Yes, it was clearly a public relations exercise first and foremost, with even the chief constable using words like perception and reality in his remarks. However, what makes it interesting from a social media/PR perspective is that

the campaign has been created from the outset to use the internet to get mass awareness in tandem with conventional, geographically-targeted media like the Manchester Evening News to communicate locally?

It’s a very clever move. The story, for its ingenuity, has gone national – on social networks and offline. At this very moment, Manchester Police is the top trending topic on Twitter (11.30am 15 October), closely followed by Sir Cliff Richard who turns 70 this week.

Interestingly, few of the post analytical comments on Twitter/Facebook have been from people in Manchester. And if the objective of the campaign were to shift the needle in terms of local perceptions of the police service – has it really met its aims?

I’d argue that engaging the ‘wrong’ audience is just a necessary by-product of this sort of campaign. Particularly, at a time when emergency services are getting a lot of stick. By elevating it to a national level, Manchester Police have not only highlighted the sheer variety and number of incidents they have to deal with on a daily basis, but it’s made us as citizens think more carefully about how all the emergency services are under extreme pressure in the face of impending budget cuts. A smart social media experiment, with a clear message at its heart.

This got me thinking – just how dangerous could that decade old photo showing me dancing on a table with a bottle of vodka and few inhibitions be to my future self? Will prospective employers overlook me? Will my possible future husband dump me? And if I suddenly become political and decide to run for Mayor, will I be laughed out of the voting booth?!

Image courtesy of nasrulekram

I can’t help thinking that just by taking a few small precautions – ticking the relevant privacy box and not accepting friendship requests from strangers – I’ll actually be alright in another decade’s time. A lot of scare stories are written up in the media at the moment but rather than telling people they should avoid social networks at all costs, shouldn’t we really just be focusing on how to use them sensibly? After all, I’m quite attached to my name and don’t really want to go through the hassle of adopting a whole new identity. If I change my mind though, marriage should allow me to hide a few misdemeanours at least…

1. What is The SocialITe all about?

It’s all about social media, online communication, and in particular how organisations use it.

2. Who is your audience? Why do you think they come to your blog for news?

The audience is a mix of people, but generally those in companies with communications responsibility. My blog is more about opinion and experience of what’s going on, rather than direct news.

3. What do you see as the hottest upcoming technology trend?

Publishing moving to an iTunes model… cloud-based services in the B2B world

4. In your opinion, who are the biggest trend setters in technology? How do you keep up with them online?

Impossible to define as it is always changing, but the people I follow and respect most for their tech views are Bill Thompson at the BBC, JP Rangaswami, Chief Scientist at BT…. generally though it’s a moveable feast and Twitter is the best way to keep track of what people are saying

5. Do you receive a lot of press releases and pitches from PRs? How do you think PRs should best approach bloggers?

I almost entirely ignore traditional press releases now – I would prefer someone to communicate on Twitter and have something to say rather than mailing a blanket release with a boring quote.

Photo by Flickr user markhillary, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

As you will have undoubtedly heard Speed hosted a breakfast for Social Media Week today. The title was simple, ‘No more hot air’ and lets face it, the social media world has a bull**** control problem. It is full of PRs, online communicators, conversationists (WTF are they?) and self proclaimed gurus harping on about how social media will simply outdo all other forms of communication.

Yet the four case studies that were presented at the breakfast today all involved a blend of social media with more traditional forms of communication, like interacting with people in the real world.

The one that caught my eye the most was Nicola Savage’s work with The Cloud, the wireless broadband provider. Nicky and the team created a Facebook fan page and social media chatter to target Apple fans and industry commentators eagerly awaiting the launch of the iPhone, hopefully securing some coverage for The Cloud on the back of it all. Sure enough the branded fan page became populated and discussions were happening in the right places online.

However, it was the final personal touch that ensured the fantastic coverage for The Cloud.  The PROs took to the streets and met some of the fans on the Facebook page – who by this time were all queuing outside mobile phone stores. They dished out branded hoodies and beanies to the patient consumers, brought teas and coffees, made friends, chatted to them all and headed home to await the results.

Anyone who was interviewed outside these stores had The Cloud branding literally all over them. Also, those that may have forgotten all about The Cloud Facebook page after receiving their shiny new iPhone, were reminded of the friendly folk that gave them tea and biccies and many were prompted to include at least a mention of The Cloud in their iPhone reviews.

Sure, the social media side of things gave a good foundation to the whole campaign.  But it was the integration of more traditional forms of communication and PR tactics that binded the whole thing together and brought results.

Social media has opened up new communication channels. But all this nonsense about it being the stand alone platform on which all communication should take place is just trendy flatulence and nothing more.

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.

This is quite an honour, as only really progressive agencies get to host it (providing they lay on good muffins). We’ll be talking about cutting through the hot air surrounding the PR potential of social media and telling how it really is, within the bigger picture of how conventional and social media co-exist. But you didn’t expect us to sit on the fence did you?

The inconvenient truth about PR spam: exposed

Speed is backing an industry initiative to address the issue of PR spam. We’re all aware of the issue but this proactive effort is a bid to tackle the 1.7 billion irrelevant press releases sent each year. We did think about spamming a press release about our commitment out to 1.7 billion people, but instead click here to find out more.