New Edelman grad site launched

Posted Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 6:16pm in Off topic, PR General | 8 Comments

My colleague (and mate) Mats has just finished designing the new stand alone UK Edelman grad site. You can find it here or at www.edelmangrads.co.uk. Previously the grad section was incorporated as a single page into the UK Edelman site. This time around it was decided to make it as a more jazzed up funkier individual place for wannabe PR gurus. Great move in my opinion. The first place people (particularly young people) tend to look when checking out a company is the website. And what the old grad page didn’t include was content on the actual grad programme itself including FAQs and former grad profiles like it does now.

Plus it subtly mentions our office’s location which, in my opinion, is a selling point itself. A good work life should be mixed with a good social life and you can’t fault London’s West End for a decent night out. “But where’s the social media/Web 2.0 stuff?” I hear you say. Well that’s in the pipeline. Stay tuned…

edelman.png

Technorati technorati tags: , , ,

UK100 bloggers

Posted Wednesday, October 25, 2006 at 6:39pm in Blogging | 58 Comments

WARNING PR PEOPLE

First let me say that this list of UK bloggers has NOT been created for you to go and SPAM your press releases to. Please read this post by one of the bloggers who I had included in this list but have since edited out.

Please understand that blogs are not the same as traditional media and some bloggers couldn’t care less about your clients’ news. They just want to be left in peace. Please respect that.

And if your dumb ass still wants to send a spammy press release to these people, I will not be held responsible if you, your agency or your client is mangled online. And believe me, it won’t be the first time it’s happened.

Thanks and check out this post too.

—————————————————————————————————

UPDATE. I figured I’d missed some out so I’ll just keep adding them as they’re found.

After posting a list of 50 UK influential (according to Technorati) bloggers last week I received some great feedback both in the comments and via email. So much so I’ve decided to compile a UK100 using the old list I published last week, recommendations from other bloggers and also a little more research. Again, I must stress that this list is by no means definitive but with a bit of luck we might receive some further participation to make it more full proof. And plus the fact that I’ve discovered some great UK based blogs in the process.

Before I list them I want to mention that some people don’t agree with Technorati’s method of defining authority by measuring inbound links. I agree to a certain extend but, again, I don’t know of any other method that can effectively measure authority, popularity… or whatever you want to call it.

Chris Lake from e-consultancy made a post on defining the top 10 UK bloggers by measuring unique users and impressions to which I spat my dummy out replied in the comments section. We’ve since spoke via email and agreed that there is no full proof measure yet. But how do you properly measure influence anyway?

To be honest, I contacted Hitwise to see if they would be willing to do anything with the list and to give us more insights from their data but, as of yet, I haven’t received any reply. I’m sure it would have been very interesting to see what they made of it in terms of who they categorised as most influential. Never mind.

Okay, here goes. Numbers 1 - 50 are more full proof than last time but obviously 51 - 100 will be sketchy. If anyone knows any blogs that I’ve missed please add them in the comments.

These rankings are as of 16 October, 2006.

1. gapingvoid Rank: 147 (9,166 links from 2,931 blogs)
2. Mashable! Rank: 385 (12,583 links from 1,929 blogs)
3. EU Referendum Rank: 603 (5,312 links from 1,563 blogs)
4. The Lair of the Crab of Ineffable Wisdom Rank: 923 (1,970 links from 1,263 blogs)
5. Tech Digest Rank: 948 (5,507 links from 1,245 blogs)
6. Akihabaranews.com (En) Rank: 1,142 (4,901 links from 1,083 blogs)
7. Samizdata.net Rank: 1,370 (3,238 links from 1,020 blogs)
8. DELETED
9. Shiny Shiny Rank: 1,450 (5,873 links from 987 blogs)
10. Coolest Gadgets Rank: 1,532 (4,439 links from 955 blogs)
10. UPDATE(27.10) Simon Willison’s Weblog Rank: 2,488 (1,258 links from 568 blogs)
11. All About Symbian Rank: 2,516 (3,335 links from 706 blogs)
12. LiveSide Rank: 2,529 (2,156 links from 700 blogs)
13. Girl with a one-track mind Rank: 2,596 (1,305 links from 689 blogs)
14. c h r o m a s i a / photoblog Rank: 2,623 (1,742 links from 685 blogs)
15. Iain Dale’s Diary Rank: 2,633 (3,593 links from 684 blogs)
16. tallskinnykiwi.com Rank: 2,838 (2,160 links from 649 blogs)
17. Boris Johnson MP Rank: 2,901 (962 links from 638 blogs)
18. Mind Hacks Rank: 3,064 (1,991 links from 612 blogs)
19. Guy Fawkes Rank: 3,080 (2,300 links from 610 blogs)
20. Andy Budd::Blogography Rank: 3,107 (1,213 links from 605 blogs)
21. Chase me ladies, I’m in the cavalry Rank: 3,254 (2,202 links from 585 blogs)
22. Londonist Rank: 3,334 (1,798 links from 576 blogs)
23. Drinking From Home Rank: 3,560 (1,638 links from 550 blogs)
23. UPDATE (27.10) as days pass by Rank: 3,635 (895 links from 442 blogs)
24. Harry’s Place Rank: 3,673 (2,526 links from 538 blogs)
25. roobottom dot com Rank: 3,673 (604 links from 538 blogs)
26. Random Acts Of Reality Rank: 3,762 (1,116 links from 529 blogs)
27. The Lone Voice Rank: 3,853 (1,057 links from 493 blogs)
28. Internet Marketing News and Blog Rank: 3,861 (1,256 links from 520 blogs)
29. Bloggers Blog — Blogging the Blogosphere Rank: 3,930 (1,840 links from 513 blogs)
30. Tim Worstall Rank: 4,015 (2,069 links from 506 blogs)
31. Adrian’s Blog Rank: 4,606 (1,926 links from 458 blogs)
32. Bloggerheads Rank: 4,984 (1,440 links from 432 blogs)
33. Hecklerspray Rank: 5,046 (867 links from 428 blogs)
34. Adam Smith Institute Rank: 5,175 (1,431 links from 420 blogs)
35. NevilleHobson.com Rank: 5,175 (2,630 links from 420 blogs)
36. WanderingScribe Rank: 5,340 (603 links from 410 blogs)
37. Confused Of Calcutta Rank: 5,438 (1,311 links from 382 blogs)
38. Pickled Politics Rank: 5,528 (2,307 links from 399 blogs)
39. NHS Blog Doctor Rank: 5,578 (995 links from 396 blogs)
40. Belle de Jour Rank: 5,610 (680 links from 394 blogs)
41. A Deeper Look Rank: 5,711 (1,178 links from 388 blogs)
41. UPDATE badscience Rank: 5,820 (1,288 links from 363 blogs)
42. Popjustice - 100% Solid Pop Music Rank: 5,856 (836 links from 381 blogs)
43. The Cartoon Blog by Dave Walker Rank: 6,376 (903 links from 357 blogs)
44. little.red.boat Rank: 6,423 (870 links from 355 blogs)
44. UPDATE (27.10) boakes.org Rank: 6,472 (536 links from 300 blogs)
45. A Welsh View Rank: 6,783 (1,069 links from 341 blogs)
46. The Mobile Technology Weblog Rank: 6,919 (3,118 links from 337 blogs)
47. Strange Attractor: Rank: 6,921 (577 links from 336 blogs)
48. European Tribune Rank: 7,007 (2,862 links from 332 blogs)
49. London Underground Tube Diary Rank: 7,404 (698 links from 318 blogs)
50. boakes.org Rank: 7,753 (524 links from 307 blogs)
51. City Hippy Rank: 7,782 (723 links from 306 blogs)
52. The Devil’s Kitchen Rank: 8,009 (1,050 links from 299 blogs)
53. JonnyB’s private secret diary Rank: 8,009 (471 links from 299 blogs)
54. Scaryduck: Not Scary. Not a Duck. Rank: 8,119 (671 links from 296 blogs)
55. Receding Hairline Rank: 8,585 (386 links from 284 blogs)
56. Bad Language Rank: 8,738 (605 links from 280 blogs)
57. english cut: bespoke savile row tailors Rank: 8,903 (638 links from 276 blogs)
58. London Daily Photo Rank: 9,195 (658 links from 269 blogs)
59. diamond geezer Rank: 9,692 (569 links from 257 blogs)
60. Break of Information Overload Rank: 9,808 (313 links from 254 blogs)
61. Interconnected Rank: 9,848 (639 links from 253 blogs)
62. blogjam Rank: 9,986 (448 links from 250 blogs)
63. Blairwatch Rank: 10,032 (1,131 links from 249 blogs)
64. Gadget Spy Rank: 10,246 (384 links from 244 blogs)
65. Dodgeblogium Rank: 10,366 (781 links from 242 blogs)
66. Naked Blog Rank: 10,433 (442 links from 241 blogs)
66. UPDATE fadtastic Rank: 10,748 (378 links from 198 blogs)
67. :Ben Metcalfe Blog Rank: 10,776 (470 links from 234 blogs)
68. Adactio: Journal Rank: 10,930 (496 links from 231 blogs)
69. Pepys’ Diary Rank: 10,930 (684 links from 231 blogs)
70. The Soccer Weblog Rank: 10,930 (3,181 links from 231 blogs)
71. Biased BBC Rank: 11,192 (638 links from 226 blogs)
72. The Mink Dimension Rank: 11,258 (384 links from 225 blogs)
73. Jackie Danicki Rank: 11,258 (561 links from 225 blogs)
74. Becky’s Web Rank: 11,258 (372 links from 225 blogs)
75. John Baker’s Blog Rank: 11,320 (514 links from 224 blogs)
76. clagnut Rank: 11,320 (406 links from 224 blogs)
77. ArseBlog Rank: 11,382 (627 links from 223 blogs)
78. fugufish frog Rank: 11,436 (318 links from 222 blogs)
78. UPDATE troubled diva Rank: 11,974 (431 links from 198 blogs)
79. AccMan Rank: 12,006 (727 links from 212 blogs)
80. things magazine - still waiting Rank: 12,073 (469 links from 211 blogs)
81. gordonmclean.co.uk Rank: 12,323 (648 links from 207 blogs)
82. gendergeek Rank: 12,375 (806 links from 206 blogs)
83. The dullest blog in the world Rank: 12,323 (338 links from 207 blogs)
84. We Blog Cartoons Rank: 12,433 (422 links from 205 blogs)
85. vitriolica webb’s ite Rank: 12,433 (356 links from 205 blogs)
86. Open (finds, minds, conversations)… Rank: 12,556 (503 links from 203 blogs)
87. .: ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery :. Rank: 13,310 (424 links from 193 blogs)
88. TechCrunch UK Rank: 13,384 (391 links from 185 blogs)
89. The Obvious? Rank: 13,384 (1,484 links from 192 blogs)
90. Spy Blog Rank: 13,459 (452 links from 191 blogs)
91. Liberal Review Rank: 13,862 (628 links from 186 blogs)
91. UPDATE HDTV UK Rank: 13,922 (504 links from 151 blogs)
92. A PR Guru’s Musings - Stuart Bruce Rank: 14,025 (486 links from 184 blogs)
93. An Englishman’s Castle Rank: 14,025 (572 links from 184 blogs)
94. CoolSmartPhone.com Rank: 14,188 (726 links from 182 blogs)
95. Neil’s World Rank: 14,546 (540 links from 178 blogs)
96. edublogs Rank: 15,272 (598 links from 170 blogs)
97. politicalbetting.com Rank: 15,665 (686 links from 166 blogs)
98. Brighton Daily Photo Rank: 15,665 (192 links from 166 blogs)
99. The Bag Lady Rank: 15,769 (1,874 links from 166 blogs)
100. Random Burblings Rank: 15,774 (289 links from 165 blogs)

Would love your thoughts…

Technorati technorati tags: ,

RSS on your TV

Posted Saturday, October 21, 2006 at 7:24pm in Blogging, Media | 8 Comments

I’m thinking out loud in this post. Can you imagine if TVs began being manufactured with built-in internet capabilities. Or in other words, as well as being a 50 inch plasma, HD ready, Sky + enabled super duper widescreen home cinema - you could also subscribe to blogs, podcasts, video blogs or anything else with an RSS feed.

It would work like this: every RSS enabled platform (blogs, podcasts etc) would have its own unique code. So for example, my blog’s code would be something like ‘davies122′ (no particular reason, it’s just a code). This would be placed somewhere easily visibile on my blog or maybe I could include it on my business card and email signature. If a user decides he/she wants to subscribe to my ‘channel’ (I think ‘channel’ sounds more appropriate than ‘RSS feed’ in reference to TV) they would turn on their TV and enter the code with the remote control and voila. This way the end user wouldn’t have to worry about figuring out RSS. It would be just there… much like what I mentioned in a previous post.

For podcasts and video blogs it would work pretty much the same way except it would be delivered (let’s say ‘delivered’ instead of ’syndicated’) using feed enclosures.

I’m not sure if this technology already exists but can you imagine if TV manufacturers began rolling this out? I remember reading someone’s comments (sorry can’t remember who) on how new media will only truly begin to disrupt traditional media when it actually gets in to the living room (or the kitchen… or whatever). Well, maybe something like this would do it.

Half way through writing this post, I stopped to read my feeds and Antony Mayfield’s recent post points to a couple of YouTube competitors. Which triggered another thought. Imagine (yes this post requires a considerable amount of your imagination) if a company like YouTube set up certain channels which, using the technology I’ve mentioned above, allowed end users to easily pick and choose which video they wanted delivered direct to their TV. For example, a Ford enthusiast could choose to have relevant Ford videos sent straight to his TV. No need to search for it… they would just appear as users add them.

Anyway, I’m sure it’s not as simple or straightforward as this. I.e. YouTube videos are Flash based. But I think it’s possible in time. Then what would happen to the mainstream media model? Is anything similar available at the moment? Should I put a patent on it? ;-)

Technorati technorati tags: , , ,

Yesterday’s Edelman/Technorati conference

Posted Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 5:05pm in Blogging, Business, PR General | 7 Comments

Yesterday Edelman and Technorati held a conference about the partnership I touched on in my last post. I wanted to concentrate yesterday’s post more on what I had been up to as opposed to the whole event. I received some great responses in both the comments and by email and have since added extra UK blogs to the list. If I’m honest, in spite of the research, I missed these but was kindly alerted to by other bloggers. (I’m a believer in the wisdom of the crowds.)

I’ll be adding these blogs in due course to a wiki I have recently set up. You can find it at www.wiki.prblogger.com. Not a great deal to see yet but I plan to add the influential/popular (according to Technorati) UK bloggers to it. I must say, the wiki software that’s hosting it is fantastic. It’s called Wikidot and is far better than any other wiki platform I’ve used. Why it hasn’t been featured on Techcrunch I don’t know.

The conference was a good one and it was great to see Antony and Neville again. And also great to meet Hugh Macleod and colleague Mike Krempasky for the first time. Bloggers who I didn’t get the chance to meet were Jacky Danicki, Heather Hopkins and Jon Worth.

I won’t go through the whole conference as it’s been covered indepth by Antony and Edelman UK CEO, Stuart Smith but will touch on David Brain’s presentation of the research carried out by Edelman’s Strategy One division to see how blogging was affecting politics and public affairs in the US, UK and France

Below is the presentation produced by Strategy One and two videos of David explaining the results. Unfortunately it’s in the middle of two videos. First is at 5.30mins in and the second goes on 1.20mins. Check them out.

Sidenote: I had the chance to quickly interview Neville Hobson on his thoughts on the event. (Yes I began the interview with the lense cap on. Ma bad!)

Hugh Macleod video to come once I’ve converted the format.

Technorati technorati tags: , , ,

Tracking the conversation globally and locally

Posted Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 10:47am in Blogging | 44 Comments

WARNING PR PEOPLE

First let me say that this list of UK bloggers has NOT been created for you to go and SPAM your press releases to. Please read this post by one of the bloggers who I had included in this list but have since edited out.

Please understand that blogs are not the same as traditional media and some bloggers couldn’t care less about your clients’ news. They just want to be left in peace. Please respect that.

And if your dumb ass still wants to continue to send a spammy press release to these people I will not be held responsible if you, your agency or your client is mangled online. And believe me, it won’t be the first time it’s happened.

Check out this post too.

—————————————————————————————————

It’s been a little over two months since I began working at Edelman, London. These two months have flown by. Honest, I really don’t know where the time has gone. But what I do know is that in these two months I’ve had the chance to work with some great people both in the office and around the world. I feel lucky to have been thrust head first into all of this. It’s great. And when each employee receives a letter from the boss telling you to be bold and make some mistakes along the way because success will come from those mistakes, you know you’re on to a good thing, right?

You would think by looking at the dates of recent postings on my blog I’ve had very little to say or do with regard to social media. The reality is, however, I’ve never been more involved in it. This blog’s on the backburner for the timebeing as I work on some (in my humble opinion) great projects. And to be honest, I kinda enjoy working in the background.

Which leads me onto the point of this post (Jeeze, two paragraphs to get to the point!). Prior to me joining Edelman you may remember the partnership which was struck between Edelman and Technorati. The deal was to fast-track localised versions of the T/rati interface in German, Korean, Italian, French and Chinese which we would retain exclusivity of for a certain period of time. Well, for the last few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside Steve, Wolfgang, Guillaume and a number of Edelman’s online team to study the data we had the opportunity to gather.

I won’t cover the specifics of the whole study because, quite frankly, the other Edelman guys can probably do a better job in their specific regions and Steve will probably cover it on a global scale. But what I will do is share a little information of what I’ve been up to. Okay, as a UK based employee you’d imagine I’d take an interest in the UK blogosphere. And I do. Like other UK PR bloggers I like to see bloggers from this neck of the woods making an impact in the media or in the blogosphere in general. However, we’re still at a point where there are no automotive processes to determine who are the most influential bloggers in this country due to the English language being spoken in various countries. No technology is available to decipher these blogs and, honestly, I can’t see anything coming close in the foreseeable future.

So this is where I came in. In order to get some idea of who are the most influential bloggers in the UK (according to Technorati) I decided to spend a considerable amount of time to put something together. Using my own knowledge of the UK b/sphere, Technorati’s tagging feature and some days of solid head down research I’ve compiled a list of UK 50 influential bloggers (according to Technorati).

This list is by no means definitive and I’m not claiming it is 100% accurate. But what I will say it’s certainly a good starting point to get some insights into the UK blogosphere. Which is what I believe we have done. You can download the UK50 here but I think the results found are more interesting:

* 70% of the UK50 post daily.
* 66% have written about a local company.
* 44% have discussed multinational companies.
* 22% cover news a politics.
* 12% write about global issues.
* 14% write about local issues.

Here is some general info I gathered when running a search through the UK50. This first graph shows how frequent they blogged about local organisations whereas the second focuses on multinationals. Interesting to see more discussion on multinationals.

Picture2.png

Picture3.png

Picture4.png

As mentioned the UK50 list is not definitive. In fact I’d love some feedback on how to make it better or if indeed I’ve missed some prominant UK bloggers out. But for the time being this is all we (the UK b/sphere) have. I plan to add the data to a wiki and, in tune with the ‘wisdom of the crowds’ theory, ask for participation. The data was gathered toward the end of last month so no doubt some of the rankings will have changed as each of the blog gain new imbound links.

My colleagues from around the world will be posting more insights into their specific locations and you can read more about it on the Financial Times’s website. The data collected from each particular country is very interesting when you compare and contrast. More later…

Technorati technorati tags: , , ,