal (er, or better than) the journalists we dealt with - and this approach got good results.

I'd like to hope that Natalie's experience is the exception but I have a feeling that it's not.  What does it say about the UK media industry that women now feel that they have to change their demeanor on the phone to get what they - or their clients - want?  It doesn't say much for the professionalism of the PR industry that such behaviour is seen as acceptable.