With so much being said about Welsh universities this year, it’s interesting to see how some of the learning crucibles are engaging with stakeholders via today’s most de rigueur communications mechanism.

Long-established bodies such as Cardiff University and Swansea University seem to have embraced Twitter with great care.

Newer institutions such as Cardiff Met and Swansea Met have gone at it in a slightly more chatty manner.

Energy

What all have in common is that they’re tackling Twitter with energy and with great positivity.

That is to be warmly applauded as the last thing they want now is to be left behind on the information super hard shoulder.

Here are a few typical examples of useful tweets from this small selection of Welsh uni’s.

Cardiff University @cardiffuni

Pioneering international partnership honoured: Times Higher Award for cancer research with China http://go.cf.ac.uk/ufqrLg

Nice link to full online story; shame there are no hashtags and @ addresses to create a more personal feel

Swansea University @SwanseaUni

Company acquisition a first for Swansea University @HumanandHealth http://tinyurl.com/ceng69w #healtheconomics #research #Education

Nice use of hashtags to link in with potentially relevant twittersphere conversations; nice link to web page detailing the whole story; nice @ username link to the uni’s human and health sciences dept which will, hopefully, produce a retweet.

Cardiff Met @UWIC

No Bus Service in Cardiff tomorrow (Includes UWIC Rider) due to industrial action across the city. Find out more… http://fb.me/1lBry6CHU

Excellent use of Twitter to keep staff and students abreast of non-uni occurrences that could impact upon them – a strike on Cardiff buses

Swansea Met @SwanseaMet

@SwanseaMet’s @DrCharlesSmith live on @BBCBreakfast in the morning, talking to @steph_mcgovan about the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement

Lively use of Twitter’s immediacy to plug an expert commentator’s forthcoming media appearance

The session came with a daunting title: Social Media Policies – the Traps for the Unwary.

But the message coming through loud and clear from university and legal social media presenters was: ”Use it … with care!”

Yes, there are catches with business using Twitter and Facebook, delegates were advised, but together social media is so influential that it must be embraced.

Fronted

The workshop, organised by Swansea University-based Software Alliance Wales, was fronted by intellectual property lawyer Nicola McNeely, of Capital Law.

Social media is hard to ignore in business, she opened: the UK is the world’s largest social media user with 78% of the population signed up.

Moreover, business can benefit from its flexibility, its possibilities for marketing and its usefulness in some processes.

Pitfalls

Pitfalls include “time theft” - Nicola said that British business is estimated to lose around £1.4bn a year through employees tapping away on social media when they could be working.

There’s also the threat of defamation of – and by – businesspeople; there’s cyber bullying and invasion of privacy.

Some lovely examples of social media positives and negatives were aired.

Conversation

Virgin Atlantic were found to be right to sack a small number of staff who had held a Facebook conversation about some passengers being chavs and some planes being hit by cockroaches.

Retweeting a libel can result in a law action – it’s not just limited to the original tweeter.

Unethical marketing includes false reviews posted by business acquaintances on sites dedicated to honest opinions.

Customers

Positive examples included Coca-Cola studying a Facebook page encouraging complaints about its products then turning it into something good by adopting it and using it to talk constructively with customers.

Starbucks and Dell are now among the major companies with a powerful policy in talking via social media channels.

Social media is clearly a complex, evolving landscape – and last night’s event at Swansea’s Village Hotel was timely and welcome. It was a succinct, well constructed and nicely considered session. Businesspeople there seemed to agree.

Photo Documents from last night’s Swansea social media workshop.

Software Alliance Wales Click

Owain Glyndwr might have had a mighty fine sword and John Charles the acclaim of Turin’s (and Leeds’) finest.

Daniel James penned the words to Calon Lan and Dylan Thomas, pictured in rather fetching sculpture form, gave us Fern Hill.

But none of them had Twitter.

Friends

So today’s Welsh heroes would seem to have it easy when it comes to keeping in touch with friends, supporters and those with a more passing interest in their activities.

Unfortunately, it also means they’re likely to be the subject of league tables – rather like the Western Mail Wales’ 50 Sexiest Men – which possess dubious usefulness.

So here’s my Wales Rugby Squad Top 10 Tweeters. Honourable mentions to those who didn’t quite make it … Adam Jones, Huw Bennett, Rhys Priestland and Alun Wyn Jones.

Mix

It’s based on my own unscientific mix of current activity rate, number of followers (as at last night), humour levels and interest-quotient.

You read it here first, but no tweeting during the semi-final, please – my phone will be off.

Wales Rugby Squad Top 10 Tweeters

1 @Scotty_Wills99 – 2,989, 27, 7/10, communicative & pictorial, “Tightest man in welsh rugby- @LloydWilliams_ “sorry I didn’t text u back mum, it costs me money!” #40penceatext”

2 @samwarburton_ – 8,646, 28, 6/10, chatty & serial replier, “Tough test match, bar of choc and bag of ice with @RyanBevington and dan lyds watching James bond in room!! Thanks for support back home!!”

3 @George_North – 12,072, 43, 5/10, busy & bright, “Just back in the room to find my roomy Ryan Jones admitting hes just watched 40 mins of netball.#tolazytofindthecontroller”

4 @Jamiehuwroberts – 30,041, 53, 5/10, lively & talkative, “”We’re far from home, it’s for the better…and what we dream, it’s all that matters, we’re on our way, united”..Swedish house mafia TUNE!!”

5 @LeighHalfpenny1 – 6,045, 19, 5/10, friendly & informative, “Had some great grub up the top of the sky tower tonight with @LloydWilliams_#candlelitdinnerfortwo”

6 @JonFoxDavies – 5,856, 43, 6/10, responsive & chipper, “The moment @kenctsowens paid for food. The most expensive katsu curry ever! #chinup #creditcardroulettehttp://lockerz.com/s/144024947″

7 @Paul_James1 – followers: 3,746, tweets this month: 4, humour mark: 9/10, in a nutshell: personal, leg-pulling, example: Fair play to @Huw_Bennett he’s got the worst taste of films ever.

8 @LloydWilliams_ – 3,058, 27, 5/10, short & sweet, “@George_North im sorry but I couldn’t bare being talked through @Scotty_Wills99 is hat-rick again over a coffee”

9 @ShaneWilliams11 – 28,814, 2, 3/10, cheerful & concise, “Big day ahead tomorrow! Can’t wait …..”

10 @kenctsowens – 2,220, 2, 4/10, Welshy & low-fi, “@carylparryjones fi a Scott Williams yn gwrando ar y sioe heno mas yn Auckland os siawns am shout out”

A new eating out place is rising from the remnants of a South Wales town’s proud docklands tradition.

And the famous faces behind Llanelli’s Sosban restaurant are putting together a clever little social media campaign.

A website is up and running – www.sosbanrestaurant.com - and, importantly, its key features include clear windows into the world of blogging, Twitter and Facebook.

Intention

The intention is to open for dinner at 6pm this Friday (July 15) and, after that, open for lunch seven days a week and dinner six evenings.

Excitement is being built online through the venue’s lively online channels.

Blog posts include Ten FAQs, Who’s behind Sosban and Who’s the Chef? The directors include rugby internationals Stephen Jones and Dwayne Peel, Scarlets sponsor Robert Williams, of WRW, and and Simon Wright, of Carmarthenshire’s fabulous Y Polyn restaurant.

Momentum

Sosban’s tweets began as far back as January and, in the past couple of weeks have gained momentum nicely.

They’ve included notices that jobs have been available and that sample menues have been made available on the website.

In return, the restaurant – in Llanelli’s hoistoric North Dock area – has attracted tweets from the likes of Scarlets big gun Rupert Moon, politician Nerys Evans and soccer’s John Hartson.

Chief

Converstations are being staged with the likes of former Plaid deputy leader Helen Mary Jones and Llanelli Star chief reporter Chantelle Rees.

The Facebook page, meanwhile, already has more than 400 “likes”,  comments from associated businesses such as Wales’ wonderful Otley Brewery.

This is a handy use of social media, building up conversations and relationships in a friendly, communicative manner.

It’s all looking shipshape for Friday. Good luck to all involved!

And very smart it looks too. Check it here – click.

Gone is the muddled home page which seemed too busy for its own good.

Clean-cut

In is a clean-cut, colourful home page with lots of white space and a design that owes more than a little to current trends in social media.

Important in design terms is the relative lack of in-yer-face advertising; it means less clutter.

Partner websites such as Jobsite and Loot are simply but well represented with clear signposts as are Post-related online platforms such as its Twitter feed and Facebook site.

Omission

One remarkable omission is the South Wales Evening Post masthead, along with the logos of sister titles such as the Llanelli Star, Carmarthen Journal, Swansea Life and Swansea Bay Business Life.

These are all strong brands in their own markets and it must have been an intriguing thought process which led to the decision to omit the mastheads from the publications’ online shop window.

Of course, any radical change to the look of a favoured website causes discussion and, with this site’s increased emphasis on two-way communication, today’s most commented on topic is the revamp itself.

Readers

Some readers are happy; others aren’t. Comments include:

• “I love the new homepage, loads of different stuff on there and great that we are able to engage in the discussion.”
• “It’s just terrible. The colours are poorly chosen but the layout is simply appalling, and isn’t very intuitive. Viewing an actual article is okay, but the category pages and homepage are a massive step backwards in terms of usability. ”
• “I love the new site colours are great and the sites easy to use.”
• “Looks like a backwards step to me. I am still trying to find the local news page for Neath, that’s if there is one? The only positive thing is the new forum! ”
• “Sorry it’s truly dreadful. Colourful? yes but far too busy , jumbled and disjointed. I would have expected better from a schoolchild undertaking a Key Stage 3 project. ”
• “Terrible new web page, messy, unformed and impossible to find anything. ”
• “Truly awful, painful to look at and where are the latest news stories? I’m sure that’s what most people want to see on the home page. For me 4/10 sorry ”

 So what do Northcliffe say?

A press release reads: “The completely redesigned sites have been enhanced to deliver comprehensive local content, across a range of clearly colour-coded channels, to the communities that they serve.

“Now, local residents will have access to a unique combination of local news and information alongside user and business-generated content to provide users with everything they want to know, do or find in their region.

Regions

“The Thisis network boasts 5.9 million monthly unique users and upwards of 50% local penetration in the regions they serve.

“The new sites mark a significant step forward in Northcliffe Digital’s aim to deliver the most comprehensive local content across the Midlands, South West, North East and South East of England as well as South Wales.

“Delivering great local news content remains at the heart of our mission, but we are now moving towards a more interactive and relevant social experience for our users

Interaction

“The new sites are built around our users and promote interaction between people, local businesses and our content.

“Every piece of content across the Thisis network has calls to action to allow our users the opportunity to create, respond or discuss.

“As the internet becomes more social, it’s crucial that we enable conversations between individuals in the community, the businesses that serve them as well as the journalists who are leading the local news agenda.”

There were gasps from the audience on Have I Got News for You? last month as MP Louise Bagshawe effectively let the cat out of the bag (pardon the pun), using rhyming slang to identify the high profile footballer who is seeking protection from the media over his affair with the former Welsh Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas.

Only yesterday, the Mail on Sunday compared an actor to the footballer. Why? The context just didn’t fit.

But whatever the reason, even the mighty men of Fleet Street wouldn’t dare to directly name any of those involved.

Everyone in the media knows who the celebrities are but no-one can say.

These super-injunctions are all-binding – but here’s the rub – only for the traditional media such as print and broadcast.

Online is literally a whole new world, and yesterday saw a phenomenon that we will see again and again going forward, until the law is clarified, or these so-called super-injunctions are banned altogether.

A Twitter account holder called @injunctionSuper calmly launched themselves to the world yesterday, and proceeded to name dozens of celebrities who have taken this Draconian legal action ‘to protect themselves and their families’. Within hours the account had 50,000 followers.

It would seem that not all of the names are accurate, but who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall in the breakfast rooms of various celebrity homes this morning? I would imagine the conversations are fairly uncomfortable.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13330409

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384883/Thousands-super-injunction-celebrities-outed-Twitter.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

The Daily Mail quotes Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, who is compiling a report on super-injunctions.

He said: ‘It shows the utter absurdity of what is being done in the courts. It ignores the way that modern communication works.’

And he is right.

New media, social media, call it what you will, has changed the world forever. Forget the old-fashioned ’30 Year Rule’ – punters want their news right here, right now, and they want to discuss it, and give their views on it.

News is instant, and everyone has a view on it. The attack on Bin Laden was tweeted live. Hours later, many were demanding to see a picture of a dead Bin Laden – no matter how gruesome.

There is really nowhere to hide anymore – and that includes celebrities with super-injunctions – celebrities who were all too happy to court the media when they needed to promote new games, new TV programmes and new films, but ran for cover when the media became interested in their other activities – but that’s another blog altogether!

As part of their marketing mix, Swansea-based THG Holidays have just started using Twitter.

And what they’re doing looks really good.

Yes, they’re plugging their own tours nicely – in the first instance, US flights with hotel stays in Philadelphia, Boston, Cape Cod, LA and Chicago – but, importantly, they’re also sharing a lot of wonderful information about their destinations.

Fabulous

One clicks through to a fabulous musical in the Windy City.

What a lovely tip that is for holidaymakers looking for ideas on their Illinois travels.

Such engaging activity will tempt Twitter users to follow the THG tweets; some will click through onto the THG website and some will become customers.

Twitter is very much part of the sales process these days. It’s simple, quick, cheap, direct, fun and informative.

If you run a business and you don’t tweet – or you do it without purpose – ask yourself how else you could reach millions of potential clients.

Campaign

It’ll be interesting to see how THG’s twitter campaign progresses.

They’ve got plenty of colourful material to tweet about – they run superb tours to places as far afield as South America, Thailand, Bali, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Dubai.

To follow their tweets go to Twitter and search for THGHolidays.

It’s also changing faster then ever as companies extend the reach of their low-cost marketing activity.

Not only are there more specialist networking groups available these days – there are also more enterprise groups offering meet-and-greets.

Then, of course, we have the opportunity to exploit the increasingly useful networking resources that lurk online.

Interconnected platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are wonderful tools, of course, but Linked In is a crucial social media within the business community.

Discussions

Ten or 15 daily minutes engaging in discussions on this facility can be time well spent.

It may well not result in direct sales – but it’ll help build your profile, enhance your reputation and get you on the tips of tongues.

Western Mail business editor Sion Barry set me an interesting task yesterday – name a small number of influential Swansea business figures who have Linked In in their networking armoury.

Some big names, of course, don’t use the resource so they were off the longlist straight away. Others had only a tiny number of connections, suggesting minimal use – off they went too.

Influential

Some individuals had many connections but didn’t appear to be enormously influential in the grand scheme. They bit the dust.

Therefore, my shortlist ended up as a balanced offering – individuals of reasonable influence who also use Linked In rather well.

Unsurprisingly, there’s a heavy influence of those who make a living from networking.

Who are your top 10 Swansea area networkers?

Mine included (in alphabetical order and not my full list):
Anna Bastek Wolfestone Translation – 135 connections on LinkedIn
Russell Greenslade Swansea BID – 148
Elizabeth Hollingworth-Evans The Best Of Swansea – 310
Donald Melrose FSB – 254
Lynne Orton The Business Network – 488
Nigel T Packer Business for Business Internet Marketing – 500+
Steve Penny South Wales Chamber – 59
Marianne Pettifor IOD & South Wales Chamber – 130
Fiona Rees Swansea Bay Futures – 142
Sarah Toomey Swansea Bay Partnership – 262

The Forum of Private Business wants SMEs to make greater use of online platforms as part of their marketing mix.

Computerweekly.com reports that a study showed how more than 50% of small business owners doubted the value of resources such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

Many SMEs use social media but many doubt its value, according to the Forum research.

Potential

The Forum’s Phil McCabe is quoted as saying: “We believe social media holds a great deal of potential for many SMEs.

“Its conversational, real-time nature makes it ideal for entrepreneurs and small, dynamic firms, which often have much more relaxed attitudes towards public relations than big companies.

“Also, sites like Twitter can provide valuable and cost-free feedback on customer and client satisfaction.”

The term “relaxed attitudes to PR” is a misnomer here, I think; better it should be “forward-thinking attitudes towards PR.”

Attack

Yes, engaging with Facebook et al does leave you open to public attack – but that exists anyway, through politics or the traditional media.

And the beauty of gathering critical real-time feedback from clients and observers is that businesses can respond in real-time.

The simple timeline is:
1 Clients report disappointment on company Facebook.
2 Company respond: “We’re investigating.”
3 Company act to address issue.
4 Company posts on Facebook that the problem’s solved.
5 Clients post positive feedback on prompt action.

There should be no argument. Take the Forum of Private Business’s advice – explore how social media can work for you.

Effective Communication can help – we’re specialists in communicating business messages.

It is being hosted by Software Alliance Wales, a £13m all-Wales project led by Swansea University – and I urge business people to attend.

The hour-long workshop, from 6.30pm, will be delivered by Dr Max L Wilson, lecturer at the uni’s Fit Lab (Future Interaction Technologies).

The event – Social Media as a Business Tool – will offer valuable info on how enterprises can use online resources as great communication and marketing tools.

Two weeks ago, Effective Communication hosted its own client presentation on the issue and received fabulous feedback.

Influential

Dr Wilson, who has an international research and publication record, said: “Social media is the single most influential change to how individuals and businesses gather information and communicate messages.

“With more than 90m tweets posted each day, and with many people spending more time on Facebook than Google, the power of these tools shouldn’t be ignored.

“Some businesses may have flirted with social networking and social media, but few are truly comfortable with the potential that it has.

“This workshop aims to provide businesses and individuals with the knowledge and confidence to fully utilise the opportunities available for their business via social media platforms.”

Details 01792 606663, events@softwarealliancewales.com, www.softwarealliancewales.com/events.