Online media giants Google, Wikipedia, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have staged a joint protest against the proposed Stop Online Piracy and Protect Intellectual Property Acts, taking out a full page ad in the US national press and variously joining Wikipedia in its ‘day of darkness.’

My immediate reaction upon hearing about the Bills went something along these lines: “the censorship debate again, really? This is never going to fly! How hypocritical that Congress is even considering it. I wonder what China thinks…”

History suggests that these Bills will fail, regardless of whether or not they are brought into law. Yet, as an avalanche of #StopSOPA tweets hit my news feed, there was one voice, singular in its support of the Acts. Rupert Murdoch tweeted against detractors, labelling Wikipedia et al: “Silicone Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy.” Ouch!

He raises an interesting point though. Does respect for the sanctity of property rights necessarily square with support for these Bills? Probably not. There are better methods of preventing piracy than employing wholesale censorship. Besides, implementing this legislation doesn’t even seem possible. As the focus of debate looks set to hop across the pond with the UK Government rumoured to be reprising the Digital Economy Act, I’m betting I’m not the only one hoping that they make a better stab at it than the Yanks.

Although I don’t tweet what I’m having for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Twitter is (embarrassingly) the first thing I look at in the morning and last thing I check at night. Amid all of the brilliant TV broadcast during the Christmas break, I was most looking forward to ITV2’s ‘Tweet of the Year’ – which unsurprisingly went to Beyoncé’s red carpet revelation that she was pregnant in August 2011.

Twitter was once again dominated by news about Beyoncé’s baby on Sunday morning with messages welcoming the arrival of her tiny tot. Congratulatory posts from celebrities such as Rihanna and P Diddy quickly resulted in the newborn’s name becoming a worldwide trending topic within minutes. News sites quickly followed suit with media such as the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail and respected gossip source TMZ, announcing the birth of ‘Ivy Blue’.

The name isn’t to everyone’s taste but I happen to like Ivy – it’s cute for a little one, yet sophisticated for when she grows up. I went ahead and gleefully announced on Facebook that the name had my blessing!

Just hours later however, I was forced to remove my status, when it came to light that Twitter had got it wrong. Beyoncé’s baby ‘Ivy Blue’ is actually named ‘Blue Ivy’.

The blunder echoes how Twitter is fast becoming the online source of all knowledge, whether you’re reading or writing the news! The social media mix-up was also a timely reminder that Twitter moves so fast that inaccurate reports can spread like wildfire. With modern day technology, at least we don’t have to wait for a printed retraction.

‘Not on Facebook? It still has a fix on you’ is the headline that’s grabbed my attention this week. It was a piece about how the world’s biggest social network is building-up data about people who haven’t even signed-up yet.

There were also some ‘shocking’ facts about existing users – apparently, Facebook keeps every message and tagged picture even after we’ve deleted it from our account! So, that’s what it’s just filled its humongous data farms with in Sweden!

Your contact details can be culled from friends, you’ll be linked to anyone who has ever searched for your name and there may already be tagged holiday snaps of you, despite the fact you’ve never given permission for this.

When you look at this from a civil liberties perspective, it does seem extreme that non-users have already unwittingly created a Facebook profile of sorts. But I, for one, wasn’t massively surprised.

When you think about it – why would Facebook delete any of this precious data? Remember that Facebook doesn’t charge you to log-on and tag those pictures of your friends. Every scrap of its value, and the success it’s achieved, is down to the mountains of data and size of the communities it’s managed to build. This is what allows it to go on to sell very cleverly targeted advertising that makes the company its billions and zillions.

The reason we like Facebook is because all of our friends are on there, so there has to be some element of give and take. There’s no doubt that people do tend to be a bit laissez-faire in what they post online as they feel it’s not permanent. For me, rather than scaremongering about a surveillance state, we need to ensure that we’re educating ourselves to post information that we’re happy to hand over to Facebook and the like. 

You only have to go back a couple of generations to find examples of people who were worried about handing over information to machines and organisations that we now accept as a daily fixture. My Grandma won’t even use a cash machine or bank card, because she’s worried the robots will nick off with her pension! So, if the social networks are watching our every move, let’s just make sure we keep an eye on what they’re up to too.

Every day brings another great example of a social media campaign that makes you sit back in your chair and think: ‘Damn, I wish I’d thought of that’. The latest offering that’s grabbed my attention comes from the team at The Muppets Studio.

Originally created by Jim Henson in 1955, The Muppets have become so famous they’re considered celebrities in their own right. Over the years, ‘Kermy’, Miss Piggy and the gang have endorsed major brands, featured in famous music videos, hosted the Academy Awards and are now embarking on their eighth cinematic adventure.

I was a huge fan of The Muppet Show throughout my childhood and a lunchtime rarely went by without a cheese butty and the latest episode. As I’ve grown up, the world of children’s entertainment has changed beyond all recognition. Most of the shows, cartoon characters and household names I used to hold dear have fallen by the wayside – but not The Muppets.

In the run-up to their new movie release, The Muppets have done it again. Their latest stunt is an on-the-ball, tongue-in-cheek social media campaign that sees Miss Piggy aiming for ‘a bazillion’ likes on Facebook, in return for secret screenings of the new film. They’ve complemented this with a clever viral and a brilliantly run Twitter account that has me chuckling to myself on a daily basis.

It’s a real testament to the comms team over at The Muppets Studio, showing that they’ve moved with the times to keep these (technically OAP) puppets in showbiz and their audiences watching.

These days, heritage and history only count for so much. Brands, companies and indeed puppets must stay one step ahead to keep their audiences and customers engaged. Let’s just hope Statler and Waldorf aren’t heckling from the balcony at the premiere!

Twitter is all of a flutter today with the latest announcement from Brit-brand Burberry. The fashion label is offering its Twitter followers a virtual backstage pass that means they’ll clap eyes on the collection before the A-listers in the front row.

Live-streaming of fashion shows has been popular for the past couple of years and 32 of the London shows this week will be streamed to a wider audience. Burberry has managed to go one better and this afternoon will see the world’s first ever ‘tweetwalk’. This means that you and I will have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of next season’s collection well before the ‘fash pack’, as we follow a series of backstage Twitpics today. Bravo Burberry!

There’s no denying that this is a very cool idea and will provide the brand with additional exposure − but will it make any difference to the company’s sales? According to a recent report about why we follow brands on social media, a massive 97 per cent of respondents said that an online experience has influenced whether or not they bought a product from a brand. I’m sure that Burberry will see an increase in sales − for one week after the show, items from the collection will be available on its website, despite not hitting the shops until much later.

Burberry is also set to capitalise on other platforms as it hands over the reins of its Instagram account to photographer, Mike Kus − the most-followed Instagram user in the UK. And, for those whose budgets don’t stretch to the latest Burberry trench coat, fear not − you can buy your own piece of London Fashion Week when the show’s soundtrack is made available to buy on iTunes.

This is surely fashion for the masses and has transformed an event that was once the domain of a limited number of industry insiders. It’s no secret that Burberry has had to work hard to overhaul its image, following criticism that a luxury brand is devalued as soon as it becomes accessible to the mass market. Yet, this somehow works, as the focus on social media keeps it fresh. Follow @Burberry to see more…

‘Bad taste’, ‘goulish’ and ‘wrong, wrong, wrong’ – just a few of the phrases used to describe The Guardian’s reporting of 9/11 in its @911tenyearsago Twitter account.

The idea was to live-tweet the 9/11 attacks as if they were happening in real time.

On face value, @911tenyearsago provided an interesting exploration of how social media would have played its part on 9/11, had it been around at the time.

However, after just one hour and 16 tweets, the account had been suspended – public outrage was so deafening that The Guardian had no choice but to pull it.

So why was this particular Twitter reportage so badly received? For many, @911tenyearsago smacked of sensationalism and a way for The Guardian to show its affinity and connection with the medium of Twitter rather than provide any new insight into the event itself.

It’s clear that misjudgment of this kind shows we’re still learning the boundaries of Twitter. The tweets by @911tenyearsago were perceived as shocking because they were written as if the events of 10 years ago were really happening. On a day of quiet reflection for so many people, it was the account’s precise lack of warmth, context or emotion that made it so out of place.

While Twitter reporting was also carried out by other media organisations, including Associated Press and The Daily, The Guardian was the clear casualty of the day. Its quickness to react and remove the account was its only saving grace.

Sunday morning is usually a time reserved for a bit of peace and quiet. What you don’t expect to wake up to is utter chaos sparked by bitter rioting on the Tottenham High Road.

What was initially intended to be a peaceful protest by the parents of Mark Duggan soon erupted into violence, with some commentators saying the unrest had been organised via  social media.

Watching the scenes of devastation on TV, I can only begin to imagine how the residents of Tottenham must be feeling today. I’m not the first, and I know I won’t be the last, to say that my heart goes out to all who live there and the innocent people who were caught up in it all.

It’s depressing to see how technology that we’ve grown to love has been used to manipulate an inexcusable situation. After the positive press of the Arab Spring, this situation reveals a darker side of social media.

What’s astonishing is the power of social media. The speed at which information can be spread, and the reach it can achieve, is incomparable to any other. As messages and posts were used to garner widespread support, it’s clear to see how the situation escalated as quickly as it did.

With Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh threatening to prosecute tweeters, a spotlight is shining once again on the seemingly unpolicable nature of social media. The question is: when will the law catch up with the digital age?

Last night, a few of the Peppermints headed into town to celebrate Social Media Day. Yes, that’s right: yesterday was a day to celebrate “the revolution of media becoming social” and discuss how it’s transforming our personal and professional lives.

This year’s #SMDay is the second annual celebration to be organised by Mashable. In its inaugural year, Social Media Day prompted nearly 12,000 people to meet in more than 600 locations across 93 countries to talk about the latest topics, trends and technologies that social media offers – massive kudos to Pete Cashmore.

Held in Castlefield, Manchester’s meet-up brought together food bloggers, digital delivery managers from Premiership football clubs, social media leads from the BBC, specialists in digital production and even Greater Manchester Police!

At a time when activity on social media platforms accounts for 25 per cent of all time spent online, Social Media Day provides a fantastic focal point from which to survey the digital landscape and look to the future – and also hear stories about embarrassing SM gaffes!

No one needs to be told that, as a business tool, social media is becoming increasingly important on a day-to-day basis, especially within the creative industries. However, in the last year, I’ve noticed a significant shift in the way that journalists like to be engaged. The number of times I now contact a journalist with a tweet rather than an email has increased significantly, as has the number of times I get an immediate response.

The power that social media has over the way we do business, especially in PR, continues to grow and evolve, and I for one am looking forward to what the future may bring – here’s to an even busier Social Media Day in 2012!

News that an LA-based PR agency was unceremoniously dumped this week after it sent a thoughtless tweet comes as no surprise. The company in question – Redner Group – got sacked by its biggest client, a video game publisher, after its MD tweeted it would punish bad reviews of its latest release by withholding future copies from reviewers.

The story comes just days after the MOD launched its ‘Careless Tweets Cost Lives’ campaign, which begs the question: why are so many PR professionals, the ‘reputation experts’, continuing to tweet before they think?

In recent months, Twitter has brought the English justice system to its knees thanks to Giggs-gate; we’ve had hash-tag spam from Habitat, while Kenneth Cole felt the wrath of the web following his now-infamous Egypt Twitter gaffe.

When users, and particularly PR practitioners, cock up via social media, it never fails to cause a storm. That social media is embedded in traditional PR is a given, but it’s still a relatively new tool with no steadfast rules of engagement.

That said, threatening to blacklist reviewers, à la Redner Group, is not big or clever. It showed not just a lack of foresight, but a complete lack of respect and understanding of the medium at hand. Although an apology was offered, it was too late. The tweet was out there, the agency sacked. End of!

Twitter breaks boundaries like never before. It gives PR consultants the opportunity to engage with journalists, react to breaking news and spot trends before they go viral. However, while it extends the conversation, careless tweets really do cost.

The message is simple: every tweet puts the reputation of you and your business on the line. If you wouldn’t want it on the front page of the Daily Mail, keep it under-wraps. Simple advice? Yes. Adhered to? Worryingly not!

You may be forgiven for thinking that social media is a relatively new invention, spawned by college geeks and digital entrepreneurs. However, a certain maker of plastic containers is now arguing that the true origin of social networking can be found in the quaint image of 1950s domesticity.

Let’s hear it for the Tupperware party – considered to be an early form of a very modern phenomenon. According to Tupperware inc: “The word-of-mouth model of direct sales and marketing relied upon trusted relationships between women.” Now, with a global campaign to ‘coolify’ the company’s image, the 65-year-old brand has embraced the modern day equivalent of ‘home selling’ with an ambitious social media strategy.

The campaign, which goes live this week, will see the brand go back to its roots (in a digital sense) and talk directly to would-be shoppers. With a new face for the campaign in Kelly Clarkson and a message of empowerment, the company is looking to recreate the Tupperware party for 2011.

Now we’re not sure that Ms Clarkson ever dreamed of being the face of a ‘re-sealable plastic container’ (poor love), but we adore Tupperware’s vision to bring the ‘party’ to social media. Let’s hope their 50s mantra of ‘know your audience’ rings true in the digital age.