Business Blogging

As I increasingly found myself tweeting whilst watching TV, I noticed that lots of other people were doing the same thing. Sharing your thoughts about a show with other viewers in real-time is rapidly becoming the digital equivalent of shouting at the telly, only much more fun because you get to see what everybody else is shouting too.

It occurs to me that this adds a whole new dimension to broadcast television and is possibly the start of a fundamental shift in the way we think about the medium. I’ve written about this phenomenon in a little more detail over on the Text 100 blog.

Following on from the earlier post I wrote about which FTSE 100 companies are on Twitter, I thought I’d do a little analysis on which of those brands are the most influential. Since I wrote it while I was at work, I thought it was only fair to post it on the Text 100 blog.

Take a look at the post here – you might be surprised by the results…

My latest post on the Text 100 blog looks at the spoof BP Global PR Twitter profile that satirises BP’s handling of the recent natural disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a very funny parody but, like all comms professionals, I shouldn’t laugh too much because there’s no telling when it might be one of my clients on the receiving end of this kind of scathing satire.

My advice – in most cases it’s just as well to take the joke with good grace and look at what you can learn from the experience. Trying to close a parody imitator down will often result in a nasty backlash and add flames to the fire.

This week I’ve got a post over at Reputation Online on the current state of the social media monitoring market. I’ve spent a lot of time trying out the different services over the past year and I’m not massively impressed with the tools on offer. Ultimately, the main problem for me is the quality of the search results in these tools; most of them offer only a very limited view of your brand on the internet, and often the results are full of spam.

The automated sentiment analysis feature that most of these tools offer is little more than a gimmick – the technology is currently so inaccurate as to be practically useless. Prices vary wildly and there’s often not much difference between high and low end products.

Of course, social media is a hot topic right now, and buying a big name monitoring tool is a great way to show your boss that you’re on the ball, especially if it churns out some nice looking reports and nobody asks too many questions about the quality of data those reports are based on.

I wanted to see how well all of the FTSE 100 companies are represented on Twitter, so I compiled this list all of the Twitter profiles that relate to every company in the index. I’ve included all of the official profiles, as well as profiles of executives and other employees who have disclosed a relationship with the company, although to keep things manageable I’ve mostly focused on the English language profiles.

I tried to be as comprehensive as possible but I’ve not had the time to search for profiles for all of the sub-brands, so there are certainly some that I’ve missed. I plan to revisit this post regularly and keep it refreshed with any new profiles I find for these companies.

If you spot any errors or omissions, please leave a comment and I will add the new data. I’ve listed all of the one hundred companies for the sake of completion, even if I could not find any related Twitter activity for those organisations.

I’ll follow up with some analysis of this data in the near future, since there are  certainly some conclusions to be drawn from what I found.

EDIT: A few people on the list have reminded me that although they have declared a professional relationship with their employers, the content they post on Twitter is absolutely personal opinion and not necessarily endorsed by their employers, so please bear this in mind. If anybody would like to be removed from the list, please just send me an email.

3i

Admiral

@JustinBeddows – PR Manager. Few updates, abandoned since April 2009

@AdmiralNews – Motoring news from Admiral Insurance. Few followers

@ihateADMIRAL – Disgruntled customer. Few updates.

Aggreko

@aggreko – Run by Simon Lyons, Director of Marketing and Communications. Very few updates.

Alliance Trust

AMEC

Anglo American

Antofagasta

ARM

ARM runs a number of official Twitter profiles covering various aspects of its business:

@ARMCommunity

@ARMEmbedded

@ARMMobile

@ARMLowPwr

@ARMMali

@KeilTools

Other ARM related Twitter profiles:

@AlbanRampon – Electronics engineer working at ARM.

@monions – Mark Onions, Marketing Director. Profile abandoned since 2009.

@simonsegars – Executive VP and GM at ARM.

@ericschorn – VP of Marketing for ARM’s processor division.

@cooty – Alex Growcoot, Product Manager. Very few tweets or updates.

@lorikate – Lori Kate Smith, Partnership Marketing Manager.

Associated British Foods

AstraZeneca

@AstraZeneca – Official global profile of AstraZeneca regularly updated with news from the company.

@AstraZenecaUS Official US profile of AstraZeneca, also regularly updated.

@CMcKenzie77 – US based recruiter for the company.

@CEPHEUS_Study – News from an AstraZeneca medical study in South Africa.

@AstraZenecaJobs – Global job listings.

Autonomy

@skumashi – Satoru Kumashiro, MD of Japanese arm. Mostly tweets in Japanese.

Aviva

@AvivaUKGI – UK customer service.

@Aviva_Ireland – Official profile of Aviva Ireland. Abandoned since February 2010.

BAE Systems

@baesystemsInc – Official profile of BAE Systems with news about the company.

@BAESYSTEMS_FMTV – News about the FMTV range of military vehicles from the company.

@BAEinfo – Another official profile with company news. Abandoned since May 2009

@clarkdumont1 – Clark Dumont, VP of Communications. Very few tweets or followers, page is protected.

@BAES_NavGuns – News about BAE’s naval weapons programmes. Abandoned since August 2009.

@kenlieberman – Ken Lieberman, Director of Human Resources and Communications. Very few tweets or followers, page is protected.

BG Group

BHP Billiton

BP

@BPFieldTrip – Official page of the BP Ultimate Field Trip student contest. Few followers.

@RobatCastrol – Rob Krin, digital and social media marketer at Castrol, a BP division.

@neiljpearce – Neil Pearce, senior IT executive at BP.

@JoeLittle – Joe Little, a web 2.0 technology consultant at BP.

@BPmqt – Unofficial BP branded profile set up by night shift workers in Michigan.

BT Group

@BTCare – Official customer service profile for BT.

@BTTradespace – Official profile for the BT sponsored Tradespace small business community.

@BTBusiness – Customer service profile for BT business customers.

@BTCareers – Recruitment profile with regularly updated job ads.

@insightsideas – Business insights and ideas from BT Global Services.

@BTGlobal – Unofficial BT Global profile

@securethinking – IT security news from BT Managed Security Solutions.

@tvfrombt – BT Vision, TV for BT Total Broadband customers – used for consumer engagement.

@BTCloudApps – Cloud computing news.

@BTOpenzone – Consumer engagement from BT’s public Wifi service.

@btviewpoint – Communications and tech opinion from BT.

@BTSmallBizWeek – Set up for a one week small business PR campaign in October 2009, abandoned since then.

@BTExpedite – Official profile for BT Expedite, retail solutions division of BT.

@JonCarter – Jon Carter, wholesale and technical media relations manager.

@wellbelove – Christopher Wellbelove, social media marketing at BT Global Services.

@jpdenison – Jonathan Denison, GM for Busines Change at a BT.

@9600 – Andrew Black, Open Source Strategist at BT.

@VeePeeTech – Mark Bagley, one of BT’s team of Silicon Valley based ‘innovation scouts’.

@richard_m_dodd – Richard Dodd, Chief Operating Officer of BT Expedite, the company’s retail solutions division.

@KevinIMoss – Kevin Moss, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at BT Americas.

@mopoke – Simon Dux works in the BT press office.

@carsondalton – Carson Dalton is a Senior Press Officer at the BT Group.

@JP77 – James Peel is one of BT’s San Francisco based innovation scouts.

@CIAgirl – Sally Elliot, Consultant and Industry Analyst Relations Manager for BT Global Services

@WendySycamore – Wendy Sycamore, Press and Media relations at BT

@adastralpark – Adastral Park is BT’s global innovation and development centre, updates are posted by the communications manager

Barclays

@barclayswealth – Official profile for Barclays Wealth.

@barclaysstock – Official profile for Barclays Stockbrokers.

@BarclaysLive – Profile for the Barclays Live marketing campaign.

@BarclaycardNews – Barclaycard press office updates.

@BcardMusic – Music related updates from Barclaycard’s Unwind campaign.

@BarclaycardJobs – Recruitment profile, very few updates, abandoned since January .

@WealthInsights – Barclays Wealth profile which only seems to retweet WSJ stories.

British Airways

@British_Airways – Official profile of BA for the UK, used for responding to customer enquiries and sharing news updates. North American version is at @BritishAirways

@NG01 – Nuria Garrido, Digital marketer for BA, mostly personal tweets.

@Martin_Tomas – Customer Experience Consistent Delivery Manager at BA. Again, mostly personal tweets.

@CJMorgan – Chris Davies, Head of Digital Marketing at British Airways.

@rboyle – Robert Boyle, Director Strategy and Business Units at British Airways.

British American Tobacco

British Land

@britishlandplc – Profile registered, but no content other than bio.

Burberry Group

@Burberry – Official brand profile with news and updates.

Cable and Wireless

@richardbudd10 – Head of Application Services at Cable&Wireless Worldwide. Very few tweets or followers

Cairn Energy

Capita Group

There are a number of official Twitter profiles for several of Capita Group’s subsidiaries, they all seem to be independently managed with varying degrees of success:

@capitarevsbens – Capita Revenues & Benefits

@CapitaSymonds – Capita Symonds

@capitaconf – Capita Conferences

@CapitaLearning – Capita Learning & Development

@CapitaTeachers – Capita Education

@capitacss – Capita Software Services

@capitatds – Capita Total Document Solutions

@capitasport – Capita Symonds Sport

@capitahousing – Capita Housing

As well as the official pages, there are several Capita staff members on Twitter:

@joelbaileyuk – Director of Service Design at Capita. Mostly personal tweets.

@ClaireAshton – Partnership Schools Coordinator and Achievement Editor at Capita Children’s Services.

@G_Cooper – Graham Cooper, Head of Marketing at Capita Children’s Services

@simonwilliams4 – Simon Williams, Director of Marketing, Capita IT Services. Abandoned since November 2009.

Carnival

@CarnivalCruise – Official profile with news updates and customer engagement.

@drewsantiagoCCL – Drew Santiago, Carnival Cruise Business Development Manager.

@JenniDelacruz – Jennifer Delacruz, PR Director of Carnival Cruise Lines. Not many followers or updates, no tweets since January 2010.

Centrica

Diageo

@claytontford – Corporate Relations Director for Diageo across central & eastern Europe.

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation

Experian

Experian operates several official Twitter profiles for different business areas:

@Experian_UK – Experian UK

@Hitwise_US – Hitwise US

@Hitwise_UK – Hitwise UK

@Hitwise_AP – Hitwise Asia Pacific

@Hitwise_CA – Hitwise Canada

@CheetahMail – CheetahMail

@CheetagMail_UK – CheetahMail UK

@Experian_US – Experian US

@ExperianQAS_AUS – Experian QAS Australia

@ExperianQAS_UK – Experian QAS UK

@ExperianMkt – Experian Marketing Services

@ExperianSimmons – Experian Simmons

@Experian_DA – Experian Data Analytics

As well as the official profiles, several Experian executives post on Twitter:

@ACEdge – Alan Edgett, Senior Director, Interactive Media, Experian Interactive.

@fredberinger – Fred Beringer, QA Director at Experian Decision Analytics.

@TweetsFromJ – Client Relationship Manager at Experian CheetahMail.

@ashleydaly – Ashley Daly, VP of Marketing for the Marketing Services division of Experian.

@benners1391- Ben Alschuler, Senior Marketing Manager at Experian Marketing Services.

@Erin_Geoghegan – Erin Geoghegan, Marketing Manager at Experian Marketing Services. Abandoned since September 2009.

Fresnillo

G4S (Group 4 Securicor)

@colinminto – Colin Minto, Head of Resourcing for G4S

GlaxoSmithKline

@gskus – Official profile of GlaxoSmithKline US

HSBC

@hsbc_com – Corporate profile, abandoned since August 2009 and very few tweets. Unsure whether this is official or not.

@manamica – Mana Ionescu, digital marketing & strategy for HSBC.

@mobinauten – Olicer Lauer, Head of Software Architecture at HSBC.

@AdrianRHotmail – PR and comms at HSBC

@HSBC_UK_Careers – Recruitment for HSBC UK

@100Thoughts – Profile for HSBC’s 1000 Thoughts PR campaign

@ExpatExplorer – Profile of HSBC’s Expat Explorer blog. Run by Sharon Slad.

@First_direct – Amanda Brown and Rebecca Hirst, PR and Comms at first direct, owned by HSBC.

@HSBCBankCab – Profile for the HSBC BankCab US PR campaign.

Hammerson

Home Retail Group

@simonbibby_HRG – Simon Bibby, Media Relations Officer at Home Retail Group.

ICAP

@Robinhoodtrader – Anonymous trader at ICAP, abandoned since Decmber 2009.

Imperial Tobacco

Inmarsat

@johnwarehand – John Warehand, PR Manager for Inmarsat.

Intercontinental Hotels

@HotelPRGuy – Charles Yap, Global PR Director for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts.

Intertek

@Intertek_sc – Official profile of Intertek Systems Certification.

@interteksustain – Official profile for Intertek Sustainability Solutions.

@ETLMark – Profile of Intertek’s ETL safety certification business.

Invensys

@Invensys_IOM – Invensys Operations Management division profile.

@invensys – Abandoned profile for Invensys Operations Management division.

@wwcustomerfirst – Profile for Invensys Operations Management Wonderware product.

@CStone Recruiter – Recruitment profile for Invensys, abandoned since September 2009.

Investec

@LindaMcBain – Investec banker, discusses economic and finance related topics.

Johnson Matthey

Kazakhmys

Kingfisher

@BandQ – Official profile of Kingfisher’s B&Q stores.

@Screwfixdotcom – Official profile of Kingfisher’s ScrewFix brand.

@SusanYoung – Web Retention & Communications Manager for Screwfix Direct. Abandoned since Feb 2010.

Land Securities Group

@TomFoulkes – Tom Foulkes, Head of Development Marketing for Land Securities

Legal & General

@JoeWi – Joe Wiggins, PR for Legal & General.

@LGIFA – Profile used to engage with the IFA community.

Liberty International

Lloyds Banking Group

@keithdoyle – Keith Doyle, Senior Usability Analyst at Lloyds Banking Group.

London Stock Exchange Group

Man Group

Marks & Spencer

@mandsireland – Official profile for Marks and Spencer Ireland.

@MARKSANDSPENCER – Official profile for Marks and Spencer UK.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets

@MorrisonsOffers – No tweets, but carries Morrisons branding

National Grid

@national_grid – Unofficial profile which posts hourly updates of the supply demand placed on the UK national grid.

@National_Grid_ – Recruitment profile for National Grid, few tweets and abandoned since April 2009.

Next

@nextcareers – Recruitment profile for Next stores.

Old Mutual

@LouiseRetief – Louise Retief, Communications Manager at Old Mutual.

@jackkruger – Jack Kruger, Head of Digital at Old Mutual.

Pearson

@jlopezvalcarcel – Juan Lopez-Valcarce, Director, Digital Product and Consumer Technology at Pearson.

@toddahitchcock – Todd Hitchcock, VP of Pearson Learning Solutions.

@seanstowers – Sean Stowers, Director of Learning Services.

@mbray – Mary Beth Ray, Executive Editor at Pearson Technology Group.

@stacyskel – Stacy Skelly, Director of Communications.

@Sdfahey – Stephen Fahey, Learning Technologies Director for Pearson UK.

@scottishalex –Alex Gay, Marketing Manager, Pearson Education.

@Guillemrojas – Guillem Rojas, position at Pearson not stated.

@jennrouthier – Jennifer Routhier, Marketing specialist at Pearson Learning Solutions.

@tintikane – Hester Tinti-Kane, Online marketer and researcher for Pearson Learning Solutions

@C_SABI_Go – Chris Sabiston, focused on research. Development, publishing and technology.

@gwiegan – Greg Wiegand, Associate Publisher, Pearson Education.

@michellenewcomb – Michelle Newcomb, Acquisitions Editor at Pearson Education.

@AndreaBledsoe – Andrea Bledsoe, Publicist for Pearson Education.

@sophieplayle – Sophie Playle, editorial assistant at Pearson.

@lisajbrown – Lisa Jacobson Brown, publicist at Pearson.

Petrofac

Prudential

RSA Insurance Group

@rhoortal – Roberto Hortal, eBusiness Director for Emerging Markets at RSA Insurance.

Randgold

Reckitt Benckiser

@discoverRB – Official profile for Reckit Benckiser with news and updates from the FMCG company.

@SamTownshend – Sam Townshend, Industrial Design Student, working for Reckitt Benckiser designing new FMCGs.

Reed Elsevier

@ReedElsevierHQ – Official profile of Reed Elsevier, managed by the corporate comms team.

Rexam

Rio Tinto Group

@riotinto – Official profile of Rio Tinto providing news from the mining company.

Rolls Royce

Royal Bank of Scotland Group

@RBS_Economics – Updates from Royal Bank of Scotland Group’s Economists.

@JobsatRBSgroup – Employment opportunities at RBS.

Royal Dutch Shell

@AndyBoydnl – Andy Boyd, Knowledge Management Lead for Shell’s Projects and Technology business.

@shaunwiggins – Shaun Wiggins, Global Spokesperson Royal Dutch Shell – abandoned since July 2009.

@MichaelMegarry – Michael Megarry, Vice-President, Internal Communications at Royal Dutch Shell. Only one tweet, abandoned since October 2009.

SABMiller

@sabmiller – Official profile for the brewing giant – focuses on business related updates.

@Jono_O – Business Media Relations manager.

Sage Group

@sageuk – Official profile of the business software company.

@scothran – Sarah Chapin-Cothran, PR Director for The Sage Group.

@iainramsay – Iain Ramsay, Online Retail Marketing & Ops Manager at Sage UK.

@Joe_SagePay – Joe, Business Development Coordinator for Sage Pay.

@Amy_SagePay – Amy Monro, PR executive at Sage Pay.

J Sainsbury

@sainsburys – Official profile of the supermarket chain, focusing on consumer engagement.

@jsainsbury – Another official profile for Sainsbury, but focusing on corporate issues.

Schroders

Scottish and Southern Energy

@sseplc – Official profile with corporate news from the energy supplier.

@rosseaston – Ross Easton, Public Affairs and Communications Manager at Scottish and Southern Energy.

SEGRO

@SEGROplc – Has posted a company bio, but no tweets so far.

Serco

Severn Trent

@stwater – Official profile of Severn Trent Water used for news updates and consumer engagement.

Shire Pharmaceuticals

@xpetit – Xavier Petit – Senior Manager,Consumer Database Marketing

Smith & Nephew

@smithnephewjobs – Official recruitment channel for the medical device company.

@WoundCare- Official profile for the company’s wound care business.

@rennilinder – Renni Linder, HR Manager for Smith & Nephew.

@GlobCorpRecruit – Michele McCurrach, Global & Virtual Corporate Recruiter for Smith & Nephew

Smiths Group

Standard Chartered Bank

Standard Life

Tesco

Tesco runs a large number of individual Twitter profiles to provide consumers with news about its different product lines and business areas:

@Tescostores – Only two tweets, abandoned since April 2009.

@TescoCareers

@Tesco_Diets

@tescomobile – Abandoned since June 2009

@tescoentertain

@clothingattesco

@TescoFootball

@tescofood

@tescoonline

@TescoWines – Abandoned since December 2009

As well as these official profiles, I found one Tesco executive on Twitter:

@AngelaMaurer – Angela Maurer, Senior Marketing Manager at Tesco.com.

Thomas Cook

@ThomasCookUK – Official profile of the travel operator focusing on consumer engagement.

@TC_Tracey – Updates from a worker at the Thomas Cook head office, position and full name not disclosed.

TUI Travel

@tui_travel – Official profile of the travel company –abandoned since September 2009.

@janesink – Jane Sinclair, Online PR manager for TUI Travel UK.

@dan_design – Daniel Jakubowicz, eCRM designer at TUI Travel UK

@peternorwood – Peter Norwood, TUI Travel Senior Online Marketing Manager. Abandoned since August 2009.

Tullow Oil

Unilever

@ulglobalmedia – Unilever Global Media team, mostly tweets about social media marketing.

@asadchawla – Asad ur Rehman, Global Communications Planning at Unilever.

@simonrup – Simon Ruparelia, Unilever digital marketing.

@Warrenjburns – Head of Technology Discovery and Innovation at Unilever.

@ronaldwohlman – Ronald Wohlman, Chief Creative Officer at Unilever.

United Utilities

@unitedutilities – Official profile for the utilities supplier, focuses on consumer engagement.

Vedanta Resources

Vodafone

@Vodafone_Group – Official profile with corporate news from Vodafone Group.

@VodafoneUK – Official profile focusing on consumer engagement.

@torgo – Daniel Appelquist, Senior Technology Strategist at Vodafone.

@leewilkins Lee Wilkins Head of Marketing for Online and Internet Services, Vodafone Romania.

@pedrocustodio – Pedro Custodio, User Experience and Online Communities Advocate, currently working for Vodafone Group Services.

@SteveWolak – Steve Wolak, Founder and Head of Betavine, Vodafone Group RnD.

@JakubH – Jakub Hrabovsk, Vodafone Web Relations  and On-line Comms.

@BenHT – Ben Harvard Taylor, Vodafone PR.

@AllyStevens – Ally Stevens, Vodafone UK External Comms.

@JanneVirtanen81 – Janne Virtanen, Media Relations Consultant for Vodafone Enterprise and Technology.

@mad_dash – Libby Pritchard, Vodafone PR.

@CarolineDewing – Caroline Dewing, Corporate Responsibility Media Relations.

@Gords – Simon Gordon, Media Relations Manager for Vodafone Group.

WPP Group

@wpp – Official profile of WPP Group, featuring marketing related news, research and insight.

@levimcconnell – Levi McConnell, Director of Digital Services at a WPP Group Agency, PACE Advertising.

@siwat – Siwat Chawareewong, Co-founder of mInteraction, Bangkok-based digital agency owned by WPP group.

@fawzirahal – Fawzi Rahal, Regional Communications Director at G2/Grey Group, part of WPP.

Whitbread

@WhitbreadPLC – Official profile for Whitbread, focuses on consumer engagement.

@nn002 – Nicola Smith, PR Executive for Whitbread PLC.

Wolseley

Xstrata

Apologies if it’s gone quiet around here again after my recent surge of blogging momentum. At the moment I’m facing the twin challenges of moving into an incredibly outdated house that needs to be completely modernised, and starting work in my new job at Text 100. I’ve got a couple of half written posts, which I’ll hopefully have time to finish once the dust has settled in the coming weeks.

I’ve taken on the role of ‘social media and methodology practice lead’ which essentially means that I’m going to be spending my time helping clients find intelligent ways to use social media to meet their business objectives. I’ll also be working with the rest of the team at to make sure that social media forms an integral component of all the work we do, because the days of social media sitting in its own little silo are over.

Anyway, lots of great clients, fun projects and interesting new colleagues to look forward to, so that should create plenty of blog-fodder.

I have the same conversation pretty much every day now:

Enthusiastic Cold Caller: “Hi, I’m calling from a company called Social Bongo and we’ve developed a cutting edge social media metrics workflow sentiment SEO influence monitoring solution. I see from your website that you’re involved in social media, and I think this system would be perfect for you – would you like me to set up a demonstration?”

Me: “I’ve already looked at your service (because everybody feels compelled to email me every single half-baked web site that features the phrase ‘social media’ regardless of how irrelevant it is to my job) and when you strip away all of the nonsensical social-media mumbo-jumbo and the pretty but clunky interface, the system just seems to be a spam-blog aggregator.”

Enthusiastic Cold Caller: “Uh yes… but we only charge eleventy billion dollars per keyword, which is pretty competitive, right?”

Me: “To be honest, your service seems to be designed to fleece old school PR and marketing people who don’t really understand any of this stuff but need to show their boss that they’re doing something about social media. We do understand this stuff, and I don’t think your service would be much use to us.”

Enthusiastic Cold Caller: “I see. Well we’re still developing the service, so would you mind providing us some feedback on how you think it could be improved?”

Me: “Sure, I love doing free product development work for every social media snake-oil merchant who calls me out of the blue…”

The future of news is a topic of heavy debate these days, particularly since the recent announcement that The Times will soon be moving to a paid content model which will charge readers £2 per week for access to the website. Other publishers will be watching the move closely.

During the initial online land-grab newspaper publishers threw a lot of their resources at winning online audiences, under the assumption that a viable business model would materialise sooner or later. So far nobody seems to have cracked the problem.

The Financial Times and Wall Street Journal operate successful paywall models, but these are special cases, providing high value, exclusive business news to the kind of readers who are more than likely to charge the subscription fee to their expense account. Whether consumers will go to the trouble of typing in their credit card details to pay for mainstream news reporting, when they could simply click on another link to get the same news elsewhere without paying, is a different matter entirely.

If The Times can make a paywall work, there will be a collective sigh of relief in newsrooms around the world.

But what if it doesn’t work, and no viable business model for news journalism can be found? Are we going to shrug our shoulders and wave farewell to an industry that simply couldn’t keep up with the modern world?

My problem with this is that quality news journalism is not just another industry, because a thriving free press is an essential ingredient of any healthy democracy. We need professional journalists and investigative reporters to help us hold those in power to account, and we should all be very worried about the prospect of losing them.

I think very soon we’re going to have to decide how much we value the contribution quality journalism makes to our society. Are we willing to let something is vital as the free press fall victim to harsh economic reality, when billions of taxpayers’ pounds, dollars and euros have been spent to prop up industries such as banking and automotive?

Clearly there are no easy answers, but if we can agree that it is essential to ensure the survival of quality journalism, then maybe we should start asking whether it deserves, in some way, to be supported by taxpayers too.

In his recent post at the Harvard Business Review blog, Umair Haque argues that the ’social media bubble’ has devalued relationships through inflation. In economics, the more money there is in circulation, the less value (i.e. buying power) that money has because increased circulation causes prices to rise, and Umair suggests that this is what social media has done to relationships.

It’s an interesting idea but I think it’s flawed.

For this idea to stand up you would have to assume that we have a strictly limited amount of attention to devote to relationships, and that every new relationship you participate in somehow degrades the value of all of your other relationships. I don’t think this is true.

People do not invest any less effort in their important relationships just because they have a large number of less important connections on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. If anything social media enhances relationships, providing an additional conversation channel between friends and family that can be used to connect when they are apart.

Facebook enables me to maintain a constant, low level of conversation with those close to me throughout my working week. I don’t have time to write emails or have IM conversations with all of my friends and family over the course of a week, but with a few status updates here and there we are able to communicate casually when we are not spending time together.

Looking beyond the stronger relationships, Facebook makes it easier to stay in contact with people who might otherwise have drifted away. Colleagues from old jobs, friends and relatives who move far away, with the best will in the world, you struggle to stay in touch with some people because of the practicalities of everyday life.

The relationships with those people may be weak, but at least the connection is maintained rather than being completely severed. And the same is true of channels like Twitter and LinkedIn. The relationships I have on those platforms are mostly with colleagues, professional acquaintances or simply people who share the same interests as me.  These relationships are mostly low value, but it takes very little effort for me to maintain them, and the level of effort required does not significantly increase when the number of relationships rises.

Low value relationships are fine, so long as they come at low cost

This brings me onto my key point: the reason social media enables us to vastly increase the number of weak relationships is because tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn significantly reduce the level of effort involved in maintaining those relationships.

Most of those relationships are of low value, but under the right circumstances any of them could evolve into a much more valuable relationship; they might be able to help me with a problem, give me a great idea, or lead to a solid business opportunity. The ‘opportunity cost’ (i.e. the time and effort I have to expend in maintaining them) is so low as to make it more than worthwhile for me.

Umair argues further that the ultimate proof of the true worthlessness of social media relationships is that nobody is willing to pay for them. This point is hard to counter, but I think it’s fair to say that just because it is hard to monetise something, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it has no value – the internet is full of good things that are not particularly profitable, high quality news journalism being a good case in point.