A weekly roundup of media news and talking points, sans effort

Thought for the Week

“We won’t allow the people to be devoured by YouTube, Facebook or others. Whatever steps need to be taken we will take them without wavering.” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, commenting on the country’s decision to block Twitter in what appears to be a bid to prevent the public from posting evidence to support claims of internal corruption within the government. 

Weekly High

Can you imagine anything better than a montage of revered and oft-serious-faced actor Christopher Walken busting various moves to the classic 1990s smash hit, Everybody Dance Now? No, neither can we.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNaau2uPFqI#t=83

Weekly Low

We all know a good idea when it hits us square in the face, it’s just a shame more people don’t know a bad one when it rears an ugly head. Thanks to MediaBistro for highlighting how @teamworkonline decided it was OK to promote a ‘coaching tip’ on the back of the still-missing Malaysian airlines flight. A tragedy that has cost lives and caused an enormous amount of heartache really isn’t a great peg for sales, and ‘noticing’ your own lack of sensitivity once the damage has been done does not make it better.

Stories to keep an eye on

*As referenced in our Quote of the Week, Turkey has blocked access to Twitter in a bid to limit anti-governmental sentiment online. Which is shocking enough, then you read how they are prepared to do the same to YouTube, Facebook and several other social networks. 
*Twitter is apparently preparing to phase out ‘arcane’ @ replies and #hashtags as part of a wider move to make the platform more ‘intuitive’. 

Just in case you missed it…

Smoking Gun PR picked up the coveted Best Small Agency award at the Golden Hedgehog Awards in Manchester last Thursday. Read what the judges said about our work here.
If there is a success story, blunder, or news event you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!