Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Inspired by Brian Greene’s photo below which highlights how much Ireland has changed over the past year, and after reading about a lot of related activity over the last few weeks - I thought I’d post my twelve days of a changing Irish society (More like twelve observations on Irish life at the minute without the music)

1. Freesheets - Dublin is now home to two freesheets, the Metro and Herald AM. It didn’t bring about the downfall of the Evening Herald or the Irish Independent as some would have thought, but it is impacting on the tabloid market. Both publications have had a huge impact as can be seen from Brian’s photo.

2. Tom Raftery’s job search - Tom Raftery is looking for a job and has received some job offers. It will be interesting to see who snaps him up. If it’s an Irish company, given the current hype about blogs et al, expect to see him featured in the media as the “first” Irishman hired because of his blog.

3. Podcasts in the media - An tImeall became the first podcast to be syndicated on Irish radio after it was picked up by Flirt FM in Galway. Tom Raftery’s Pod Leaders podcasts are also worth a mention as they are being distributed by Electric News.

4. The media blogging and podcasting - More journalists are starting to blog and seemingly every Irish radio station is seemingly podcasting at the minute, offering its shows for download via iTunes or their website.

5. Irish Blog Awards - The funny thing about the blog awards was nobody predicted how big it would turn out to be. Bloggers naturally tend to hype all things blogging, but none of them could have predicted the media coverage or turnout and support from sponsors on the night.

6. Coverage of Dublin riots - The Dublin riots have been hyped as the moment when Irish blogs emerged from underneath the rock and showed the mainstream media a thing or two. I wouldn’t agree, but it seems that some journalists do (and obviously plenty of bloggers.)

7. The Internet is no longer just for nerds - Internet culture is regularly being referenced in the mainstream media. For example, the pre-match analysis before a major rugby game in Ireland used one of the Chuck Norris facts when talking about Paul O’Connell, one of the players.

8. Bloggers as pundits - Flicking through the papers, names of pundits don’t normally jump off the page. That is until you see a blogger giving their 2 cents on the printed page rather than their website. Mick Fealty is now regularly called upon for pundit pieces.

9. Bebo is the most popular website in Ireland - The most important thing about Bebo is that it will ultimately drive a higher adoption of broadband in Ireland.

10. Sligo IT launch video podcasts of lectures - This move brings true meaning to distance learning. Critics reckon that it will make students even lazier and will brought about a rise in exam failure rates. I believe it will make students more efficient because they can actually pay attention and learn something during lectures, instead of developing note taking skills!

11. Journalists track online customer complaints - Irish Broadband have seen a bit of negative press recently. One piece specifically mentioned this bunch of collated complaints on Boards.ie. Journalists are using the web as a research tool, ignore the Internet at your peril.

12. Gardai ask the public for cameraphone footage - The police inspector in charge of the investigation in a rampage by a disgruntled employee in a bus took an interesting turn when he appealed for cameraphone footage from witnesses. Coverage was subsequently broadcast on an Irish TV station.

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