Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Should CEO's Twitter?
Dear CEO, what are you to do? You're worrying that you'll have your salary capped to a meagre $500k per year, you've learnt how to blog, and now one of your communications staff suggests you Twitter as well.
"You want me to what?" you ask.
Well, there's a growing call for you to put your thoughts down in 140 characters and let the world follow your every anouncement (and mispelling). . Loic Le Meur, founder of video-blogging company Seesmic, has very strongly stated "If European CEOs think it is a waste of time to Tweet, it is arrogant and a wrong step in their company's strategy". Perhaps, but whislt it may be good for smaller company CEO's to Twitter (e.g. those of tech companies looking to generate more PR, SEO and VC funding in a very crowded market), it is something your Fortune 500 CEO should really be spending time on, rather than running the company?
Well according to Forbes, its a practice growing in the US but not getting as much adoption over in Europe.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/18/twitter-europe-blog-tech-ebiz-cx_mb_0119twitter.html?partner=contextstory
"You want me to what?" you ask.
Well, there's a growing call for you to put your thoughts down in 140 characters and let the world follow your every anouncement (and mispelling). . Loic Le Meur, founder of video-blogging company Seesmic, has very strongly stated "If European CEOs think it is a waste of time to Tweet, it is arrogant and a wrong step in their company's strategy". Perhaps, but whislt it may be good for smaller company CEO's to Twitter (e.g. those of tech companies looking to generate more PR, SEO and VC funding in a very crowded market), it is something your Fortune 500 CEO should really be spending time on, rather than running the company?
Well according to Forbes, its a practice growing in the US but not getting as much adoption over in Europe.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/18/twitter-europe-blog-tech-ebiz-cx_mb_0119twitter.html?partner=contextstory
Well CEO, should you decide to Twitter, here's a useful guide:
(Note, this article is actually for CIO's, but I think its safe to say its relevant for the top dog as well): http://www.cio.com/article/480318/Twitter_Etiquette_Five_Dos_and_Don_ts_
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Online retailers fail on email customer service
Figures released today from the the eDigital Research survey of 39 UK eTailers , has Play.com, Amazon and Asos claiming the top three slots this year . However many of them provide poor customer service by email.
eConsultancy goes into more detail and give specific examples of which online retailers do well (and which ones don't):
http://econsultancy.com/blog/3282-etailers-need-to-work-on-customer-service
More details are available if you download the report:
http://www.edigitalresearch.com/news/item/nid/849753604
(I'm waiting on my one right now)
eConsultancy goes into more detail and give specific examples of which online retailers do well (and which ones don't):
http://econsultancy.com/blog/3282-etailers-need-to-work-on-customer-service
More details are available if you download the report:
http://www.edigitalresearch.com/news/item/nid/849753604
(I'm waiting on my one right now)
Twitter and revenue
There's been a lot of speculation this week about Twitter possibly charging for its service. And I've been guilty of keeping this speculation going by discussing the subject online & offline. The basis of this dialogue has been whether they will possibly charge brands, companies or individuals.
Well, now the subject has been addressed by the folks at Twitter, who have clearly stated:
Because, surely it HAS to start making money eventually? It can't just eat $20m in funding and keep asking for more... can it? That would be like the 'good old pre-.com bubble days' where nobody actually cared about the revenue model... until the money run out.
If the rumours are true and it turned down a £500m offer from Facebook, then it must have other plans..... right? How about?
Well, now the subject has been addressed by the folks at Twitter, who have clearly stated:
"Twitter will remain free to use by everyone—individuals, companies, celebrities, etc."So whilst they have nothing to report just yet, its a useful exercise to ask this Top100 UK websites and the 7th most popular UK social networking site how they are actually goinf to make any money.
Because, surely it HAS to start making money eventually? It can't just eat $20m in funding and keep asking for more... can it? That would be like the 'good old pre-.com bubble days' where nobody actually cared about the revenue model... until the money run out.
If the rumours are true and it turned down a £500m offer from Facebook, then it must have other plans..... right? How about?
- Contextual advertising (e.g. AdSense)
- In-tweet advertising (e.g. Magpie)
- Collecting/processing/selling information? (Perhaps, but doesn't Facebook have more to sell? )
- White-labelling its service to closed-user communities or verticals
- Selling any remaining 'vanity' user accounts (like personalised vehicle registrations) or at least charging for ther transfer
- Offering a paid-for 'premium' service (e.g. to see all your previous tweets, etc.)
- Charge companies for interfacing with its API
- Sell to Google for more than Facebook's offer
Any more ideas?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Micropayments will save the newspaper industry...
... won't they?
Errr, maybe not!
But that won't stop Walter Isaacson (yup, the ex-CEO of CNN and one-time editor if TIME magazine) saying on The Daily Show that newspapers made a mistake by initially putting everything on the Internet for free and and asking questions such as:
Errr, maybe not!
But that won't stop Walter Isaacson (yup, the ex-CEO of CNN and one-time editor if TIME magazine) saying on The Daily Show that newspapers made a mistake by initially putting everything on the Internet for free and and asking questions such as:
"Who's going to send people to Baghdad if always everything in journalism is free?"A few points, if I may:
- Journalism isn't free (its product is just given away for free by the likes of Google)
- Once you've started giving stuff away for free, its incredibly difficult to then start charging (even small amounts) for it
- Please don't 'save your newspaper' if you can't provide a compelling reason for doing so
Digital influence - can you afford to ignore it?
A lot of companies have realised that they need a website and even use it as a channel for selling/publishing. But how many companies actually understand influence online?
Well....I've come to realise, perhaps not many.
Customers now participate online and enter into dialogue about companies & brands with others. They only involve the actual product owners when either that company gets involved positively (such as participating in discussions, etc.) or negatively (e.g. when 'cease & desist' notices get delivered).
Surely its agencies or consultants and not companies/brands that drive a lot of online engagement models? It also makes sense for the specialist to... errr... specialise in this sort of thing. Online is still quite mysterious to a lot of tradional marketers or internal corporate PR people, who have been trained in traditional methods or gained their experience in that way... so far. But for how long can they afford to ignore it?
Oh, and if your agency isn't cutting it, don't fire them immediately.
Well....I've come to realise, perhaps not many.
Customers now participate online and enter into dialogue about companies & brands with others. They only involve the actual product owners when either that company gets involved positively (such as participating in discussions, etc.) or negatively (e.g. when 'cease & desist' notices get delivered).
Surely its agencies or consultants and not companies/brands that drive a lot of online engagement models? It also makes sense for the specialist to... errr... specialise in this sort of thing. Online is still quite mysterious to a lot of tradional marketers or internal corporate PR people, who have been trained in traditional methods or gained their experience in that way... so far. But for how long can they afford to ignore it?
Oh, and if your agency isn't cutting it, don't fire them immediately.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Did the BBC and not Video kill the Radio Star?
Hayden's note:
I'm extremely please to have a guest posting this Monday morning, from Marc Ames, who is my friend and colleague at Ideal Interface.
------------
I am sure that many of you in the UK were like me and the first thing you did every morning last week was check what the weather was like, and then put the television on and switched on the computer to check for weather forecasts and websites to see whether you would be able to make it into work or whether the kids’ schools were closed.
However, if you go back twenty five years ago then when the snow arrived everyone would be switching on to their local radio station – when the web was but a twinkle in Tim Berner-Lee’s eye and breakfast TV was still in its infancy.
As well as the wintry weather, last week saw the National Audit Office release a report commissioned by the BBC Trust into the efficiency of BBC Radio’s output. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7872923.stm
Now in the style of the BBC television’s daytime output, how much do you think that the BBC spent on radio in 2007-08? Who will start me with £100m? £150m, £200m, £300m, £400m, £450m – and the final offer is £462m – 14% of the licence fee!
This covers the costs of the 10 network stations that broadcast UK wide (Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 et al) and the six national stations, two each for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It does not include the costs for running the 40 English regional stations.
So faced with that backing who would want to be a commercial radio operator? With the advent of the internet, the iPod, multi-channel TV, mobile phones, which sees advertising revenues fragmented further and companies demanding better evaluation for their £s – and yet radio has the most antiquated and archaic audience measurement tool – the RAJAR diary http://www.rajar.co.uk/docs/about/RAJAR_diary_example_page.pdf – which relies on people selected to fill in diaries about the times and stations they listen to.
When one diary can be the equivalent to thousands in audience, just to put into context about the research, I have been approached many times to take part in market research in towns or by phone, I have done jury service four times and yet I have never been approached to fill in a diary for RAJAR and I have never ever met anyone who has!
The industry has tried to grapple with this issue, especially as people now listen to radio stations online or on their mobile phone but have yet to resolve it.
Factor in the need for the radio industry to invest and pay for digital radio and yet one of the main areas for radio listening is in the car and the automobile industry have yet to commit building all new cars with digital radios and in the current climate this is not going to be high on their priorities then the future does not look bright. By the way, the BBC does not need to pay for carriage on any of the digital transmitters unlike their commercial rivals.
The relationship between OFCOM and commercial radio seems to be erratic, and that rather than moving with the times and creating a radio industry that is vibrant and strong, we have a media and a regulator that is struggling to cope with its place in a multi-channel market.
The irony is that if you listen to any commercial station these days, then two of the biggest advertisers are the Government’s COI and the local and regional councils.
Consolidation has been the word for many years in the industry and it now seems that within the next 12 – 18 months we will see the end game, with Global taking over GCap, Bauer taking over EMAP and some of the smaller radio groups are struggling or putting themselves up for sale, the heritage radio stations are or soon will become part of pseudo-national networks such as Smooth, Kiss and Magic.
So did the BBC indeed kill the radio star? As with all answers, there is not a simple yes or no. The problem lies in several areas, some of the commercial sector is poorly managed, and the regulator OFCOM has certainly not helped the industry move into the 21st century, for example, who else would think that a city the size of Bristol could sustain three commercial stations as well as BBC Bristol?
But the BBC has expanded and invested its output at a proliferate rate, unchecked by anyone and in filling in the vacuum created by the issues discussed above, may end up destroying most of its competition and indeed the media itself.
----------
Marc Ames is an Online Marketing Consultant who is particularly interested in helping companies achieve maximum value from their online channels. His skills include: online marketing strategy, web site development, e-commerce, usability, search engine marketing, online advertising and media selection, e-mail marketing and affiliate marketing.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marcames
I'm extremely please to have a guest posting this Monday morning, from Marc Ames, who is my friend and colleague at Ideal Interface.
------------
I am sure that many of you in the UK were like me and the first thing you did every morning last week was check what the weather was like, and then put the television on and switched on the computer to check for weather forecasts and websites to see whether you would be able to make it into work or whether the kids’ schools were closed.
However, if you go back twenty five years ago then when the snow arrived everyone would be switching on to their local radio station – when the web was but a twinkle in Tim Berner-Lee’s eye and breakfast TV was still in its infancy.
As well as the wintry weather, last week saw the National Audit Office release a report commissioned by the BBC Trust into the efficiency of BBC Radio’s output. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7872923.stm
Now in the style of the BBC television’s daytime output, how much do you think that the BBC spent on radio in 2007-08? Who will start me with £100m? £150m, £200m, £300m, £400m, £450m – and the final offer is £462m – 14% of the licence fee!
This covers the costs of the 10 network stations that broadcast UK wide (Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 et al) and the six national stations, two each for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It does not include the costs for running the 40 English regional stations.
So faced with that backing who would want to be a commercial radio operator? With the advent of the internet, the iPod, multi-channel TV, mobile phones, which sees advertising revenues fragmented further and companies demanding better evaluation for their £s – and yet radio has the most antiquated and archaic audience measurement tool – the RAJAR diary http://www.rajar.co.uk/docs/about/RAJAR_diary_example_page.pdf – which relies on people selected to fill in diaries about the times and stations they listen to.
When one diary can be the equivalent to thousands in audience, just to put into context about the research, I have been approached many times to take part in market research in towns or by phone, I have done jury service four times and yet I have never been approached to fill in a diary for RAJAR and I have never ever met anyone who has!
The industry has tried to grapple with this issue, especially as people now listen to radio stations online or on their mobile phone but have yet to resolve it.
Factor in the need for the radio industry to invest and pay for digital radio and yet one of the main areas for radio listening is in the car and the automobile industry have yet to commit building all new cars with digital radios and in the current climate this is not going to be high on their priorities then the future does not look bright. By the way, the BBC does not need to pay for carriage on any of the digital transmitters unlike their commercial rivals.
The relationship between OFCOM and commercial radio seems to be erratic, and that rather than moving with the times and creating a radio industry that is vibrant and strong, we have a media and a regulator that is struggling to cope with its place in a multi-channel market.
The irony is that if you listen to any commercial station these days, then two of the biggest advertisers are the Government’s COI and the local and regional councils.
Consolidation has been the word for many years in the industry and it now seems that within the next 12 – 18 months we will see the end game, with Global taking over GCap, Bauer taking over EMAP and some of the smaller radio groups are struggling or putting themselves up for sale, the heritage radio stations are or soon will become part of pseudo-national networks such as Smooth, Kiss and Magic.
So did the BBC indeed kill the radio star? As with all answers, there is not a simple yes or no. The problem lies in several areas, some of the commercial sector is poorly managed, and the regulator OFCOM has certainly not helped the industry move into the 21st century, for example, who else would think that a city the size of Bristol could sustain three commercial stations as well as BBC Bristol?
But the BBC has expanded and invested its output at a proliferate rate, unchecked by anyone and in filling in the vacuum created by the issues discussed above, may end up destroying most of its competition and indeed the media itself.
----------
Marc Ames is an Online Marketing Consultant who is particularly interested in helping companies achieve maximum value from their online channels. His skills include: online marketing strategy, web site development, e-commerce, usability, search engine marketing, online advertising and media selection, e-mail marketing and affiliate marketing.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marcames
Saturday, February 7, 2009
graphing online communities
I've mentioned several times that companies need to understand and even visual their Corporate Social Graph. However, how would you go-about visually reprsenting an online social network or community?
Those clever people over at Orgnet think they have the answer:
http://www.orgnet.com/community.html
This diagram, looking more like a scientific / physics experiment, depicts three different ringed regions of blue, green and red nodes. This work (termed the 'field of social network analysis') also offers some useful insight about the connectivity of users
Insightful stuff! If you want to get further insight, you'd better read the blog of Valdis Krebs (the Founder and Chief Scientist at orgnet.com) at
http://www.thenetworkthinker.com/
Those clever people over at Orgnet think they have the answer:
http://www.orgnet.com/community.html
This diagram, looking more like a scientific / physics experiment, depicts three different ringed regions of blue, green and red nodes. This work (termed the 'field of social network analysis') also offers some useful insight about the connectivity of users
Node counts are important in social networks, but it's the relationships -- and the patterns they create -- that are key
Insightful stuff! If you want to get further insight, you'd better read the blog of Valdis Krebs (the Founder and Chief Scientist at orgnet.com) at
http://www.thenetworkthinker.com/
Friday, February 6, 2009
Topman sends unfashionable email
I've previously mentioned other retailers who send out daft emails (such as Alto's confusing one back in December), so to not mention TopMan's latest email gaff wouldn't be fair...
The 'TopMan Stylemail' they sent out today, claims to have "the latest trends at your fingertips". Its therefore strange that this trendy tips and product email encourages you to buy its very latest offerings, but is dated last month... 6th January 2009? Ooops!
The 'TopMan Stylemail' they sent out today, claims to have "the latest trends at your fingertips". Its therefore strange that this trendy tips and product email encourages you to buy its very latest offerings, but is dated last month... 6th January 2009? Ooops!
Facebook to use OpenID?
As the French would say "c'est non possible", but if rumours are true then Facebook has about-faced on its policy of not integrating with OpenID by joining the board of the OpenID Foundation.
Does this finally mean one standard for access and that open standards have won out over protectionism (Facebook Connect)?
Lets hope so!
Further update, this has been confrimed by Facebook's Mike Schroepfer in his developer blog posting:
http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=192 and said:
We opened Facebook Platform with a belief that community innovation can add value to users that we can't build on our own
IMHO this is a great stap forward for standards, the web and connectivity between sites!
Does this finally mean one standard for access and that open standards have won out over protectionism (Facebook Connect)?
Lets hope so!
Further update, this has been confrimed by Facebook's Mike Schroepfer in his developer blog posting:
http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=192 and said:
We opened Facebook Platform with a belief that community innovation can add value to users that we can't build on our own
IMHO this is a great stap forward for standards, the web and connectivity between sites!
As reported in the newspaper
Some newspaper funnies, as its Friday:
Commenting on a complaint from a Mr. Arthur Purdey about a large gas bill, a spokesman for North West Gas said, "We agree it was rather high for the time of year. It's possible Mr. Purdey has been charged for the gas used upduring the explosion that destroyed his house."
(The Daily Telegraph)
Police reveal that a woman arrested for shoplifting had a whole salami in her underwear. When asked why, she said it was because she was missing herItalian boyfriend.
(The Manchester Evening News)
Irish police are being handicapped in a search for a stolen van, because they cannot issue a description. It's a Special Branch vehicle and they don't want the public to know what it looks like.
(The Guardian)
A young girl who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth was rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coast guard spokesman commented, "This sort of thing is all too common".
(The Times)
At the height of the gale, the harbourmaster radioed a coastguard and asked him to estimate the wind speed. He replied he was sorry, but he didn't have a gauge. However, if it was any help, the wind had just blown his Land Rover off the cliff.
(Aberdeen Evening Express)
Mrs. Irene Graham of Thorpe Avenue, Boscombe, delighted the audience with her reminiscence of the German prisoner of war who was sent each week to do her garden. He was repatriated at the end of 1945, she recalled. "He'd always seemed a nice friendly chap, but when the crocuses came up in the middle of our lawn in February 1946, they spelt out 'Heil Hitler.'"
(Bournemouth Evening Echo)
Commenting on a complaint from a Mr. Arthur Purdey about a large gas bill, a spokesman for North West Gas said, "We agree it was rather high for the time of year. It's possible Mr. Purdey has been charged for the gas used upduring the explosion that destroyed his house."
(The Daily Telegraph)
Police reveal that a woman arrested for shoplifting had a whole salami in her underwear. When asked why, she said it was because she was missing herItalian boyfriend.
(The Manchester Evening News)
Irish police are being handicapped in a search for a stolen van, because they cannot issue a description. It's a Special Branch vehicle and they don't want the public to know what it looks like.
(The Guardian)
A young girl who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth was rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coast guard spokesman commented, "This sort of thing is all too common".
(The Times)
At the height of the gale, the harbourmaster radioed a coastguard and asked him to estimate the wind speed. He replied he was sorry, but he didn't have a gauge. However, if it was any help, the wind had just blown his Land Rover off the cliff.
(Aberdeen Evening Express)
Mrs. Irene Graham of Thorpe Avenue, Boscombe, delighted the audience with her reminiscence of the German prisoner of war who was sent each week to do her garden. He was repatriated at the end of 1945, she recalled. "He'd always seemed a nice friendly chap, but when the crocuses came up in the middle of our lawn in February 1946, they spelt out 'Heil Hitler.'"
(Bournemouth Evening Echo)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Meyers Briggs test your blog
For those bloggers who want a Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator psychometric test of their work, take a look at: http://www.typealyzer.com/
Stop laughing, ISTJ not funny!
Apparently I am ISTJ (The Duty Filler):
The responsible and hardworking type. They are especially attuned to the details of life and are careful about getting the facts right. Conservative by nature they are often reluctant to take any risks whatsoever. The Duty Fulfillers are happy to be let alone and to be able to work int heir own pace. They know what they have to do and how to do it.
And I can be depicted as follows:
Stop laughing, ISTJ not funny!
Never wrong for long
Happy Birthday to an innovative force in journalism and the TV channel of insomniacs...Sky News is 20 today.
No longer the teenager and now the grown-up, the 24 Hour UK news channel pioneered by Rupert Murdoch has come of age. Its also amazing to see how much TV news has come in the last 2 decades. Previously the news was dished out like my mother's cooking (at regular times during the day, in large portions I found hard to swallow all at once and often more palettable to the server than the target audience).
But now, its news on-the-go; almost drip-fed to the masses in small morsels, delivered constantly, sometimes with little attention paid to quality and with no time to think between servings. This approach often means that mistakes were made, but they are Never Wrong For Long!
However, it works and the format & pace been copied worldwide. Even the BBC followed-suit, albeit almost 8 years later, with their impressive BBC News 24 offering.
But what about the next 20 years?
Well...I do believe the future will be televised! We'll see the gradual convergence of Internet and Broadcast technologies, along with the user/viewer/consumer taking more of an active part.
Perhaps we will eventually see the appearance of 'Gargoyles' as predicted in the book Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson. These are people permanently 'wired into the Metaverse' or in modern parlance: someone with a permanent Internet connection. They are a news agent who records everything around them and uploads this data (particularly audio/visual) for its use by agencies or other organisations. The idea being that they get paid for their news-worthy clips and therefore make their living by recording as much interesting stuff as possible.
Strange? Perhaps. But not impossible!
No longer the teenager and now the grown-up, the 24 Hour UK news channel pioneered by Rupert Murdoch has come of age. Its also amazing to see how much TV news has come in the last 2 decades. Previously the news was dished out like my mother's cooking (at regular times during the day, in large portions I found hard to swallow all at once and often more palettable to the server than the target audience).
But now, its news on-the-go; almost drip-fed to the masses in small morsels, delivered constantly, sometimes with little attention paid to quality and with no time to think between servings. This approach often means that mistakes were made, but they are Never Wrong For Long!
However, it works and the format & pace been copied worldwide. Even the BBC followed-suit, albeit almost 8 years later, with their impressive BBC News 24 offering.
But what about the next 20 years?
Well...I do believe the future will be televised! We'll see the gradual convergence of Internet and Broadcast technologies, along with the user/viewer/consumer taking more of an active part.
Perhaps we will eventually see the appearance of 'Gargoyles' as predicted in the book Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson. These are people permanently 'wired into the Metaverse' or in modern parlance: someone with a permanent Internet connection. They are a news agent who records everything around them and uploads this data (particularly audio/visual) for its use by agencies or other organisations. The idea being that they get paid for their news-worthy clips and therefore make their living by recording as much interesting stuff as possible.
Strange? Perhaps. But not impossible!
I'm feeling gloomy
Its hardly suprising... given that the UK is the 10th 'most gloomiest' country right now, according to Business Week:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/01/0126_business_expectations/11.htm
However, a small ray of sunshine was demonstrated to me last weekend, when I was spending time with Ian, a friend of mine who runs the Lone Star comedy club in Folkestone Kent (Note: What a wonderful website that is). His regular monthly comedy night was a complete sell-out and what does he put it down to?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7869748.stm
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/01/0126_business_expectations/11.htm
However, a small ray of sunshine was demonstrated to me last weekend, when I was spending time with Ian, a friend of mine who runs the Lone Star comedy club in Folkestone Kent (Note: What a wonderful website that is
"Its the recession! People are down about the economy and need cheering up"At least they're not depressed... like the World apparently is:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7869748.stm
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The political social graph
I just love the Flash application from www.silobreaker.com, that shows key US Political figures and their key relationships. People with their own political social graph include:
Barack Obama
http://www.silobreaker.com/FlashNetwork.aspx?DrillDownItems=11_240886
George W Bush:
http://www.silobreaker.com/FlashNetwork.aspx?DrillDownItems=11_233177
Gordon Brown:
http://www.silobreaker.com/FlashNetwork.aspx?DrillDownItems=11_207301&q=Gordon+Brown
Not only does this show a relationship between people, it also shows the documents (news articles, postings, etc.) that link them! There's more to investigate on this website I feel....
Barack Obama
http://www.silobreaker.com/FlashNetwork.aspx?DrillDownItems=11_240886
George W Bush:
http://www.silobreaker.com/FlashNetwork.aspx?DrillDownItems=11_233177
Gordon Brown:
http://www.silobreaker.com/FlashNetwork.aspx?DrillDownItems=11_207301&q=Gordon+Brown
Not only does this show a relationship between people, it also shows the documents (news articles, postings, etc.) that link them! There's more to investigate on this website I feel....
Adverts now target YouTube audience
TV is getting more and more aware that Internet advertising is eating its lunch (Online Marketing spend is now second behind TV and now ahead of Newspaper, Radio and other main-stream media).
But you can't help but feel that recent TV adverts such as those done by T-Mobile or Cadbury's (see below) have been done as-much for their online viral capacity as for their immediate viewing impact.
Barclaycard have now gone one step further and set up a competiton for people to create their own advert, based upon the very popular (and memorable) 'waterslide' campaign.
Rather than YouTube being a Parasite, could it be that TV adverts developed for an online / multi-channel audience are the saviour of the commercial TV networks?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
T-Mobile and the buzz
Those who are not from these shores ("what shores?" I hear you ask, "a pint please" is my reply), will not have seen the flash-mob-dancers of the T-Mobile TV advert that is costing the mobile telco a fortune right now.
If you haven't seen it (or if T-Mobile haven't already copied the format to another country), take a look here:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM
So? What makes this campaign so interesting? Well its getting a lot of very positive mentions online, e.g. on Twitter:
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=t-mobile+advert
There's even a YouTube tutorial video of how to do the dance:
If you haven't seen it (or if T-Mobile haven't already copied the format to another country), take a look here:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM
So? What makes this campaign so interesting? Well its getting a lot of very positive mentions online, e.g. on Twitter:
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=t-mobile+advert
There's even a YouTube tutorial video of how to do the dance:
Why screen scraping is wrong
I've recieved a few emails following my recent post about screen scraping. Its my belief that nearly all websites that publish large amounts of data/information suffer from this at some point, so its not suprising its turned out to be a fairly popular subject.
Here's my thought about why sites need to stop this activity:
- Any user that steals your content, your hard work, your thoughts or the information you own without your permission is commiting theft. If you are charging access (subscription model) or have revenue based on views (advertising model) then this is affecting your ability to make revenue. Some markets (e.g. travel) are affected more. Blockscraping.com say:
... it's not uncommon that over seven percent of the ticket sales of a low fare
air line comes from scraper sites. - Once this content is saved somewhere else beyond your control, it can be out of date. Anyone accessing the 'scraped' information' and then coming to your site may get different information and therefore be dissappointed.
- The scraping of content (particularly automated scraping by scripts & robots) adds additional load to your website. This may affect other users (e.g. the site may be slower for them) or cost you more (bandwidth, hosting, etc.).
Monday, February 2, 2009
The return of Woolworths
It seems the passing comment from Patrick Altoft at the end of November may have been heard..and the website of 100 year old & failed retailer Woolworths looks like making a suprise re-appearance to our browsers in the Summer.
Yes, that's right. The shops may be shut now and the land sold to Icelandic Venture Capitalists, Russian football club owners and Ponzi Scheme managers, but the website looks like it will live once more if this story in The Times is correct:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5645779.ece
(Note to self: How can I read a story online with a publish date of 3rd February if today's the 2nd?)
They have already put a simple form up on http://www.woolworths.co.uk/ to ask people what they liked and disliked about Woolworths, with the openning line:
.. lets hope that haven't taken Mr Altoft's comment literally that...
Yes, that's right. The shops may be shut now and the land sold to Icelandic Venture Capitalists, Russian football club owners and Ponzi Scheme managers, but the website looks like it will live once more if this story in The Times is correct:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5645779.ece
(Note to self: How can I read a story online with a publish date of 3rd February if today's the 2nd?)
They have already put a simple form up on http://www.woolworths.co.uk/ to ask people what they liked and disliked about Woolworths, with the openning line:
We've got high hopes and big ideas for the Woolworths we want to bring back to you!
.. lets hope that haven't taken Mr Altoft's comment literally that...
They would be better setting up an affiliate link to Amazon.
Wired UK Magazine - When will it arrive?
In the middle of last year, I was very glad to hear that Wired Magazine was planning on relaunching in the UK. (For those who didn't know it had been here already, it originally launched in 1995 and closed a few years later by Conde Nast).
But since the publishing of a few articles (e.g. here in Digital Lifecycles) announcing it re-birth we've heard relatively little more about it ... until now.
An article in Press Gazette says that it will arrive on newstands (and online) on 2nd April 2009:
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=42863&c=1
(Note: Potentially still edited by David Rowan and the digital version by Holden Frith from the Times Online)
Well... lets hope this is correct and that it's the grown-up technology magazine we started reading back 14 years ago.. and doesn't instantly lose paper like its USA cousin reportedly has.
Oh, one final note:
You'd have thought they would at least have put something up on http://www.wired.co.uk/, even a link through to UK-specific articles on http://www.wired.com/ would have helped. (They do own the domain)
But since the publishing of a few articles (e.g. here in Digital Lifecycles) announcing it re-birth we've heard relatively little more about it ... until now.
An article in Press Gazette says that it will arrive on newstands (and online) on 2nd April 2009:
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=42863&c=1
(Note: Potentially still edited by David Rowan and the digital version by Holden Frith from the Times Online)
Well... lets hope this is correct and that it's the grown-up technology magazine we started reading back 14 years ago.. and doesn't instantly lose paper like its USA cousin reportedly has.
Oh, one final note:
You'd have thought they would at least have put something up on http://www.wired.co.uk/, even a link through to UK-specific articles on http://www.wired.com/ would have helped. (They do own the domain)
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