UK – 5 October 2017

Media-Updates-New-Featured

Today’s Media Updates covers moves and changes at UK titles including the BBC, Wired, PC Gamer and Portfolio Adviser. 

News & Politics

  • There have been a couple of new appointments at the BBC. Fergal Keane has now been appointed Africa editor while Anne Soy has been appointed senior Africa correspondent.
  • Max Bower has been appointed reporter at Reuters, covering European leveraged loans at the Loan Pricing Corp unit. Previously Max was a leveraged loans reporter at GlobalCapital.

Lifestyle

  • Matt Reynolds has been appointed technology reporter at Wired. Matt was previously a technology reporter at the New Scientist.
  • Philippa Warr has been appointed as deputy editor at PC Gamer.

Business

  • Sonia Rach has been appointed reporter at Portfolio Adviser. Sonia was previously editor of WorkLife at Perkbox.

The Vuelio Media Database lists thousands of journalists, bloggers, publications and media outlets. For more information about the database, click here.

Conservative-Party-Conference-Banner-Blog-Post

Conservative Party Conference – Final Day

As the Conservative Party Conference comes to a close, Theresa May has been handed a P45, Boris Johnson is facing fresh calls to resign and Jacob Rees-Mogg has come face to face with protestors crashing his fringe event. With surprise appearances from Katie Hopkins and Bear Grylls, not to mention the usual smattering of eggs thrown at delegates, this year’s conference has been one to remember.

With so much to keep up with during the four-day conference, our political team has summed up all the speeches, influencer reaction and key fringe events for you, in one place.

Take a look at the biggest stories from this year’s Conservative Party Conference on the Vuelio Canvas > >

CPC2017 Canvas Final Day Blog

UK – 4 October 2017

Media-Updates-New-Featured

Today’s Media Updates covers moves and changes at UK titles including London Evening Standard, ITV Meridan, PistonHeads.com and Culture Trip.

News & Politics

  • Ellen Stewart has been promoted to deputy growth editor and head of social at the London Evening Standard. Ellen was previously social media editor at the title.
  • Sam Holder has left his role as TV reporter at ITV Meridian.

Lifestyle

  • Alice Johnston has been appointed social content producer at the Culture Trip. Alice has previously worked at Mumsnet, MailOnline, Guardian and Metro.co.uk.

Business

  • Rachael Pells has been appointed reporter at the Times Higher Education. Rachael was previously education correspondent at the Independent. 
  • Nic Cackett has been appointed editor at PistonHeads.com. Nic was previously deputy reviews editor at What Car? and Autocar.

The Vuelio Media Database lists thousands of journalists, bloggers, publications and media outlets. Click here to learn more.

How to make a blog successful - Vuelio Blog

How to make a blog successful

With the number of professional bloggers on the rise, what makes some blogs more successful than others? The UK Bloggers Survey 2017 reveals the secrets of a successful blog.

The first rule is post a lot – only 13% of bloggers posted more than five times a week in 2017, compared to 16% in 2016. But for bloggers for whom its their main source of income, that number jumps to 33%, compared with just 11% of pros posting only once a week.Vuelio UK Bloggers Survey 2017

If you’re serious about your blog being the best, then you also need to spend time promoting the blog. In 2017, 11% of bloggers spent more than 30 hours a week promoting their blog – unsurprisingly 89% of those are professional bloggers.

Does putting more time in really yield results? Quite simply, yes.

A whopping 67% of bloggers who spend more than 30 hours per week promoting their blog have over 10,000 visitors a month – and visitor numbers are a solid method of measuring success as well as a means to lead to a commercialisation.

Number of unique visitors agains time spent on main blog - Vuelio UK Bloggers Survey 2017

But true success in blogging comes from the personality and originality of the blogger in question. We spoke to leading bloggers to find out what makes their blogs successful.

Kate Watson-Smyth, winner of the Best UK Blog 2016 with Mad About The House, said: ‘I try to keep it chatty and varied but also full of proper information.’

Another interiors blogger, Antonia Ludden of #tidylife, thinks her success is down to the amount of content she has: ‘Perhaps because it has been going a while, I’ve been blogging consistently since 2012. I also like to share achievable interiors and design inspiration on a budget, plus I am adding more lifestyle content at the weekends for something different.’

For Jen Stanbrook, who writes Love Chic Living, her success is about her personality: ‘Honesty, integrity and keeping it real. I hope I achieve those aspects in most of the posts I create, whilst also giving a little bit of me too. It’s exceptionally competitive so it’s important to do your own thing, and focus on the things you love rather than watching what others are doing.’

Navaz Batliwalla of Disneyrollergirl also focuses on what’s important for her. She said: ‘I measure success by creative fulfilment and I get that by doing work that interests me. I work to build relationships with brands and PRs that have the right fit to gain access that my readers wouldn’t get otherwise.

‘If you focus on producing editorial that has meaning to you and your readers, rather than successive sponsored posts, then you win the long-term game. It hasn’t been smooth by any means but I’m still enjoying it and I’m still here!’

What makes your blog successful? Let us know in the comments below:

UK – 3 October 2017

Media-Updates-New-Featured

Today’s Media Updates covers moves and changes at UK titles including Manchester Evening News, Sunday Times Style, LBC and COMPUTERWORLD UK.

News & Politics

  • Oli Dugmore has been appointed content editor at LBC. Oli was previously audience development editor at The Tab.
  • Stuart Mathieson has stepped down from his role as Manchester United reporter at the Manchester Evening News. Stuart has been at the title for 22 years.

Lifestyle

  • Phoebe McDowell has been appointed assistant beauty editor at Sunday Times Style. Phoebe was previously a junior beauty writer at Grazia.
  • Megan Logue has been appointed fashion features writer at PORTER and THE EDIT. Megan was previously junior womenswear editor at Style.com.
  • Harry Mills has been appointed lifestyle editor at CANDID magazine.

Business

  • Scott Carey has been appointed editor at COMPUTERWORLD UK. Scott was previously online editor at the title.

The Vuelio Media Database lists thousands of journalists, bloggers, publications and media outlets. Find out more about our database.

Conservative-Party-Conference-Banner-Blog-Post

Conservative Party Conference – 2nd Day

The Conservative Party Conference is now underway and the highlights so far include Chancellor Philip Hammond announcing an extra £300m of funding for rail infrastructure in the North, Environment Secretary Michael Gove announcing the Government will increase the sentences for those who are found guilty of animal cruelty and Universal Credit being rolled out as originally proposed with more advance payments becoming available.

Have you missed something from Conference? Check out our Canvas below, which brings together all the biggest stories from this year’s #CPC2017 conference.

And if you want daily updates for the Conservative party conference, including key speech summaries and fringe event round-ups, sign up to receive our email alert here.

Willrow Hood

Is your management social media savvy?

IMPRESS, the press regulator backed by royal charter, has taken the unusual move of banning its chief executive and three board members from dealing with major newspapers after their behaviour on Twitter. What does this teach us about management on social media?

Jonathan Heawood, chief executive of IMPRESS, was found to have tweeted or rewteeted over 50 attacks on the Daily Mail in a one-month period, as well as sharing messages that attacked the Sun including a retweet of: ‘#dontbuythesun or any other ‘newspaper’. Support Leveson, support regulators like Impress. Remove this endemic corruption.’

Two of the board members were similarly critical about the Sun and the Daily Mail on Twitter, while a third was believed to have had too much of a relationship with the Hacked Off campaign.

The behaviour of these individuals is hugely embarrassing for IMPRESS, which had to follow the Sun’s investigation with its own report before banning the four from dealing with large newspapers. Though IMPRESS has no large newspaper members, the damage has already been done.

For some business leaders, Twitter seems to come easily. Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Arianna Huffington are names that people associate with inspirational leaders who somehow always seem to get it right on social media. Part of their appeal is having a captive audience ready to hang on their every word and not every MD or CEO is in that position.

So what if you’re not a business god?

As PR professionals, we’re often responsible for managing external communications no matter how personal they are. Sometimes that means tweeting on behalf of a CEO, or maybe looking on in horror as they go off-piste (Trump anyone?).

Thankfully, we can still learn a thing or two from the Musks and Dorseys of this world – and here’s our top tips for management to get it right on social media:

  1. Be yourself
    Too often a CEO’s tweets seem sterile or staged. Our business leaders haven’t got to where they are by being boring or toeing the line – injecting some of their personality into their Twitter feeds is vital for it to be successful. But that doesn’t mean they have to do it all themselves – presenting your CEO’s voice can, and should, be a group effort.
  2. Be positive
    Reading negative or complaining messages inspires no one. The occasional rant, done right, can be funny but more often than not the best business leaders on Twitter stick to the positive aspects of life, business and experience – always trying to find the lesson to be learned.
  3. Be careful
    Don’t fall into the IMPRESS trap! A CEO is never off the clock; they always represent the business they’re running and what they say can and will be used against them if needs be. Now for some people (hey it’s Trump again!) that doesn’t matter, but most will regret not thinking professionally when they’re tweeting, retweeting or liking.
  4. Be consistent
    This isn’t something you can half-commit to; you’re either tweeting or not tweeting. Building an audience takes time and effort and if you don’t have either, don’t start because infrequent and inconsistent messages help no one.
  5. Be valuable

No matter how big your business, the leader is likely to be successful to have got to where they are. Sharing insights and thoughts can often seem like something best left to the celebrity business leaders but success breeds success and you’ll be surprised how many people you can inspire.

How do you manage your CEO’s Twitter feed? Let us know, post a comment below:

UK – 2 October 2017

Media-Updates-New-Featured

Today’s Media Updates covers moves and changes at UK titles including Newsquest Media’s acquisitions, Press and Journal, Wall Street Journal and Beautiful South.

News & Politics

  • Newsquest Media Group has acquired NWN Media Ltd, bringing 13 local news brands from North and mid Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire into the publisher’s portfolio.
  • Neil Drysdale has been appointed chief news features writer at the Press and Journal. Neil was previously the assistant news editor at the title.

Lifestyle

  • Lois Forster has been appointed editor at Beautiful South magazine.
  • We Love Pop is coming to an end. The final issue of the magazine will be on sale 18 October 2017.

Business

  • The Wall Street Journal has closed it’s Europe edition.
  • Calum Parry has been appointed reporter at Banking Technology.

The Vuelio Media Database lists thousands of journalists, bloggers, publications and media outlets. Discover more about our database.

The Business Hub

The Business Hub at the Conservative Party Conference

Vuelio is continuing its presence at the major party conferences as the official Monitoring & Intelligence Partner of PLMR’s Business Hub at the Conservative Party Conference, from 1-4 October.

The Business Hub is also partnered by London City Airport, the Daily Telegraph and Costa Coffee, as PLMR creates an exciting and engaging environment in which to meet and do business.

The Hub will provide a work, meeting and refreshment space for high-level political and business attendees that includes the CEOs of the FTSE 250, journalists and political dignitaries. It will be spearheaded by former advisor to Boris Johnson, Joe Mitton; former Crown Estate advisor recently seconded to the Conservative Party General Election campaign, Nicolas Clark; former Conservative Party Staffer, Francesca Dobson; and PLMR Events Manager, Felicity Fisher.

The Business Hub’s morning and evening events include panel debates, Q&As and receptions across aviation, the care sector, skills and Brexit. The Daily Telegraph’s Christopher Hope will record his popular Chopper’s Brexit Podcast from the Hub and London City Airport’s Business Reception will be an event highlight as an integrated part of the Conservative Party’s Business Day.

Vuelio is not only providing phone charging points for The Business Hub – to ensure delegates can keep connected and concentrate on their communications – but delegates will also have access to our expert reports so they can experience more of the Conference than is physically possible.

Elin De Zoete, managing director of PLMR, said: ‘Against the backdrop of Brexit and the 2017 General Election, this year’s Conservative Party Conference will be particularly important for many if not most, industries.

‘The party conferences offer a unique opportunity to deliver a company’s engagement priorities with political decision-makers, particularly following the new intake of Members of Parliament, and PLMR is on hand to help our clients to build both lasting and beneficial relationships’.

Joanna Arnold, CEO of Vuelio, said: ‘We’re delighted to partner PLMR’s Business Hub and provide our political intelligence to Conference guests. At Vuelio, we’re all about communications so we’ll use our presence at the Conference to ensure delegates are successfully managing theirs.’

Vuelio has been providing free daily reports, directly to inboxes, across the Conference season and the Conservative Party Conference is the next event we’ll be covering. You can sign up to receive our political team’s updates by clicking here.

Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed – 29 September 2017

Taking a brief hiatus from our podcast (and reverting to old-fashioned reading), we present five things you shouldn’t have missed from the worlds of media, marketing and communications.

1. Labour Party Conference

Labour Party Conference 2017

The Opposition party’s conference produced a plethora of headlines, from Emily Thornberry’s attack on Boris Johnson to John McDonnell’s pledge to bring PFI contracts in-house. Reports from the official four-day event also included the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg being given a bodyguard after receiving online abuse; the party tackling antisemitism in the party with new, stricter rules; the party’s position on the Single Market being debated by all sides; and Jeremy Corbyn’s closing speech calling Labour the ‘government-in-waiting’.

If you missed anything from Conference, you can see all of the biggest stories on this Vuelio Canvas. And, if you want daily updates from the Conservative Party Conference directly to your inbox – sign up here.

2 . Uber’s London licence

uber

Transport for London announced it would not renew Uber’s private hire operator licence after 30 September. They claimed the operator wasn’t safe or up to the required standard for the licence. The firm immediately vowed to fight the decision on appeal, which buys them time past the 30 September deadline. The ban has caused outrage among Uber’s 3.5 million London users and 40,000 drivers, many signing Uber’s petition against the decision.

Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi published a letter in the Evening Standard apologising for the mistakes they’ve made, Sadiq Khan claimed people should direct their anger at Uber rather than TfL, and reports emerged that two of the four reasons TfL gave for revoking the licence are actually its own responsibilities. With Prime minister Theresa May also now part of the story, calling the ban ‘disproportionate’, expect this one to keep going.

3. Twitter Trials Longer Tweets

Twitter bird

A small group of Twitter users are now testing double-length tweets. If the test is considered a success by the social network, then 280-character messages will be rolled out across the platform. Jack Dorsey announced the decision in a what was considered by some to be a verbose tweet.

Twitter, in true Twitter style, panicked at the idea of change and then made it all a big joke:

4. Hugh Hefner dies

Hugh Hefner

The founder of what became the media empire Playboy, died this week aged 91. At its height, Playboy Magazine sold seven million copies a month but in later years its content model has struggled to keep up with the internet. Opinions are divided on the man, with some calling him a legend who sexually liberated America and supported LGBT and civil rights, while others saw him as a misogynistic user of women.

You can make your own minds up.

5. IMPRESS bans board members

British newspapers

The royal charter-backed press regulator IMPRESS has banned its chief executive and three board members from dealings with major newspapers. After the press ran their own investigations, IMPRESS published a report largely agreeing that Jonathan Heawood, Emma Jones, Maire Messenger Davies and Martin Hickman, had all taken positions that could create perceptions of bias against the press – from positive views of campaign group Hacked Off to retweeting negative messages about certain papers and publishers.

IMPRESS has no members that are considered major newspapers so the ban is, at the moment, somewhat moot. Though if the Government enacts Section 40, which will require all papers to join a royal charter-backed regulator or face heavy penalties, then this story could become huge.

Something we’ve missed? Let us know on Twitter on in the comments below. 

UK – 29 September 2017

Media-Updates-New-Featured

Today’s Media Updates covers moves and changes at UK titles including The Drum, Sunday Times Style, Press and Journal and Mr & Mrs Smith.

News & Politics

  • Jen Faulls has been appointed brands editor at The Drum. Jen was previously deputy news editor at the title.
  • Alistair Munro has been appointed news reporter at the Press and Journal (Aberdeen). Alistair was previously the Highlands & Islands correspondent at The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday.
  • Kendra Becker has been promoted to editor at GOSS.ie. Kendra was previously deputy editor at the website.

Lifestyle

  • Scarlett Russell has been appointed entertainment editor at Sunday Times Style.
  • Laura Holt has been appointed content editor at Mr & Mrs Smith.

Business

  • Sofia Delgado has been appointed assistant editor at Build It. Sofia was previously a digital journalist at the Daily Express Online.

The Vuelio Media Database lists thousands of journalists, bloggers, publications and media outlets. Discover more about our database.

British newspapers

Press regulator IMPRESS bans board members

IMPRESS, the Royal Charter-backed press regulator, has banned its chief exectuive and three of its own board members from dealing with major news publishers, due to perceptions of bias against them.

As reported in the Press Gazette, chief executive Jonathan Heawood and board members Emma Jones and Maire Messenger Davies, were found to have published negative content about sections of the British Press.

Another board member, Martin Hickman, didn’t break any rules but his past activities investigating phone-hacking and his positive attitude towards campaign group Hacked Off could create a perception of bias.

This follows an investigation by News Media Association, which the Sun published in January 2017, that found the now banned members had tweeted, retweeted and liked on Twitter a number of negative messages – largely attacking Murdoch, the Sun and the Mail.

IMPRESS was set up following the Leveson Inquiry and is the only regulator recognised by the Press Recognition Panel as it fully complies with the terms of the Inquiry. To tackle its internal bias issues, the regulator has now set up a sub-committee to deal with publishers with turnovers over £20m, which Heawood, Jones, Davies and Hickman are banned from.

IMPRESS has no members who fall into this new turnover bracket as the largest publishers decided to be regulated by IPSO, the publishing industry’s solution to Leveson but one not recognised by the Press Recognition Panel nor backed by Royal Charter.

Membership of IMPRESS is largely made up of local newspapers and publications. While IMPRESS’s position is currently minor, should the Government enact Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act, all titles not signed up to a Royal Charter-backed regulator will be liable to pay costs in libel and privacy cases for both sides, win or lose. The Government has yet to take a firm position on Section 40.

This bias ruling is damaging for IMPRESS, which advocates a high standard among its members but has failed to maintain fair balance from those at the top. Its own report into the matter claims: ‘The responsibility for ensuring that membership of IMPRESS’ regulatory scheme is open to all relevant publishers and that members are treated fairly falls squarely on IMPRESS’ Board.’

The banning, but not removal of, these Board members will give the major publishers strong defense in the face of Section 40 and is another blow to the legacy of the Leveson Inquiry.

UK – 28 September 2017

Media-Updates-New-Featured

Today’s Media Updates covers moves and changes at UK and international titles including Hugh Hefner, Vogue, Auto Express, UKTN and Hairdressers Journal International.  

International

  • Hugh Hefner, who founded the Playboy media empire, has died at the age of 91. 

News & Politics

  • Yessi Bello Perez has been appointed editor at UKTN. Yessi was previously senior reporter at the website. Yessi replaces Emily Spaven who will be joining LinkedIn as UK news editor.
  • David Lord has been appointed acting deputy editor at The Courier and Advertiser (Dundee). David was previously assistant editor (news) at the title.

Lifestyle

  • Giles Hattersley has been appointed features director at Vogue. Giles was previously a journalist at the Sunday Times.
  • Dan Smith has been appointed editorial assistant at Auto Express.

Business

  • Charlotte Grant-West has been appointed content editor at Hairdressers Journal International. Charlotte was previously a features writer at Boots Health and Beauty.

The Vuelio Media Database lists thousands of journalists, bloggers, publications and media outlets. Find out more about our database.

Labour Party Conference – Final Day

The Labour Party Conference is coming to a close for 2017, with a huge number of headlines generated from the four-day event.

The Single Market was the key focus early on but has since been joined by John McDonnell’s pledge to bring PFI Contracts in house, Emily Thornberry’s BoJo criticisms, the party tackling antisemitism, and Jeremy Corbyn’s speech in which he said Labour were the ‘government-in-waiting’.

The mood today was buoyant, with several minutes of ‘the Jeremy Corbyn song’ welcoming the opposition leader to the stage before his speech began.

He closed with the words: ‘Labour can and will deliver a Britain for the many not just the few’.

Have you missed something from Conference? Check out our Canvas below, which brings together all the biggest stories from this year’s #Lab17 conference.

And if you want daily updates for the Conservative party conference, including key speech summaries and fringe event round-ups, sign up to receive our email alert by clicking here.

Labour conference day 4

Tweeting

Twitter trials longer tweets

Twitter has announced a small group of users are now testing double-length tweets in order to overcome ‘cramming’. The 280-character tweets are available in all languages except Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

Twitter, and then founder Jack Dorsey, showed off the new longer-form updates:

 

But users were quick to point out how unnecessary many of the words in the extended tweets were:

In a blog post explaining the decision, Twitter said Japanese, Chinese and Korean users are able to convey almost twice the amount of information into a single tweet because their characters have more meaning.

Tweet graph

While a majority of English tweets only have 34 characters, there’s a large number of users who hit the character limit – and are victims of ‘cramming’ – which suggests there’s a market for this increased limit.

What does this mean for brands and PR professionals?

Knowing how to communicate on different networks has become an art form for social media managers, and being able to concisely deliver content on Twitter is part of the platform’s USP and, some would argue, appeal. Being limited makes people smarter and work harder – deciding which words and hashtags to include has made many tweets masterpieces.

With an increased limit, the platform is liable to become bloated; feeds could literally double in length overnight and the line between Twitter and other platforms will become blurry. There’s also a danger that as some people work to their limits, social media professionals could include unnecessary words just to fill the space.

On the plus side, there is a chance for more brand mentions and engagement with longer tweets, as conversations with customers can be more detailed. Thankfully, Vuelio’ s Media Monitoring will pick up tweets no matter how long they get, so if this rolls out to all users, you know we’ve got you covered.

The test is currently focused on a tiny group of users, but Twitter is already hinting that it will be successful, writing: ‘We understand since many of you have been Tweeting for years, there may be an emotional attachment to 140 characters – we felt it, too. But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint.’

Maybe people will fall in love with longer tweets, but for now – and in typical Twitter style – users just see it as a joke:

 

Mad about the house

Blogger Spotlight: Kate Watson-Smyth, Mad About The House

Kate Watson-Smyth writes Mad About The House, which was recently first in the Top 10 Interior Design Blogs. Winner of both Best Interior Design Blog and Best UK Blog at the Vuelio Blog Awards 2016, Kate helps to inject personality and life into your home with her expert advice. We spoke to Kate about finding inspiration in the loo, nosing about in other people’s houses and working with brands.

How would you describe your blog?
It’s an interiors blog dedicated to helping people find their style and learn not just about new things to buy but also how to decorate their homes. I want people to be brave with their interior design choices and feel confident in what they like and not paralysed by choice or the sums of money involved. But, also, to have fun with their interiors. It’s like dressing yourself but on a bigger scale.

Why did you start your blog?
I have been a journalist for 25 years, over 15 of them writing about interiors. As newspapers have struggled with falling revenues and circulation, I had to find a new way to write. Interiors has always been my passion.

What’s your favourite thing to blog about?
I love finding out about things and discovering new talents and objects. It’s hard to pick a single thing as I am as happy nosing about in other people’s houses as finding a new cushion cover or wallpaper.

How do you manage your photography?
I write a lot about beautiful things to buy and companies are now investing increasingly in great photography so there is a wealth of sources right there which you can credit and link to the store. Using images from Pinterest is tricky if you can’t find the photographer so I try always to feature designers who I can contact.

What’s your favourite interior?
That probably changes every day of the week, but I do love a Devol kitchen.

What or who are your biggest inspirations?
I love looking around hotels for examples of clever design – they often have to fit a lot into a small space so it can be really helpful to see how they have done it. Restaurant loos are another great place to look – often great and bold use of colour and wallpaper in there. Instagram of course as there can be such a great mix of professional and personal.

What makes your blog successful?
Surely that’s not for me to say? There’s a lot of content there now and I have tried to include a lot of useful information such as how to plan a kitchen, what you should know when you are buying a sofa as well as beautiful things to buy for your home. I try to keep it chatty and varied but also full of proper information.

How do you like to work with PRs?
I like them to get my name right – the emails addressed to Mad tend not to get opened! There are so many blogs now that I really appreciate when a PR has taken the time to read the blog and work out if I really am the right person for their idea. These days I think it’s much more about focused collaboration and I tend not to work on huge campaigns that everyone is doing if at all possible.

What one thing should PRs know about you?
Don’t ring me up. Email is better.

What other blogs do you read?
As a judge for the Vuelio awards this year I have been reading a lot of blogs. I do read around my sector – in particular French for Pineapple and the Rockett St George blog but I also love fashion and lifestyle blog the-edited.com and the fashion blog doesmybumlook40.blogspot.co.uk. Gold is a Neutral is a newcomer that’s good too.

Kate Watson-Smyth is joined by thousands of bloggers, influencers, journalists, editors and media outlets in the Vuelio Influencer Database. Learn more.

UK – 27 September 2017

Media-Updates-New-Featured

Today’s Media Updates covers moves and changes at UK titles including BBC Asian Network, Reuters, FASHION BEANS and Farmers Weekly.  

News & Politics

  • Arif Ansari has been appointed head of news at BBC Asian Network. Arif was previously the political editor at BBC North West Tonight and presenter of Sunday Politics NW.
  • David Brooke has been appointed EMEA middle market loans reporter at Reuters. David was previously a reporter at Private Debt Investor.

Lifestyle

  • Will Grice has been appointed online editor at elitetraveler. Will has previously worked at THE IDLE MAN and GQ.
  • Luke Sampson has been appointed associate editor at FASHION BEANS. Luke was previously menswear editor at Reiss.

Business

  • Oli Hill has been appointed community editor at Farmers Weekly. Oli was previously a senior arable reporter at the title.

The Vuelio Media Database lists thousands of journalists, bloggers, publications and media outlets. Learn more about our database.

Slummy Single Mummy

From Bedrooms to Boardrooms

This morning, Vuelio hosted a webinar to discuss the results of the UK Bloggers Survey 2017. We were joined by top parenting blogger and trailblazer Jo Middleton, who writes the award-winning blog Slummy Single Mummy.

Jo started her blog in 2009, as a means to promote her freelance writing and journalism. It was about a year later (after she was sent a questionable freebie hand cream) that Jo considered the commercial aspects of blogging and started to believe it could become her main source of income.

Professional bloggers are on the rise; the survey revealed that 12% of bloggers now rely on it as their main source of income, that’s up from 8% in 2016. Jo has seen an increase in those that set out to become professional – where her rise was gradual, they’re focused on making money from the outset.

Jo believes this has upped everyone’s game, as in a professional industry only excellence will stand out.

Part of that professionalism comes from collaborations and brand partnerships, though the foundation of these relationships is not always straightforward. The survey revealed that 37% of bloggers get sent more than six pitches a week, while Jo receives in excess of 100. Though most of these are not successful, the number (and therefore success rate) does change throughout the year, with Jo more likely to take time over a pitch in a quieter month, like August.

And when it comes to successful pitches? Jo relies on both her own opinion of a brand as well as the opinions of her readers. Jo pointed out that lots of brands who work with influencers are attempting to re-establish people’s perceptions and so providing a creative way to impress bloggers is a great place to start.

She explained how Iceland approached her for a collaboration and while she wouldn’t normally have shopped at Iceland – considering it a place of kebab pizzas – her opinion has changed dramatically with each Iceland interaction and she can comfortably share her revised opinion of the supermarket to her readers. She also highlighted Iceland as a good brand to work with due to their desire for statistics and continued collaboration after posts have been published. Some brands request a post and then move on, making Jo feel like a tick box exercise.

When it comes to collaborating, disclosure is hugely important – especially as a whopping 13% of bloggers still flout advertising laws in their belief that not all collaborations need disclosure. To Jo this is ridiculous, she always makes her collaborations clear on posts and doesn’t think there’s any downside. Her readers know she’s a professional blogger and labelling something as paid-for doesn’t change her opinion.

She also commented on the rise in PRs requiring disclosure. In the last year she’s worked with more brands pushing disclosure from the very beginning of the relationship. There’s hopes this will trickle down into the blogosphere and change the statistics for 2018.

Did you miss this morning’s webinar? You can get a recording sent to you online, click here for more information. And if you’d like to talk more about the Bloggers Survey, comment below or tweet us @Vuelio. You can also reach the amazing Jo on Twitter @mummyblogger.

BBC

Laura Kuenssberg given bodyguard at Labour conference

Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor, has been assigned security detail at the Labour Party conference after sustained online abuse.

The BBC’s first female political editor has endured online abuse consistently since she was thrust into the spotlight. Aggressive, threatening and abusive messages are commonplace for Kuenssberg and all high profile female journalists online.

Kuenssberg is typically accused of impartiality over political stories by both sides of the political spectrum, often if a story about a leader or party is ‘negative’. Online trolls seem to have confused a political journalist doing their job, and holding politicians to account, with ‘taking sides’.

The fact Kuenssberg has had to resort to protection in order to be safe at work has angered many in politics and the media, though the truth is that this is nothing new for female personalities in the public eye, who have always received abuse online.

In the Guardian, Diane Abbott – no stranger to online abuse herself – has condemned abusive party ‘supporters’. She said: ‘It is wrong. Laura is doing a job, I may not always like how she does the job every time, but it is her job and why – just because she is a woman journalist – does she get that level of abuse. It’s wrong.’

John McDonnell has also attacked the trolls, saying it was ‘unacceptable’ and that any abusive activists would be ‘disciplined’. Though as reported in the Telegraph, McDonnell has also been accused of making light of the abuse by saying ‘I’ve said to Laura today, if you identify people, they will be disciplined by this party… John McDonnell will sort them.’

James Kirkup, writing in the Spectator, has suggested the fact a journalist is not safe to do her job without security detail is a blow against democracy in this country. Comparing the situation to a less democratically-free nation, he writes: ‘Britain would – and does – chide ‘developing’ nations in Africa, Asia and South America for failing to safeguard the free media and ensure journalists’ ability to report the words and deeds of people in power’.

The list of those publicly outraged is bountiful, but so too is the group who claim Kuenssberg has made the story up or is doing it just for attention. The bodyguard can’t stop the online abuse and so once again attention turns to the social media networks that host it but are struggling to make any sort of impact against abuse while maintaining ‘free speech’.

Women in Journalism’ s recent report highlighted the fact that one of the major reasons female journalists were missing from front page bylines was because there were so few in senior political editor positions.

But this goes further, Laura Kuenssberg’s bodyguard is not just an indication that women are struggling in journalism but an indication that women are struggling in society.

UK – 26 September 2017

Media-Updates-New-Featured

Today’s Media Updates covers moves and changes at UK titles including BBC Essex, Huff Post and loveFood.  

News & Politics

  • Charlotte Rose has been appointed political reporter at BBC Essex. Charlotte was previously a political reporter at BBC Radio Sheffield.
  • Eve Hartley has left her role as multimedia editor at Huff Post UK to go freelance. She will be based in South America from October 2017.

Lifestyle

  • Karlina Valeiko has been appointed editorial assistant across loveFOOD and loveEXPLORING. Karlina previously interned at these titles.

Business

  • Molly Dyson has been appointed digital editor at Buying Business Travel. Molly was previously editor at PA Life.

The Vuelio Media Database lists thousands of journalists, bloggers, publications and media outlets. Learn more about our database.