Search the blogosphere and you’ll find all sorts of advice about the ‘right’ way to use Social Media. Some of it’s rubbish and some of it’s worthwhile but the one hard and fast rule to remember is: “Use Your Common Sense”. That might seem obvious but news reports this weekend highlighted two cases of people [...]
While many areas of the print media are suffering in the current economic climate, weekly celebrity magazines continue to sell well. They may be pretty light on substance (”Is Jennifer Aniston pregnant?” they repeatedly ask on their covers – look inside and you’ll find lots of photos and no answers) and occasionally tactless (OK recently [...]
Could you help bring AudioBoo to a wider audience?
Apr 15 2009
Posted by Martin as Internet, Mobile Phones
AudioBoo has caught the imagination of a lot of people in the month since its launch. The ability to upload audio in podcast form straight from your phone to the internet is very powerful and I wrote a couple of excited pieces about it when I first signed up (here and here).
The Guardian has legitimised [...]
Let’s pretend we don’t exist – Does it matter if we’re being lied to online?
Apr 10 2009
Posted by Martin as Ethics, Internet, Manchester Social Media Cafe
As our use of the internet evolves, questions of online and offline identity become more important. Maybe a little mild deception might be fun?
Tuesday night saw the latest meeting of Manchester’s Social Media Cafe. One of the talks was run by Futuresonic festival founder Drew Hemment. Although the talk was supposed to be about the [...]
Hitting April Fool’s Gold – making a white lie work wonders
Apr 02 2009
Posted by Martin as Internet
Every year April Fools day seems to get more painful. As the number of media outlets increases through growing numbers of TV stations, radio stations and websites, not to mention personal blogs and Twitter accounts the number of April Fool jokes we’re exposed to increases. I certainly felt a bit over-exposed to poor quality April [...]
If you were launching a new service would you give it a name that sounds the same as a company already established in your chosen sector? Imagine launching a mobile phone company called ‘TeeMo Bile’ or a record label called Ee Em Eye. It’d be madness, right?
Well, a new player in the online video space [...]
“Twitter lessons” are one thing, but UK education needs to shake off its fear of anything to do with social media first.
The announcement yesterday that the UK government was planning to introduce “Twitter lessons” into British schools caused a bit of a stir online. Looking closer the story isn’t quite true, after all by the [...]
We live in exciting times. It seems like every month a new tool is released that allows us to communicate online in new and exciting ways. 12seconds and Qik (which I’ve previously covered here and here) are two of my favourite examples from the past year and they both use video in different, exciting ways. [...]
“Hello, can you hear me?” The smartphone’s weak link
Mar 15 2009
Posted by Martin as Mobile Phones, Twitter
Mobile phones have come a long way in the past five years. From the basic communications devices of yore, they have evolved into what Nokia calls “Multimedia Computers” capable of web access, good quality photos, live video broadcasting and much, much, more. There is, however, a chink in the smartphone’s armour. Something that seems to [...]
How much would you pay to read your favourite blog? Chances are it wouldn’t be much. Blogs add value to our lives but few are essential reading. Chances are though, if you really liked a blog you’d pay a small amount – maybe £5 per month? That’s £60 (82 USD) per year.
Now, how about if [...]
