If Facebook hosts news, I'm hiring...
Humans are inherently lazy - and product managers are aware of this.
The swiping motion with which we command our phone screens reduces us to the basest of motor skills we learn virtually at birth, while voice commands have superseded even the remote control as our preferred way to interact with entertainment systems in the home.
I mean, why would I read a whole IKEA instruction manual when I can just watch a video instead? (Just kidding - I don't shop at IKEA).
Facebook, never one to miss a trick where the user experience is concerned, is in talks with media groups about hosting news content within the social network, enabling users to consume entire stories without tapping out to external hosts.
While such an alliance presents obvious gains for Facebook and publishers alike, most of which concern economics and reach, it also throws up plenty of positives for content suppliers and the humble reader too.
As a supplier of branded news, I can see demand for our content growing in-line with audience expectations on the channel and the increased needs of the news outlets we provide to – so more video, more visuals, more copy and more stories in general to meet increased publisher outputs. Happy times.
Additionally, and I may be getting a little ahead of myself here, if Facebook were to pull a Vice and launch a standalone Facebook News sub-brand, then it gives me yet another outlet to sell stories in to and potentially partner with - plus they really don’t come bigger in terms of audience size and segmentation.
Back to the user experience and it’s still good news.
Facebook hosting will make shaping content for social consumption mandatory for publishers, ensuring all outputs are visual, digestible, shareable and mobile – marry this to the convenience of consuming content from multiple outlets in a single space (while also doing all of your social housekeeping) and we could easily save 10-15 minutes a day on our reading time.
Finally, and this is of benefit to reader, platform and content supplier alike, Facebook hosting will lead to deeper engagement and all-round satisfaction – longer reads, greater dwell times, more sharing, increased content performance, happier authors and happier clients.
And for those who fear Facebook dominance, there will always be an alternative – there always is.
Just think of this Facebook/publisher partnership as being one of several labour-saving devices delivered over the years, enabling us to open our ever-expanding daily procrastination window to more cat gifs such as this one and Tinder freaks (I don’t use Tinder).
Sledgens and Legends: The 2015 Cricket World Cup in Tweets
At the risk of sounding like a bitter Englishman, the 2015 Cricket World Cup has been a bit of a laborious affair. Ever since that fateful day in Adelaide when England failed to overcome Bangladesh (BANGLADESH!) to reach the knock-out stages I have been huffing and puffing about the long-winded nature (irony of ironies for a cricket fan) of a tournament that has served only to draw attention to the gulf in class that divides India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand from the rest of the world.
But despite there being a distinct lack of momentous games, there has been no shortage of momentous moments. New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori defied the laws of physics with a spectacular one-handed catch at the boundary this weekend, Windies all-rounder Chris Gayle mirrored Sachin Tendulkar with a double century, Pakistan's Wahab Riaz bowled a mesmerising innings against the Aussies and Martin Guptill’s 237 runs from 163 balls are just a few of many moments that match the gravitas of a World Cup.
And this year Twitter has been there to capture all the action after signing an agreement with the ICC to launch a host of innovative and interactive features. The move, which sets a precedent for future tournaments, positioned the social media platform as a central hub for match commentary, expert analysis and fan insight, transcending geographical and time limits to make the cup a truly ‘world’ affair with fans at the heart of the action.
In true cricketing fashion the Twittersphere responded with admiration and tactical intimidation in equal measure. Old rivalries re-born, fierce competition re-lived and passions personified as the highs and lows of The Imperial Game were played out across Australasia, all of which made great fodder for social media channels.
Here’s a review of how the Sledgend and the Ledgend lit up this year’s tournament on social media.
The Sledge
Australia (gotta love ‘em) initiated the sledging (a form of verbal intimidating) with a campaign by an online bookmaker advertising two cricket balls with the slogan: “Missing, Pair of Balls – if found please return to the English cricket team.” The ad ran before the home nation’s game against England in Melbourne and immediately became a social media success with the hashtag #MissingBalls trending in a matter of hours.
Our Digital Hub team picked up the social media movement and were quick to publicise. The first sledge of the tournament was soon up on the Telegraph, the Mirror and various other online titles who published the story as a good-natured exchange of banter.
But it doesn’t always work out so well. A club cricket final in New Zealand has recently made national headlines after it was abandoned due to one team refusing to play on, citing "bullying" from their opponents as the reason for pulling stumps. As the national team prepare for a feisty encounter with South Africa tomorrow could we see a repeat of the feisty 2011 World Cup quarter-final, or will the intimidating exchanges be left for the Twitterati to administer?
The Ledge
One thing we are sure to see as the semi-finals commence is a good dose of admiration for World Cup legends. The one day format differs from test cricket in that it propels individual performances into the limelight more than the team as a whole, a trait which is conducive to the 140 character limit on Twitter.
This year’s semi-finalists demonstrate this well. Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc is at the centre of social media hype in the run-up to their clash with India who have every chance of upsetting the host nation in their own backyard if the likes of MS Dhoni, Mohammad Shami and Ajinkya Rahane can repeat their heroic performances. And if New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill can #Guptill South Africa tomorrow he will become a social media saint overnight.
With three of the best games of the tournament yet to come, prepare to see a frenzy of social media activity kick off as the sledgend meets the legend.
Lack of Female Role Models for Girls in the Media
It’s painful just how hugely teenage girls obsess over beautiful celebs, isn’t it?
Even more painful is remembering being exactly the same way.
As an awkward pre-teen, the waist of my trousers still that bit too high, I directed all my adolescent envy towards two TV babes: Holly Valance (Neighbours fan – weren’t we all) and Frankie, of the highly-regarded eight-piece ensemble, the S Club Juniors. Pause for emphasis.
They were older than me; I guess around 14 - slim, clear-skinned and so unbearably good-looking.
Call me a shallow kid but if someone had said to me, ‘What do you want in life?’ I’d have thought, ‘Flick Scully’s complexion’ without pausing. I didn’t know what else to put my energy towards. School?
Perhaps it was a blessing then, that my only exposure to these girls was through music videos, CBBC and my monthly Sugar mag, so I was only mildly hateful of myself. Imagining what my life would have been like if I were 11 years old today….to endure the social media noise that teenagers have now… well that’s too stressful to think about.
It’s likely I’d be drip-fed a continuous stream of Holly and Frankie through their Twitter feeds; lapping it up as they churned out duck-faced selfies, holiday pics strewn with product placement, bikini mirror shots - at a Kardashian regularity. In a misplaced brainwave I’d probably have uploaded a ‘vlog’ of myself re-enacting a Fast Show sketch with a toy panda or something, which, years later, I would almost kill myself trying to remove. I might have even… enjoyed Zoella. It’s frightening, what might have been.
Imagining what my life would have been like if I were 11 years old today….to endure the social media noise that teenagers have now… well that’s too stressful to think about.
But the next generation – the millennials (apparently I might be a millennial, a fact I’d rather hide away from)- live each day in this media frenzy, which is barely being contained. We’re only beginning to see the dark side developing from this parallel world - the Instagram culture, the trolling, cyber bullying, revenge porn – and what an obsession with narcissistic, selfie-addicted reality stars might do to a teenager’s sense of self.
The problem lies in the fact that the really cool women – the explorers, zoologists, scientists, entrepreneurs, are NOWHERE to be seen. And the Kardashians, the Jenners, the cast of Towie - who are solely famous for publicity and looks, are EVERYWHERE. They aren’t particularly admirable, aren’t representing a viable career move and are spreading their own message of ‘you don’t look good enough’ to their young fans like a disease.
It’s mostly ‘the Kylie Jenner effect’ (the influx of girls getting lip fillers due to her sudden enormous pout) that made me write this post, as it got me thinking about idols. Aside from their own family members, not to be downplayed, and a stock list of historical figures like Marie Curie that are churned out in school, there are just reams and reams of glitzy celebs. Throw in a Karen Brady, a Michelle Obama and a Mary Portas and that’s it, really.
A space-travelling woman going to Mars may be mentioned in the news one day, or an athlete on another day, or a CEO on another And then she fades into obscurity as a ‘What has she done to her face?!’ story dominates the air time for weeks.
Put simply, there is no PR for the real idols girls need. No scientists, world explorers, chemists, psychologists. No web designers, charity workers, astronauts or business owners. And if we, as adults, don’t know anything about the women making real changes in the world but constantly seeing Kim Kardashian’s blonde mop gets a news headline, no wonder girls are chasing their goals right into the cosmetic surgeon’s office instead.
There is no PR for the real idols girls need
I want to hear about women that are worth looking up to and emulating, who have made something of themselves based on more than their cheekbones. Who have seen a problem and looked to solve it, through hard graft and innovation.
And we should research them, and talk about them, and share them, and give them the PR they deserve – but also (cue the Miss. World bit) because it’s what young girls deserve. The scope of what women are achieving isn’t bleak; they’re just humble enough not to be yelling about it. It’s up to everyone else to yell about them instead. It’s up to us change the situation.
International Women's Day is the 8th March. Don't forget to join the conversation using #IWD2015
PR Seminar: Dealing With the Press and Coping With Christmas
I’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone who took the time out of their busy morning to join us for our first ever northern 72Point seminar on Thursday.
It was nice to renew a few old acquaintances, catch up with our best clients from that part of the world, and also network with a whole host of people who we haven’t previously met.
The high-point for me was the bacon rolls, while the low-point was the moment I unwittingly ‘brought the house down’ during Sam’s talk in the form of causing the collapse of one of our banners.
I have obviously apologised to Sam!
I hope everyone who was there took something from it. We will find out soon I guess, once we receive your feedback via our online poll.
I did explain during my talk that I would happily pass on the hints and tips which I discussed at length, so here is a transcript of the interesting bits:
If you do have huge pressure to sell in stories in the run up to Christmas, call news desks early.
When I worked on desks we would start at 6.15am
But bear in mind conference is at 10.30am or 11am, and in an ideal world the news list will be complete by 10am or 10.15.
That means the busiest and most fraught time of the morning is between about 8.30 and 9.45am.
And guess what happens at that time in the morning. That’s when PR people call up.
People always say to me that journalists need PRs.
That’s not necessarily true.
Specialist reporters do. News desks don’t.
There is always more than enough happening around the world to fill 39 news pages, especially considering their over reliance on citizen journalism, social networking sites and Sky News, for their content.
So if you don’t want to be shouted at, ring up between 7am and 8am.
Whether you ring up or not, you must get your story over in the A.M.
After this most stories which arrive on news desks will either be spiked – which is effectively the waste-paper basket – or they will be cut very short to fit into a specific space on a page.
That’s because later on in the day, is not the quality of the story which is the defining factor. Space on the page is.
If you have to create a festive tale, be different. Forget ‘Dads get socks for Christmas’, for example. It’s dull and is probably the most common Xmas PR tale.
Try and think outside the box and try and ensure your story isn’t just a stat. There IS a difference.
Six out of ten dads will be asleep on the sofa by 2pm isn’t a story.
‘Six out of ten dads will be asleep on the sofa by 2pm – after consuming six pints of lager, three glasses of champagne and a creme-de-menthe’ – is a story, because it has the crucial five Ws and the H elements.
This sort of story then becomes about Christmas, booze and dads, not just Christmas. And we all like a drink at Christmas so it flicks a little switch of resonance.
This sort of intro also gives you somewhere to go with the subsequent paragraphs.
When did dad start drinking? What was on telly when he started? How long before that did he get up?
Did he sleep through the Queen’s speech?
How much does he drink over the entirety of the festive period etc etc?
AND this sort of story does not have to be told in a negative way. It’s all about the tone.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the MailOnline DO run Xmas stories, quite a few in fact.
So if you have one which you think will sit nicely on what is now the world’s biggest free news site, write it in the style they prefer.
Include up to six bullet-pointed sentences at the top of your copy.
This way you have a chance of them copying and pasting the copy – which they seem to be a huge fan of at the moment – without changing much of it.
Getting your story on a news wire is also important.
Up until around five years ago I would have said that if you were placing your story on a news wire you wouldn’t really have needed to call up and actively sell it in as well.
But these days there are so few people working on newspapers that it’s likely your story may be missed or overlooked, so I would say call up anyway.
It can do no harm, and might make the difference between success and failure.
When you call avoid introducing yourself. It won’t make a difference. They are busy people and they are under immense pressure. They don’t want to make friends.
So when they pick up the phone and bark at you, bark back. Just say ”I’ve got a story for you”. This will stop them in their tracks and they will take the time to listen to you.
Then read the intro of your story. Don’t use the words press release or survey and certainly don’t mention a brand.
Once you have read them the intro, if they haven’t turned the story down or hung up, read them the second paragraph.
If they then give you their personal email address, you are in. There is now a chance they will use your story.
If they say: ‘Send it to news@the-sun.co.uk’, that’s the bin, or it certainly was when I worked on the paper.
And remember if you get a bauble in the Daily Star give yourselves a massive pat on the back, because this time of the year any news coverage is GREAT news coverage.
Have a wonderful Christmas.
Thanks for listening.
The Power Behind the Rainbow Laces Campaign
Paddy Power never fail to disappoint when it comes to PR and marketing.
Previous examples of brilliance include their Luis Suarez advert, their break glass in an emergency Alex Ferguson, or their multiple world cup themed pieces.
Their latest marketing campaign however, although less comical, surpasses all previous attempts.
Working with sexuality charity Stonewall, Paddy Power have launched their#RainbowLaces campaign. The idea behind the campaign is to show solidarity for gay footballers and intolerance for homophobia in the sport by wearing, you guessed it, Rainbow Laces.
Although the campaign originally launched last year, it was accused of being merely another publicity stunt and has been redrafted with a more serious approach.
The campaign re-launched on the 8th September and has already found its feet.
The Metro produced a special Rainbow Laces edition of their paper which featured re-designs of well-known ads showing support for the campaign on behalf of dozens of household brands. The issue was even voted as Creative Review’s Ad of the Week.
Intelligent adverts being given a national showcase in the national press in which to convey their message is more than just a clever marketing trick. It’s a statement of how far society has come. It’s a reflection of what can be achieved if you have the right tools, support and platforms.
Notable examples of the above ads include Premier Inn who showed their support for the campaign with a rejigging of their brand name, changing it to Premier Out. Genius.
Smirnoff’s ad featured a rainbow coloured bottle of Smirnoff surrounded by the laces and the strapline ‘We wouldn’t change our recipe but we can change the game’.
This tied in with one of Paddy Power’s own ads which uses the line ‘it only takes two minutes to change the game’ and diagrams of how to place the laces in your boots in a style reminiscent of managerial tactic sketches.
Rather unsurprisingly Paddy Power have based all their advert designs specifically on football giving each a football punned strapline.
As well as the ‘change the game’ line above, other Paddy Power slogans include ‘now more than ever you’ve got the world at your feet’ and, possibly my favourite, ‘We don’t care which team you play for ’.
They even recruited the help of the Arsenal squad. It’s not the first time that Arsenal Football Club have shown their support for equal rights. In 2008 the club launched its ‘Arsenal for Everyone’ campaign to ‘ensure that everyone associated with the club feels an equal sense of belonging’. We live in a culture where, perhaps unjustly, footballers are idolised by a generation of young boys and girls, so who better to spread a message of equality.
The video, which shows certain Arsenal players list personal characteristics they can’t change, is worth a watch if you haven’t already. It not only reinforces the message that being gay is something you can’t change, but it also shows a level of self-deprecation and a sense of humour that, I for one, was unaware existed in football.
Highlights include the diminutive Santi Cazorla’s eyes peering over the edge of the camera unable to change his height; Mikel Arteta using more hairspray than is ecologically acceptable unable to change his ‘perfecto’ hair and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stating that he is unable to change that he looks like a teenage mutant ninja turtle. Which he does by the way….Like, really does.
The rainbow laces campaign shows the true power of PR and marketing; using the power and influence of brands and influential personalities to spread a positive message to all age groups and demographics. My only concern is that it limits the campaign to football, after all homophobia has no place in any aspect of our culture or society but hopefully this is a step in the right direction.
