If I said the name Mary Bale or Cat Bin Lady last week, you probably wouldn’t know what I was talking about. Before now, Mary Bale was just your normal, everyday person…until she decided to throw a cat in a bin! Unfortunately for Ms Bale, her actions were caught on CCTV and it wasn’t long before the whole incident was plastered all over the web and the saga is ongoing.

The story reflects an emerging style of news arc, one that begins with social media and is then picked up by all major news outlets both on and offline. Since the initial video was posted on Facebook, the story has become massive across the world, largely thanks to social networks.  Twitter accounts, Facebook profiles and YouTube videos have all appeared in a small space of time. The spoof twitter page, @CatBinLady, has more than 5,000 followers. Numerous videos of the incident have been uploaded to YouTube with one having received 132,000 views in two days.  But, Facebook is where it’s all been kicking off. After the video was posted on the site, “hate groups” (to quote the Daily Mail) were set up almost instantaneously. One group, which reached more than 18,000 members, was shut down after users posted death threats.  Mary Bale is indeed the talk of the social networking town.

This is a classic case of something that starts off small ballooning out of control. Even as I write, news stories are still filtering though about Mary Bale almost 4 days after the initial story. And this should be a warning to companies. Brands should be aware of the mushroom effect of social media as they are with other areas of crisis communications. Sometimes it can appear to be completely out of control, and in many cases, CatBinLady is a case in point, it is. Even though a social networking community may seem small, there is the potential for a story to grow and get out of hand, after all these are often the people who influence the media.

The backlash Mary has received from the video is pretty extreme. But it does go to show, it can often be the most simple and random things that get the online world buzzing.

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• Cat put in wheelie bin: ‘Death to Mary Bale’ Facebook page taken down (telegraph.co.uk)
• RSPCA considers prosecuting Mary Bale over cat in wheelie bin (guardian.co.uk)
• Woman who dumped cat in wheelie bin says it was “a split second of misjudgment” (mirror.co.uk)

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I was casting my eye over the Facebook Places logo this morning, yes I know I have no life, and noticed something a little odd. Under the pink marker there is definitely a number 4 inside a square. Go on have a look yourself.

Facebook/Foursquare

Now this could be a mere coincidence or one of the following:

a) Mark Zuckerburg showing the middle finger to the current/former rulers of the geo location market

b) Mark Zuckerburg joking around with his users and the media in general

c) Mark Zuckerburg revealing that he is behind Foursquare as well as the most popular social network on the planet

Or, depending how you look at it, that could be an oblong and not a square. Anyway something for you to think about over your cornflakes.

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Research from Ofcom this week shows that we are all getting better at multi-tasking. This evolution has been spurred by our need to juggle various communications devices and channels.

Rory Cellan-Jones in his BBC blog asks if there should be a moral panic about the way we are all spending our time. With so much multi-tasking there is clearly an overlap in how we use multiple devices together. But, surely you can’t be concentrating on different things on the TV, while surfing a web site, while texting a friend? I know I couldn’t.

Ofcom’s report shows that TV and radio (let’s not forget that) remains the main focus of our attention, whether it is recorded and watched later or watched live. So when sat in front of the same episode of Friends for the 23^rd time, smartphone, iPad or netbook in hand, connected to the web, I would suggest – partly because I actually do this quite regularly myself – that when something catches our eye on the TV we go online and look for more information. I know the broadcasters would be keen for us to hit the “red button” but the speed at which that works is just such a turn off.

This clearly suggests that TV content is influencing the way we search the web, and surely those sites striving for natural SEO success must, just must, include broadcast PR in any optimisation strategy. Another example of where the PR consultant can bring real value to an organic SEO campaign as suggested in my post last week.

Search is changing and the variety of on and off-line channels influencing it are growing all the time.  As digital PR specialists we now need to work out how to truly measure the effect of these different influences on search and site traffic and distance ourselves from traditional PR’s historical evaluation offering.

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So Facebook Places finally comes out of the closet. At first read it looks pretty good, and when you go to the iPhone app it stands proud in the middle of your phone screen. What it has over other location services such as Foursquare and Gowalla is an existing network of friends who are more than likely to be the ones you would actually want to bump in to “by accident” in the pub.

For a more detailed look, have a read of Walt Mosberg’s column on the WSJ the video is worth a watch to.

Those other two location games have gained some traction and a lot of headlines, but the established nature of our personal Facebook communities combined with the weight of half a billion users worldwide, will guarantee use of Facebook’s service by a much larger volume of people. That means businesses will flock to it and now be trying to get their first Places campaigns running as soon as possible.

Facebook does appear to be being very embracing and actively encouraging Foursquare and others to access Places through its API. Facebook has also not gone down the game route, no mayorships or awards, allowing the more niche services to keep their focus unchallenged.

Right, so what can we do right now, if we live or visit the US? Here are a stream of tweets this morning from @sophysilver from the Facebook UK PR team, thank you!:

• If you don’t trust your friends it is simple to turn off. For most there is a lot of value in being able to share an experience with friends
• Places never automatically shares information on the location
• You must take an action to associate yourself with a place by either checking in yourself or by allowing friends to check you into a place
• It is not true that the primary location setting is switched on by default. “Places” tags will not automatically be shared with friends
• Where you have not allowed check-ins you are simply tagged in your friends status updates, just like status tagging works on the site today.
• Additional protection of being able to turn tagging off for Places, and to sett your own check-ins to any group you want including ‘only me’
• You also have the option of never checking in with the product in which case you will never be associated with a place
• Default setting for all is Friends Only. Minors can only share their location with Friends even if they try to widen it

Do follow Sophie on Twitter and for further news about the arrival of Places in the UK.

We will be keeping a close eye on this, especially should we be lucky enough to go on any trips to the US and when it finally arrives on this side of the Atlantic. Let us know what you think of the announcement, are Foursquare and Gowalla doomed?

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If you’re living in the UK like the team at immediate future, you’ll no doubt be enjoying a bit of classic British summertime – it’s August, and you need a coat, scarf and wellies to go anywhere. It’s frankly rubbish outside, so why not stay in and get everything you need from the online world?

We’ve been talking about virtual reality for ages, with plenty of early 90s shows like Tomorrow’s World and Blue Peter getting presenters to don a cumbersome helmet and escape the real world. Truth is, the transition to the virtual world is getting closer and is much more subtle.

3D is the current driver. Why pay massive ticket prices to sit in a cramped seat listening to some idiot spout abuse at a real football match, when you can watch all of the big games from the comfort of your living room in stunningly immersive Full HD 3D? Soon all sports will be following suit, and you’re much more likely to see what’s going on via your TV (invite a few mates round, crank up the volume and hey presto, the atmosphere is replicated too.)

3D gaming is going to be BIG, BIG, BIG. If you can box, dance and play tennis in the house, without having to deal with those aforementioned weather issues or that sweaty dude from the gym who always stares at you in the shower, well that’s good with me!

You can talk with video conferencing on Skype and iPhones. You can find out exactly where friends are and what they’re doing via social networks. Online shopping is bigger and better than ever. More and more live gigs are being streamed on YouTube. Music festival coverage gets bigger and longer every year as digital channels and online devote resource to bringing you music without any mud. V Festival has recently announced live streaming this year for the first time. Once we get gigs and festivals in 3D, there will definitely be no point in going out ever again.

OK, so you lose a bit of atmosphere, but if you’re on Twitter you can still talk to other people about the events (be they gigs or football matches), the beer’s much cheaper and there’s no chance of getting stuck in a three hour traffic jam on your way home. Sounds good to me.

• Arcade Fire join U2, Alicia Keys in streaming gig online (ctv.ca)
• Can Twitter wit replace live comedy? (guardian.co.uk)

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Image via Wikipedia

We’re a faddy lot. Two years ago you couldn’t swing a plastic bag without hitting an environmentalist head-on. Fast-forward to 2010, however, and it’s all gone quiet on the eco front.

The New York Times recently ran an article asking whether the recession had pulverised environmentalism. The article draws on a working paper by Matthew E. Kahn and Matthew J. Kotchen, which correlates higher unemployment rates with a lower interest in the environment. Khan and Kotchen claim that when a (US) state’s unemployment level increases, Google searches for ‘global warming’ go down, while searches for ‘unemployment’ go up.

It might be selfish, but it’s understandable. In the boom years we had the time and the money to ponder ‘global warming’, but now we have something more pressing on our hands – we have ‘global youth unemployment’.

According to The Guardian, 81 million 16-24-year-olds were unemployed at the end of 2009. With entry-level jobs at such a premium, squeaky clean covering letters and CVs are taken as a given – pristine online-footprints become a pre-requisite.

It’s not surprising to read that celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan employ ‘reputation managers’ to maintain their online-footprints, driving positive conversations further up the Google search pages and making negative sentiment ‘go away.’

What’s more intriguing, however, is that parents are now doing the same thing. Companies such as Reputation Defender offer packages specifically aimed at children, monitoring cyberspace for anything that could potentially hinder a child’s school, university and job prospects. The company monitors all posts, private info and photos across the Deep Web – i.e. non-indexed pages, pages that are created dynamically, and pages that require a login – including ’40 of the biggest social networks.’

They then deliver reports highlighting any coverage that might need ‘destroying’ and for the sum of around $30 per item, the offending coverage can just ‘go away’. The ‘destruction’ process takes between 30-90 days and is done using undisclosed ‘proprietary in-house methodology.’

Are children brands in need of reputation management? I got caught out aged 16 playing truant, cigarette-in-hand, thanks to a photo published on page five of the Daily Star, showing the nation – and my headmistress – I definitely wasn’t at home in bed. I got my knuckles wrapped, but it hardly haunted me for life. I learned from my mistakes;  surely today’s children should be given the freedom to do the same.

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With Foursquare now topping two million users across the world, the location-based social network has launched its own online store, giving die hard fans the chance to buy Foursquare memorabilia. Products on offer include a mayor crown t-shirt, button badges and branded stickers.

The new store is the latest in a series of attempts by Foursquare to monetise its increasingly popular service. Recently the company started inviting brands to sponsor badges. Louis Vuitton and MTV have jumped at the chance to offer special badges and offers to users of the service.

In the case of Louis Vuitton, the designer label has partnered with Foursquare to offer users tips on their favourite locations around London. Users who follow Louis Vuitton’s profile and check into the stores around London on a regular basis, have the opportunity to earn themselves a Louis Vuitton Insider badge. The badge will offer users upcoming surprises that at present are still unknown.

Brands that partner with Foursquare have the opportunity to develop a new and engaging way to connect with their consumers. By offering tips, deals and hosting competitions, brands are able to reward their advocates and potentially pick up new customers.

If Foursquare is to grow there are still questions about how it will be funded and with Facebook rumoured to be working on new location based features designed to compete with the social network. The next few months will be critical for the company to get more brands on board and cement its position before the social media behemoth starts throwing its weight around.

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The lines between PR and SEO are becoming ever more blurred. Back in February, Matt on his InfluenceFinder blog asked “Is PR the next SEO or SEO the next PR?” Yesterday I came across a new eConsultancy Q&A with John Straw – thanks to the power of Twitter – that again looks at the merging of these disciplines.

To a certain extent I agree with the views in these posts. SEO is definitely a natural extension of the digital PR skill set. That said, there is more a PR consultant offers than just relationships. When it comes to how PR can influence natural search rankings, these relationships are important and at the heart of a PRO’s ability to do his/her job. But, more important in delivering greater click throughs from natural search, is a PR professional’s ability to deliver the right message, in the right format, at the right time to the right influencer. A process and skill set that I am sure a SEO marketer can identify with.

Having the right relationships certainly makes this process easier as it provides the insight into which influencer is best placed to deliver your chosen message to the audience you wish to reach. But without the right pitch you will just be spamming that poor blogger or journalist, damaging any existing relationship you may have had.

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Earlier this week Twitter announced a new feature for US mobile users, ‘Fast Follow.’ Twitter’s blog gives all the details but to summarise in a nutshell, Fast Follow will allow anyone to sign up to receive Twitter alerts via mobile SMS.

Clearly aimed at passive users, Fast Follow is an interesting addition to Twitter’s portfolio and has the potential to change the way certain users tweet. As most mobile users won’t be keen to receive the many random tweets sent every day by your average Joe Bloggs, you’d assume that the main categories of interest for Fast Followers will be celebrities, news sources, public services (i.e. travel, transport info) and brands they are fans of. Depending on the success of this new venture, I wonder how this will affect the latter’s social media strategy?

Whilst the numbers behind Twitter are impressive and rapidly growing, the micro-blogging platform still has a long way to go before it rivals the dominance of Facebook. Fast Follow offers the opportunity to use the Twitter platform to reach a far wider audience, giving brands a new and exciting way to push their messages out to potential customers. Importantly, for digital marketers it also gives a free and instant way to connect with those mobile users who aren’t interested in actively engaging with Twitter.

One way that Fast Follow is likely to make an impact is in geo-location, a current phenomenon spearheaded by Foursquare and with which numerous brands are now experimenting. It might make sense for some brands, particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors, to create individual Twitter profiles for a local area. Fast Follow users could then sign up to receive the latest updates on relevant events, offers and discounts.

It’s too early to predict the success of Fast Follow, and Twitter hasn’t yet mentioned rolling it out elsewhere. As many mobile operators will undoubtedly charge users to receive Twitter updates in SMS format, most won’t be keen to receive a constant stream of messages from those Twitter profiles they choose to follow.

Perhaps Fast Follow will encourage Tweeters to consider the information and opinions that are being shared, diminishing the mass of irrelevant tweets in the process. Alternatively, we may just find Britney, Ashton and Lady Gaga add a load of Fast Followers to their ever growing Twitter armies.

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With a new football season underway and an eagerly anticipated Premier League campaign due to start this weekend, I’ve been considering my consumption of the global game recently and how it’s changed.  Not just for individuals, but for brands as well.

Everyone knows football is big business with dedicated, die-hard fans.  So social media provides the perfect forum for fans to interact, share their thoughts, keep up to date with their team’s latest gossip and transfer news.  The World Cup was also a ‘first’ for two reasons.  Not only was it the first tournament to be hosted in Africa, it was also dubbed the first ever ‘social media’ World Cup.

Interesting stats courtesy of www.simplyzesty.com back this up too.  Coca Cola’s sponsored hash tag #wc2010 received 86m impressions in 24 hours.  The Vuvuzela iPhone app was number 1 on iTunes in 50 countries in June.  Nike’s World Cup advert received more than 19million views on YouTube.  3,238 tweets per second recorded during the Japan Denmark match (the normal rate is 750).  497,000 ‘Likes’ for the England’s Team Facebook fanpage (seems like too many to me and it’s now more than 550,000?!)

Interestingly, brands who weren’t even ‘official’ sponsors in South Africa this year, maximised their use of online channels for their campaigns.  Nike’s ‘Write the Future’ campaign for example dominated the social media landscape prior to the World Cup.  Nielsen also found that Budweiser, who paid a heavy price for the global sponsorship rights, was trounced by their rival Carlsberg in terms of online chatter volumes.

Everyone, from fans to journalists, used Twitter to experience this tournament, with dedicated World Cup hash tags making commentary easier to source.  Twitter is a serious presence in social commentary, an effective means of gauging response and reaction to cultural events for brands looking for tactical as well as more strategic territories to associate themselves with.  Appreciating how consumers are changing their media behaviour reiterates the value of events like the World Cup.

It’s the brands who take the time to understand this relationship, understand where their fans are talking, that grab the real opportunities to engage with consumers.  More importantly, brands are able to measure engagement providing a compelling case for new forms of marketing and sales promotion.

It seems all football fans need now is an internet connection, or a smartphone and the information is at their fingertips.  The combination of podcasts (Guardian Football weekly), websites (nothing beats BBC Football, Football365), Twitter (some of the biggest official club feeds include Chelsea’s stamfordthelion Liverpool’s LFCTV) and Arsenal’s (arsenaldotcom), live streams over IPTV all prove valuable to brands looking to capitalise on fans’ online presence following their passions for the beautiful game.

However, not everyone will get it right first time.  As Umbro found out trying to run a Foursquare promotion at a Manchester City home game last season, aiming to create a record for the biggest number of people checking in at the same location.  Credit to Umbro for engaging with Foursquare so early on, however uptake was minimal.  More investment in the incentive to check in, free tickets or a replica shirt for example, rather than a t-shirt, could have produced further uptake.

Or was it because there aren’t many football fans using Foursquare yet?  We’ve seen brands succeed at the World Cup so I will be interested to monitor if those using social media tactics to good effect during the 2010/11 season…

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