Erica Whiteman

Groundhog Day is an event celebrated across North America. The story goes that on this day, when the groundhog emerges from his burrow and he sees his shadow, he’ll retreat back into his home and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.  However, if it is cloudy day he’ll emerge from his burrow and we’ll have an early spring.  The celebrations take place in a small town of Pennsylvania called Punxsutawney. 

This year, the Groundhog Day celebrations are set to break records.  Using social media, the Pennsylvania Tourist Board has turned what was a localized celebration into a global one.  Using Foursquare, VisitPA.com have created an exclusive badge commemorating the special day.  Last year, nearly 28,000 people unlocked the Goundhog Day 2011 badge, which is more than any other sponsored badge to date – according to Foursquare media relations.  Since the announcement of this year’s badge, VisitPA’s Foursquare following has increased by over 1,200 more followers – including myself!

You don’t have to be in Pennsylvania to be a part of the Groundhog Day celebrations.  Faraway fans of Punxsutawney Phil can join in by following @VisitPA on Foursquare, checking in anywhere and including the word ‘groundhog’ in the shout out. This will unlock the exclusive Groundhog Day 2012 badge, available 2^nd of February only.  

In addition to unlocking the Foursquare badge, there will be a live stream from Punxsutawney to see if Phil head back into his burrow, or decides if spring is indeed on its way. For more info, follow @VisitPA on Twitter.  Here’s to you Punxsutawney Phil… let’s hope we have an early spring!

Ben Leuty

We’ve done a lot of research recently into the ‘new-breed’ of post-recession consumer and how brands and businesses are going to have to adapt to meet their list of growing demands to ensure they maintain a healthy and profitable turnover.

Trends forecasts predict that the new consumer is going to demand high-quality products for less, a seamless purchase and aftercare, service and the ability to engage with the brand thereafter - which can be achieved through various social media platforms.

Fairly dry as the subject is, no pun intended, my washing machine broke last week after years of loyal service. Not what you want at the best of times, let alone at the end of January. So, being a price conscious post-recession consumer I went online and researched various sites with price at the forefront of my mind.

The price differences were in some cases incomparable but one site stood out in particular so I added the chosen washing machine to the basket and went through the, in this case simple, purchasing procedure. Literally two minutes after the order had gone through I received a text message confirming the order and delivery date. Fairly impressive but I didn’t think any more of it until I received a reminder message and email the day before delivery and then another on the day confirming the delivery time within the time gap of one and a half hours – which I also found impressive.

The machine arrived on time and was installed with relative ease given my low level of domestic skills. Later that day I received a call from the customer service team to ensure that I was happy with the service and if I had any problems to give them a call or post a message on their Facebook profile and they would get back to me immediately.

I was incredibly satisfied with the whole experience so it seems that some businesses at least are already ready to deal with the new-breed of post-recession consumer. Other businesses need to follow this example because in a time when brand loyalty is being pulled into question, it made them stand out from the crowd and I will definitely use and recommend OnlineAppliances.co.uk again. 

Georgina Dunkley

I read an interesting article in the Independent this week, about a study undertaken by the University of Essex which says, as a nation, ‘Britain is facing a boom in dishonesty’!  Apparently we are less honest and our trust in government has fallen to an all-time low, meaning we are about to embark on an integrity crisis.  Factors which apparently are now more acceptable to us than a decade ago include drink driving, buying stolen goods and having affairs.

Now after reviewing this article a number of times I can’t help but wonder how the authors fathomed that being more accepting of something automatically in turn means someone is less honest.  The media landscape over the past 10 years has changed dramatically including the way we consume news, the volume of news we are exposed to and what constitutes a good story; these changing habits and a culture of finding the ins and outs and whys and wherefores of a story at the click of a button would be unrecognisable 10 years ago.  I would argue in fact that 10 years ago, when life and news moved at a much slower pace, that the detail on celebrity affairs, bent MPs and drink driving bans was a brief news snippet one day and fish and chip paper the next.  Now news is everywhere we turn not just on the traditional mediums of newspapers, terrestrial TV and radio but on social networks, blogs, smartphones, satellite channels and news portals too.  The amount of detail contained within a news story seems typically to be more in-depth now and if not penned by the fair hand of the author then by a contributing reader who wants to share their insight. With all of this news at our fingertips then isn’t it acceptable to consider that we can make better informed decisions on why and how things happen?  Also hasn’t the UK’s supposed love affair with scandal and celebrity news meant that we are exposed to much more deceit and shock tactics?

Politicians too have never been considered the salt of the earth but the constant critiquing of their failures in the news just means that more people, of all classes, now have an opinion on the government – a practice some may argue was previously reserved for the higher classes?

So does this makes us less honest or just better informed and maybe a little more realistic of how the world actually operates?  When questioned whether an affair is good or bad perhaps providing a more sophisticated answer of understanding how it could happen doesn’t mean the same thing as actually being dishonest enough to have one? Perhaps understanding why buying stolen goods has become more acceptable has more to do with the financial pressures being faced by consumers during a difficult recession rather than a willingness to be more dishonest? I surmise that there are a lot of outside factors that have not been considered in this study and that purely branding people ‘less honest’ is in bad taste. My gut also tells me this is a lot of naval-gazing about ‘the good old days!’ Here’s looking forward to 2024’s study…!

Colin Miller

I started using Google+ within the first week of its release and I have continued to use it daily until now. Like all new things, at first it was unfamiliar and I found myself looking for the comforts I’d come to expect from my Facebook account. However after a while I got used to the layout, the functions and the community of Google+ and found that I was actually using Facebook less and less. Don’t get me wrong I haven’t replaced my Facebook account with Google+, they are, in my opinion, for different purposes. Facebook is where I go to find out what’s going on in my group of friends and connect with people I haven’t spoken to in a while, Google+ is where I go to find out about what’s happening in the wider world and learn new things. Now I’m sure this all depends on how you personally use these social networks, it may be that you are friends with a group of scientists, politicians, biologists, musicians and journalists on Facebook and therefore get all the information you could possible need through Facebook. If like me however, your Facebook contacts cannot provide you with your daily dose of knowledge and inspiration then Google+ could be your answer.

 The CEO of Google, Larry Page, recently announced some figures regarding the G+ social network. Since its June launch the network has grown to an impressive 90 million users, of which it is reported that 60% engage daily and over 80% engage weekly. These are some impressive figures on the face of it, there was a lot of negative press surrounding the launch of the network and many users believed that it would ultimately fail as it was competing in a saturated market. Most of the naysayers would probably be justified in their thoughts at the time, as there was really no need for another social network and most users were not willing to put the time or effort in to transferring their entire social identity and voice over to a new home. The early adopters have played a large role in the success of the network so far, their enthusiasm, criticism and input have lead to new developments, media coverage and above all; interesting and innovative content being produced and shared.

 It would take too long to list all of the new features and creative projects that have been borne out of the Google+ project so far, suffice to say the list is fairly extensive and interesting. As the network and community continues to grow and evolve there have been obvious changes, more users means more content and of course not all of this content is quality. Nevertheless, the features that make Google+ unique are also those that make it so useful, such as the ability to place people into circles and filter your incoming stream by circle. Essentially, if you put the time into curating your circles and filling them with people who post interesting and worthwhile content of any kind then Google+ becomes an incredibly useful place from which to get all of the latest and most up-to-date information on pretty much any subject you want.

 The main thing that has sustained throughout the growth of the Google+ network is the emphasis on community and sharing. Facebook encourages you to interact with people you already know and maybe a few people you don’t, Google+ encourages you to interact almost entirely with people you don’t know. It is this sense of community and broadening of your social horizons that makes Google+ such an interesting place, although it is still early days, the future looks fairly bright for Google+ and knowing that Google is a company that is not prepared to rest on its laurels, there is no telling what could happen to the network in the coming weeks, let alone months or years.

George Guildford

Music-sharing platform SoundCloud hit the 10 million user mark this week, a further indication of the incredible continued growth and development of digital music, and something which lead me to an interesting fact. Last year alone saw over 64 billion plays online, be it via YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify, Myspace or Facebook... 64 BILLION!! The interesting thing here though is not simply how much the industry is shifting towards the digital age (or in fact, how much it has already shifted), but the fact that this shift is in fact paving an incredibly exciting path for new, emerging and independent artists, as the way music lovers interact and experience music continues to evolve. 

A lot of this is down to the fact that the way we discover new music has changed incredibly over the past 10 years. We no longer have to rely on Huw Stephens or Steve Lamacq digging gems out of their postboxes, or indeed the wonderful people over at the New Musical Express for putting the next Pete Doherty or Jack White on their front covers. Or do we? 

At the beginning of debut single 'I bet you look good on the dance floor', a fresh-faced Arctic Monkey's frontman Alex Turner once mumbled "Don't believe the hype". A throw-away request, sure. But a loaded one all the same, as hype there certainly had been. Waves and months of hype in fact. Most of which originated online via the group's MySpace page. The buzz and hype was not isolated to just online however. Backed by most of the major UK press and radio, the group soon found themselves with a following bigger than both their native football teams combined, a number one single and the fastest selling debut album in British music history. One thing was for sure; everything happened very, very quickly.  

Fast forward six years and the online hype machine has shaped itself into a fine feat of engineering - aerodynamic, well-oiled, poised. From forums, to Facebook and Twitter, to SoundCloud, Last.fm and HypeMachine, to the rise of the blogger, Tumblr and Spotify. Yep, if it's new music you're looking for; online is the place to be. For example, the latest integration of Spotify and Facebook now lets me know everything my friends are listening to, when they're listening to it, in real-time. No need for to wait until the weekend to chew the fat about what new music we're all listening to - we already know - it was posted to our Facebook pages. No problem though, we can talk about which books we're reading instead. Wait, what? That was posted to our Facebook pages too? Of course, the new Facebook Timeline update. I digress. Back to music… New smartphone app, SoundHound even lets you identify the title of a record playing on a commercial or in the background of a store, linking you immediately to the mp3 download. 

It's all very… what's the word? Cool, sure, but not the word I'm looking for. It's all very… fast. Everything is fast. Temporary even. Now, I love fast things as much as the next guy / gal, but culture - maybe I draw the line at fast culture. Books, music, films, art; shouldn't that all be a bit… slower? Lasting? Don't get me me wrong, I love being able to discover new music via Twitter, Facebook and Spotify, and with over 50 hours of new music to get through in 2012 already, most of this has come from the "hype" created on those platforms. The problem is, much like the grand return of the Libertines, it all comes and goes very, very quickly. The new thing is the old thing, the old thing is cool again (because, well, it's nostalgic and retro, and retro's cool, right?), but where does that all leave the ones writing the books, writing the songs, creating the art and shooting the films? It gets them exposure, visibility, awareness, followers and fans - and maybe, just maybe, it brings them success. But longevity, timelessness? Can these things still exist around such speeds? 

64 billion plays online in 2011. 64 billion?! …rant over.

William Davis

Although Facebook first announced the integration of its Open Graph with Timeline in September 2011, it was only last week that a host of applications were announced that would integrate with the social network. With so many new applications launched, including eBay, Ticketmaster and TripAdvisor, the question is whether these new apps will prove more of a benefit or a hindrance to Facebook users.

At first glance the assumption is that the new updates are likely to prove a success. With new applications across a number of different sectors, from travel and food through to retail and entertainment, it seems there’s an app available for everyone and as such they’re likely to thrive on the network.

However, will such integration prove too much for Facebook users? Clearly Facebook is looking to make the process of sharing as simple as possible, but will users really be prepared to document as many of their online activities as possible? We’ve already seen applications for sharing music listened and tv shows watched (Spotify and Hulu) prove a success, but is there as much interest in sharing items bought on eBay, food eaten through Foodily or cars viewed on Autotrader?

My assumption is that these new updates will prove too great an intrusion to the average user. While some users may be more than happy to share many of the smallest details of their online activities, the majority of these applications appear to be more of a benefit to marketers rather than the user. Facebook integration allows these developers to not only understand which products and features are proving popular, but also allows the developer to entice as many potential new customers and users as possible. Spotify is a great example of this, with the music streaming service announcing a 25% increase of paying customers within two months of its integration with Facebook, with non-paying sign ups assumed to be much higher. 

Integrating so many different applications is more likely to appear as spam rather than a user attempting to share with their friends. Facebook may be looking to become the leading hub for sharing and interacting with other internet users, but whilst incorporation of these applications isn’t currently a necessity, it’s hard to imagine a large number of users jumping at the opportunity to integrate these apps.

To find out more, take a look at our Facebook Changes Social Media Intelligence report.

Kirsty Shaw

2011 was a year of change and WHAT a year! I joined Punch in November and so 2012 is really an opportunity for me to no longer be the new girl and really get stuck in.

Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of talk on the web and in the press about resolutions for 2012, but to be honest, I haven’t set any. You may gasp at this admission but instead this year I’m going to see where the year takes me.

But I really wanted to use this post to show the things there are to look forward to in my PR bubble, so here goes:

A Sunday Sun? After the closure of the News of the World in July 2011, The Sun On Sunday was registered as a URL, sparking rumours News International were poised to launch a Sunday version of the Sun to replace NoTW… watch this space!

The Leveson Enquiry - We can’t talk about the closure of the NoTW without touching upon the Leveson Enquiry. Part one is due to end later this year, we wait with baited breath.

London 2012 - The Olympics in 2012 will dominate the media this year which will present both opportunities and barriers for PRs. There is a lot of red tape around what you can and can’t say for the events, especially if you aren’t a sponsor. Therefore as column inches available for non-Olympics stories decrease, PRs will need to become more savvy with the stories they are producing for clients.

Continued rise of importance of online - Online is becoming ever more important to a PR, with many publications giving as much importance to their website news as their print publications, there is no doubt that 2012 will see online becoming ever more important.

So there you have it, a quick overview of what we can look forward to in 2012, I’m sure there is many more we can include and would love to hear your thoughts. 

Alex Smith

I’m never far away from digital technology. Wherever I go I have my smartphone on hand, connected to the internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whenever I’m at home I’m online, on email, Facebook, Twitter.

However, on Thursday my laptop broke. I was without my laptop altogether as it wouldn’t boot, and was left with my trusty phone to access emails and social media. Whilst smartphones are great for this kind of activity when on the go, they aren’t yet terribly good for actually facilitating working for extended periods of time. I found myself very detached from what was going on and temporarily unable to effectively do my job.

In fact, I found myself detached from everything and everyone. It was like I had an arm or leg missing, and I didn’t enjoy it one bit. A form of digital claustrophobia if you will.

Yet to resolve the situation, I opted for old school tactics. Writing the first draft of this blog on actual paper for example. I also read a newspaper on my way back from a meeting in paper form rather than the usual digital.

Suffice to say… neither sufficed. As a thoroughbred digital native, I think I must have reached a point where the digital world has enriched/eroded  my life so much (you choose) that I can’t go back. 

I can only hope that my laptop is fixed soon. Gone are the days of reading news on paper, playing games on boards and creating messages with ink and paper. The future is digital, might as well embrace it and mourn the memory of traditional media consumption in all its glory. Well, for me at least.

Erica Whiteman

The mobile app Path originally launched in November of 2010 as a closed network photo-sharing app with a limit of 50 friends.  A year on, Path has re-invented itself with Path 2 – a sort of diary for moments in every day life.   I signed up to the app last week, and while very few of my contacts are also using the app, I am enjoying documenting and updating what I am doing. 

 One of the benefits of Path are that it’s limited to only your Path contacts until you tell it otherwise.  You then have the option to integrate with Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare.  Like Facebook, you can share your thoughts, what you are listening to, where you are, who you are with and photos you’ve taken, but unlike Facebook, there are filters for photos and you can even track your sleep cycle.  Path is an easy to use and very nice to look at app.  What I like most is that Path, it’s all about you – you choose which photo you’d like to use as your cover, you can see what’s happening in your life and your friend’s – all in a timeline that’s in a straight line which I find a lot easier to follow than Facebook’s recently launched Timeline.

This is a pretty handy and fun new app that I’ll definitely be using more of this year.  What apps have you discovered for 2012?

Colin Miller

The idea of storing files in the cloud may be slightly disconcerting to many people who would rightly ask questions such as, where are my files actually going? What kind of security is protecting my files? What benefits are there for me? All of these are valid questions and concerns, as to many users, cloud computing is a relative unknown, however, now that a number of global organisations and companies are adopting and offering cloud based services, 2012 could be the year that the cloud goes mainstream.

Companies such as Google, Apple and Amazon are all now offering cloud-based services for music, files and information. Google’s latest contribution to cloud services (although currently only to users in the US) recently came out of beta and was offered to users as ‘Google Music’. Google’s service allows users to upload and access up to 20,000 of their songs to the cloud to be accessed by any Android device that they have registered to their account. Apple’s offering comes in the form of iCloud, which provides users with a number of free and paid services to store images, documents apps, contacts and music. Amazon offers a more modest service that is inline with the likes of Dropbox by offering 5GB of free cloud based storage to users for their files and backups.

All of these services will bring cloud-based storage to a much broader audience, due, in part to the reputations and reach of the companies offering them. Users will be much more likely to trust a service that is being offered by a large company such as Amazon or Google, especially since the procedures needed to sync information to the cloud via these services requires little technical knowledge or skill. This likely means that 2012 will see a dramatic increase in cloud based services and adoption, the next problem that will likely arise for users may not be worrying about what the cloud is or how it works, but instead which service out of the numerous options to choose?

 Cloud-based services are still their infancy as far as the general public is concerned, however, now that big name companies and brands are pushing their offerings for cloud storage, the transition to the average person becoming aware of what the cloud is and how it works will most likely be a swift one. 2012 is set to become the year of the cloud and it is unlikely that the way we store and manage our personal information and files will ever be the same again.