An app to remove PR jargon…Twelve Thirty Eight strikes again
By Alex Mansell on Monday, February 4, 2013
PR agency Twelve Thirty Eight has capitalised on the sensation it caused with its Buzzword Report, a review of PR jargon irritating to journalists, taking it a step further with its ‘Buzzsaw’ app.
At the touch of a button, the Buzzsaw helps PRs improve their press releases by flagging and removing buzzwords, all “to make life more bearable for Britain’s hard-working hacks”.
Accessed through Twelve Thirty Eight’s website, the agency asks you to enter your press release into a text box, following which the copy is checked against a database of forbidden words. The words then appear crossed out, even providing the user with a percentage score of the ‘Buzz Factor’ of their copy.
Here you can see what happened when I typed in a jargon-filled sentence:
The website features a ‘buzzword of the day’, and journalists are able to contribute via e-mail link to the list, which contains such lingo as ‘next-generation’ and ‘value-added’.
A nice little follow up to their report, the agency provides a great tongue-in-cheek way to get their name on people’s (especially journos’!) lips.
Check out the Buzzsaw here.