Over the last few weeks I have found myself on a journey learning about a new concept on the internet; the semantic web. The writer and inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners Lee, began writing about the concept in 1999, much progress has been made since. The term ‘semantics’ is one of the three branches of ‘semiotics’ which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “the study of signs... 

Whilst I worked at Microsoft UK I often stared in disbelief how interns were allowed to take full control over official Microsoft Twitter account presences. Most interns had no prior PR knowledge and there was no social media code of conduct which was readily enforced. One meeting I even raised the point of the CIPR’s Social Media Code of Conduct – I doubt any interns bothered reading it. In my... 

Interest sparked in the metrics behind the field of digital public relations after witnessing the trend of organisations using 3rd party reporting tools such as Brandwatch, Radian6 and Sysomos offering ‘listen, measure, understand and engage’ self-services. After a conversation with one of my brothers who is studying in the field of psychology he provided an insightful perspective into the matter... 

Controversial media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has joined Twitter as an 80 Year Old. Is he simply curious or is his arrival part of a darker plan?   Rupert Murdoch has had a tough time. Suspicions were raised over News of the World’s (NoW) amoral practice in 2003 after royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, wrote a story surrounding medical treatment Prince William had received. Information in the article... 

Each year we ritually ponder upon our own frailties and answer with a New Year’s Resolution. In 2012 I am going to slow down. To slow down brings connotations of a great writer bathing in self-gratification of his own success as if to say, “Enough is enough. Today I have achieved everything that I would have hoped for in life and the rewards have been generous in return.” This New Year’s resolution... 

Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin whilst studying at Stanford University. The company’s mission statement was, “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. Google has been said to actively inspire creativity within their employees which has resulted in many other Google Projects to appear over the years. The most influential of... 

Guess what? Social media isn’t new anymore. We all know how to use the tools and I still stand by my blog post from June that social media ‘experts’ are not qualified to do their role. The shift into 2012 will see more organisations seek to have their social media strategies merged into the wider marketing mix. Online communication channels have proved in 2011 to hold the integrity of a brand. Last... 

A social internet revolution is happening right now but it’s not the usual diet of Facebook or Twitter. This revolution is concerned with an internet user’s privacy rights. On the 26th October the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was introduced to the House of Representatives in America as a bill to, “promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of... 

Social Media Analytics by Marshall Sponder 316 pages, McGraw-Hill, 2011 Marshall Sponder has proved himself to be one of the world’s most thought provoking social media practitioner and thinker with the recent publication of his book “Social Media Analytics” (Amazon affiliate link). Learning exactly how to measure the ROI for a campaign relies upon campaign objectives but a PR professional... 

For the last couple of weeks I have been working on completing an essay based on Clay Shirky’s book “Cognitive Surplus” (Amazon Affiliate Link) – a rather overcomplicated term which simply means ‘free time’. The book examines how society adapted from the changes caused by postmodernism which eventually became the preconditions for social media. This got me thinking about PR acting... 

Last Friday PR Student Magazine, Behind the Spin, released their #socialstudent leaders. Devised by the editor, Richard Bailey, the ranking assess the highest aggregated scores from Klout and Peer Index to determine the top 10 online footprints made by PR Students studying in the UK. I managed to get No.1 spot. It is an honour to have made No.1 spot in the Behind the Spin ranking list, a genuine surprise.... 

Writing a dissertation first requires a question, some sort of academic line of enquiry which can be backed up with enough research, debate and modern relevance. The natural instinct of a writer is two-fold. Find a topic in line with the PR industry which could drive an effective rant Reflect on personal experiences in the industry which could lead to a recommendation to how things could change Fortunately...