Vote for us!
Posted Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 12:12pm in Off topic | 6 Comments
Seriously, it will take you two seconds! Webitpr’s entered its Social Media News Release into the North East Digital Awards, a local award ceremony held up here in Newcastle for digital initiatives. The award we’re going for with the SMNR is Best Use of Emerging Technology which is under the Digital Innovators category. But you don’t have to look through them all to vote - HERE’S THE DIRECT LINK. Simply click on it and it will take you directly to our entrants page and all you have to do is click on the ‘vote’ button. Easy.
The first 100 people that vote for our entry will receive a round-the-world cruise courtesy of us and the runners up will receive a brand new Sony Vaio laptop also. 
Sorry, just kidding - you won’t receive anything but we’ll be eternally grateful and it’s good karma on your behalf too.
Two things
Posted Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 4:42pm in Off topic, PR General | Leave a Comment
PRBLOGGER 2.5
Come on in. Take your shoes of first though and mind the carpet as you may have noticed I’ve been decorating. Well, not me specifically but thanks to WordPress wizard, Matt Brett, the blog’s had a few tweaks here and there. Namely the font (PRBLOGGER’s rolling with Arial these days); a Twitter plugin to replace the moblog (I might have mentioned Twitter once or twice lately); new navigation buttons (hover over ‘em and watch ‘em glow); new archives page (almost three years long now) and a host of other back end stuff.
This baby’s purring like a lolcat.
SOCIAL MEDIA: THREAT OR OPPORTUNITY FOR TRADITIONAL MEDIA?
That’s the question that’ll be on everyone’s lips at the CIPR HQ on the 26th of this month where I’ll be on a panel alongside the BBC’s Head of Editorial Development and Multi-Media Journalism, Pete Clifton, and Communities Editor of Telegraph.co.uk, Shane Richmond. Should make for an interesting discussion and one that hopefully stirs the audience up a bit because, quite frankly, I think (except for those in my RSS reader) the UK PR industry is lagging a bit. I know I’m not alone thinking this either.
Thanks to Daljit Bhurji for putting it together. Tickets are all sold from what I gather by Daljit. Should be good.
Tweeters: Stop spamming my Facebook!
Posted Thursday, March 6, 2008 at 5:41pm in Off topic | 18 Comments
Okay I’m going to have a bit of a rant here. I kinda feel a bit iffy writing this as it looks like I’m complaining about some of my mates, but I’m not… Well, I am, but not in a bad way. Take this blog post as a friendly rant (hence the smileys) - you know, like someone you really really like but just does one little thing to annoy you - but a rant none the less. Here goes: If there’s one thing that reeeeaaaalllly annoys me on Facebook, it’s when my contacts update their status updates using Twitter.
Aaaaarrgghhhh!
Seriously, dude, maybe you should start using Facebook status updates in the way in which Mr Zukerburg intended? I follow you on Twitter and we’re friends on Facebook so we’ve obviously got a good relationship going on. But, dude, you’re inundating me with your updates and I’m reading them multiple times.
Aaaaarrgghhhh!
What do your Facebook friends think? I’m talking about the non-geek, non-Twitter users here. They must think you’re insane, yes?
Case study: (names changed to protect the guilty)
Bob has been using Twitter to update his Facebook status updates for three weeks now. Bob’s friends log in to Facebook and see this crap:
Bob is twittering: @joeblogs Yeah!
Bob is twittering: This baby tastes good.
Bob is twittering: @joeblogs No, I saw it last week!
Bob is twittering: @samboy I’m introducing you to @joeblogs. Say hello to each other.
**Bob’s friends collectively think Bob’s lost the plot.**
Aaaaarrgghhhh!
Seriously, I’m just having a bit of pokey fun here but I’m sure I’m not the only one here that thinks the same?
Anyone? Anyone?
O2 Xda Orbit 2
Posted Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 5:04pm in Off topic, Technology | 4 Comments
Like quite a few others, yesterday I received my O2 Xda Orbit 2 mobile phone by the cool cats at marketing agency, VCCP. Steve Cater, who’s involved in the outreach, emailed me a couple of weeks ago asking if I’d like to try out the phone with no obligations to write about it. Of course they’d like me to (that’s the point of blogger outreach after all) and of course I will oblige after I’ve tried and tested it.
I was involved in the very good O2 Cocoon outreach last year and Amelia from VCCP very kindly shared with me the details of the initiative which I used when I presented at BizDays in Bucharest in November.
I haven’t had a chance to play around with the Orbit 2 yet but some of its key features are: 3 megapixel camera, touch screen, sat nav, Windows Mobile 6 Professional, mp3 player and FM radio. According to Neville Hobson, there’s a four day trial with CoPilot Live sat nav so I’m planning on giving it a whirl also.
Ewan from SMS Text News mentioned on Twitter that I can write a review for his blog so I’ll probably do that if he’s still up for it. Might be a bit like a 12 year old writing a piece for the Economist, however, given my lack of mobile knowledge. Compared to Ewan at least.
The Xda blog can be found here. No content on it yet though.
Eight things you didn’t know about me (meme)
Posted Monday, January 7, 2008 at 7:21pm in Off topic | 12 Comments
Seems like the only time I write something these days is when I’ve been tagged with the latest meme. The one doing the rounds at the moment is titled ‘eight things you don’t know about me’ which pretty much does what it says on the tin. Luke Armour of the Armour PR blog has passed the buck over these here parts of the blogosphere so here’s my response.
1. I’m the first generation of my family not to work down the coal mines. Like most people I grew up with, our dads, grandads, great grandads and as far back as I can trace all worked down the coal mines. These were in very tough conditions often thousands of meters underground and many miles out to sea where lives were risked and often lost.
A PR career seems like the obvious second choice doesn’t it?
2. Muhammad Ali is my all-time hero. I used to be quite a boxing fan in my younger days and that’s when I discovered who Ali was, what he did and what he stood for. The character of the man is just phenomenal. Yes he is one of the best boxers the world has ever seen and he fought many wars in the ring also, but what he did outside of the ring was phenomenal too. The man is just a legend. He is ‘The Greatest’. He visited North East England back in 77.
“ALI, BOMBAYE!”
3. I have seven tattoos. On my arms and back and mainly consisting of Chinese symbols and Celtic writing. I got my first when I was 16 which I tried to hide from my mother who obviously was distraught when she saw it. They’re a little dated so I plan to freshen them up or maybe get them completely covered over with something else.
4. I used to work on the building sites. In plastering. Very hard manual work; very cold in winter; not much mental stimulation going on and hair clogged up with dust 24/7. Damn, I miss those days (not).
5. I briefly dated a Playboy Playmate. Yes sir, I did. 
6. I worked in Greece and Cyprus for four summers. At two infamous holiday resorts, Faliraki and Ayia Napa. I loved it and had the best time and basically got paid to party. I met some people who I still keep in touch with and still class as good mates today.
7. I love afternoon naps. I very rarely have them these days but I used to find there was nothing better than going to bed around 4pm for a couple of hours and waking up feeling refreshed and revitalised. Writing this I’ve just discovered there are many Facebook groups dedicated to this unappreciated pastime. zzz zzz
8. I’m not very good at finishing what I’ve started. Because I often don’
People I’m tagging: Mike Denton, Mihnea Miculescu, Jonathan Hopkins and Ged Carroll.