I ran 12.5 miles today

Not quite half the distance I have to run in April.

Internet media has become social media

Clay Shirky, (via John Dodds): "What do businesses need to know: Businesses need to know that the old simplicities of dealing with their customers are disappearing, because customers are now able to coordinate their actions in groups......Now, thanks to social media, customers are part of active groups, groups that form and dissolve quickly in response to people's interests or needs -- most messages in this media flow within social groups, rather than from businesses to individuals."

Your brand website is less relevant than ever before

Great post from The Viral Garden on why companies should monitor what consumers are saying about them.

The conversation (still) carries on....

I especially like the Alexa graph that shows the difference in traffic between the site where Jennifer Laycock posted about Panera Bread, and the Panera bread website:

10 Reasons Business Should be Embracing Social Media

Slightly cheesy, but worthwhile rembering, from 'The Engaging Brand': 10 Reasons Business Should be Embracing Social Media

David Lynch on iPhone

“It’s such a sadness when you think you’ve seen a film in on your fucking telephone.”

Re: Mikontalo Lights preview

Here Comes Another Bubble - The Richter Scales

A few Good Creative Men

Information R/evolution

Thanks to Robin for pointing this out on Brand Republic (login required). Perfect video if you ever need to explain what tags are for.

The Zune, Widgetised

According to the New York Times, Microsoft

"is creating a social-networking site, Zune Social, to encourage the sharing of samples of songs online, even for fans who do not own a Zune player. Members of the network will also be able to use a small application on their computers to display which songs they have been listening to, and that information can be posted on certain Web sites outside the network or sent by e-mail to friends."

A bit like any number of existing web-based music applications, then.

Think About It

Hyundai USA have launched a new website, http://www.thinkaboutit.com/, which is simple, elegant and thought provoking. I like it.

Facebook: shifting mobile internet demographics?

From the Independent

...the rapidly growing popularity of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook is having a knock-on effect in the mobile sector. A spokesman for T-Mobile said six months ago the top 20 sites accessed on its network were predominantly news or adult pages and most of its users were males over 40. Yet today the most popular sites are social networking pages, triggering a demographic shift in its user base toward 20- to 30-year olds.

Do you Facebook from your mobile?

Be more like the internet

via chroma

Recruitment

I'm getting sick of being regulary phoned, spammed and accosted on LinkedIn about a 'great opportunity' with a 'top digital agency'. At least when it is via LinkedIn it is in direct response to what is essentially a limited version of my CV online. So read with interest Iain Tait's perspective:

At Poke we keep having these odd cyclical conversations about a couple of key senior people we’re trying to hire. We’re looking for entrepreneurial, operationally aware, client facing, creatively minded, inspiring, strategic folk with an interesting set of past experiences - oh and they need to love digital which is our specific bit (simple huh!). The long and short of it is that we’re trying to find creative mini-CEOs. And I don’t think we’re the only ones.

The Infinite Cat Project

www.infinitecat.com

How should brands appear on facebook?

I've made a poll on facebook to ask that very question. Click on the image to see the poll results, and read about the background here.

Facebook vs Myspace

This comment, and others on this page (Facebook registration required), indicate some of the appeal that Facebook has over Myspace:

The only reason I'm on Facebook is because most of the MySpace people are still at MySpace. Once they bring their crap here (hopefully not) I'm out. Same goes for those slideshow apps. If I want to see your pictures, I'll go to your image gallery. Don't show me a slideshow when I go to your profile!

Death of the catchphrase?

My colleague Marty posted about this rather good piece in Media Guardian. A short excerpt:

"The problem brands face is that consumers effectively have a degree in film studies," agrees Robert Senior, founding partner at Fallon, the agency behind Asda's shift in strategy. "Basically, if a brand or company doesn't have a strong moral compass - which may sound a bit pretentious - then consumers are going to stop trusting you, no matter how fancy your catchphrase is."

See also The International Database of Corporate Commands which the people at Fallon brought to my attention recently (nicely tagged under "Ad Agency Deathwatch").

15 days of fame, and counting...

Justin wears the camera 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He says this is for the rest of his life. This is Justin.tv. Meanwhile in the Guardian, Oliver Burkeman provides an overview of other exercises in boredem and banality, including cheddarvision.tv.

Orwellian scenes in Islington

George Orwell used to live in London. At 27B Canonbury Square, Islington to be precise. Not to far from my place as it happens. Within 200 yards of the flat, there are 32 CCTV cameras, scanning every move. via Gridskipper