michaeljcooper.co.uk

Postrank: A Master Metric For Engagement

2010-01-13T23:50:50Z

It seems that there is a large amount of optimism around about social media ROI this year. However, I remember a colleague of mine saying that there is not, nor ever will be, a holy grail for social media evaluation. I agree that while attempts will be made, it's unlikely we'll ever find a figure that equates to the inaccurate AVE value that was adopted by PR industry to measure editorial coverage.

Instead, we should be looking at a selection of metrics from across the board that are tied to business objectives. If you want to drive more traffic to your website, look at click throughs from social media sources and strengthen those that are working. If building your network is important, look at engagement metrics including retweets or comments. Factor in key messages and you've a strong analysis model for your business or client.

That's where Postrank comes in. They provide a variety of tools across data services, analytics and for consumers. But my word it's so simple it's fun. Let's take the consumer tools which they state are:

a variety of free tools for publishers and online information consumers to discover the best blogs, news, and articles by topic; to perform comparisons of engagement performance among a group of sites by topic; or to analyze their own site’s content for audience engagement in real-time and over time.

Quite simply Postrank is a master metric for engagement. It tracks posts and scores them against others on the same blog or against other blog posts within the same topic. This isn't just about number of subscribers but about who interacts with the blog and comments, retweets, bookmarks etc. The sheer wealth of sites tracked means a picture can be built and graded.

As bloggers looking to improve levels of engagement or PRs searching for influential bloggers, Postrank is a powerful tool to use and one that should not be ignored. In fact the AdAge Power 150 league table already gives greater weighting to Postrank and other topic specific blog tables such as the Tots100 also incorporate it into their rankings.

Of course tomorrow is a big day as Postrank themselves announce the Top Blogs of 2009 according to their algorithm and rankings so it's going to be interesting to see how this differs from other tables now that engagement is the key factor.

Augmented Reality Suffers Due To International Mobile Data Costs

2010-01-12T18:08:59Z

I've just returned from another trip to St Petersburg which, as always, was simply fantastic. I've seen many of the typical tourist sites now with the help of a Lonely Planet guide on my original trip but I'm now finding it more appealing to visit local cafes or bars and experience the places that the residents enjoy. Here in the UK, I could take a look at Foursquare for tips or even use Yelp's augmented reality app, Monocle, to guide me to the best places. However, I'm too scared to turn on the web on my iPhone. I've been stung by O2 before as I've accessed data oversees only to be greeted by a huge telephone bill on my return.

While hype around augmented reality or AR has grown over the last year thanks to the innovative work of companies such as Total Immersion, I don't believe that the true potential of this technology for exploring new locations will ever be realised until we can freely access the information overseas.

The two killer apps I remember seeing a couple of years ago as AR began to appear were location-based guidance or tour guides that directed you to attractions while providing you further information and language translation. Both of these are only really of use in foreign countries and I can only imagine how expensive it would be to download the wealth of data needed by an AR app.

Of course, they'll be other applications for this technology, some will be marketing led while others will prove genuinely useful. Sadly we're going to have to wait for the mobile phone operators to get their act together on reducing overseas data costs before we can travel and use this innovative technology on our mobile devices without fear.

Tweetie 2.0 Breaks The Rules Of Perceived Value

2009-09-29T22:22:52Z

Let me start by saying that I'm a huge fan of Tweetie. It's a superb app for using Twitter on my iPhone and I soon migrated across from Tweetdeck to the Mac desktop version thanks to it's simple, yet beautiful interface. The news that Tweetie is launching version 2.0 is very exciting especially considering the introduction of features such as draft manager or synching with the iPhone address book.

But here's the flip side. Tweetie 2.0 will cost £1.79. Now that's not a huge amount but we have to consider that the majority of Tweetie users have already paid to download the original application. Surely it's our right, as original users, to qualify for a free upgrade to the latest software isn't it? Well if that's our perception, Apple has a lot to answer for.

Apple has, for the past two years, allowed iPhone users to upgrade to subsequent versions of their iPhone software for no extra cost (iPod Touch owners have to pay for the upgrade). The chief reason for this has to be related to the perceived value of what is an incredibly expensive phone. Traditionally phone software was clunky and anything but a pleasure to use but the iPhone changed all that. By updating the software at no cost, they are able to add new features to the expensive hardware, extending the life of the product. Effectively this gives users a brand new phone every year - 2.0 introduced apps (can you believe how much love we gave the phone when all we could do was go online, via edge if you were lucky!) while 3.0 added the long awaited basic functions of cut & paste and MMS. Only when the software is limited by the hardware (eg. no video recording, slow internet connection) do users feel the necessity upgrade.

In terms of software development, this goes completely against the grain, especially in a world where new operating systems are released every couple of years by Microsoft or Apple. At least that software is discounted for upgraders. No such luck for Tweetie users.

Intially I shared the sentiments of PatrickJ as I was outraged at the thought of parting with more cash for what is 'just another Twitter app' especially considering other quality apps such as Twitterific are available for free. But then Tweetie 2.0 is being built from the ground up. And it's packed full of new features. And if Loren Brichter really is working so hard, he deserves my cash for what is, quite simply, a delighful product and a joy to use.

UPDATE: I conceded after plenty of debate and bought Tweetie 2. It's worth every penny.

Blog From The Dead

2009-09-28T23:53:38Z

I'm delighted that Robert Scoble didn't back up his blog. If it wasn't for him, I never would have realised that Google Reader is one of the greatest archives ever created. As previously posted, I lost all my posts that originally appeared on the PR Media Blog. Thankfully Google Reader has preserved my words of wisdom dating back to March 2008.

I'm looking forward to reading those again, comparing my thoughts to how the world has moved on and posting them here for all to see. Hope you enjoy reading them (again if you read them first time around).

Hope you can join me in a retrospective look back which will indicate how social media has moved on and look forward to hearing your comments.

The Viral Effect

2009-09-28T23:14:14Z

If you're looking to understand what makes a video go viral, I recommend studying this video which is 4 minutes of either nostalgia or questioning exactly what you just saw. How many of these YouTube greatest hits do you recognise?

You Can't Own Social Media

2009-07-06T22:01:27Z

Walking around those shops was like walking around the marketing industry with many different types of 'shops' out there - PR, digital, SEO, media buying, advertising, social media - the list goes on. Right now each of these shops is fiercely selling social media, with many claiming to be 'experts'. Each version of this packaged 'social media' is slightly different but, just like the clock, not one of them can claim to be better than another. It's really a matter of taste.

Come Here Often?

2009-07-02T00:26:39Z

Welcome to my brand new blog. Now I know what you're thinking.“He’s not a blogger. He doesn’t have posts from years ago. Why would I listen to him about online PR, social media and the digital future?” Well if I’m right and that is exactly what you are thinking I should either become a professional psychic or give you a little background on what brought me to this point. It’s a little late for such a dramatic career change so I’ll settle for the latter.

I started experimenting with blogging back in 2007 with a little blog called All About Image which was a combination of my thoughts on PR 2.0 (as it was known back in 2007) and photography. My photos rarely made it to the site but I was keen to voice my opinions so while working at my former PR agency, I became one of the co-founders of PR Media Blog which explored the ever-changing relationship between media and public relations. Sadly on leaving the agency, I had to leave the blog in some very capable hands which are still tapping away on keyboards, posting stories to this day. I urge you to go visit them and hear what they have to say. They’re the first in what will become a comprehensive list of ‘people you should listen to’. However, due to an accident in the space-time continuum, all my posts on that blog were wiped out leaving no trace that I ever existed there at all.

Going it alone, I’m now writing here on my new blog simple entitled michaeljcooper.co.uk. Let’s face it. All the good (and most of the bad) names have gone and keeping your name in the title didn’t do Chris Brogan or Seth Godin any harm.

And so standing on the shoulders (or should that be in the shadows) of giants, I’m taking a bold step with my brand new blog. Please let me know your thoughts on the design (which will change), my opinions (which will also no doubt change) and my passion for online PR, social media and the digital future (which I hope won’t).

I look forward to seeing you around these parts more often. Don’t be a stranger.

UPDATE: I've found all my previous blog posts through Google Reader and are all posted below.

How Many People Does It Take To Change The World?

2008-09-25T13:30:00Z

Google has launched probably its most ambitious project to date. As part of the Project 10 to the 100th, the search engine company (which is rapidly changing into a company that defies definition) is calling on everyone to submit ideas to change the world. Throwing in $10million to bring these ideas to life, Google is clearly putting other CRS campaigns to shame as only they could and living by their motto of ‘Don’t Be Evil’.

There are no rules aside from the fact that ideas must fall into one of the stipulated categories: Community, Opportunity, Energy, Environment, Health, Education, Shelter and Everything Else because ’sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into a category at all’.

As a PR, I’ve lost count the number of times truly great ideas from either a campaign or social responsibilty perspective have been rejected by senior figures and clients due to budget restrictions. Taking the over-used buzz of ‘blue sky thinking’ rarely comes without caveats that further down the line, the idea will be ’streamlined’ or just dropped.

So this is a call to all those marketeers out there who spend their days dreaming on behalf of their clients. You have a new client with a $10million budget and you can do anything you want, so long as it changes the world for the better. Now that’s what I call a brief!

Where Are We Going?

2008-09-23T13:12:00Z

Sometimes it’s good to stop and daydream about exactly where we’re going. Social media is advancing at a fairly rapid pace and most people are still trying to get to grips with ‘web 2.0′. This has all come about with the advancement in technology and so the best way to get an indication of what we’ll be using in the future and how we’ll be interacting with it is to look to the current areas of growth in this field.

We’ve been priviledged to get our hands on some next generation technology on behalf of one of our clients, something that I personally believe will change how we see the world around us with this technology becoming an even more integral and useful part of our daily lives.

But if you’re lacking vision of the future but don’t have a crystal ball to hand, you could do worse than read the report from InfoWorld that looks ahead to the year 2018. Place your bets now on which of these predictions will come true.

The Future Of The Web Is Ubiquitous

2008-08-27T17:06:00Z

Mozilla, the people behind the popular Firefox web browser, announced today a new project that could will change the way we engage with the internet.

Ubiquity has a simple goal: ‘to enable the user to instruct the browser (by typing, speaking, using language) what they want to do’.

The smartest part of the software is making use of language and allowing a computer to understand what we mean without us mere mortals having to modify our speech or writing patterns.

Imagine typing (or even saying) “book a flight for me from Manchester to London, leaving on Monday and returning on Wednesday, the cheapest, then email my colleagues in London office the flight details and add to my calendar. Oh and book me a hotel with at least four star reviews for the same dates.” You understand what I mean. If I had a personal assistant, they would probably make this happen. But my computer didn’t do anything. Not a thing.

As Aza points out:

“We aren’t there yet. Instead, we have the rudimentary systems of structured natural language commands. You can select something and Ubiq “translate this to French”, or “email it to Jono”. In both cases, Ubiquity is smart enough to realize what “this” and “it” refers to, as well as knowing who Jono is (by talking with my web-mail’s contact list). It’s also smart enough to be able to understand commands like “map Chicago Comics” and “yelp Tapas near SF” and give you rich previews and search results to get you where you want to be quickly. Even better, both of those commands let you insert results directly into, say, an email you’re writing so that you never have to interrupt your chain of thought.” Genius.

Robert Scoble notes that this will only be picked up by passionate internet users but I believe that once this is adopted by an even bigger player, most likely as copycat software introduced to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, that’s when everything changes.

I can even imagine Steve Jobs taking to the stage in a couple of years time to explain how the new version of Safari can take care of everything for you. Just type it in and BOOM!

There’s no need to wait for a keynote from Steve or Steve. If you’re a passionate internet user you can take a sneak peak at the future right now with this video. Or go one step further and download Ubiquity for Firefox.

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.