So tell me again, what exactly is Twitter?

A number of recent twitterstorms (#trafigura, #janmoir etc) have once again raised the issue, at least in the space that is occupied by the traditional media, of what is the role / point / whateverness of Twitter.  This Guardian article neatly sums up much of the argument to date.

Here is an explanation that no-one has yet proposed.  Twitter is the third wave of digital media – media that is defined not by a single  act of publication, but by multiple acts of observation.  It is a bit tricky to get your head around. Continue reading →

Because data loss happenz – how social media could help Zurich Insurance out of a tight spot

Zurich Insurance has just lost a tape on which was data on 51,000 of its customers.  I know this because I am one of them.  It is pretty major data too – bank account details, address, details of specific items insured and details on your security arrangements (safes, alarms etc).  Basically – short of handing over the keys to your house this is the next best thing, if it ends up in the wrong hands.

Luckily, there appears to be no evidence that this information has ended up in the wrong hands – according to Zurich.

What is going to be interesting is to see how this issue pans out.  Continue reading →

links for 2009-10-22

  • BREAKING: Google Announces Social Search
    This, together with the announcement that tweets are now Googleable, could be the start of something big. Google's biggest problem to datehas been the inability to penetrate social media. It looks like they are doing this hand-in-hand with trying to own people's individual social connections (i.e. Google Profile). Can see the commercial rationale here, but trying to build this wall around things could limit its social acceptibility and therefore use. There can't be conditions attached to search
    (tags: Google search social)
  • Coca-Cola launches social media campaign to spread its Open Happiness message | News | New Media Age
    This is what i call a web1.5 idea – i.e. basically a traditonal mass audience idea that uses social media channels for distribution. Interesting to watch – it may well be that its social components will not be sufficient to make it really work in these channels and it will become another one of those beached whales – a mass media idea washed-up on the social media coastline. But maybe not.
    (tags: coke campaign)

Ryan Air versus Easyjet: a clash of stories

Last night I watched the BBC Panorama programme on Ryan Air – an airline that manages to be at the same time successful but hugely unpopular.  Funnily enough it coincided with the BBC World’s Fast:track programme, with a segment (featuring yours truly) about how you can use social media to complain about travel experiences.  One of the companies featured here was Ryan’s Air’s rival Easyjet, show-casing their success in monitoring and responding to customers in Twitter – an approach to customers that is the polar opposite of Ryan Air’s. Continue reading →

#trafigura – catch it while you can

You may well know about the case last week of The Guardian versus oil trader Trafigura.  The Guardian has been running a campaign against Trafigura concerning dumping toxic waste in west Africa.  Trafigura has been very active in using legal means to prevent information about this spreading – including obtaining an injunction preventing The Guardian from reporting a question rasied on the issue in Parliament.  However, the information leaked / spread via social media, Twitter in particular, and the injunction was lifted.

My point is that this little piece of history  – i.e. the visibility of the #trafigura tag on which most of the action took place – will only last for a couple of weeks and then it will be gone.  This is because Twitter only keeps content in tags visible for this period.  I think this is a serious problem – see Twitter is making then destroying history.

Thinking the Unthinkable: Clay Shirky may be wrong (slightly)

Despite being one of the leading gurus on social media, Clay Shirky has only just started publishing his articles via a blog – and a very minimalist and basic blog it is too.  I might venture to say this illustrates my point that social media is about space rather than place – Shirky doesn’t need a fancy blog (place), all he needs is a launch pad to create and contribute to conversations (spaces). Continue reading →

The Rise of the Story or Why Social Media may Kill P&G

whats the story2(Warning – this post is 3,000 words, you may want to get a coffee)

Stories have always been a useful medium of communication – but the rise of social media has just made them essential.  If you haven’t got a good one, you could be in trouble.  Here’s why. Continue reading →

A Twitter tag is McLuhan’s light bulb

I have been working on-and-off over the last few days on a BIG POST about stories and how the social media revolution is putting the story at the centre of not just communications planning, but organisational management as well.

As part of this I was re-visting the ideas of Marshall McLuhan – author of ‘Understanding Media’  and originator of  ‘medium is the message’ idea – a phrase many use, but much less understand I suspect.  Continue reading →

#hotelwifishame – a BBC twitter experiment

I have been talking to @carmenlroberts from the BBC World Fast Track programme about social media – in particular using social media to complain.  Carmen mentioned that one of her major gripes was the cost some hotels make for use of WiFi and said she was interested to see if we could use social media channels to discover, name and shame the hotels that are charging the most.  Rumours abound of a £50 charge in some instances.

My advice was to kick things off in Twitter using the #hotelwifishame tag – and see what happens.

So here is an open invitation for anyone to use this tag to name those hotels  that you know are charging exhorbitant rates for WiFi and/or re-tweet this post to get the campaign going.  I don’t expect to threaten Twitter trending topics – but if would be good to see if we can get some results before Carmen makes her programme.  Over to you social media community.

links for 2009-09-30