Thursday, August 6, 2009

When Social Media feeds the traditional world

Those of you who follow this blog will have been following Volvo's Emission Equality London Congestion Charge campaign. In essence, Volvo has challenged The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to review the basis on which exemptions are made in his Congestion Charge for hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles.

And just the other day, success was achieved when he agreed that vehicle technology had progressed since the Congestion Charge was initiated in 2003, and that he would review the exemption and report before the year end.

Obviously I'm pleased by the result. However, I've also been fascinated by the way in which a social media campaign has gained traction in the traditional media world. Apart from two press releases sent out to the motoring media, the campaign has been conducted entirely socially using Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Emissions-Equality/119945287541 and Twitter - http://twitter.com/eequality. And although it's taken a few weeks, these groups have grown and as a result, have come onto the radar of traditional journalists. First yesterday in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/04/congestion-charge-cars and then finally to the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8185706.stm.

Just goes to show that both worlds feed off one another and why a Social Media campaign needs to be considered as a part of a broader communications strategy rather than a media in isolation

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