Digital
How the internet is changing: the tale from Pagerank 10 sites
Posted by Mark Pack at Mon, 23/08/2010 - 11:01am in Internet
The internet has changed in many ways over the last six years, broadening its international reach and with a far more diverse range of uses. That change is neatly illustrated by comparing the select list of sites that had a Google Pagerank* of 10 back in 2004 and those that do now.
Here's the 2004 list:
US technology outfits
Adobe
Adobe Acrobat 10
Apple Computers
Apple - QuickTime
Blogger Google
Google Search
Hewlett-Packard Development Company
Intel Corporation
Macromedia
PHPBB Forum
Real Media
It sometimes takes a late convert to ask an awkward question.
Posted by Gary Cleland at Thu, 22/07/2010 - 12:28pm in Digital news
This week the BBC's Andrew Marr revealed he wishes he could turn the clock back and begin again in journalism, such is the opportunity presented by digital.
By his own admission he is somewhat behind the curve in reaching this conclusion, certainly comparative to early adopters if not, perhaps, Fleet Street-era journalists.
Is it newspapers rather than politicians who should be learning from the 2010 election?
Posted by Mark Pack at Tue, 20/07/2010 - 8:58am in Internet
Most of the punditry about the internet and the general election has focused on the impact of the internet, and social media in particular, on politics. Although journalists often get a mention, the basic frame of reference is "how is politics changing?"
However, there was a hint of a different perspective at the launch at Google UK on Tuesday of Nic Newman's report for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism into the impact of the internet on the politics and the media during this year's general election.
How will the Times paywall affect PR?
Posted by Helen Shepherd at Thu, 29/04/2010 - 1:56pm in Internet
Rupert Murdoch has finally announced that he is going to put a paywall up for The Times from June. More interesting still, it's looking increasingly likely that Murdoch will bar all his content from Google, instead making it available on Microsoft's competing search engine Bing. So what does this mean for PR?
My feeling is that coverage secured and featured on Times Online will have less benefit for clients. Firstly, the site will become a less attractive site to pitch in stories to, with the number of unique users estimated to dramatically fall from 1.2 million to 20,000.
Humour - the double-edged campaigning sword
Posted by Mark Pack at Wed, 14/04/2010 - 2:31pm in Political commentary, Social media
Search Engine Watch is running a series of posts during the general election from myself, Mark Hanson (Labour) and Rishi Saha (Conservatives). Here's my first post:
It's the rare politician who does humor well. But when it comes to online political campaigning, humor is a key factor for two reasons.
Twitter's new business model: much like YouTube's existing one
Posted by Mark Pack at Tue, 13/04/2010 - 10:57am in Social media
The news is out today that Twitter is going to start placing adverts at the top of search results. Although Twitter's write-up is full of phrases such as "we've resisted introducing a traditional Web advertising model" and how their approach is "non-traditional" it actually bears a striking resemblance to YouTube's use of 'promoted videos':
Three acronyms to help with justifying social media: Part three
Posted by Mark Pack at Tue, 30/03/2010 - 10:37am in Social media
Love it or loathe it, many clients instinctively try to evaluate social media in ways similar to advertising. Whether it's because you want to justify social media on those grounds - or because you want to persuade the client why that isn't appropriate - you need to know the lingo. This three part mini-series introduces you to the main acronyms you might come up against.
Part 3: ROI
Who is influential on Twitter?
Posted by Mark Pack at Fri, 26/03/2010 - 10:38am in Social media
A new academic study has plenty of important and useful findings, but none more so than the conclusion:
We found that influence is not gained spontaneously or accidentally, but through concerted effort. In order to gain and maintain influence, users need to keep great personal involvement.
Twitter solves the case of Duncan Bannatyne and the missing dress
Posted by Mark Pack at Mon, 15/03/2010 - 11:05am in Social media
It is usually companies getting it wrong on Twitter that makes the news, but over the weekend there was an excellent example of a member of staff using Twitter to sort a problem, keep a vocal customer happy and improve the reputation of the firm.
Entrepreneur and TV star Duncan Bannatyne tweeted that his wife had left a dress on a Virgin train by mistake:
Mrs Bannatyne has just arrived, she left her dress on the 8.47 Virgin train from Milton Keynes to Euston Big reward if found
Businesses with active blogs get seven-fold website traffic boost
Posted by Mark Pack at Wed, 03/02/2010 - 1:44pm in Corporate commentary, Social media
A survey of over 2,000 businesses by the US firm HubSpot found that firms with active blogs get seven times more organic search engine traffic (i.e. traffic not driven by adverts) than non-blogging firms:
Businesses that published at least 5 blog articles in the last 7 days draw 6.9 times more organic search traffic and 1.12 times more referral traffic than those who don't blog at all.
In addition,
