Archive for the ‘technology’ Category

The Tweetminster webpage, where Conservative MPs are outnumbered by their Labour counterparts

As a newcomer to Twitter, I can’t help wondering why there are only 66 MPs signed up to a social media site that they could use daily to stay in touch with their constituents?

More importantly I find it bizarre that of the 66 MPs on Twitter there are more than 4 times as many Labour MPs (over 40) as Conservatives (9) on Twitter.

Why is this?

The Conservative Party website is full of videos, YouTube links, blogs and audio messages and there are a couple of extremely successful Conservative blogs like Order Order and Conservative Home (although not directly connected to the central Conservative Party). David Cameron has packed his Shadow Cabinet with media savvy figures like Jeremy Hunt - founder of Hotcourses - and spent the last 4 years spearheading Webcameron and the Conservative Wall - innovative uses of interactive media.

So why are they so behind on Twitter?

I am going to put forward a series of hypotheses that could explain this mismatch:

• 1. Proportion - I thought at first that because there are more Labour MPs in Parliament it could seem like more are tweeting when the proportions are the same. But there are 349 Labour MPs compared with 192 Conservative MPs, yet there are only 9 Conservative tweeters and over 40 Labour tweeters. In terms of proportion this means only 5% of Conservative MPs tweet whereas 11% of Labour MPs do - a clear Labour margin.
• 2. Age - The Conservative Party has often had a reputation as a party of older more traditional members, which could be seen as a reason for the Conservative Party not embracing Twitter. But as of the 2005 election Labour MPs were on average three years older than the average Conservative MP at 52 and 49 respectively. So age alone cannot be a factor.
• 3. Occupation -Background could be a more important factor than age as the Conservative Party has a far higher proportion of MPs from traditional professions such as the law, business and finance as compared with the Labour Party’s greater number of teachers, lecturers and political organisers. This may reflect a greater background of engagement in modern media amongst the Labour Party as compared with the legal and financial careers of Conservative MPs.
• 4. Constituency Impact - But for me, the most redolent reason for why Conservative MPs can blog but not tweet is that whilst they are slowly seeing how blogs can help them to stay in touch with their constituents, they cannot understand Twitter’s benefits. In rural Conservative seats in Cumbria, Sussex and Hampshire there is most likely less frequency of creative and media jobs and less engagement with social media than the urban constituencies like Manchester, London and Birmingham where Labour MPs dominate. The greater number of students, teenagers and 20s-30s working in careers that use social media in Labour constituencies makes Twitter more relevant and usable in campaigning as Boris Johnson has showed as Mayor of London -a constituency with a modern and creative media hub.

These are my main thoughts on this twitter conundrum; but to get to the bottom of this question I am going to conduct a survey of MPs and people involved in political communications who may have a better idea of why there are less Conservatives than Labour MPs on Twitter.  With this in mind I will blog again in a fortnight and outline my findings on the big question:

Where are all the Conservative (MP) Tweeters?

Is Bebo the Pascal Chimbonda of social networking?

Writing as a fan of the once-mighty Tottenham Hotspur, I am delighted to see that there seems to be an organisation with a more confused and misguided buying/selling policy. After acquiring Bebo for a hefty $840m last year, it would appear that AOL is ready to sell it already, according to the ever reliable TechCrunch.

If this is indeed true, does it mean that the bottom has fallen out of the social networking market already, or that AOL paid way over the odds for Bebo at the time? I’d say a little of both. AOL were probably swept along by Facebook-inspired desperation to get their hands on a social networking site and Bebo simply hasn’t delivered the ROI that AOL was expecting. It is still hugely popular with the kidz (so I am told) but advertisers just aren’t seeing the return, so in tough economic times, are looking elsewhere.

Its embarrassing being a Spurs fan right now, so can’t help but feel a cheeky lolz at this news :)

No, I’m not talking about the latest series of celeb bb, although I am embarrassingly addicted. I know its not the done thing but like some ghastly freak show I can’t avert my eyes. Damn those d-listers!

No, I’m referring to the news that the Home Office has announced that details of every email in the UK has to be kept on record by Internet Service Providers. The ISPs have to record who sent the email, to whom and when, and the data can be accessed by more than 600 public bodies, including the police, should they request to do so.

Civil liberty groups are predictably up-in-arms about it all but I suspect most people wouldn’t be that fussed. My emails are really not that interesting, so if some PC wants to read my inane ramblings about Tottenham Hotspur, English cricket and music then they can be my guest. I’m a gmail user, so I am used to my emails being trawled through anyway.

I think that civil liberty groups can sometimes get all het about things that they feel we should be het up about, when the reality is in fact, meh. And with Twitter’s recent move to the mainstream many people offer up incredible amounts of personal data every day without thinking of the consequences, so it is hard to stress too much about someone trawling through your emails.

What do you reckon - anyone outraged by this?

Apologies in advance for the shameless job ad dressed up as a blog pitch…it is naughty but needs must

Anyway, after some fabulous new client wins in the corporate and technology division, we are looking for a couple of lovely new people to come and join us in 2009.  The roles currently open are for:

– an associate director (part time / contractor / permanent)

–a senior account executive

If you have a good business head on your shoulders, are full of ideas, love pitching/presenting/networking/writing and have a contact book that is straining at the seams, you could be just the kind of person we are looking for.

You’ll need a passion for technology, an outstanding manner when dealing with clients and the media and love to immerse yourself in a hot bubbly bath of digital aceness every day….

Does this sound like you? Get in touch…..

The Evening Standard has a long-standing reputation for being conservative (with a big and small c) so it should not come as a surprise that it has published an article denouncing Twitter.

For the uninitiated, Twitter is a micro-blogging service, similar in some ways to Facebook in that it lets you see the status of your followers (friends, colleagues, acquaintances, associates, etc). It is strangely addictive, hugely useful (I got my current job via Twitter) and I have made a whole host of new friends using it.

A number of journalists from the Financial Times, The Guardian and the BBC already use it, so I was initially delighted to see a piece on it in The Evening Standard today, which I presumed would be extolling the virtues of Twitter. How wrong I was.

The journalist didn’t like Twitter - fair enough, perhaps its not for everyone - but wrote such a curmudgeonly piece he came across as both the worst kind of luddite AND a right old misery-guts. He undermined any legitimate points he may have had by making errors in his copy that a few minutes researching (maybe even using the new-fangled interweb thingy) would have picked up. Twitter allows you 140 characters to make your update, NOT 160 for example.

Twitter users are passionate about it and for many it has become an essential part of work and play. I would expect a pretty frenzied response from the Twitterati to this although at the time of writing the article has just two comments on it. I’m guessing it will be through the roof by the time I get in tomorrow.

FAIL!

Atlantic Records has announced that for the first time, revenues from downloads have outstripped earning from physical sales.

This is not surprising in itself - the wind has been blowing this way for a while now - but I can’t help but find it just a little depressing.  I am a big downloader myself but also have shelves and shelves of vinyl and CDs and you still can’t beat the thrill of holding something physical in your hand.

This is especially true (for me anyway) at Christmas. As a music-lover, CDs and records have featured prominently in my stockings over the years and getting bought tracks over the internet doesn’t seem quite right. I’d be interested in seeing if the ratio of downloads to CDs sold decreases in December. There is room for both formats of course but I’m not ready to give up physical presents for technology just yet.

I posted a while ago about social media tool, Twitter, and its role in disrupting the media process.  Charles Arthur rightly pointed out:

Except… this is only accurate about “disrupting the flow of the news process” where “news” means “news about technology stuff”.

We in technology PR and media are living in a bubble to a certain extent and mainstream media in other industries are yet to use the tool widely. Rory Cellan-Jones, tech correspondent at the BBC posted this morning about his recent experience using Twitter:

When I said in a “Tweet” last week that I was looking into addiction to online games I immediately got useful replies, including one which sent me to a psychiatrist at the Tavistock who became the key figure in my story. Then, minutes after I did the story on Today, I got more Twitter messages attacking me for being unfair to gamers. I was then able to point them at a blog post I’d written with more detail and that became a forum for a vigorous debate about the pros and cons of online games.

Yes it is a technology topic but it is slightly more mainstream in reach and provides a great case study of how journalists are using Twitter these days.

Yesterday at the Future of Mobile event in London, Guardian writer and lover of Twitter, Jemima Kiss said Twitter is one of the most important tools of her job.

I hope PR folks are listening and taking note…

Courtesy of Paul Walsh via Twinkle

Jason Stamper wrote a great piece this morning about what Obama’s presidency means for the science and technology world. For anyone working in these industries, these are exciting times. As Barack Obama himself says:

“America risks being left behind in the global economy: Revolutionary advances in information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology and other fields are reshaping the global economy. Without renewed efforts, the United States risks losing leadership in science, technology and innovation.”

And what of his plans to hire a CTO of the U.S.A?

That’s quite a job title and one that is going to actually be filled early next year, if Obama’s election pledges are to be believed.

To quote the man of the moment, he plans to appoint America’s first CTO to “ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an interagency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices.”

Worthy sentiments I’m sure you’ll agree and probably not that much of a surprise. Of the two main presidential candidates, Obama was far more tech-savvy than McCain, even going so far as to use Twitter, the micro-blogging service to reach out to potential voters, whilst McCain was virtually tech-illiterate, confessing to not even using email and barely being online. I’m certainly not going to claim ‘it was tech wot won it’ but the difference between the two men on that issue was stark and only served to highlight Obama’s youth, freshness and enthusiasm.

Obama has said that ‘the Bush Administration has been one of the most secretive, closed administrations in American history’ and the appointment of a CTO will certainly help to address that. Transparency in government and policy is always welcome and Obama plans to use technology ‘to reform government and improve the exchange of information between the federal government and citizens.’

We’ll have to watch this space to see exactly how the CTO and tech-friendly approach works out but the early signs are encouraging and it can only be a good thing for the whole industry to have a US President as savvy and pro-tech as Barack Obama. If you’re interested in hearing what he is up to why not follow him on Twitter? He can be found here @BarackObama