Simon Collister, PhD

Strategy + Consulting

CIPR

Radio 4 on corporate blogging and ghosts in the machine

by simoncollister 2 Comments

Interesting piece about corporate blogging on R4’s Today this morning. As you might expect from the MSM it was a tale extremes. One the one hand there was Tom Coates talking about his recent experience with PROs pitching him in ways "that are probably illegal" to Spin Vox‘s Chief Blogger, Mark James Whatley and on to an anonymous ‘ghost-blogger’ who makes his living speaking to CEOs and writing their blog posts:

"ghost-writing blog posts is no different to ghost writing books by premiership footballers."

Erm….

I wonder if he work’s agency-side or as a freelance. either weay, he can’t be a memebr of the CIPR as he’s in breach of their Code of Conduct.

I confess I didn’t listen to it live, but woke up to a volley of texts from friends and family saying "are you listening to R4 now?" At 7.30am on a Saturday that is also my birthday? NO!

You can listen to the package via the BBC’s iPlayer here – although you’ll have to fast forward to 43 minutes in.

Technorati tags: Radio 4, Today, ghost blogging, Tom Coates, Spin Vox, Mark Whatley

CIPR & Boris Johnson: where was my invite!

by simoncollister 2 Comments

It’s an odd move by the CIPR honouring Boris Johnson:

Zetter said: "For me Boris Johnson is
one of the great communicators of our age. He is a prolific writer and
commentator, communicating via numerous and vastly different channels.

Well yes. And he’s also the Conservative candidate for London Mayor, which is a happy coincidence as former President Lionel Zetter a long London Conservative activist.

I’m about to renew my subs for the CIPR so before handing over my cash I’d be interested in knowing if a) was this a political move by the CIPR b) who was invited to the private dinner at which Boris received his award and c) why I wasn’t invited! Will the CIPR tell us?

More propaganda news here.

Technorati tags: CIPR, Boris Johnson, London Mayor

CIPR Social Media Guidelines

by simoncollister 1 Comment

Colin Farrington’s letter in this week’s PR Week concludes I commented extensively on their Social Media Guidelines that were published in January 2007.

He’s right of course, I did. And in the interests of making these comments available once more I have reposted my submission (made on behalf of my previous employers, GREEN Communications).

However, Colin doesn’t mention in his letter that my extensive comments (and those of others) were constructively critical of the guidelines. Colin also doesn’t mention that despite mine and others comments submitted as part of the consultation, no changes were made to the orginal document – as far as I know.

Technorati tags: CIPR, social media guidelines, PR Week

Your help needed

by simoncollister 2 Comments

I’m currently researching for my PR Diploma dissertation which will explore the ability of UK political blogs to set or influence the UK’s mainstream media agenda.

Put simply, is there evidence of UK political bloggers breaking or shaping stories that have been picked up by the MSM.

In order to examine the agenda-setting process at work I wondered if anyone could suggest some examples where bloggers have set the media agenda in some way?

The work is non-commercial and any help given will be credited as part of the study’s research methodology.

Any suggestions gratefully recived but they need to be UK political bloggers setting the UK media agenda.

Feel free to leave your thoughts/comments below or alternatively email them to me at the email address in my ‘about’ section.

Thanks!

Technortati tags: agenda+setting; PR+diploma; political+blogging;