Since Instagram added a video element to the popular photo sharing site, what impact has been felt on Vine? It’s Facebook versus Twitter again, but which do you prefer?

Instagram video allows users to shoot 15 seconds and add filters, just like you would with Instagram photos. Twitter’s Vine allows users to film 6 seconds of video.

The initial reaction seems to favour Instagram video with the number of videos shared on Vine plummeting by 40% the day after the introduction of Instagram video according to data produced by Topsy. Use continued to decline to just 919,000 on June 26th.

Meanwhile, a total of 1.49 million Instagram videos and images were shared on June 26^th. However, there are a number of differences between the two social networking tools.

Instagram introduced the option to record video to an already hugely popular photo-sharing service. Its user base of 130 million active monthly users is significantly larger than Vine, which recorded 13 million downloads when it launched its Android app in early June.

It’s a tough market for the new kid on the block, Vine – and a very well timed add-on from Instagram. But Vine is fresh onto the market and is being tried out by new people every day. There will, no doubt, be add-ons from each video sharing platform in a bid to win over new users.

We’re sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard about the battle of the video!

Muckle Media has been shortlisted for two awards at the 2013 CIPR Scotland PRide Awards, announced today.

Muckle Media has been recognised for its outstanding work across the region, and has been nominated for two awards including Outstanding Small Consultancy and Not-For-Profit Campaign. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the CIPR PRide awards, which will be held in Glasgow on 24^th October.

The CIPR PRide Awards recognise the outstanding talents and achievements of public relations practitioners across the UK’s regions and nations. They are the most prestigious and rigorous awards of their kind.

Commenting on the award shortlisting, Muckle Media Managing Director, Nathalie Agnew said, “It’s been an exciting year so far for Muckle Media, moving into new offices in Inverness, expanding into Edinburgh and growing the team. This award backs up the creativity, passion and commitment of the team in helping clients to achieve their business goals.”

Commenting on this year’s shortlist announcement, CIPR President Sue Wolstenhome FCIPR, said:

“The CIPR PRide Awards celebrate the very best in public relations from across the UK’s regions and nations. This year’s entries were all of an incredibly high standard, highlighting the industry-leading work that is taking place right across the UK. I would like to congratulate all of those who have been shortlisted for an award; their success demonstrates their exemplary achievements in such a thriving profession, and recognises the impact they have made in their region and beyond.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

A full list of shortlisted entrants in Scotland is available here – https://www.cipr.co.uk/content/events-awards/pride-awards/shortlist/scotland/scotland .

About the CIPR

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations is the professional body for public relations practitioners in the UK. With over 10,000 members involved in all aspects of the public relations profession, it is the largest body of its type in Europe. The CIPR advances the public relations profession in the UK by making its members accountable through a code of conduct, developing policies for the public relations profession, representing its members and raising standards through education and training. For further information, visit the CIPR website.

About the CIPR PRide Awards

The CIPR PRide Awards is the only UK-wide awards scheme that recognises excellence in public relations and communications work across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions. Now in its 10^th year, the CIPR PRide Awards grow year-on-year as consultancies and organisations increasingly recognise the benefits of industry awards, and past winners continue to reap the benefits of receiving one.

Alongside CIPR Scotland, CIPR Wales/Cymru and CIPR Northern Ireland, taking part in the 2013 CIPR PRide Awards are East Anglia, Home Counties South, Midlands, North West, North West, Thames and Chiltern, West of England, Wessex and Channel Islands, and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

For further information, please contact Nathalie Agnew on 0131 4631312.

Facebook has jumped on the hashtag bandwagon, following the success of Twitter and Instagram hashtags, but where did they actually come from?

The hashtag was invented as a label for groups and topics in IRC. IRC or Internet Relay Chat is a form of live internet text messaging mainly used for group communication in discussion forums. By adding the ‘#’ sign before a string of text, that string was easy to find in a search – in IRC allowing users to join particular channels using #channelname. But Twitter made the hashtag mainstream.

As Twitter was building momentum in 2007, Chris Messina – an open-source software champion at Google – tweeted what is believed to be the original proposal that Twitter users adopt hashtags:

“how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in
#barcamp [msg]?”

— Chris Messina™ (@chrismessina) August 23, 2007

In October of the same year, Nate Ritter’s #sandiegofire hashtag during the California wildfires became one of the first news topics to go viral.

Ritter dedicated his Twitter posts to updating San Diego residents on any information regarding the wildfires – evacuations, meeting points, places to gather supplies, etc. A great way to pass on vital information.

Twitter took advantage of this useful tool its users had created and introduced hashtag links by July 2009. Clicking on a hashtag would take you to a stream of tweets around the same topic.

Soon after, trending topics were introduced, allowing users to see popular subjects. Subjects are now carefully filtered and local topics can also be viewed.

It’s no wonder Twitter is the go-to place to find out what’s going on.

#hashtaghistory