What’s in a Name? The Fragile Relationship Between PR and Bloggers/Journalists


Being a fan of good music, I follow @brainlove on Twitter. John runs a record label called Brainlove. He is not a man called Brian Love, that much is evident from his Twitter profile, where it says in quite big letters ‘John Brainlove’. Look…

About a month ago, I noticed this tweet..

…and it made me chuckle. It was mainly the name ‘Brian Love’ that did it. But still, it’s the kind of tweet that I see all too often – people complaining about PRs getting their names wrong. So, I did a quick search on Twitter and found, pretty quickly, two other people, Hannah Hobson from the Bow Dream Nation blog and Leigh Campbell, Beauty & Lifestyle Editor for Cosmopolitan Australia, with the same issue. So, I thought I’d ask them some questions about what happens when PRs get names wrong. Here are the highlights of their answers:

How does it make you feel when you receive a PR approach with an incorrect name or none at all?

  • “If they can’t get my name right, I’m not reading further.” (JB)
  • “It makes me really annoyed. It’s unprofessional, wrong and bad manners. I get the impression they are probably not that bothered with you in the first place if they get your name wrong.” (HH)
  • “I feel as though they haven’t bothered to do any research into their ‘target’ publication in which they wish their product to appear.” (LC)

What does it do to your image of the PR person who made the error?

  • “When a PR gets my name or another detail wrong I would automatically think they are incompetent and not a reliable person to work with.” (HH)
  • “It’s probably not their fault – they’ve probably been dropped in the deep end on a minimum wage or sub-zero wage internship with no training.” (JB)
  • “It’s such a fundamental mistake to make – and by doing so, sending the release/kit in the first place has been made redundant as I delete/dispose.” (LC)

Would it make you less likely to want to work with that PR person/company on the campaign in question or on future campaigns?

  • “Absolutely. If they can’t take the time to learn my name and its correct spelling, I don’t offer my time in learning about what they’ve approached me for.” (LC)
  • “Yep, straight in the bin, and once you have bin status, it’s very hard to claw back any credibility.” (JB)
  • “It would make me less likely to work with the person in the future but if they emailed to apologise or something similar I would give them another chance. Of course if it happened more than once them I would definitely not want to work with them again.” (HH)

The lessons for PRs are there for all to see.

by Paul Barnett


Paul Barnett, Social Media Tips and Tricks


Compare and Contrast: What UK Film Bloggers Think of X-Men: First Class



The first in a series of ongoing articles, Compare and Contrast will look at what one section of the UK blogging community is talking about right now, showcasing the range of opinions, blogging styles and PR/marketing opportunities the UK blogging space provides.

Last week, we profiled the UK film blogging community. This week, we’re going to take a look at some big news within that community and compare what some of Social Media Library’s top-rated film blogs have to say on the issue.

Not a fan of comic book adaptations by any means, even I haven’t been able to avoid the news of a new X-Men film.

X-Men: First Class

Sci-Fi Now’s review approaches the film with a large helping of good will, despite some misgivings. There are “a mess of ensemble characters” and “stodgy dialogue”, but also “brilliant faux-retro effects”, and “a real sense of charm, warmth and fun”.

Review in a line – “Against the odds it carves out its own little corner of the world – 3*”

The only review from our pick that truly lavishes praise, is the What’s On TV: Movie Talk blog review. The casting is “spot on”, it’s “smart”, “spectacular” and is “up there in the top rank of superhero films”

Review in a line - ”A well-paced adventure that delivers excitement, humour and pathos…without getting unduly sidetracked along the way.”

The Blogomatic 3000 seems to echo Sci-Fi Now’s review, being broadly positive about the film, with a few caveats. The review praises the film’s production design (“cracking”) and its “frenetic pace”. But there are problems with “numerous plot discrepancies” as well as criticism for director Matthew Vaughn, whom the reviewer thinks should “slow down and let the film breathe a little bit”.

Review in a line – “X-Men: First Class simply has too many good bits to be anything less than a great film.”

In direct contrast to Blogomatic 3000′s review, The Shiznit thinks that X-Men is a “slower film than some may be expecting” but this, for them is a good thing. Its main criticism is that it suffers “ a little from conveniently glossed-over motives”.

Review in a line – “Everything we could hope it to be: fun, compelling and exciting to watch - 4*”

 

Perhaps the most critical review comes from The Arts Desk, who view it as a “wristwatch-examining two and a quarter hours.” (possible the best line of all from the reviews we found!). The “screenwriting is crying out for a new typewriter ribbon” with “Michael Fassbender’s tense, tightly wound performance” praised.

Review in a line – “A cut-price X-Men skimping on the megastar budget.”

About The Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, an organiser of Scrabble Sunday and blogs about the things he does here.


Compare & Contrast, Paul Barnett


Read This! Book Blogging In The UK


The book club as we know and love it is still going strong all over the world. But it exists online too. Our blogs listed under Entertainment – Books & Literature number many. We’ve also added topics specifically for teen literature and poetry, both subjects that command a great deal of passionate blogging. The range of bloggers is huge, even if content follows a fairly standard template. Here, we take all of our B&L blogs together, providing an analysis of how the UK is blogging about this subject.

Time To Get Reading?

Time To Get Reading?

Blogger Profile
Book bloggers are older, more female and more spread out than any other kind of blogger we’ve encountered in our analysis of UK blogging so far. For the first time, women blog more than men, taking 59% of the topic. The 35 -44 age range still dominates at 37% of bloggers, but where normally the 25 – 34 range follows, instead we have the 45 – 54 range (at 22%) for book lovers. 55 – 64 bloggers also feature higher than usual, taking 9% of the space. Whilst London is still the centre of blogging (with 30%), other areas such as the North West (17%) and the South East (14%) break the 10% barrier. Blogging is spread fairly evenly across the rest of the country, although bloggers from the North East and Northern Ireland are rare in this category. Those working in the industry take a healthy chunk of blogs here (with 32%) although, as usual, most bloggers are enthusiasts (54%). Corporate and Media Publisher blogs account for around 1/7 of all blogs, leaving the vast majority as personal blogs.

Social Media
Other forms of social media don’t feature as prominently as usual, with Twitter being used only by 51% of bloggers. Only 20% of blogs have associated Facebook pages or profiles and other social media is almost never used.

Content
It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that the vast majority of content here focuses on reviews. Most blogs that don’t feature reviews tend to be amateur writers and poets who use their blogs as a showcase or a diary for their personal work. Reviews (65% of blogs) and features (82%) dominate, with features mostly taking the form of ‘What I’m Reading’, ‘What Came In The Post’-style blogs or top 10 lists. The book blogging community is a close-knit one with lots of interaction between blogs. Some diary content can be found (29%), advertising is rare (15%) and comment pieces whilst not unusual, are not commonplace (38%).

Here are 5 of our top Books & Literature blogs:

Cornflower Books is a blog which incorporates the ideas of a traditional book group, where a monthly book is chosen and read by the group then discussed on the blog. As well as the monthly book, Karen also writes other book reviews and both long and short feature articles.

The Sweet Bonjour is one of our top B&L – Teen blogs, focussing on Young Adult (YA) fiction. Consisting mostly of reviews, the writing here is pitched at a younger audience, packed as it is with exuberance and enthusiasm. The blog features occasional diary-style entries, competitions and news on new releases.

A male-written blog, Savidge Reads is authored by self-confessed book addict, Simon Savidge. Unusually, for the genre, this is a blog that has some kind of visual element. Most blogs, perhaps for obvious reasons in this area, are text heavy. Savidge’s looks more like a diary-blog, with well-placed photos, graphics and book covers. Mixing his personal goings on with reviews and features, Savidge Reads is a diverse, appealing read for the book lover.

Volatile Rune is a blog which focuses on poetry. Reviews, news, longer feature pieces and comments all follow. Frances, the blogger, is a poet herself, so the writing is top notch.

A classic example of the B&L blog, Books Please is a simple to follow, easy to read blog, featuring mainly reviews, but also diary entries and longer features on authors and genres.

About The Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, an organiser of Scrabble Sunday and blogs about the things he does here.


Blogging In The UK, Paul Barnett


Take The Stage, Theatre & Comedy Bloggers


Having now covered each of the main musical genres within Social Media Library, it’s now time to move on to a new section of our database. Theatre & Comedy is a perfect sector for social media. Bloggers can review instantly, even from the show itself and, particularly within comedy, those working in the industry can use the new technology not only as a personal website, but also to showcase their talents.

Theatre & Comedy Blogs - In Good Health

Theatre & Comedy Blogs - In Good Health

Blogger Profile
Bloggers within this sector are predominantly male (they outnumber women 3:1) and age-wise bloggers come from all brackets, but peak in the 25-34 range (44%) with 35-44 just behind (31%). London and the South East accounts for over ¾ of blogs with relatively few from outside the region. The type of blogger that we have in this sector is split mainly between both the usually-predominant personal bloggers and the often less common industry professionals. This is likely to be because so many comedians keep personal blogs, not only talking about their professional work , but also commenting on comedy in general and writing humorous content. These include high profile blogs from the likes of Graham Linehan, Mark Watson and Richard Herring. Almost ¾ of all blogs are personal blogs.

Social Media
Twitter is way ahead here, with 71% of bloggers using the platform. Facebook also has a presence with 27% of blogs. Other social media is rarely used.

Content
Perhaps the most pure kind of Theatre & Comedy blog is the personal blog where a theatre lover simply goes to see shows and reviews them. However, Theatre & Comedy is often covered, with more news and features, on blogs that take in arts and culture in general, such as The Arts Desk. There are also the previously mentioned Industry Professional blogs (this also includes a number of theatre production company blogs, who are more likely to write longer comment pieces and features rather than reviews). From a Media Publisher point of view, there is the dedicated magazine, The Stage, which features a number of blogs on its site. Predictably, reviews are most prevalent in this sector with 65% of blogs carrying them, feature articles and diary elements are also popular at around 50% each, while only 40% of blogs carry news and less further (34%) carry advertising.

Here are 5 of our top Theatre & Comedy blogs:

Chortle – When it comes to comedy, Chortle should be your first port of call. It’s essentially an encyclopaedia of comedy in the UK. As well as featuring lots of news and reviews of just about every show around, the site also has fixed content profiling comedians and current tours.

Michael Legge – This is a good example of a comedian’s blog. Michael Legge writes and writes and writes. It’s weird, wonderful and quite silly.

Glen’s Theatre Blog – According to Glen, he sees 150 theatre shows a year. He must spend the other 165 days of the year writing reviews of what he sees on this packed, easy to read blog.

Sycophant – Simone watches a lot of comedy shows. And she reviews them all here on this blog, which also acts as a diary of what seems to be her whole life!

Theatre Junki – Written by a theatre producer, this blog mainly reviews shows but also features entries on his own work plus theatre news.

About the Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, an organiser of Scrabble Sunday and blogs about music he likes here.


Blogging In The UK, Paul Barnett


Time For Wine: The UK’s Top Wine Bloggers


Continuing our series looking at the UK Food & Drink blogging sector, which began with Beer blogs followed by General Food & Drink, this week we take a look at UK Wine blogs.

Of the wine blogs we have on our database, around 50% blog from London, with the rest spread around the country. 2/3 of bloggers are male, with around half of bloggers aged between 35 and 44. Surprisingly few bloggers are enthusiasts, with exactly half blogging from within the industry and around 1/3 blogging as professional journalists. However, most blogs are personal blogs, with around 1/5 of all blogs being corporate ones. In terms of social media, Twitter is the most popular site used, with 2/3 uptake. Facebook and Flickr lag behind with around 1/4 of bloggers using the networks. Content-wise, UK wine bloggers are mainly feature and review-based. Less than half provide wine news and only 1/4 carry advertising.

UK Wine Blogs

UK Wine Blogs

Here are 5 of our best UK wine blogs:

Wine Conversation is run by a professional brand ambassador for various well known wines. The blog takes a look at the wine industry through features, comment pieces and diary entries.

Spittoon is perhaps the most far-reaching of our wine blogs. With tips and recommendations, reviews, news and diary entries, it also makes good use of social media.

Douglas Blyde is a freelance food & drink journalist and his blog, Intoxicating Prose, may be a blog about food, drink and travel, but his opinions on wine are influential within the sector.

Denise Medrano is a blogger who has worked her way into the industry from an earlier job at Oddbins. The Winesleuth is a diary of her travels and the wine that she drinks on them.

One for the insider, the Liv-Ex Fine Wine Market Blog is a corporate blog for a company that provide trading information for fine wine merchants. It’s a well maintained blog that is great for industry professionals.

About the Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, an organiser of Scrabble Sunday and blogs about stuff that he does here.


Blogging In The UK, Paul Barnett


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