This presentation includes some great insight on Facebook Connect. It’s solid gold.

This is an interesting presentation looking at an inherent problem with Facebook Groups. I’d be interested in hearing the views of PR professionals, e.g. do you agree that this is a problem?.

An interesting debate is rumbling about Facebook and its role in news. Some voices are evangelical about the social network, while others doubt why news organisations are putting Facebook at the heart of their digital strategy.

Earlier this week, Techcrunch recently criticised US news agency Associated Press (AP) for diverting Twitter users to their Facebook page. The blog couldn’t comprehend why AP would want to drive traffic to Facebook and not to their home page.

Of course, you need to understand this story in the context of TechCrunch’s on going dispute with AP. The two parties are not the best of friends.

To the common onlooker, diverting their users to Facebook and not your home page, does seem a little odd. On the other hand, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Social media, Steve Rubel, thinks that Facebook could soon “swallow the internet!” There is data to show that Facebook is now the number one source of news on the internet, greater than Google News.

Facebook news traffic

He sees a day when there could be a “siteless” internet and thinks AP’s move is ‘visionary.’

In the short term, it is the role of the Public Relations professional to decide how best to integrate social media, such as Facebook into PR campaigns. While Facebook is a great tool for brands, using it to make news sharable can be seen as more difficult than using Twitter, Digg, Reddit or other such sites.

However, in the future as more and more realtime services are integrated into Facebook, the changes Steve Rubel talks about could become a reality.

Or, of course, a new unexpected technology might come along and change things again! Nothing in the world of web 2.0 happens as expected. However, it is worth keeping an eye on Facebook – it is not just a place to update your friends on what you had for lunch.

Interesting further reading:

You can create your own personal news channel in Facebook. I still prefer Twitter, but it is possible and people are using it

Slowly and surely Facebook is adding to its news functionality, such as this social search tool

How else is Facebook spreading news? The Daily Perfect is a classic example.

On the day that actress Brittany Murphy died from what reports suggest to be drug abuse, the DJ Brandon Block is fronting a new Government anti-drugs campaign. The results, I feel, are exceptional and you can watch it here.

Everyone has seen a public health campaign which takes the wrong tone or, worse still, could motivate youngsters to do the opposite – after all, adolescence is all about rebellion. The Brandon Block video should put people off cocaine and congratulations should be given to Mother, the agency behind the campaign.

The only small worry about the message is perhaps it won’t resonate that well with the young because many won’t know Brandon Block, as his career peeked at some point in the nineties. I remember him and his music ‘wasn’t to my taste,’ but he was a famous self-styled “nutter”, and hopefully the scale of his lifestyle can be put across to those under 30 years of age. Using the Pablo Facebook campaign I am sure this generational problem can be overcome.

For those of you who are under 30 and don’t remember Brandon Block, then perhaps the following video of him in action at the Brit Awards, is just as strong a message about “Just Saying No.” Looking back at the clip now, it is both funny and sad, and it is this complex picture of drugs, the highs and the lows, which this campaign gets across so well.

Fernando Rizo is the Head of Digital at a PR agency called Ketchum.  I met him today at a PRCA event and he talks a lot of sense. 

I am sure he’ll correct me if I get the details wrong here, but he is the man behind a campaign in America which saw Stride Gum try to stop German director Uwe Boll from producing film franchises based on video games. 

I think we can all safely say this genre is crap but his films are nothing to lose any sleep over.  To gamers, however, a poor film franchise can kill all that was good and great about their Nintendo-packed-pastime.

If the petition gets to a million Uwe has said that he will never make another film again.

The motivation for Stride Gum, of course, was publicity in one of the biggest blogging communities on the internet – gaming.  And I am sure that there were cinematic reasons too.

There are more details here:

http://kotaku.com/388018/uwe-boll-vs-stride-gum

and here:

http://StopUweBoll.org

I not only love this campaign for its simplicity but for the brave way the Stride Gum bit the bullet without fear of a lawsuit.

It was also fascinating because the case study reaffirmed three key things and gave me a greater focus.  These points were:

1. Beg, borrow and steal your audience.  In Stride Gums’ case the gaming communities (but don’t do a Habitat and hijack the Iran Elections). 

2. Topicality is king.  Even for corporate blogs topicality, speed of reaction and quick stunts can pay dividends.  You don’t need to have a “wacky” theme like with Uwe Boll. 

3.  Find your niche and rinse it!  Don’t dabble in a Facebook page here, a Twitter account there.  Find one tactic and make it the best out there.

Visit Fernando’s blog @ http://fernandorizo.typepad.com/

The Daily Telegraph, 5^th Sept: Currys and PC World staff to be investigated after abusing customers on Facebook
Around 3,000 people have become members of the Facebook discussion group in which past and present employees post messages about customers. Some of the discussion boards were titled “A******* customers!”, “Really Stupid Customers!” and “Some customers are really really stupid” in which customers are branded “retards” and “t****”. Other discussion boards had names such as “Chatting up customers” and “The sale of goods act (as amended by customers)” and included posts which said customers deserved a “punch” and asked whether staff should be allowed to “cattle prod” customers. DSG International, the shops’ parent company, is understood to have launched an investigation into the abuse after some staff posted messages under their real names. 

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