A Friday morning tradition at Ruder Finn is enjoying a fried breakfast, which gave me a bit of iPad time earlier in the day than usual.  So I surfed over to the Techmeme site to see what was getting people agitated in digital and technology this morning to be confronted by a redesign.

Gone is the traditional underlining of hyperlinks to be greeted by a much cleaner design. More from the publishers here. 

One of the notable stories from last year in the tech sector was the glorious failure and demise of Palm's portable device business and technology under the ownership of HP. Now HP are open sourcing that technology. Of particular interest to online PRs is the development kit for in-browser applications that could make mobile development much easier to do. It would be going back to Apple's original vision for the app store to consist of web-applets - bookmarks to online applications rather than code ran on the phone. More information here. 

In economic terms; its a Chinese world, the rest of us just live in it.  Which is why it was interesting that senior members of the Chinese government haven't turned up the Davos World Economic Forum this year. There are a number of possible causes:

• It's Chinese new year (or spring festival in Chinese parlance), think Christmas in the western world for a comparison
• There is a handover of power at the top of China this year

What was interesting is that Chinese had warned the organisers over the date and World Economic Forum had gone without them. The Chinese couldn't attend for the first time in three decades as they would have lost face to the organisers. Secondly, it is likely to be de-emphasised in the future by the Chinese government because of the organisers perceived snub. With an supposed global event that disengaged from China, does it really as much authority moving forward?

Mark Cuban wrote in his recent book that start-ups shouldn't hire PR firms. American PROs were understandably outraged as start-ups have represented a gravy train for a number of PROs over the years. What's really interesting is when Cuban expands on this in a blog post and explains why start-ups (at least at the embryonic phase don't make particularly good clients. I'd preface it with this by saying that start-up is a broad church and Cuban is likely to being a relatively narrow definition of start-up, likely to be internet businesses aimed at a consumer business at an early stage in its development. In summary his reasons are:

• Cash is in short supply - I know a number of people who got burned taking equity for payment during the late 1990s and early 2000s
  
• Time. If there isn't time to spend with the PR to get into what the business does and do the briefings organised with the media, then they aren't going to get the most out of a PR programme
  
• The entrepreneur doesn't understand all the elements of their business. This is the reason why 'pivot' has become an oft-mentioned in discussing start-ups as they change direction to try and find a business model that works. This also makes it hard to do messaging and pitching the client is likely to come across as woolly and confusing
  

The only flaw I see in Mark Cuban's argument is that he thinks entrepreneurs will have the time to do press pitches themselves, surely there are more productive things that they can do?  This seems to run contrary to his earlier point about time. When start-ups get beyond the embryonic stage, then the value of PR really starts to kick in. I would also point out that it could be argued with nine out of ten start-ups failing, it is probably not worthwhile PR agencies investing in embryonic start-ups as clients as the real value and returns are likely to come from long-term client relationships rather than low margin flash-in-the-pan businesses.  Waiting that bit longer and working with 'more established' start-ups means that PROs are more likely to be working with an organisation with which they can build a long-term relationship.

KBSF: I've known you for a while, but why don't you give us the Cecily Liu elevator pitch?

The widespread blackout today on prominent US internet properties is galvanising and increasing public debate and displeasure with the SOPA/PIPA proposed legislation, it is a testament to the skill and professionalism of the media industry's lobbyists that the bills have got this far. What is increasingly obvious is that the media industry hasn't won the hearts and minds of the public and so is likely to have a continued business issues as it is hard to fight an idea that has taken hold, unless you have a better idea. The media industry have struggled to keep up with technological progress, let alone coming up with a better idea. 

One of the biggest problems that I face is finding one social media and online monitoring tool that copes with all markets as clients seek to understand what is happening with their brand on a global basis. Despite what some suppliers may claim, I don't believe that anyone can provide that degree of coverage across the different social media platforms from Facebook to RenRen and Twitter to Weibo. That maybe a step closer with Kantar Media purchasing CIC Data of China. CIC alongside Brandtology have some of the best tools on the market for understanding Asian conversations online.

Dolce & Gabbana has a reputation issue going on in Hong Kong, hiring security guards to stop local Hong Kong residents (but not foreign tourists) taking pictures outside of the shop. This is thought to be partly so that the images of mainland government officials aren't seen to be involved in conspicious consumption which has been a touchpoint of debate in China. The Hong Kong people have seen it as discrimination, commenting on Facebook and hosting a real-world demonstration outside the store. Foreign customers have long been important to London-based luxury retailers and mainland Chinese consumers are increasingly important, would we see a similar back out here? Would there be a similar reaction? What can retail PROs learn from  Dolce & Gabbana's experience?

We're preparing in the office for a move in about a week and we've been throwing a lot of stuff into the shredding bin. Some of it from as far back as 1994. Our longest serving employees have been going through all the materials to see if there are any gems that would be invaluable for business intelligence but we found that the stuff was useless because the people involved had moved on to other things.  Documents and packs lovingly crafted, that probably went through tortured approvals processes, DVDs of promotional films that are now past their useful lives - all a reminder that everything is temporary. We've even got a board room table if someone fancies hosting lavis dinner parties wants to take it away.

The case of Antony Worrall-Thompson shoplifting at Tesco is a sad one. But he is in good company with the likes of  Richard Madeley and Stuart Hall (both of whom were later acquitted) who now are associated in the minds of consumers with shoplifting. Are these alleged offenses backhanded complements to the stores? Is this a kind of brand endorsement?

The Ethical Issues Arising From The Relationship Between Police And Media report is 76 pages long, but you can get the gist of it by reading coverage that appeared last week everywhere from Bloomberg to The Economist. Whilst the report warns about cozy relationships between officers and the media; the advice including no drinking with media and no flirting could see a new standard demanded from the social side of PR. I used to get raked over the coals early on in my career if I hadn't been out and grabbed a drink over the month with at least one journalist so it would be interesting to know if these standards would be applied on a wider scale. A clue maybe in the recently updated Microsoft guidelines on alcohol as part of its ethical and compliance code. I expect PR to get a lot drier.

Probably one of the biggest lies I have been told in PR is that things go quiet in the run up to Christmas. Don't believe it's hogwash. Over the past two weeks I've been in and out of meetings and PowerPointing like its going out of fashion. Watch the looks of concern crystalise on colleagues faces when they realise that you won't be in the office again until the second week in January. Not that I am complaining - especially as the UK now hasn't had this high unemployment figures since I was in college. 

 I was coming back from a client meeting and dipped into BA's inflight magazine High Life. In it was The High Life Travel Awards 2011. The jurors included a number of BA | High Life staff members and luminaries from the travel eco-system including Juliet Klinsman of Mr & Mrs. Smith. My eyes were drawn to the best travel app section where the winner was.... British Airways with an honourable third place for Mr & Mrs Smith: Plan and Play. Hmmm. Which made me thing how do awards like this look to the intended audience?

Given that the average consumer has relationships with two brands on average on Facebook why would your mobile phone provider (whose relationship is manifested to you through your bill and the occasional dropped call) want to engage with you via the social network? On face value it looks like they are throwing good money after bad. However according to MediaPost, research by the American Marketing Association shows that:

approximately one-third of them saw at least one of their friends leave their shared service provider. The research also revealed that after that friend or friends left, the probability that the remaining customer would leave rose 80%.

Really interesting audio presentation by Claire Enders of Enders Analysis on what will happen to the media industry if the economy stops growing. Whilst the focus is on advertising, by implication it is important for PRs to have a listen too, especially when she talks about how the consumption of print media will half in the next three years.