Social media is helping me to grieve

This is one of the hardest blog posts that I have composed. Writing this is part of my grieving process. But there is a serious message here of the value that social media really can bring to our lives, particularly in times of personal need or sorrow.

Yesterday one of my house rabbits very suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. He was only five years old and full of life until less than a day before he died. To many people who read this blog, and particularly those who know me personally, you'll understand how heartbreaking this is for me. My house rabbits are my family. They live and run freely in my house. They keep me company in the office when I am working (the photo below is of Herbie helping me to decorate the Pickle Jar office back in 2007 when I set up the business). I feed them, care for them and play with them every day. I love them like children.

Herbie was a rescue rabbit. He had been dumped in a cardboard box at a rabbit rescue centre with no note to even tell what his name was. He was a lively chap, clearly still a baby, and we're convinced that when we called in to visit the rescue centre four and a half years ago that he chose us. I think he knew he was on to a good thing - space to run around, fresh vegetables to eat every day, lots of hay, an abundance of toys, and two big sisters to keep him company.

On Wednesday evening we noticed he wasn't his usual self. He didn't come bounding over to the treat bowl, and just sat hunched up looking sad. So, on Thursday morning I booked him in to see the vet. I took him in that afternoon and she couldn't see anything obviously wrong with him. The only problem was that his back teeth were looking a little long and could have been causing him discomfort. So, I left him there for the afternoon so they could put him under a general anaesthetic and file down his teeth. The vet called at 3.30 to say he was absolutely fine, had woken up, and that we could pick him up at 6.30. We arrived on time and sat waiting to be called through looking forward to seeing our boy and hoping that he'd just be looking forward to having his treats that night.

The vet called us in. No Herbie. She had some bad news. As they were getting him ready for us to bring him home he collapsed. I didn't realise at first that she was saying he had died, but the news soon dawned on me. His teeth weren't the problem afterall, but we think some form of organ failure. He died very suddenly. We spent 20 minutes saying our farewells to the little fella, and headed home with an empty carry case in floods of tears. I haven't really stopped crying since.

The point of writing this post though is two-fold. Firstly, being able to publicly express my grief in this way is helpful to me. It gives me a place to record my thoughts and pour out my heart as I sit in an otherwise silent office. Secondly, though, is to make a point about social media. Despite our constant tears, both Nathan and I almost immediately tweeted about what had happened. We felt moved to update our facebook status, and we were able to chat to some understanding friends via instant messenger. Talking on the phone has been too hard, but at least typing is manageable. Losing a pet is not like losing a family member. There isn't really a system of people phoning each other people to share the news. That just isn't how it's done. But social media has given us a platform from which to share our grief and to receive back an enormous 'virtual' hug (we've had some real ones too of course, including with Scotch and Macy - our other two rabbits).

Social media comes under so much criticism for revealing so much about our lives in a public forum, and for voyeurism. Yet lately I have seen several friends share sad news through social media platforms and receive an overwhelming response. There are times when that sense of community, albeit a virtual community in some cases, is really needed. Right now, I'm no good for going outside and seeing lots of people, but through the power of social media, text messaging and instant messaging, lots of people have been able to come to me and offer their support. Nathan even had a tweet from the Times Higher Education - from someone he's never even met - offering their sympathies.

This is one of those times when, through all the concerns and negative press, social media has really come into its own.

Evolving the press release: online and social media communications for press and media relations

I'm currently involved in organising (and will be speaking at) the following conference. We'll be looking and press and media relations for the education sector and how social media and virtual news rooms are revolutionising the way in which we 'do' PR.

Conference speaking this Spring/Summer

Just for the hell of it I thought I might share here information about a number of conferences that I am due to/likely to be speaking at this coming Spring and Summer, with details of the sessions being delivered. I'll try as far as possible to post slides here after each of the sessions.

Listening to your stakeholders online
Thursday 23 April, Manchester Metropolitan University

This conference is being organised by the CIPR's Education and Skills sector group. At this conference I'll be delivering a session looking at some of the tools for engaging audiences through your website, and for monitoring the buzz about your brand through social media. Email me if you're interested in booking a place at this conference and I'll put you in touch with the organisers.

Beyond the hype: getting the most from your web presence
Thursday 14 May, London

Alison Wildish from the University of Bath has kindly asked if I'll run a session at this conference she is putting together for CASE Europe with Pamela Agar of Imperial College. My session at this conference is likely to be on demonstrating results from using social media to enhance your web presence and preparing for the internal 'sell' to present the business case. You can book to attend this conference here.

Virtual PR: maximising your press and media relations through online activities
Friday 22 May, London

I'm currently leading a research project on behalf of the CIPR's Education and Skills sector group looking at how universities and colleges use online resources and activities to enhance their press and media relations. My session at this conference will present initial findings of this research. Contact me if you're interested in attending this event as I'm on the organising committee for this one. To participate in the research, follow this link to our online survey which is still open for responses.

EUPRIO Conference
Saturday 27 June, Aveiro, Portugal

I'll be presenting two workshops at the European Universities PR and Information Officers (EUPRIO) annual conference in Portugal on Saturday 27 June. My session is titled 'Learning new tricks: how social media is revolutionising the role of the PR professional'. You can view further details of the conference and book to attend through the conference website here.

CASE Europe Annual Conference
24-28 August, Liverpool

We also have a session proposal out for the CASE Europe annual conference this year. I'm just finalising my details with them and will update this post when I have a little more to say on this one. Registration for the conference is now open here.

Audioboo - the potential

It's been far too long since my last blog post. I spend so much of my time preaching to people about blogging and the need to do it regularly, that I really must practice what I preach. However, I've got so many exciting projects on the go at the moment for various clients that it's all a bit crazy. Here's something to share though...

Around mid-March, so really very recently, a 4IP funding iPhone app was launched - AudioBoo, developed by BestBefore media. Described by some as 'audio twitter', AudioBoo enables you through a simple iPhone app to record a short burst of audio, attach a photo, tag it, and pretty much instantly have it online with the photo, audio file, and the location of the recording marked on a google map (thanks to the power of GPS). You can set it up so that every new 'Boo' you post is tweeted about through your twitter account, and you can also embed the file into another web page using the emded code provided. Very very simple and easy.

I came across it for the first time at an event I was involved with for Becta, who were supporting a DIUS event hosted by Channel 4. The guys from BestBefore did a live demonstration of the technology, which worked seamlessly. So, in true flattery, I decided to copy their exercise at a social media training session I was running last week. Worked perfectly, and certainly got the creative juices of my 'trainees' flowing, particularly thinking about potential for gathering customer feedback and quick testimonials. From a personal point of view, I know it's also going to be great for gathering quick soundbites at events (from delegates and speakers) and I might also use it to help gather some anecdotes for some research I'm conducting for the CIPR Education and Skills sector group at the moment too.

The guys at 4IP have been blogging about some of the uses they've seen for it. And that's one of the things that so staggering about this. BestBefore and 4IP could see the potential for this technology, but they really had no idea how people would use it. I can't see it replacing Twitter because, let's face it, who wants to have to trawl through audio clips of each of the individuals they follow (I find it hard enough just keep up with written tweets), but the real gem of this story is how the technology has bee pushed out, and the community out there have decided how to use it rather than being told what it's for. This is a great example of how social media is actually all about the content, and not about the technology. The technology just makes it happen, but it's the content that really drives it and encourages interest.

For a little taste, here's me just mucking around with it:

And here's the link to the actual AudioBoo page so you can see the photo and map too.