Viral campaign by Tourism Ireland is just plain vile

I'm a proud Dublin girl who spent many a childhood holiday, weekend away and road trips in Ireland's various hot spots (no pun intended - the hot spots are just as rainy as the not so hot spots).

While I'm more than willing to do my bit to encourage tourism to my home country I'm a bit worried about Tourism Ireland's latest venture, a Facebook game in the style of FarmVille called Ireland Town - see for yourself here http://www.facebook.com/#!/DiscoverIreland. How much was some self proclaimed expert paid to come up with the name 'Ireland Town'? I shudder to think.

Tourism Ireland had their hearts in the right place but anyone who is persuaded to visit Ireland on the basis of this cliche ridden game will be sorely, sorely disappointed. You won't find the thatched cottage idyll of Ireland Town in a weekend to Dublin, I can tell you that for nothing. The game perpetuates so many cringy and outdated stereotypes of Ireland that it makes Disney's Darby O'Gill and The Little People look like a realistic representation of The Emerald Isle, even with Scottish Sean Connery and his dodgy accent.

If you want some actual travel advice for Ireland feel free to contact me on Twitter @PRgirl85 - I can tell you where to enjoy some real Irish craic but be warned, there will be no leprechauns whatsoever.

Customer service? We're too busy on Facebook....

It's sad but true - about half of my wardrobe comes from just one high street retailer. Thinking it was about time I got with the 21st century, I ordered a significant shop online. Big mistake. Me and this particular retailer are now not speaking...

A week and a half later and despite a dent in my bank balance there was no sign of the clothes.To the internet! No customer services number and the order tracking number I was given was getting me nowhere on the courier website.

I turned to Facebook to vent my frustration and got quite a quick response from someone with the authority to tell Customer Services to get their rear in gear and give me a call. We had plenty of issues to sort out but the end result is no clothes but at least I've been refunded. Not exactly a WIN in terms of customer satisfaction - I still have no clothes.

What really disappoints me is the fact I got a lot better service going through Facebook than I would have going to the local branch. I know from years of working as a shop assistant back in my student days that it would take a lot longer for a customer complaint to make it that far up the food chain but as we speak, my lost delivery gripe is probably being pored over in this week's social media report.

Since when did social media become more important than selling clothes?

Puppy profiles - the new trend in social media

Ah, men and puppies... nobody can resist that combo right? Well, not so much the case when the man we're talking about is Mark Zuckerberg and the puppy in question is a Puli with the ironic moniker Beast, who comes with a Facebook profile.

It's sad to think that an innocent little animal is part of a cynical PR strategy. Will this be the start of a trend for puppy profiles on Twitter? Will people check their pets into the park? Will dogs tag pictures of their pals from down the doggie park? I hope not... dogs can't type, so that'll never work! Duh....