how regional media companies brought themselves down

There's no question the news landscape has changed. But why have the big media companies allowed it to change? And what does the future look like? In this take the National Union of Journalists' Chris Morley poses a few awkward questions.

by Chris Morley

I first started work as a trainee on the Walsall Observer in 1983. At that time it sold about 35,000 copies per week and had an editorial staff of an editor, deputy editor, sports editor, chief reporter, four senior reporters, two photographers and three trainees.

It was the pre-eminent of three weekly newspapers in the borough, holding its own against the mighty dailies of the Wolverhampton Express and Star that had a team of 10 reporters and photographers and the Birmingham Mail that had two reporters.

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nudge nudge, think think

You've heard bits and pieces about nudge but what is it really all about and can it be a part of your communications solutions?

by GUEST EDITOR Carolyne Mitchell

Last month I was lucky enough to host a behavioural economics workshop for Scottish public sector comms teams. The day was run by Stephen Young, senior lecturer in Economics at Brighton University Business School and Viv Caisey a social marketer who's done fab stuff with health and food standards around the country.

Behavioural economics, better known as nudge is one of those tricky concepts that is just emerging from academia into the world for people to apply to their own causes.

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have you shared your best ideas? you should

Here's an idea that will spin your thinking upside down. Give your ideas away? For free? But what happens? You build a reputation. That's what. 

by Dave Thackeray

Have you read my book, Sharing Superheroes, yet? If you’re among the 8 who have, move on. You already know the one thing that’s holding many businesses back. And I trust you’ve used it to your advantage.

However I’m going to assume you’re one of the 6.9999999992 billion unfortunates who haven’t had their desks graced by that marketing playbook. Instead of chucking a copy at your face, I’ll give you what you came here for. I save postage, you save face.

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up for the cup: august's top posts

Well August is historically a quieter month for the old web traffic, with you good people disappearing to every corner of the globe, and Weston-Super-Mare. But actually last month was really busy. And we had a surprise number one in the comms2point0 hit parade.

by Darren Caveney

We like to think that we have a little something for everyone on the site these days. Last month's most read posts underlined that range of tidy little case studies and learning.

And competition for one of our prestigious little plastic cups remains high. You simply cannot buy one from eBay. No way. You have to write a belting little post which lots of folk read. Easy peasy.

So, the top five, in our usual reverse order...

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5 unexpected benefits of being a social organisation

Bromford Housing in Wolverhampton. If only every employer was like them. Why? Because they've embraced this digital stuff. And their world didn't end. It actually got better. Here's what they learned.

by GUEST EDITOR Paul Taylor

It’s little over two years since Bromford lifted any restrictions on social media and offered complete freedom to every single colleague. 

And it’s almost impossible to remember what life was like before the wall came down.

Hundreds of Bromford people have online profiles and blogs and membership of our internal Yammer covers almost all colleagues.

Truth be told we didn’t really know what we were unleashing. We didn’t know how it would change us or the organisation.

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18 things the Ashes can tell you about digital communications

As the cricket series ends in victory for England it's time to take a look off the pitch and how the off-field social use can teach you a lesson about digital communications.

by Dan Slee 

Back in 1882 when England took on Australia at the game of cricket it took 10 weeks for the message of who won to travel 9,000 miles from London to Melbourne. Today it takes seconds.

Nothing is a better yardstick of how communications is innovating than this never ending battle between two countries.

Message by ship was succeeded by the telegram, radio, TV and the internet. Like a timeline each innovation has carried the message.

In 2013, it’s been no different and this historic game of bat and ball has shown a yardstick of where we are. As Australia lost to England the story was told by tweet, picture, TV broadcast and blog.

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a campaign to tweet realtime murders

The image of Victorian London is a strong one. Pea soupers, Dickens and Jack the Ripper. As part of a campaign to promote a book one publisher is using Twitter to post realtime updates.

by Jamie Wolfendale

It’s been 125 years since Jack the Ripper stalked the streets of Whitechapel, but his bloody legacy still looms large. This year The History Press is proud to announce its follow-up to the award-winning 2012 Titanic Real Time campaign with another social media campaign, Whitechapel Real Time – a digital exploration of Victorian London at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders.

Join The History Press on a historical journey through London in 1888’s ‘Autumn of Terror’, where the Jack the Ripper story will be told through Twitter using real-time tweets from characters both real and fictional.

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on measuring... and measuring profile

Sometimes experimenting without measuring is okay. But there's a school of thought that as comms is science you need to measure. Here's one thought on what we should be measuring: profile.

by Gavin Loader

I’m a measurement addict; there I said it, phew. I’m addicted to the iPhone/web app called Strava that turned me from a friendly runner and cyclist into a distance and speed enthusiast. I can recite every PB at every distance I’ve ever achieved, and the challenges and goals that left me a lactic acid induced mess.

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arts and culture cuts – what happened next?

Remember the phrase ‘doing a Newcastle’?

It entered the local government lexicon last year when we unveiled our budget proposals and said we’d have to scrap the funding we gave to arts institutions across Newcastle.

By Will Mapplebeck

It caused a tremendous row, even the likes of Sting and Bryan Ferry got involved, and I wrote about it in a previous comms2point0 blog that you can find here. 

As I said at the time, compared to some of the choices we had to make – for example closing respite centres for children and adults with learning disabilities – you might think that arts funding would not cause us that much reputational damage.

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an app to bring police and communities closer together

Sometimes a press release or some social media just won't do. When Greater Manchester Police force were looking to register help from residents they developed a smartphone app that uses the geolocation capability of a smartphone.

by Amanda Coleman

Almost 12 months ago we were discussing how new technology identifying locations could support frontline policing. Apps are at their best when they use the mobile element to do something different to websites or social networks.

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how to communicate as a frontline officer

It's true that the best social content can often be from the frontline and from officers who are not senior. But what does that look like? In this case study a town centre officer talks about how with the support of his comms team he is using Twitter and Facebook.

by Jon Burnett

About three years ago I moved over to the town centre management team at Walsall Council to become the regeneration officer for Walsall town centre.

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have you overlooked visual communications tools?

As comms people we naturally favour words as our key means of getting the message across but often, and particularly when it is quite a complex of dry topic, I find it pays to be more visual.

by Michelle Evans

Until recent years I was guilty of using the tried and tested to communicate; posters, flyers, web page and video clips. Video clips are a particular bug bear of mine when used inappropriately. I’m sure we’ve all experienced that awkward moment where a service lead wants to launch a new policy or strategy and is adamant that a video is the only way to go.

You try to explain the amount of time and money it will take to produce in return for the amount of people who will watch it makes it a very costly way of communicating. Then you point out that even if staff start watching, they probably won’t make it to the end of the 20 minute epic they are planning about the new way sickness needs to be recorded.

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five lessons learned in campaigning on the right to film council meetings

Ridiculed in satirical publications such as Private Eye, caught on camera for YouTube viewers, slammed in the press by cabinet ministers and MPs alike, the issue of members of the public filming council meetings can provoke strong feelings. Here, campaigner and journalist Sarah Hartley from Talk About Local draws out five conclusions from recent events which could help councillors, comms professionals and campaigners find a way through the friction.

by Sarah Hartley

It’s an issue that’s not often been generating the sort of headlines most local authorities would like to see written about them.

Videos of people in ceremonial chains demanding that cameras be ‘dismantled’, meetings being dissolved rather than hearing important local issues and police having their time wasted on well-meaning citizen doesn’t present local authorities in a good light.

So how has it come to this point?

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up for the cup: july's top posts

As months go, July was a bit special for us. The launch of a new white paper, record web site visitors and a new job for one of us. But nothing quite compares to the announcement of the top post for July...

by Darren Caveney

With well over 300 posts on the site we like to think that we have a little something for everyone now. And the top five most read posts in July underline the mix of case studies and learning from across many sectors.

So, the top five, in our usual reverse order:

At five, was What would Basil Clarke the father of British PR make of today's industry? by Richard Evans.

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when geek meets journo

From time to time we have work experience students come into the office proclaiming their desire to be journalists. I have to admit that my heart slightly sinks and a desire to 'talk them out of it' kicks in. But perhaps there is hope, yet...

by GUEST EDITOR Carolyne Mitchell

Those who know me both online and in real life will have heard me bemoaning the fact that the skills taught in computing classes in schools around the country are failing to plug the skills gap in this country and failing to engage our kids.

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