And finally...

Having blogged for the past few weeks, I think I have a far better understanding about how blogging can be of benefit in PR. I was amazed at the number and diverse opinions in blogs which cover so many different subjects.

There is an infinite amount of space and an infinite amount of information on the Internet and it is difficult to comprehend how to best use it. In the future different PR campaigns, though, will have to use different PR 2.0 tools and target audiences with key messages in many different ways.

Everything is also changing so quickly with new products and ideas thrown up almost every day. This means that PRs will need to be ready to match these changes and adapt to new ways of working. Some things, though, never change. This week's data found on hard drives is depressingly familiar to the old newspaper stories about personal information being dumped in landfills or discovered on waste ground. There is now so much information so easily available that it seems it will ever harder to keep it secure.

I am frequently amazed at the personal information, including pictures, phones numbers, details about friends, etc that people willing give over on social networking sites. No one can control the amount of data out there and that is what, in many ways, defines the Internet.

Even this very limited experience of blogging has shown me the way blogging makes people confront such issues. This may be my last post here but I don't think it will be long before I reappear blogging somewhere else.

Wired up to YouTube

YouTube has become such a part of our every day life that even the prime minister now thinks it is one of the best ways to deliver messages to his key audiences.




Although on reflection he will probably wish he hadn't made that one.

YouTube is an incredible resource hosting millions of videos from all corners of the globe. It also offers a space for anyone to store or share videos with their friends. There are also free tools on the Internet so that anyone, even a simple PR student can make up a video and post on YouTube or in a blog. Here is one I made earlier...It is not meant to be taken too seriously.

Now here's a new thing...

Where's the hype? The drive to be the next Google seems to be always upon us. The power of the Internet to drive change more quickly than at any time in the past is seen in the extraordinary success that is Google. Yet it is only 13 years since two students started the research which led to Google being set up. Yet now Google is so ever-present that is already been accepted as a verb; the most popular search engine is the world's leading brand, valued at more than $100m, a third more than Microsoft; anyone who has ever searched for anything on the Internet cannot imagine a life without Google. It is a dream company for a PR.

So what is the next big thing on the Internet? Well, if I knew the answer then I would taking home some of the Google billions. This week the BBC reports that the latest search tool, Wolfram Alpha, "could be as important as Google". By searching within sites it brings answer to your webpage, rather than a series of sites as in a Google search. The first thing I notice is the caution in the BBC's "could", which always makes the cynical journalist in me equate to could not.

However, what Google has also shown to all web companies is the power to innovate to remain ahead of the competition. Google has never been content to just rake in the cash; part of its huge success has been its ability to add value every time your blink. Google News, Mail, Tools, Blogger, Analytics ... the list is almost endless. If I had to put money on where the next big search engine development will be, then I would back it being led by Google. If, as in the past they have missed a trick, then they have just moved in and bought up the latest technology. So perhaps Stephen Wolfram can look forward to a bumper payday from Google.