• Nearly 70 percent of journalists are using social networking sites, a 28% increase since the 2008 study
• 48 percent are using Twitter or other microblogging sites and tools, a 25% increase since 2008
• 66 percent are using blogs
• 48 percent are using online video
• 25 percent are using podcasts
• More than 90 percent of journalists agree that new media and communications tools and technologies are enhancing journalism to some extent

Only US journalists surveyed for this I believe. If you are of the UK persuasion check out the most comprehensive Twitter list of UK journalists.

YouTube is becoming the communication channel of choice among senior executives during a time of crisis. CEOs, presidents and other important senior staff are using YouTube to go direct to their stakeholders while cutting out the (often negative) traditional media in the process.

The latest example is Toyota Motor Sales President & COO, Jim Lentz (see below) who is using YouTube to communicate with customers regarding the recent news of the the sticking pedals.

But Mr Lentz is not the first as you will see below.

Toyota Motor Sales President & COO, Jim Lentz

Founder and CEO of jetBlue Airways, David Neeleman. (No longer CEO)

After jetBlue customers suffered terrible conditions and waiting times at JFK Airport which was subsequently documented in the press, Neeleman used YouTube to make a public apology and to outline what the company intended to do.

President of Domino’s, Patrick Doyle

Basically: Two Domino’s Pizza staff uploaded a video to YouTube of themselves doing disgusting things to the fast food chain’s food. The video spread like wildfire and negative press ensued which caused president of Domino’s, Patrick Doyle, to upload his own video to YouTube to alert customers and other interested parties on the company’s reaction to the video and the steps it had taken.

CEO of Mattel, Bob Eckert

Mattel had to recall over 1 million Chinese-made toys because of potential hazards from parts of the toys which were colored using lead-based paint. It was found that the amount of lead in the paint exceeded US government limits. Bob Eckert looked to quash worries by posting this YouTube clip.

Notice one thing? They’re all American. Having spoke with many UK (and European) PR execs over the years about deploying such tactics I’ve found that the majority of PR people don’t think it would work as well in their respective countries. Personally, I think it depends.

About a year ago I carried out a piece of research that looked at UK journalists using Twitter which was positively received from both PRs and journos. In fact, I’m going to stick my neck out and say it probably helped a couple of people in our respective industries establish relationships with one another over on Twitter. I know it helped me.

With this in mind, and because everyone likes a list, I’ve created this follow up post almost one year on. By no means is it exhaustive and it’s very likely I have missed some people out (I mean, really, it’d be quite difficult to find every UK journo given Twitter’s so mainstream these days).

Before you start here’s a short Q&A:

Q: How come I’m not included in the list?

A: Sorry, the research was done manually and I am only human. Send me an email, leave a comment or ping me an @reply on Twitter itself and I’ll happily add you.

Q: Why have you included me in the list? I don’t want to be, thank you very much.

A: Sorry, my bad, but all this is publicly available. Send me an email, leave a comment or ping me an @reply on Twitter itself and I’ll happily remove you.

Q: Why am I in the ‘Other’ section?

A: Simply because you are the only person on Twitter that works at your publication (or that I could find).

Q: You idiot, I left Acme News Journal six months ago! Why am I still down as working there?

A: Sorry! I did check, but it was late and I was tired. Let me know and I’ll change it.

Q: Anything changed since the last time?

A: Aside from an increase in numbers which, given Twitter’s growth and exposure this past year is obvious anyway, I suppose the most noticeable thing is the uptake of tabloid journalists using it. Last year there were none.

Q: Woohoo! I’m a PR person and now I can start following all these journos and push out spammy tweets about my clients to them!

A: Er, no you can’t. Read this blog post first to see how some journos feel about being approached on Twitter. If you do you’re an idiot and the other 99.9% of the UK PR industry that practice good Twitter etiquette will laugh at you when you’re outed.

————————————————————————————————-

BBC

Tom van Aardt – http://twitter.com/tomVS
Richard Sambrook – http://twitter.com/sambrook
Tania Teixeira – http://twitter.com/taniateix
Jon Fildes – http://twitter.com/jonfildes
Declan Curry – http://twitter.com/declancurry
Dave Lee – http://twitter.com/davelee
Rory Cellan-Jones – http://twitter.com/ruskin147
Gill Penlington – http://twitter.com/GillPenlington (Question Time)
Paul Mason – http://twitter.com/paulmasonnews (Newsnight)
John Pienaar – http://twitter.com/JPonpolitics (5 Live)
Laura Kuenssberg – http://twitter.com/BBCLauraK
Peter Henley – http://twitter.com/Peter_Henley#
Joe Lynam – http://twitter.com/jblynam
Peter Cardwell – http://twitter.com/petercardwell (The Stephen Nolen Show)
Johnny Minkley – http://twitter.com/johnnyminkley
Connor McNicholas – http://twitter.com/ConorMcNicholas (Top Gear magazine)
Tim Reid – http://twitter.com/TimReidBBC
Raymond Snoddy – http://twitter.com/RaymondSnoddy
Paul Addison – http://twitter.com/pauladdo
Cornelius Lysaght – http://twitter.com/CorneliusRacing
Anna Adams – http://twitter.com/annaadamsBBC
Johnny Morris – http://twitter.com/mojo90
Mario Cacciottolo – http://twitter.com/SOTMario

Birmingham Post

Marc Reeves – http://twitter.com/marcreeves
Richard Padgett – http://twitter.com/richardpadgett
Mike Hughes – http://twitter.com/mikehughes
Tom Scotney – http://twitter.com/TomScotney
Andy Walker - http://twitter.com/andywalker82
Jonathan Walker – http://twitter.com/jonwalker121

Channel 4 News

Garry Gibbon – http://twitter.com/GaryGibbonBlog
Oliver King – http://twitter.com/oliverjamesking
Benjamin Cohen – http://twitter.com/benjamincohen
Cathy Newman – http://twitter.com/cathynewman
Alex Thomson – http://twitter.com/alextomo
Ben King – http://twitter.com/kumquatkid
Krishnan Guru-Murthy – http://twitter.com/krishgm
Ed Fraser – http://twitter.com/frasere

Company Magazine

Kirsty Hathaway – http://twitter.com/kirstyhathaway
Tracy Ramsden – http://twitter.com/Tracy_Ramsden

Computerworld UK

Mike Simons – http://twitter.com/ITjournalist
Siobhan Chapman – http://twitter.com/SiobhanBon

Computing

Bryan Glick – http://twitter.com/bryanglick
Angelica Mari – http://twitter.com/angelicamari
Mark Hillary – http://twitter.com/markhillary

Cosmopolitan

Rosie Mullender – http://twitter.com/mullies
Clare Smith – http://twitter.com/claresmith84
Natasha Guitto – http://twitter.com/natashaguiotto
Bridget March – http://twitter.com/bridgetmarch
Kate Creasey – http://twitter.com/katecreasey
Fiona Cowood – http://twitter.com/deskface
Lizzi Hosking – http://twitter.com/lizzihosking
Jacqui Meddings – http://twitter.com/j_meddler

Daily Express

Gabriel Milland – http://twitter.com/gabrielmilland
Paul Vale – http://twitter.com/PaulVale
Richard Palmer – http://twitter.com/RoyalReporter

Daily Mail & Mail on Sunday

Kirsty Walker – http://twitter.com/kirstywalker1
James Chapman – http://twitter.com/jameschappers
Suzanne Moore – http://twitter.com/suzannemoore197
Daniel Martin – http://twitter.com/MCLegolas

Daily Star

Nigel Pauley – http://twitter.com/nigelpauley
Mick Booker – http://twitter.com/MickBooker
Mike Ward – http://twitter.com/mikewardtv
Susan Hill – http://twitter.com/SuseHill
Mick Booker – http://twitter.com/MickBooker
Gemma Wheatley – http://twitter.com/GemmaWheatley
Neil Chandler – http://twitter.com/neilchandler

Digital Arts

Alice Ross – http://twitter.com/almostidealist
Neil Bennett – http://twitter.com/neilbennett

Engadget

Vlad Savov – http://twitter.com/vladsavov
Richard Lai – http://twitter.com/richardlai

E-consultancy

Chris Lake – http://twitter.com/lakey
Linus Gregoriadis – http://twitter.com/linusgreg
Graham Charlton – http://twitter.com/gcharlton
Patricio Robles – http://twitter.com/probles

ELLE

Lorraine Candy – http://twitter.com/lorraineELLE
Laura Davies – http://twitter.com/lauradavies

Financial Times

Tim Bradshaw – http://twitter.com/tim
Chris Nuttall – http://twitter.com/ftchris
Peter Whitehead – http://twitter.com/peterwhitehead
Richard Waters – http://twitter.com/richardwaters
Kate Mackenzie – http://twitter.com/kmac
Gideon Rachman – http://twitter.com/gideonrachman
Stefan stern – http://twitter.com/stefanstern
Ben Fenton – http://twitter.com/benfenton

Handbag

Debbie Djordjevic – http://twitter.com/scaredcrows
Anheke Hak – http://twitter.com/AnnekeHak

ITV News

Lucy Manning – http://twitter.com/lucymanning
Alex Forrest – http://twitter.com/alexforrestitv
Daisy McAndrew – http://twitter.com/daisymcandrew
Toby Castle – http://twitter.com/tobycastle

Journalism.co.uk

J Townend – http://twitter.com/JTownend
Laura Oliver – http://twitter.com/LauraOliver

Loaded

Andy Sherwood – http://twitter.com/AndySherwood
Jeff Maysh – http://twitter.com/jeffmaysh
Andrew Woods – http://twitter.com/woodsyloaded

London Evening Standard

Paul Waugh – http://twitter.com/paulwaugh
Mark Prigg – http://twitter.com/markprigg
Henry Hitchings – http://twitter.com/henryhitchings
Sri Carmichael – http://twitter.com/sricarmichael
Danny Brierley – http://twitter.com/dannybananas
Ellen Widdup – http://twitter.com/EllenWiddup

Macworld

Mark Hattersley – http://twitter.com/markhattersley
Karen Haslam – http://twitter.com/kazzzee

Management Today

Matthew Gwyther – http://twitter.com/MatthewGwyther
Hannah Prevett – http://twitter.com/hannahprevett

Marketing

Lucy Barratt – http://twitter.com/marketingeditor
Richard Abbott – http://twitter.com/RichardAbbott

MSN UK

Peter Bale http://twitter.com/PeterBale
Katie King http://twitter.com/ktking
Jane Douglas http://twitter.com/msntechjane
Nik Taylor http://twitter.com/msntechnik
Monica Stylli http://twitter.com/msnstylemonica
Matt Ball – http://twitter.com/thisismattball
Colleen Last – http://twitter.com/colleen_msnuk
Paul Carn – http://twitter.com/paulcarm
Matt Farrington-Smith – http://twitter.com/winlivematt
Mike Lok – http://twitter.com/theordinarychef
Ellen Godwin – http://twitter.com/holyellen
Alastair Bruce – http://twitter.com/ajbruce
Ian Dickson – http://twitter.com/the_roadtester
Steve Wilson-Beales – http://twitter.com/stevewb
Ed Holden – http://twitter.com/ed_holden_msnuk
Nigel Swan – http://twitter.com/motoringnut
Peter Bell – http://twitter.com/peterbel
Lorna Cooper – http://twitter.com/Coops_msntv
James Hurley – http://twitter.com/jameshurley
Nic O’Neil – http://twitter.com/niconeil
Nicola Gibbons – http://twitter.com/nicolagibbons
Antony Bennison – http://twitter.com/antonybennison
Ian Jones – http://twitter.com/msnuknewsian
Andy Young – http://twitter.com/msnuknewsandy
Timothy Poulton – http://twitter.com/timpoulton
Laura Simpson – http://twitter.com/simpo
Thom Gulseven – http://twitter.com/thomgulseven
James Andrews – http://twitter.com/MSNMoneyJames
Damian Clarkson – http://twitter.com/msnmoneydamian
James Draven – http://twitter.com/jamesdraven

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

Lee Ryder – http://twitter.com/lee_ryder
Ronnie Gill – http://twitter.com/Ronnie_Gill
Colin George – http://twitter.com/Colbear
Tom Mullen – http://twitter.com/thomasamullen

News of the World

Sophy Ridge – http://twitter.com/sophyridge
Simon Ward – http://twitter.com/simonjward
Robbie Collin – http://twitter.com/robbiereviews
Dan Wootton – http://twitter.com/danwootton
Paul McCarthy – http://twitter.com/maccahammer

NMA

Justin Pearse – http://twitter.com/justinpearse
Will Cooper – http://twitter.com/willcooper
Charlotte McElny – http://twitter.com/charlottemc
Alex Farber – http://twitter.com/alexfarber
Suzanne Bearne – http://twitter.com/suzannebearne
Vikki Chowney – http://twitter.com/vikkichowney (Reputation Online)

NME

Jamie Fullerton – http://twitter.com/jamiefullerton1
David Moynihan – http://twitter.com/DavidMoynihan
Ben Cardew – http://twitter.com/BenCardew
Claire Curran – http://twitter.com/Claire1982
Lyndsey Parker – http://twitter.com/lyndseyparker
Katie Torrie – http://twitter.com/TheTorrie
Luke Lewis – http://twitter.com/lukelewis

Official PlayStation

Tim Clark – http://twitter.com/timothydclark
Ben Wilson – http://twitter.com/BenjiWilson
Leon Hurley – http://twitter.com/leonHurley
Nathan Ditum – http://twitter.com/NathanDitum
Rachel Penny – http://twitter.com/cupcake_rachel

PC Advisor

Simon Jary – http://twitter.com/simonjary
Paul Trotter – http://twitter.com/paultrotter
Matt Egan – http://twitter.com/MattJEgan
Rosemary Hattersley – http://twitter.com/RosieHattersley
David Price – http://twitter.com/pricivius
Carrie-Ann Skinner – http://twitter.com/CarrieSkinner

Pocket Lint

Duncan Geere – http://twitter.com/radioedit
Stuart Miles – http://twitter.com/stuartmiles
Chris Hall – http://twitter.com/christhall
Dan Sung – http://twitter.com/dansung

PR Week

Peter Hay – http://twitter.com/peterhay
Danny Rogers – http://twitter.com/dannyrogers2001
David Singleton – http://twitter.com/david_singleton
Sarah Baldwin – http://twitter.com/sarahbaldwin (Art director)
Kate Magee – http://twitter.com/katemagee
Gemma O’Reilly – http://twitter.com/gemmaoreilly
Matt Cartmell – http://twitter.com/mattcartmell
Alec Mattinson – http://twitter.com/alecmattinson
Cathy Wallace – http://twitter.com/cathywallace
Arun Sudhaman – http://twitter.com/arunsudhaman

Retail Week

George MacDonald – http://twitter.com/GeorgeMacD
Martin Stabe – http://twitter.com/martinstabe

Revolution Magazine

Gareth Jones – http://twitter.com/gj
Andrew McCormick – http://twitter.com/andrewmccormick

Reuters

Mark Jones – http://twitter.com/markjones
Richard Baum – http://twitter.com/rbaum

Sky News

Jessica Wilson – http://twitter.com/NewsDeskGirl
Mark Kleinman – http://twitter.com/MarkKleinman
Tom Rayner – http://twitter.com/Tom_Rayner
Cheryl Smith – http://twitter.com/cherylsmith
Miranda Richardson – http://twitter.com/mirandasky
Niall Paterson – http://twitter.com/niallpaterson
Adam Boulton – http://twitter.com/adamboulton
Tim Gatt – http://twitter.com/TimGatt
Jon Gripton – http://twitter.com/JonGrip
Martin Stanford – http://twitter.com/martinstanford
Zoe Usherwood – http://twitter.com/zoeush
Ruth Barnett – http://twitter.com/RuthBarnett
Joe Braidwood – http://twitter.com/joebraidwood
Andy Burton – http://twitter.com/footballandy

Stuff Magazine

Will Findlater – http://twitter.com/willfindlater
Tom Dunmore – http://twitter.com/tomdunmorestuff
Zara Rabinowicz – http://twitter.com/AlmostZara
Fraser MacDonald – http://twitter.com/FraserMacStuff
Mark Wilson – http://twitter.com/markydwilson

Tech Radar

James Rivington – http://twitter.com/rungsberry
Patrick Goss – http://twitter.com/patrickgoss
Paul Douglas – http://twitter.com/pdouglas
Gareth Beavis – http://twitter.com/superbeav
Mark Chacksfield – http://twitter.com/mchax
Dan Grabham – http://twitter.com/dangrabham

The Catholic Herald

Luke Coppen – http://twitter.com/lukecoppen
Anna Arco – http://twitter.com/annaarco

The Daily Record

Iain Hepburn – http://twitter.com/iainmhepburn
Beverley Lyons – http://twitter.com/bevlyons
Iain Pope – http://twitter.com/iainpope73
Alasdair Baird – http://twitter.com/alasdairbaird
John McKie – http://twitter.com/johnmckie
Lindsay Cochrane – http://twitter.com/teentalklindsay
Shari Low – http://twitter.com/sharilow

The Economist

Robert Butler – http://twitter.com/ashdenizen
Martin Schoessler – http://twitter.com/MrSchoessler

The Guardian

Charles Arthur – http://twitter.com/charlesarthur
Jack Schofield – http://twitter.com/jackschofield
Dave Hill – http://twitter.com/DaveHill
Stephen Brook – http://twitter.com/SDBrook
Bobbie Johnson – http://twitter.com/bobbiejohnson
Kevin Anderson – http://twitter.com/kevglobal
Jemima Kiss - http://twitter.com/jemimakiss
Kate Bevan - http://twitter.com/katebevan
James Anthony – http://twitter.com/jimboeth
Sarah Hartley – http://twitter.com/foodiesarah
Andrew Sparrow – http://twitter.com/AndrewSparrow
Roy Greenslade – http://twitter.com/GreensladeR
Hélène Mulholland – http://twitter.com/lnmulholland
Jessica Shepherd – http://twitter.com/jessshepherd1
Jonathan Freedland – http://twitter.com/j_freedland
Tania Branigan – http://twitter.com/taniabranigan
Tony Levene – http://twitter.com/tonylevene1
Deborah Hargreaves – http://twitter.com/deborahharg
Patrick Collinson – http://twitter.com/pcollinson
Pat Devereaux – http://twitter.com/patdevereaux
Jill Insley – http://twitter.com/Basilhouse
Hilary Osborne – http://twitter.com/hilaryosborne
Alan Rusbridger – http://twitter.com/arusbridger
Michael White – http://twitter.com/MichaelWhite
Martin Kettle – http://twitter.com/martinkettle
Will Woodward – http://twitter.com/w_woodward
Julian Glover – http://twitter.com/julian_glover
Nicholas Watt – http://twitter.com/nicholaswatt
Allegra Stratton – http://twitter.com/allegrastratton
Jane Perrone – http://twitter.com/janeperrone
Michelle Pauli – http://twitter.com/michellepauli

The Independent

Michael Savage – http://twitter.com/michaelsavage
Jane Merrick – http://twitter.com/janemerrick23
Guy Adams – http://twitter.com/guyadams
Simon Read – http://twitter.com/simonnread
Johann Hari – http://twitter.com/johannhari101
John Rentoul – http://twitter.com/johnrentoul
Amol Rajan – http://twitter.com/amolrajan
Jack Riley – http://twitter.com/_JackRiley

The Mirror

James Lyons – http://twitter.com/MirrorJames
Kevin Maguire – http://twitter.com/Kevin_Maguire
Vincent Moss – http://twitter.com/vincentmoss
Jon Kaila – http://twitter.com/jonkaila
Simon Bird – http://twitter.com/simonbirdmirror
John Cross – http://twitter.com/johncrossmirror
Ann Gripper – http://twitter.com/anngripper
Cecile Metcalf – http://twitter.com/Cecile_Metcalf
Tom Bryant – http://twitter.com/MirrorTom

The Northern Echo

Paul Fraser – http://twitter.com/paulfraserecho
Scott Wilson – http://twitter.com/Scottwilsonecho
Peter Barron – http://twitter.com/EchoPeterBarron
Paul Cook – http://twitter.com/PaulCookEcho

The Observer

Gaby Hinsliff – http://twitter.com/gabyhinsliff
Lisa Bachelor – http://twitter.com/lisabachelor
Henry McDonald – http://twitter.com/henry_mcdonald
Tim Atkin – http://twitter.com/Timatkin

The Scotsman

Gerri Peev – http://twitter.com/GerriPeev
David Maddox – http://twitter.com/DavidPBMaddox

The Sun

David Wooding – http://twitter.com/DavidWooding
Mark Gilbert – http://twitter.com/Gilberto82
Steve Brenner – http://twitter.com/Stevebrenner1
Jim Munro – http://twitter.com/JimMunro
Andrew Haigh -http://twitter.com/AndrewHaigh
Mark Clews – http://twitter.com/markclews
Jen Blackburn – http://twitter.com/Jen_Blackburn
Jonathan Weinberg – http://twitter.com/jw_ten14
Lisa Minot – http://twitter.com/lisaminot
Charlie Wyett – http://twitter.com/CharlieWyett
Toni Jones – http://twitter.com/tonilouisejones

The Telegraph

Marcus Warren - http://twitter.com/MarcusWa
Ian Douglas – http://twitter.com/IanDouglas
Shane Richmond – http://twitter.com/shanerichmond
Justin Williams - http://twitter.com/justin_williams
Catherine Gee – http://twitter.com/catherinegee
Claudine Beaumont – http://twitter.com/claudineb
Heidi Blake – http://twitter.com/HeidiBlake
Benedict Brogan – http://twitter.com/benedictbrogan
Bryony Gordon – http://twitter.com/bryony_gordon
Jon Swaine – http://twitter.com/jonswaine
Henry Wallop – http://twitter.com/hwallop
Martin Beckford – http://twitter.com/martinbeckford
James Kirkup – http://twitter.com/jameskirkup
Rupert Neate – http://twitter.com/RupertNeate
James Hall – http://twitter.com/JamesFHall
Myra Butterworth – http://twitter.com/MyraButterworth
Edmond Conway – http://twitter.com/edmundo
William Lewis – http://twitter.com/WilliamLewis
Damian Thompson – http://twitter.com/holysmoke
Alex Singleton – http://twitter.com/alexsingletonuk
Henry Winter – http://twitter.com/henrywinter
Toby Harnden – http://twitter.com/tobyharnden
Kate Day – http://twitter.com/kate_day
Neil Midgley – http://twitter.com/neilmidgley
Gervase de Wilde – http://twitter.com/gervasedewilde
Tom Chivers – http://twitter.com/TomChivers
Matthew Moore – http://twitter.com/mattkmoore
Urmee Khan – http://twitter.com/urmeek
Emma Barnett – http://twitter.com/Emmabarnett
Malcolm Moore – http://twitter.com/MalcolmMoore
Lucy Jones – http://twitter.com/lucyjones
Emma Firth – http://twitter.com/EmmaFirth

The Times

Michael Moran – http://twitter.com/blockbusterbuzz
Joanna Geary – http://twitter.com/timesjoanna
Ruth Gledhill – http://twitter.com/RuthieGledhill
Sam Coates – http://twitter.com/theredbox
Daniel Finkelstein – http://twitter.com/Dannythefink
George Caulkin – http://twitter.com/CaulkinTheTimes
India Knight – http://twitter.com/indiaknight
Hugo Rifkind – http://twitter.com/HugoRifkind
Nic Fildes – http://twitter.com/LovesickHank
Lucia Adams – http://twitter.com/luciatimes

The Times Educational Supplement

Ed Dorrell – http://twitter.com/Ed_Dorrell
Ann Mroz – http://twitter.com/annmroz
Phil Baty & Sarah Cunnane – http://twitter.com/timeshighered

Worcester News

Murray Keslo – http://twitter.com/murraykelsoWN
Kevin Ward – http://twitter.com/kevinwardWN

Freelance

Anne Wollenberg – http://twitter.com/awollenberg
Sally Whittle – http://twitter.com/swhittle
Louise Bolotin – http://twitter.com/louisebolotin
Chris Edwards – http://twitter.com/chrised
Mike Hills – http://twitter.com/mikewhills
Roz Tappenden – http://twitter.com/roztappenden
Emma Williams – http://twitter.com/emmawilliams
Kelly Rose – http://twitter.com/kellyrose
Lesley Smith – http://twitter.com/LesleySmith
Donald Strachan – http://twitter.com/hackneye
Gina Davies – http://twitter.com/ginadav
Siobhan O’Neill – http://twitter.com/SiobhanONeill
Michael Cross – http://twitter.com/michaelcross
Scott Colvey – http://twitter.com/scolvey
Paul Carr – http://twitter.com/paulcarr
Diane Shipley – http://twitter.com/whatdoyoudo
Neil Baker – http://twitter.com/neilbaker
Guy Clapperton – http://twitter.com/GuyClapperton
Bill Thompson – http://twitter.com/billt
Paul Bradshaw – http://twitter.com/paulbradshaw
Simon Bisson – http://twitter.com/sbisson
Danny Bradbury – http://twitter.com/dannybradbury
Tim Anderson – http://twitter.com/timanderson
Mark Dye – http://twitter.com/markjdye
Simon Crisp – http://twitter.com/simoncrisp
Dominique Jackson – http://twitter.com/deejackson
Sarah Ewing – http://twitter.com/SarahEwing
Cath Elliott – http://twitter.com/CathElliott
Christina McDermott – http://twitter.com/MissCay
Azeem Ahmad – http://twitter.com/Azeem_A
Jono Russell – http://twitter.com/Jono
Oliver Shah – http://twitter.com/olivershah
Harriet Meyer – http://twitter.com/Harriet_Meyer
Sue Hayward – http://twitter.com/suehaywardmedia
Jonathan Weinberg – http://twitter.com/JW_Ten14
Emma Lunn – http://twitter.com/emmalunn
Louise Ridley – http://twitter.com/LouiseRidley
Cathryn Scott – http://twitter.com/cathrynscott
Sarah Drew Jones – http://twitter.com/sdj19
Jo Wildman – http://twitter.com/jowildman
Jonathan Watson – http://twitter.com/jwatson1
Christian Dunn – http://twitter.com/christiandunn
Monty Munford – http://twitter.com/montymunford
Eve Menezes Cunningham – http://twitter.com/AppleEve
Jonathan Beenet – http://twitter.com/jonobennett
Jo Caird – http://twitter.com/JoCaird
Ian Wylie – http://twitter.com/ianwylie
Nick Reeve – http://twitter.com/nick_reeve
Rach Porter – http://twitter.com/RachPorter
James Ellis – http://twitter.com/worldofjames
Simon Munk – http://twitter.com/psimonk
Claire Coleman – http://twitter.com/featuresjourno
Andrew Mueller – http://twitter.com/andrew_mueller
Jtwentyman – http://twitter.com/jtwentyman
Sue Llewellyn – http://twitter.com/suellewellyn
Peter Walker – http://twitter.com/pegerteg
Glen le Santo – http://twitter.com/lesanto
Ingrid Lunden – http://twitter.com/ingridlunden
Johanna Payton – http://twitter.com/jopayton
Rosie Niven – http://twitter.com/rosieniven
Karl Hodge – http://twitter.com/karlhodge
Gary Marshall – http://twitter.com/garymarshall
Craig Grannell – http://twitter.com/craiggrannell
Ian Betteridge – http://twitter.com/ianbetteridge
Chie Elliott – http://twitter.com/OrangeBlossomer
Judy Johnson – http://twitter.com/judy_jay
Rick Haden – http://twitter.com/rickhaden
Jayne Howarth – http://twitter.com/Jaynehowarth
Ailbhe Malone – http://twitter.com/ailbhetross
Katherine Hassell – http://twitter.com/kt34
Neil Barraclough – http://twitter.com/neilbarraclough
Emma McNeil – http://twitter.com/emmamcneil
Cathy Winston – http://twitter.com/cathywinston
Alexandra Pullin – http://twitter.com/alexandrapullin
Alex Blyth – http://twitter.com/alexblyth
Ben H Murray – http://twitter.com/benhmurray
Ellie O’Mahoney – http://twitter.com/ellieomahoney

Other

Paul Cockerton – http://twitter.com/paulcockerton (Lancashire Telegraph)
Jo Wadsworth – http://twitter.com/jowadsworth (Brighton Argus)
Chris Henwood – http://twitter.com/chris_henwood – (Birmingham Mail)
Sam Shepherd – http://twitter.com/SamShepherd (Bournemouth Daily Echo)
Alan Burkitt-Grey – http://twitter.com/alanburkittgray (Global Telecoms Business)
Mark Ogier – http://twitter.com/MarkOgier (Guernsey Press)
Charlie Elise – http://twitter.com/charlie_elise (HRzone.co.uk)
Katherine Hannaford – http://twitter.com/clashcityrocker (T3)
Andrew Lim – http://twitter.com/andylim (recombu.com)
Rachel Wilson – http://twitter.com/rachaelwilson (Environmental News Online)
Patrick Smith – http://twitter.com/psmith (paidcontent)
Alison Gow – http://twitter.com/alisongow (Liverpool Daily Post)
George Hopkin – http://twitter.com/GeorgeHopkin (Johnston Press Plc)
Steve O’Hear – http://twitter.com/sohear (last100.com)
Jack Marshall – http://twitter.com/JackMarshall (ClickZ.com)
David Woodward – http://twitter.com/davidjwoodward (Director Magazine)
Neil McIntosh - http://twitter.com/nmcintosh (Wall Street Journal, Europe)
Tomos Livingstone – http://twitter.com/TomosL (Western Mail)
Matt Chorley – http://twitter.com/MattChorley (Western Morning News)
Sally Gainsbury – http://twitter.com/sallygainsbury (Health Service Journal & Nursing Times)
Torcuil Crichton – http://twitter.com/Torcuil (The Herald)
Roger Highfield – http://twitter.com/RogerHighfield (New Scientist)
David Stringer – http://twitter.com/David_Stringer (Associated Press)
Nigel Nelson – http://twitter.com/NigelNelson (The People)
Emma Donnan – http://twitter.com/emmadonnan (Star Magazine)
Pete Hoskin – http://twitter.com/pete_hoskin (The Spectator)
Victoria Garofabulous – http://twitter.com/Garofabulous (ZOO magazine)
Boyd Hilton – http://twitter.com/boydhilton (Heat)
Tom Warren – http://twitter.com/tom_warren (Neowin.net)
Dan Raywood – http://twitter.com/DanRaywood (SC Magazine)
Mike Shaw – http://twitter.com/mikeshaw101 (The Void)
Warren Chrismas – http://twitter.com/warrenchrismas (Yahoo)
Sparky – http://twitter.com/sparky000 (Real Business)
Gordon MacMillan – http://twitter.com/GordonMacMillan (Brand Media)
Chas Hallett – http://twitter.com/chashallett (Autocar)
Steve Fowler – http://twitter.com/SteveFowler (What Car?)
Clare Newsome – http://twitter.com/ClareNewsome
Jon Noble – http://twitter.com/noblef1 (Autospoort)
James Roberts – http://twitter.com/JRobertsF1 (F1 Racing)
Gary Parkingson – http://twitter.com/GaryParkinsonexclusively (FourFourTwo)
David Quainton - http://twitter.com/Davidlost (Event magazine)
Sarah Booker – http://twitter.com/Sarah_Booker (Worthing Herald and Chichester Observer)
Lee Hall – http://twitter.com/LeeHallTweets (Sunderland Echo)
Tom Pegg http://twitter.com/tomatthechad (Mansfield Chad)
Richard Kendall – http://twitter.com/richardkendall (Peterborough Evening Telegraph)
Richard Aucock – http://twitter.com/richardaucock (Motoring Research Ltd)
Phil Cox – http://twitter.com/WhatBoat (What Boat?)
Richard Cobbett – http://twitter.com/richardcobbett (PC Plus)
Linda Fox – http://twitter.com/Foxychops (Traveloution)
Nathan Midgley – http://twitter.com/twblog (Travel Weekly)
Kevin May – http://twitter.com/Kevinlukemay (Tnooz)
Lucy Huxley – http://twitter.com/lucy_huxley (Travel Trade Gazette)
Davey Winder – http://twitter.com/happygeek – (PC Pro)
Annica Wainright – http://twitter.com/squaremealvande (Square Meal)
Helen Barrett – http://twitter.com/helenbarrett (Third Sector)
Daisy Greenwell – http://twitter.com/daisygreenwell (Big Issue)
James Mills – http://twitter.com/jasonmillsitv (ITV News at Ten)
Naiomi Madden – http://twitter.com/Naiomi (The Welwyn and Hatfield Times)
David MacLean – http://twitter.com/davidmaclean (Shields Gazette)
Julie Martin – http://twitter.com/jules_27 (Middlesbrough Evening Gazette)
Victoria Raimes – http://twitter.com/victoriaraimes (Edinburgh Evening News)

For those that don’t know, a lifestream is basically a central hub which aggregates all your daily online activities from different social media channels. The most well known lifestreaming application is probably FriendFeed.

The idea behind it is fairly basic. You sign up to Friendfeed, give it the usernames (sometimes a password is requred) or RSS feeds of your social media profiles and it will begin to pull in your content as you create it around the web. Meaning that on one day you could add an image to Flickr, save an interesting article to Delicious, make a tweet on Twitter or upload a video to YouTube and each will appear on your Friendfeed page.

Here’s one I created earlier.

“Great”, you might say. And if you’re of the geek persuasion you would probably say “cool!”. Other than that, though, I don’t see any benefits from a business and communications point of view. Sure, it’s great if you’re using it personally and you enjoy (to steal YouTube’s mantra) ‘broadcasting yourself’ but one wonders why it’s garnered so much attention from people in corporate roles.

To me it’s the same as lifecasting. Yeah the idea is good but it will have very little, if any, relevance in a business context. Or am I missing something?

Backed by business secretary, Peter Mandelson, the Digital Britain report will address how to fund public-service broadcasting, super fast broadband and at its core an ambition to accelerate the rate of growth, and cement the UK’s position as a world leader in the knowledge and learning economy.

I’m sure funding won’t be a problem. A couple of billion here, a couple of billion there.

Now that the City has pretty much had its day is this the dawning of a new kind of era in Britain? According to the Telegraph, Mandelson’s plan is to introduce a new economic framework that relies less on the financial services industry and can take advantage of globalisation and the doubling in size of the future global economy.

In my opinion Britain is one of the best countries to be placed as a digital hub of innovation. Here’s why:

Size – The UK is a small but densely populated island. Building new technical infrastructure to harness innovation would be less of an issue compared with much larger countries. Super fast broadband would be relatively cheap to implement. (Relative to the money that we the taxpayer have had to pull out to bail out the greedy bankers)

Wealth – Although only a small island (which always punches above its weight, mind you) the UK is still one of the richest countries with the fifth biggest economy in the world (according to the Economist).

People – The UK’s economy is already service based with circa 70% of GDP generated by the service sector. Making the transition (if there is one to make) should be relatively smooth.

Western – This sounds terrible but being a Western country and due to our education the UK is *supposedly* one of the most intelligent – although you wouldn’t think it talking to some of the people I once knew.

Multicultural – No other country in the world welcomes other nationalities like the UK. No other capital city has as much ethnic and religious diversity as London. As the world becomes even smaller (as we know it is) this diversification will only stand the UK in good stead of being the innovation and technical powerhouse of the world.

Okay okay, hype and patriotism aside, I still think I make good case. Ten years from now we’ll look back at what went on in the financial markets with contempt, disgust and embarrassment.

And if we don’t then, well, we have learnt nothing.

But what does it actually mean though? Do these people ever actually explain in great detail their reasons behind making such a statement? If I’m a business owner or a marketing officer I want to know (in great detail please!) how and why I no longer own the brand I’ve carefully and painstakingly created over the years.

Well, now there’s a recently published book that not only explains how consumers are taking control of brands, but how brands are effectively leveraging the consumer by being “smart enough to recognise that people around the globe – emboldened and enthused by a new spirit of enquiry and self-expression, and powered by the internet – have changed the rules of the game”

It’s co-authored by my mate David Brain along with Martin Thomas, the book is titled Crowd Surfing and it’s available to buy on Amazon.

Looking forward to the official launch at the famous Groucho Club later this month.

And just realised that I had the option to link to either the Groucho Club’s website (which looks a bit crap) or the Wikipedia entry which tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the club on one page. I went for the one that was created by the crowd.

Crowdsurfing from David Brain on Vimeo.

The article states, “Over the same period the numbers of 3G users doubled and the average price of data roaming services fell by 25%. The GSMA said there were now 112 million users of third generation (3G) mobile services in Europe – about 22.5% of all mobile users. By comparison 18.4% of US and Canadian mobile users are on 3G networks.”

As I’ve mentioned before, I continue to see ephinany moments as my Facebook friends discover they can update their Facebook statuses from their mobile phones. Sky-high data charges on users’ bills is beginning to become less of a worry as consumers become more educated and, of course, as carriers lower their charges.

This is obviously great news to the UK carriers who paid over £22 billion ($43 billion USD) in a bidding war for the 3G license. And is also a sign that PR and marketers should be experimenting and looking for new ways to harness this increasing trend. The newspaper industry seems to be capitalising by using mobile news sites as delivery mechanisms and new applications like Instapaper (very simple, yet very effective; a God send) are introduced.

Perhaps surprisingly, the amount of money raised by Obama ($38m) was considerably more than that of Clinton ($6m) who, given who her husband is and was, has the biggest name in the Party. The reason behind this is because Obama has taken to a new democratic way of fundraising which follows the notion of The Long Tail theory.

The article quotes Peter Leyden of the New Politics Institute, who says, “Hillary built the best campaign that has ever been done in Democratic politics on the old model – she raised more money than anyone before her, she locked down all the party stalwarts, she assembled an all-star team of consultants and she really mastered this top-down, command-and-control type of outfit.”

What Clinton hasn’t done, however, is use the power of online ‘micro fundraising’ like Obama has by building online social spaces (using well-known social media sites) where the young can interact and donate money (no matter how small) to Obama’s campaign. Because of this, last month’s fundraising sum of $31m was donated all online and, more interestingly, 94 percent of it came from sums of $200 or less.

Clinton, on the other hand, relies on the old method where supporters have to persuade friends and colleagues to contribute the maximum donation allowance of $2,300, which may prove to be much more difficult in these economically turbulent times.

Expect similar initiatives taking place in the UK and elsewhere soon.

Data prices are becoming cheaper and over here in Europe the EU is beginning to take action against the carriers that charge extortionate mobile web roaming charges when consumers use the phones in other EU countries. Mobile speeds are increasing and mobile browsers are improving at a fast rate. With this in mind, here’s a list of mobile news sites to be saved straight into your phone’s browser favourites. (Note: A couple of the links link to the publication’s page where you have to input your mobile number to be sent a text of a link to the site.)