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June 29th, 2011 by

CyberMummy11

For the past few months my inbox has been getting filled with reminders about CyberMummy 2011, which took place on Saturday 25th June.

For those of you who don’t know about CyberMummy it is the UK’s conference for Mummy (and Daddy) bloggers – the opportunity for them to come together for workshops designed to help them with their blog writing as well as giving them a chance to meet one another outside of their virtual worlds.

I arrived at 8am whilst the other Sponsors were setting up and stood watching as the queue began to unfold. Once the doors opened you could feel the excitement in the air as each attendee let out a sigh of relief that the day they had been waiting for had finally arrived.

A lot of the mums I spoke with were having a much needed break from their normal day to day home life. Some spoke of their apprehension from being away from their children, whilst others bashfully exclaimed of their shyness at having been out of the social pool for so long.

Product after product of baby friendly brands were grasped by eager hands in the form of goody bags and standalone items.

After the first initial hour of meeting and greeting and parents making their way across the company in brand sponsored cars and luxurious hotels the first speeches of the day kicked off at 9.30am. After a rapturous applause for the events founders Lord Richard Allan, Facebook’s Director of Policy, kicked off the conference with the topic ‘Working with Facebook: the power of social web’.

He handled questions from the floor well, especially when asked about privacy and content ownership where he not only reassured all there present that Facebook would never reveal their contact details or sell off their images.

The second key note speaker, and the one most people were there to see, was Sarah Brown, the wife to former Prime minister – Gordon Brown. Active in charity work and the founder of PiggyBankKids she took the floor to a wave of applause and flashes of photography where she discussed her work and spoke of the launch of her new book ‘Behind the Black door’.

There were four workshops throughout the day covering everything from working with brands and making money using your blog to SEO and the basics of a well designed blog with writing tips thrown in for good measure. I’m not surprised that those attendees present were like giddy school girls. I have never met a nicer, more welcoming group of individuals who not only understand their need within their community but the power they hold when it comes to brands.

There were some really inspiring individuals from the speakers to the friends I made throughout my time there. And whilst the insight into mummy bloggers grow and grow so does their power within consumer brands and the expansion of their following.

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September 5th, 2010 by

London’s Hyperlocal News Blogs

City-wide blogs are a great source for local news, events and happenings. But sometimes you want those posts to be really local, as in from just down the street. That’s when hyperlocal blogs really shine. Whether you want to know more about the overturned bus you walked by on your way home from work, or to find out info on a local tweetup, these blogs offer the kind of insight that only a long-time resident would have.

Earlier this week in a post, Local Bloggers: We Want You, the Londonist, Europe’s only entrant in the Istaverse, began compiling a list of these hyperlocal blogs around the capital. To make it easy to find the blog nearest you, I threw the resulting list into batchgeo to quickly generate a map.

There’s probably loads more.  If you know of any I’m missing, leave a comment and I’ll add it in.

EDIT: Although batchgeo.com is easy to use, it doesn’t really allow you to share, embed and control your map in a convenient way. I’ll add the data into a real Google Map, like this one, when I have some time later in the week.

June 16th, 2010 by

Trade magazines – Here today. Gone tomorrow?

Hammer and nails by Hans Godo Frabel
Image via Wikipedia

The one topic that is constantly being debated in our industry is whether print will die off. It dominates Twitter discussions, gets analysed in blogs and is discussed at networking events. Most of the time the debate is focused on newspapers, with many people ignoring trade magazines and simply assuming that they will be (or already have been) tossed onto the print scrap heap.

Being a PR focused on the technology industry, I engage with a plethora of trade publications.  The editorial focus can range from HR to outsourcing, IT to facilities management.

The majority of these publications have a website which holds the bulk of their content, yet many appear to be reluctant to let go of their print offering, despite a few becoming incredibly thin. So will we see the death of the printed trade publication in a few years? I am not sure we will.

I think that trade publications will continue to hold their breaking stories and 24 hour news online, it’s the only way to compete effectively, however their print titles will become less frequent, more features focused and perhaps a little more exclusive.

I can see weeklies becoming monthlies, and monthlies becoming quarterlies. These new trade titles will include special reports, well researched features and exclusive interviews.  News will simply be a roundup. More money will be spent on design and aesthetics, in order to make the new magazines a bit of a luxury item and appeal to the C suite executives that they are trying to reach.

Trade titles have a lot more to give the print world than we all think, so long as they make the right changes, now.

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March 29th, 2010 by

Launch of The Mads

As a parent, I know how much I rely on the help and advice available freely, 24/7 through the internet – whatever the problem, there’s always someone who has shared their experience online.  And when it comes to the lighter side of parenting, the comical tales from other mums and dads can help raise a smile even after the most frustrating day with a toddler.

Most mum and dad bloggers write their blogs in their own time, after a day at work and when the kids are in bed so that’s why it’s great to see them being recognised with the launch of the Mummy and Daddy (MAD) Blog Awards, which will celebrate the utter brilliance of British parent blogs.

There are ten different categories to enter in The Mads – everything from ‘Blogger of the Year’ to ‘Funniest Mad Blog’ and I for one can’t wait to see who the winners are when they are announced in September.

To enter or to nominate a blogger, simply visit the site and complete the online nomination form.

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February 8th, 2010 by

File under 'Creative'

Welcome to Speed’s Creative blog. A new space on Speed’s websites where we’ll be talking about creativity (obviously), trends and things and ideas we like.

It’s a work in progress, as all blogs are, but we hope you like it.

In the mean time, please enjoy our fabulous 8-bit Test Card.

{{nl|Eén van de eerste kleurentestbeelden die ...
Image via Wikipedia
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February 2nd, 2010 by

New Year, new briefs

Well you have to change occasionally don’t you?

Speed Briefs has been upgraded for 2010. A literary lick of paint. More accessible, more welcoming, a more comfortable and pleasing experience all round. Not that it was bad, but we can always do better.

Why would you want to know what’s going on at a PR agency? Well you may prefer it to us pestering you with calls. And you always say you need to keep on top of things in the PR world but never have the time. So consider it a bit of public service, a moral duty if you will. You might even enjoy it.

October 30th, 2009 by

Microbloggers go all atwitter for lists

Twitter yesterday added a new feature to its site – Lists. The new feature, which is still in beta testing mode, allows users to create lists of people that they follow on Twitter. Lists can also be made public, so that other users can follow them. For PRs this is particularly handy as it means that you can create a list or start following a list of journalists, for example, and follow their latest tweets without interruption from friends, family, TV shows

You could even follow this list of Speed’s staff on Twitter! http://twitter.com/speedcomms/speed

July 15th, 2009 by

Speed date with… Adrian Bridgwater, columnist, ZDNet

Do you feel threatened by blogs & their capacity to break news stories?

As a blogger myself my answer has to be no. I also write news, features and other content for online and print only magazines – and I still feel comfortable with blogs. I think the difference lies in ‘free’ blogs that you can sign yourself up for via Blogger.com or other similar sites and those that are branded as part of an established publishing organisation. If someone beats you to a story with an unknown blog then it’s not a big deal. If someone beats you via a recognised media channel then it should be a wake up call.

How much do you use blogs to source news stories verses PRs?

That’s a tough question. I might guess at it and say it’s 50:50. But there are other factors to consider too. There are personal interest areas, there’s contact from people that you know and then there’s a variety of other social networks that also carry news ideas.

Have you ever sourced a news story via Twitter?

I don’t know if ‘sourced’ is the right word. I have researched, discussed, been inspired by and finally promoted my own stories on Twitter. Put simply, Twitter is the best thing since sliced bread, but I think it’s more important for freelancers like myself than staffers.

Do you prefer Twitter for personal or professional communications?

I never use Twitter for personal communication. For me it is a hard-core communication tool for professional use only. I don’t swear either.

Did you have a favourite tech story in 2008?

That’s just too hard to pin down. I would probably say that anything by Adobe ranks fairly high on my scale. The release of Creative Suite 4 made my life so much easier, it’s a superb product.

What do you think will be the hottest tech issue in 2009?

Delivery of optimised virtually hosted desktop application infrastructure. Well, you did ask – so I thought I’d be specific.

What is the worst PR pitch you have ever had?

I actually used to be in PR and I am quite open about that. So I may be slightly more sympathetic to the idiocy of putting a junior on the phone to ‘sell in’ stories by reading a script out over the phone. My favourite howlers mostly lie in the construction and holiday homes field when people pitch me their ‘developer’ stories and haven’t taken the trouble to work out that I cover ‘software developer’ issues.

May 7th, 2009 by

Speed Date: Up close and personal with… Mobile Choice extraordinaire… Danny Brogan

Do you feel threatened by blogs & their capacity to break news stories?

We certainly keep an eye out on the more prominent blogs as they are often unrestricted from embargos, while they have the freedom to speculate much more than more established sites. Many are particularly good at breaking stories long before anyone else.

How much do you use blogs to source news stories verses PRs?

We’re always on the lookout for stories so regularly keep our eyes on certain blogs. While press releases are a great source of information, to get the full story you often need to ring around to get a clearer picture of the product/story.

Have you ever sourced a news story via Twitter?

Yes. Twitter is becoming an increasingly useful tool for us in both sourcing stories and in spreading our own news stories. It’s a particularly good way at keeping up to date with the aforementioned blogs.

Do you prefer Twitter for personal or professional communications?

Professional.

Did you have a favourite tech story in 2008?

The launch of the T-Mobile G1. As the first Google Android phone it has opened up the gates to a whole host of potential in terms of applications and software.

What do you think will be the hottest tech issue in 2009?

The development if app stores.

What is the worst PR pitch you have ever had?

Too many to mention ;-)

April 22nd, 2009 by

Speed Date: Up close and personal with… CBR's Jason Stamper

Do you feel threatened by blogs & their capacity to break news stories?

Blogs are just another publishing medium. They are no faster than most modern websites in terms of the publication process, so the question is whether some bloggers are better news hounds than more traditional journalists, to which the answer is of course, yes some are. As both news reporter and blogger myself, I don’t feel threatened by bloggers any more than any other journalists. Sometimes they’ll scoop us, and sometimes we’ll scoop them.

How much do you use blogs to source news stories versus PRs?

I rarely use blogs as news sources, but I do use them regularly as sources of informed opinion.

Have you ever sourced a news story via Twitter?

No, not yet, but I am quite new to Twitter and can see that it has potential – again, it’s just another publishing medium.

Do you prefer Twitter for personal or professional communications?

I only use it today to spread the word about a blog or another piece we’ve written, so today, it’s exclusively for professional use.

Did you have a favourite tech story in 2008?

I think the way that Obama’s campaign team used social networking to gather donations from over three million people – twice as many as any presidential candidate in the past – was the most iconic tech-related story of 2009. Biggest bandwagon jumper? Microsoft unveils its cloud strategy, Azure.

What do you think will be the hottest tech issue in 2009?

I’d have to name a few: desktop virtualisation, green/sustainable IT, open source on the rise, social networking, doing more with less and Sun Microsystems getting bought.

What is the worst PR pitch you have ever had?

I received an email mistakenly addressed to an editor on a rival magazine – a good start – saying that although they were aware I don’t like football, was I interested in going to see Southampton versus Derby County, with the chance to catch up on a recent news announcement with the vendor’s regional sales manager in the hospitality suite, during the game.