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How to Give a Lousy Presentation: BusinessWeek

9. Don’t bother with a backup plan. If you need a live Internet connection to demo a site, don’t bother making a screen shot of the site in case the connection doesn’t work. That way, you’ll be at a complete loss for words when the connection fails.

10. Don’t practice. At all. Practicing a presentation out loud takes work and will make you look far too polished. Just wing it.

Good check list – points 9 and 10 in this BusinessWeek piece struck a chord

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For Teens, Has Texting Replaced Talking? – The Juggle – WSJ

“My son had racked up nearly 2,000 incoming text messages, and had sent nearly as many. That means he was having more than 60 two-way communications via text message every day.” Sue Shellenbarger

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The Top 100 UK tech folk to follow on Twitter: Pocket-lint

UPDATE ON UPDATE: To make even more clear I’m not simply reposting and attempting to claim all the glory, you’ll have to go to the Pocket-lint site for the full list.
UPDATE: Just so everyone is clear, this is NOT my list, I’m simply reposting – this is the list from the original Pocket-lint post here.  As Richard (see comments below) pointed out, there was no link to the original article – my apologies – it’s there now.
The Top 100 UK tech folk to follow on Twitter 0

3 September 2009 10:00 GMT / By Dan Sung

Twitter’s a pretty big yard these days. So, with no time to go chasing wild geese around, your friendly neighbourhood Pocket-lint has compiled a list of the finest geek minds and microblogging wordsmiths in the UK that you should follow for all things tech.

Without further ado, in no particular order and by their own bios, here are the top 100 tweeters you should be following.

A

@AlmostZara – Zara Rabinowicz writes about technology and beauty and likes gadgets, gaming and frozen yogurt. She is Staff Writer for Stuff Magazine.
@alexfarber – i like news and booze.
@andylim – Half Chinese, half Spanish Londoner. Editorial director @recombu – I love mobile phones like I love air. Founder UKTJPR.com and @UKTJPR.
@adamhleach – tech analyst, photographer and londoner
@asimqureshi – Consumer Technology PR – anything that makes life that bit more simple and pleasurable!!
@alanburkittgray – Editor of Global Telecoms Business magazine. See burkitt-gray.com for other links

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Newspaper people on Twitter – Media UK

Newspaper people on Twitter

We list the “top of the twits” for newspaper titles (a-z) and people (a-z). Media UK runs a variety of services on Twitter too – not least, @mediauk – follow us!

Followers Following Ratio
1.

Jemima Kiss: Journalist, The Guardian

13,604 298 2.2%
2.

Charles Arthur: Journalist, The Guardian

8,684 496 5.7%
3.

Jack Schofield: Journalist, The Guardian

6,618 876 13.2%
4.

Emily Bell: Journalist, The Guardian

4,642 304 6.5%
5.

Bobbie Johnson: Journalist, The Guardian

4,411 895 20.3%
6.

Tim Bradshaw: Journalist, Financial Times

4,106 1,350 32.9%
7.

Shane Richmond: Journalist, The Daily Telegraph

3,464 1,177 34.0%
8.

Joanna Geary: Journalist, The Times

2,611 760 29.1%
9.

Ian Douglas: Journalist, The Daily Telegraph

2,237 1,958 87.5%
10.

Ruth Gledhill: Journalist, The Times

2,034 1,965 96.6%
11.

Chris Nuttall: Journalist, Financial Times

2,022 128 6.3%
12.

Toby Harnden: Journalist, The Daily Telegraph

1,825 425 23.3%
13.

Steve Wollaston: Digital Editor, Sunday Mercury

1,727 1,902 110.1%
14.

Harry Wallop: Journalist, The Daily Telegraph

1,690 207 12.2%
15.

Jo Wadsworth: Journalist, The Argus

1,562 1,920 122.9%
16.

Sarah Hartley: Journalist, Manchester Evening News

1,502 348 23.2%
17.

Gideon Rachman: Journalist, Financial Times

1,465 30 2.0%
18.

Alison Gow: Journalist, Liverpool Daily Post

1,440 493 34.2%
19.

Marc Reeves: Editor, The Birmingham Post

1,407 942 67.0%
20.

Claudine Beaumont: Journalist, The Daily Telegraph

1,298 277 21.3%
21.

Justin Williams: Journalist, The Daily Telegraph

1,202 476 39.6%
22.

Will Lewis: Editor, The Daily Telegraph

1,078 52 4.8%
23.

Sarah Ebner: Digital Editor, The Times

892 830 93.0%
24.

Michael Bailey: Journalist, Norwich Evening News

809 1,511 186.8%
25.

Samantha Shepherd: Journalist, Daily Echo

753 390 51.8%
26.

Anna Arco: Journalist, The Catholic Herald

750 738 98.4%
27.

Tom Scotney: Journalist, The Birmingham Post

736 470 63.9%
28.

Luke Coppen: Editor, The Catholic Herald

707 597 84.4%
29.

Sarah Booker: Digital Editor, Worthing Herald

689 847 122.9%
30.

Paul Cockerton: Digital Editor, Lancashire Telegraph

597 586 98.2%
31.

Jon Swaine: Journalist, The Daily Telegraph

508 112 22.0%
32.

David Ottewell: Journalist, Manchester Evening News

466 215 46.1%
33.

Martin Beckford: Journalist, The Daily Telegraph

463 139 30.0%
34.

David Maclean: Journalist, The Shields Gazette

445 119 26.7%
35.

Simon Donohue: Journalist, Manchester Evening News

417 376 90.2%
36.

Jane Perrone: Journalist, The Guardian

386 164 42.5%
37.

Edward Roussel: Journalist, The Daily Telegraph

382 53 13.9%
38.

Ian Wylie: Journalist, Manchester Evening News

370 102 27.6%
39.

Kat Brown: Journalist, thelondonpaper

287 182 63.4%
40.

Jon Welch: Journalist, Eastern Daily Press

265 241 90.9%
41.

Matt Cornish: Editor, St Neots News & Crier

238 306 128.6%
42.

Sam Blackledge: Journalist, Surrey Advertiser

223 332 148.9%
43.

Iain Hepburn: Digital Editor, Daily Record

222 317 142.8%
44.

Dan Kerins: Journalist, Southern Daily Echo

192 158 82.3%
45.

Amar Singh: Journalist, London Evening Standard

185 235 127.0%
46.

Jonny Fordham: Journalist, Reading Evening Post

178 77 43.3%
47.

Martin Smith: Journalist, Coventry Telegraph

174 71 40.8%
48.

Steve Dyson: Editor, Birmingham Mail

166 7 4.2%
49.

Jonathan Barnes: Journalist, Ipswich Evening Star

135 146 108.1%
50.

Murray Kelso: Digital Editor, Worcester News

119 62 52.1%
51.

Kevin Ward: Editor, Worcester News

118 64 54.2%
52.

Tony Larner: Editor, Sunday Mercury

116 94 81.0%
53.

Carolyn McCall: Editor, The Guardian

116 38 32.8%
54.

Vicki Kellaway: Journalist, Liverpool Echo

95 181 190.5%
55.

John McKie: Columnist, Daily Record

93 111 119.4%
56.

David Brookes: Editor, Coventry Telegraph

92 18 19.6%
57.

Maria Breslin: Station Manager, Liverpool Echo

81 11 13.6%
58.

Tristan Harris: Editor, Bromsgrove Standard

65 61 93.8%
59.

Miriam Phillips: Journalist, Dorset Echo

64 107 167.2%
60.

Chine Mbubaegbu: Journalist, Reading Evening Post

60 69 115.0%
61.

Martin Hamer: Digital Editor, Lancashire Evening Post

55 47 85.5%
62.

Steve Carley: Journalist, Worcester News

50 9 18.0%
63.

Tim Nixon: Journalist, Lancashire Telegraph

26 34 130.8%
64.

Rob George: Journalist, Bromsgrove Standard

19 43 226.3%
65.

Kate Whiteside: Digital Editor, The Westmorland Gazette

6 14 233.3%

Interesting to note that The Guardian occupies the top 5 slots!

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Social Media Guidelines: MIchael Gerrard – IDC

I’ve posted a couple of blogs recently about the rise of the social media function and how BtoB companies can best leverage social media. A common theme has been the need for marketing to provide guidance, guidelines and infrastructure without stifling the power of this new channel to reach customers, prospects and influencers. To help with your journey, I’ve included below a list of social media guidelines that several companies have published:

  • Cisco: http://blogs.cisco.com/news/comments/ciscos_internet_postings_policy/
  • Dell: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/policy/en/policy?c=us&1=en&s+corp&~section=019
  • Mayo Clinic: http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/guidelines/for-mayo-clinic-employees/
  • BT: http://richarddennison.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/bt-social-media-guidelines-mar09.pdf
  • eBay: http://ebayinkblog.com/2009/03/06/new-social-media-guidelines-for-reporting-company-information/
  • HP: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/blogs/codeofconduct.html
  • IBM: http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html
  • Intel: http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm
  • SAP: http://www.sapweb20.com/blog/2009/07/sap-social-media-guidelines-2009/#
  • Sun: http://www.sun.com/communities/guidelines.jsp
  • Have any others to share?. . . Please comment below.

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    8 email statistics to use at parties

    If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined.

    tick247 billion emails are sent each day. That’s one email every 0.00000035 seconds.

    tickIn the time it takes you to read this sentence, some 20 million emails entered cyberspace.

    tickEvery second, the world’s email users produce messages equivalent in size to over 16,000 copies of the Complete Works of Shakespeare (assuming a 30KB average email size).

    tick13.4 billion: the number of direct marketing dollars forecast to go on email in the US in 2009.

    tick$583 billion: the return from that investment if you use DMA figures on email marketing ROI. That’s four times the market value of Microsoft.

    tick181: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to buy one share in Microsoft.

    tick83,689,738,832,367: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to pay the US National Debt.

    [Aside 1: When you see email stats like the above, you gain a new appreciation for the work of those companies and organizations managing email.]

    [Aside 2: And when you consider that many of these emails are spam, you can understand why ISPs and others have bigger problems to worry about than whether legitimate marketing email is reaching the right destinat

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    “A study of Twitter cites its ‘pointless babble’ and ends up going viral”: Wendy Marx

    A one-day social media whirlwind shows not just how a self-proclaimed geeky company with no PR knowledge emerged from anonymity to become a media darling. It also illustrates how social media is changing how companies make news and how public relations is practiced.

    Around 10 a.m. CDT on Aug. 12, Ryan Kelly, the founder and CEO of market insights and analysis firm Pear Analytics of San Antonio, posted the following on Twitter: “The Twitter Study we mentioned at #bmprsa is now available: http://bit.ly/17htXE interesting results…” BMPRSA is a San Antonio PR and social media group that Kelly had addressed a few weeks before, mentioning the upcoming study.

    Almost immediately after he posted the tweet, a friend from sales and marketing company Sales by 5 sent him a Twitter direct message: “Please let me know when you release it, and I’ll send it to Mashable.”

    By 5 p.m. that day, Pear’s study was featured on the front page of Mashable, one of the largest blogs discussing social media and technology. By 6 p.m., the study was the top two trending topics on Twitter. Later that evening, Kelly was interviewed by Robert Scoble, formerly of Fast Company and now an evangelist for Rackspace. And from there it went viral.

    Do a Google search on Pear Analytics today, and you’ll see some 500 articles from everyone from the BBC to CNET to NBC.com to outlets worldwide writing about its study. It’s the sort of publicity a company would pay a big chunk of change to get.

    Besides pointing out the phenomenal “make or break” quality of social media, there’s a delicious irony to Pear’s story. Its study’s big news was that 40 percent of Twitter messages are what it cleverly called “pointless babble” with just 8.7 percent of tweets to be deemed of value with worthwhile news content.

    Of course, without Twitter, Pear’s study might have seen the fate of so many studies that end up unread and unreported. Nothing like soaring to prominence on a medium you’re denigrating.

    What’s also fascinating about Pear’s story is that the company followed none of the traditional PR practices. No press release. No outreach to media. No loud announcement.

    So what’s the secret to Pear’s PR success?

    “I can attribute its success to a few things,” says Kelly, who was as surprised as anyone that the study took off. “I know nothing about PR. One, by analyzing the Twitter stream and categorizing the content, we did something no one else had done. Where, however, we really struck a chord was by labeling the most popular category, “pointless babble.” I think if we would have named this something else, it may not have gone as far. Most of the news outlets used that phrase in their headlines.

    “And lastly, I have to say we had a little luck that day in that no other major news happened that week—like Michael Jackson—that would have buried our news easily.”

    Wendy Marx is president of Marx Communications, an award-winning B2B public relations and marketing communications company. Contact her at wmarx@marxcommunications.com.

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    Why the Flip Camera Should Be in Your PR Toolkit: Cisco The Platform

    Why the Flip Camera Should Be in Your PR Toolkit

    I’m biased.  We bought Pure Digital, maker of The Flip, back in March.  So stop reading if you like.  If you are still reading, here are my top reasons why the Flip Video Camera is great for any and all PR professionals.

    1. Phenomenally good for media training.  I do a lot of media training and while I give my feedback for why an answer is good or has “opportunities,” the Flip doesn’t lie.  I take it into media training sessions and during the mock interview I record.  When I give feedback, I either go answer by answer on the video or I give oral feedback and then send the video via mail afterwards.  I think it has had a big impact in helping improve our media spokespeople…because, hey, everybody can improve, right?  And, seeing yourself on video gives you great feedback and practice when doing broadcast or company videos.

    2.  Great for social media releases, blogs and even bubbletweet.  The beauty of The Flip is that it is VERY easy to use.  And compact.  And, idiot proof (i.e. limited to no training required).  We started using video in PR in earnest about two years ago.  We bought a nice HD camera.  We created a Cisco YouTube channel for our videos.  And we started embedding them in blogs and using them to visually tell our stories.  We love video at Cisco and these videos have been successful.  One drawback, however, was the availability of the camera…and then cameras.  Who has it, I need it, etc.  Now, with the Flip…we all have one.  We can always capture something on the fly or do a more formal, tri-pod assisted video.  It IS a part of our PR teams toolkit.  Further, now that we all have one it is also a part of our yearly objectives to USE it.  We all have to make at least one video a quarter and post it to our blog or otherwise use it in the furtherance of PR.  If you are with the media and you haven’t yet received a pitch from us via Flip video…WATCH YOUR INBOX…it’s gonna happen.

    3. The media is using the Flip.  Everybody’s favorite Flip practitioner is, of course, Kara Swisher.  She’s prolific.  She’s funny.  She’s the master.  She’s interviewed everyone from Jonathan Kaplan (CEO of Pure Digital…creator of The Flip) to her son…to her mom…to Survey Monkey’s Dave Goldberg…to Steve Wozniak.  She points the cam at her subject, asks questions off camera and voila she’s got great content and a blog post. 

    4. CAUTION: The Flip is MADE for Viral Video.  Okay, you can’t tell what is going to go viral, but having a Flip increases your chances of capturing video that may capture the attention of your audience.  Case in point: our CEO doing his now famous (infamous?) Duck Call.  Literally, I heard the duck call from my desk.  Grabbed my Flip camera and walked into his office and asked him to demonstrate for me.  I taped it.  Uploaded it.  Blogged it.  It now has nearly 18,000 views and was written about by Forbes, BusinessWeek, AllThingsD and more.  Was it a great leadership video?  No.  Was it a great video to show that we are a big company but can still be a bit goofy and have some fun?  Mission accomplished.

    5. It teaches you to think VISUALLY.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth?  Telling a story with pictures is not the easiest.  We didn’t all grow up in the television production business.  Utilizing the Flip enables you to THINK video.  What will look good?  What will be visually compelling?  Is the lighting good?  Is the sound good?  All these things are components of telling a good story.  Now that we all have Flips in our pockets we are learning more and more how to think about good visual stories.  And, while time will tell if this gets us more interest or more broadcast opportunities…this past quarter, we had much more broadcast than we’ve had in quite a while.  Could it be that we were added to the Dow?  Likely.  Could it be that we are learning to tell visual stories better?  Maybe.

    And, finally, but certainly not completely:

    6.  It is the BEST note taker in the world.  Ever have a conversation with someone and take notes on something you thought was a great idea and eloquently stated?  You then look at your notes and realize that either you transcribed them wrong or you can’t read your own writing.  That whiff of brilliance may have been lost.  Not with the Flip.  I ask to record the brilliant moment so that I can capture it for that point-in-time, brilliant talking point, message or whatever.  Works every time.

    Enjoy your Flip.

    Posted by John Earnhardt at 02:13PM PST

    ShareThis

    Agreed. The Flip is a great device – the point about thinking visually is spot on.

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    PR revenues slump at advertising and communications group WPP

    “Advertising and communications group WPP reported today that its PR and public affairs revenues dropped by 8.2 per cent in the first half of 2009, on a like-for-like basis.”

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    Beyond the Hype: Roadmap for Social Media’s Future . . . and Ours « Sharisax Is Out There

    Angela & Steve agree It's really all about one-to-one relationships

    Angela & Steve agree: It’s all about ONE-to-ONE

    Last night I felt like I’d died and gone to Heaven.

    That’s the sensation one has when a passion is being filled to the brimming [tipping?] point.

    For a student of the Social Media Revolution, nothing could be more gratifying and fulfilling than to hear a panel of highly influential Social Media Mavens describe what’s happening “out there” . . . Now . . . and what’s likely in our Future.

    EVENT DETAILS

    Sponsored by The Next Bench, an official HP destination for innovation and computing enthusiasts.

    Last night: Wednesday, Aug 19 – San Mateo, CA

    Moderated by Tony “Frosty: Welch, Community Manager for The Next Bunch, responsible for Web, Community and Social Media Strategy.

    Panelists:

    Steve Rubel, SVP Director of Insights for Edelman Digital, div. of the world’s largest independent PR firm.

    Richard Brewer-Hay, Senior Manager Social Media Strategy & Chief Blogger for Ebay

    Michael Brito, Social Media Strategist at Intel

    Angela LoSasso, Social Networking Manager at HP

    Selected HEADLINES from the panel discussion:

    THE ENTIRE WEB WILL GO SOCIAL

    FISH WHERE THE FISH ARE

    YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU NEED UNTIL YOU NEED IT

    IT’S ALL ABOUT STORY-TELLING

    THE MORE YOU LOWER THE BAR, THE EASIER IT IS FOR THE WORLD TO GO ROUND

    IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT CONVERSION — CONVERSATION IS CRITICAL

    Selected clips from the conversation:

    * Experts are looking to lower the bar.

    * The Social Media Revolution is like a fast-moving sushi train.

    * The Top Ten websites from a decade ago had one social network site; today more than half are social media.

    * Digital Embassy Strategy: Fish where the fish are — have Embassies in all the venues where your customers are

    * The Four Basic Means of Measuring Social Media Value: (1) Reach; (2) Engagement; (3) Reputation; (4) Trial/Transaction

    * Being “Gracious” is vital to being IN with Social Media.

    * People don’t buy products; they buy LifeStyles.

    * Companies are screwing up as they experiment with social media, BUT these mistakes don’t seem to hurt the Bottom Line.

    * Social Media is NOT YET MAINSTREAM!

    * Innovation really matters: *****INNOVATE IN SMALL WAYS – Those who innovate and iterate in small ways are positioned to pull ahead when things go mainstream. When something becomes a winner, you’ll be there.

    Those who innovate and iterate in small ways are postioned to pull ahead when things go mainstream.

    * Do not look at Social Media in a vacuum: Look at all stakeholders and determine where social media fits. Where’s the HIGHER PURPOSE?

    * Smart companies will take advantage of people with strong personal brands.

    * Social Media, conversation media, whatever you want to call it — it’s all about one-to-one.

    * We’re on THE CUTTING EDGE: The Internet is always changing.

    Frosty the Moderator

    Frosty the Moderator

    Michael, the Intel Voice

    Michael, the Intel Voice

    Richard, Ebay's Chief Blogger

    Richard, Ebay’s Chief Blogger

    Aren’t you sorry you missed it? You can see and hear some of the discussion on YouTube when the videos are posted.

    Don’t miss the next in HP’s series. Just check with Frosty.


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    This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Blogging, Branding, Business Growth, Facebook, Future of Marketing, Internet Marketing, Listening, Performance Social Media, Personal Branding, ROI, Roadmap, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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