The following results are for the period October-December 2012.

Tweet Frequency of IFC Media

This measures the number of tweets by each media on Twitter, both as an accumulative total and for each quarter. The key findings are as follows:

• Channel TV (@channelonline) retains its place at the top of the table with 2,462 tweets in Q4 2012 – its highest ever quarterly total

• Malta Today (@maltatoday) was the second most active media outlet tweeting 1,784 times with the Guernsey Press (@guernseypress) coming closely behind with 1,613 quarterly tweets

• Guernsey is the top tweeting IFC, with a combined total of 6,939 tweets for the quarter. Jersey ranks second with 6,543 tweets for October to December, whilst the Isle of Man is third with 3,117 tweets.

• 3FM (@3fmradio) had the largest total number of tweets as at end of December 2012, with 82,603 tweets

• Contact (@contactguernsey) in Guernsey is the only media body not to have sent any tweets for this quarter

Followers of IFC Media

This measures the popularity of each media Tweeter through the number of followers they have in total and the rate at which they are growing their number of followers. The key findings are as follows:

• The Times of Malta (@thetimesofmalta) continues to grow its followers at the greatest pace, seeing a 51% increase from October to December

• Cayman-based media has experienced the largest relative growth in followers, with both Caymanian Compass (@caycompass) and Inews Cayman (@inewscayman) ranking second, both with a 22% increase in followers

• Media based outside the Crown Dependencies are experiencing highest growth in followers – Malta and the Cayman islands occupy the top three spots for this quarter

• Channel TV (@ITVChannelTV) retains its position as the most followed IFC media outlet with a total of 5,994 followers

This quarter, we’ve also taken a look at the ‘influence’ of IFC media within the world of social media. The ‘Klout’ metric looks across each media’s social media activity, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on, and gives it an influence score based on the size of each media’s network, its content and how it interacts with its network. It is an example of one alternative metric that can be used to ‘measure’ a particular aspect of social media use. The average Klout score is 40.

The Klout measurements for Q4 2012 show that:

• BBC Jersey (@bbcjersey) is the most influential IFC media, with a score of 61. Channel TV (@ITVChannelTV) and the Guernsey Press (@guernseypress) also score highly, with scores of 57 and 53 respectively

• Of the top five IFC media, four were from the Channel Islands and one from Malta

• The majority of IFC Media had a Klout score above the average (40). Only four IFC media were below that level

Overall Comments

Channel TV continues to dominate the Tweet-dex in terms of level of activity for Q4 2012 – it tweeted the most in the period and has the second largest total number of tweets, whilst it is also the most followed IFC media. Its Klout score also suggests it is proving influential in the social media it is using.

In terms of total tweets the coverage is fairly well spread across the jurisdictions – with Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Malta and the Cayman Islands all with representation in the top ten. Interestingly, though, in terms of overall tweets, the broadcast media dominate, begging the question: are broadcast media more naturally placed to use social media as an integral part of their news strategy?

Also of note is that BBC Jersey is the most influential IFC media according to Klout, and yet it is not the most active tweeter nor the most followed – although both are relatively high. This underlines a more general point, that ‘success’ in using social media is not just about amassing followers or tweeting manically – it is also about how users of social media interact with their wider network.

AR

Emma Riley Marett (left) is an honours graduate in history from the University of Exeter, and has experience working as part of an internship for a boutique PR agency in London before deciding to return to Jersey recently.

Anna Hamon (right) has recently returned to Jersey having worked as a Research Manager at a boutique research agency in London for the past three years. Prior to that she worked in the events industry co-ordinating high profile events at Tate Gallery and has a degree in Hispanic Studies from the University of Birmingham.

Both Emma and Anna are looking forward to supporting Crystal's growing and increasingly diverse client base in the Channel Islands and further afield.

I was particularly keen to see how the agenda had changed since last year's Conference - one of my comments after that event was that 'the argument for IFCs to tackle the key issues together in a credible, positive and collaborative way is getting stronger’.

Despite the current persistent media coverage of IFCs, issues of tax avoidance, transparency and regulation, the issues discussed this year seemed remarkably similar to last And, as I noted last year, it was still mainly a case of preaching to the converted.

There were some interesting points made – that IFCs should be educating the next generation by going into colleges and universities (Philip Booth) and that automatic information exchange is seeing growing interest (see current debate on ‘UK FATCA’). The question was also asked as to whether there is any point in IFCs complying with all regulation if they never get any credit for it.

It was also good to hear the business editor of the Sunday Times Kamal Ahmed pledging that his paper would take a more in-depth and objective look at the ‘tax haven’ and ‘tax avoidance’ issues.

And there was the rather dubious suggestions that ‘tax haven’ could actually be a positive term and that the word ‘finance’ was now so negative in the Western world that IFCs should consider re-branding as ‘International Commercial Centres’.

Overall, though, the debate had not, it seemed, moved on a huge amount from last year. That there is interest from IFCs in organisations like the IFC Forum is positive but the jury is still out as to whether there is real commitment from IFCs to collaborate.

At a time when the European Commission is looking at clamping down on tax avoidance, the UK is seeking to find more ways to exchange information with Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, and with the UK due to assume presidency of the G8 in 2013 when tackling tax avoidance is clearly on David Cameron’s agenda, IFCs will need to continue to respond robustly and coherently.

As Mark Field MP commented at the IFC Forum Conference, there is ‘still a fundamental misunderstanding about what IFCs do and what their benefit is’, which is worrying. And as distinguished parliamentarian Lord Blencathra, who was appointed Director of the Cayman Islands Government in London last year, warned in concluding the conference, ‘We fail to defend our industry at our peril’. Whether IFCs want to defend and explain what they do together remains up to them.

But when a representative from the House of Lords stands up and claims that Jersey is ‘one of the most secretive jurisdictions in the world’ and that claim is then published on the front page of the local newspaper, it should not go unchallenged. A response needs to come from the Government ministers that represents Jersey and it should be directed at the high profile political figure making the claim – in this case Baroness Williams.

Jersey has copious evidence to refute such a claim including independent assessments by the IMF and other international bodies, a series of tax information exchange agreements signed with other countries, positive comments contained in a report from the World Bank and Jersey officials’ involvement at the highest level in a representative body which is reviewing the regulatory effectiveness of other jurisdictions. Furthermore, Jersey does not have a banking secrecy law though there are other jurisdictions that do and it has implemented laws that enable overseas authorities to investigate wrongdoing including fraud and tax evasion.

Starting somewhere new is often a nerve-wracking experience, whether it’s the first day of school – or in my case, the first day of an internship at Crystal. Nevertheless, I was warmly welcomed into the team and quickly settled into the office overlooking St Aubin’s harbour.

Having completed my second year of studying French at Royal Holloway University of London, I was keen to start thinking about my career after graduation in 2014. I applied to the States of Jersey Undergraduate Internship Scheme and was contacted by Crystal. As a person who had only just entered the third decade of their life I still had lots of ideas in the air about what I wanted to do when I ‘grew up’. Having previously looked into Law and Accountancy and decided that they weren’t for me I had considered Public Relations. Admittedly, I was completely unaware that there was a PR industry in Jersey but was extremely pleased to be offered this opportunity.

Unlike other internships and work experience placements that I had in the past, my role consisted of far more that tea making and photocopying (though that does come up!). From research to writing press releases, meetings to monitoring the media, I’ve become more aware of the way in which the PR industry works with the media. More importantly, I’ve gotten a true taste of work in PR.

My month’s internship at Crystal has flown by and as I write this on my last day in the office I am rather sad to be leaving and extremely grateful for this opportunity that has inspired me to pursue a career in PR.

I would like to thank Adam and Mike for having me on this internship and I would strongly recommend work experience at Crystal to anyone who has even an interest in PR. You will never know whether something suits you unless you try it out and Crystal gives you an opportunity to truly experience and have a go at a lot of it yourself.

Athletes were able to communicate directly with their fans like never before, creating a new forum for support – or, in some cases, criticism. A rogue tweeter maliciously tweeted Tom Daley; British athletes tweeted their support for badminton players from South Korea, China and Indonesia who were disqualified after making a series of basic errors in matches; Australian swimmer and BBC pundit Ian Thorpe, who only created his Twitter account due to demand mid-way into the Olympics, had over 95,000 followers at the end of the Games; and the opening and closing ceremonies were played out as much through Twitter as they were in the Olympic Stadium.

What this highlights, albeit through a major global event, is the growing impact of Twitter as a means to communicate directly with individuals and audiences, bypassing traditional media altogether.

It struck me that there have been a few instances in recent months of this in action locally too.

When in June, Jersey experienced a major power cut, Jersey Electricity turned to Twitter to effectively keep the public informed of what was going on. This was particularly useful at a time when there was no power, as people intuitively turned to their battery powered mobile devices, and Twitter feeds, for updates.

Likewise, when there was a gas explosion in Jersey in July, Jersey Gas were quick to create a Twitter account for the sole purpose of keeping its broad range of stakeholders up to date of what was going on. It turned out to be an excellent way to quickly keep the media and the general public informed of a constantly changing, and potentially dangerous, situation, where public information such as evacuation zones and school evacuations were important.

Slightly further away from home, but still pertinent to the Channel Islands, it was interesting that, in the whole ‘Jimmy Carr tax avoidance story’ played out in the national newspapers in June, Jimmy Carr decided to issue his statement of apology through Twitter and not, as might have been done in the past, through an interview, issued statement or press conference. The result was a quick, widely distributed, well picked-up apology.

These broad examples of the use of social media all demonstrate the use of Twitter as a means for individuals, organisations and businesses to directly and successfully engage with audiences that are of most interest to them – and quickly. Whether in a crisis, to address a situation quickly or to engage in live events, Twitter can be an extremely useful tool.

If they haven’t already, businesses would do well to consider how they might use Twitter to their advantage if the situation arose. The chances are, when that situation does arise out of the blue, the rest of Twitter might well be talking about you already, and by then it might be too late to keep it under control.

For more about Twitter, see the latest results from the Crystal PR IFC Media Tweet-dex.

An article was published in the New Statesman political magazine in June in which it was claimed that an Indian restaurant address in St. Helier was home to no fewer than 800 registered companies.

Some days later a Guardian journalist researching a feature on Jersey’s economy quoted the same allegation from the New Statesman about offices registered at the Indian restaurant calling into question Jersey’s regulatory standards.

Some weeks later the Island’s regulator, the Jersey Financial Services Commission, announced in a statement that there was no truth in the allegation. There is no restaurant with offices registered and never has been. There had been a trust company based nearby, which had since moved to a new address, where indeed companies had been registered and were properly regulated.

But what happens next? Both the Guardian newspaper and the New Statesman continue to publish this untrue claim within its content online. There is no retraction, no apology for getting the facts wrong. How long before another journalist researching an article on Jersey makes the same claim? So myth can become fact through repeated use.

For international finance centres it is an illustration of the extent to which they need to be proactive to counter the misinformation and inaccuracies that pervade leading media publications. Unless these claims are challenged directly with these publications, they will remain online gaining momentum until it is believed to be true.

The Index seeks to identify two things: 1) the most followed media, and 2) the keenest media users of Twitter across the chosen jurisdictions. The objective is to shed some light on how Twitter is being used by media organisations and what role Twitter plays in the news agenda in the different jurisdictions specialising in international financial services.

The IFCs currently being monitored are the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Malta.

The key media in each jurisdiction are included in the results. When the Tweet-dex was launched at the beginning of the year, it included a select group of 13 media. In this second set of results, this has been expanded to include a much broader selection of 31 different media – largely prompted by the significant uptake of Twitter by different media groups. The range of the jurisdictions and media in the index may in due course be extended.

The following results are for the period April – June 2012.

Tweet Frequency of IFC Media

This measures the number of tweets by each media on Twitter, both as an accumulative total and for each quarter. The key findings are as follows:

• Channel TV (@channelonline) was once again the most prolific media tweeter in the second quarter of 2012, having tweeted 1,348 times between April and June. The Guernsey Press (@guernseypress) came in second place with 1,006 tweets and Malta Today (@maltatoday) came third with 986 tweets during the quarter.

• Half of the top ten media tweeters were Channel Island-based

• INews Cayman (@inewscayman) tweeted the least, with no tweets in the quarter despite having racked up 2800 tweets overall.

• Isle of Man radio station 3FM is the biggest tweeter overall, with 81,271 tweets to date

Followers of IFC Media

This measures the popularity of each media Tweeter through the number of followers they have in total and the rate at which they are growing their number of followers. The key findings are as follows:

• The Times of Malta (@thetimesofmalta) was the media that increased its number of followers most during the second quarter of 2012, by 48.8% to a total of 954 followers. The Gibraltar Chronicle (@gibchronicle) came in second, increasing its number of followers by 39.1%, Gallery Isle of Man (@galleryiom) growing its followership by 27.6%.

• IFC Feed (@ifcfeed) grew its number of followers the least during the quarter, by 1.5%, despite reaching a total of 2,077 followers.

• Channel TV (@channelonline) remains the most followed media across the jurisdictions covered, with a total of 4,313 followers.

• Despite having the third biggest quarterly increase in followers, Gallery Isle of Man (@galleryiom) is also currently the media with the least total number of followers (125).

Having started this Tweet-dex with a fairly select of key media, it’s interesting to broaden our scope in this second quarterly analysis to give us wider picture of how media, and not just the most obvious ones, are using media across the jurisdictions. Whilst there are clearly certain media, such as Channel TV in the Channel Islands, that are really focusing on engaging with their viewers, listeners and readers through Twitter, the general trend is that media across the different jurisdictions are all making a concerted effort to use Twitter.

Interestingly, there is no clear distinction between type of media increasing their use of Twitter – print media, television, radio and online media are all engaging with Twitter quickly. Equally, there is no one jurisdiction that appears clearly ahead of the others – Cayman, the IoM, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar media are all focused on using Twitter.

All in all, this would support the idea that Twitter is becoming an increasingly necessary complementary means of communicating with audiences to their traditional routes of communicating.

We are looking at further ways to evaluate the use of Twitter by media for future Tweet-dexes, to reflect better both the use of Twitter and content too.

Throughout school we were pushed towards going to university and gaining that prestigious degree, however in today's economic climate, it appears as though work experience is just as valuable, if not more so, when trying to start out on your career. I studied fashion journalism at Southampton Solent, and knew from taking a unit in my second year on PR that that was the industry I wanted to be a part of.

Here in Jersey it may seem as though we don't have the same opportunities as London, but you'd be surprised just how many pearls our little island holds.

Knowing I'd soon be coming back to Jersey and competing against thousands of other graduates, I thought it was important to start planning ahead. I began searching for local opportunities a few months before I was due to finish and stumbled across specialist business and financial services PR agency Crystal PR.

I am by no means an expert in financial services, and was quite concerned that I'd be completely out of my depth - but, with the support I was given, I needn't have been worried. Most have the perception that work experience is all about making the office hot drinks, rushing off to do errands and waiting around til the clock strikes 5, but that wasn't the case during my time spent at Crystal. My first day, for example, had me writing a press release, and I was even lucky enough to sit in on a client meeting.

Don't be put off thinking you should only gain experience in areas that you have knowledge in. I've gained a huge amount of knowledge during my week at Crystal, and things I probably wouldn't have been able to do had I stuck to my comfort zone.

The beautiful view of St Aubin's harbour from the office doesn't hurt either...

Edelman’s recent Trust Barometer, a global survey of more than 30,000 people, shows that confidence in employees of lower-medium seniority throughout an organisation rose from 34% to 50% (as reported by PR Week on 27 April 2012).

On the contrary, the survey indicates that the credibility of chief executive officers has crashed by 12 points, to 38%, compared to 2011.

Against the backdrop of issues being played out in the media, such as over-inflated bonuses and chief executive officers stepping down from high profile roles, it is perhaps not surprising that there has been a shift in people’s perception about how businesses are structured and the integrity of senior management.

This research suggests that organisations must place greater value on the importance of the wider workforce, rather than just paying lip-service to the notion. Focusing on senior management to portray the voice of an organisation may not have as much credibility as harnessing the support of employees’.

This will become a particularly important tool for internal communicators who must ensure that messages are communicated effectively around an organisation and ensure senior management is not viewed suspiciously as a distrusted ‘other’ entity.

A piece of research published earlier this year has resulted in a number of subsequent interesting media reports recently.

The research (published through the Paris School of Economics, http://www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/docs/zucman-gabriel/sub_jan31.pdf) suggested that the raft of TIEAs signed over the last four years by offshore centres have not made very much difference in the total value of bank deposits they collectively hold.

No matter what side of the ‘tax haven’ debate fence you sit on, it does seem that there are some strange conflicting arguments entering into the equation here – particularly given this is a piece of academic research.

The research and subsequent media reports suggest, for example, that these TIEAs are ‘ineffective’. This is then followed up by claiming that ‘the [bank] deposit gains and losses correlate strongly with the number of treaties signed by each haven’. The Channel Islands, for example, have signed a significant number of such agreements which the research suggests has led to falls in their levels of bank deposits.

Either these tax agreements are useless, in which case they would have little impact, or they do serve a purpose, in which case presumably those intent on tax evasion would move their deposits elsewhere. Logically, both can’t be true?!

And surely there have been other reasons why the value of a jurisdiction’s bank deposits might fluctuate, other than the number of information exchange agreements it has - the volatility of the global markets as a result of the recession springs to mind.

It reminds me of some similarly illogical critiques that are regularly aimed at offshore centres – that they hamper the development of developing countries; that they divert tax revenues away from developed countries; that their days are numbered and that their assets are dwindling. Logically, not all these can be true.

In the lead up to the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Mexico this year, on 18^th and 19^th June, there will inevitably be further anti-offshore campaigns and attempts to highlight the effectiveness (or otherwise) of information exchange agreements.

From a communications point of view, IFCs will do well to untangle the conflicting critiques that will likely be aimed their way in the coming weeks, and highlight the improbability or even impossibility of the charges they are faced with, with concrete, clear facts. Possibly even backed up with credible independent academic research…

There’s no doubt that Twitter is being used more and more by media outlets for researching, breaking and developing news stories. In a market where there is such competition between jurisdictions, it’s interesting to put things in an international context.

Initially, the Index seeks to identify the most followed media and the keenest media users of Twitter across the chosen jurisdictions. The IFCs currently being monitored are the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey and Malta, with the key media in each jurisdiction being included in the results – the range of jurisdictions and media may be extended in due course.

The results for the first quarter of 2012, January to March, are as follows:

Tweet Frequency

This measures the number of tweets by each media, both as an accumulative total since they started tweeting and during the quarter. The key findings are as follows:

• Channel TV (@channelonline) was the most prolific media tweeter in the first quarter of 2012 with 1,086 tweets over the three month period. The Guernsey Press (@guernseypress) tweeted the second most (982 tweets).
• BBC Isle of Man tweeted the least during the quarter, 183 times
  
   

Followers of IFC Media

This measures the popularity of each media Tweeter through the number of followers they have in total and the rate at which they are growing their number of followers. The key findings are as follows:

• The Isle of Man Examiner (@iomnewspapers) increased its number of followers most during the first quarter of 2012, by 23.8%. This was followed by BBC Radio Guernsey (@bbcguernsey) which increased its followers by 21.8%.
• Channel TV (@channelonline) is the most followed media in the IFCs with 3,585 followers. Jersey radio station Channel 103 (@channel103news) is second most followed (2,594).
• The Times of Malta (@thetimesofmalta) was the least followed media in the IFCs covered, with 479 followers. 
• Despite having the fifth highest number of followers, BBC Isle of Man (@bbcisleofman) increased its number of followers the least, by 6.6%.
  

These first quarterly results paint an interesting picture. Twitter is not being used by any one form of media, with a good mix of print and broadcast media using Twitter regularly. That Channel TV tops both the Tweet Frequency and Followers tables, and with BBC Guernsey and the Jersey Evening Post performing well in both set of results too, shows that there is a good correlation between how frequently Twitter is used and gaining followers.

Except for Malta, where the Times of Malta is both the least frequent and least followed media included, there is evidence of good use of Twitter across the IFCs, with the Channel Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar and Isle of Man media all demonstrating a consistent use of Twitter.

To begin with, these results are fairly rudimentary – how frequently the media use Twitter and who is following them. In due course, the intention is that this Tweet-dex can be extended to include more jurisdictions and more media, and to analyse in greater detail the message content of the media using Twitter.

Both felt that the City and the various sectors that collectively make up the financial services industry were not effectively promoting the value they bring. Recession and high profile issues such as banking collapses and redundancies have exacerbated this issue, as the media has given finance and business more profile but not necessarily helped to increase the public’s understanding of a complex financial system.

This is a question of education, with one of the professionals, from a leading funds association, claiming it was working hard to educate the lay-man about what the industry actually does, and the wider benefits that the industry contributes, through tax receipts, community investment and employment.

Both felt that greater engagement on a regulatory and political level was essential in ensuring policy-makers and politicians, who may not be financial experts, understand and are able to make regulatory changes that genuinely benefit the industries. This can only be achieved by adopting a more combative and engaging approach.

More locally, ‘offshore’ has become a pejorative term, and it seems that jurisdictions, such as Jersey and Guernsey, actually face the same communication and reputational issues as its larger counterparts. Although offshore, arguably, has the even harder task of ensuring that the City itself appreciates the value that business with offshore companies adds to the City.

Two phrases stood out in the latest review of the offshore marketplace by The Lawyer magazine.

The journalist, who knows many lawyers in the offshore field, described the offshore legal industry as a 'murky world' and 'highly secretive'. She bases these opinions on the fact that unlike their UK counterparts the lawyers in offshore jurisdictions are reticent about revealing virtually any information about revenue and turnover. Less than a third of the firms in the magazine's annual survey provided any information on revenue.

I think it's time that law firms responded to the market environment in which they work, in a similar fashion to the offshore jurisdictions.

While some of the journalists comments may be borne out of frustration and the limited response, it is no longer acceptable for firms not to provide some measure of their financial performance if they want to be part of the more transparent world in which global financial services now exist.

We are all quick to complain when mainstream media categorise the offshore locations as secretive and opaque, but we are not helping ourselves when the category of professional which is our biggest export into the wider financial world continues to create this impression of secrecy - even with its own professional media.

Perhaps through the various Law Societies, the firms could agree a format so that all firms provide similar data on revenue or on profits so as to help rid ourselves of this unhelpful image.

The RAJAR figures out earlier this month should have given radio stations in the Channel Islands a reason to be optimistic.

Commercial station Channel 103 recorded its highest listener figures ever, with a weekly reach of 59% - the highest of any local radio station in the UK – whilst Island FM also achieved healthy figures, with a weekly reach of 49%.

Meanwhile, BBC Radio Jersey and Guernsey figures were up on the previous year. BBC Radio Guernsey was listened to by a record 24,000 people, with a weekly reach of 45% – the highest local BBC station in the country. BBC Radio Jersey’s audience figures were also up year on year by over 7%, increasing its market share to around 23%.

The signs are that people in the Channel Islands are tuning in increasingly to their local radio stations for news and local information.

These are useful statistics, particularly against the backdrop of the BBC Trust's recent decision to order the BBC to re-examine its plans to make local radio cuts. The BBC Trust’s chairman Lord Patten said: “Local and regional services…provide something unique for audiences that can otherwise be neglected by eh mainstream media”.

Compare this with Janet Street Porter's berating of local BBC content in The Independent (29^th January). “Local bulletins are necessary only twice a day in drivetime,” she wrote, adding: “The current local regions are so large as to be pointless.” Perhaps the Channel Islands, though, might be a special case?

Despite Street Porter's comments, local radio can be a hugely valuable media, and PR professionals should be aware of that. Businesses can often become obsessed with seeing their name in print in regional press, but radio has the advantage of being able to update its locally focused news in a timely fashion, as it develops.

At the same time, it is important that local radio stations continue to evolve to reflect the interests of their listenership. I often think, for example that, given the prevalence of the finance industry in Jersey and Guernsey, there is scope to produce some excellent business-specific programming on local radio. In the Isle of Man, Manx Radio has been doing this for some time with, in my opinion, great success.

Meanwhile, spare a thought for Manx Radio. It was reported recently that it is facing a cut in its government subsidy and consequently the need to axe jobs. It will be interesting to see how these cuts impact its listenership – it currently enjoys a healthy 58% listener share.