X Immediate Future

In search of the value of a story

Ask any PR or advertising professional about the value of having a story to bring a campaign to life and it’s recommended that you be seated comfortably, ready to listen, with a very sympathetic look on your face. Whereas authors and journalists have the pleasure of…

Social Media Lens uncovers the truth about social media

Taking a look at the evolution of social media as a communications tool over the past year, it is clear that one thing in particular has changed, businesses now take it seriously and include in their communications strategy. Brands now automatically lose their shine with customers if they do not…

It’s good to talk!

In this day and age of social networking, many PRs are now beginning to rely too heavily on email and instant messenger to sell-in their stories to the media. Gone are the days of the telephone and the hour long lunch briefing. Now it seems, we are becoming guilty of…

How the hungry corporate caterpillar hatched into a social butterfly

Back in the day, we were taught not to mix business with pleasure. These days - with the help of Web 2.0 - the two worlds have collided to form an altogether more social way of doing business.

One small step for computational sentiment analysis, one big leap for social media measurement…

Sentiment around a brand online is held up as one of the key cornerstones of any social media measurement framework. Just driving up the volume of chatter around your brand is no good – if that chatter is all about what a terrible organisation you are. But, one of the…

Should some brands be unfriended?

Facebook is a huge success, we all know that. But are major brands being blinded by the sheer volume of people using the channel? First it was Levis who started using Facebook’s latest “like” functionality to allow people to…

Everybody wants to rule the world

Once every four years the whole country goes a bit crazy for a few months. Flags get attached to cars, people with little or no interest in football suddenly get wrapped up in pub debates about who exactly should be England’s third-choice goalkeeper, and businesses the length and breadth of…

Chatroulette – a step too far?

As we all know, for some time now, media-savvy companies have been taking full advantage of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, for a combination of brand-building, direct sales, customer service and PR. This has left us all wondering what will be the next big ‘thing’. Could it be the controversial Chatroulette?…

Has Google lost its buzz??

Times they are a changin’, or so it seems. The powerhouse of the internet that is Google has a pretender to its crown. Facebook has managed to gain a level of momentum that could well see it take over as the most…

Customer service and Twitter – friend or foe?

Having some issues with a new service we’d just subscribed to, I was frustrated to find that I’d have to wait nine hours to call a helpline based in the US. Turning to Twitter, I found @jivesupport and pinged them a tweet asking for…

Internet power keeps people going – if not moving

This ash cloud has been quite a strain, my wife and baby are still stuck in Dubai five days after they were due to fly home. The good thing is that they are staying with friends and have a great support network. What it has shown me is how great…

immediate future launches new Twitter stream

Hopefully you follow a few of the members of the immediate future team who have their own personal Twitter feeds, but for the first time we’ve set up an official company presence: Tweets by iftweeter If you’re…

What goes on inside a Sony laboratory?

Everyone knows what press trips are about right? A chance to jet off to some sun-kissed location, get drunk with your journalist mates and generally avoid doing work for a few days. It’s all a big laugh. Well, no actually. Not always, anyway. Especially not when the trip has eco-conscious…

Leap of faith

This week I enjoyed ‘An Evening with Rufus Wainwright’ at Sadlers Wells in London. Watching the very unusual first half of the performance, I was mulling over the power of the performer, the generosity of the audience, the nature of being an expert and…

Natural disasters, the natural ground for social media

The latest volcanic eruption in Iceland has had a dramatic effect on many more millions of people than could have been imagined. As one person commented on Twitter this morning, interesting to see the hand of God can still command such control over us mere humans – or something like…

The right consultant is key to successful social media monitoring

Sitting through a number of presentations from social media monitoring companies recently, I was struck by how these tools all look very similar. I am sure there is a significant difference in what goes on under the hood, specifically in the algorithms and search spiders that each have, but when…

Does the death of Bebo put pressure on Twitter?

Since the news broke that Bebo is in terminal decline, opinion formers have been asking: why did it fail? Some, like The Times, have pointed towards a lack of monetisation through advertising. If we hold up the Facebook smart advertising model as the best commercial blueprint, this…

A look at Easter’s digital campaigns

Another Easter over and once again too much chocolate has been consumed in my household! Along with Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and other seasonal celebrations, Easter is a key time for brands to invest in their marketing activities. With an increasing number of social media, mobile and other digital…

Social Media for Social Change

Recently there has been a major shift in the world of Corporate Social Responsibility. Climate change and the current economic climate have pushed companies to adopt a more pro-active approach to CSR. The bottom line is now centred around people, planet and profit. As businesses aim to build more sustainable…

Brown overtakes Cameron online thanks to his weapon of mass seduction!

What? For the first time in a week, search demand for Gordon Brown has crept above David Cameron: Not since the 22nd March, when Gordon trumped Cameron’s baby with his super fast broadband and Institute of Web Science announcement has there been such a result for Labour…

London’s best kept secret? Why Kingston upon Thames should be on your radar

If you tend to think you should work to live, not live to work, then Kingston upon Thames might just be the place for you. Travelling out of London’s stressful city centre you’ll be guaranteed a seat on the morning commute; why not grab a coffee, catch-up on the day’s…

What’s the hottest trend in fashion this season? Social media of course!

It’s taken a while but the fashion industry has finally woken up to the wonders of the World Wide Web! Online stores such as ASOS are booming, fashion designers are tweeting like there’s no tomorrow and the majority of high-street retailers now have some form of blog…

Customer service boldly going where competitors dare not go

Recent message exchanges with a major mobile phone company have made me think about the role Twitter plays in establishing, building and maintaining customer relationships. Such a short message by nature needs to be succinct and to the point, not something that the majority of big companies…

Twitter Spam

Twitter‘s habit of falling foul to phishing attacks may have come to an end this week as the company announced that it’s stepping up its efforts to eliminate malicious attacks with some new features, described as being able…

Social networks getting Blippy?

You may have heard about the new US start-up that’s been making the headlines recently. Of course, it’s yet another social network. But this is a social network with a very different twist. Backed by a Twitter…

The libraries of the future

The British Library has recently launched the UK Web Archive, offering access to a huge range of web content that otherwise might have disappeared into a ‘digital black hole.’ Despite being plagued by legal issues currently hindering them from recording much more than 1% of the 8…

Movie animation and social media planning: two peas in a pod?

These two disciplines may seem like unlikely bedfellows, but bear with me, the analogy works out in the end. I was recently reading a book called Pixarpedia, a behind-the-scenes look at Disney Pixar’s film studio. Almost as soon…

Google’s algorithms – secret recipe or evil formula?

Rumours, insinuations and accusations have been bubbling around for a while now, but today’s announcement that the European Commission has launched a preliminary anti-monopoly probe into Google’s affairs is the first concrete action to…

Social Media – a reliable source for journalists?

This week the Guardian online posted a blog on the rise of social media as a relevant source of information for journalists, as revealed by a recent US survey which claimed that 56% of reporters view it as an important tool for producing stories. The research carried…

Tracking the 2010 UK election with Google Insights

We recently added a new page to the immediate future blog, a social media dashboard for the 2010 UK general election. The dashboard pulls together data from various sources to provide a quick visual overview of which of the three main political parties are generating the most conversations in…

Too many social media cooks?

The new Buzz module will allow all 176 million users of Google’s Gmail service to see their friends’ live status updates, and share photos and videos. Sound familiar? Been there, done that, got the Facebook/Twitter account already? With social media success stories like Facebook claiming 400 million…

Rise of the iMPs

With Obama’s ‘masterful use of social media’ and the tweets of his 3 million Twitter fans sealing the election of the Democrats’ golden ticket, can our politicians and parties emulate this success and seduce the online masses and turn them into advocates? There’ll be…

Retweet and Win…

I’ve always been intrigued by the use of competitions as a PR tool. How effective are they in reaching the right people for your brand, and do people take notice of much else other than the prize on offer? With this in mind, I wanted to look at…

A good birthday for Facebook

February marks a milestone in the social networking calendar as Facebook celebrates its birthday. The site turned six last week and is showing impressive figures of late, with double the amount of users (now standing at 400 million worldwide), compared to this time last…

Howzat for a landmark in live streamed video?

Last week saw the announcement in the press of the Indian Premier League’s plan to stream the whole of the 2010 tournament live via YouTube. As many commentators have noted over the past week, this calls into question the whole notion of…

Net Promoter Score – a flawed science?

Yesterday, I attended a WOM UK espresso breakfast briefing with Professor of Consumer Behaviour Dr Robert East from our very own Kingston University. Dr East and his MBA students have been researching consumer behaviour and word for mouth for 10 years. Without serious funding…

What does Google Sidewiki mean for brands and PR?

Summary Sidewiki allows consumers to leave public comments on a sidebar attached to your organisation’s website You have no ability to delete or moderate these comments You can respond to comments, and as the owner of the website you can post a message which will always be displayed at the…

Social networks in the UK – Twitter climbing, Facebook leading but stagnant

Just for fun I thought I’d use Google Trends to compare the leading social networks in terms of how much traffic they’re getting from UK web users. This first chart shows that Bebo and MySpace both declined at a fairly similar rate over the past 12 months, while Twitter has…

Is your online PR strategy ready for real-time search?

You might have heard a lot of chatter about real-time search recently, with Facebook buying Friendfeed (a microblogging service with some strong real-time search technology) and Google unveiling Caffeine, a more real-time focused version of its own search technology. Although real-time search is currently…

What does the new Facebook @ reply feature mean for brands and PR?

You may have read that Facebook recently added a new feature which allows you to ‘tag’ other users in updates, which works in the same way as Twitter’s @ reply feature. We think this will have a significant impact on brands which are active on Facebook. How does the new…

17 things you should know about building links

I read an interesting post at SEOmoz about the different factors which influence how valuable a link is in terms of improving the target page’s search engine rankings, and wanted to share it with my colleagues. But being a busy lot I knew they probably wouldn’t have…

Predicting future search trends: Ninjas Vs Cheese

Last week Google quietly added an interesting new feature to its Insights for Search tool, predictions of future search trends. If you don’t already use Insights, you should, it’s a useful tool for monitoring search trends in order to get a good picture of how consumer interest…

How bit.ly will change the world

On the surface, URL shortening services such as https://bit.ly are a great idea, because they can turn long, messy web addresses like this: https://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/support_services/article6788774.ece Into nice tidy addresses like this: https://bit.ly/g4ol9 This is especially useful for posting to Twitter, since it…

How The Carphone Warehouse uses Twitter for customer service

Following the release of our Truth about Twitter report recently, we were contacted by Guy Stephens, the Online Help Manager of mobile phone retailer, The Carphone Warehouse, who wanted to highlight some of his company’s experience of using Twitter to support its customer service operation. Since we’re not planning to…

Two thirds of brands on Twitter are being ignored

Here at immediate future we think that the best way of measuring how well you’re doing on Twitter is by looking at the number of times you get retweeted. As we’ve previously written, retweets are the means by which messages spread virally across Twitter, so the more interesting your conversations…

Why we all need newspapers to find a viable online business model

Newspapers, as everybody knows, are still struggling to get to grips with the internet. For a few years they threw all of their resources into establishing a strong online presence and trying to pull in as big an audience as possible, under the optimistic belief that if enough people were…

Why social media will soon be at the centre of all marketing activity

According to the latest predictions from research firm, Forrester, social media marketing spend in the US will rise from $716 million in 2009 to £3,113 million in 2014. The accuracy of these figures may be up for debate – all the research in the world isn’t going…

How 140 major brands are using Twitter

Over the past year social media gurus have been banging the Twitter drum very loudly, and everybody in the PR and marketing industry must by now be at least dimly aware that they need to pay attention to the service. But apart from the small handful of high profile case…

SEO advice for PR professionals

A lot of people in the PR industry view search engine optimisation (SEO) as something of a voodoo dark art and, consequently, are afraid of tackling it. The main problem with the SEO industry is that unless you already know a lot about the subject, it’s kind of hard to…

It’s time online PR got serious about measurement

One of the most interesting changes taking place as the PR industry evolves into an online discipline is the increased emphasis on measurement. In the old days of offline PR, little attention was paid to systematically analysing the relative success of campaigns, because measuring PR is hard to do. Measures…

Understanding the difference between online PR and SEO

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the purpose of online PR these days. Too many people think that the sole job of online PR is improve the client’s search engine optimisation and help drive traffic to their website. Granted, SEO and online PR do go hand in…

Tongue in cheek view of social media jargon

Flog Definition: When a marketing bod pretends to be a 12-year-old computer nerd and leaves made-up reviews of his own products all over the blogosphere – it’s known as a fake blog or flog. Like fake hair, fake nails and fake tans – fake…

Speaking the same Online PR language

Whilst reading the econsultancy.com online PR benchmarking report, it struck me that PRs and brand marketers were still talking a different language. Clients wanting increased brand mentions online are met with agencies delivering blogger relations. Those asking for brand reach are offered optimised…

Is PR welcome in social media?

Let’s be honest about this, on the whole the PR industry is not welcome in social media. People consider their blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter streams to be their personal space, and they don’t want us oily spin-merchants barging in and shoving our brand messages up in…

2009 will be the Year of the Re-Tweet

If you’re still struggling to understand why Twitter might be a useful PR tool, you should probably take a moment to understand the concept and implications of the phenomenon of re-tweeting. It’s a very simple premise: John finds something he likes on the internet, so he writes a Twitter post…

Four essentials for brainstorming creative ideas for online PR

Just before Christmas, we experimented with some new brainstorming techniques across a number of clients. It got me thinking how there is a lot more to a creative brainstorm when you are planning for social media ideas. Offline, a PR brainstorms rely upon understanding a client: its business or products, its audience, and its requirements. In addition, a good knowledge of what is newsworthy, the media and what is currently capturing the headlines is essential. Of course, this knowledge is necessary for online PR brainstorms too, but you have to add to the mix with a more detailed understanding of social media.

The best Christmas viral

Brilliantly executed viral by Lean Mean Fighting Machine. LEAN MEAN FIGHTING MACHINE “Dem Phones” [tag]viral marketing, video[/tag] © Lean Mean Fighting Machine, “Dem Phones”, Video …

PR will embrace the social media change- I hope

Sadly I missed being on Ian's NMK panel for 'Clients in the Wild' as I just had over 200 staples taken out after an op. But it seems the discussion and subsequent blog by Will McInnes has created a stir - causing several blogging PRs some deeper introspection. Antony Mayfield summarises the issues up rather eloquently. Like Antony , I too am an optimist. I also lived through the similar, if not so public, growing pains of the digital ad agency industry. Back in the 90s these start-ups and specialists departments were dismissed by the powerful TV ad world. And we all know how that has changed now. We now have a very different marketing landscape with digital taking the lead and the more handsome budgets.

PR vs Search video launches

Daryl Wilcox has launched video on his site DWpub.com in series called ‘Experts in Communication’ . The whole thing kicks off with a two part video interview with Antony Mayfield explaining why he took his…

PR practitioners considered ‘incapable’ of online PR

A survey by Webitpr and noted on E-consultancy.com reveals that traditional PRs think that fellow practitioners are incapable of performing comprehensive online PR campaigns.Having spoken to many hard working, imaginative, and successful PRs over the years, it is clear that the PR…

Google, Yahoo!, Apple and Microsoft are the most talked about brands online

Our latest research looking at brand conversation in social media shows that techie companies, [tag]Google[/tag], [tag]Apple[/tag], [tag]Yahoo! [/tag]and [tag]Microsoft[/tag], take the lead in terms of brand mentions in blogs, social networks and photo and video sharing sites.The study, launched at the Online Marketing Show examines the [tag]Interbrand Top 100 global…

Conversations on Disney and Nintendo are the most positive in social network groups

Positive and negative comments in groups on social network sites, such as [tag]Facebook[/tag], [tag]Flickr [/tag]and [tag]MySpace[/tag] reveal [tag]Disney[/tag], [tag]Nintendo[/tag] and [tag]Google[/tag] are the most popular brands. This comes from our latest research, [tag]Brands in Social Media[/tag]. [tag]Social networking[/tag] groups are proving very popular in the UK. They are a very…

Russel, Katy, Last FM and Crowdstorm – panel discussion at OMS

On an advanced panel discussion on Wednesday at OMS. I shall be discussing the role of brands in social media with Stefan Glaenzer – Chairman, Last.fm Philip Wilkinson – co-founder, Crowdstorm Russel Davies – Blogger & Marketer Full topic is: What is the role of brands when blogs, social networks…

Updated social media paper

Trevor Cook and Lee Hopkins at the Corporate Engagement blog have just published their free (second edition) Social Media white paper. Updates on Second Life, Twitter and wikis and some new case study examples of Australian brands experimenting with social media.Great snapshot of the…

Speaking at the IAB: engage for branding

I am speaking with the fantastic Ruth Speakman from [tag]Sony Europe[/tag] (declare: client) at the [tag]IAB conference[/tag] on the 26th July. Together we are going to take a look at how Sony BRAVIA fuelled the conversation online by engaging with influencers. Often when I speak with marketers and PRs, they…

Online PR, a powerful marketing channel – I think not

I am speaking this week at the IAB’s seminar, demystifying online PR. It is interesting that in their blurb on the seminar they say… Demystifying [tag]Online PR[/tag] – Online PR has changed the roles of creative and PR agencies in a client’s communication strategies.

Oooh turn the TV on now – the first BBC programme is in second life!

6.58pm – Broadcasting now on the goggle box is the BBC’s money programme – all about second life. But wait, if you are at a computer, you can see it in second life and if you miss that, you can see it again in second…

Will branded wikis be enough to inspire conversation

A rather clever idea by our friends over at Picture Production Company has just launched: a [tag]wiki[/tag] for Fox’s Fantastic Four film release. The idea is simple, viewers can change, edit and submit to the website in…

BBC shares infographics and embeddable video with its viewers

Well I am posting again on [tag]infographics[/tag] sooner than I first expected! Two separate initiatives have recently gone live on the BBC – showcasing great use of visual online tools. The first is a visual timeline allowing…

Infographics offer new, creative online PR tools

I’ve been finding myself using the word ‘[tag]infographic[/tag]’ more and more frequently recently. The online medium offers PR new tools and areas of creativity previously just not possible. Increasingly, we’ve been finding that the best solution to communicating complicated messages and concepts online has been…

Newscounter misses the mark

A new corporate communications service has just launched, charging companies £300 a pop to respond to comment appearing online. By providing a ready, [tag]SEO[/tag]-friendly platform, [tag]newscounter[/tag] is hoping brands under fire will turn to them to get their message across. Unfortunately, I think it misses the point…

Advertising and consumers – the break up

Superb video from Geert Desager. Simple, effective, story telling at its best… The Break Up Uploaded by geertdesager © geertdesager, The Break Up, Video …

We’re all searching for authenticity

Anthony Lilly of Magic Lantern has a column in today’s Guardian looking at the explosion in online video. He suggests that the amount of content now online has resulted in us viewers not being able to find the balanced view: the facts. And that with no editorial…

Digital agencies can tap into the conversation

[tag]Digital marketing[/tag] agencies are increasingly looking to tap into the conversation on [tag]social media[/tag]. Those that have expanded beyond the marketing push are reaping the rewards and finding that [tag]buzz [/tag]around online campaigns can dramatically shift perceptions, drive visitors and enhance objectives. I am on a panel at the next…

Celebrate digital creativity with a BIMA award

BIMA Awards 2007 is now open for entries. Celebrating creative excellence, the association has teamed up with [tag]Digit[/tag] this year to award best practice in interactive design. We are advisors to the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA). The association is managed by the industry for the industry and has been…

Guardian readers felt ambushed by the change

Engaging online really does mean you need a thick skin. Well the Guardian does at the moment, since it launched its new look website last week. This article from the Guardian…

Roundtable on the future of online says it’s all about social media

A roundtable from e-consultancy (declare: they are a partner) reveals that future thinking of some of the digital industry’s forward thinking players. What strikes me is that throughout…

Cramming in another PR blog

There are a profuse number of [tag]PR blogs[/tag]. Checking out Technorati there are 13,431 PR blogs. I guess us PRs like to communicate. No surprises there then. So you can imagine my fear in starting this blog. Awkward and self-conscious to say the least. I tried like…

Search results for "X"

In search of the value of a story

Social Media Lens uncovers the truth about social media

It’s good to talk!

How the hungry corporate caterpillar hatched into a social butterfly

One small step for computational sentiment analysis, one big leap for social media measurement…

Should some brands be unfriended?

Everybody wants to rule the world

Chatroulette – a step too far?

Has Google lost its buzz??

Customer service and Twitter – friend or foe?

Internet power keeps people going – if not moving

immediate future launches new Twitter stream

What goes on inside a Sony laboratory?

Leap of faith

Natural disasters, the natural ground for social media

The right consultant is key to successful social media monitoring

Does the death of Bebo put pressure on Twitter?

A look at Easter’s digital campaigns

Social Media for Social Change

Brown overtakes Cameron online thanks to his weapon of mass seduction!

London’s best kept secret? Why Kingston upon Thames should be on your radar

What’s the hottest trend in fashion this season? Social media of course!

Customer service boldly going where competitors dare not go

Twitter Spam

Social networks getting Blippy?

The libraries of the future

Movie animation and social media planning: two peas in a pod?

Google’s algorithms – secret recipe or evil formula?

Social Media – a reliable source for journalists?

Tracking the 2010 UK election with Google Insights

Too many social media cooks?

Rise of the iMPs

Retweet and Win…

A good birthday for Facebook

Howzat for a landmark in live streamed video?

Net Promoter Score – a flawed science?

What does Google Sidewiki mean for brands and PR?

Social networks in the UK – Twitter climbing, Facebook leading but stagnant

Is your online PR strategy ready for real-time search?

What does the new Facebook @ reply feature mean for brands and PR?

17 things you should know about building links

Predicting future search trends: Ninjas Vs Cheese

How bit.ly will change the world

How The Carphone Warehouse uses Twitter for customer service

Two thirds of brands on Twitter are being ignored

Why we all need newspapers to find a viable online business model

Why social media will soon be at the centre of all marketing activity

How 140 major brands are using Twitter

SEO advice for PR professionals

It’s time online PR got serious about measurement

Understanding the difference between online PR and SEO

Tongue in cheek view of social media jargon

Speaking the same Online PR language

Is PR welcome in social media?

2009 will be the Year of the Re-Tweet

Four essentials for brainstorming creative ideas for online PR

The best Christmas viral

PR will embrace the social media change- I hope

PR vs Search video launches

PR practitioners considered ‘incapable’ of online PR

Google, Yahoo!, Apple and Microsoft are the most talked about brands online

Conversations on Disney and Nintendo are the most positive in social network groups

Russel, Katy, Last FM and Crowdstorm – panel discussion at OMS

Updated social media paper

Speaking at the IAB: engage for branding

Online PR, a powerful marketing channel – I think not

Oooh turn the TV on now – the first BBC programme is in second life!

Will branded wikis be enough to inspire conversation

BBC shares infographics and embeddable video with its viewers

Infographics offer new, creative online PR tools

Newscounter misses the mark

Advertising and consumers – the break up

We’re all searching for authenticity

Digital agencies can tap into the conversation

Celebrate digital creativity with a BIMA award

Guardian readers felt ambushed by the change

Roundtable on the future of online says it’s all about social media

Cramming in another PR blog