Online PR

I personally do not buy newspapers, I never have done and that is the honest truth.  I source news via radio travelling to and from work and online.
In my previous role as Head of Marketing for an ISP, all staff communicated the latest news through sharing links to the BBC (local and national) and industry news sites.  Your workplace may also have a culture whereby you share online news and features from sources relevant to your company’s industry?

The only newspapers my colleagues read were the free Metro papers they were handed on public transport.  With the introduction of the iPhone and mobile broadband, many commuters perhaps now prefer reading news on deck than the free papers where broadband connectivity is available?

Although I work in a high-tech industry where print based news is a rare sight, at the same time I also fall into the Generation Y label.  So, to gain further insight I recently questioned the ‘baby boomers’ (my parents, relatives and friends) whom I know purchase broadsheet papers.  What I was surprised to find is the majority only purchased the weekend papers as they too read online news at work and at home.  Taking this further my grandparents are the only group I found to still have the paper delivered on a daily basis, so are these findings indicative of the decline in print based news?

Empirical study shows increase in online news
A recent article from The Guardian Digital Media entitled Web overtakes newspapers as source of news in US survey retrieved via my RSS reader on 27 December 2008 supports this thinking.  The article includes the following statistics from Washington-based Pew Research Centre:

• The number of consumers using the web as a main news source surged from 24% to 40% in a year, overtaking the 35% who rely on newspapers. Television slipped from 74% to 70%.
• Younger people are migrating towards the web quickly. Among the under-29s, the web leaped from 34% to 59% as the leading source of news, tying with television, with newspapers lagging at 28%

Simply put: newspapers = monologue, online news = dialogue.

So what is the future for newspapers?
A couple of days before The Guardian’s feature I also received an article from ReadWriteWeb on Community News Frameworks. This article’s main focus was on how the newspaper industry can re-invent a new model to engage further with their audience and featured News Mixer an application that adapts Facebook Connect with its software, mixing both local news reporting and citizen journalism at the same time integrating user comments, rankings and ratings which appeal to social media audiences.  Apparently the New York Times technologies editor Aron Pilhofer has commented that there were bits and pieces of News Mixer he would like to steal right now!

Can you think of any other ways in which newspapers can look toward reinventing new models to remain competitive online in attempt to make up the deficit in declining newsprint?

Tagged as: brian solis, news mixer, pew research, Social Media, the guardian

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Over the past week I have been exposed to countless top 10 lists for social media such as 2009 predictions, best apps, communities, twitter tools etc… so I decided that “if I can not beat them, I’d join them.”

My very own list however is a Top 6 list of UK bloggers I’ll be following with an attentive eye in 2009.  The criteria for my Top 6 list is based upon the following methodology:

1. UK bloggers only.  Sorry to disappoint all the US bloggers but there is so much exposure on US bloggers that I wanted to champion bloggers from my own back yard.  Those bloggers whom I’d probably have more chance of bumping into at events, conferences and maybe even having a beer with during the course of 2009.

2. Blog focus must be marketing, online pr and social media as this is my main interest and forms the basis of my career, passion and blog. 

3. Taking the blog focus further, the blog posts themselves must also be thought leading, thought provoking and insightful - something to get the old grey matter going.

So, without further ado, I’m delighted to share with you the…

Top 6 UK bloggers I’ll be following in 2009

Simon Collister - Simon’s blog is largely influenced by UK politics due to his research background in political communications.  With the attention on the economy and a possible UK election in early 2009, Simon’s interpretation of social media and online pr used by government parties will be interesting to follow.

David Cushman - In my opinion David is a true evangelist of social media.  His passion for cultural change and the 8th mass media (us) resonates in every post, whilst at the same time giving confidence to people like myself practising social media.  David will support my thinking throughout 2009.

Alan Moore & Tomi Ahonen - Communities Dominate Brands is the brain tap of engagement marketing expert Alan Moore and mobile marketing expert Tomi Ahonen.  The reason for following this blog is two fold. 1. Their posts are intellectual, covering social anthropology, philosophy and history. 2. I personally believe that mobile marketing will see an increase in 2009, so Alan and Tomi will give some good strategic insight.

Neville Hobson - Quite simply Neville presents, produces and promotes some of the best podcast interviews with leading pr, marketing and social media practitioners from around the globe.  Neville is certain to come up with many gems throughout 2009 taking my blog experience from visual to audio, giving the eyes a rest and the ears a social media massage.

John Dodds - I have only recently been following John Dodds, but all posts read so far have been insightful and intelligently written with a pure marketing focus.  Make Marketing History is refreshing reading amongst a heavy social media blog list.  John’s thinking and blog style I liken to Godin’s; very precise and “hey I think like that too”. 

Mark Earls - Mark’s blog ‘Herd’ looks at human behaviour and challenges our assumptions.  He is also not afraid to put his point of view across in his posts which I value.  Mark, back in the autumn of 2008 read my report on social network marketing too.  Herd the book (written by Mark) is on my must read list as I’ve done Tribes so may start using the word Herd as the standard for 2009.

Right that’s it, over to you…

I’d love to hear your top 6 UK bloggers or the one’s you’ll be watching via the old trusty RSS reader in 2009.

Tagged as: alanmoore, Blogs, davidcushman, johndodds, markearls, marketing, nevillehobson, onlinepr, socialmedia, tomchapman, tomiahonen

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Mat Morrison aka @Mediaczar recently carried out some quantitative analysis based upon Stephen Waddington’s Top 50 UK PR people on Twitter by Twitter influence.  As a result of the analysis he produced a list of people who are followed by at least 10 of the Top 50 UK PR Tweeple.
Whilst scrolling through the list I suddenly saw my name there ‘TomChapman’.
Based on the stats, I personally have 21 of the Top 50 UK PR Tweeple following me and my tweets on Twitter, and I share this position with Guy Kawasaki!

I was totally shocked and surprised by these findings but delighted at the same time.  So to all those who are following me from the Top 50 - Thank You and I look forward to following you, communicating, discussing, participating and engaging in some great tweets.

@TomChapman

Tagged as: guykawasaki, matmorrison, mediaczar, onlinepr, stats, tomchapman, top50, tweeple, Twitter

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For 60 hours on the 26-29 November, India experienced their deadliest terror attacks since 1993 which took the lives of 195 people.

The scale and unpredictability of the attacks which took place at different locations throughout Mumbai meant that professional journalists and traditional media were unable to document the terror at the exact time and location when it was happening.

Although the mainstream media did follow the attacks, the horrifying events were highlighted most through citizen journalists - ordinary members of the public on the ground witnessing the attacks unfold, who updated the global media leveraging social media tools such as blogs, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia.

This recent example of citizen journalism mirrors the 2005 London bombings coverage by ordinary civilians on the ground that is one of the most referenced case studies of citizen journalism.

Below is a list of social media used by citizen journalists to document the Mumbai attacks, if you know of any more please comment on this post with your updates:

• Twitter - users @puneet, @whizzkidd and @krazyfrog tagged their updates ‘mumbai’, ‘bombay’ and ‘#mumbai’.
• Flickr - photo page by Vinukumar Ranganathan. Ranganathan also used Twitter micro-blogging updates to inform friends what was happening.
• YouTube - videos footage of the attack uploaded from camera phones.
• Google Map – custom map shows all of the attack sites.
• Bloggers - posted first hand accounts of the attacks Sonia Faleiro, Arun Shanbhag, Mumbai Heros.
• Wiki’s - Wikipedia and Mahalo, as well as the citizen media aggregators NowPublic and GroundReport.

A further list at journalism.co.uk also documents social media used to report on the attack.

Tagged as: Citizen Journalism, citizen journalists, citizen media, Flickr, groundreport, journalism.co.uk, mumbai attack, nowpublic, Online PR, Social Media, Tom Chapman, Twitter, wikipedia, YouTube

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