I've produced a list of the world's top PR blogs according to the AdAge Power 150. It's by no means perfect since it only features blogs on AdAge with PR, Public Relations or Publicity in the title, and a few that were suggested to me last month. It's just a bit of fun but I think it's a decent indicator of the top PR blogs nonetheless.

If your PR blog is missing please comment and let me know. If you haven't added your blog to the AdAge Power 150 yet you can do so by clicking here.

PR Rank....AA Rank............ Blog Name........................Country ............AA Score

1. .............28.....................PR 2.0...................................US.........................91
2. .............31....................PR Squared..........................US.........................90
3. .............47.....................A shel of my former self........US..........................80
4. .............76.....................Communication Overtones.....US.........................71
5. .............84.....................POP! PR Jots.........................US.........................70
6. ............117....................Strategic PR..........................US.........................64
7. ............118...................Pro PR...................................CANADA................64
8. ............128...................PR Blogger.............................UK.........................63
9. ............139...................Young PR..............................AUSTRALIA................62
10. ...........166....................PRNewser..............................US..........................59
11. ...........184....................KDPaine's PR..........................US..........................56
12. ...........216...................Flack Life.....................................CANADA...........53
13. ...........232.....................PR Communications............US..........................52
14. ...........234....................PR meets the WWW..............US.........................52
15. ...........249..................Dave Fleet.....................................CANADA..........51
16. ...........255....................Corporate PR........................US.........................50
17. ...........268....................A PR Guy's Musings................UK.........................49
18. ...........271....................PR Works................................CANADA..............49
19. ...........279....................Hispanic Marketing & PR........US.........................49
20. ...........301..................Simonsays................................UK......................47
21. ...........305...................Wadds' tech pr blog...............UK........................47
22. ...........336...................Drew B's take on tech PR........UK.......................45
23. ...........340...................Online PR Thoughts.....................US...................45
24. ...........358...................Wired PR Works.......................US........................44
25. ...........380...................Corporate Engagement.........AUSTRALIA..........43
26. ...........382...................PRoactive...............................US......................43
27. ...........393...................Observations of PR................US........................42
28. ...........398...................Beyond PR...............................UK......................42
29. ...........403...................PR Disasters...............................AUSTRALIA.........42
30. ...........413...................Brendan Cooper.....................UK.......................41
31. ...........434...................Media Relations Blog................US......................40
32. ...........438...................A view on PR..............................US......................40
33. ...........452...................Publicity Hound's.........................US....................39
34. ...........460...................Valley PR Blog..........................US......................38
35. ...........461...................The New PR.................................CANADA............38
36. ...........471...................Scatterbox...................................US.......................37
37. ...........494...................Client Service Insights................US....................36
38. ...........496....................Common Sense PR................CANADA.............36
39. ...........515...................Into PR.....................................US.........................35
40. ...........531...................Pierce Mattie PR.........................US.....................35
41. ...........538...................Alan Weinkrantz PR....................US......................34
42. ...........539...................This is herd.......................................UK..................34
43. ...........562...................Shiny Red.......................................UK......................33
44. ...........563...................Student PR Blog........................CANADA..............33
45. ...........574...................Tech PR Gems..........................US......................33
46. ...........579...................New Millennium PR......................US....................33
47. ...........582...................From PR to Eternity......................UK......................33
48. ...........583...................Pudding Relations......................UK......................33
49. ...........584...................PR Talk........................................US......................33
50. ...........586...................Engage in PR............................US........................33
51. ...........587...................Profitable Business Edge 2........US........................33
52. ...........605...................Mutually Inclusive PR..................CANADA...........32
53. ...........606...................PR Voice......................................UK......................32
54. ...........608...................Eyecube........................................US....................32
55. ...........610...................PR Meets Marketing..................US.......................32
56. ...........611...................Denver PR Blog...........................US.....................32
57. ...........622...................PRos in Training............................US......................31
58. ...........646...................10 Yetis PR Blog..........................UK.......................30
59. ...........649...................Norton's Notes.............................UK.......................30
60. ...........657...................All Things PR...............................UK.......................30
61. ...........665...................IndiaPRBlog!..............................INDIA..................30
62. ...........677...................Strive Notes...................................UK....................29
63. ...........681...................PR Thoughts From Ronn Torrossian.....US..................29
64. ...........684...................PR. Differently..............................US......................29
65. ...........713...................Morgan McLintic on PR...............US......................28
66. ...........742...................Mosnar Communications................US......................27
67. ...........745....................Social Media for PR Class............US..................27
68. ...........762...................Public Relations Matters...............US....................26
69. ...........780...................Launch PR.....................................US....................25
70. ...........788....................Tech for PR.................................US.....................25
71. ...........800...................Youngblood PR & Marketing.........CANADA...........25
72. ...........801...................Minnesota PR blog.........................US....................25
73. ...........811...................Blinn PR Report...........................US.......................24
74. ...........812....................My PR Palette..............................CANADA..........24
75. ...........840...................EducationPR.................................US......................23
76. ...........855...................Online Publicity Journal..................US....................22
77. ...........868...................First Person PR............................US........................21
78. ...........899...................HighVizPR....................................US.....................19
79. ...........917...................PowerUp......................................US....................16

The top blogs by country:
Australia: Young PR
Canada: Pro PR
India: IndiaPRBlog!
UK: PR Blogger
US: PR 2.0

The top UK blogs:
1. PR Blogger
2. A PR Guy's Musings
3. Simonsays
4. Wadds' tech pr blog
5. Drew B's take on tech PR
6. Beyond PR
7. Brendan Cooper, Your friendly PR Social Media Planner
8. This is herd
9. Shiny Red
10. From PR to Eternity
11. Pudding Relations
12. PR Voice
13. 10 Yetis PR Blog
14. Norton's Notes
15. All Things PR
16. Strive Notes

Labels: adage power 150, formby, matthew watson, pr blogs, top 50 blogs, top 75 blogs

The blogosphere has been killed off by paid for content produced by PROs and professional bloggers. That's the claim made by Paul Boutin, Editor, Wired magazine, who said: "Cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths."

I'm not sure I agree. Certainly paid for blogs produced by professional bloggers or PROs has had an impact on the blogosphere, but I don't believe that it's killed off the blogosphere as professional and amateur bloggers blog for different reasons.

Professional bloggers blog to share news or their opinions about issues affecting the industry they work in, as well as to network, whereas amateur bloggers blog to share their thoughts and ideas, and to keep in contact with friends and family. As long as the barriers to entry stay low, amateur and professional bloggers can co-exist.

Further proof that the blogosphere is far from dead comes in the form of Technorati's recent 'Blogosphere 2008' report, which reveals that 79 per cent of bloggers write personal blogs. This hardly makes amateur bloggers sound like a dying breed.

Instead of pointing the finger at PROs or professional bloggers I would suggest that social networking sites, such as Facebook, have had the biggest impact on the blogosphere. Since many amateur bloggers blog to share news and photographs with friends and family it is no surprise that some have swapped blogs for social networking sites.

Labels: amateur bloggers, blogs, facebook, formby, matthew watson, pr, professional bloggers, wired magazine

Technorati have released their annual 'State of the Blogosphere' report, giving us all a glimpse into what the blogosphere is like in 2008.

I've picked out a few interesting facts.

• 133 million blogs have been indexed by Technorati since 2002
• 76,000 blogs have a Technorati rating of 50 or higher
  
• 41 per cent of bloggers use Twitter
  
• Technology is the 2nd most popular topic for bloggers
• Corporate blogs make up 12 per cent of all blogs
• Professional blogs make up 46 per cent of all blogs
• 50 per cent of bloggers are aged between 18 and 34
• 44 per cent of bloggers are parents
• 42 per cent of bloggers spend 3-10 hours blogging per week
• Only 15 per cent of bloggers spend less than an hour blogging per week
• 'Blog' is the 5th most popular tag
• 'Technology' is the 11th most popular tag
• 83 per cent of blogs are listed on Technorati
• Just 4 per cent of bloggers pay to advertise their blog
• 46 per cent of blogs don't feature any advertising
• Bloggers spend twice as much time online as U.S. adults 18-49,
• 82 per cent of bloggers post brand and product reviews
• 89 per cent of bloggers post about brands that they love or hate
• 37% of bloggers have been quoted in traditional media based on a blog post
• Half of bloggers believe that blogs will be a primary source for news and entertainment in the next five years
• 1 in 5 five bloggers don't think that newspapers will survive the next ten years

Labels: blog, formby, matthew watson, pr, strate of the blogosphere, tech pr, technology, technorati, twitter

I live in the coolest part of London, according to an article in the London Paper today. The survey, which was conducted by Farebrother surveyors claims that Midtown London is thriving despite the credit crunch.

Midtown London is defined as the triangular sized area above the Thames, which stretches from Trafalgar Square in the West, to St Paul's in the East, up to King's Cross in the North - where I live.

Apparently the area is now cool thanks to big name media companies and designers, such as Alexander McQueen and Agent Provocateur, flocking to the area to take advantage of the more competitive rents.

I'm not sure this really makes the area cool or is a sign that Midtown London is escaping the economic downturn. In a recession it's not uncommon for businesses to reduce their costs by relocating or downsizing to a less expensive office. But it's a good angle and I like it!

Labels: agent provocateur, alexander mcqueen, cool, credit crunch, cucumber, farebrother surveyors, formby, kings cross, londonpaper, matthew watson, midtown london, recession, st pauls, trafalgar square

I've given my blog something of a makeover today, which made me wonder if that's exactly what the PR industry needs. Online media and digital PR campaigns are now a key part of public relations, but I'm not sure if the current skillset of PRO's reflects that.

From editing client websites to writing blog posts and formatting html newsletters, web design is now a part of PR. Rather than having a digital team to deal with the online stuff, all PRO's should have a good understanding of web design. PRO's clearly don't need to be equipped with the same level of skills as web designers but I think a basic knowledge of web design languages like CSS and HTML would certainly be a good idea.

Another thing I noticed when I updated this site was how quickly it had got out of date. Richard Millington reckons bloggers should update blogrolls weekly and site designs monthly. I agree, udating your blogroll and having a tinker with your site's design is a great way to keep your blog looking fresh. It's only been two or three months since I last updated my blog, but in that time Jed Hallam started working at Wolfstar PR, Stephen Davies started 3WPR, and I contributed to an eBook about Digital PR. All of which made parts of my blog and website out of date.

Now for some link love. Here are a few blogs that I've now added to my blogroll:

Bryony Beynon, Stuart Bruce, Jöel Céré, Simon Collister, Brendan Cooper, Adam Lewis, Chris Norton, Giles Shorthouse, Natalie Smith.

Labels: 3wpr, css, digital pr, ebook, formby, html, jed hallam, matthew watson, richard millington, stephen davies, web design, wolfstar

Getting the length of your posts right is often overlooked by bloggers but it is an important part of blogging. If your posts are too short your blog can lose credibility. If they're too long you can lose your readers attention.

Last year Stuart Brown performed research into the ideal blog post length. He measured the 10 most recent blog posts for each of the Technorati Top 100. Stuart revealed that half of the blogs had an average post length of 100 to 249 words, and the majority of blog posts were between 100 and 500 words long.

This got me thinking - What is the perfect length for a PR blog post?

Unlike Stuart, I don't have the patience to sit down and measure the word lengths of nearly 1000 blog posts. So instead, I took my most recent list of PR blogs and looked at the five most recent posts published by the top 10 blogs.

These are the average word lengths for the top 10 blogs:

1. PR2.0: 1791 words
2. PR Squared: 405 words
3. A Shel Of My Former Self: 372 words
4. POP! PR Jots: 1042 words
5. Pro PR: 172 words
6. PR Blogger: 229 words
7. Strategic Public Relations: 153 words
8. Young PR: 417 words
9. PRNewser: 186 words
10. A PR Guy's Musings: 210 words

The posts ranged from a short and snappy 27 words to a whopping 4500 words. Overall the average length was 498 words, which doesn’t include content inside videos, slideshows and podcasts used in the posts.

I consider 498 words a good guideline for a blog post length, but ultimately I don’t think the post length really matters. Writing nothing but 498 word long posts won't get you noticed or attract new readers. It's the quality of writing, interestingness of content and frequency of updates that make a good blog great.

And yes, I realise that this post isn't quite 498 words long.

Labels: blog length, formby, matthew watson, stuart brown, technorati top 100

Today, I had a missed call from +88 213 300 300. As usual with phone numbers I don't recognise I googled the number. Normally this will bring up a company website or something on Yellow Pages.

Today this brought up a great website called Who Calls Me. The site lets users report suspect phone numbers belonging to scam artists, telemarketers and other unsolicited callers. Great news for people working in offices where sales calls are a daily annoyance.

For the particular number that rang me there were more than one hundred comments in the last six weeks reporting it as a scam. The site advises to not answer the call or ring back as you could be charged as much as €13 per minute.

Do not answer or reply to calls from this number: +88 213 300 300.

Labels: 88213300300, formby, matthew watson, sales calls, scam artists, scam calls, telemarketers, unsolicited calls, who calls me, yellow pages

Last week I had hoped to attend the London Bloggers Meetup, which was sponsored by Smirnoff. Unfortunately I couldn't make it, but I was impressed by Smirnoff's PR efforts nonetheless.

Prior to the meetup I was sent a personalised email, containing the ingredients to make a cocktail reflecting my blog, or at least my initals. Apparently Mint, Pineapple and Watermelon are all you need! I thought this was a great idea, and by providing an image of my cocktail they made it very easy for me to blog about it.

I was invited to join Smirnoff's facebook group, and even sent a video on YouTube showing how to make a Moscow Mule.

If I happened to have any questions I was invited to contact Smirnoff via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, e-mail, phone or even by post. Not by carrier pigeon though!

All this before the event even took place.

Following the meetup, photographs were added to the London meetup group, for attendees to check out. And those like me who regret not going!

Cheers to you, Smirnoff.

Labels: bloggers, blogology, cocktail, facebook, formby, linked in, london, matthew watson, pr, smirnoff, twitter, youtube