Technology: The Week in Technology

WhyCommunicate?, the search engine marketing agency, has formed a partnership with Furlong PR to expand the agency's product offering within the SEO market. Furlong previously focused on blog management and social media services in the technology and corporate sectors.

Thomson Local, the UK local search company, has appointed digital PR agency Diffusion to develop and implement integrated digital campaigns to increase consumer awareness of the brand and traffic to ThomsonLocal.com. The first campaign will be a quest to find the UK's funniest pun-based company name.

Puzzler Media has selected Komodo PR to raise awareness of the media house's digital media products. The company publishes puzzle-focused titles.

Whiteoaks, the technology PR agency, has announced that it will be the sponsor of charity event Elephant Parade London 2010. The fundraising initiative will raise support for endangered Asian elephants.

YouGov, the research and consulting organisation, has found that 40 per cent of UK voters were influenced by online media during the election campaign. Facebook came out as having the greatest impact on young voters aged 18 to 24 in terms of influencing their vote. The company surveyed 2,300 voters.

In this week's video podcast, PR professionals discuss the privacy policies of social networking site Facebook and the impact the media backlash has had on the brand.