Whatever...

PR gaffes don’t come any better than this

By Mike King

It’s not very often that I read a story that stops me in my tracks but it happened this morning.  In what must be one of the biggest PR gaffes in British history, the body responsible for setting MPs’ pay is angling for a hefty salary increase for UK politicians.

  

Timing is everything, and you’d have to look long and hard to find a worse example of timing.  I know they’re an easy target, but MPs really don’t make things any easier for themselves. 

 

It has been widely reported that Bill Cockburn, head of the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB), said yesterday that he believed parliamentarians were underpaid by "10 per cent to 15 per cent”.  Or for a more balanced take, look at this.

 

Strange, given that only a few months ago the same Bill Cockburn announced that MPs would receive an increase of 2.33% this year – itself a generous increase given that the RPI at the time stood at 0%.  Now, it seems, they are grossly underpaid.

 

Even if the current lack of public confidence in MPs on the back of the expenses scandal isn’t enough, the state of the economy and rising levels of unemployment make the timing unbelievable.

 

Surely, even our out of touch politicians can’t have failed to notice the public mood?  As if the expenses scandal isn’t enough of a clue, then the high level of public indignation towards the recent tube strike, not just because of the inconvenience it caused, but because a 5% pay increase was widely seen as unreasonable, can’t have gone unnoticed.  

 

As if we needed any further reminders, politicians are completely detached from those they represent.   But really, to now be talking about MPs deserving a large pay increase leaves me open mouthed.   Someone somewhere needs some decent PR advice.  Though, clearly, for this lot it’s too late.

Remote working in France: a question of trust?

By Carol Pender

 

Already endorsed by the National Assembly and now about to go before the Senate, a new bill is currently being voted on in France that should make it easier to work from home.

 

Remote working has had difficulty establishing itself in France, where only 7% of employees currently work from home, compared to 13% in other European countries. With so many advantages associated with flexible working – be it a better life-work balance, lower capital expenditure or a reduced carbon footprint – this raises the question: why haven’t the French embraced working from home?

 

Aside from the technical and security issues companies must address in order to facilitate remote workers, maybe the answer lies in a simple lack of mutual trust and also a lack of ambition.

 

In France, it’s not unusual for people to stay in the office later than necessary just so they appear to be working late and create the right impression. They could, of course, be chatting online or surfing the net, but who’s to know? 

 

The prevalence of open plan offices (or ‘open spaces’ as they’re known here in France) has only made matters worse.  Last year, two ex-open spacers published a book called ‘L’Open Space m’a tuer’ – literally, ‘Open Space killed me’.  Alongside discussing the jargon used by this new generation of workers, the book talks about the growing need to nurture your visibility within a company i.e. to be seen as a good little soldier beavering away. Not quite so easy if you’re working from home...

 

And from an employer’s point of view, remote working means that he or she can’t keep a close eye on you, instead they simply have to trust you’ll do a good job.

 

Then again, shouldn’t trust be the basis of any productive, healthy relationship to begin with?  And surely, as long as the work gets done and deadlines are met, it shouldn’t really matter where your desk is located.

 

If this bill is finally adopted by the French government, it will be interesting to see if it has a real impact on working methods. After all, just because you can, doesn’t mean you will…sometimes changing a person’s mindset is the hardest part.

Susan Boyle – another lesson in PR, people power and social media

By Richard Scarlett

Whether it’s Ashton Kutcher versus CNN, breaking news of international disasters or Stephen Fry stuck in a lift – every now and again, we get glimpses of the relentless and persuasive force of social media.

 

Of course, the most recent example was ITV unwittingly hitting the PR jackpot with dreary Susan Boyle – or SuBo as she is more affectionately known these days.  From the moment she first stepped onto that Britain’s Got Talent (BGT) stage back in April, I’m sure she had already been reserved a place on the blooper reel and condemned to a year of patronising ITV2 spin-off shows. 

 

However, the ensuing – and somewhat surprising – hysteria and SuBo-mania must have had ITV’s marketing department hi-fiving.  They sent her out to the wolves and then just sat back to watch the viewing figures stack up (before cruelly spitting her out to The Priory once she was no longer lucrative).

 

Now, as someone who has never watched an episode of BGT, I was in the rare position of seeing this viral masterpiece unfold from a total outsider’s perspective.  I’d never heard of this woman, nor heard her sing, but all of a sudden she’d become an overnight sensation with millions of YouTube hits and I just couldn’t get away from her – I even found myself confronted with a show about her during a recent trip to Florida.

 

Annoying as it all was, it did get me thinking about how quickly Boyle went from being a humble talent show contestant to one of Simon Cowell’s most successful global PR tools.

 

In the business world, so much time is spent predicting and speculating as to what the next ‘big thing’ will be in social networking, that I sometimes worry we’re in danger of missing out on the opportunities already out there. 

 

YouTube had only just found its feet before MySpace took over, but that was thwarted when Facebook was hailed as marketing’s new sweetheart – but that didn’t last either, because before long, everyone wanted to be Linked In.  Nevertheless, that’s all old hat because everybody who is anybody is now Tweeting.  Unless, of course, you live in China – in which case this all becomes irrelevant.

 

I guess my point is that, while it’s good to embrace new technologies, and while the rate of innovation is increasing, we shouldn’t forget the enormous impact that simple, ‘old school’ favourites such as YouTube can still have on marketing and publicity efforts.  How did Ashton beat CNN in the Twitter race, why did Susan Boyle become the phenomenon that she did?  Because both Ashton and Simon Cowell have a good understanding of social media and know how to effectively manipulate various mediums to create a buzz among savvy bloggers.

 

I’m not saying that every video that you upload or Facebook group you create will have the SuBo effect, but there could be value in stopping to consider how best to get the most out of social networking sites, rather than frantically trying to just ‘stay ahead of the curve’.

Technology failing the public but not the Government’s pocket

By Ryan Whelan

 

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that public facing technology, particularly where the London transport system is concerned, constantly fails us?  Yesterday, figures were revealed highlighting that one in five pedestrian crossings at junctions in London do not give people enough time to cross the road.  I mean, how pathetic is that?

 

Ever travelled on the London Tube? Ever wondered why you have just watched five minutes pass on the platform display clock, but the countdown timer (right above it) has continued to maintain that the tube is due in one minute?  Maybe I am looking at this in the wrong way, but I am sure a countdown timer is supposed to do just that – count down! 

 

I visited Barcelona in February for the Mobile World Congress and found its transport system a doddle.  Much cleaner and far more efficient than ours.  Its countdown timer (now make sure you are sitting down for this Londoners?) actually counts down by the second, as it uses a real time system unlike our own, which is based upon travelling time from the last destination.  In fact each tube/train usually arrived 30 seconds ahead of schedule.  Impressive, huh?

 

It still amazes me that TfL recently shelved plans to trial mobile phone use on London's tube network due to high costs, apparently none of the three proposals that were received were "commercially credible". This is despite Richard Parry, London Underground's strategy and service development director, being quoted as saying: "We recognise that there is now growing demand for mobile coverage to be extended to deep-level sections of the Tube."  I thought London was supposed to be an innovative city, but we fall behind almost every other European city in these stakes, even Glasgow.

 

Other public technology failings include the famous Oyster Card meltdown and the report that claimed the lack of a digital radio network hampered the efforts of emergency service rescue teams during the 7th July 2005 London bombings.  This list goes on...

However, I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised that initiatives which are used to generate an exceptional amount of Government revenue are fully operational and advancing at an impressive rate.

 

Take for instance the mass of speed cameras that will be deployed to monitor drivers’ average speeds on hundreds of our roads later this year, making it impossible to elude detection as the digital cameras will cover every entry and exit point.  How about the ‘Gatso 2’ scheme that intends to detect all untaxed, uninsured or stolen cars on our roads?  I’m not advocating breaking the law, but isn’t it a bit fishy that these revenue generating initiatives never seem to have any negative technology issues or prohibitive costs associated with them?  The same applies to the raft of technology behind the Congestion Charge.

 

 

Has blogging had its day?

By Steffi Nowak

 

Rumour has it, here in Germany at least, that the days of blogging might be over.  Indeed, quite a few important blogs have recently been sold or shut down. ‘Basic Thinking’ and Rivva.com are just a couple of examples. 

 

This is quite surprising – I always thought that blogging was to the web what salt is to a soup.  On the other hand I am kind of glad; sometimes when I think about contributing to ‘Whatever…’, I can feel a little bit helpless, thoughtless, blogless…

 

Blogs are interesting because, in keeping with the old traditions of Greek democracy, they promote free speech.  And while in ancient Greece all the free citizens were afforded this basic civil right, not all countries in the modern world follow this example. For the people of China, Russia and Afghanistan (to name just a few), free speech cannot be exercised without fear of being punished by the legal authorities.

 

Despite the constant threats from their state authorities, there are many brave citizens who try to make the world aware of what is going on in their countries. For these people, blogs are a convenient way to get their message out there – no other way of communicating is more efficient.

 

And while a few sites may have fallen by the wayside, let’s hope the time of blogs is not yet over!  

Google Street View – the Marmite of online maps

By Dana Hashem

The mounting controversy over Google’s latest ‘Street View’ venture has had us all wondering whether the search engine giant had finally bitten off more than it could chew.

 

The technology, which adds 360 degree views of locations to maps, sparked an avalanche of complaints that it was in breach of the Data Protection Act, leaving the comms team at Google staving off attacks from all quarters as concerned citizens literally took to the streets in protest.

 

The locals of Broughton were quick to get their pitchforks out and accosted a Google Street View car when it was spotted trundling towards their village.  But one human barricade and a few reams of media coverage later, the official verdict from the UK’s Information Commissioner this week was that Google's Street View should not be stopped - ironically, it seems that the only thing the protestors achieved was to put their village on the map, so to speak.

 

Amidst the rise of CCTV cameras and the current rush towards ID cards, super-databases and police databanks, getting incensed about Google Street View seems rather like complaining about a paper cut while marching towards the guillotine.  If I really wanted to be pedantic, I could drive to Broughton this weekend, take a few snaps and post them in a blog – there would be no legislation to stop me.  With Google making a big noise about its willingness to remove any images from the map on request, those people who were always going to have a problem with an online mapping system are being made to look somewhat unreasonable.  Not only is this a wise PR move for Google, but the number of images that are being removed is insignificant in the grand scheme of things and doesn’t affect the functionality of Street View.

 

A quick romp through the Twittersphere shows the debate is also alive and well within the technologically-savvy online community.  While apparently happy to give details of their location, social life and day-to-day decisions between a frappuccino and a latte, it seems that some Twits are somewhat disgruntled at the thought of popping up on an online map.  Others, however, champion the benefits of Street View, heralding it as an unrivalled tool for promoting tourism, finding meeting points and checking out property locations. 

 

Add to this that fact that Street View will provide a potentially invaluable source of social information for future generations, and I think we have a winner.   I for one am a fan – although I realise I’ve landed on the ‘love’ side of this particular Marmite fence.  I’m sure the man who was caught cheating on his wife thanks to Street View is now in riled opposition of the project...

YouTube: the internet’s most successful failure

By Alexandra Radius

 

Everybody knows the incredible success of YouTube but something people are less aware of is the massive operating costs paid by YouTube to cover its huge internet connection and bandwidth needs, so its content can be accessed by millions of users all over the world.

 

According to a recent report by financial analysts at Crédit Suisse, YouTube/Google may well lose $470m in 2009. That puts it in a far worse position than some of the biggest names in the beleaguered print press where staff layoffs and potential closures seem to be announced weekly.  

 

As the report points out, YouTube’s fundamental problem is that it can’t find sufficient advertisers, as most will not pay to support amateur videos and photos. The videos which are the most often viewed are the ones which cost YouTube the most money and also tend to have content that advertisers don’t necessarily want their brand associated with.  Would you pay to sponsor a video showing a football referee being attacked? Exactly… 

 

In an effort to generate revenue, YouTube has already tried to establish partnerships with a number of Hollywood studios and record companies to broadcast professional, paid-for content, but this solution hasn’t yet enabled the website to show a profit.

 

So what’s the solution? Should YouTube propose paid for services similar to iTunes? Other ways could be to establish use limitations to control bandwidth or launch a subscription system for professional accounts. The real question is, would you prefer to see YouTube disappear or would you prefer to pay for some of the content? Maybe you’ll chose to save money and use peer-to-peer instead, but that’s another debate…

What will come of playing in the cloud?

By Ben Roberts

 

Cloud computing has already made waves in the business world, and now it’s looking to take over the video games industry.  Steve Perlman, the man behind the beginnings of video streaming with Apple’s QuickTime, has developed OnLive and hopes to revolutionise the gaming industry.  Essentially OnLive uses cloud computing to facilitate high powered gaming even if the end user has a low power computer; all that can limit the standard of service is the user’s bandwidth.

 

In theory it makes sense, but I don’t see how any cloud could have enough power to fuel gamers’ habits!  We’re talking about huge volumes of data being transferred in real time and the processing power of the OnLive servers would have to be enormous – at any point millions of gamers could be placing incredible strain on the system.

 

If OnLive doesn’t work, we’re just looking at another fantasy gaming machine that failed to deliver, much like the Phantom.  But if this does work, many are predicting the end of console gaming and a spell of dominance for OnLive.

 

This could be disastrous.  By having only one dominant means of gaming, developers and publishers would dedicate funds to this area, leaving developing systems and ideas to sit unfulfilled.  Competition may become fierce in terms of developing games, but competition would be all but non-existent in terms of developing gaming systems. 

 

All this would lead to is a stagnation of the industry and a serious deterioration in the influence of innovation.  To understand the importance of innovation in gaming, consider the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS series which have sold 50 million and 100 million units respectively.  Nintendo have broken down barriers in gaming, found success across all demographics and opened up the gaming industry.

 

It’s ironic that a brilliantly innovative product like OnLive could destroy further innovation in gaming systems development.  Let’s hope that even if OnLive is a hit, other consoles will continue to be successful and push our experiences further.

No more hiding behind anonymity

By Mike King

 

The issue of leaving anonymous comments on the net has long been contentious, but there are a growing number of cases where people are claiming legal redress against the leavers of defamatory anonymous comments.

 

In one such case in California, it looks as though the law may be coming down against the case for anonymity.  A couple is taking legal action against a web forum to make it reveal the identity of people who posted anonymous comments about them.  The couple, who were cleared of a sexual assault charge, claim that the comments made about them are defamatory.  

 

And there are plenty of other similar examples, such as the Maxon/mywebtimes.com and cvillenews.com cases.

 

It’s about time too.  The culture of anonymous commenting has long been an unpleasant part of the net but still it continues.  Back in 2006 Shel Isreal posted his living room comment policy refusing to accept anonymous comments on his blog.

 

It seems pretty clear to me that people should be held accountable for their comments in a public forum, whether online or otherwise.  Apart from the obvious cowardice of hiding behind anonymously posting comments, anonymity hides vested interests, makes it far too easy for people to lie and often provides a forum for abuse.  The whole practice strikes me as rather pathetic. 

 

To have any credibility, comments need to be attributed and the author should be prepared to stand by them.  Perhaps the legal challenges being made will change net culture for the better.

Connecting for Health in need of urgent resuscitation

By Andy Chatterton  

With the amount of media exposure around the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) – the body which oversees the NHS programme, Connecting for Health (CfH) – it’s easy to believe that the NHS’ IT systems are a complete mess.

With chief executive of leading hospitals lambasting various aspects of the NPfIT, claiming that the systems currently being installed are already ‘causing heartache and hard work’, and worryingly, costing money, there is a severe lack of faith in the Programme from the very people it is meant to be helping. 

CfH is designed to reform the way the NHS in England uses information, improving services and patient care.  A recent House of Commons Public Account Committee report, which originally acknowledged the Programme’s aims as  ambitious, has since concluded that they are bordering on the impossible.  For example, the Care Records Service is four years behind schedule (now due 2014), and while the Programme started with four Local Service Providers, two have now left, with Fujitsu’s departure causing acute problems for Trusts in the South in England (my neck of the woods).

To say these IT problems are ironic is an understatement; was there ever an organisation in such dire need of even the most basic technology?

For example, a young relative of mine, recently diagnosed with a serious kidney condition, was referred by her local hospital to Great Ormond Street.  Her parents waited and waited for the children’s hospital to get in touch and begin her treatment.

After two weeks with no contact, her folks contacted GOSH to find out they knew nothing about her.   They were aghast to learn their local hospital sent a letter, which obviously never arrived in London.  Her parents were then forced to fax over their copy of the letter to GOS to ensure that their daughter could start to receive the treatment she urgently needed.

Surely, even in local hospitals, the technology must be in place that allows doctors to communicate more effectively with each other, especially with serious cases, rather than sending a letter.  With a huge percentage of the UK population having access to email, why is the NHS still relying on the Royal Mail?  Haven’t they even heard of the phone?

Clearly the changes the NPfIT is bringing in are crucial and much needed, but those responsible have to get better in implementing them, there is technology out there that can help to ensure projects are completed on time and on budget, allowing managers to foresee potential problems and reacting to them before they cause delays.   This is obviously being overlooked at the moment.

I mentioned the aim of the Programme above, but if those responsible are to truly improve service and the quality of patient care, they may have to go back to the basics, before setting out on more ambitious, expensive and seemingly out of control projects.