Vote for the companies you'd like us to interview at MWC
We’re offering you something a bit different here for Mobile World Congress. As you may know, around this time, our inboxes start filling up with hundreds of pitches and event/interview invitations from public relations and marketing people eager to in front of you.
Usually these pitches are lost on you, dear reader. Because they never see the light of day.
Because there are usually hundreds of emails flowing in, it can sometimes get very difficult indeed to decide what is relevant and what might be semi-interesting — or, more often than not, what MIGHT be relevant if we tweak the pitch.
If you’ve ever wanted to get a look at this part of the editorial process, now’s your chance.
I’ve cut and paste the first 400-800 characters of a lot of the emails I have received. I’ve published almost every decent one that we’ve been sent — dropping the entirely irrelevant ones (e.g. Would you like to learn about our circuit board capacitor technologies? No. But thanks!)
After reader Jonathan Mulholland’s suggestion on my earlier post, we’ve implemented a ‘Digg style’ interface at http://mobileindustry.wpengine.com/mwc/.
Headlines are lifted directly from the emails — although in some cases the unimaginative (“Invitation to meet at MWC”) have been changed to make it relevant when you’re reading down. The content is a cut and paste — again where relevant. And I’ve also linked, where possible, to the company’s URL.
[Note: It’s surprising how many PRs don’t bother putting their client’s web addresses on pitches]
And that’s it. It’s now over to you. Now, in order that we control the voting a little, you will need to sign-up for an account. It takes biliseconds. We just need a username and password (and email in case you forget your detalis) — that way we prevent folk multiple digging stories.
Anyone can vote.
We’ll pay attention to those that rise to the top over the next weeks.
We’ve got our own plans to bring you wicked coverage from MWC irrespective of the results from the MWC Pitch system — just, the top selections that have audience support will get our attention. We’ll aim to arrange an interview and/or do a video interview with those companies.
If you find a pitch that you’d REALLY like to see get some attention, dig it — and then post a comment explaining why.
You can, of course, hit the BURY button and reduce the chances of particular pitches from moving up the charts.
If you click on the comments for any story, you’ll also get to see what usernames dug each story. I’m down as ‘digging’ everything because I submitted most o them.
That said — you too can submit your own pitch using the ‘Submit a Pitch’ button on the frontpage. Headline, description and a URL and woosh, your pitch will be live. Go ahead and publish if you’re up for it and cut us out the loop.
Finally, a note on how the pitches are ranked. Firstly, new pitches appear at the top temporarily — and then slowly descend by time. Those with actual digs next to them rise swiftly and — if no new pitches have been added recently, appear right at the top. Right now SpinVox and Sony Ericsson’s party are up the top with 4 digs each, closely followed by Microsoft’s press conference and HTC’s event.
So it’s over to you now. Your mouse is now a weapon of misery or joy depending on how you wield your digs…
Click here to start rating the current MWC Pitches: http://mobileindustry.wpengine.com/mwc/
