Did anyone else see this? Hot on the heels of WebCameron, The Prince of Wales has overhauled his website and added a kind of video diary thing. Except somehow in the Chinese whispers of online newsland this has become a YouTube-esque video blog.
It is not, I feel qualified to point out, a YouTube-esque video blog. Alas, this is not Prince Charles doing ranting to camera about his day or fending off toddlers while he washes up. We are treated to HRH at his desk first thing in the morning, but there's no straight to camera action and that kind of rules it out of the blog category.
It is professionally produced, professionally narrated and very well-managed public relations material. That's not to discredit it in anyway, because this kind of stuff is becoming a staple part of PR and public service (if the Royal Family counts as a public service).
According to the site, Charles wants to encourage and facilitate public debate on "overlooked issues" and that has to be a good thing. But may I suggest getting one's hands dirty and joining the online debate directly?
Incidentally, the Royal Family's official website is extremely good. Check out the history section. We didn't have that when I was a lass, etc etc.
More coverage: dailyIndia.com BBC News Online Forbes.com And definitely not on PrinceCharles.co.uk
