Evolving technology and like how!

If you haven't don't it already, please take a look at this viral video. Creativity at it's best!

I have watched this video 3 times already in the past 1 hour. It's funny, heart warming, hilarious (in a good way), well choreographed etc etc. Did you notice Sarah Palin's look alike? Hard to miss.
I am enticed with the idea of spreading the message and creating awareness through such videos. What a way to make people take notice of your campaign!

End result- 3,330,161 views so far on funnyordie.com and over 62,000 on YouTube. Powerful Impact. Strikes a chord and makes you want to know what is it all about. Directs you to the organisation's website.

A job well done!

Stay with me please.

Reaction - Fox news

Merry Digital Xmas

"More than 5 million people are expected to use the internet to carry on shopping on Christmas day" - BBC news.

Joys of using internet and being online.

How are you spending your Christmas?

I am definitely not a part of 5 million who are shopping online.

I am just another fellow blogger.

Merry Xmas everyone :)

Not that smooth sailing after all .

There is an online report published by E consultancy and apparently shows some in depth information of importance of Online PR within PR, which has been appreciated by many PR professionals. Daryl Wilcox in his very own words says -" I'm simply going to say this, if you work in PR, read it." Those words did arouse curiosity in me to read the report but I soon gathered that you have to pay to read any reports by E consultancy, so I took a very quick U turn ( You must have heard of credit crunch? ).
But I managed to read a very good review of the report , courtesy Stephen Davies.

So like most of us who have read the review, what caught my attention is that "The results show that when companies outsource online PR to agencies or specialists, 51%of agencies are using PR agencies but a significant percentage are using search marketing agencies (29%) and web development agencies (22%) to develop and deliver online PR strategy."

What ??? AND Why ??? Couldn't help asking those questions to myself, followed by some more.

Don't marketing and web development agencies have other work to do? How is marketing or web development going to enhance your online PR? How are they even related to the work we do in PR?

I found some of those answers in Stephen Waddington's blog that I have been following very religiously these days. There is a huge opportunity for PR professionals to gain out of this digital revolution but from the sounds of it, we are letting it pass us by.
Online PR is very demanding when it comes to having a good skill base. One has to keep up with the times and learn about the new emerging tools, it's complexities and how it could benefit the PR world.Clearly more skilled workers in ePR are needed ( from understanding search engine optimisation to blogging ,tweeting & managing relationships with bloggers and tweeters) and there is even a bigger need to show a good track record of delivering consistently.Some might even argue that there is lack of available budget.

One of the good things about PR is that it seems like a very close knit family. Even though there is internal competition within agencies or in house PRO's but we are following each other on twitter or networking with each other through Facebook or Myspace etc. But then shouldn't we be networking with other communities? Are we losing out by not mingling with others?

Will McInnes, MD of Nixon McInnes was interviewed by E consultancy and here are his views on some of the questions I was pondering over earlier.

The sweet smell of success !

Obama's victory - Good news for ePr ? My thoughts - YES. I know you have probably heard this before and you will hear this time and again.But am so compelled to put my thoughts into words, am living in blogosphere these days after all.

" I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours." Those famous words spoken by 44th president of the United states.Simple words, tremendous impact! What made it even more impact ful is the reach of those words. These words are probably echoed in the soul of every man or woman , old or young in USA who voted for this phenomenon called Obama. What actually made him that? I say , good old Internet. He embraced Internet and made a personal connection with people from all over the world. He is the first digital president ...of the world. Here is why!

Some fascinating facts and figures I stumbled upon and would like to share with everyone who cares.

• He hired Chris Hughes co founder of facebook, to create a social networking site out of www.barackobama.com. (Chris is only 25 and clearly very talented! Can you imagine the pangs of jealousy I keep getting in my stomach but I salute him for recognising the digital power and sharing it with the world.)
• YouTube provided Obama with over 14,548,809 hours of free advertising; equivalent of $46 million.
• He even developed a cool iphone application to encourage people to vote for him and pass the message on, and even advertised on video games to reach the youths.(How very clever!)
  
• Since August there have been 500 million blog post referencing Obama ( And now there is another addition.)
• Obama has a network 844,927 Myspace friends,118,107 Twitter followers and over 2 million Facebook supporters.
• Team Obama managed to compile a mobile phone database of over 3 million phone numbers which acted as a very resourceful and valuable tool.
• There are nearly 2 million links to www.barackobama.com.
• Obama raised $33 million from his online fundraising operations alone.

And the list goes on ....

Obama's victory is being celebrated and I guess will be for a long time in the digital world of social networking sites and blogs. Web 2.0 helped Obama in generating buzz, word of mouth and positive network effects. Isn't that what PR is all about? I say, Yes . But then that leaves me with some other questions.
Is digital media taking over traditional media?
Have we found our Ace card in the PR world?

I guess, the time will answer my questions , if am patient enough . But am not, so I will carry on my pursuit.

Why go Digital ?

Did you know that there are more than a billion people connected to the web around the world? Did you also know that a recent report published by Datamonitor predicts 27.1m britons would have joined a social network by 2012 and UK will have the strongest networking growth in the EU? I didn't and only just found out! Can you imagine the impact it would have on businesses all over the world?

PR is no exception. The impact of New media on PR industry is tremendous and growing every day. Every one wants to move in this direction and wants to be a part of it. But Why ? I was reading Digital PR by PR week and agree to an extent with Stephanie Bonnet & Desiree Collier from Burston - Marsteller. Like many other PR experts , they are of the opinion that "Digital can be the glue that holds together all the other marketing and communications activities in a company because it is cost effective and its impact can be measured." But as a matter of fact , there is more to it than it just being cost effective & track able. For example, businesses have seen a growing demand to communicate electronically. Its much quicker, the feedback can be instantaneous, it has a much wider reach and let's face it you are actually networking with people/consumers who actually provide your bread and butter. So if you don't do it for them , somebody else will - like digital agencies. In the past few years , many PR agencies have worked on incorporating digital media in some form or the other. As social media becomes a part of daily lives of people , nothing can stop the professionals who deal with people for a living from working in the digital space.

On a completely different note , I have to admit that I am very pleasantly surprised to discover that am loving this whole blogging and tweeting experience .

Digital Revolution

Have you ever woken up one morning and felt that the world has moved on to a Digital Abyss while you were sleeping?


A couple of years ago, while I was living and working in India, social networking sites like Facebook or Orkut or MySpace were heard of and it was kind of "cool" to be registered on it . Fast forward to 2008, I live and study now in London, and it seems that the popularity of social networking sites has gained so much momentum that it has become a basic necessity of life, not just in India but almost everywhere else in the world where Internet has managed to spread its wings. Just the way we have our morning cup of tea or coffee, facebooking or twittering has become a daily routine too. I certainly can't do without it. How else do you sit in your bed room and connect with the rest of the world and sometimes pry on what's happening in other people's lives , mostly your friends. How else can you learn so much about other people's experiences , views , happenings etc etc and you feel like you know the entire world and still have a hunger to know more. Digital form of communication is taking over , at least that's what it seems like.

I am a Digital virgin in many ways. I have never ever blogged before , only very recently opened an account on Twitter , still trying to discover so called wonders of this microblogging site. And very soon I will be on Linked in. So here I am , trying to catch up and learn everything about this digital revolution , from blogosphere to twittering to media releases and so on. But Why ? The simple answer would be that in PR , profession where I want to make a mark of my own , you need to have a strong grasp of online media. Not only because I want to have a successful career in PR but the way industry is headed it certainly seems like that it would be beneficial in the long run . So it came as no surprise to me that I decided to write my first ever Blog on "Impact of New media on PR" . Hopefully , the more I read and research about it and express my thoughts through this medium , the more I will gain out of it !
Watch this space .