stedavies.com - communications consultant

Rickrolling defintion

Via: Online Schools

It’s a good start but this is by no means a comprehensive list. Tech journos are usually the first to embrace new technologies (it’s in the genes you see) and it came as no surprise when I was researching UK journos using Twitter that this particular sector has the highest proportion using it. Plus the fact that ‘tech’ is a broad topic which I guess you could say encapsulates a number of sectors really.

If you’re a tech journo and you’re not on the list you can @reply me on Twitter, leave a comment on this post or send me a mail.

The Twitter list is available to follow also.

And if you’re interested, here’s a list of UK political journalists using Twitter.

BBC

Maggie Philbin – http://twitter.com/maggiephilbin
Aleks Krotoski – http://twitter.com/aleksk
Rory Cellan-Jones – http://twitter.com/ruskin147
Gareth Mitchell – http://twitter.com/GarethM
Jon Fildes – http://twitter.com/jonfildes
Zoe Kleinman – http://twitter.com/zsk

Computer Weekly

Angelica Mari – http://twitter.com/angelicamari
Mark Hillary – http://twitter.com/markhillary
Bryan Glick – http://twitter.com/Bryanglick
Cliff Saran – http://twitter.com/cliffsaran
Karl Flinders – http://twitter.com/karlfl
Faisal Alan – http://twitter.com/inspectagadgets
Rebecca Thomson – http://twitter.com/rebeccats

Econsultancy

Graham Charlton – http://twitter.com/gcharlton
P Robels – http://twitter.com/probles

The Gadget Show

Jason Bradbury – http://twitter.com/JasonBradbury
Suzy Perry – http://twitter.com/suziperry

The Guardian

Charles Arthur – http://twitter.com/charlesarthur
Stuart O’Connor – http://twitter.com/Stuart_OC
Jack Schofield – http://twitter.com/jackschofield
Jemima Kiss – http://twitter.com/jemimakiss
Kate Bevan – http://twitter.com/katebevan

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

Stuart Miles – http://twitter.com/stuartmiles
Chris Hall – http://twitter.com/christhall
Dan Sung – http://twitter.com/DanSung

Stuff Magazine

Will Findlater – http://twitter.com/willfindlater
Tom Dunmore – http://twitter.com/tomdunmorestuff
Fraser Macdonald – http://twitter.com/FraserMacStuff
Mark Wilson – http://twitter.com/markydwilson
Tom Wiggins – http://twitter.com/WiggoWiggo

TechRadar

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

The Telegraph

Ian Douglas – http://twitter.com/IanDouglas
Claudine B – http://twitter.com/claudineb
Rupert Neate – http://twitter.com/RupertNeate
Emma Barnett – http://twitter.com/Emmabarnett
Matt Warman – http://twitter.com/mattwarman
Shane Richmond – http://twitter.com/shanerichmond

The Times

Joanna Geary – http://twitter.com/timesjoanna
Nic Fildes – http://twitter.com/LovesickHank

Wired UK

Nate Lanxon – http://twitter.com/NateLanxon
Ben Hammersley – http://twitter.com/benhammersley

Freelance

Michael Pollitt – http://twitter.com/michaelpollitt
Zara Rabinowicz – http://twitter.com/AlmostZara
Bobbie Johnson – http://twitter.com/bobbiejohnson
Chris Edwards – http://twitter.com/chrised
Mike Hills – http://twitter.com/mikewhills
Simon Bisson – http://twitter.com/sbisson
Danny Bradbury – http://twitter.com/dannybradbury
Tim Anderson – http://twitter.com/timanderson
Jonathan Bennett – http://twitter.com/jonobennett
Simon Munk - http://twitter.com/psimonk
Karl Hodge – http://twitter.com/karlhodge
Gary Marshall – http://twitter.com/garymarshall
Patrick Smith – http://twitter.com/psmith
Andrew Spode Miller – http://twitter.com/spode
Victor Keegan – http://twitter.com/vickeegan
Stuart Dredge – http://twitter.com/stuartdredge
Kirstie Brewer – http://twitter.com/KirstieBrewer

Other

Mike Hillier – http://twitter.com/Mikehillier (Music Tech Magazine)
Kris Sangani – http://twitter.com/Kris_Sangani (E&T Magazine)
Mark Prigg – http://twitter.com/markprigg (Evening Standard)
Mark Hattersley – http://twitter.com/markhattersley (Mac World)
Jane Douglas – http://twitter.com/janedouglas (Gamespot UK)
Dan Raywood – http://twitter.com/DanRaywood (SC Magazine)
Clare Newsome – http://twitter.com/ClareNewsome (What Hi-fi)
Davey Winder – http://twitter.com/happygeek (PC Pro)
Jason Jenkins – http://twitter.com/jenkojenkins (Cnet)
Kat Hannaford – http://twitter.com/clashcityrocker (Gizmodo)
Chris Davies – http://twitter.com/c_davies (Slash Gear)
Dawn Smith – http://twitter.com/missgadgetuk (Geeks.co.uk)
Nik Taylor – http://twitter.com/msntechnik (MSN)
Richard Lai – http://twitter.com/richardlai (Engadget)
Mike Simons – http://twitter.com/ITjournalist (Computer World)
Benjamin Cohen – http://twitter.com/benjamincohen (Channel 4 News)
Paul Kunert – http://twitter.com/Kunerticus (MicroScope)
Leila Makki – http://twitter.com/leilamakki

From the International Communications Consultancy Organisation.

• The international public relations consultancy sector is holding its own despite the economic crisis: corporate and crisis communications are big business, marketers are shifting budgets to PR, and digital is a key component for growth in the coming year according to the 2010 World Report, published today by the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO).
• 2009 revenues for the broad majority of countries surveyed showed little to no variation over 2008. The most developed PR markets – the US and the UK – reported a drop of five percent in revenues on average.
• Not all countries fared as well: Slovenia took the hardest hit, showing an annual decline of thirty percent in consultancy revenues, while Belgium and Russia saw a decline of nearly 15 percent and Slovakia 10 percent.
• Crisis and corporate communications were the leading practice areas in terms of revenue generation for consultancies, being the most lucrative service in 17 and 12 countries respectively
• Compared to other disciplines, PR fared well internationally when it comes to share of spend. 15 of the 24 countries surveyed reported an overall increase in the proportion of client budgets dedicated to PR, coming directly at the expense of other marketing services such as advertising.
• ICCO’s members all agreed that digital was an important driver to growth in 2009, and the majority are expecting double digit growth in digital revenues this year.
• The world economy is still under considerable pressure – and this will undoubtedly impact revenues for 2010 – but when asked for a general assessment of local market conditions, 12 countries expected to see an improvement this year with an additional eight predicting stable conditions.
• The countries predicting growth expect it to be driven by: an increase in international business and foreign direct investment; demand for PR driven by the private sector looking to rebuild reputations damaged during the worst of the downturn; and a continued shift of budgets to PR from other marketing disciplines.
• The report also identified four top challenges facing PR consultancies internationally
• The ICCO 2010 World Report includes data from national PR trade associations in 24 countries spanning Europe, North and South America and Africa. Data was collected during March and April 2010 through a written questionnaire.
• The full report and supporting data tables can also be downloaded from the ICCO website.

Here’s the thing. Social media isn’t *that* social. It’s a little discussed fact but you won’t get those with vested interests (including myself) shouting this from the rooftops. Why? Well because for those with vested interests (as I said, including myself) it doesn’t make commercial sense to. Social media, we’ll have you believe, is all about openness, transparency, one-to-one, front and centre, horizontal communications. It’s the new way of the world, man. *sticks up Winston Churchill style peace sign*

In reality it’s not though. Social media is, by and large, a public version of yourself. Or, if you want to be really cynical, a public version of who you want to be which, again, I include myself in. It’s unlikely that most of us share our inner most thoughts as we tweet with people; some of which we briefly met once at a networking event in 2007 and others we don’t really know at all.

I often say the real conversations in social media go on behind closed doors. I can’t believe for one moment that you have thousands of PR people using social tools like Twitter (and yes I once counted them) who all just get along. There is a healthy rivalry in PR which is without doubt good for the industry. Thing is, it’s very rare that you actually see PR people calling each other out (in the UK at least, in the US they do). No matter what happens.

That’s why anonymous bloggers in the past such as Spin Bunny, Strumpette (who I once had an altercation with), …the world’s leading… and now sean376 on Twitter are needed. Blogs like these (and in sean376′s case Twitter profiles) are needed because the often hold a mirror up to people in social media and tell it how it really is.

So this blog post was inspired by a recent blog post written by Jed Hallam of agency Wolfstar which criticised another agency’s approach to blogger outreach. A telling sign in the blog post is that the agency name was left out but the client’s was not which is why I think Jed has received a load of flack in the comments over the incident.

Well, I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of it (all people involved on both sides are alright in my opinion) but having done something similar myself before and indeed been on the end of such criticism I can say that it’s often difficult sticking your head above the parapet and saying what you really think.

It’s the comments in the post that bother me. Some are bordering on hypocritical unless those that have commented have never ever criticised another agency either online or behind closed doors.

Ya’ see, social media isn’t *that* social.

On the run up to the so called first digital election in the UK I thought it would be useful to keep up to speed with what the people behind the headlines are thinking and doing during this event. Below is a list (incomprehensive I think) of UK political journalists. If you know of any others to include let me know in the comments or via Twitter.

UPDATE: You can follow this list using the UK Political Journalist Twitter list I’ve created.

BBC

Jon Sopel – http://twitter.com/BBCJonSopel
John Pienaar – http://twitter.com/JPonpolitics (5 Live)
Peter Henley – http://twitter.com/Peter_Henley
Tim Reid – http://twitter.com/TimReidBBC
Laura Kuenssberg – http://twitter.com/BBCLauraK
Anna Filipova – http://twitter.com/Anna_Filip

Channel 4 News

Gary Gibbon – http://twitter.com/GaryGibbonBlog
Cathy Newman – http://twitter.com/cathynewman

Daily Mirror

James Lyons – http://twitter.com/MirrorJames
Kevin Maguire – http://twitter.com/Kevin_Maguire
Vincent Moss – http://twitter.com/vincentmoss

ITV

Lucy Manning – http://twitter.com/lucymanning
Alex Forrest – http://twitter.com/alexforrestitv (ITN)
Chris Ship – http://twitter.com/chrisshipitv

News of the World

Ian Kirby – http://twitter.com/ianakirby
Sophy Ridge – http://twitter.com/sophyridge
David Wooding – http://twitter.com/DavidWooding

The Daily and Sunday Telegraph

Christopher Hope – http://twitter.com/christopherhope
Patrick Hennessy – http://twitter.com/PatJHennessy
James Kirkup – http://twitter.com/jameskirkup

The Guardian and Observer

Adam Bienkov – http://twitter.com/AdamBienkov
William Hutton – http://twitter.com/williamnhutton
Deborah Summers – http://twitter.com/DebsSummers
Jonathan Freedland – http://twitter.com/j_freedland
Michael White – http://twitter.com/MichaelWhite
Toby Helm – http://twitter.com/tobyhelm
Tom Clark – http://twitter.com/guardian_clark
Andrew Rawnsley – http://twitter.com/andrewrawnsley
Patrick Wintour – http://twitter.com/patrickwintour
Matt Wells – http://twitter.com/MatthewWells
Aditya Chakrabortly – http://twitter.com/chakrabortty
Paul Lewis – http://twitter.com/paul__lewis
Polly Curtis – http://twitter.com/pollycurtis
Helene Mulholland – http://twitter.com/lnmulholland
Andrew Sparrow – http://twitter.com/AndrewSparrow
Dave Hill – http://twitter.com/DaveHill
Martin Kettle – http://twitter.com/martinkettle
Will Woodward – http://twitter.com/w_woodward
Nicholas Watt – http://twitter.com/nicholaswatt
Allegra Stratton – http://twitter.com/allegrastratton
Gaby Hinsliff – http://twitter.com/gabyhinsliff

The Independent and Independent on Sunday

Simon Carr – http://twitter.com/simonsketch
Richard Osley – http://twitter.com/RichardOsley
Michael Savage – http://twitter.com/michaelsavage
Jane Merick – http://twitter.com/janemerrick23
John Rentoul – http://twitter.com/JohnRentoul

The Spectator

Alex Massie – http://twitter.com/alexmassie
Fraser Nelson – http://twitter.com/frasernels
Pete Hoskin – http://twitter.com/pete_hoskin

The New Statesman

Sophie Elmhirst – http://twitter.com/sophieelmhirst
Mehdi Hasan – http://twitter.com/ns_mehdihasan
James Macintyre – http://twitter.com/James_Macintyre
George Eaton – http://twitter.com/georgeeaton
Jon Bernstein – http://twitter.com/Jon_Bernstein

The Times

Ann Treneman – http://twitter.com/anntreneman
Sam Coates – http://twitter.com/SamCoatesTimes
Daniel Finkelstein – http://twitter.com/Dannythefink

Sky News

Miranda Richardson – http://twitter.com/mirandasky
Adam Boulton – http://twitter.com/adamboulton
Ruth Barnett – http://twitter.com/RuthBarnett

Other

Sunny Hundal – http://twitter.com/sunny_hundal (Pickled Politics)
Jonathan Walker – http://twitter.com/jonwalker121 (Birmingham Post and Mail)
David Singleton – http://twitter.com/david_singleton (PR Week)
David Hughes – http://twitter.com/DavidHughesPA (Press Association)
David Maddox – http://twitter.com/DavidPBMaddox (The Scotsman)
Tomos Livingstone – http://twitter.com/TomosL (Western Mail)
Matt Chorley – http://twitter.com/MattChorley (Western Morning News)
Torcuil Crichton – http://twitter.com/Torcuil (Daily Record)
David Stringer – http://twitter.com/David_Stringer (Associated Press)
Nigel Nelson – http://twitter.com/NigelNelson (Sunday People)
Paul Waugh – http://twitter.com/paulwaugh (London Evening Standard)
Kirsty Walker – http://twitter.com/kirstywalker1 (Daily Mail)

Hat tip