Seven months after joining Twitter David Cameron has almost 300,000 followers and his No 10 communications team is developing a Twitter media strategy.

Downing Street is handing Twitter exclusives news stories to favoured reporters before they are issued to the rest of the media.

It is also using Twitter as a key part of its media relations to extinguish negative stories before they catch fire and gain wider momentum in the news cycle. Read More »

It’s difficult to talk about time without stumbling into cliched phrases, but it seems right to talk about the importance of time for two reasons. The importance of time-spent cropped up in a recent survey conducted by the IPA that ranked the best  in the industry. I should take this chance to congratulate the guys at InSkin, who pipped us to the post by a mere 0.7%. Such a close run race shows that clients really do have a choice of quality partners.

But given that the technologies we use is broadly similar – it’s the X factors that create the differentiation, and most of these X factors are determined by the relationship with the client: the quality of brief responses, the delivery of innovative content solutions,  proactive communication of opportunities, regular constructive contact with the sales team, and the all-important agency/media owner partnership. Read More »

Looks like the official BBC Weather account on Twitter and @BBCArabicOnline have been hacked. It appears to be another attack by pro-Bashar al-Assad supporters who have hit another Western media Twitter account.

A message has been posted on both Twitter feeds claiming that the “Syrian Electronic Army Was Here via @Official_SEA #SEA #Syria“. Read More »

What do you think is the most tweeted about programme on British television right now? You might be surprised to learn that it is ITV’s reality soap ‘The Only Way is Essex’ or TOWIE as it is better known to its fans.

It is not only a little more popular than anything on television at the moment it is more popular by a long long way.  Some episodes have so many tweets sent about it that there are almost 7,000 a minute appearing. Read More »

Netflix’s unique content play, “House of Cards”, starring Kevin Spacey, has satisfied its subscriber base in the US according to a small survey by Cowen. It has also made their subscribers more loyal.

However it failed to take off from a word of mouth perspective and the content was mediocre rather than exceptional. In light of this both move from Netflix what is the future of content v’s distribution channels in the digital age and who will gain the most from this change in dynamics?

Read More »

For the first time Twitter has created a dedicated website looking back at some of the most talked about moments of the last year in the UK and around the world in a year that saw London host an Olympic Games that beat all expectations, and create some inspiring memories for all. It was also a year that saw a Tweet from Mars, Barack Obama win four more years and David Cameron, Nadine Dorries, Gary Lineker and Girls Aloud among many others finally join the 140 character conversation. Read More »

The Washington Post reports on the curious case of The New York Times reporter, Jodi Rudoren, who has been given her own social media minder who will be looking at every Tweet and Facebook status update that she writes to check and edit them before sending.

We all know that social media can be tricky and that its instantaneous nature can cause huge issues for us all, which is a problem considering how essential Twitter has become to most working journalists today. There have been cases of journalists Tweeting in haste and suffering Twitter storms at length. It has in the worst cases proved the undoing of some journalists. Read More »

Last month, Lord Sugar spoke candidly about his vision for the future of the TV industry at an exclusive event in London organised by ISBA. During his speech Sugar said that the “bare bones of a revolution in TV” had been formed and how he could imagine a future in which consumers had access to “infinite” channels and providers could set up their own channels for as little as £50,000.

Technology now plays such a powerful role in helping advertisers to reach their target audiences through means other than the traditional television set – in particular, web TV or content broadcast online is fast becoming a mainstream way in which we consume our media.  Read More »

BBC staff are being urged to stop airing the corporation’s problems on Twitter and other social media by senior managers. Acting director of news Fran Unsworth sent an internal email yesterday saying: “It would be helpful if some of our problems were not played out publicly across social media and in the pages of the national press.”

Unsworth said it was a tough time for everyone in the BBC “in particular for those of us in BBC News” and “for some individuals most of all”. Read More »