DWPub Sporadic

A new blog for DWPub

We have a new DWPub blog. It will be made up of a combination of posts from myself and the fantastic DWPub team who spend much of their time talking to the PR, marketing and journalism community.

I'm not sure what will become of the DWPub Sporadic, which has been a personal venture of mine since 2005. We'll see.

In the meantime head on over to the DWPub blog.

SourceWire Christmas Press Party 2012 - guest list

Updated guest list as of 16:00 11 December 2012

Here's the guest list for this year's SourceWire Christmas Press Party at the Cheshire Cheese on London's Fleet Street. We have over 300 journalists registered so far, the below are the ones who have agreed to appear on the public list. For a bit of background on this event check out my post from 2008!

For the first time this year the informal tech journo and PR group TechJPR (formerly UKTJPR) will be running their Xmas party straight after the SourceWire party at a nearby venue. We're also sponsoring this event which is open to PR professionals as well as journalists. It promises to be a great day.

Francis	Abberley	Incisive Media
Ralph	Adam	Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) plus lots of other mags
Neil	Ainger	gtnews & bobsguide
Iain	Aitch	Guardian, Telegraph, Dwell
Marcus	Alcock	Insider Publishing
Sofie	Andersen	Incisive Media
Elizabeth	Anderson	Management Today
Robert	Anderson	Capacity magazine
Amy	Andrew	Mena Insurance review
Nishwa	Ashraf	Melcrum Publishing
Joanne	Atkin	Mortgage Finance Gazette/What Mortgage
Derek	Austin	Run Off & Restructuring
Marcus	Austin	TechRadar Business Centre
Berenice	Baker	Progressive Media Group
Mark	Ballard	Computer Weekly
Martin	Banks	Business Cloud 9
Chris	Barraclough	Mobile Choice
Stephanie	Baxter	Global Investor/ISF
Vicky	Beckett	Pageant Media
Marc	Beishon	Various
Madeline	Bennett	v3/inquirer - incisive media
Asa	Bennett	Londonlovesbusiness.com
Chris	Bidmead	Various
Simon	Bisson	ZDNet, TechRadar, Hardcopy, Information Age
Alex	Blyth	B2B Marketing, Buying Business Travel, Local Government Chronicle, PR Week,
Frank	Booty	Constantly looking
Hannah	Bouckley	Recombu Mobile
Emma	Boyes	Various, MSN, IGN, The Register, CVG, Shortlist etc
Gavin	Bradshaw	Insider Publishing
Mary	Branscombe	TechRadar, ZDNet, TRBC, Hard Copy etc etc
Kirstie	Brewer	HFMWeek
Adrian	Bridgwater	Computer Weekly, Dr Dobb's, Cloud Pro, ITAM Review, Inside Analysis and CIO Enterprise
Paul	Briggs	Media Mantra Ltd
Cristina	Brooks	Cranes Today Magazine
Graham	Buck	gtnews.com
Jamie	Bullen	Airfinance Journal
Alan	Bullion	Agra Informa
Rebecca	Burn-Callander	Managementtoday.co.uk
Giulia	Cambieri	CampdenFB
Alex	Cardno	Credit Today magazine
Lucy	Carey	AGI Magazine
Yogesh	Chandarana	City A.M.
Matt	Chapman	Computer Shopper, MyM, Total Film, more!, Legal Week
Andrew	Charlesworth	Computing
John	Charlton	Personnel Today, Employers' Law, Recruiter, Information Today, etc
Jack	Clark	ZDNet
Rob	Clymo	Digital Photography Enthusiast
Luke	Collins	Tech Design Forum
Rebekah	Commane	Metropolis International Publishing House
Dominic	Connor	TheRegister, Bloomberg Current/efinancialCareers
Max	Cooter	Cloud Pro
Samantha	Cordon	Mortgage Introducer
Claire	Cormack	TechTarget
Steve	Costello	Mobile World Live
Steve	Cotterell	Project Manager Today
Clive	Couldwell	AV magazine
Clive	Couldwell	AV magazine
Fiona	Craig	E&T magazine
Tony	Cripps	Ovum
Simon	Crisp	Techradar, Reghareware, Computer Active
Michael	Cross	Law Society Gazette
Peter	Crosskey	Agra Europe; The Agricultural and Rural Convention; thepigsite.com; Fresh Produce Journal
Richard	Crump	Incisive Media
Justin	Cunningham	Findlay Media
Alistair	Dabbs	Daily Mail, Mail On Sunday, The Register, travelGBI, Creative Plus Publishing
Joe	Dalton	Euromoney - International Tax Review
Clarissa	Dann	Trade & Forfaiting Review (part of Wilmington PLC)
Megan	Darby	Utility Week
Glynn	Davis	Retail Insider
Chris	Dawson	Tamebay.com
William	Dennehy	Mtesz
Tony	Dennis	GoMo News
Fleur	Doidge	Incisive Media
Michael	Donlevy	Flipside
Caroline	Donnelly	IT PRO
Lawrie	Douglas	Engineering and Technology
Eric	Doyle	The Times, SC Magazine, TechweekEurope
Derek	du Preez	Computerworld UK
Manek	Dubash	Freelance
Ellie	Duncan	Credit Today
Chiara	Elisei	Debtwire
Juliet	England	Magazines, online copywriting, Hearing Times
Richard	Evans	Telegraph Media Group
Steve	Evans	CBR
Sue	Fenton	Various - Decision business magazine and others
Michael	Fereday	Gadgetspeak.com & Micro Mart
Tim	Ferguson	Mobile World Live
Rachel	Fielding	Accountancy, Accountancy Age, Economia, putblictechnology.net, HRZone,
Gary	Flood	Whoever will pay me
Pádraig	Floyd	Corporate Adviser, Employee Benefits, Financial Adviser, Financial News, ftadviser.com, Insolvency Today, Investment Adviser, Investment & Pensions Europe, Lyonsdown, Money Management, NAPF News, Pensions Age, Pensions Wee
Jason	Foster	Computer Weekly
John	Foster	Mergermarket
Karen	Friar	ZDNet
Hannah	Gannage-Stewart	Wilmington Publishing & Information
Will	Garside	ChannelPro, IBE
Adam	Gavine	Aircraft Interiors Int'l / Airline Entertainment Int'l / Airline Catering Int'l
Andrea	Gerlin	Bloomberg News
Justyn	Gidley	European Communications/ Mobile Europe
Bryan	Glick	Computer Weekly
Brittany	Golob	Communicate magazine
Michael	Goodman	Telegraph
Rupert	Goodwins	ZDNet UK
Jason	Goodyer	E&T
James	Graham	ukvine.com
Gabby	Griffith	LondonlovesBusiness.com
Laura	Grivainis Thorne	The Music Void
Susan	Grossman	Freelance
Chris	Haffenden	Debtwire ABS Europe
Oli	Haill	FT Business and others
Chris	Hall	Pocket-lint.com
Robyn	Hall	Mortgage Introducer
Graham	Hambly	PQ Publshing Limited
Sian	Harris	Research Information
Martin	Harrison	freelance
Damon	Hart-Davis	The Register
Tony	Hawes	ROM Magazine
Will	Head	MacUser, WIRED, Tap!
Richard	Henderson	The Trade
Myles	Hewitt	Business and IT magazines
Steven	Hickey	H Bauer Publishing
Rosalind	Hill	Informa Business Information
Christine	Horton	Channel Pro
Michael	Hubbard	musicOMH
Steve	Hurst	Customer Engagement
Margot	Huysman	IBTimes UK
John	Hyde	Law Society Gazette
Bob	Jenkins	Broadcast, World Screen, Video Age, License Global, MIP / MIPCOM Dailies
Mike	Jennings	PC Pro
Sabrina	Johnson	Sabrina Suggests
Penny	Jones	DatacenterDynamics
Peter	Judge	NetMediaEurope
Steve	Karmeinsky	Euro Tech News
Saleem	Khawaja	n/a
Faye	Kilburn	Incisive Media
Amy	King	Unquote
Caroline	King	Contrary Life
Makiko	Kitamura	Bloomberg News
Martin	Kornacki	Athene Publishing
James	Laird	ITProPortal
John	Lamb	Ability magazine, BeyondCloud
Richard	Lambley	Land Mobile, TETRA Today
Rob	Langston	Fundweb.co.uk
Anna	Lawlor	Investment Adviser, Economist Intelligence Unit, financial trades etc
Marcel	Le Gouais	Credit Today
Ray	Le Maistre	Light Reading, UBM Tech
Marcus	Leach	Fresh Business Thinking
Amanda	Leek	Pensions Age
Dominic	Lenton	Engineering & Technology
Alun	Lewis	TETRA Today, Vanilla Plus, Land Mobile
Judith	Lewis	Huffington Post, Mostly About Chocolate
Brian	Lloyd Duckett	Nationals, Sundays, agencies
Joy	Macknight	gtnews
Gordon	Macmillan	Brand Republic Group
Mike	Magee	techeye
Tamlin	Magee	TechEye
Flora	Malein	TG Daily
Phil	Manchester	The Register
Colin	Mann	Advanced Television Limited
Adrian	Mars	BBC, Al Jazeera + others
Esther	Martin	Informa
Guy	Matthews	Capacity
Joe	McGrath	Index Trader
James	Mckeigue	MoneyWeek
Charles	McLellan	CBS Interactive (ZDNet)
Rebecca	Mileham	E&T Magazine
Andrew	Miller	TechInStyle
Janine	Milne	HRZone
Sofia	Mitra-Thakur	Engineering & Technology Magazine
Timon	Molloy	Compliance Monitor  and others
Attracta	Mooney	Campden Wealth (CampdenFB)
Adrian	Morant	GadgetSpeak, ARP Webbers, etc
Annette	Morant	CAPRA News, etc.
Simon	Munk	Mail On Sunday, Sunday Times, MSN, Wired, Flipside, E&T and others
Louise	Murray	E&T, guardian, Globe and Mail etc etc
Christine	Murray	Thomson Reuters
Mark	Nayler	Spear's Magazine
Mark	Needham	www.channelweb.co.uk and PCR-Online
Pelle	Neroth	E&T magazine
Rod	Newing	FT, Times
Matt	Nicholson	Matt Publishing
Tessa	Norman	Health Insurance magazine
Michael	Northcott	Haymarket - Management Today
Charles	Orton-Jones	LondonlovesBusiness.com
Jack	Oughton	Various!
Carly	Page	The INQUIRER
Tim	Parker	Reed, PQ Publishing, ArmstrongMedia, Biba Medical, Faversham House
John	Parsons	Practical Caravan, Caravan Club magazine and others
Molly	Pierce	Communicate
Justin	Pollard	E&T/ BBC etc
Rebecca	Pool	Compound Semiconductor, Microscopy and Analysis, Radio-Electronics, The IET
Ian	Poole	Radio-Electronics.com
Stephen	Pritchard	too many to list!
Simon	Quicke	MicroScope
Steve	Ranger	ZDNet
Matthew	Ray	Flipside Magazine
Tim	Richards	The Psy-Fi Blog
Adam	Riches	Armstrong Media
John	Riley	ComputerWorldUK
Annie	Roberts	Pageant Media
Daniel	Robinson	V3.co.uk
Kevin	Rose	BestAdvice and Index Trader
Dickon	Ross	IET
Dawinderpal	Sahota	Telecoms.com/MCI
Kanika	Saigal	Euromoney Magazine
Mark	Samuels	CIO Connect
Cliff	Saran	Computer Weekly
Jack	Schofield	The Guardian., ZD Net, various others
Martin	Scholes	Partnership Publishing
Boris	Sedacca	European Design Engineer, IET Wiring Mattes
Salman	Shaheen	International Tax Review
Sakshi	Sharma	Infrastructure Journal
Steve	Shaw	FX-MM Magazine
Sam	Shead	ZDNet
Mark	Sheahan	IET
Steve	Shipside	Classified Intelligence Report
Simona	Sikimic	londonlovesbusiness
Jim	Slater	Cinema Technology Magazine
Paul	Smart	http://www.gadgetspeak.com/
Patrick	Smith	TheMediaBriefing.com
Tony	Smith	The Register
Tineka	Smith	Computer Business Review
Max	Smolaks	NetMediaEurope
Emily	Spaven	This is Money and OrSaveIt
Jason	Stamper	CBR
Galen	Stops	FOW
Kendrick	Struthers Watson	Inkslingernews.com
Allan	Swann	Clark White Publishing
Andrew	Taylor	Freelance,( main is Finchley Arrow)
Kelvyn	Taylor	Computeractive, ZDNet
Patricia	Taylor	Practical Caravan, Caravan Club magazine and others
Jane	Tchan	SmallBizPod
Charlie	Thomas	The Huffington Post UK
Scott	Thompson	FStech
Richard	Trenholm	CNET
Jessica	Twentyman	Financial Times, Imago TechMedia, Retail Week
Archana	Venkatraman	Computer Weekly
Vitali	Vitaliev	E&T magazine
Clare	Vooght	Incisive Media
Martyn	Warwick	TelecomTV
Nigel	Whitfield	RegHardware, ComputerActive
Patrick	Wilkins	talklawmedia
Nia	Williams	The Publishing Group (Mortgage Introducer, Every Investor, MyVillage, Investment International, Homebuying)
Dan	Wilson	Tamebay.com
Toby	Wolpe	CBSi ZDNet TechRepublic
Ben	Woods	CBS Interactive // ZDNet
Emma	Woollacott	TG Daily, Private Eye, BusinessZone

What do people look for in a media database?

Our team that compiles the FeaturesExec Media Bulletin regularly ask PR professionals "what do you look for in a media database?"

Here's a word cloud of the results.

The priorities for a good media database are pretty obvious from this.

We always work to ensure our own FeaturesExec Media Database scores highly for such needs. In doing so I think the most important thing is to remember that change is constant in media - both in terms of the content we collate and the way people want to access it - and therefore we must always be striving to improve.

 

Word cloud generated with Word It Out.

The changing ResponseSource community

When the ResponseSource Enquiry Service was conceived the idea was that staff and freelance journalists would be the only people placing media requests.

Things have of course changed and journalists no longer have exclusivity over content creation like before - today citizen journalists mingle with corporate authors as well as journalists to generate the content we access online.

And so for a while we've been opening up ResponseSource to non-journalists. Perhaps the most interesting group here being bloggers. We also allow subscribing PR professionals to post enquiries.

The response from the PR community has been mostly positive with many loving the fact that bloggers are sending media requests. However some perceive that these enquiries and those from PR subscribers 'dilute' the service (please note our preferences system allows users to filter out these enquiries).

Personally, I believe opening up ResponseSource is the right way forward. While they may vary in quality and influence blogs are undoubtedly important for any brand and enquires from bloggers represent opportunities for the PR community. And now that part of the PR role is content creation, allowing PR subscribers to post enquiries reflects the changing role of PR.

Out of curiosity we took a look at the ratio of enquiries from journalists, bloggers and other senders and here are the results.

Interestingly, staff and freelance journalists still represent the vast majority of media requests - 86 per cent in fact. Bloggers represent four per cent and PR subscribers represent five per cent.

Personally, I'd prefer to see more bloggers making enquiries, wouldn't you?

We analysed nearly 20,000 ResponseSource requests sent between 1 January 2012 and 16 October 2012. Here are the results in text format:

Sender Type	Share
Staff journalist	44%
Freelance journalist	42%
TV/radio researcher/producer	2%
Editorial promotions	3%
Independent blogger	4%
PR subscriber to ResponseSource	5%

Newsrooms from DWPub to support PR and social

We've been hard at work over the last few months developing the latest addition to the DWPub Media Suite - SourceWire News Distribution Newsrooms.

Our newsroom service offers brands and PR agencies an easy to manage online newsroom that combines press releases, pictures and other collateral with social media feeds. We could see that PR and marketing professionals wanted newsrooms that were simple to create and maintain but could also be customised to properly reflect their own branding, so that's what we built.

I think every brand should have a good online newsroom which combines traditional press material with social media feeds such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Online newsrooms, or social media newsrooms, support modern PR practice which reaches beyond journalists to bloggers, other influencers and stakeholders and indeed consumers also.

By having media material all in one place in a simple to navigate online newsroom ensures that journalists and other people interested in your brand can find content easily and make contact, either by traditional or social channels.

Our newsroom service integrates closely with SourceWire News Distribution so you get the benefit of distribution to our extensive media community every time you upload a press release. Everyone who distributes a press release through SourceWire News Distribution gets a free Standard Newsroom. You can upgrade to a Custom Newsroom, with enhanced customisation and social integration, or go a step further to a Hosted Newsroom that appears on your own internet domain.

It is of course possible to build an online newsroom from scratch or to base it on a blogging platform such as Wordpress. However, both of these options require sigficant development and maintenance effort. A SourceWire News Distribution Newsroom cuts out this overhead and enables PR professionals to concentrate on publishing material through their newsroom without the need for development skills or an IT department.

We're not first to market with newsrooms - you can get them elsewhere - but our objective is to provide all the best elements of a social media newsroom backed up by a British company with 15 years experience of working closely with the media community.

See the press release (in our newsroom, of course!)

The fear of social still looms

I was at an event recently where one of the sponsors was planning to record video interviews with some of the attendees, with the intention of putting this online as a nice bit of content to draw people in.

It all seemed pretty innocent enough. But the manager of the venue, part of a national chain, wasn't happy - permission had not been sought for filming.

In explanation the manager told of a previous event where video was shot and put on social media which did not reflect well on the chain. This resulted in a dictat from head office requiring permission to be granted before any filming taking place.

The manager did the best he could to get permission at short notice, but of course, it being an evening event, the relevant board director was not available. So the filming did not go ahead.

The irony of course here was that the event was for PR professionals - here was a event manager trying to protect his employers reputation while surrounded by people who are paid to protect people's reputations!

Anyway, the whole thing just goes to show that some brands are still dominated by fear when it comes to social media.

Of course there is a lesson here for PR professionals that do understand the value of social media - that it pays to get permission in advance for filming.

A British athlete's perspective on the media ahead of London 2012 - guest post from Jade Nicholls

Having achieved two all-important Olympic standards in the US last month, Jade Nicholls is now one step closer to securing her place on Team GB. We announced our sponsorship of Jade in March and are very pleased to see all of her hard work paying off.

In this special guest post, Jade discusses the positive and negative coverage of the Olympics, her own experiences with journalists and gives her perspective on how the games will impact the public.

The Olympics has created a buzz in the UK but, as with most things, there are sceptics.

How typically English of us to be pessimistic about something so exciting! It’s much easier to criticise the government for everything they’ve done ‘wrong’ than it is to stand up and praise them for their focus on the Olympics. I believe some parts of the UK media tend to take a negative angle by default and then invite the public to join them.

UK athletes are often perceived as underachievers because of old tennis and football stereotypes, but we actually have a number of Olympic and world champions among us. Positive press attention on a small number of well-known athletes like Jessica Ennis really spurs me on – I use it as fuel to motivate me.

I think the only press that have been positive towards the Olympics throughout are the sports reporters, as well as many local news reporters. In my experience, Crawley News and Observer have been very supportive, and seem to want to know about my achievements. They don’t steer questions in a way that encourages negativity, but rather offer Joe Public the chance to learn about the local athletes that are either aiming to get to the Games or those that are potential medallists.

The press has the power to rally public feeling for big upcoming events. However, there is a big difference in the way royal events (such as the Royal Wedding and the Queen’s Jubilee) and the Olympics have been portrayed. The Olympics is a much more inclusive event, and as a result, I believe it gives both the public and the press more freedom to say what they really think. The government has much more involvement in the Games, and as money spent on the Olympics is from the public purse, some people were always going to oppose the Olympics coming to London. It becomes a political issue.

However, thousands of people will be inspired by the Games. Kids will feel motivated to take up sport after watching the Olympics, and that will make it all worthwhile. Those kinds of things are priceless.  I think it’s an exceptionally proud time to be British – hopefully in the end the press will too.

10 tips for journalists just starting out on Twitter

There is no doubt loads of stuff out there for journalists wanting to use Twitter for their work but I've recently been asked for such advice by journalists so here's my take on it.

I guess to be more 'current' this should be about Google+, Pinterest or Instagram. But despite Twitter being considered to be well established within the media community there are still many thousands of journalists who have yet to dip their toe in.

So for those journalists just starting out on Twitter here are ten basic tips:

1. Be transparent. Make sure you have a decent picture of yourself and biography that clearly states that you are a journalist, the sectors you cover and the main titles you work for
2. Find specialists. Follow organisations and experts in the areas you cover. This may require some research
3. Hook up with PRs. Follow PR professionals in the sectors you cover. You may not be interested in everything they have to say but by following them you will be making your existence known
4. Tweet your stories. This is not egotistical, instead it is very useful to those who follow you to see what sort of thing you are producing. When your articles go online Tweet the headline and a link (use a link shortener), it is a good idea to add [by me] so it's transparent
5. Be opinionated. Tweet thoughts on major issues relating to the sectors you cover
6. Tweet as you research. As long as you don't think you're giving too much away to competitive titles it is a good idea to tweet facts you uncover during research
7. Seek interviews. If emailing or phoning a PR contact does not elicit a useful response, tweet the organisation instead. To publicly ignore you does not look good
8. Be consistent. Aim to tweet at least once a day. This will keep you going while you get into it, it's very easy to abandon Twitter early on before you've developed your community
9. Make it easy. Install a Twitter app on your phone (if you don't have a smartphone then get one) and make sure Twitter or a Twitter client is a default tab on your laptop/desktop browser
10. Think 'community'. Remember Twitter (as is social media in general) is a two-way street, don't just talk at people but converse with them too

Another good tip is to use ResponseSource to make media enquiries and choose the 'reply by Twitter' option or include your Twitter ID in each request, this is a good way of encouraging relevant followers.

It's also worth mentioning the #journorequest hashtag, which you can use when tweeting requests for help with articles. I don't know how effective it is, I'd be keen to hear any feedback on how well it works.

Can bloggers learn from journalists?

Attending Cybher, a recent event for women bloggers, was a revelation in many ways – not least how the event felt more like a ‘movement’ than a conference, a wonderful antidote to the hundreds of dry corporate events I’ve been to over the years.

I spoke on the ethics panel at the end of the day. Normally at this end of a conference many of the seats earlier filled with delegates would be empty, such is the temptation for many to bunk off early . But at Cybher the room was still very full, a demonstration of the passion many bloggers have for their craft.

During the session I made the point that journalists are often trained – either in college or on the job – on many aspects which relate to ethics. I went on to assert that it would be very useful for bloggers to have access to this kind of knowledge.

Someone in the audience challenged me, saying “that’s a bit rich,” referring obviously to recent examples of ethical abuses among the journalist community, most notably the hacking scandal.

It was a good challenge and prompted me to argue that while some journalists behave unethically, the majority do not and one must remember that it was journalists who unearthed the hacking scandal in the first place, just like it was journalists that unearthed the MPs expenses scandal. (See this related post by Ellen Arnison.)

In any case, I added, I was not suggesting that bloggers should behave just like journalists (it’s a separate point but also journalism can be quite formulaic which could stifle the creative freedom of blogging) however knowledge of some skills and knowledge associated with journalism could be very useful to bloggers and give them confidence to do an even better job of serving their audiences.

This is a subject I may return to in a little more detail.

FeaturesExec Media Database goes mobile

We’ve launched a mobile version of the FeaturesExec Media Database today, a development which I'm particularly pleased with.

The idea behind m.featuresexec.com is to give users a streamlined experience of the main FeaturesExec website, with easy access to media contact, media outlet and forward features information, plus some additional functions.

It’s primarily a reference tool, offering the sort of capability that PR professionals on the move would require but without the complexity of the full-blown FeaturesExec Media Database which would be largely pointless on a smartphone.

We decided to go for the mobile website route rather than building an app as it is by far and away the most efficient way to offer mobile capability to the widest audience without the huge development overheads of producing separate apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry.

We’ve taken cues from app design and the site has an app-like feel and ease of use.

PR professionals can now look up media outlets, journalists and forward features from their smartphone and, depending on the capability of their device, can make calls, send emails and input addresses into mapping applications direct from FeaturesExec mobile.

Check out the FeaturesExec Mobile press release.