CIPR

The horsemeat scandal in Europe continues at the centre stage of attention with more bad news appearing almost daily in lurid newspaper headlines like those above in some UK tabloids as more beef products contaminated with horsemeat are discovered in many European countries.

Alongside the original headline-grabbers about supermarkets in the UK such as Tesco, Asda, Lidl and Iceland and brands such as Findus are newer appearances by global brands like Ikea, Burger King and Taco Bell – some of whose food products were found to contain horsemeat and not be ’100% beef’ – where consumer confidence has been badly shaken. More...

You’ve heard about the pop-up store: the retail outlet that appears one day – “popping up” – is there for a few days or perhaps weeks, often tied to an event of some kind, and then shuts down.

The idea has been around for the past decade. There are good examples in many countries. In London, there’s a shopping mall containing pop-up stores. And the government’s got in on pop-ups, too.

What many pop-up stores have in common is their role in bringing awareness of a brand to a location or an event rapidly and often in dramatic style, providing a bricks-and-mortar presence without the complexity and cost of long-term commitment to a physical location. More...

Last week, Socialbakers came to town with the London stop on their Socialbakers World Tour.

The social media analytics company invited me to the London event to hear from CEO Jan Rezab presenting analysis on brand behaviours on Facebook, including the top brands and their ‘returns on engagement’; and introducing new product features in Socialbakers’ offering, notably BrandLove.

Socialbakers describes BrandLove as “a new research method we have designed that measures the sentiment consumers feel towards brands.” That intrigues me as I believe that only humans, not computer software or algorithms, can accurately measure sentiment: More...

Intro:Recording on Sunday Feb 24, experimenting with Diigo as an alternative to Delicious;

Quick News: New York Times gamifies reading, why podcasting should be the PR consultant’s best friend, slow video delivery dooms your video views, ad creep reaches the thighs of young Japanese women; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: 2012 Inc 500 Social Media report; Michael Netzley’s report shares an investigative journalism article and public protests challenging the Singapore government; challenges big and small highlighted in the CIPR’s State of the Profession 2012/13 report; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener comments from the Google+ FIR Community; how Maker’s Mark turned a social media smackdown into a win; Dan York reports (from a ski lift) on Karen McGrane and “Adapting Ourselves To Adaptive Content”; Google downgrades Pagerank on UK media websites that sell links;

Music fro More...

Podcasting should be the PR consultant’s best friend, says Phil Szomszorin a good assessment of podcasts and their role in public relations.

Or, rather, the role podcasts ought to have in PR.

In his optimistic assessment, Szomszor cites the rise of smartphone use and growth of free or cheap tools to create podcasts, plus a focus on content marketing, that have created a mini-revival of podcasting in the UK.

He notes three specific reasons for public relations practitioners to take an interest in podcasts:

1. Listen: learn about your industry.

2. Reach out: get your clients or your company featured on leading podcasts. More...

I use Twitter a great deal on a mobile device, not only when out and about but also in pastime situations such as tweeting comments about a movie or TV show I’m watching, or commenting about a brand in a TV ad.

That’s the so-called second screen behaviour and experience in action.

It’s increasingly common behaviour according to some new metrics about mobile use of Twitter in the UK, published yesterday by Twitter.

Indeed, UK tweeters love tweeting on a mobile device according to Twitter. Their numbers show that 80 percent of the over 10 million Twitter users in the UK do.

While the metrics Twitter published don’t go into much detail about who was surveyed, and how many, or the methodology – only referencing “a panel of internet users” who answered questions about their use of Twitter “and other services” – the figures are worth a look as they offer some insight into current Twitter m More...

Quick News: Software that tracks people on social media created by defence firm Raytheon, Twitter kills Posterous, American Express cardholders can tweet to buy, TD Bank invests in Google+ content; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: What do corporate directors and senior managers know about social media?; Dan York asks do you have current email contact info at your hosting providers?, reports on his experiments with Soundcloud and podcasting, and asks if you remember what it feels like to be a beginner again; the European #horsemeat scandal widens and deepens: More...

A drum that many communicators bang a lot – I do it, too – is the one that tries to get your attention on the view that an essential role of leadership in organizations is that of communication.

I’m not talking about the kind of stuff that many CEOs will do: the employee email, the bylined ghostwritten memo to investors or shareholders, signed forewords in sales and marketing collateral, “he said” quotes in press releases, etc.

No, I’m talking about the authentic stuff, the kind of behaviour in communication that is personal, natural, engaging and ultimately believable – the kind of thing that social media is designed for – that is so important today in a time of declining trust in leaders of organizations. More...

4G – the marketing term that covers the next-generation cellular standards LTE, HSPA+ and WiMAX – is rolling out worldwide and LTE is currently available in more than 60 countries.

It’s generally seen that LTE is the fastest 4G service and is the one that is the subject of a just-published report by Open Signal, a UK-based network testing company. The report examines the state of LTE around the world and contains some useful trend metrics for the lay reader:

• 62 countries already have at least one LTE network.
• LTE will be present in a projected 83 countries within the next two years, which will drive the production of lower-end LTE-compatible smartphones.

A strategic approach to planning and implementing social media initiatives has played a significant and measurable role in enabling the CME Group to claim a position that is ahead of the curve when it comes to using social media among financial exchanges.

The world’s largest future exchanges and owner of the Dow Jones stock and financial indexes, CME Group was an early adopter and experimenter with social media. Since starting out five years ago, the organization has expanded from a few publicly-available tools to a host of enterprise-wide applications. Customers, future customers (students), partners, competitors, regulators and employees have also integrated social media into their daily routines. More...

Neville Hobson is an entrepreneurial communications professional with a curiosity for tech and how people use it. He's an early adopter (and leaver) and experimenter with social media. He co-hosts the weekly business podcast 'For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report.' He's also an occasional test pilot of shiny new objects.

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