Don Bartholomew’s blog offers a refreshing take on the measurement and evaluation of PR, both for the old and new media worlds. He offers terminology and techniques that could be grasped by, well, anyone - which should be the sign of good public relations, right?

Facebook has launched Lexicon, a new tool that allows members to see the buzz surrounding different words and phrases on Facebook Walls.  For PRs, it’s another tool to monitor who’s talking about your brand, in a similar style to Google Trends or Technorati, but in the enclosed environment of Facebook.

After a few initial searches, I have some client names talked occassionally but nothing surprising. Of course, I’ll be monitoring it carefully when my next national news story breaks to see if the topic flows over into the Facebook conversation.

To be honest, it’s more fun to search for generic terms to see what unusual spikes and drops appear. Conversations about ‘Halloween’ predictably climb rapidly, peaking on 31st October. ‘Love’ is at an all time high on Valentine’s Day while there are fewer people wishing ‘Happy Birthday’ on leap day, 29th February.

According to the Facebook blog:

Lexicon pulls from the wealth of data on Facebook without collecting any personal information in order to respect everyone’s privacy.

Well that’s good news considering all the recent media hype surrounding privacy of online information. But Lexicon is a far cry from companies who constantly monitor conversations across social media such as 1000 Heads.

As their homepage states:

Web forums and communities are where these decisions are being made. In these public spaces, users discuss their thoughts and experiences, recommending, or warning against using certain products and services. This peer to peer dialogue is guiding the purchasing decisions of a new generation of information rich consumers.

Clearly an area of growth for some brands to invest in but an area that could be perceived as a moral tightrope for others. The rise in concerns over online privacy are only going to tighten especially with the introduction of Big Brother-type programmes like Phorm.

I’ve spent the last few years envisaging an application that would allow me to know what my journalist contacts were up to, minute-by-minute. I’ve thought about a messenger-based system that would allow me to drop a quick note to them to see if it’s a convenient time to chat about a possible news angle on behalf of my client because there’s nothing worse than calling when they’re on deadline.

Well it’s arrived and it’s growing in popularity. If Facebook is the new Second Life, then Twitter is the new Facebook. It’s the tool us PRs have been waiting for.

Of course some believe the end is nigh for Twitter while others are amazed at the number of third party applications - always a good sign when developers get on board.

For those of you who haven’t come across Twitter, I encourage you to watch this video courtesy of Commoncraft.

Exploring Twitter from a PR perspective has been interesting and has shown initial potential but it needs to be accepted by the masses to make it truely useful. Here are my thoughts on potential future uses of Twitter for PRs:

- Online Research: Drawing on a pool of social media enthusiasts (why else would they have Twitter accounts?) has turned Twitter into a great resource for research. Answers to questions are incredibly quick and offer great insight into areas you might not be familiar with. Working on adventure sports for one of my clients, I had to wade through media databases and avoid the much-hyped but low traffic websites. After requested help on Twitter, within minutes I had reached a community of adventure sports enthusiats who offered guidance on forums where extreme sports fans actually interact. Thanks everyone!

 - Contacts: I wonder how many journalists out there would sign up for Twitter if they knew it would put an end to calls and emails from PRs at inappropriate times? Well only 27 so far following a search for “UK” and “journalist”. They’re obviously all too shy to put on their real profession. If newsdesks had Twitter at their disposal, the relationship between hacks and flacks could change dramatically. From instant updates like “Don’t bother me. I’m on deadline!” through to “Looking for urgent case study about….” journalists should be using Twitter as a tool to interact with PRs. If newsdesks are evolving into 24-hour bodies, maybe it’s time for their journalists to move away from resources like ResponseSource to a more immediate communication tool.

 - Driver to website or blog: Driving interested audiences to a particular website is a regular occurance on the application. Most of the people I follow are comentators in the social media field and so links on Twitter to new posts on their blog make it easy for me to make a snap judgement on whether I’m interested in the topic or not. As previously noted, Gordon Brown, or rather Number 10, uses Twitter to publicise the PM’s current activities and highlights press releases from their press office. I have no doubt I’m one of the first to read these releases and I like to think journalists are using this as a resource to follow the PMs movements.  

- Listen to the conversation: Using tools such as Tweetscan, PRs can search for who is talking about their brand and in what context. (Thanks for that one Jon!)

It wouldn’t surprise me if companies with busy press offices set up their own Twitter feeds to announce press releases, but don’t bank on having masses of followers. Brands with a strong online following and dedicated brand advocates, such as Apple, will benefit highly from this but it will be interesting to see which companies experiment with this tool as it gains popularity online and with mainstream media. 

I agree with James Horton that the key to Twitter for PRs is to experiment - the same philosophy behind any new media tool - but don’t forget that this is a community. Don’t see this solely as a resource. Ultimately, the more you put in, the more you’ll get out.

And while you’re there, look me up.

WPP’s chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell has told everyone in PR that we’re fine. We’re firing on all cylinders. He can’t recall a time when PR has been so strong. Why? We’re recession-proof. We’re annoying the advertising industry. As one over-muscled cartoon character once proclaimed: WE HAVE THE POWER…of editorial publicity.

“Something has changed and the reason for the change is online activity, where personal recommendation and personal communication have become more important. And it’s clearly editorial and it’s clearly not advertising based.”

 We’re good aren’t we? Let’s all go to the pub to celebrate. I’ll get my coat.

Sorry? What was that AdAge? A survey of attendees to your Digital Marketing Conference you say? And they said what??

Where should social media lie? Audience poll: 53% in marketing, 5% say in PR, 9% say customer service and 33% say some new division.

But this was just marketeers right? We’re still great…aren’t we?

Well no. Judging by the comments on Adrants, if PR isn’t playing second fiddle to ‘marketing’, it’s picking up bronze behind a ‘new division’ which is yet to emerge.

How did we fall so far behind? Social media is all about communication as is Public Relations. It was ours for the taking but somehow we’ve let it slip through our fingers. Were we all out to lunch, sipping champagne and smoozing? I doubt it. Maybe we’re too afraid of technology. All that typing could break a nail!

Seriously, I’m worried by the number of PRs who don’t just understand this area but who are too afraid to even experiment. I’m not suggesting they should take a multi-million pound client, stick the CEO in front of a camera, hit record and see the response on YouTube. I mean writing (or commenting on) a blog, listening to podcast, watching a webchat. Even a little twittering wouldn’t go amiss. It seems the furthest most PRs have strayed into social media is with a Facebook profile. It’s a start right?

Based on the the social media conferences we attend with speakers from a variety of backgrounds (bloggers, financial institutes and yes PR agencies), it seems there is a theme running throughout which is that PR (agencies and in-house) should be doing…something. We’re not going to tell you what it is but we will point you in the direction of the web and watch you worry. We can’t give too much away because we want to maintain that competitive edge. But we don’t mind throwing stats at you and watching you have a panic attack safe in the knowledge that you should be doing…something.

So who’s role is it to take ownership of this area? Who in PR is going to help educate the industry? The industry bodies clearly need to step in and provide the much needed training. Actually telling PRs how to do it. Seminars such as the CIPR one hosted by Rob Brown, soon to be MD of Staniforth (Full discolsure: I work for the agency) at Manchester University. Social Media is the future of PR but I’m concerned after looking at the CIPR list of upcoming events for 2008. Just five events based around social media planned for the rest of this year. Is that really enough for PR to take ownership?