If there’s one group of people who know how to make a mint off of public relations, it’s the British Royal Family. So the fact that this group of ribbon cutting and plaque unveiling experts has set up a Flickr account should be a message to any organization that sells itself: Grab control of your online visual images.

That’s exactly what their royal majesties and highnesses have done recently by setting up their own account on the popular photo-sharing site.

The bluebloods have premiered their presence on the site with 600 images on its official “British Monarchy” Flickr account.

Despite worries about overexposure and intrusive views of the royals, members of the royal family appear to have decided that managing their own image via pictures is something of counterweight to the paparazzi-fed collection of photos that are snapped endlessly whenever the royals venture out of their many castles and estates.

And it’s not their first foray into the world of social media. The Flickr account follows one on Twitter, the family’s own YouTube Channel and The Royal Collection Podcast available via iTunes.

The Flickr images cover many generations and are grouped into a variety of categories for simple browsing. For example, there are 43 photos of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, both of whom have been dead for over 100 years.

Each member of the current royal family has a section of shots, which will accompany various other sections for behind-the-scenes snaps, royal visits and other pertinent topics. The photos in each member’s section cover an eclectic range of events and occasions. For example, Prince William’s section has a photo of the future King of England on vacation with his then-still-married parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, when William was only six years old.

It’s followed by an image of him playing football (the British sort) last month in Botswana.

But all this connecting to the masses has its limits. The royals won’t be using many of Flickr’s more socializing aspects. For example, commentary on the photos isn’t allowed. (And considering the wild collection of haberdashery the family indulges in, one can see why “feedback” probably should be discouraged.)

Users will still be able to share and embed the photographs if they like, an attempt, one might imagine, to drive down the price of those paparazzi photos that seem to pop up daily on websites around the world.

The site’s leaders have resisted traditional Web advertising since Twitter was founded, but the lure of advertising revenue seems to have become too great to resist.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone blogged about the decision yesterday, and if anyone can understand his rambling, business-speak reasoning, we’d love to hear a translation.

Stone wrote: “Stubborn insistence on a slow and thoughtful approach to monetization — one which puts users first, amplifies existing value, and generates profit has frustrated some Twitter watchers.”

Say what?

As for why Twitter’s including advertising now, Stone issues forth this gem: “Over the years, we’ve resisted introducing a traditional Web advertising model because we wanted to optimize for value before profit. The open exchange of information creates opportunities for individuals, organizations, and businesses alike. We recognized value in this exchange and planned to amplify it in a meaningful and relevant manner.”

And so the convoluted and confusing rationalization goes.

The bottom line is that some Tweets will get ads. Which ones? It’s hard to tell. Who will see them? Again, not sure.

In a moment of semi-clarity, Stone writes that “Promoted Tweets” are ordinary Tweets that businesses and organizations want to highlight to a wider group of users. Translation (and we’re guessing here): If something a user Tweets makes folks want to buy a product or service from an advertiser, a search result for that Tweet could also return an ad.

Only about 2-10% of users will begin to see these sponsored tweets at the top of certain Twitter search results pages.

Among the companies to jump on this new Twitter program: Best Buy, Starbucks and Virgin America.

Of course, Twitter wants to make sure its users understand that this is all for their own good. Writes the ever-sincere Stone: “We strongly believe that Promoted Tweets should be useful to you.”

Maybe we should start thanking Twitter now.

It seems that 81%of the country’s divorce lawyers report an increase in the number of cases using social networking evidence over the last five years.

That’s according to a recent survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

And what’s the most common place lawyers are digging up evidence in divorce cases? Facebook, say 66 % of respondents, followed by MySpace (15%) and Twitter, with 5%.

“Going through a divorce always results in heightened levels of personal scrutiny. If you publicly post any contradictions to previously made statements and promises, an estranged spouse will certainly be one of the first people to notice and make use of that evidence,” said Marlene Eskind Moses, president of the AAML, in a statement.

“As everyone continues to share more and more aspects of their lives on social networking sites, they leave themselves open to much greater examinations of both their public and private lives in these sensitive situations.”

Lawyers are getting familiar with the ins and outs of social networking and the rich fodder it can provide in legal cases. Word to the wise: Keep your legal exposure in mind when posting to any site.

The latest Retrevo Gedgetology study asked social media users about when, where and how much time they spend on sites and services like Facebook and Twitter.

Almost half the respondents say they check in on the social media scene in bed, during the night or a soon as they wake up in the morning.

Nearly half check social networking sites first thing in the morning to get their initial dose of daily news. This could bode ill for TV network morning shows and is likely contributing to sinking newspaper circulation rates.

The Retrevo study also found that iPhone users are more likely than others to participate in social networking than others, possibly because custom apps for the smartphone make it easy for owners to connect to their social networks from any location at any time.

While the majority of adults surveyed resent being interrupted (by social media or any other kind of technology), the same isn’t true of those younger than 25. In fact, while 62% of adults dislike being interrupted, only 33% of the young crowd mind. Overall, 40% of respondents said they didn’t mind being interrupted for a message.

And 32% said a meal wasn’t off limits. A small but committed segment of social networking fans — 7% — are even willing to check out a message during an “intimate moment.”

But perhaps the most dedicated social media users of all are the 24% of those younger than 25 who say they check out social media or update their status while using the bathroom.

Let’s just hope they don’t get too specific about what they’re up to.

Social networking, according to a recent poll.

Data security company Webroot released the results of its 2010 survey of 803 IT managers at small-to-midsize businesses (companies between 50 and 1,000 employees).

The managers surveyed were asked what threats they anticipated to be most important in the upcoming year.

The top answer, by a wide margin: social networking and Web 2.0 applications, including Facebook and Twitter. That was the biggest worry of 80% of the respondents.

In fact, 25% reported that their networks had already been compromised in some way by social networking attacks.

How are companies responding? According to the survey:

• 88% of companies have placed strict policies on employee Internet use, and
• 54% have completely banned social networking sites at work.

After clicking a malicious link, users were sent to a Twitter look-alike page that asked them to log in. The usernames and passwords were stolen and the accounts were used to post a tweet saying, “hey, i’ve been having better sex and longer with this here,” followed by a link to a Web site selling sexual-performance drugs, ComputerWorld reports.

Among the users who unknowingly sent out the spam message: British Cabinet member Ed Miliband and Matt Wells head of audio at The Guardian newspaper.

Experts warn users can easily fooled by phishing attacks on Twitter because of the popularity of URL-shortening services such as Bit.ly, which may help hackers disguised their malicious links.

Some advice to pass on to users: Don’t trust that everything sent from a friend’s account was actually sent by your friend. And don’t enter personal information after following a suspicious link.

Granted, my kids are on the older side, but the youngest — at 16 — can’t be bothered with tweeting. My older kids feel the same. They view it as a platform for politicians, social activists and commercial interests, all intent on selling their audience something. From ideas to shoes, Twitter is the place to go for customers.

It’s a place where folks try to influence the bigger world. Sell or be sold to, that’s the Twitter game.

And young folks aren’t interested.

Now there’s a professional study that bears out what I observed in my own family. Young people aren’t much interested in Twitter.

The study, by the Pew Research Center, found that:

Teens are not using Twitter in large numbers. While teens are bigger users of almost all other online applications, Twitter is an exception.

• 8% of internet users ages 12-17 use Twitter. This makes Twitter as common among teens as visiting a virtual world, and far less common than sending or receiving text messages as 66% of teens do, or going online for news and political information, done by 62% of online teens.
• Older teens are more likely to use Twitter than their younger counterparts; 10% of online teens ages 14-17 do so, compared with 5% of those ages 12-13.
• High school age girls are particularly likely to use Twitter. Thirteen percent of online girls ages 14-17 use Twitter, compared with 7% of boys that age.
• Using different wording, we find that 19% of adult internet users use Twitter or similar services to post short status updates and view the updates of others online.
• Young adults lead the way when it comes to using Twitter or status updating. One-third of online 18-29 year-olds post or read status updates.

It appears from the study that teens are much more interested in connecting directly with other people (their use of applications like Facebook and MySpace far exceeds that of adults) than with companies or organizations.

The lesson for folks who want to reach kids: You’ll have to figure out how to do it through their friends or peers, not with anonymous blasts into the blogosphere.

And he’s got just the Twitter account to handle the job.

The district attorney Brett Ligon’s office in Montgomery County Texas, a Houston suburb, will publish the names via Twitter of those charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI) between Christmas and New Year’s Eve this year.

Names of those arrested for DWI will be posted on District Attorney Ligon’s Twitter page. Innocent or guilty the names will be published when suspects are arrested.

The plan is the brain (and we’re using that term liberally here) child of County Vehicular Crimes Prosecutor Warren Diepraam, who seems to believe it will discourage folks  from getting drunk and behind the wheel of a car. “It’s not a magic bullet that’s going to end DWIs, but its something to make people think twice before they get behind the wheel of a car and drive while they’re intoxicated,” he said.

Yes, drunks frequently think deeply about the consequences of their actions just before taking them. Why I’m sure that Montgomery County parties this weekend will be full of hard-drinking, law-abiding folks shaking their ice-filled glasses and wondering if their name will be spelled right on AG Ligon’s next Tweet.

No word yet on folks against whom the charges are dropped or who failed to be convicted of the charge.

Michelle Simson of the country’s Liberal party was annoyed with the behavior of Dean Del Mastro (a Conservative) during a committee meeting.

In response, she took the not-so-savvy political move of complaining on Twitter — insulting Del Mastro as well, all while staying well under the site’s 140-character limit.

She wrote: “Del Mastro should grow up (not out).” Del Mastro, as Reuters notes, is not a slim man.

Simson apologized, but only after Del Mastro stood up in front of Parliament and demanded she say she was sorry.

Have you or any managers ever caught an employee insulting a co-worker online? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

If you’re looking at Twitter as part of a social networking strategy to promote your business or organization, be aware: You’re jumping onto a full bandwagon, crowded with everyone from dead presidents to women in labor.

The rush to attract Twitter followers has drawn the tweetings of nearly everyone who knows how to turn on a computer and type. And a few who don’t.

There’s a 104-year-old U.K. nursing home resident, people’s pets, former President John Q. Adams and even the wife of Twitter’s CEO, who tweeted through labor and delivery recently.

Regardless of who — or what — you are, there’s one purpose common to all Twitterers: Draw enough followers to make the effort worth your while.

With this in mind, you know you’re out of the loop when a dead president has more Twitter followers than you do. Or maybe that’s a loop you don’t want to be in.

Regardless of your Twitter activities or company policies, it’s probably not a great sign if you have fewer folks hanging on your every 140 words than somebody who’s dead — even John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States.

JQAdams_MHS is actually a Twitter project of the Massachusetts Historical Society that’s running the former president’s 1809 diary from his voyage with his family to Russia on a diplomatic mission.

The Tweets are line-by-line daily entries from the diary that include such fascinating tidbits as, “Up great part of the Night. wife and child sick. Lat: 43-39. Saw nothing. Calm day. Read Mrs Grant’s Letters.”

Scintillating stuff, eh?

No matter how mundane the details of John Q.’s postings, he’s got more than 12,000 followers for them.

But Sara Morishige Williams, wife of Twitter CEO Evan Williams, has even more followers than Adams. At last count, more than 16,000 were tracking her tweets.

Her most recent postings on the site, where’s she’s just known as Sara, were a running account of giving birth to the couple’s son on Aug. 11.

Sara’s final post, “Epidural, yes please.”

Can your organization find something even better to Tweet about for your customers or clients?

Or, as some of us are suspecting, has Twitter jumped the proverbial shark, to languish in the cyber graveyard where initiatives like MySpace seem to be heading?