Twitter = get out of jail free card

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Avid Twitter fans are more than ten a penny today, with bloggers, journalists and social media enthusiasts using this must have web 2.0 application to communicate with and update others on their daily happenings. But little did we know, Twitter is not only useful for finding answers to burning questions or letting our followers know when we’re making the coffee or bored at work… It seems it is also pretty useful in a sticky situation, say for example getting arrested.

US student James Karl Buck, was covering an anti-government protest in Egypt when he and his translator were arrested. During the commotion, Buck used his mobile phone to update his Twitter status, telling all of his friends and followers in one word, many of which were also in Egypt, that he had been “Arrested”.

This smart move meant that all of his followers around the world instantly knew of his plight and could start the ball rolling in securing his freedom.

Buck also sent updates every couple of hours using his phone, which the Egyptian police had failed to confiscate. Buck was eventually freed but his interpreter’s whereabouts remains unknown. In essence, Twitter helped him find the right contacts to get him out of jail.

So if you ever find yourself in trouble, you know which social network to turn to…

Are you looking for work experience in public relations or social media?

Calling all students - are you bored of getting up at 3pm? Are you tired of drinking and partying until mid-day? Has cold pepperoni pizza really lost its appeal at breakfast time?

Right then, listen up, social media specialist Wolfstar is again on the hunt for some enthusiastic recruits to join its team on a part-time work experience basis.

Are you interested in a career in public relations? Do you have an interest in social media and word of mouth marketing? Do you want to find out how this all fits within the marketing mix? Well, if the answer to all of these questions is yes, we have a great opportunity for you right here with us.

We are currently looking for a couple of professional but fun students to join in the action. If you would like to gain some fantastic experience with a young team of communications professionals, drop me an email with your CV at chrisn@wolfstarconsultancy.com.

If you have any fears about starting to work, have a look at this.

Time to get writing chaps……

Technorati Tags: Students,Wolfstar,Work experience

I love Ajax

Since December 2006, I have been enjoying the tech world a lot more than I thought I ever would. What’s not to love? Social networking, speedy instant messaging, Vista, the Wii, RSS feeds, building blogs….

I’m now at a stage where my nearest and dearest believe I’m some sort of a new age geek. A cross breed of a digital marketer and blogger, meets wannabe chef and sports fan. I hold my hands up and whole heartedly agree. Why not embrace these new treats and enjoy the tools that are now available to us?

The thing that has continued to impress me over the past six months is Ajax.

Wikipedia: "Ajax (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), is a group of inter-related web development techniques used for creating interactive web applications."

Ultimately most people are impressed by functionality, but as my team mates remind me every day, I like things to look ‘pretty’. Until recently, I was an advertiser’s dream. The packaging was key, with usability coming close behind. For me, Ajax achieves both of these key elements to a very impressive degree.

I’m pretty sure that most people who use popular sites like Facebook aren’t aware they’re using an Ajax system, or for that matter, really care… and then there’s the new BBC site; allowing you to customise your own homepage with whatever BBC content you’re most interested in.

Basically, the way the world is moving, and the pace at which consumers are now living their lives means information must be informative, relevant and accessible. If it isn’t, then the information supplier looses credibility and inevitability users. And just to quickly revert back to my earlier point about how I like things to look good, or rather, slick… I really like the fact Ajax allows you to move content, style the design and customize a site to make it feel like your own. Personalisation is the key.

Here’s my top five sites that I would highly recommend having a proper look at:

1) BBC

2) Facebook

3) Netvibes

4) Google

5)  YouTube

Should the term social media be killed?

This was the proposition expressed by Steve Rubel on his Micro Persuasion blog. The basis for his argument being that the evolvement of media which has created terms such as social media and user generated content should all be encompassed under the single heading of ‘media’. Rubel writes, “It’s like we’re a separate entity from the rest of the so-called "mainstream" journalists, filmmakers, photographers, etc. who do what we do and get paid more for it. We sit in a special dish like leftover meatloaf so we need a special name.”

I can see where Rubel is coming from in that bloggers and mavens alike want to be given equal credit for their reporting of news, information and opinion. However, I do not agree with him. These categories exist for very good reasons. Take the term ‘user generated content’ which envelops all manner of material from photos to articles, much of which can be extremely entertaining. However journalists, filmmakers and photographers earn their money for a reason. This reason being their knowledge. As a broadcast journalism student I have spent three long years training in a specific field, which could be stretched further by a masters, or an internship, or experience in working for a news network. Therefore I would hope that after three years of training and possibly, twenty years in the industry (if I were to enter into a career in journalism) I would know more than the average Joe. This is why terms such as ‘user generated content’ exist and similarly I feel my colleagues would hope their skills were honed, and perhaps even superior, to professionals working in other fields. I’m sure there are a number of photographers out there who couldn’t navigate their way around the blogosphere to the same effect as an accomplished blogger.

For another view see Helena Makhotlova’s blog.

Happy Birthday to us - Wolfstar is one!

Happy birthday to us! It is Wolfstar’s birthday! We are officially one year old today. It was on this date last year that Stuart and Tim launched Wolfstar and the ideas locked away in their heads finally became a reality.

It has been a great first year with some brilliant client wins including 4X Currency, energywatch, Fronter and many more exciting ones in the pipeline. We are all eagerly anticipating the coming year and hope to grow and expand Wolfstar into 2009.

Right I’m off to drink some bubbly with the rest of the team…

Is investigative journalism dead?

As a broadcast journalism student, journalism is a topic close to my heart; however I feel the need to ask myself why I am looking to a career in PR instead. First and foremost, is the move away from muckraking journalism which brought governments to right; here I am obviously thinking of the infamous Watergate Scandal. I’m sure Woodward and Bernstein started a revolution among young journalists in the hope that they too would have the chance to change the world using a secret source named ‘Deep Throat’.

It was in this Golden Age that the media really lived up to its name as the fourth estate. But in the modern age investigative journalism can simply not survive within the press. Commercial pressures are forcing resources and cash to be stretched to the point that no, or at least very few, editors are willing to take a risk on expensive investigations. Phillip Knightley explains that it all began with the death of the print unions, and was subsequently made worse by the arrival of media law firms. I particularly like Knightley’s quote from Rupert Murdoch just after he ended the editorial budgets on the Times Newspapers, “Never give journalists a budget. The b******s will spend every penny of it." Just give them a news agenda instead, yeah?

Today, investigative journalism has moved over to television, with the technological age paving the way for the ‘undercover documentary’. Prime time spots are filled with reporters donning hidden cameras and mini-mics, in their quest for justice. I am not objecting to this kin d of journalism, don’t get me wrong I enjoy this type of programming as much as any other, yet I can’t help feeling like saying “Is this the best we can do?”

This is not the only problem. It is clear journalism is in decline across the spectrum – for one, Politics has been made into a melodramatic soap opera and ultimately caused the public to become more concerned with trivial rubbish. It was not long ago that Blair’s new haircut made the front pages and Cameron’s dabble with cannabis in his teens caused national uproar.

So with the Internet taking the world by storm and the emergence of social networking taking over could UGC (User Generated Content) become the new method of journalism? (In 2006 Ofcom’s communications market report revealed that 41 per cent of all UK Internet users aged 25 and over have a social website homepage. This is in addition to the 70 per cent of all 16-24 year olds signed-up to social networking sites.)

To this I would answer no, despite the lack of faith I have expressed in modern journalism, I still believe it plays a vital role in our democracy. There might be less catastrophic wrongdoings uncovered and more conformist reports in today’s news output, but there are still a lot of journalists risking their lives and fulfilling their role whole-heartedly to bring all of us, the news.

New UK media research and The Churner Prize

Tom Murphy has a good post on the recent research by Metrica that, to vastly simplify, says online media is good for PR people because it’s less likely to edit copy and take out key messages.

Worth a read and then pop over to read The Churner Prize, the blog all about how “many hacks now churn out stories without checking facts or sources.”

Finally a useful Facebook application for bloggers and networkers

Yes you did read the title of this post right. Just when you thought Facebook applications were pretty pointless, a new one has been created which could actually prove to be pretty useful.

Six Apart the creators of several blogging platforms including Typepad has created a new Facebook application which enables users to update their status and blogs all through the Facebook platform.

I have just tested it this morning and it seems pretty useful, you can update any of the following through Facebook:

1. Facebook Status
2. Twitter
3. Pownce
4. Vox
5. Wordpress
6. Moveable Type
7. Blogger
8. Tumblr 
9. Livejournal

Tech crunch says: "The idea is to allow Facebook users to very quickly share something they like on their blog, without leaving Facebook."

Tech Digest reports: "Blog It is one of the few applications that takes content created inside Facebook and makes it available for use outside Facebook," said David Recordon, Open Platforms Tech Lead at Six Apart. "Blog It users are able to update their personal blogs, business blogs, online journals, Facebook status, or Twitter or Pownce activity all from one central environment. This is a concrete step away from the silos and walled gardens of the past and toward the open web of the future."

I have posted this morning asking whether Facebook can keep its doors firmly closed to all the other social networks. This could be the first of many applications which finally let Facebook users share their information outside of the Facebook platform. Whether that’s a good or bad thing remains to be seen.

Cross posted on: Norton’s Notes

Is 21 the perfect age?

Hi my name’s Beth Jones and I’ve just started a work placement at Wolfstar.  Although I have almost finished studying for a Broadcast Journalism degree at the University of Leeds,  I have decided that PR is the way forward and what better place to start learning than at Wolfstar.

Finishing uni is just starting to sink in and it’s a horrible thought, despite this I have come to the conclusion that 21 is the perfect age, or at least with my limited experience I think it is. After my holiday in Atlanta this Easter visiting my folks I realised that I must appreciate every minute of being 21. I could see the nostalgia engulfing my dad as he rattled off stories from the good old days. The one which stuck in my head, and probably the one he was most passionate about, was his drunken antics on his 21^st birthday while posted by the RAF in the Borneo jungle.

Clearly I have already had the brilliant experience of visiting Atlanta this year. Apart from the lovely weather and friendly people, there is so much else that makes it such a great city. Firstly there was the scintillating dinner at the renowned Sundial restaurant, then there is the endless number of shops in Lennox Square but my favourite activity, which any visitor to Atlanta must do is visit the Turner Field  for a Braves game. I was a baseball virgin before this trip but having watched my first game, I’m hooked! Even if you don’t want to get immersed in the game itself there is so else much to do, the best part had to be watching the crowd on the big screen, laughing and waving desperately once they realised they had been caught by the camera. Ahhh good memories!

Not only does being 21 and a student allow the freedom to travel, it grants you the luxury of time. So my next venture is likely to be a festival. As an avid fan of Global Gathering (having been three years on the trot) I think it’s time to spread my wings. However this poses a problem, as I look to fellow friends hoping for some guidance in what to do, I end up torn between Barcelona’s Sonar festival  and Benicassim near Valencia. Hmmm who knows? Any advice? Either way it’s going to be an experience not to be missed!

If your looking for something a bit different, check out the Guardian’s guide to ‘20 British festival’s you’ll never have heard of’.

All I know is I won’t stay 21 forever and as my final summer of ‘no work and all play’ draws nearer I am on a mission to make it the best yet before I embark on my journey into the depths of the world of PR.

Beth races for life

Hello all you lovely kind people out there.

On May 18^th I will be donning my running gear and will be helping to raise some much needed funds for Cancer Research UK by taking part in Race for Life and I really need everyone’s help in the form of sponsorship.

I am running in the memory of a close friend who passed away aged only 19, my friend Jo, who’s Dad recently lost his life to lung cancer and for everyone else who lives have been touched or affected by this horrible illness. I will be puffing my way around the course at Temple Newsham, Leeds and have been running to and from work (on occasions) in preparation (and I need a lot of it!)

Please dig deep and contribute what you can to help me reach my target, as cancer affects so many people across the UK. So please get sponsoring, even if it means one less drink in the pub on Friday night. Just visit http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/bethkay to donate.

Events like Race for Life are an important way in which Cancer Research UK is able to fund its life-saving work into preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer. By sponsoring me now you could help more people survive cancer.
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure.

Thanks!!!

Oh and I will post the embarrassing pictures after the event.

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