Floater in the memepool

PR snakeoil anyone?

2007-01-10T13:31:00.000+00:00

Nutrionalist shyster + PR = wikipedia snakeoil. Read about it for yourself in the Guardian.

Fuel PR has obviously been to the Edelman school of online relations.

PR snakeoil Fuel PR

Spot the difference

2006-12-19T10:06:00.000+00:00

One's the managing editor of Time, the other lives in Little Britain.

Hap tip to AM.

PR Walliams Stengel

Google investment going down the u-tube?

2006-12-19T10:00:00.000+00:00

Further sign that Google might as well have flushed its cash down the toilet with news that Metacafe is the UK's 4th most popular search. Goodbye GooTube, hello Metacafe.

TOP 10 GOOGLE SEARCHES 2006
1. Bebo
2. MySpace
3. World Cup
4. Metacafe
5. Radioblog
6. Wikipedia
7. Video
8. Rebelde
9. Mininova
10. Wiki

PR Google Metacafe

Genius

2006-11-10T15:24:00.000+00:00

Blogosphere is full of s**t

2006-10-26T09:28:00.000+01:00

Nice to see that 'Arseblog' and 'clagnut' make Stephen Davies' top 100 most influential UK blogs.

Proper floaters in the memepool.

PR blognames

A big bag of monkey nuts...

2006-10-25T17:30:00.000+01:00

...to Getting Ink for its concern over the furry funkmeister of PR's wellbeing.

Rest assured, normal service will resume shortly. More floaters in the memepool coming your way.

PR Nuts Floaters

Cohn & Wolfe staff blow out clients

2006-09-15T15:25:00.000+01:00

According to the ad on the back of this week's PR Weak, 56% of Cohn & Wolfe staff would blow-out a hot date to deliver on a client project.

By inference, that means 44% would say "fck it, I'm going out to get shagged and I'll take the beastings from my client and my line manager like a man".

Nice to see they're such a committed bunch at C&W towers.

PR Cohn & Wolfe beasting

MySpace mishaps

2006-07-19T18:32:00.000+01:00

If you're going abroad on a booze-fuelled mission, and plan to blog the juiciest details, probably best not to let your Dad get hold of your MySpace address, as The Times' Richard Morrison wryly points out:

My daughter is somewhere in Thailand. At least I think she is. She got back from uni one Sunday in early June, jammed the washing machine with a term’s accumulated laundry, raided my piggy bank to the tune of several hundred quid on the understanding that the money will be repaid from some unspecified holiday job undertaken at some uncertain date in the future, spent 36 hours in telephonic discussion with various like-minded free spirits on the ominous subject (I couldn’t help overhearing) of the rave scene in Bangkok and Koh Samui — and then hoosh! By Tuesday evening she was on a plane to the Far East, having acquired a suspiciously cheap ticket on an obscure Indian airline from a bucket-shop in Willesden.

Since then I have been able to follow her progress in one of two ways. It depends on whether I crave a false sense of reassurance, or feel strong enough to cope with the hideously unexpurgated truth. If it’s the former, I consult her intermittent e-mails to us, which are crafted with quite brilliant cunning (a career as a spin-doctor surely awaits) to suggest that her Thai sojourn is crammed with visits to old temples, detailed study of local flora, and discussions about the Buddhist path to enlightenment.

Unfortunately for her, my older son let slip the information that if I logged onto a website called MySpace.com and typed in my daughter’s name, I would be able to read her Thai “blog”. This gives a rather more colourful account of her trip:

June 10: “Woohoooo! went out on the razz last night — strange but wikid all the same!” June 12: “Got REALLY cool tattoo. My name in thai letters init. Paha!” June 16: “Keep getting really drunk at night, coming back to beach and going skiny dipping. Soooo much fun!” June 19: “Rented moped, soooo cool! Fell off coz i got confused! Proper blonde moment.” June 24: “Had bad accident on moped... cant walk properly but the show must go on...” June 28: “Lying on beach nursing hangover whilst eating rat on a stick. Let the good times roll... hahaha.” July 3: “Out on the town. It was MESSY. We were all trashed and ended up at this weird place...” July 13: “Best party ever! the most INSANE 24hrs of my life. Wooooo!”

PR MySpace

Statistics, lies and damned Rubel

2006-07-19T15:04:00.000+01:00

The Rubloid has just written a post on the findings of the Pew Internet & American Life Project (Reuters via Yahoo).

It's yet another great example of a blogger (with a particular Me2 axe to grind) blindly seizing on stats to substantiate a particular evangelical POV.

What Rubel fails to point out (which the Reuters article does - albeit burried at the bottom of the story), is that Pew surveyed "233 self-identified bloggers " by telephone. Hardly a representative sample size and a pretty crucial piece of information for readers to guide them on how to interpret the voracity of the findings.

Whether Rubel is correct or not in his analysis of the future of the blogosphere (his crystal balls would explain why he walks gingerly), it underscores the lack of 'depth' of most bloggers.

To use one of his favourite blog bullsh*t bingo buzzwords, as the social media landscape 'flattens', so the critical use of sources gets squeezed out at the edges.

It's left the PR Monkey scratching his hairy behind in ponder, wondering whether this form of evangelical 'the message is more important than the true representation of the facts' type posting only serves to undermine the value and credibility of the post and the blogger.

Rubel has had a considerable amount of flack about his verging-on-the-arrogant dismissal of Dell's new blog. So perhaps the halo of this self-styled champion of Me2 is starting to tarnish under the weight of critical scrutiny - something he perhaps lacks in his own postings.

PR stats

So close you can almost smell his little bunny balls

2006-07-18T12:09:00.000+01:00

The PR Monkey has been a whisker away from snaring the Spin Bunny for one last JLC-esque celebrity post. However, the Monkey's middleman chickened out at the last minute.

It may still turnaround, but if you're out there Bunny, get in contact direct - or send us that one last post.

PS: Anymore tip-off email addresses for the World of High Tech PR would be muchly appreciated (thanks for those already passed on).

PR Spin Bunny JLC World of Hi-Tech PR

Life 2.0

2006-07-17T11:22:00.000+01:00

The PR Monkey has been tagged by Stephen Davies for this top five social media tools malarkey thingy.

But what interested the Monkey the most was the fact that SD's post was timed at 8:58pm on Saturday evening. Drew B then left a comment at 10:10pm, probably dressed in his smoking jacket and slippers.

So in honour of these two blog-a-holics, here's my top five social tools for Saturday Night 2.0:

Pub 2.0 - essential Saturday night venue for extended conversations (usually about complete b*****cks). Lubricated by drink, conversations can often be controversial and break vital news (Dave's just yacked). Often populated by Drunk 2.0

Beer.a.licious - a great tool for extending and upgrading Pub 2.0 conversations from reasonable and decorous to shambolic and shouty

Curry 2.0 - losing market share to Kebablines, but still a favourite amongst old skool social conversationalists. Content can be difficult to differentiate and most users remain unsure of the type / origins of the 'meat'. Can also cause Pophurls (see below)

Pophurls - a common outcome of Pub 2.0 conversations. Can lead to colourful pavement decorations and upset girlfriends / wives

Day after analytics - a handy tool for Sunday lunchtime pub gatherings. Allows users to analyse preceeding night's fun and frolics, and identify the most embarrassing shenanigans including Moose 2.0 and Pophurls. Also keeps an (unrealiable) track on the amount of unique Beer.a.licious consumed.

PR tagging

Bring Back campaign gathers momentum

2006-07-14T15:51:00.000+01:00

The PR Monkey's Justin Lee Collins campaign to bring back Spin Bunny and the World of High Tech PR is rocking.

Thanks to everyone who has sent messages of support and Mr Guest who posted the story on Crispy News. Traffic on this site has gone up by close to 1,000 per cent showing the wistful fondness for these two colossi of PR blogging.

The Monkey is currently pursuing several lines of communication and is gaining in confidence that this herculean task can be pulled off.

More updates next week. Until then, keep spreading the word.

PR Spin Bunny JLC World of Hi-Tech PR

Monkey JLC in full swing

2006-07-13T16:49:00.000+01:00

Flush with his (dubious) success in bringing back badhack, the PR monkey has upped the stakes and is aiming to bring back both Spin Bunny and The World of Hi-Tech PR for one last celebrity blog posting.

So if you know the whereabouts of these ex-bloggers, or have any tip-offs, then contact monkey central.

Bring it on!

PR Spin Bunny JLC World of Hi-Tech PR

Monkey JLC scores big time

2006-07-13T16:32:00.000+01:00

The PR monkey has weaved his JLC magic.

This just in from Mr Badhack:
Thanks for the support, Mr Monkey. You're right, it has been a bit quiet on the BadHack front...in fact all I've had into the email is a steady stream of spam.

I can't go making things up now, can I, so unless the great and the good of the UK PR and media industry send me their stories, I'm afraid it'll see me six foot under. Which is a pity.

There's been a couple of recent BadHack-like stories over at Getting Ink, the: 101's blog (www.gettingink.typepad.com) - maybe Gary and Sally are in a better position to spill the beans?
Get in there!

Badhack needs your support, let's get this baby back on the road.

PR badhack JLC

Bring back badhack

2006-07-13T14:48:00.000+01:00

Where for art thou badhack?

Cribbing from Justin Lee Collins, the PR Monkey is starting a campaign to bring back badhack. It's been two months now since the last post, and the monkey is upset that his weekly dose of hack humour has disappeared from his RSS reader.

So bring back badhack and email him at mrbadhack@googlemail.com , you know you want to.

PR badhack JLC

Visual gag-fest

2006-07-12T14:48:00.001+01:00

Different takes on the Zidane incident: http://gifdump.com/search/Zidane/

PR Zidane Headbutt

PR what-o-sphere?

2006-07-12T10:05:00.000+01:00

We like Stephen Davies and his blog at PR monkey towers. His fresh-faced enthusiasm for the PR industry and blogging is charming and, somethimes, infectious.

His latest post on the state of the PR blogosphere reveals some interesting stats.

According to Stephen's sources, there are only 19 UK PR practitioner blogs and 6 self-styled UK blog consultant blogs.

And this information is from Edelman's latest Me2Revolution recruit.

But clearly it isn't Me2, is it. Not with only 25 professionals bothering to blog.

With 44,000 professionals in the industry, only 0.0005% blog. It's phenomena, I tell ya. A 2,000% year-on-year increase in numbers could result in a staggering 1% blogging! Woohoo!

It makes the PR monkey feel priveleged to be one of the few.

PR Blogs

Something doesn't add up here

2006-07-12T09:20:00.000+01:00

There's been some chat in the PR blogosphere about the analysis Hitwise has done on influence of blogger Iain Dale on the Prescott Affair.

See Drew B and Mr Mayfield, amongst others.

But something doesn't seem to add up.

Say there was 100 million internet searches done on the day Heather says that the 'blogosphere was alight' with the John Prescott story. Then a peak 0.00088% share of searches on 'Iain Dale' amounts to 880 searches.

A tiny drop in the search ocean.

And if search accounted for 24% of traffic to Iain Dale's site, and blogs 19% - then less than 700 people come via other blogs. An impressive total for the blogosphere, given, but not exactly setting the world on fire.

And a company like Hitwise wouldn't have any vested interest in drumming up business by trying to convince PR budget holders to splash out on monitoring and reporting would it?!?

The point of this ramble, if there is one, is that bloggers are always tempted to trumpet the latest stats that seem to herald their cause without hardly pause for second thought. That's only natural, and good for encouraging debate, but a healthy degree of scepticism wouldn't go amiss.

Selective representation of stats can often belie common sense experience. After all, the Sun can claim the highest ABC readership in the UK, but you wouldn't tell your clients that you're going to prioritise the red tops over the broadsheets for CEO press interviews, would you?

But then again, I don't think I've met a flack that hasn't bent the truth at some stage in his or her career. Seems to go with the territory.

PR Hitwise Iain Dale

Dib dib dob, have I got rubbish news for you

2006-07-11T10:52:00.000+01:00

Is nothing sacred from agencies trying to make a quick PR buck? Check out the latest agency 'stunt' attempting to hijack news about Scouts being awarded PR badges.

From conversations with fellow flacks, it seems that these stunts only tend to have a negative impact on the perception of a PR brand. Cobblers shoes and all that, even if it is tongue-in-cheek.

Still, it'll take some to beat the strapline on GCI's ad on the back page of PR Week - "We say it best when we say nothing at all". Too right.

PR stunt

Recruitment agencies

2006-07-07T10:18:00.000+01:00

The PR monkey was having a conversation with a recruitment agency yesterday about making an offer to a candidate, and the agent made an off-the-cuff remark that she couldn't remember that last time she got an inbound job-hunting call from the monkey's agency.

Encouraging stuff - and exactly what you want to hear as an employer.

The recruitment agent also said that some of the other PR agencies the candidate was interviewing with were, on the other hand, rich pickings for unsettled and disgruntled employees.

This got the PR monkey thinking that if he were a junior candidate on the market looking for his first move and trying to sort the good agencies from the bad and the ugly, then there's no better place to start than with recruitment agencies. A quick straw poll of different agents would probably give some interesting insight based on the annecdotal evidence given by hundreds or thousands of previous candidates.

Some recuitment agencies refuse to work with certain agencies, and many have 'black lists' of the worst sweat shops and down right horrific places to work.

So why not? As a junior, your first move is often a springboard for your career, so any information you can get that goes beyond the shiny facade that PR shops put up would be invaluable.

PR recruitment sweatshops

Will the real ...the world's leading... please stand up

2006-07-07T10:06:00.000+01:00

The PR monkey has been tipped off as to the identity of the occupant of ...the world's leading... towers.

And with having made a few scurrilous comments about some of the more fragile agency egos in the PR industry, the PR monkey wonders just how long it will be before the cat gets out of the bag and one of the big, bad agencies tries to shut the blog down.

PR ...the world's leading...

Bloggers bite back

2006-06-29T13:32:00.000+01:00

Some Scottish tennis chump made some comments about supporting 'anyone other than England' which have come back to haunt him.

Reminds me of the comments left on Gabriel Bastituta's personal site after the 2002 World Cup.

PR World Cup

World Cup TV schedules

2006-06-27T17:31:00.000+01:00

Is it just me or is Ronaldo getting fatter in each match? A pair of specs, longer hair and he could star as Rolly in Grange Hill: The Feature Film (check it out, it's on the cards - unbelievably).

Anyway, just in from the beeb:

The BBC and ITV have agreed the division of games for the quarter finals. The
games will be shown on TV in the UK as follows:
Friday 30 June

Germany v Argentina 1600 BST ko. ITV

Italy v Ukraine 2000 BST ko. BBC
Saturday 1 July

England v Portugal 1600 BST ko BBC

Brazil or Ghana v Spain or France 2000 BST ko ITV
The BBC games will also be streamed on broadband (UK only).

If England reach the semi-final stage, both BBC and ITV will show the game live,
with ITV showing the remaining semi-final exclusively.

If England do not reach the semi-final stage, ITV will have first pick of the semi-final games, with BBC broadcasting the other match.

Both broadcasters will show the World Cup final live.

All games will be on Five Live, with the commentary streamed on this website (UK only)

Thank god the BBC got the quarters as ITV's coverage has been worse than a long chat on the porcelain telephone after a heavy night on lager and vindaloo.

PR World Cup Porcelain Telephone

Google Analytics

2006-06-27T13:29:00.000+01:00

After reading a post by the PR Blogger, I've subscribed to Google Analytics. And I have to say, it's the mutts nuts.

Really fascinating to see who has been reading what, especially with the URL tracking feature.

By far and away the best tool Google has published to-date. Though I do have to say that it took a few weeks for the account to be set up and when you apply you get that usual automated arrogant response from Google along the lines 'Look, we're busy, you insignificant pimple on the blogosphere. We may, at some point, be arsed to get back to you. But don't hold your breath.'

Nice to know you're a valued user.

So here's something for Google to chew on while they proccess accounts.

Hell hath no fury like a PR monkey scorned (or, indeed, just mildly miffed).

PR Google

Congrats

2006-06-27T13:08:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to the CIPR Science, Engineering and Technology Sectoral Group for winning the CIPR Group of the Year award.

Well done Bob, Sam, Gary, Duncan and Andrew - a small, but highly talented executive committee!

And for all UK tech PR flacks out there - come and join in. This group does some great stuff and would welcome more committee members and people to get involved in activities and developing educational material & best practice tools.

PR CIPR