It’s been announced that BBC News is adopting a new way to tweet its news. Until now, like most news organisations, it’s relied on ‘auto-tweets’ to spread its updates across the globe, but that practice is now going to change.

The decision’s been made to put ‘real’ people behind the Twitter news updates, rather than relying on a computer to simply tweet headlines on a regular basis. At a time of budget cuts and squeezes, it’s a bold move by the Beeb to commit to this level of resource – but I think it’s the right one.

Most of us have followed people (or organisations) on Twitter whose tweets are automated and, although the updates are informative, they’re also pretty dull and uninspiring, leading us to hit the ‘unfollow’ button fairly swiftly.

Having a person responsible for updating the news on Twitter has its benefits – tweets with a bit more personality are often the ones that tend to attract new followers, keep existing ones and encourage retweeting. Perhaps more significantly, what the BBC is doing could also point to the future direction of journalism and how social media is used to report news.

If the BBC’s now using its best talents to tweet the news, it arguably reflects how seriously organisations view the reporting of news in this manner. With millions of us using social media as our main way of receiving news, the BBC has recognised that its Twitter feeds have to be looked after with ‘proper’ care and attention and not just see them as an after-thought.

With our use of Twitter to gather news only likely to grow in the near future, I don’t think it’ll be long before other organisations follow the BBC’s lead and give their news a more personal touch.

There’s been nothing lighthearted about this year’s so-called silly season. August has been jam-packed with news and it’s been very serious stuff.

Last night was no different, as I watched all the latest news from Libya unfold on my Twitter feed. As the rebel fighters swiftly took control of much of Tripoli, the vast majority of comments I viewed were singing the praises of the coverage on Sky News. One tweeter commented: “Alex Crawford’s live reporting from Libya on Sky News has been addictive today. Turn it on. Amazing scenes”.

The general sentiment was that, on this occasion, Sky had absolutely outclassed its peers with comments such as: “Can’t believe how much better Alex Crawford on SKY is compared to Mathew whatsisname on BBC news is”.

Sky’s Alex Crawford seemed to be the only reporter who was broadcasting live from the city and had impressively provided the coverage using a laptop connected to a mini-satellite dish charged by a car cigarette lighter. The social media reaction was so great that Alex Crawford was a trending topic in the UK right through to this morning.

Twitter provides the public with a mouthpiece and this latest reaction just goes to show how demanding we really are when it comes to news reporting. We want eye-witness reporting and to see the news as and when it happens. Not only this, but we’ll happily tell everyone else via social media to flick over the channel to find a better option.

It’s worth mentioning that the BBC has responded today with comments from its world news editor that congratulate Sky’s Alex Crawford, but also claims that it was judged as ‘not safe’ for reporters to head into Tripoli yesterday. The question we perhaps need to ask ourselves is − what cost should we expect the press to pay to ensure that we see the news first-hand?

Yesterday was the official deadline for completing the 2011 census.

Filling out my form was quite a nostalgic experience. It took me back to my 18-year-old self, proudly completing my very first census and declaring myself to be a Jedi (shhh – don’t tell).

This time around, it took me approximately 10 minutes to fill in and left me feeling distinctly underwhelmed. The Government has hinted this might be the last survey of its kind and it’s easy to see why. Ten years ago, I had just set up my first Hotmail account and was lumbering a phone of brick-like proportions around with me. The speed of change in the last decade has been anything but linear – instead, technology has hurtled forward unabated and transformed almost every aspect of our daily lives.

For this reason, questions about qualifications, job titles and travel-to-work methods were relevant but hardly revolutionary. Kudos then to Comet’s PR team for releasing a ‘technology census’ at the weekend. The results of this particular study showed that for a whopping 81 per cent of respondents, email is their favourite way to communicate, whilst a third of people stated that the web had supplanted the once mighty TV.

In the UK census, a couple of questions on changing habits of internet use might have been more enlightening than the questions which were being rolled out fifty years ago. I look forward to the glut of press articles dissecting the results of the census and debating what this means for the country. However, shying away from the questions that could reveal the fastest change in society feels like a trick missed. And considering this could be the last of its kind, that’s nothing short of a shame.

I had to chuckle this morning when I read about the BBC’s plans to run an ‘acclimatisation’ course for staff making the move from London to Manchester.

Employees will apparently be taught how to catch the tram to MediaCityUK and those with cars and bikes will be shown how to access the site. Is this all really necessary? I’m sure those who battle the Tube in London on a daily basis will be able to make their way to Salford!

With new developments about the BBC’s big move hitting the headlines almost every day, all this fuss seems a bit dramatic. People are moving to Manchester…not the moon!

That said, as we’re never ones to miss a trick here at Peppermint, we’d like to welcome those joining us from London by offering them an exclusive Peppermint tour.

We can show you the sights of Manchester – the best places to eat, drink and be merry – and also introduce you to the things that make Manchester great. We might be a little biased, but who better to show you around than the people who truly love this city?

Interested? Just email us at refresh@peppermintpr.com or follow us on Twitter @peppertweets.

Working in a female-dominated industry like PR, I take a keen interest in matters affecting the fairer sex – like the ‘O’Reilly unfair dismissal’ case, which reared its head again this week.

Miriam O’Reilly was a dedicated presenter of Countryfile for eight years, only to leave because the BBC moved the show to a primetime slot and traded her in for a younger model. She’s not the first woman to have found herself given such short shrift. Michaela Strachan, Juliet Morris and Charlotte Smith were also dumped as presenters so BBC bosses could bring in younger stars.

Predictably, when it reached court, the Beeb pleaded that its decision had nothing to do with Miriam’s age. However, after telling the judge that she’d been told to ‘work on her appearance’ and that it was ‘time for botox,’ the victory was hers.

The former GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips, who recently turned 50, supports Miriam’s determination, but says she shouldn’t be fooled that the case is just about age – it’s got more to do with sexism. Fiona sites the fact that we don’t hear moans about a wrinkled John Craven, Bruce Forsyth or Rolf Harris. In fact, Brucey seems to be unstoppable in telly land and he’s well into his 80s!

Isn’t it about time we were over the days of just watching young and beautiful women on TV and accepted that wise, older women are extremely watchable too? It’s sad to think we’ve come so far, but we’ve still got a long way to go. It’s 2011 for heaven’s sake!

I have always loved the adage that ‘a picture tells a thousand words.’ For me it’s not only true, but it also appeals to the amateur photographer in me.

It was today’s extensive coverage of Justin Grant’s home, washing out into the Pacific that made me really think about the truth in this saying, and what a difference not only pictures, but video, have made to the world of the media.

Although a topical story – taking into account the freak weather and erosion rates in the aptly named ‘Washaway Beach’ in the US – the unfortunate occurrence would have remained the preserve of local and national press.

However, add into the mix a shaky mobile phone video shot by onlookers, and now the little wooden house from Oregon gets streamed across the world.

Now that is worth taking note of.

The footage might not be necessarily the work of a budding Spielberg, but by being in the right place at the right time, it’s possible for a snippet on your mobile to capture the world’s imagination and a unique moment in time.

Sometimes in PR it’s important to play the long game. This was a mantra shared by all at Peppermint this week when the team broke findings by Dr Michelle Harvie, a dietician funded by the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Appeal, which have been over two years in development.

The research, published yesterday, suggested that women can cut their risk of breast cancer by following a two-day a week diet.

Since the findings were released to the national media, Peppermint HQ has been a hive of activity and non-stop media liaison – in which time our infectious consultants have done their best to turn ‘phone juggling’ into the next Olympic sport!

After two years of discussions with Genesis, the results received widespread coverage on broadcast media, with specialist features appearing on North West Tonight. Blanket coverage also hit the newsstands today, with articles appearing in the Daily Mail, the Sun, Daily Express, Times.co.uk, Telegraph.co.uk, Mirror.co.uk and the Manchester Evening News.

At Peppermint, we‘re certainly no strangers to securing reams of coverage in the nationals – but this coverage is extra special to us. As the UK’s only charity entirely dedicated to the prevention of breast cancer, Genesis has the goal of making one in ten (the current number of women suffering from the disease) none in ten. The buzz of generating coverage that could potentially prevent certain cases of breast cancer is one of the best rewards we could ever have.

Facebook announced that it now has 500 million users which means (according to The Guardian) that a whopping 43 per cent of Brits are regularly logging on. You can’t argue with that!

We all remember Rage Against the Machine beating X-Factor’s latest hopeful (it was that Joe guy, right?) to the Christmas number one, all thanks to the power of Facebook. More recently, BBC 6 Music was saved from the chop after a dedicated Facebook and Twitter campaign to save the station.

Based on these facts, is it any wonder then that PM David Cameron is now trying to get Facebook users on his side? Recently, Number 10 released a conference call between Cameron and Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, where Cameron asks for Facebook users to suggest ways in which the government can cut the deficit. Like many of the government’s social media attempts, this latest stunt has received backlash with the video being labelled as ‘insincere’ and scoring zero cool points for the PM.

Is jumping on the Facebook bandwagon really going to make people more interested in politics? The problem the government faces is engaging people and getting them to buy-in. If people wanted to spend their time on Facebook telling the Prime Minister how to run the country, surely they would have stood for Parliament themselves? I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of the government making decisions based on suggestions from the same people who joined the Facebook group “For those who have ever pushed a “pull” door.”

A photo of a VW camper van grabbed my attention on the BBC News website yesterday and I read on to discover that it’s celebrating its 60^th birthday.

It’s the kind of picture that has serious pulling power and it got me thinking about what it was that made the camper stand out so brightly from the crowd and what makes it such an iconic brand? 

I guess that it’s about buying into more than just a product. With a brand like this, you purchase your own piece of popular culture and the feeling that comes along with it. The camper van epitomises summertime and freedom as it has always been a firm favourite with rock stars, surfers and globe trotters. It reaches out further than those who adore all-things-retro and can take you to a time and place that you’ve never even been.

With a brand like VW, you’re driven (sorry) by emotion and feelings rather than rational thought. Campers certainly wouldn’t win any prizes for reliability and don’t come cheaply either. But, the brand has the passion, purpose and authenticity that creates unprecedented loyalty and mass adoration.

We hear time and time again that our client, Swizzels Matlow’s sweets, (such as Love Hearts, Rainbow Drops and Parma Violets) take people straight back to their playground days. Swizzels Matlow, like VW has managed to perfectly capture something within its product that is timeless and created a brand that is built to last.

Welcome and long overdue news that the BBC has resolved to feature northern locations in its programmes. The announcement coincides with the imminent relocation of many of its staff to Salford and will showcase our gorgeous landmarks to the wider world.

The BBC has long been obsessed with portraying ethnic and sexual diversity in its programming so it does seem a little remiss that its locations have been primarily centred in a tiny area of the country. Nations across the world must have a rather skewed impression of our country from the woefully limited number of London/southern set pieces they’re fed.

Closer to home, it does get a bit dull seeing the same old same old as backdrops on the telly. I’m definitely looking forward to pointing excitedly at the box as we play spot the location in Manchester. After all, seeing somewhere close to home on TV is almost as exciting as seeing somebody you know. Team Peppermint were certainly rather giddy when the Shameless crew filmed at the grocers next door.

As a diehard Dr Who fan, may I put in a plea to the Powers That Be to consider decamping this wondrous series from Cardiff to Manchester? Just for one tiny episode?