I’m doing this to raise money for charity. I lost my brother Ben to Marfan’s Syndrome three years ago and wanted to do something to a) remember him and make him proud, and b) raise money for the Marfan’s Association who help others living with the condition.
They’re a tiny charity so don’t have a Just Giving page.. so. If you’d like to sponsor me, could you please enter it into this spreadhseet, then I’ll chase you nearer the time!
Along with half the female population I can’t wait for Sex and the City 2 to hit our screens. I was dubious about a sequel but after seeing a few trailers my appetite has truly been whet! However, with my social media hat on I can’t help but notice the kind of crappy online campaign behind the film.
I suppose with over a million fans to the Facebok page they don’t have to try that hard, but surely there’s so much more they could do? Even the photos and videos are limited, never mind any competitions or exclusive interviews. It seems a shame but the wave of interest from people all over the world will, I’m sure, carry this to number one in the charts anyway. Hey ho.
Well it’s award time again and here at Wolfstar we’ve just heard we’ve been nominated in three categories in the CIPR PRide Awards; Outstanding Consultancy, Best use of social media and Outstanding Young Communicator of the Year – that’s me! I’m so flattered to have been shortlisted, I’m not sure who else is up but sure they’ll be tough competition. It’s exciting to be nominated and I can’t wait for the awards!
We went to the awards last year and had a really good time, good excuse for the team to get together, have a few drinks and let our hair down (although we don’t really need that good an excuse.. see the evidence of Jed Hallam last year. Still my favourite photo of 2008.)
So, good luck to all the other shortlisted agencies and people – look forward to seeing you all there.
I’ve been reading his blog for a while and thought I’d flag it up as a great example of using social media well, and of how to tailor your approach to your audience.
Ricky’s humour transcends through his posts and you can tell they’re genuinely from him. He’s currently filming his new movie in America, so uses the blog to diary his progress. There are loads of photographs from on set and sneaky previews of what’s to come. In addition, the blog links to all recent coverage about Ricky and Steve, and any of their ventures into TV or film.
It’s a great blog and genuinely makes me laugh out loud sometimes – especially the screensaver he’s produced, nice!
Just gutted I missed tickets for Science, so if anyone has two spare get in touch!
I have very fond memories of the Top 40 show on Radio One. I’m afraid it’s a very Peter Kay style story about me in my bedroom with an old fashioned tape recorder, trying to press pause when the presenters spoke so I had my very own Now That’s What I Call Music top 40 style medley.
I don’t listen to the Top 40 much anymore, but I was interested to hear they may have to change their system again. Only recently they started to include downloaded songs too, as the ipod took off and digital music downloads soared.
Now, with the introduction of Spotify, they may need to change it again. The Official UK Charts Company have said that music played on Spotify could start to be taken into account when compiling the Top 40. It’s going to take at last another year to develop this,. but it’s great they’re paying attention and noticing how music consumption is constantly changing. I suppose this will lead to other things like You Tube too - I know lots of my friends use You Tube to listen to music generally and as a karaoke tool on a drunken night as you can get videos with the words – it will be interesting to see how they incorporate these tools into the charts.
It was recently my mum’s birthday and she was a bit surprised when she didn’t get a card from her mum and dad (my nana and grandad). Nana is usually really organised and wouldn’t forget a card.
When we went round for a drink the next week, my grandad asked her if she’d got their card. Mum said no and it transpired they’d sent her an e-card! My nana and grandad are both online, but their knowledge generally spans booking flights on Jet 2 and checking the cinema times. However, they’d done their bit for the environment and and sent an e-card.
Mum said no, she hadn’t received it and asked which email address he’d sent it to. He said, “I tried to send it to your work email address but it kept bouncing back. So I took your surname off and it worked fine!”
Mum and I tried to explain every letter had to be right in an email address and you can’t just make it up or delete bits. They didn’t really get it.
I think their ideas about email are based on the old Royal Mail system that if you get even half the address right, the letter will EVENTUALLY get there.
Nevertheless, I thought it was a cute story worth sharing. At 72 and 69, I think they’re doing pretty well when it comes to technology (my nana knows more text speak than me) and I’ll be sure to keep an eye on my inbox for my very own e-card coming soon
I’ve just read an article in the Guardian about Marks and Spencer introducing a new, more environmentally friendly receipt using “thinner paper and 8% less pulp.”
On the surface, this sounds like a great step forward and I think M&S should be applauded for their efforts to be environmentally sound (their Plan A campaign is brilliant). However, as a cynic - one who has worked in the retail sector - I’m a bit dubious.
Is it the law for retailers to provide a receipt? I didn’t think so - if you go to a small shop or market stall you don’t get one.
Surely, if the large retailers asked each customer if they required a receipt, they would cut the number the needed printing in the first place by hundreds of thousands. I personally have about 15 receipts gathering at the bottom of my bag from lunches, drinks etc that I will inevitably bin when I have the motivation to clear out my handbag.
The supermarkets have been under a lot of pressure to cut carrier bag use, and as such have taken steps to remove them from the tills. People have to ask for bags now and this has seen numbers drop dramatically.
Could they not operate the same policy with receipts? The article says they use a lot of paper for receipts – so surely any savings would be good for the environment and for their profits? It would be interesting to find out if this is possible, and if so, why more retailers aren’t doing it.
I stumbled across this video on You Tube today and think it’s quite a cool idea! From what I can tell, this is just something someone’s created at home for a bit of fun. It has had over 200,000 views though! It’s a simple but fun use of social media – even though the girl is slightly irritating (sorry)!
It got me thinking about ways in which brands could utilise this kind of thing. Maybe they could do a similar thing but use an even more interactive medium like Kyte to allow people to ask questions and choose where to look in real time.
Has this been done before by any brands? Be interesting to see how it worked!
Well, I opened my facebook this morning to see an invite to a new event. I thought it might be a girlie night out or someone’s birthday. No. It was an invitation to a wedding. Someone who I’ve not spoken to or seen since I finished high school almost nine years ago has invited me to their wedding via facebook.
Now I love facebook and the way you can stay in touch with your friends, nosey at photos and easily invite your friends to parties with the click of a button, but surely this is too far.
Firstly, I suppose it brings up the old social media debate of ‘who is a real friend’ online? I have nothing against this guy, but we weren’t even close mates at school – let alone nine years on.
Secondly, since when did facebook become an acceptable way to mass invite people to attend the most special day of your life? Will he even recognise half the people at his wedding?
The event page wall is full of comments like ‘would love to mate but on a course’ and ‘nice 2 ere from u mate, soz can’t make it.’ Is this really a fitting rsvp for someone’s wedding?! Am I being old fashioned or is this the future?
Maybe it’s my fault for accepting the friend request in the first place. This has definitely made me think it’s time for a facebook friend cull.And when it’s my turn to get married, I’ll be sticking to hard copy invites in the post.
