February 2011
1 post
Difference between "The web" and other comms...
It has been said that “The web” was invented 20 years ago…but the platform/entity we have access to when we use our browsers was actually only invented yesterday.
Tim Berners-Lee did indeed first develop the WWW in 1990/91 but since then, although the basic elements of the protocol remain the same, the actual functionality of the web has been in continual growth and...
October 2010
1 post
5 tags
Why you shouldn't create your own community...yet
There’s been quite a bit of chatter recently about how many friends - real, organic, squishy ones or screen-based, poking, tweeting ones - anyone can juggle in their lives. Clearly no-one can agree on the figure - estimates come out between 8 and 150 depending on classification and location.
This post is related to the cause of this limitation - TIME. In general, the more friends you try to...
February 2010
1 post
4 tags
Stephen Fry interview rushes on the impact of the...
The following video is taken from the rushes of the BBC documentary The Virtual Revolution, presented by Aleks Krotoski.
It’s great to have access to this unpolished video and also to hear Mr Fry’s comment
”..let’s get real about this. Connection is what humans crave, it’s what we are all about, it’s something that separates us from animals. It even comes...
January 2010
2 posts
4 tags
Niche social media / new marketing... fencing...
This is an ongoing story similar to the last post about sodapopstop.com but subtly different.
This isn’t a video about personal branding but about providing information and opening up to your niche customers.
I’m sure that Duncan Page is a great bloke and is passionate about his industry in his own quiet way but it is his knowledge rather than his passion that he has exploited to market...
5 tags
The soda-guy knows
I tweeted this video quite a few months ago but forgot to upload it here.
John Nese from www.sodapopstop.com knows his niche. He is honest, true, transparent. After 2 mins of this video I TRUST him. This video demonstrates the importance of being an engaging guy who knows his stuff and is enthusiastic about it (true ‘personal brand’ in horrible industry speak), not the...
December 2009
1 post
3 tags
Hey Grandma! Are you answering your phone?
Just a little thought…
Are you scared like your mum’s grandma was?
Grandma: “What’s that odd thing on the wall and what do you do when it makes that shrill ringing sound?”
Grand-daughter Ethel: “Pick it up and talk, grandma!”
Grandma: “But what do I say to it?”
Right now if you’re not engaging with, or even just...
November 2009
5 posts
5 tags
Personality changes everything
I was on the tube yesterday and I experienced a fullscale KISS. moment about how personality changes everything.
It was a fairly average journey. The carriage was about 1/3 full and everyone’s outward appearance matched the grey skies outside and the drizzle on the dirty windows.
We were just coming to the end of the line at Wimbledon when the driver started to go through the motions...
9 tags
The 'Alternative' Social Media Top Ten List...
Most top ten social media lists are about technologies. They’re all about Twitter, Twellow, Facebook and Friendfeed. In this post I’d like to give you an alternative top ten list to make your social media activities a success.
Yes, it’s yet another “Top Ten” but I think you’ll find this one is a bit different, especially considering this post. For a while now I, along with many others,...
5 tags
New BookMap - Crowdsurfing by Martin Thomas and...
I’ve just posted a new BookMap. This time it’s for CrowdSurfing by Martin Thomas and David Brain. This book investigates the move towards embracing the crowd within corporations and political organisations. Much of the book is focussed on surrendering some control, not only to customers but also to partners and employees, giving them a greater say in the operation of the...
2 tags
"If you do what you've always done...
As the wise old saying goes….”if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got”.
In a personal context this isn’t a bad rule to slot into our memory banks, just between “Next week I’ll start making my lunch each day instead of buying it” and “I will finish my Christmas shopping earlier this year”.
...
5 tags
Gary Vaynerchuk's Crush It PDF BookMap
I like to draw what I call BookMaps once I’ve read a book to make sure as much of the good stuff as possible sticks to the inside of my skull. This is a recent one that I did after reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It - perhaps you’ll find it useful too! Feel free to download the PDF using the link below and stick it up somewhere.
Crush It collates all of Gary’s...
October 2009
1 post
5 tags
RIP Kanye West hoax
The past few hours saw a flood of tweets on Twitter with the keywords “RIP Kanye West”. There were enough tweets and retweets for the phrase “RIP Kanye West” to feature at the top of Twitter Trending topics section.
One thing to point out first - he’s not dead. At least, not in the last hour he’s not.
That’s the thing about Twitter - a medium...
September 2009
2 posts
1 tag
When will they stop talking about the toolkit?...
A quick one this.
You want to understand social media better? Forget about the toolkit for the moment and learn the phrase “It’s all about the people”. That’s it.
It’s not about the technology. People are, and always have been, social animals. They have shared, communicated, discussed and recommended to their social groups since the development of language - No...
The "all publicity is good publicity" myth...
I recently changed to O2 home broadband and came across the following while setting it up.
http://www.jibble.org/o2-broadband-fail/
It’s the story of Paul Mutton, a technically adept user who found a security flaw in the O2 routers (O2 wireless box II and O2 wireless box III) and simply wanted to let O2 know about it so they could correct the issue. The security flaw could essentially...
August 2009
3 posts
3 tags
Social media video - Social media statistics
Just a quick one today. I stumbled across this social media video that doesn’t really reveal anything new but does shout what we all already know quite effectively. It could be quite a useful video to use to persuade some reticent old-schoolers to sit up and think a little harder.
8 tags
USA, NHS & John Prescott
I’m sure you’ve heard about the Palin/USA/NHS debate that has recently erupted on Twitter.
In brief: Republicans in the USA want to upset Barack Obama’s plans for healthcare reform and are publicly using the UK’s NHS as a warning against a ‘socialised’ healthcare system.
This has caused a wave of support by disgruntled supporters of the NHS both in the UK and...
6 tags
What the f*** is social media? Here are some...
Thanks go out to Marta Kagan for this update on what the F*** social media is. It was her original presentation one year ago that brought a lot of social media stuff together for me. I hope that its useful for you too.
June 2009
1 post
2 tags
The Space of Flows
When the internet was in its infancy and until quite recently, everyone accessing the internet was in their own little booth, their computer acting as a simple terminal. Internet ‘surfers’ were all surfing the same structure - the same ‘tree’ network - but could neither see nor interact with each other. Sure there was email but this is not ‘in-line’ social...
May 2009
1 post
Want to know about social media? Talk to your...
He or she knows more about the benefits of Social Media i.e. Being Social without even knowing it.
People come back because they know him and other people in the salon. New customers hear about him through positive WOM.
This is such a great example of the simplicity of the activities required to use social media in a commercial context. Just keep it simple.
March 2009
4 posts
Great report into the changing consumer activity... →
4 tags
WatchThe phenomenon of twitter….
WatchThis clip makes up for the one below. Nothing to add to this - v pleased to hear a brand so keen to downplay their role as content provider and highlight the necessity to provide….deep breath….
…what their community wants!
Best quote right at the very end: “We don’t care where the content comes from, we’re just going to give her the BEST content”
1 tag
WatchIt amazes me how measurement can be so fudged. Yes, there will always be huge top-down pressure to link this data up with sales but can someone please tell me why positive moves in click-throughs and eyeballs can’t be reported as a good simple measure in and of themselves (balanced with other channel stats)? The pride in the ‘big spreadsheets’ at the end speaks volumes.
January 2009
1 post
Hello Social World...
I decided to write this blog to capture and simplify the world(s) of social media and online communications. These subjects only make up a small part of my personal and professional experience, however this overlap will undoubtedly increase for many of us and I wanted to record my thoughts in an open medium. My background includes experience in consulting, social media, business strategy, IT...
November 2007
1 post
5 tags
BookMaps
BookMap #2 is CrowdSurfing by Martin Thomas and David Brain, a book exploring the “energy, ideas and enthusiasm of today’s empowered consumers” in both the corporate and political worlds.
BookMap #1 was uploaded onto the site a few days ago. It was created to cover the key concepts from Gary Vaynerchuk’s book “Crush It!”. A book that puts forward...
April 2007
1 post
3 tags
Why KISS?
The use of social media isn’t rocket science. It just isn’t. I have a theory that because the term is so difficult to pin down, people run from it. If clunky buzzwords were the norm then “social interaction online” possibly should have been the words to use.
Anyway, the point is that it’s simple. Perhaps not always easy - but still simple. It’s about talking....