on the face

Techcrunch vs. Iron Man

How control freakery can destroy good will in one easy lesson.

Digital nomads

I've been working my way through The Economist's special report on mobility and digital nomadism over the past few days. It's an excellent supplement that manages describe the technological and social changes being brought about by mobility in a really engaging way.

I had my own experience of being a nomad today. My wife had to head into hospital at short notice for a  small operation so I was left holding the baby...or to be more precise trying to stop the baby chewing on power cables and weeing on the carpet.

I have a few deadlines looming at the moment so I needed to do the best I could to get some work done while keeping the baby occupied. So Blackberry in hand (I've just recently started using one) we headed off to the park.

Poppy loves the swings and could play on them for hours. Once I'd got her going I could push with one hand and tap out a few messages with the other. Not the ideal way to work admittedly, but it meant I could keep an eye on what was going on and move a few things along. And afterwards she had a snooze in the sun and I could get a bit more done from a park bench. On a sunny day it beats most offices!

The only downside? When we got home I put the Blackberry on the sofa, Poppy got hold of it and decided to have a chew. Oh well.

The value of blogging

Jeff Jarvis' post today just goes to show that it's hard to make money from blogging, but you can make money because you blog.

The tweet of influence

I saw today that Hugh MacLeod has decided to move on from Twitter. That makes sense, there are so many wonderful tools and platforms for conversation out there now, it's impossible to make meaningful use of all of them. You have to pick the ones that are right for you and the community you want to be friends with.

This makes me think of the social media index my esteemed colleague Jonny put together and the discuss we had about the challenges involved in measuring influence. You might be a bit of a social media tart and have a presence on several different platforms, but does that mean you're necessary anymore influential?

I guess it comes back to the old story of finding the platforms that are right for your audience and the content to back up what you've got to say. And as Hugh's post kind of suggests, cartoons just don't work on Twitter. Yet.

Measuring social media

I went along to the Social Media Measurement Camp yesterday, gallantly compared by Will McInnes.

It was great to see such a varied mixture of people from the marketing, communications and digital spaces gathering together and talking about the different challenges they face and solutions they've discovered.

Maybe I'm biased but I was beginning to come to the conclusion that the PR industry has it particularly tough. Our classic focus on reputation management means we're trying to measure the most intangible of intangibles  - the changes in attitude, opinion felt by our audiences and stakeholders towards our clients.

It's a difficult challenge, but not impossible. I think it certainly requires us, and clients, to make a commitment to thorough audience research at the outset of the campaign to provide benchmarks and at the campaign conclusion.

I think the key is also draw a distinction between the measurement of attitude, or feelings, and active behaviour. One can be the consequence of the other and can deliver different kinds of benefits, from a long term allegiance to the brand to the purchase of a product or service. Online, everyone leaves some kind of trail and that's where the measurement opportunity lies.

I'll return to this topic again, there's plenty to talk about afterall.

The kids are alright

It's all been kicking off this week for the kids. First we had Miss Bimbo turning nine-year-olds into plastic surgery addicts. Then we had the Byron Report revealing the risks children face online. And yesterday we heard that the press have apparently been trying to buy "Pacman turned me into in an axe-wielding nutter" stories from reformed gaming addicts.

In between times we've had everyone from slick games company execs to mums with toddlers chiming in on the moral and ethical issues surrounding the debate. Personally I was pleased to see Bebo's security officer say today that social networks are taking their duty to protect younger users more seriously. I hope they follow it up with some definite action. Of course, parents, teachers and society in general all have an important role to play in making sure little Jonny and Jemima grow up to be responsible adults, but I'd like to see the industry - and particularly games companies - step-up and accept their share of the responsibility too.

It all reminds me of an interview Dave Winer gave at a tech conference a while back. He was demonstrating a rather nifty new RSS reader he'd developed that allowed you to hook-up your 68,000-inch plasma screen TV to the AP or Reuters image feeds  and use it as a giant photo frame while you weren't watching a programme. Pretty good. Someone in the  audience though asked, shouldn't we not just switch our TVs off when we're not watching them, especially at a time when we're supposed to be finding ways to save energy? Not really in the spirit of the conference admittedly, but she did have a very good point.

Dave's response? "Er...it's not really for me to think about." And fair enough I suppose. To be fair to the guy he was put on the spot and we did all want to get to the lunch break. It was the classic innovators answer: "I focus on coming up with the ideas, you guys take care of the implications."

We'll always need some of that, it's how change happens, but the trouble is I'm not sure it's enough anymore. At a time when we're being encouraged to be more open and transparent  with each other, when we're wanting to build relationships with brands, as they want to build relationships with us, when we're increasingly facing issues on a global level, from the environment to the safety of children online, I think it needs everyone to invest more in the community and take more personal responsibility. Innovators included.

Future of social networks

This piece in The Economist last week reminded me of something Doc Searls said at Le Web 3; "you might make money because you blog, but you won't make money from your blog."

He who dares...

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

- Charles Dubois

Disruptive people vs. disruptive technology

I was talking to Cedric Chambaz the other day about disruptive technology. We hit upon the argument that there's actually no such thing, actually the real catalyst for change is disruptive people. They try to look at the world from a different perspective, ask questions, challenge, explore how society is evolving and create technologies to meet its changing needs. Not technology for the sake of it, but technology that's meaningful and relevant to our lives.

I'm experiencing the disruptive people theory right now as we speak - my 10 month old daughter has just woken up and wants my attention. So I've got to end this post. Right here.

Content is king

If only they said the same about Same Difference.

Or maybe not.