I’m trying and failing to make sense of the numerous blog posts and articles about the demise of Google Reader. For PR and journalism it was more than just another web service, it is actually a fundamentally important tool that vastly increases your ability to do your job well. Ironically I’ve hardly ever used the Google Reader interface, but just took advantage of its ability to sync with other readers that provide a much better user experience. The demise of Google Reader means that all of the news readers that used its API as a back end to synchronise feeds now won’t work properly.

On the desktop FeedDemon was a powerful tool for managing lots of RSS feeds and the Google Reader sync meant I could still access my feeds on the go using a mobile and/or tablet app. I’ve used several of these and my current favourite is Feedly.

I’ve made these tools an important part of my online PR training as one of the biggest issues for many people is information overload and they were a big part of managing that effectively. As many have already said Twitter is an irrelevance as it performs an entirely different function to RSS readers and the idea that a professional PR person could rely on it for news and knowledge is ridiculous.

What I need from an RSS reader is to:

1. Sync across multiple devices so that feeds I’ve read on one are cleared on another
2. Sync folders/tags across multiple devices so I can save stuff and find it again
3. Search just in the feeds I’m subscribed to
4. Store feeds offline so I can use them all the time such as on a plane or the underground
5. Use a ‘common standard’ for syncing so I can continue to use different apps/programs on different devices

That’s what a combination of Google Reader, FeedDemon and Feedly used to give me. As far as I can make out none of the alternatives that people are blogging about match my minimum requirements.

Or am I wrong and there is an answer out there? Help me!

The Twitter password security breach is a good reminder of why it is important to always protect yourself by using good online security. You should be doing it on your personal accounts, but if you are responsible for corporate social media accounts it is even more important to get it right. They are more vulnerable to potential attack because they are higher profile than most personal accounts.

LinkedIn has also suffered similar security breaches. That’s why it’s so important not to use the same password across different accounts as if you do then one is breached all of the others are vulnerable as well. The @HMVtweets incident where an employee that was being made redundant used the official HMV Twitter account to tweet about it is another good example of why you need a good password management policy in places. It appears in the HMV case that management didn’t immediately have access to the Twitter account.

If a brand or corporate social media account is breached then the corporate reputation consequences can be serious. Not only is the actual breach embarrassing, but it also raise serious doubt about the company’s or organisation’s ability to keep other information secure. The fact that sensitive data is dealt with securely by a different team to the social media won’t stop people worrying and doubting you.

Some good tips for password security are:

1) Use a different password for everything. Yes, if you’ve got lots that might mean hundreds of different passwords, but there are ways to manage that. And also in reality you’ll be using far fewer on a day to day basis as some of these accounts will be ones that you aren’t active on.

2) Lots of secure password advice is wrong. Lots of people think a secure password means an eight character word with a mix of capital/lower case letters, numbers and symbols. One problem with this is that you’ve very little chance of actually remembering it, especially if you’ve used a different password for everything. Another is that most people use the same ‘tricks’ to change the word. They’ll replace ‘O’ with ‘0’ (zero), or ‘S’ with ‘5’, or ‘l’ with ‘1’. You seriously don’t think hackers don’t know that and haven’t developed programs designed to use the same logic to crack passwords?

3) A long nonsense phrase is far harder to crack. This great graphic (via @absinthetweets) explains it better than I can:

4) Use a password management service. Personally my favourite is LastPass. The basic version is free and it makes it really easy to generate and store a unique secure password for every website or service you use. The premium version is just $12 a year and lets you use the service on most mobiles. The enterprise version which is ideal for managing password security on corporate social media accounts is $24 a year per user and lets you securely share groups of passwords with other users. The obvious point of vulnerability for systems like LastPass is the master password which is why you need to make sure it is both secure and changed regularly.

5) Always remember to change passwords, third party access permissions and administrator privileges when employees change or you change external providers who you’ve given access to such as digital or PR agencies.

Related articles

• Twitter says 250,000 accounts have been hacked in security breach

Before Christmas I blogged about the issues I’d experienced with EE’s customer service when I tried to migrate my account from T-mobile to EE’s 4G service. In a nutshell instead of upgrading my account they upgraded my wife’s so I had a 3G service in a 4G phone and vice versa.

The good news is that I’m now a happy EE customer and enjoying blistering fast 4G speeds. I’m lucky to live in Leeds, which is one of the first cities to get EE’s 4G coverage. Even more impressively I get a good signal at home despite actually living on the very outskirts of Leeds and am as close to Wakefield city centre as I am to Leeds city centre. But even on the outskirts of Leeds you get a strong 4G signal. In fact, you can even get 4G in parts of Wakefield. Although coverage is sporadic as you can sometimes lose it within Leeds.

My issues with EE weren’t solved via the traditional customer service channels, but rather via EE’s advocate programme. Now obviously this isn’t ideal as what customers actually need is for customer service to do what it says on the tin and provide customer service. My main problem with both EE and T-Mobile’s customer service was that nobody I spoke to wanted to take responsibility for helping me. It also doesn’t help that when you’re ‘upgrading’ the two teams are separate. From a customer perspective EE, T-Mobile and Orange are the same thing and it’s up them to sort out their internal communications procedures. not me.

However, things changed when EE’s PR and advocate team got involved and the issue was very quickly resolved. My dealings with EE’s advocate and customer service team have convinced me that EE does take customer service seriously and is making strenuous efforts to improve it.

My personal top customer service tip for EE would simply be to ‘own the problem’. I’m realistic to know that not every customer service complaint can be solved to the customer’s satisfaction so that’s not necessarily what I was looking for. What I was expecting is that once I’d reported there was a problem then EE would ‘own’ it which means it does the investigating and it comes back to me. Not me chasing it multiple times.

In this case I’m delighted with the outcome as I’ve ended up with a better contract than I’d originally tried to sign-up for. I now have 5Gb of 4G data a month and unlimited calls (unlimited texts as well, but as I use less than 20 a month so it’s not really relevant for me). My wife has a similar 3G package (also on EE rather than the T-mobile one she was on before the botched upgrade). The 4G service is so good that I’m using it for mobile data at home rather than connecting to my home/office wifi. It’s too early to say how much data I actually need each month as my current contract runs from December 20 and my travel patterns over Christmas are totally different than at other times of year.

Finally a big thanks to EE, Andrew Grill and Neville Hobson for helping me to resolve this.

I’ve deliberately refrained from blogging about the problems I’ve been having with EE and T-mobile over the last week as I’m uncomfortable with the concept of using my ‘online influencer’ status to get customer service problems fixed. But this post by Andrew Grill has prompted me into changing my mind and finishing a post that has sat in my drafts for the last few days.

It’s rather ironic that EE has set up an online advocate programme at exactly the time I’ve been having major problems as I’ve been an ‘organic’ T-Mobile advocate for years, simply by being a happy customer. Just as Andrew had been a ‘formal’ advocate for Vodafone in the past, I’ve also been a ‘formal’ advocate for O2  and 3 having received free mobiles and SIMs/credit.

Ironically I know all of EE’s new advocates having spoken at the same conferences with most of them: Gabrielle Laine-Peters @gabriellenyc, Paul Clarke @paul_clarke (don’t know as well and probably spoke to him last ages ago at Tom Watson MP’s leaving do when he stepped down as the minister for digital engagement in the Cabinet Office), Neville Hobson @jangles (known for years – we both spoke at the UK’s first ever social media PR conference in November 2005), and Ewan MacLeod @ew4n who is the only one I don’t know in real life, but have worked with when I headed up the global online corporate communications consultancy team for Sony Ericsson and ‘know’ online.

I’ve been a loyal T-mobile customer since about 2003-4. It’s been a slightly complex relationship as I had a personal account which when I formed Wolfstar I turned into a business account and added several extra lines. When I sold my stake in Wolfstar I transferred my personal number back out into a new personal account and later added an extra line for my wife’s phone.

I deliberately stayed with T-mobile as I’d been delighted with the coverage and customer service I’d had over the years so saw little reason to change, even though there were some slightly more competitive deals on the market.

When 4G launched I decided that I’d give it a go, but then spent a while trying to decide if I wanted a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or a Nokia Lumia 920. Both were extremely tempting and I eventually decided by flipping a coin!

I then went into an EE store and explained that my situation was slightly complex as my online T-mobile account was showing that my wife’s line was eligible for upgrade now and mine was in February. My question was could I upgrade mine instead so I could use the Note with 4G on my number and she could continue to use her phone and number on 3G until she upgraded later in the year. Yes, I was told. Fantastic, said I, let’s do it. I also wanted to set-up my direct debit again as I’d been unable to do it online as every time I tried it prevented me as my bill was due in the next few days – this happened no matter what time of the month I tried. Both transactions were soon complete and I was given two new micro-SIMs and sent to another EE shop to get an adapter as they’d run out and I’d need it to use a micro-SIM in my wife’s old phone.

A happy man I walked out of the EE shop twenty minutes later with a shiny new Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which I’m really enjoying.

When I got home it wasn’t showing that I was receiving 4G so I assumed I must be too far out of the Leeds coverage area (I live on the outskirts between Leeds and Wakefield). The following day when we went into Leeds I still wasn’t getting 4G so wondering if they’d made a mistake I tried putting my wife’s SIM in my phone. Hey presto, I suddenly had super fast 4G.

Next day I called EE and met with very little assistance as they didn’t have the ‘paperwork’. Seriously in 2012 they didn’t have the paperwork! I was told I had to go back to the shop. I explained I was off to Amsterdam for a few days and this was impossible. I asked to speak to a supervisor or manager, but was told it was impossible to transfer calls. Frankly, I found it hard to believe a phone company doesn’t have the ability to transfer calls. However, I was promised a call back within 24 hours so I reluctantly accepted. The call never came.

Since then I’ve tweeted a few times and complained on Facebook. EE did respond on Twitter and was reasonably helpful, advising me to call T-Mobile instead of EE. But by then I was off to Amsterdam so I had to pick up the saga when I returned. While in Amsterdam I received a text message from T-mobile saying my bill was overdue. Odd, I thought as the assistant had assured me it would be paid by my new direct debit.

Eight days later I’m still waiting for that call back from EE. So yesterday I called T-mobile, as advised by EE, and after about 30 minutes in a queue spoke to a seemingly helpful man (unlike the very unhelpful woman I spoke to in my original call to EE). I explained the situation to him and he said he could take a debit card payment for my outstanding bill and then transfer me to ‘Customer Retention’ who “might” be able to help. I was somewhat dubious about paying an outstanding bill first when all he was promising was “might”. The previous EE operator had “promised”  a call back in 24 hours, which never came. I agreed and he took the payment and then transferred me to ‘Customer Retention’. Or rather he didn’t, as I first heard music for a short while, followed by garbled voices then I was cut off.

Not wanting to waste another 30 minutes on hold I thought I’d wait for a call back. After all, T-Mobile knew what the problem was and had my number. Just to be on the safe side I reminded them on Twitter that I was expecting a call back. As the situation wasn’t straightforward and I was tired of explaining it time and time again I thought I’d email customer services to help them get it sorted out for me. Unfortunately, T-Mobile doesn’t have any email or online support although under Contact it said you could use Facebook. So I sent a private message detailing my problems.

Still no response to my Facebook message, but I have exchanged Twitter DMs with @TMobileUKhelp and told them I’d sent the details on Facebook, to which they responded “Thanks. This will be answered shortly.”

That was yesterday. I then commented on Andrew’s blog and he has helpfully prompted EE to try and solve my predicament.

Let’s see what happens next.

UPDATED: I wrote this in a hurry on Saturday, before dashing out to a Christmas party. I’ve tidied it up this morning to remove some of the typos etc.

UPDATE 2: I received an email last night from EE’s advocate programme and was able to provide them with my account details this morning, so hopefully we are well on the way to resolving this.

Lifehacker has published a list of the “50 free apps we’re most thankful for”. It’s actually quite a good list and I use and am fan of many of them. I’ve taken the list and annotated with my thoughts on what is good and what isn’t.

Many of them are really useful, if not essential for PR and corporate communications professionals. Are there any apps that are good for public relations people that aren’t mentioned?

The 50 free apps we’re most thankful for

1. Dropbox: Cloud Storage – Big fan, but I also love Microsoft’s SkyDrive and by using both have more than enough free cloud storage space for all my needs at the moment.
2. Google Chrome: Web Browsers – My browser of choice, mainly because of the great extensions you can get.
3. Firefox: Web Browsers – Not a big fan, my second choice browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer, which no longer deserves much of the criticism it still gets.
4. Evernote: Notes – Nope. I’ve tried. I really have, but Microsoft OneNote beats it in almost every way. Evernote’s only beats OneNote on its mobile app where OneNote is still pretty weak.
5. Pocket: Bookmarking – Brilliant, by far and away the best way to save content for offline reading. Although I’m not sure I would categorise that as ‘bookmarking’.
6. Skype: VoIP – Best features for me are text instant messaging, one-to-one video calls and the SkypeIn number which gives me a cheap London number for business. Very rarely use it for normal telephone calls.
7. Google Maps: Maps – Free GPS navigation when I’m driving and helps me to find where I’m going when walking to meetings.
8. Gmail: Email – I was a very early adopter of Gmail and have 100,000+ emails stored, but I never use it. For me it is simply an extra online back-up which is ‘sometimes’ easier to search. My business email if via Microsoft Office 365 (very cheap, very good cloud Exchange) and IMAP accounts from my web hosting provider (1&1).
9. Google Voice: Communication – Never used it.
10. Instagram: Photos – Only just started to use Instagram and still not really convinced, but will persevere for a while.
11. Spotify: Music Streaming – Quite like it, but I still tend to listen more to my own music which I’ve bought on CD and ripped so I have MP3s on my laptop, tablet and mobile.
12. Flipboard: News Readers – Fail to see what the hype is about – very pretty, but useless was my verdict. My favourite news reader is Feedly which syncs all the RSS feeds in my Google Reader account and presents them in a nice magazine format in their proper folders. It has a Chrome app for desktop as well as Android tablet and mobile apps. Also quite like Taptu.
13. Google Drive: Cloud Storage – I’ve got it installed, but haven’t seen the need to use it as yet as SkyDrive and Dropbox are already doing the job for me. I suppose when I need more storage space I might start using it.
14. Google Calendar: Calendars – Never needed it. Was put off years ago when basically it meant your diary was on the internet so if you were offline then you couldn’t access it. Different today when you’ll still have it on your mobile. Microsoft Office 365 provides much better email, contacts and calendar than Google does. I do however use Google Tasks, but only because it is the back-end to sync my tasks with Platinum Tasks on my tablet.
15. Google Play Music: Never used it, so can’t comment.
16. Waze: Have it installed on my mobile, but can’t say I’ve used it much. No need when Google Maps does what I need.
17. Dolphin: Web Browsers – Best mobile browser, although annoyingly the tablet version doesn’t work with LastPass.
18. Wunderlist: To-Do Lists – Strange inclusion on the list as this is by far from the best of dozens of to-do list/task apps I’ve tried. My main to-do list app at the moment is Platinum Tasks which is an Android tablet only app that syncs with Google Tasks.
19. Pandora: Music Streaming – Never used it, so can’t comment.
20. Google Reader: News Readers – Google Reader looks terrible and is hard to use, but that doesn’t matter as it provides a great back-end sync service to lots of much better news readers such as Feedly and FeedDemon. I’ve included some of LifeHacker’s links for this one as Google Reader is only really useful if you use it with other stuff. See also: Supercharge Google Reader with Styles and Extensions, Organize My RSS Feeds So They’re More Manageable, How to Turn Google Reader into a Customizable Read-It-Later Service, and more Google Reader coverage
21. LastPass: Password Managers – An essential app. You know that it is best practice to have a different secure password for every single online account, but it’s very hard to do so without the help of an app like LastPass. It will generate the secure passwords for you and if you help you to log-in on any browser and if you pay $12 a year subscription it also works on tablet and mobile. You can also use it to share passwords amongst team members which is essential if you’re managing corporate social media accounts where the importance of secure passwords is even greater than on your personal accounts.
22. XBMC: Media Centers – Never used it, so can’t comment.
23. VLC: Media Players – Heard great things about this, but haven’t used it recently. Must take another look soon.
24. Mint.com: Personal Finance – Really wish I could use this as from what I’ve read and been told it is fantastic. But it is USA only.
25. TeamViewer: Remote Access – Lots of remote access apps, but it isn’t something I’ve ever really had a need for.
26. AirDroid: Remote Access – Another one to put on the ‘must take a look at’ list.
    See also: AirDroid Controls Your Android Phone or Tablet from Any Modern Web Browser
27. FoxFi: Tethering – Would be good, but my HTC Desire HD already does this. One to keep on a list for if I ever need it.
28. Ubuntu (and other Linux Distros): Operating System – Too geeky for me. I’m a Windows fan boy and am currently enjoying the wonder that is Windows 8. Buy it now while it’s still half-price to upgrade.
29. Microsoft Security Essentials: Antivirus – Wow, actually recommending a Microsoft product. Never real thought about this before as I’ve always used AVG Free.
30. uTorrent: BitTorrent Client – If you need this then I suppose it’s what I’d use. But I just don’t need it.
31. CCleaner: Utilities – Great utility to help you keep your Windows PC running smoothly.
32. HandBrake: Video Conversion – This has been on my ‘must take a look at’ list for ages.
33. VirtualBox: Virtualization – I’ve got no need for this.
34. CyanogenMod: Android ROMs – Keep toying with the idea of rooting my phone and playing with different Android ROMs, but just never had the time to do it.
35. Flux: First one on the list I’ve never even heard of!
36. GIMP: Image Editing – If you don’t already have PhotoShop or don’t know how to use PhotoShop then GIMP is well worth a look, but that doesn’t apply to me so it is too much effort to learn something new.
37. LibreOffice:  Office Suite – Why would you want an alternative to Microsoft Office. It’s not that expensive and is brilliant. Office programs are probably where most office workers will spend most of their time and are what most : people know how to use. Why settle for second best just to have a few quid?
38. Thunderbird: Email – See comment 37. Outlook already does a great job.
39. Picasa: Photo Manager – I do like this, but the photo manager that comes with Windows 8 already does a good job so not much in this one.
40. Twitter: Social Networking – If they mean the Twitter mobile apps then I’d say there are lots of better ones. I use HootSuite.
41. AutoHotkey: Utilities – Problem with this type of utility is that you tend to install it, but then never use it as it is a case of setting it up and learning new habits.
42. Launchy: Utilities – Another new one I’ve not heard of.
43. Quicksilver: Utilities – Another new one I’ve not heard of.
44. Simplenote: Note Taking – Not tried this, but might take a look.
45. Titanium Backup: Utilities – Not sure I need this. Most of my mobile/tablet files are already synced with some sort of cloud service and you can just reinstall apps and set up settings again.
46. Winamp: Media Players – Have used this and like it, but I’m not sufficiently unhappy with the default media players to make it worth using this.
47. Google Tasks: To-Do Lists – Not a very good to-do list service, but just like Google Reader the advantge is the huge number of apps and services that sync with Google Tasks. See comments 14 and 18.
48. Opera:  Web Browsers – Chrome and Internet Explorer already do the job for me. See comments 2 and 3.
49. Notepad++: Text editors – I’m not a techy, but sometimes do need to edit PHP or HTML and this is a good way to do it. Also helps to ‘clean’ copy written in Word before you use it online.
50. 7-Zip: File Compression – Useful. I use it mainly to open stuff rather than zip stuff.

Neville Hobson has an interesting post on the latest iteration of TweetDeck. Like Neville I was an original TweetDeck fan, in fact we were probably both amongst the first to use it after Ian Dodsworth launched it.

When Twitter acquired TweetDeck and re-launched it I continued to use the original Adobe Air version for a while. However, that could not continue as I do a lot of training PR and corporate communications professionals on how they should integrate social media into their communications strategy and how to use it effectively on day-to-day basis. For the training I just could not justify recommending a tool that did not exist any more.

The problem was – and still is – that there is no alternative. The original TweetDeck remains the best social media management client I’ve used. I’m currently using HootSuite and have also used MetroTwit (which is now the app that Neville now uses), however neither are quite right.

The features I’d want in my ‘perfect’ Twitter program are:

• Cross platform – I’m PC based, but ideally for my PR training I need an app that Mac users can also use. In business and government (where I do most of my training) Macs are a distinct minority, but one that I’d like to provide for.
• Multiple network – Not just Twitter, but also Facebook, LinkedIn and eventually Google+ when Google sorts out the API. Other networks such as FourSquare, Tumblr etc are nice, but less important.
• Multiple accounts – This is the obvious place to put the freemium model to work. Two of each type of account for free and a subscription model to pay for extra accounts.
• Resizable columns – Column and font size are both very much personal preference and mine is for small and narrow to fit the maximum possible on the screen without needing to scroll.
• Maximum use of landscape – To see as many columns as possible I prefer control icons to be at the top/bottom of the window.
• Bity link shortening – I use my sbpr.co vanity URL for link shortening and need to be able to continue using this automatically. With Hootsuite I have to manually shorten links using a Chrome extension rather than relying on the Owly shortening service. A bonus, but not essential would be integrating the Bitly stats into the program.
• Translation – This was one of the fantastic features of the old TweetDeck. I don’t want to tweet in other languages, but I do follow a lot of people who tweet in their own language and English. A ‘rough and ready’ translation is enough for me to stay connected.
• Scheduling – Either manually or through integration with a service like Buffer.
• List management – Seeing how many are on a list, de-duping (making it easier to sort contacts onto different lists) etc.
• Columns – Options to include tweets I’ve sent, retweets, mentions, favourites, DMs in/out, recent follows, recent unfollows etc
• Conversation threads – see all the @replies and option to see retweets.
• Filters – Filtering options on columns like the old TweetDeck.
• Preview – Quick preview of profiles and links, videos, photos etc.
• Photo uploading – I’m fairly relaxed about which service, but some people aren’t so probably best to offer options.
• Reweet and reply options – Settings to choose old style/new style, include hashtags, reply all etc
• Profiles – Display follower numbers under avatar and potentially ‘influence’ scores (I know all the caveats and my preference would be for Kred and PeerIndex not Klout). Also show if it is a protected and/or verified account. Show if you are following an account and if they are following you and from which of the accounts you’ve got set up. Plus being able to see timeline and @mentions

Quite possible I’ve missed something that I think is essential off this list.

What else do you think is essential?

What client/app/program is the best and which do you think comes closest to providing my list of essential features?

Onavo is a great app that I’ve been using on my phone (HTC Desire HD) for a while now. It monitors the data usage of different apps and warns you of ‘rogue’ apps. It has used the data it has collected (anonymously) to create an infographic to show how iPhone and Android users differ in their us of social apps. Perhaps not surprisingly iPhone users are much heavier users of Facebook than Android users – could it be the fun/entertainment focus of iPhone = Facebook and the more professional, funtional approach of Android = Twitter?

Infographic by Android Developers at [x]cubelabs

Classic British word play comedy.

As well as being on the panel, I have a lot of experience in creating social media newsrooms for our clients. In fact, two social media newsrooms that the Wolfstar team has implemented were presented for judging!

You only have to search for the #smcc10 hash tag on Twitter to see that the session went down very well. And, I was obviously very pleased at how popular our social media newsrooms for Sony Ericsson (presented by Merran Wrigley, Vice President Head of External Relations, Global Communications) and First Direct (presented by Amanda Brown, Head of Media Relations) were with the audience! The third social media newsroom presented was by Keith Childs for GM Europe.

@juliusduncan: Best Social Media Newsroom at#smcc10 X Factor? I think it’s @first_direct !

@lucynixon: Missed #smcc10 yesterday? I loved Social Media Newsrooms, X-Factor style: http://su.pr/2lhNdt

But, let’s go back to basics and forget all the X Factor related stuff.

To those who haven’t used or created a social media newsroom before, the two key questions are:

• What is a social media newsroom?
• And, why do I need one?

A social media newsroom (or SMNR) is essentially an online centre for all of your information. This can be information that anyone, from customers to the media would want to get hold of. In a typical SMNR you’d usually find news releases, photos, video content, contact details, links to social media assets and the list could go on and on.

You need one because it will completely change the way you and your organisation approach stakeholder engagement and media relations.

Although customers can access your social media newsroom, it’s mainly there for the media, whether this be journalists or ‘citizen journalists’ i.e. bloggers and other publishers of content on social media and social networks. It essentially gives them a way to quickly and easily access the information they need. You can also start being smarter about what you put up there, getting to know the media you want to be in a dialogue with will allow you to tailor your content to their needs making the resource much more worthwhile to you and valuable to journalists.

I’ve already touched upon some of the key functions of a social media newsroom, but here’s how one example of the final product looks:

As you can see, there are:

• Press releases and news articles
• Photo content – using social photo sites such as Flickr and Picassa to make it easier to share and embed photos
• Video content – using social video sites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Brightcove
• Audio content (podcasts) – including listing them on iTunes and other sites
• Social bookmarking and other sharing tools such as Delicious and Digg
• Contact details
• Tags and categories – to make it easier to find information and improve SEO
• Links to other corporate social media assets such as blogs, Twitter etc
• Instructions about how to use the site
• Corporate backgrounders, spokesperson biographies etc
• Search functionality

But, like every other form of activity online, there certainly isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ approach. We work with our clients to find out what they want, how it can work and how best it can be implemented. And it’s definitely not just a case of ‘build it and they will come’. A new social media news room also enables you to totally modernise the way that you do media relations and much of the consultancy we provide is helping in-house press and corporate communications team understand the new rapidly changing demands of journalists and how best to meet their needs.

And there are some stumbling blocks along the way, we have a list of the key components that make up (what we consider to be) a perfect social media newsroom. However, we can rarely achieve the perfect SMNR due to the constraints that most large corporates face. Challenges include getting ‘buy-in’ from other departments and functions, legal restrictions, for multi-nationals – language, geography and time-zones, and corporate IT infrastructures.

For Sony Ericsson we worked closely with its in-house IT department who actually built the social media newsroom for us based on our brief, project management and specifications. One of the challenges here was being able to incorporate all of the functionality we wanted within the constraints of the existing corporate content management system (CMS).

The third social media newsroom presented at the conference was meant to be GM Europe. This was the first social media newsroom in Europe and started in August 2007 as a ‘standalone’ site that wasn’t integrated with the traditional press room on the corporate website. Keith Childs explained that this has now been rectified and the old generic GM Europe social media newsroom no longer exists. Instead all of the social elements have now been added to GM’s various newsrooms for its brands.

As well as First Direct and Sony Ericsson we’ve also built a series of multi-language social media newsrooms for Philips in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. As far as we’re aware the Philips social media news rooms were the world’s first attempt at creating a suite of multi-language newsrooms.

But, we’re not the only ones who have done this well, here’s a great social media news room from Cisco:

If you want to know more about how a social media newsroom might help your business or organisation then give me or one of the Wolfstar team a call on +44 (0)845 838 7282.