Flawless Buzz

5 pieces of advice for grads wanting to enter public relations

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:00:00 +0000

PR week has recently posted an article on the prospects for recent graduates hoping to enter the PR industry. Unsurprisingly, most graduates are finding it difficult to get their big break with considerably more applicants applying for considerably less places shown by the Association of Graduate Recruiter’s survey which found that there are 48 applicants for every graduate vacancy. This figure is likely to be far higher in the PR industry, one of the most sought after industries for recently graduated students.

Personally, I found that this mark was closer to the 100 mark. This added to the fact that there are usually significant barriers for students applying like degree class, certain GCSEs gained, and only allowing graduates from a top class university which means that a graduate must be pretty clued up when applying to go into PR.

After applying for various grad schemes and experiencing various internships, here’s some advice which should help you get one step ahead of other graduates applying.

1. Get into social media

Should go without saying but even if you don’t want to get into digital pr or social media, having a decent amount of knowledge about it will do you. Start a blog, start tweeting, post some flickr photos, upload a youtube video, start chatting on facebook. If you’re not doing any of these, you’re seriously lacking behind a lot of your competition.

2. Get some knowledge

Read anything you can get your hands on. Papers, blogs, web magazines, newsletters, practically anything which someone in PR might have had a hand in creating. The more you read, the more opinions (with substance) you should have on subjects. Learn about campaigns you like/don’t like, read about what’s the latest social media tool/fad and have a look at what every PR person should know.

3. Get some experience

Why do you want to work in PR? Is it the allure of fast cars, exotic women and high-flying celebs? Well, it shouldn’t be because it really isn’t like that. The best way of finding this out is to go get some experience. You’ll find out if PR is right for you, which sector of PR is right for you and if the company you’re working for is good for you. There’s no point in starting at a low-level at a PR agency to find out you hate the industry and/or sector (found out after experiencing an internship in a sector I didn’t enjoy). And it can’t harm that CV can it?

4. Get some research done

How do you know which companies to apply to? By doing a lot of research. PR Week lists the top companies for different sectors, some companies actively advertise internships up for grabs, and if you go to a company’s website they usually have some information on their clients, recent work and personnel. These often give you a decent idea on whether that company is right or wrong for you.

5. Ask

Because of the nature of the job (or maybe just a coincidence?), nearly everyone I’ve met in PR is incredibly nice and extremely helpful. I had no idea what I was doing when I started out in the social media world. So I asked. And people answered. This isn’t just lowly people at the bottom of the PR pile who work for some terrible company. This is everyone who I asked, from MDs of start-ups to CEOs of some of the biggest agencies in the country. If you’re really scared, just ask me! There are enough people out there who got into PR in some part to other people helping them and who are more than happy to pass their wisdom on (I hope).

These 5 steps should help any budding PR enthusiast have a head-start on other graduates.

Birthday blog

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:01:00 +0000

I've only just realised that last Friday was the one year anniversary of my blog. A few things have changed regarding my knowledge and experience but the content is roughly still the same 12 months later.

Yesterday was also the first birthday of Stephen Davies'3W PR agency, Chris Lee has been freelance for a year, Adam Parker's blog has been going a year and Frank PR's anniversary. Great minds think alike (and at the same time?)!

Can twitter turn a film into a hit or failure?

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:25:00 +0000

In the past, a film’s initial box office takings mainly depended on how much the movie was promoted. Although a film could become a hit after gaining a cult following, or getting credible reviews from a critic, but for a film’s opening weekend, the public went to see a movie because it had been publicised to the max.

It seems that twitter can now turn a film into a box office success or failure. ‘District 9’ recently opened amid low expectations after being produced with a relatively low ($30 million) budget. Thanks to a steady stream of approval amongst the twitterati, the film started with $14 million on its opening night, then $12.6 million on the second night. Compare this to ‘Bruno’, where the twittersphere criticised the movie which resulted in a slump to $8.7 million on its second night with a 40% decline from Saturday to Sunday.

Similarly, Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Inglorious Basterds’ received welcome praise in tweets. Expectations were that filmgoers would expect a pure action movie and would be disappointed as the film progressed. However, the film received approving tweets which has resulted in the Risky Biz Blog labelling the film as “Twitter age’s first true success story”. Weinstein, the studio who produced the film, packed a screening with people who’d won access via twitter as well as a ‘Red-Carpet Tweet Meet-Up’ where celebrity twitterers praised the film.

Avatar is another film which could go hit or miss depending on the reaction on twitter. This film has had a major marketing push with a massive $247 million to recuperate (second highest of all time). With all this recent buzz, Avatar has become the most viewed trailer of all time on the Apple Trailers site, which doesn’t include the unofficial and official plays on YouTube. The buzz hasn’t been all positive though, which could, like Bruno, cause a slump in box office takings.

Of course, it is difficult to measure the effect twitter has on sales. A recent poll conducted by movietickets.com suggests that twitter has little effect with only 12% of the voting sample stating that twitter has an effect on whether they go to view a movie. But as a word-of-mouth tool, the positive reviews of a film can spread quickly over twitter and equally, so can negative reviews.

Swine Flu - PR miscommunication?

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:53:00 +0000

You've probably heard of this worldwide pandemic that's going on at the moment. Swine Flu. You probably know someone who has contracted the infection which has 'plagued' the country and has even had Ron from Harry Potter getting infected from it (Rupert Grint, not the actual character from Harry Potter...).

But could you tell me what swine flu is? Could you describe the symptoms? Could you explain the difference between swine flu and normal flu? I've had friends, colleagues and family describing it as "a bit like flu but with aches in the back", "more phlegm then normal flu", "you're eyes swell up" and my favourite "you start to feel a bit pig-like".

The BBC describes the symptoms as "sudden fever above 38 with a sudden cough" with possible symptoms of "tiredness, chills, headaches, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, diarrhoea, aching muscles, limb or joint pain". I'm no doctor but that sounds considerably like normal flu to me. I managed to get my friend from the health protection agency to describe the symptoms and he explained it as "the same as flu...basically". Recently on the news, there was talk of doctor's time being overloaded with dealing with people who thought they might have swine flu when they actually had flu, a cold or even a headache.

So why is the public incredibly confused about all this? Why are people incredibly confused over the symptoms? The HPA website is pretty informative and the hotline is apparently well set-up to deal with confused patients. This all leads to suggest that even though there was a plan set-up in place for this kind of crisis, there was no major plan in place in how this crisis would be communicated to the public. Remember after the terrorist attacks in London? It took a good few months for pamplets to be produced and distributed to help the public understand what to do if another terrorist attack occurred.

Has the government got a communications team to deal with communicating crises to the general public? I understand it's quite difficult to plan for every potential catastrophe but it seems to me that the government isn't equipped enough to deal with these situations.

Alive and Kicking

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 10:13:00 +0000

Yes I am still alive, in case you were worried about me, but I have good reasons for my absence.

I have finished my degree. This was perhaps the main reason, busying myself trying to gain a creditable mark and finishing my dissertation on "the effects of alcohol intoxication on vowel production" (presented at Cambridge for the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics...and as fun as it sounds).

I have hardly had any spare time since finishing my degree. York's last term ends very late compared to other universities, which means there hasn't been that much time between finishing my degree and now. I did manage to go on holiday though.

I have a job. This week I have started at Shiny Red, the digital arm of the Red Consultancy. After completing a two week placement back at Easter and going through the graduate recruitment process, they thankfully offered me a job. I have a wide range of cool clients, and have had an eventful first week involving Max Clifford, cupcakes and a summer party with flamingos.

After all the hard work I put in trying to get a job with various grad days, applications and interviews, I'm chuffed to bits that I got a role within such a brilliant company. This will hopefully mean that I'm going to post regularly again (hopefully with a new design soon) after a break from the blogosphere. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice, helped me get emails/numbers of certain people, commented on my blog, tweeted me, linked to the blog or was generally nice to me as I'm sure it all added up to help me get the job.

Good or bad publicity for political blogging?

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Unless you've been living in a hole this weekend, you will have heard about the furore surrounding Damian McBride after he sent emails discussing smearing senior Tories. The events have had PR professionals arguing with political website editors, educators blogging their observations and formulas being devised to explain the whole situation.

Although this is clearly not something we want to condone as communications enthusiasts but has this avoidable episode been the publicity which political bloggers needed? The resignation has made headlines across the news all weekend and has even had my friends asking "you're into that blogging malarkey aren't you? What's all this about between McBride, Draper and a guy called Guido?"

So people are talking about it. Political blogs like Guido, Iain Dale and the like might be taken more seriously by MPs and the public might go to read their political news from these commentators rather than political journalists from the national press. The most relevant post that I've read is from Neville Hobson who (indirectly from this Telegraph article) points out how the tipping point for UK political bloggers may be upon us.

"Political bloggers in the UK have never had a better chance to wield real influence, whatever their political flavour."

The British political blogosphere has entered the mainstream and will play an increasingly important role with the build up to the next election.

Guest Interview - Matt Churchill of Edelman Digital

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Is that a cry I hear for another interview with a young PR professional? Matt Churchill studied Journalism at Westminster but decided to switch to the dark side and joined the PR industry. After a 3 month internship at Zest PR, then just over a year at Chocolate Communications, Matt joined the Edelman digital team.

1. How is work at Edelman going?

It's great. The people are top notch and Edelman's holistic philosophy and honest approach is, for such a large company, very refreshing. I feel that i'm settling in and my feet, although not yet under the table, are certainly resting on the floor by my chair.

2. How did you end up getting your job at Edelman?

A magical mix of Twitter, luck and my need to be constantly tuned into the blogosphere.

3. How does the atmosphere and work differ from your time at Chocolate Communications?

Both agencies have a very natural approach to PR. Chocolate Communications is a consumer lifestyle agency and the actual work, compared to Edelman Digital, is massively different. At both Edelman and Chocolate, reports have to be written and media knowledge accrued, but the main difference is the engagement with the blogosphere. At Chocolate the main focus was to obtain broadcast or national coverage, whereas at Edelman we solely focus on the likes of you and me.

4. What made you want to move?

I didn't want to move from Chocolate as such. The opportunity to work for Edelman was one that I couldn't pass up. I had been thinking about where I wanted my career to go and decided that playing on Twitter was right for me. The conversation with Edelman happened at the time when I was deciding to concentrate on the social media side of things and it turned out to be the right time.

5. What is your role and what kind of things do you get up to during the average working day?

I'm an Account Executive. No single day is different, whether it's monitoring a client's presence in the blogosphere, chatting with the UK head of your client on the phone, or running round a sofa for a video (!) - it's very varied.

6. What skills do you think are required to do what you do?

You need to be versatile: one minute you're writing a report, the next you're eulogising social media strategies with a client, before calling reception to remind them you've got someone coming in for a meeting and they'll only drink coffee with soya milk in it. You've got to juggle a lot of objects and that half the fun.

7. Do you plan to stay in this sector of PR?

Yes absolutely. Digital is the way forward and is still not a toddler, if you look at advertising as the Grandpops of the marketing mix. It must be re-iterated that Digital is only one part of a PR toolbox - the fact that there are agencies specialising in it prove that division of labour works and you can no longer be an agency who has one person who is the go to guy or girl - every PR must at least be aware of the importance of Social Networks for example, even if they don't fully 'get it', whatever 'it' is, and trying understand the implications of the evolution we're going through.

8. Would you ever consider in-house?

Not at the moment, i'm not at a stage of my career where it appeals to me, but I figure that I'd like to try it, maybe. I don't know, it depends on where the wind takes me. My career hasn't been particularly linear or predictable (yet) and i don't expect that to change in the next 30 years.

9. Best and worst parts of the job?

Best part is the fact that we're really in the eye of the storm as far as social media goes - we're making new things happen all the time, to be innovating without even realising it is an amazing place to be in.

The worst bit is a tough one, at the moment i'm enjoying my work more than ever so i'd have to say the bus to work in the morning, and even then that beats the squashing myself onto the tube.

10. Dream job?

Rock star!

11. Brand you most admire?

London - ok so the city isn't a brand as such, but the way it markets itself is wonderful, you can throw anything at Londoners and life will carry on pretty much as normal. Just wander round the capital at night to see the landmarks lit up - it sells itself and people talk about it in pubs all over the world without being paid to do so - perfect PR.

12. Tool that is the most useful for your work?

My brain - it's amazing some of the ludicrous ideas I come up that are considered mildly sensible and doable :-) Does that come across as big-headed? I don't mean it to - I figure that my phone or PC might be important for communicating, but if i don't know what to say, then those two things are obsolete.

13. Did you know what you wanted to do after leaving University?

I didn't particularly want to go to university, my friends bullied me into it - I would have been happy being a sparky. But i'm glad I went - it made me realise that I wanted to communicate. I did a degree in journalism so to wind up in PR is an all too obvious irony - initially I wanted to write the music section for the Guardian....

14. What skills from your University life are transferable when working in PR?

Meeting new people and learning about them quickly before asking yourself 'how can I add value to what they do'.

15. Do you think a PR degree is necessary for a career in PR?

No. Many of my uni friends who studied PR have gone on to do different things, whereas I only know three people in PR who actually did it or are doing it as a uni course.

16. A reason why graduates should go into PR?

It's not an obvious career choice which means you're challenging yourself straight away. If you do an English degree, PR wouldn't necessarily be a first choice for a job option - brilliant, why settle for ordinary?

17. A reason why they should choose Edelman?

Brilliant graduate scheme and fantastic support network. You're working alongside some of the most experienced people in the industry - be that Digital, Consumer or Public Affairs - and you genuinely learn something every day. It's a hell of a buzz when you look at what you accomplished over the day and what you've learnt.

18. Something anyone going into PR should know?

It's not all Ab-Fab or Madmen. You're dealing with real people - of course the caricatures exist, but they are a dying breed and a good example of bad PRs.

19. Any advice to students applying to graduate entry-level jobs?

Be persistent and read as much as you can. PRWeek should be your first port of call, New Media Age your second and Mashable your third, especially if you're going into Digital. Do an internship for 3 months and work out if you definitely want to commit a large part of your early career to PR, and you can of course read my three part guide to getting a job in PR at Seldom Seen Kid (knew i'd get a plug in somewhere!)

20. Anything else you think might be useful.

Once you're in there, be eager and organised. If you need advice, ask. Most important of all don't allow yourself to get stressed.

Believe it or not, work finishes at 5:30 and yes, you may need to stay extra hours on occassion, but don't let it rule your life. If you're leaving the office at 8pm each night, work out why - is it the work load or your prioritisation?

Take some time each week to completely disconnect from work - work to live, don't live to work.

What the application process can entail for a graduate

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0000

After assessing hundreds of CVs and/or graduate questions, HR (or senior team depending on the company) must decide on how the graduate day is going to be carried out. The team has been through many applicants' CVs but must now sieve through this next batch. Of course this depends on how many further stages there are. For instance, the biggest companies are likely to have many stages because they can afford to host all these days whereas a smaller sized outfit may only host one day.

Usually companies often encourage applicants to apply to a grad scheme providing they have a minimum set of qualifications/skills e.g. A in GCSE English or 1st or 2.1 from a top university (something which Stephen Davies doesn't agree with). HR then have to sort the wheat from the chaff and get a managable number fo applicants down for the first stage. It's been interesting to see how each company differs in its approach to applicants i.e. what method the company uses at which stage. For instance I've had to do a group pitch, a phone interview, a writing test and a face-to-face interview all at different stages depending on the agency.

It's pretty difficult to determine what method is best for which stage in the application process. The only thing I'd add is that I think it is important to have all these methods to test the grads in different ways. For instance, confidence on the phone is pretty imperative for PR and the phone interview tests this. The group pitch tests your ability to work in a team. The writing test checks whether the candidate is competent in writing. And the face-to-face interviews check whether the candidate can deal with a pressure situation and can think on their feet if dealt a difficult question. What I would suggest is that a face-to-face interview is done at the last stage (possibly as well as before). This way the agency can definitely see if the candidate has the personality to fit the company. It's no good if the candidate has all the skills necessary but has no interest whatsoever in the sector that the agency specializes in.

I'm not sure that the above methods should be the only ways to test prospective employees of the company. But what other tests or methods could HR teams potentially use to test that the candidate is the right person for the job? Aptitude and psychometric tests are used in other careers, is there something which can be used similarly to this to test graduates wanting to get into PR and communications?

Work Placement at Shiny Red

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 10:24:00 +0000

If you're a follower of mine on Twitter , you should have heard that I've been on a two week placement with Shiny Red. This online PR practice was formed in 2006 between Shiny Media and the Red Consultancy.

If you've been a follower of this blog from the start you will have read about some of my previous work placements so I felt that I was the stalwart of the interns going into my placement at Shiny Red. However, this placement was probably the most rewarding of the placements I've done because of the breadth of roles and duties I was involved in and the responsibility given to me from the start. Although placements can sometimes be tedious and not worthwhile, I was really welcomed as part of the team at Shiny Red and felt that what I was doing was helping Shiny Red and their clients.

During one recent interview I got through to the last stage but didn't get the job because the other candidates had stronger PR experience showing it is imperative for graduates to have plenty of experience in the PR industry.

If you're wondering where to try your hand at PR then I highly recommend doing a placement at Shiny Red. They're a lovely bunch of people and would like to thank Ashley, Becky, Lewis, Laura, Gill, Lolly, Tara and Helen for making me feel welcome and part of the team.

Guest Interview - Alex Pearmain of Fishburn Hedges

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:24:00 +0000

After a bit of a delay the popular (?) interviews are back and it's time to catch up with Alex Pearmain of prandcommsnetwork fame which he runs with Alain Desmier. After graduating in History at Oxford, Alex went straight to work at the Fishburn Hedges graduate scheme.

1. How did you end up getting your job at Fishburn Hedges?

I applied for the grad scheme in my final year at Oxford, alongside applying to do stay on and do my PhD. A combination of financial reality and a desire to do something ‘real world’ rather than another 4 years of libraries and Late Medieval history meant the world of work won out.

2. How does the atmosphere and work compare to other agencies that you know of?

Fishburn Hedges had been doing ‘integrated’ comms long before it became de rigeur; that’s reflected in the fact we have specialists but not lots of defined practice areas, so I work with a huge range of colleagues with different perspectives, which I massively value. As for the culture… I personally think of it as a ‘relaxed gentility’. There’s a warmth and personal interest in each other. It’s certainly not as outright trendy as some places, but then neither am I!

3. What made you want to go into this sector?

Three things really.

One was that I’ve always consumed huge amounts of media, whether books, newspapers, magazines or the web. Which is partly a result of a passion for information, and partly a reflection of just being able to read bloody fast!

Another was actually academic. I was fascinated by the role of communication in shaping communities in history. I could bore you with the role of the vernacular in medieval Britain, but I won’t…I also rated my ability to use words effectively.

The third sounds grandiose, so don’t laugh too much. But (as my Facebook profile says) I want(ed) to change the world. And communications can both BE the change and be agents for the change.

4. What is your role and what kind of things do you get up to during the average working day?

I’m a consultant working on both ‘traditional’ corporate media relations and digital media. Which is pretty much what I think every media consultant will seamlessly be doing in a few years. Quite a few of us already are.

The average day is enormously varied, which doubtless reflects both the nature of careers in PR and the breadth of work I get up to at Fishburn Hedges. I like to start early, and normally get stuck into some twitterage and a magazine (I’m a big Economist fan) on the train in. I’ll then motor through some RSS feeds, check on any media monitoring which needs my attention, and then try and write as many documents as I can first thing- always the most productive time for me. This is normally a variety of plans, presentations, and copy for various media. After a few internal meetings and client conference calls it might be time to think on a few media angles, have some measurement banter, and then call it a happy day. I always find it hard to switch off, so generally write down a few pages of illegible notes on the way home, which I then struggle to transcribe later!

5. What skills do you think are required to do what you do?

There are too many to mention if you want to be a real super-star of the industry. I think it requires you to be more of an all-rounder than just about any other sector. The two which I find indispensable are an appetite for media (if you don’t enjoy consuming it, why work to be part of its creation?) and positivity. Whether you’re selling a story to a journalist, an idea to a colleague or work to a client, people respond to positivity. It is also the only way you’re going to keep the tempo of your own work up if you really want to achieve stuff. I do realise I sound like a poor motivational speaker!

6. Do you plan to stay in this sector of PR?

Yes, assuming it’ll continue to have me!

7. Best and worst parts of the job?

Best; Creating an idea or execution which really surprises and delights colleagues or clients, and then seeing it put into practice.

Worst; There are various functional bits and pieces which aren’t always the most exciting (I never thought excel would play such a large role in my life), but personally it’s dealing with frustration. Big aspirations leads to big frustrations, and channelling that can (on occasion) be challenging. I remain a constant model of serenity, of course.

8. Dream job?

Inside PR; heading up an agency which delivers sector-leading and sector re-defining work. Or leading the comms function for English Heritage. PR and Castles. That’d be pretty cool.

Outside PR; I’d love to work with a local brewery creating an amazing product like these guys, and then market the stuff to within an inch of its beery life. The UK is crying out for quality locally produced food and drink, producers just need to be smart about getting people’s attention and retail moments.

9. Brand you most admire?

I always say innocent, and have said it for ages, but that bandwagon is getting pretty full, with everyone says how much they love it. I’m a big Ocado fan brand-wise too. Although I think there’s huge scope for them to extend it and become better defined in consumer’s minds, they’ve succeeded in creating a fun, considerate brand which is synonymous with quality and innovation, yet has avoided being labelled as ‘geeky’. All from nothing. Some of their recent PR tactics have begun to take nice strides into consumer press too.

10. Tool that is the most useful for your work?

A pencil. Nothing’s ever final when you write it in pencil. Plus my earphones. Dire Straits has been fuelling my days lately, and there’s only so much ‘80s music my colleagues can take.

11. Did you know what you wanted to do after leaving University?

Yep. Change the world.

12. What skills from your University life are transferable when working in PR?

Oxford degree courses are deliberately vague yet overwhelmingly confident that whilst they won’t quantify or label the skills you gain, you will emerge, chrysalis to butterfly-esque, phenomenally talented. I wouldn’t claim that for myself, but a rigour and depth of thinking were certainly useful, as well as interest in the human drivers behind events (that’s the historian in me coming through). Having your writing relentlessly critiqued was pretty handy too.

13. Do you think a PR degree is necessary for a career in PR?

Well as I haven’t got one I’m bound to say not! I’m sure it’s helpful for people to know what they’re getting into, and (this is all purely my own opinion) it’s certainly no worse preparation than many other courses, but ultimately it’ll be personal attributes and the way you take to the job itself which will determine your success.

14. A reason why graduates should go into PR?

Because you can actually be paid to spend time reading newspapers, browsing Facebook, and creating YouTube pieces. Sounds like being a student, you say?!

Seriously though; because you’re going to get variety and breadth of work, whilst doing something which, on a good day, can make you feel a little bit ‘rock star’.

15. A reason why they should choose Fishburn Hedges?

I guess the best thing I can say about the scheme is that it made me the consultant I am today. (I hope that is taken in the positive sense intended!). It is a different experience to what’s on offer at most agencies and you can tell how much we rate it by the fact so many of us ex-trainees are still knocking around here.

16. Something anyone going into PR should know?

A working knowledge of Microsoft Office may only you get you onto the bottom rungs of the ladder, but lacking that knowledge is going to see you quickly fall off the ladder. Not all that deep as advice goes , but practical!

19. Any advice to students applying to graduate entry-level jobs?

Spell check and proof read. Do actually read the papers and browse the web.

London Bloggers Spring Meet Up

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:38:00 +0000

I've now been in London for a few days, working with the lovely Shiny Red team and thoroughly enjoying my placement there. It was suggested that I should go to the London Bloggers Meet Up organised by Andrew Bargery, and I went along to see what the fuss was about.

As well as a little talk from Helen Aspell (@hel_razr) of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the event heard from Robin Grant of We Are Social, who I had a little chat with. This was to promote WWF's Earth Hour which aims to get the world to turn their lights off for an hour at 8.30 this Saturday.

It was brilliant to finally link the faces with the names/blogs/twitter avatars that I've come so accustomed to seeing every day. Not to link bait but...thanks to Ben, Dom, Wadds, Lewis, Lolly, Robin, Kai and lots of other people I've completely forgotten the names of, for speaking to me! Jolly nice to meet you all.

Wiki of student bloggers

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0000

I felt it was about time for a Wiki to be created to enable students (and prospective employers) to look at other students' blogs. This was inspired by Stephen Davies' list on his website which came about from a rant a year ago on the lack of student bloggers. Feel free to add yourself or friends (with their permission) on this wiki here. Any problems regarding the list feel free to email me (contact details tab).

What is the most important factor when hiring graduates in PR?

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:00:00 +0000

From my experience, different people have different opinions on what are the most important factors when hiring their next graduate. The general consensus by all PR practitioners seems to be that not one factor can determine whether a candidate gets a job or not; it is a combination of various things (most of which are listed in the poll).

However, if all your potential candidates had exactly the same features what would you want to stand out? If there was a "most important factor" what would it be? Anyone in PR, marketing or communications feel free to vote and also students wanting to get into these fields, your input would be greatly appreciated. Any thoughts feel free to comment and I will post a follow-up post when/if I get a big enough response.

What is the most important factor when hiring graduates in PR?

Twitter bashing

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0000

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Twitter Frenzy

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Economic Crisis

As everyone knows, Twitter is becoming increasingly popular. But with this popularity comes a few people who don't agree or don't like the tool. In the last week, Rachel Sylvester has had a pop at the site on the Times website; Guido Fawkes, the political blogger, has aimed a few swipes; and Jon Stewart had a satirical dig at it on the Daily Show above.

So why all the hatred for Twitter? Well, I think most people are sceptical initially. I know I was. But soon (most) people realise how the tool works, its potential to help you and its potential to allow you to help others. Jon Stewart, in particular, doesn't yet understand the point of Twitter. Or actually what it is.

“For the uninitiated, here’s how Twitter works - I have no f***cking idea!!

So what can make the unconverted go to the dark side? Well, I suppose if more and more people sign up then they might feel compelled to try it out. The Times article particularly lacks some knowledge of Twitter. The argument seems to be based on why anyone would want to read about what people are doing throughout their day, but that's not the point of Twitter. There's plenty of articles out there explaining why Twitter is not this and is instead much more than this. And even if this was the case, what is wrong with MPs trying to better communications with their constituents?

The one thing I'd say about Twitter is don't knock it till you've tried it. Properly.

Spotify sharing on a Friday afternoon

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0000

If you haven't started to enjoy Spotify yet, you really should start using it. It's going to be one of the big rivals to LastFM, Ourstage etc and most importantly of all, (to the music industry at least) illegal downloading sites. Spotify allows users to stream music from a huge catalogue of music and to create and share playlists amongst it's users.

The ability to create these playlists has made Sally Whittle create a meme for a Friday afternoon playlist. You can download hers here, as well as Jed's here, Adam's here, Chris's here, Bryony's here, Matt's here, Anne's here, and if anyone else shares I'll try and link to yours too to embrace the spotify lovin'. Me and Rob Brown were tagged by Jed after tweeting about our need to create one of these playlists. For me, this to satisfy my hunger of creating playlists and sharing them. As Ad Parker points out the last time this kind of thing could be done was on cassette tapes in the early 90s where the process took hours if not days..

My playlist can be downloaded here or if you haven't signed up to spotify yet (why not?!):

Pixies - Where is my Mind?
Hal - Play the Hits
Shearwater - Rooks
David Bowie - Oh! You Pretty Things
Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat
Radiohead - 2+2=5
Little Barrie - Free Salute
Jane's Addiction - Mountain Song
Sufjan Steven - Chicago
Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper
Devotchka - How It Ends
Elbow - Weather to Fly
Mos Def - Ms. Fat Booty
Annuals - Bleary Eyed
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong - Lucio Starts Fires
The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy!
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
Broadcast 2000 - Get Up and Go
Unkle - Burn My Shadow
Beck - Modern Guilt
Wilco - Handshake Drugs
The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset

Skittles transforms website for the benefit of social media

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:05:00 +0000

Skittles have perhaps started a revolution of brands' website design and offering by changing the look of their website this week. As flagged by Mashable and most of Twitter yesterday, the Skittles US website has been replaced by Skittles' links to social networks. It looks much better than it sounds, honestly, so go have a look. The homepage is replaced by a twitter search feed of the brand and a widget-like navigation in the top-left corner gives more Skittle social media information as well as some content on Skittles products; but only if the user chooses so (even this is done on Wikipedia). The homepage amalgamates Skittles content on youtube, twitter, Wikipedia, Flickr, and Facebook. All this without anything else besides a contact form. Although this may be a short term measure by Skittles, while they re-design the website, the response from the social media world suggests that they should stick with this brilliant new website.

Skittles haven't tried to be gimmicky or get in the faces of the consumer but instead have allowed the public to take their content and share it with each other. As Dirk Singer points out, it's not only transparent (not all the Twitter responses have been positive) but I'm sure the Skittles website has had a spike in traffic never seen before. They'll get a lot of press and coverage as well as buzz in the social media world itself as an early adopter of this social media marketing strategy.

A milestone in brands' website design? Perhaps Skittles have started something which other brands will follow.

Top 50 celebs on Twitter

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Last week, The Times posted "the 50 most popular celebs on Twitter" in order of who has the most followers. But this doesn't necessarily mean how successful they are at using Twitter. Russell Brand (@rustytockets) has 43, 389 followers at the time of writing yet has made 23 updates, the majority of those on two different days with ten days separating them. I wrote a few weeks ago about the effect of celebs on twitter, where I said that Brand has "gained the admiration of the blogosphere". In hindsight, I don't believe Brand did achieve this. He will lose followers daily if he doesn't tweet regularly and connect with his followers as Ross and Fry seem to be doing.

So what if someone did "the 50 most successful celeb users of Twitter", using Twittergrader or a similar tool? Who would be top then? Well, using the same list as The Times, here's the list according to Twitter grader.

1. @mchammer (MC Hammer) 99.99 123
2. @stephenfry (Stephen Fry) 99.99 209
3. @ricksanchezcnn (Rick Sanchez) 99.99 209
4. @davejmatthews (Dave Matthews) 99.98 236
5. @hodgman (John Hodgman) 99.98 284
6. @willcarling (Will Carling) 99.98 284
7. @lancearmstrong (Lance Armstrong) 99.97 423
8. @wossy (Jonathan Ross) 99.97 468
9. @Schofe (Philip Schofield) 99.96 506
10. @the_real_shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) 99.94 917
11. @joetrippi (Joe Trippi) 99.94 917
12. @jimmyfallon (Jimmy Fallon) 99.92 1,058
13. @neilhimself (Neil Gaiman) 99.92 1,058
14. @glinner (Graham Linehan) 99.92 1,117
15. @mrskutcher (Demi Moore) 99.9 1,430
16. @souljaboytellem (Soulja Boy) 99.9 1,529
17. @snoopdogg (Snoop Dogg) 99.9 1,609
18. @Karlrove (Karl Rove) 99.9 1,826
19. @britneyspears (Britney Spears) 99.99 1,826
20. @schwarzanegger (Arnold Schwarzangger) 99.8 2,146
21. @johncleese (John Cleese) 99.98 2,250
22. @Andy_murray (Andy Murray) 99.8 2,567
23. @Paulocoelho (Paulo Coelho) 99.8 2,916
24. @xxandip (Andy Peters) 99.8 3,113
25. @williamshatner (William Shatner) 99.7 3,524
26. @algore (Al Gore) 99.7 3,919
27. @charltonbrooker (Charlie Brooker) 99.7 4,665
28. @herring1967 (Richard Herring) 99.7 4,665
29. @mayoroflondon (Boris Johnson) 99.6 4,842
30. @realrobbrydon (Rob Brydon) 99.6 5,611
31. @rustyrockets (Russell Brand) 99.6 5,791
32. @alancarr (Alan Carr) 99.6 5,791
33. @timminchin (Tim Minchin) 99.5 6,187
34. @yokoono (Yoko Ono) 99.5 6,187
35. @jimmycarr (Jimmy Carr) 99.5 6,380
36. @jamie_oliver (Jamie Oliver) 99.5 6,605
37. @elijahwood (Elijah Wood) 99.5 7,253
38. @michael_phelps (Michael Phelps) 99.4 7,961
39. @realdmitchell (David Mitchell) 99.3 8,821
40. @lukewilson (Luke Wilson) 99.2 10,267
41. @toadmeister (Toby Young) 99.2 10,272
42. @thatkevinsmith (Kevin Smith) 99.2 10,485
43. @rootsmanuva (Roots Manuva) 99.1 11,556
44. @elimanning (Eli Manning) 99.1 11,803
45. @reginaspektor (Regina Spektor) 99 13,017
46. @mrxtothaz (Xzibit) 99 13,017
47. @mischabarton (Mischa Barton) 99 13,714
48. @jamiecullum (Jamie Cullum) 98.7 16,838
49. @rachel_bilson (Rachel Bilson) 98.4 20,621
50. @george_lucas (now deleted)

The list is limited in that it's according to twitter grader's twitter grade (1st column) and overall rank (2nd column). If any other celebs out there want to be added to the list (or you know any that need adding) please comment below. Who would have thought that MC Hammer was the celebrity with the most twitter nous?!

The process of building a relationship with journalists

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Since I've started blogging I've noticed a bit of tension between 'flacks' and 'hacks'. The skills needed for journalism and PR often overlap which means that journalists often go into PR later in their career and vice-versa. But this has also meant a constant dislike for the opposing industry.

Charles Arthur's anger at the methods employed by PR practitioners and the relationship he has with certain members of the industry caused a flurry of comments and articles arguing the various points to this argument. What I've learnt is that when I (hopefully!) enter the PR industry, I must get on the right side of the journalists to become successful.

So what do I have to do to ensure this happens? Well, firstly I need to make sure I approach the journalist in the correct manner. A few weeks ago Stephen Davies posted an article asking whether journalists would prefer a tweet, phone call, email or some other mode of communication to follow-up whether the journalist had received the press release. Unsurprisingly he found that different journalists preferred different methods. So this means that you need to learn the individual preference of the journalist to understand how they'd prefer to be followed-up. It also seems that very, very few journalists enjoy the "Hi, did you get my email?" phone-call follow-up.

One of the most common complaints by journalists about PR is that the press releases they receive have no relevance to their writing. Why would a journalist insert coverage of a PR practitioner's client if it has no relevance to what they're writing about? Make sure journalists aren't inundated with spam by sending them material which isn't tailored specifically to them, although this might be time-consuming it will be worth it in the long-term. Research the journalist, who they are and what they write about.

Don't waste the journalist's time. A complaint linked to the one above but if you're ringing the journalist asking if they've received the email, it's wasting their time and they are less likely to cover the story. For example, Charles Arthur blogs about one particular bad pitch:

PR: “Hello, do you blog?”
Me: “Er, yes.” (Thinks: among other things.. what an odd way to open the conversation.)
PR: “I’m calling from Panasonic because they’ve got a new camera that’s come out and we thought you’d like to write about it.”
Me: “So what’s different about it? Cameras come out all the time.”
PR: “I don’t know exactly, but you’re a blogger aren’t you? Would you like to write about it?”
Me: (feeling slight stroke coming on): “Why? What’s this blog stuff? What is it about the camera? What’s special, different, newsworthy, if anything, about it?”
PR: “Umm, well, that’s not what I’m doing but I thought that because you blog…”
Me: “I edit the Technology section of the Guardian. Google me. Goodbye.”

Sally Whittle posted an article suggesting some tips for PR types, one being 'think of the pitch in relation to the journalist and how they're going to cover it'.

"Have a point to your pitch apart from a variation of "my client is lovely". Try and think of a specific story, a news angle, a feature opportunity - something that helps the journo see this as a story, not just a press release about your client's existence."

All useful things to remember when building that relationship between the journalist and the PR practitioner but I'm sure there are more tips and advice for PR types, any ideas?

The lack of tailored graduate schemes in PR

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Yesterday Stephen Davies tweeted @edelmanhr asking "In general what's the prospects looking like for PR grads this year given the economic climate?" with the response "@stedavies Well our application deadline has passed and we've had 250 applications which we're still reviewing :)".

I replied to Stephen's original tweet commenting that a lot of the companies that I had contacted didn't seem to have graduate schemes or roles available. Fortunately, Stephen being the kind chap that he is asked his twittersphere (2,019 followers at the time of writing) whether anyone had a grad role available for me. With a decent response a few people tweeted back with their thoughts and help.

This got me thinking about what companies do actually have grad schemes set-up this year. All of this is solely from my research but the only graduate schemes that I have found to exist on companies' websites are:

Edelman
Weber-Shandwick
Diffusion
Hotwire
Fishburn Hedges
Red
Lexis
Mandate (2008 application page)
Camargue
Shine (2008 application page)
Octopus (2008 application page)
Luchford APM
Halismann Taylor
Remarkable Group

And not all these are necessarily taking graduates on or have an actual "scheme" in place, they are just advertising that graduates should feel free to apply. I've probably missed some out (feel free to comment if I have). Some companies might not advertise their jobs on their website or provide details of a graduate scheme, one reason perhaps being that they want the graduate to show a bit of intelligence and perseverance to find the right way of applying for a job.

Some companies take students or grads on unpaid internships offering valuable experience like Wolfstar, Ketchum and Taylor-Herring but these aren't tailored schemes for graduates who've finished their degrees. As I've done quite a few work placements already I feel like I know the sector of PR I want to enter and the kind of companies I want to apply for so this extra experience, although highly valuable, isn't a necessity.

But it does make me wonder if PR would attract better candidates if their graduate schemes were detailed and advertised correctly. So why does PR not have the tailored graduate schemes that other industries do?

What you miss in a few weeks

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Firstly, apologies. This obviously isn't a new blog or at a new domain. Unfortunately, the process of sorting out my own domain proved incredibly difficult and so am still here at plain old http://flawlessbuzz.blogspot.com. Major problems with uploading the content through a FTP client meant that I was spending hours getting absolutely nowhere and have decided to delay the move until someone with a bit more knowledge than me helps me out (feel free to email me if you know much about it!).

The time which I spent trying to set-up my new blog coupled with a heavier workload at University meant that blogging took a back-seat. This isn't really an excuse not to blog, as I should have tried to make time for at least one post a week, but because the new blog set-up was taking up so much of my time, it somehow put me off posting any new material.

This hasn't stopped me gathering information. Not including my 'DON'T PANIC' post, the last post I made was the 28th Jan, nearly three weeks ago. To show how long this time-length is in the blogosphere and the power of the 'mark-all-as-read' button, these are some of the things which have been going on.

1. Twestival the event achieved world-wide success this year. In September last year, a group of twitterers (as far as I know Ben Matthews, Tom Malcolm, Tim Hoang and Amanda Rose) set-up the first Twestival. February 12th saw the first global twestival, with over 175 cities taking part and appeared to be a resounding success.

2. PR treats journalists not as resources, but like car companies treat parts suppliers Another PR vs Journalism debate with Charles Arthur starting a debate regarding the analogy stated above. The post got a pretty big response from the PR sector.

3. Poor practice by Wealden District Council’s press officer on Noel's HQ Although not something I watched live, through reading other posts, I found the story of Wealden District Council’s press officer sneering at Mr Edmonds saying "we don’t deal with entertainment shows" when asked about a case brought to attention from Noel. A very good example of how not to do PR.

4. CV Blind Date of a graduate looking to go into PR Every now and again, the Guardian does a useful piece where a graduate has a 'blind date' with a graduate looking to go into a particular degree, in this case it was PR. Some useful tips for anyone looking to get into PR.

5. Footballer Del Piero to sue Facebook over imitation. An interesting article brought to my attention by Porter Novelli's new(ish) blog. Del Piero, a Juventus and Italian legend, is suing Facebook after an imitator posed as the icon with links to a Nazi propaganda group. Not much Facebook can do initially to prevent these kind of cases but it will be interesting to see how the case pans out.

6. Bale rant The film star made an outrageous rant at a crew member during the filming of the new Terminator film. Another example of how social media can make a something like this go viral. Slightly off-topic but during my Forensic Phonetics seminar, this was one of the files we had to analyse to determine where Bale is originally from (Wales).

7. Iain Dale (+Guido) vs. Derek Draper Carol Thatcher recently made a controversial comment off-air about a tennis player, saying "his hair is like a golliwogs". Iain Dale criticised the BBC's decision to sack Thatcher and since this, Draper and the two Conservative bloggers have had a war of words. I was recently followed by Draper on facebook, only because I follow Iain Dale, according to Dale. Will be intriguing to see how this turns out.

8. Rock Star PR's "Three R's to being Recruited" A very useful post by the Jedster giving advice to those looking to get recruited. The fine fellow paid me a compliment too!

So, quite a few things which have happened in the space of three weeks. There's a lot more which I've missed out and I haven't really included any main news stories, these are all purely social media related.Conclusion? Make sure you're always gathering information from somewhere.

DON'T PANIC

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:25:00 +0000

If all you avid reader(s) of this blog were wondering what has happened to my regular posting, DON'T PANIC. I'm planning my next move in the blogosphere and should have more news soon about a change of site and look!

The Effect of Celebs on Twitter

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:30:00 +0000

“Do you twitter? Have you twittered? Do you know what twittering is? Twitter is on the internet and it’s just telling people what you do. It’s like a constant conversation between you, your friends, your colleagues, or the world. Last night Jonathan Ross was doing the kid’s homework, Stephen Fry was on his way back from filming in Australia, and Alan Carr has some dreadful reaction to Broccoli.”

Not my words but TV presenter Philip Schofield describing the sensation that is Twitter. And it's not only @Schofe. There's perhaps the first celebrity twitterer and the embracer of new technology, Stephen Fry, the furore causingJonathan Ross and latest recruit Russell Brand. But what do all these celebs on Twitter mean?

The blogosphere has already had a bit of a say on the speed that Brand has accumulated followers. This means that Brand has (as long as he posts regular and informative tweets like his fellow celeb friends) gained the admiration of the blogosphere. Wossy's tweets informing his followers of other celeb twitterers has earned him Kudos in the twittersphere and Stephen Fry has told followers of his exploits in Africa where he has been recording a new programme. Not only are these celebs twittering but they are promoting it in the media. Big Phil Schofield promoted the site on This Morning, and Wossy and Mr. Fry chatted about the site on Ross' return on his Friday night show.

This not only means that more people will join the site, but more celebs as well. Whether Twitter becomes as mainstream in social media as Facebook or MySpace is another matter but it is certainly proving useful for the celebrities using it.

The political battlefield of the blogosphere

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

The social media impact of Obama has finally hit the Labour party with the creation of Labourlist, 'where labour minded people come together'.

This website, the mastermind of Derek Draper is the Labour Party's first step towards dominating the political blogosphere. PR Week revealed the news in September. Right wing blogs have dominated the blogosphere prior to now with Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale leading the way and the official Conservative blue blog not far behind, but this news hopefully means a better standard of political blogging and perhaps a less one-sided view of politics in the blogosphere. The only notable left-wing MP blogging has been Tom Watson, whilst the Conservatives have been embracing the role of social media, though not to the scale of Obama and co.

According to PR Week, Draper intends to implement five components of Labour's online strategy. These are:

1. The creation of Labourlist
2. An ‘Obama-style virtual phone bank for Labour campaigners in the run-up to the 4 June elections'
3. A ‘take to the web' initiative involving key ministers appearing on the UK's most popular online forums
4. The creation of a Labour Party HQ blog provisionally entitled ‘View from Victoria Street'
5. A strong focus on producing ‘virals and widgets'

Although I agree with the idea of these components, they don't go far enough in trying to promote Labour's activities in social media. For instance, regarding component 5, why stop at virals and widgets? Why not go and create a Youtube channel similar to Obama's? These measures seem to be too little, too late. But we will see if these measures (and hopefully other components) are successful in the next election.

Doom and gloom for graduates?

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

One of the top stories last Saturday was the news that the government is drawing up plans to create 3-month paid internships for students who are unemployed after leaving university. I've written before about the impending recession and its implication on graduate recruitment but it seems the major media corporations are catching up on the difficulty facing graduating students of 2009. The BBC has conducted a 'Q&A' on 'all doom and gloom for graduates' highlighting what graduates can expect upon graduating.

Although graduates can expect to face stiffer competition for jobs due to the same (if not more) number of students going for less graduate jobs, for the the employer it should mean a higher class of graduate. Because they have less money to spend on graduate recruitment, recruitment departments will inspect graduate applications with even more scrutiny and make sure that only the best apply. Students who do not initially get a job in what they want can, as the BBC says, 'broaden their horizons'. This means these graduates will have a different skill-set then previous years' graduates and hopefully hold them in good stead for the future.

In my eyes, the intern plans aren't going to be of any use to students. If the students don't initially get a job after graduating, I'm not sure how many would have the foresight to try and get these internships. The plans (at this stage) only include a small number of businesses which I imagine only cover a small number of sectors limiting the different skills that could be learnt. Although it is an valiant attempt by the government to try and help the 300,000 students set to graduate this year, I think the students are more likely to work in temporary jobs, take any graduate jobs that come available, take a gap year or the inevitable number of students who will stay unemployed.

The issue of transparency

adamslewis123@hotmail.com (Adam) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for personal transparency. To create and maintain positive connotations with the personal brand of 'Adam Lewis' I've got to make sure that all aspects of my online persona are to the highest standard and there's no contrasting details about my brand. If I make a spelling error in a post, or make a comment on another blog post that is the wrong view then anyone can see the mistake that I’ve made and attach the negative connotations to the Adam Lewis brand. The fact that various sites and tools have details about my personality, views and opinions that all the world can see means I have to build the 'Adam Lewis' brand up to the best it can be.

But...

I'm not so sure all these personalities should be there for the whole world to see. This is brought on by someone, who's blog I've been reading for a while, added me on facebook as a friend. Although I'd spoken to him briefly on twitter I wasn't sure whether to accept his invitation to be my friend. After all, I've never met this person. In the end I accepted his invitation as I didn't think he was on the site that often judging by his news feed. I didn't want to offend the person in question as this adding of 'non-friends' who he's casually talked to might be commonplace for him.

Am I right in wanting to keep this space private for friends from home/uni etc? I nearly rejected an invitation from my younger cousin the other day as I felt this space was for my friends, not my family or work. For work, I like to use LinkedIn (though I haven't updated it enough for my liking) and for family, I'd like to think they might ring me.

Not entirely sure what other people think about this so would like your opinion. I know that Jed Hallam disagrees. Jed added me on facebook a while back and although I hadn't met the boy, I felt that I'd built up enough of an understanding for him to view my profile and become one of the select 'friends of Adam Lewis'. I understand his views that leading different lives for different circles can cause problems but can I not limit the amount of information that some people know about me compared to others? This is why I, and most of facebook users decide to let only their friends see their whole profile. I don't want to get into the situation of setting what some of my friends on facebook can see and what some can't.

It's not an issue of hiding bits of my personality but not letting everyone in the world see every little detail about Adam Lewis.