There was some fantastic discussion – both on the floor of the conference and in the bars – about Second Life. Neville Hobson (or JJ) was understandably in the pro-Second Life camp. Lydia Mallison-Jones (co-founder and director of conference sponsors Indigo Red), Philip Young, Tom Murphy and me are all still in the sceptic camp – we can see it’s potential and importance, but it’s not all there yet.

I’m with Lydia and am very sceptical about the transparency element of Second Life. For me personally I think it is potentially very dangerous ethically for PR practitioners because of the lack of transparency. In nearly all forms of social media it is possible to hide your identity and pretend to be someone else. But Second Life is the only one that actually FORCES and ENCOURAGES you to do so. That for me is plain wrong.

I’m far more excited by the idea of Cyworld which provides a virtual environment for YOU to participate in. If you do want to meet up with me in Second Life then my name is Stuart Briers, which is as close to Stuart Bruce as I could find.

For me one of the best things about the conference was meeting Roger Haywood. Roger wrote a book called All About PR (I think) which was the first ever PR book I read and from which I learnt an enormous amount that is still useful to me almost 20 years later. During my presentation Roger very kindly stood up and said that he was learning a lot from me.

Another of the big differences between the first conference last November and this one is the number of delegates who already had blogs and have very quickly blogged about the conference.

And congratulations to Sarah Hayman of Indigo Red who has already been inspired to start blogging at Wedblog.

You can find more comment and reports from the Delivering the New PR conference here:

Delivering the New PR – Ertblog by Rob Skinner

Delivering the New PR – London - Simon Wakeman

Quaking & Second Life – Parle Encore by Lydia Mallison-Jones

Delivering the New PR – Part 1 report - The PR Place by Richard Millington

UPDATE: Signed, Sealed, Delivered – Eventualities by Andrew and Nicky Wake of Don’t Panic

If you weren’t at this conference then you missed a fantastic event and an opportunity to learn lots about PR and social media. But don’t worry there will be a second series of conferences starting early next year, with an entirely new programme of New PR to learn about.

Sadly this is an all too common experience. I was chatting to a prospect the other day who had been told by a senior director at a big PR company that he should “start a company blog, and don’t worry about negative comments because the software lets you censor them.”

When I countered that it perhaps wasn’t the best approach I was told: “Ah, but he works for _Big_Name_PR_firm_ and is an expert, I heard him speaking at a conference.”

UPDATE: Josh Hallett just reminded me of something I say in most of my conference presentations or when I run social media training workshops.

“Nobody is an expert in social media, they’re just a year ahead of everybody else on the learning curve”

He reminded me that it was Jeremy Pepper who originally said it. 

Unlike Antony Mayfield I am a politically aligned (Labour) social media blogger, but I still agree with Mayfield’s analysis. Webcameron is a very good initiative and despite its many flaws still beats Labour’s offerings by a considerable margin.

In their venture into social media both Labour and the Conservatives have got a lot wrong (in my humble opinion). But that doesn’t matter so much as the fact they are trying. It is inevitable they will make mistakes along the way, but better to make them now when social media and the web is still peripheral to mainstream politics than later when it becomes far more crucial.

The key difference between what Labour is doing and what the Conservatives are doing is understanding. You get the impression that the Tories get what social media is really about, while Labour still just sees it as a set of new tools.

Simon Collister has some interesting thoughts about Webcameron on his eDemocracy Update blog. He also questions if “Politics needs a sea-change in attitudes, not a ride aboard the blogging bandwagon.”

“In order to become relevant and attractive to the disillusioned, apathetic electorate, politicians and political parties must become more honest, up-front and ‘personalised’ – that is, not hide behind a facade of lofty political establishments.”

That’s not my experience of traditional politics – from any of the mainstream parties. Politics is already a lot more open and conversational than the mainstream media would have you believe. The big problem is that most people get their perception of politics from the political media who paint the picture they want to, rather than what matters and is relevant to people.

Social media as part of the political process is more about taking traditional political themes, such as localism and community activism, and working with them online.

So yes a big part of politics and social media is to bypass the spin and distortion presented by mainstream media. But it’s not that different to the way many of us already practice politics on a local level.

Conversations down the pub and at the school gates are no different to conversations on blogs and other social media. A newsletter delivered door to door taking about local issues and asking for people’s views is just another way of listening and sparking a conversation. A coffee morning with local residents to talk about what goes into your local manifesto is a conversation.

One of the main benefits of social media is that it is that it is much faster, quicker and cheaper than traditional channels of conversation and participation. It’s big downside is that still doesn’t and can’t reach enough people. That’s why we need both.

So political social media and Webcameron isn’t that new after all.

XP: Stuart’s Soapbox

The call to be Proud of PR is already being supported by Chartered Institute of Public Relations president Tony Bradley and Harold Burson (of you know what PR firm).

The fifth and final University of Sunderland Delivering the New PR conference is on Friday November 10 in London at the Marriott Regents Park. Early bird discount tickets at £195 + VAT are available to delegates registering before October 13 or £250 + VAT after that. Book online or call 01706 828855

Last week’s Edinburgh conference was great fun and all of the delegates that I’ve spoken to said that they found it both informative and inspiring.

Most of the speakers (pictured left to right, click to enlarge) have already blogged their thoughts: Philip Young, me, Tom Murphy, Elizabeth Albrycht and Neville Hobson has two short podcasts (one with delegates and one with the speakers).

tags: New+PR, PR, public+relations, conference, University+of+Sunderland

That’s why West Yorkshire Police has come up with this fantastic initiative to provide students with podcasts featuring safety advice.

They even have an opportunity to win an iPod. Haven’t had time to listen yet but I’m guessing that one of the first bits of advice is how to take care of your iPod while working home across Woodhouse Moor.

XP: Stuart’s Soapbox

tags: podcast, police, yorkshire, PR, public+relations

He now brings us news that the Home Affairs Select Committee is using YouTube to help it consult with young people in its Citizen Calling initiative.

Committee chairman John Denham (tipped by some as an outsider in the Labour leadership contest) is on YouTube in a video “supposedly” recorded on a mobile phone.

I agree with Simon that it looks like a classic case of “medium not the message.”

However, I think we should applaud initiatives such as this as well as commercial ones like the much derided Agency.com YouTube video and the Dell blog.

It is early days and people are still learning how to walk the talk. I don’t believe there are any ‘experts’ out there, just a bunch of people who have more of a clue than most. That is certainly the category I would put myself in, along with my fellow speakers at the New PR conference.

tags: PR, public+relations, social+media, government, democracy, politics

tags: politics, blogs, podcast

Back in the late 80s when I was studying for my CAM Diploma in Public Relations we were taught all about PR being a two way process. That’s why real PR people are far better placed than the advertising folks to participate in social media because it’s always been about conversations. Sadly I’ll admit that too many PR people still can’t think beyond press relations and a company newsletter.

It’s the same as all the rubbish that’s talked about how to ‘pitch’ a blog. One of the radical ideas often suggested is read the blog and try to understand the author. Sorry guys but that is exactly what decent PR people have always done with journalists and the media. My next task this morning is to pitch a couple of ideas for my client Softalk to different journalists at PC Pro. Both are a result of things I’ve read in the latest issue (but aren’t the usually dumb “you’ve just covered widget my client does the same why not write about them”). Incidentally I was reading PC Pro in the bath when I became inspired and scribbled my ideas on a notebook (paper) that I keep at the side – just try doing that on-line!

What sparked off this tirade was reading Drew B’s great “insider’s look at PR, technology and the media blog”. He reveals that James Warren of Weber Shandwick has come out with a new blog called PR 2.0. Despite the naff name and to be fair to James it’s actually very good so far. Sadly the name doesn’t appear to be ironic and it appears that James has fallen for the PR 2.0 hype.

Mind you last week PR Week thought Weber Shandwick converting a toilet into a podcasting cubicle was news so who knows. I’ve a good mind to send PR Week a news release about the world’s first open air podcasting studio complete with authentic sounds from nature. BMA PR opened it last Easter when the weather became warmer and I fixed the wifi connection so I could take the laptop and microphone into the garden.

And thanks to Richard Bailey I’ve also plucked from my bin a glossy little brochure from Weber Shandwick that was in last week’s PR Week. James has an article entitiled “Coming to terms with losing control” which is quite good apart from its central concept. It asks “How does PR make sense of this new media landscape?”. Good question, but I think James gives the wrong answer when he says “First and foremost, it needs to come to terms with losing control”. Sorry to burst your bubble James but even global giants like Weber Shandwick have never had control.

The idea that “PR has to accept that it can no longer control what is being said about a company and its products” is simply ludicrous. When have any of us ever had “total control of its brand and messaging”. Yes we’ve managed processes and influenced things but we’ve never had control. And guess what in the brave new world of social media we can still manage processes and influence things.

James redeems himself later in the article when he says “People have always talked about your company and its products, blogging simply makes these conversations public… by joining the conversation… you have an opportunity to change perceptions, challenge inaccuracies and build relationships”. That, in my humble opinion, is what it’s really about which is why I keep returning to my quote in The Guardian last year “The PR who ignores blogs is an even bigger fool than those who think blogs change everything”.

I very much like and respect Weber Shandwick as a PR firm (not least because it has quite a hot northern operation) but my impression is that it has some way to go to catch up with what Edelman and Lewis are doing in social media.

We might have to have different conversations with different people using different channels but that is simply the evolution of our profession. It’s not PR 2.0.

UPDATE: Susan Getgood has just made a comment referencing a post she made at the weekend but for some reason her Typekey profile is blank so here is the link to her post on why she doesn’t like PR 2.0 (or Web 2.0).

Technorati : PR, PR 2.0, media relations, podcasting, public relations, social media

The 10 Downing Street website asks “Ever wonder what happens when Europe’s political leaders get together?” and seeks to provide the answers with a podcast from comedian Eddie Izzard who tagged along with Tony Blair’s team during their last visit to Brussels.

Technorati : Downing Street, Europe, Tony Blair