Australia has jumped to the top of the leader board ahead of the USA, Britain and Japan. The research found that almost ten million Australians are spending time on at least one social networking site. With a population of 21 million, this figure equates to almost half the country.

Facebook topped the list as the most popular of all social networking sites, with over 8.2 million unique visitors per month, followed by YouTube, then MySpace and with Twitter coming in fourth.

So, if Facebook is the most commonly used social networking site and Australian’s are spending 7 hours a month interacting on social networking sites – How come there are only 357,871 fans on the Australia Facebook fan page?

The launch produced fantastic results for Microsoft, with 32 key media and analysts attending the public relations event including The Australian, SMH.com.au and CNET. Following the launch, over 40 pieces of coverage were published across a variety of online, print and broadcast outlets, including key metropolitan, consumer, technology and business media targets. Stand out pieces following launch included a five minute, live-to-air interview on Sky Business News’ Tech Report and a live demonstration of Surface on Channel 9’s TODAY program. The show’s technology editor, Charlie Brown, and host Karl Stefanovic demonstrated the Surface product and discussed its potential commercial uses.

Howorth’s primary PR role was to drive awareness across broadcast, consumer and IT media to strengthen Microsoft’s profile as an innovator and leader in the technology field, as well as to promote Microsoft Surface as a desirable and game-changing product to potential partners and customers. The results of Howorth’s PR strategy helped generate an extremely positive buzz around the launch event. The coverage that appeared in the days following positioned Microsoft as an innovative company and highlighted the collaborative and inventive features of Microsoft’s new Surface unit.

Following the launch, Microsoft Australia Developer Evangelist, Michael Kordahi praised Howorth’s efforts by saying, “Howorth deserve some major credit for delivering a successful launch. They not only delivered, they delivered with the highest of standards and passion. Despite the very aggressive timeframe of the launch, they provided a-class service.”

The growth of social media over the past decade has been exponential, so much so that the legal and ethical restrictions that society has for virtually all other activities have struggled to seem relevant.

“The internet is different”, people cried, “Its very basis is the free exchange of information.”

Well, maybe.

A Victorian man posted an anonymous comment on HotCopper, a stock market discussion forum. The comment, about a WA technology security company and its managing director, was defamatory. The managing director tried to get HotCopper to identify the poster. HotCopper refused, but was forced to by a court order. The registered name ended up being false but the poster was eventually tracked down and taken to court for defamation – the result being the $30,000 verdict against him. Two other supposedly anonymous posters on the same site have court action pending against them.

The moral: a court has shown that anonymous is no longer anonymous, and the normal rules of law will apply to anything you say.

In Queensland an outpouring of grief over the murder of a young girl led to a tribute page being set up on Facebook. That page was defaced, with people posting insulting and derogatory remarks and links to porn sites.  The call was for Facebook to “do something”, with the general tenor being that Facebook and other sites should be responsible for the material they contain. But, as University of NSW Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre executive director David Vaile was quoted as saying on smh.com.au, making website owners or internet providers more accountable for online content would lead to their demise and see the end of free social networking sites.

The moral: administrators of Facebook pages need to be aware of their responsibilities. If you set up an open site then you should be able to moderate it – around the clock if necessary. If you can’t then either don’t set up the site or bring in reinforcements.

In Italy, the six month suspended jail sentences given to three Google executives has led to a further outcry. The executives were on trial for defamation and for violating Italy’s privacy laws. The trio were found guilty of the privacy charges in that they were held responsible for Google having hosted the offensive video. The video was online for around two months but was taken down as soon as Google was informed of its contents.

Google announced it would appeal, saying the ruling “attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built.”

Google said the European Union law gave hosting providers “a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal content once they are notified of its existence…  If that principle is swept aside and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them — every piece of text, every photo, every file, every video — then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear.“

Well, again maybe.

It would certainly create havoc with the Google business model, but perhaps that’s what the judge was getting at. The reasons for the decision have yet to be published but Marc Rotenberg, writing in the Huffington Post, says that there seem to be similarities between this case and cases in the early 1900s which established a person’s right to privacy in the US. Those cases established that a person’s image could not be used for commercial purposes without their permission. Rotenberg says that the Italian case hinged on the prosecutor’s claim that Google was making profit out of the video, which was driving people to the site and its advertisers.

The moral: not certain yet, but it may well be that if you are making money by hosting advertisements on site then you may end up being viewed as a commercial operation rather than just a host.

And to finish with Lara Bingle, the social page habitué who announced that she was taking legal action against AFL player Brendan Fevola after a nude image of her was made public on a website and in a magazine. The picture shows Bingle naked in a shower trying to cover herself.

Bingle is taking action “for breach of privacy, defamation and misuse of her image.” Just what that will result in is anyone’s guess, but it could end up a cautionary tale about mobile phone cameras, ease of downloading and the relentless spread of the web.

The moral: be careful of the company you keep.

The Big Breakfast is an awareness and fund raising public relations initiative for the Australian Thyroid Foundation that is held annually at Martin Place on the morning of 27 October.

Ogilvy PR Health’s goal was to further enhance the profile of the Australian Thyroid Foundation as the leading advocacy and support organisation for people with thyroid conditions, while positioning the organisation as the number one source of information on thyroid disease.

The public relations objective, to raise awareness about the importance of dietary iodine for good thyroid health and to raise funds for the Australian Thyroid Foundation, was achieved with the help of celebrity chefs Manu Feildel and Dominique Rizzo, who kindly dedicated their time and resources to cook a healthy, iodine-rich breakfast for over 2,000 Sydneysiders who arrived at the Big Breakfast.

Beverley Garside, president of the Australian Thyroid Foundation and Professor Cresswell Eastman, Chief Medical Advisor for the Australian Thyroid Foundation, chaired the event and educated the public about iodine enriched foods such as eggs, seafood and bread and the importance of a sufficient dietary intake of iodine to support healthy thyroid function.

For a gold coin donation, people from Sydney could treat themselves to breakfast cooked by the fabulous chefs and to free thyroid and iodine information from a team of dedicated volunteers who spoke to the public about thyroid health.

With record funds raised for the Australian Thyroid Foundation, it was not just the media and the fundraising that achieved its goals – but importantly what was in the breakfast that started the day for 2,000 Sydneysiders that helped to encourage good thyroid health.

Examples of iodine-rich foods include:

• Bread
• Milk
• Eggs
• Seafood
• Iodised salt
• Plants grown in iodine-rich soil

Find out more at www.thyroidfoundation.com.au

Work with Australia’s leading manufacturer to unleash an X-Factor public relations campaign!

In the face of challenging economic conditions, BlueScope Steel asked the Howorth business-to-business/corporate public relations practice to help build distributor awareness of its Australian manufactured XLERPLATE® steel plate products, converting them from passive referrers to passionate champions of the range.

Steel producers and on-sellers had an extraordinarily tough year in 2009, with sales and revenues falling as global demand for steel weakened and import competition increased. While the public relations campaign needed to communicate the core brand values of XLERPLATE® (quality, flexibility, diversity), we needed to deliver these messages to a sales-savvy audience without them being rejected as marketing ‘clutter.’

Howorth’s insight was to package up new product information within a wider marketing campaign, challenging distributors to take part in ‘Operation XFACTOR’.

We took updated sales collateral, developed e-communications and a striking X-Factor website to cover off all channels, ensuring that distributors could not help but be exposed to XLERPLATE® steel.  Once the buzz had been created around the product, a three stage online competition created strong incentives for participants to review and retain key product information, with Red Balloon vouchers rewarding those who successfully completed a ‘Quest for Quality’ around the plate’s key features and benefits.

Howorth worked with Random Studio and Alpha Salmon to deliver the PR campaign, including the development and design of marketing collateral and website. Participation rates have been strong and initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive:

“I wish our marketing department thought of this a long time ago”

“Really clever concept…”

“Appreciate all of the new info. Thanks so much”

“Quality information”

The first phase of the PR program will continue through to May 2010 – Howorth is also in discussions with BlueScope Steel about subsequent phases of the campaign.

A core component of the new PR initiative is a world first competition that calls on everyday Australians to submit an idea online. The competition will culminate with one lucky person having their idea ‘made so’ by an engineering team.

Since its launch, the Make it so public relations campaign has featured in the Australian media more than 30 times across broadcast, print and digital media outlets.

Highlight pieces of coverage include interviews with CEO Peter Taylor on key talkback radio stations which have high listenership figures including Alan Jones on 2GB and 5AA. Articles have also appeared on ABC News, Australian Geographic, Yahoo!7, B&T, iTWire and Gizmodo websites and print coverage in The Australian, The Australian Financial Review and the Adelaide Advertiser.

Pulse also secured a national radio partnership with DMG’s Nova Network which involves the public relations campaign being featured weekly on the “Ryan, Monty and Wippa” drive time program.

The Make it so competition will run for 12 weeks, until 15^th May. Each week, a shortlist of the top 10 user-rated ideas will be compiled and one idea owner will be awarded an Eee PC, valued at $399.

Visit www.makeitso.org.au to submit, share and champion your ideas!

Both Pulse and Howorth were charged with organising a series of media activities for Robbie during his three-day stay.

Howorth utilised Robbie as part of a press conference to announce the local commercial availability of Microsoft Surface. The launch was a great success with 32 media and analysts attending the event. To date, more than 40 pieces of coverage have been published across a variety of online, print and broadcast outlets.

Following the press conference, Robbie rushed off to an industry roundtable lunch at Quay Restaurant, organised by Pulse. Moderated by ABC television news journalist Kerry O’Brien, the discussion focused on how platforms and devices would evolve, media consumption habits, the way traditional media industries had to progress, content protection and monetisation.  A number of senior executives attended from leading organisations including Foxtel, Sydney Opera House, HP and Warner Bros. Both the media and technology editors from The Australian were invited to exclusively cover the event.

That evening, Robbie gave a talk at the Sydney University’s new Law School Building where he spoke in detail about the future of entertainment and Microsoft’s plans for the next decade. The event was a huge success with more than 300 industry influencers packing out the auditorium.

Pulse was lucky enough to secure some snippets of time in Robbie’s busy schedule to conduct one-on-one media interviews with journalists from top-tier media outlets including an in-studio interview with Lateline Business, The Australian Financial Review, The Sunday Herald Sun and New Zealand’s Sunday Star Times.

The print coverage that has appeared to date includes a full page spotlight feature in The Australian Financial Review’s Tuesday IT section, a double page spread in the Sunday Herald Sun’s Play lift-out, and a half-page article in The Australian.

Digital influence

By Sam North (with sorely needed input from Brian Giesen)

At the start of 2009 Ogilvy PR in Australia makes a brave decision. No doubt some think it foolish, but at the height of the Global Financial Crisis two senior people are employed – and to newly-created positions.

One is a 57-year-old, overweight, grey-haired, career journalist, direct from a 21-year stint at the Sydney Morning Herald where he had ended up as the paper’s Managing Editor. He’s the Sam North in the above byline and it’s fair to say that when he begins as Ogilvy’s Media Director he is pretty much a digital influence sceptic.

The other is Brian Giesen, a buff, enthusiastic 35-year-old from Ogilvy in Washington DC, and a digital influence expert brought to Sydney to give the locals the low-down on this shiny new toy [Note: Giesen says that ‘’shiny new toy’’ is North’s description. Giesen describes the digital world as the most exciting, liberating thing to happen to communications since the invention of the telephone].

The two find they get on well together, but North delights in asking the hard-bitten, cynical questions of Giesen and other experts at the various educational forums run for the Ogilvy crew in Sydney. He throws around phrases like ‘’how do we see a return on investment’’ and intimates that the likes of Twitter and Facebook and Yabber are of interest only to the young and the restless who will soon move on to something else.

Giesen and North give speeches at the same new media conference in Brisbane. Giesen talks about the election of Obama and how social media is harnessed to motivate tens of thousands of usually apathetic Americans to become involved in the political process. His speech is a triumph.

North talks about how the old media is still alive and kicking. He sounds, even to himself, like Canute trying to hold back the tide. His speech is politely ignored.

Giesen and North work on a KFC campaign to promote a new grilled chicken burger. North provides some media training for the spokespeople while Giesen sets up a Facebook page for KFC.

Facebook for a chicken burger, thinks North. Yeah, right!

Traditional media virtually ignores the launch but the Facebook page, which offers a coupon for which a free burger can be redeemed, has hundreds of people lining up around the block causing pedestrian chaos in downtown Sydney.

Within a week the Facebook page has attracted 84,000 friends.  A handful of people post messages attacking KFC for the nutritional value of its products, but those voices are quickly stamped on by other KFC fans. It’s the perfect scenario, consumers standing up for the brand without any input from the company.

Giesen has the good manners not to mention North’s nay-saying.

His prejudices wounded but still functioning, North hangs on to his suspicion that it’s only the young and tech-savvy who get the digital world.

Then Giesen shows him a statistic from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. For the uninitiated, the ABC is Australia’s public broadcaster with TV and radio networks. The demographic of viewers and listeners skews towards older people. What Giesen says is that the ABC audience (in a country with a population of 22 million, mind you) downloads 5 million vodcasts and podcasts each month.

While North ponders the fact that there might just be a few older people out there with at least some semblance of technical skill, Giesen tells him that of the 8.1 million Australians who use Facebook, 700,000 are over the age of 50. I must get myself on to Facebook, North thinks to himself.

Giesen, never one to let an opportunity pass, adds that in October Facebook’s Australian users uploaded 80 million pictures and wrote 32 million wall posts and 45 million status updates.

North pretends not to be impressed by that, or by the help Giesen’s team gives him during a big announcement for Ford in Melbourne.

They set up on-line monitoring for the period surrounding the announcement and North finds himself finding out in real time what the websites and blogs and Tweeters are saying. It’s an invaluable service that gives North the opportunity to react and target the message to counter any growing trend of criticism, complaint or query. North looks good, Giesen and Ogilvy look better.

Giesen’s glow becomes even rosier when the TED organisation want help with publicising the quest by religious scholar Karen Armstrong, the winner of the 2008 TED Prize, for the world’s major religions to come together in recognition of the principle which is at the core of all faiths – compassion.

At the heart of the campaign is the Charter for Compassion, a document crafted by people of all religions which was launched in November with the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond TuTu as its first two signatories. It is intended that people will access the website to join the charter and show that the overwhelming voice in all religions is one of compassion – not negativity or violence.

Giesen’s team creates a 3 minute video featuring prominent Australians saying just what ‘’compassion’’ means to them. Those giving their thoughts range from celebrity chefs through to influential food and marketing bloggers.

The video is completed in a day and a half and is sent to around 200 bloggers and Twitterers. By any measure it delivers an outstanding, authentic, heartfelt message.

The video is picked up by Australia’s major news organisation and run on its websites, with more than 20,000 viewers choosing to spend three minutes of their time thinking about compassion and being driven to the Charter’s website.

Giesen then steps right into North’s territory and builds a social media centre for Microsoft Australia’s website, to coincide with the new Windows 7 operating system. North thinks he knows something about media centres so logs on to pick holes in Giesen’s work.

There’s access to Twitter and Facebook and Ustream TV. You can click onto various Microsoft bloggers. There’s are current and historic media releases, and recent news items featuring Microsoft, not to mention the impressive image bank available via Flickr and the plethora of videos. Suddenly North is feeling that the current crop of journalists have it too good.

The year ends with North at a pitch. ‘’You should think about social media,’’ he advises the client, without even a hint of embarrassment.

North explains that in the future every campaign is likely to embrace social media and will get ordinary people involved in a brand, a campaign, or an issue, through sharing values and opinions.

He goes on about all forms of communications being about conversations and about how it’s not necessarily all about a brand interacting with its customers but as much about facilitating customers’ interaction with each other.

‘’Social media will grow your brand, strengthen the connection between you and your customers and keep you grounded and aware of what people really think about your company,’’ he says with all the conviction of the newly-minted zealot.

A wry, tolerant smile touches Giesen’s lips as his innate good manners prevent him from commenting.

But if you thought it couldn’t be taken any further, think again. We are now seeing tweeting trees and dogs.

Is it really necessary to know how many people have ‘stroked’ the leaves of a tree at MWC? Or what a computer believes our dogs are thinking when they move or make a sound?

To give some background, Sony Ericsson developed a device that makes a tree tweet. At the 2010 MWC they hooked up a tree to an electromagnetic field sensor that enables it to detect motion. The tree tweeted such things as, “My leaves have been stroked by 52 friendly visitors. I’m starting to like MWC. #ectree.” Also, Mattel is about to launch a toy, ‘Puppy Tweet,’ a collar which detects when your dog moves or make a sound then randomly selects one of 500 pre-written tweets to post to Twitter.

People seem to enjoy reading this kind of information on Twitter, with 515 people already following the tweeting tree. Personally, I am not sold, I believe that there is much more fascinating information out there to read and wont this sort of information just clutter the already information overloaded net? Though, I am interested to see how far people will go with social networking.

I work part-time at Australia’s leading public relations agency, so my first conceited reaction was self-congratulations. All the effort of juggling kindy pick-ups, drop-offs, interrupted sleep and three full working days was worth it because according to the latest research, my kids will eat less junk food, watch less TV and are less likely to be obese or overweight.

But a skinny latte later, it occurs to me the headline is bonkers.

All mums – whether they work full time, part-time or don’t mix paid work and parenting are just doing what they feel is best for their family. Branding SAHMs and full time workers as mums more likely to have unhealthy, unstimulated kids is unhelpful and insulting.

Calling for more flexible and family –friendly work programs is great: but only if the mums in question want to actually take that route.

I’m lucky. I work for Howorth, part of Ogilvy PR Worldwide. I’m in the office three days a week, arriving late when I’m dropping the kids at day care and leaving early when it’s my turn to pick them up. I make up the lost hours from home when the kids go to bed and every couple of weeks I’ll put in a late Sunday night at the office to protect both the professional standard of my public relations work and the quality (and enjoyment) of my parenting.  I enjoy the freedom to contribute financially to the household and the mental stimulation of the public relations career I’ve been fostering for more than a decade. But that’s me and my story – it’s not for everyone.

My octogenarian father-in-law thinks women’s liberation did nothing for women – not because he’s a misogynist – but because he thinks the pressure on mums to perform the different roles of bread winner and parent is a heavy burden. He knows we disagree. In my opinion, what women have now is the freedom of choice.

It’s a freedom the community should support not by decrying SAHMs or full-timers, but by providing viable options so mums can choose what’s right for their family at any given point in time. That includes family friendly jobs, but also unconditional paid maternity leave; affordable, safe community childcare and less sensational headlines casting judgement on how women choose to do the most important job: raise their kids.