Only weeks into the life of New Corporation’s iPad only title The Daily its editor, Jesse Angelo, has sent a memo to his editorial team telling them that they need to go beyond “scraping the web and the wires”.

What he wants to see is them out on the ground doing some reporting and finding more “compelling” stories. You would think that this is the kind of thing that would have been set out in the vision for The Daily from the start. Apparently not. Read More »

So you work in PR or Marketing (or, glory be, the Social Media Dept!) and have been given responsibility for your company’s nascent social media strategy. Sounds great – an opportunity to make a difference and play with the newest toy in the box.

But here’s a catch…the senior management team has decided that they have had enough social ‘experimentation’ over the last few years and are demanding that social media proves its value. They want results – and they don’t mean an improved brand sentiment score – they mean leads, sales and profits. Read More »

I’m no more ‘qualified’ to critique an ad than the next marketer, but I am a consumer – and it being Valentine’s Day, have fallen firmly in love with this new spot for Jim Beam, ‘Bold Choice’:

If you’re like me, the moody black and white film, emotive acting and poignant message can’t fail to impress.  Big advertising has always sold people a lifestyle rather than a product and this is no different (although Jim Beam does happen to be my favourite bourbon). Read More »

The Independent’s 20p “i” paper has a top 100 of the UK Twitterati in its issue today and it is promoting it with…100 tweets.

The paper has tweeted at all those listed in its Top 100 list as part of the promotion. It isn’t a bad list, topped as it is by Sarah Brown (@sarahbrownuk) with her 1.2 million plus followers. Read More »

Blog day 4 -  Weapon 7 has a close relationship with Bucks College. Only wise really, it was the first place I used to look when I was creative directing and looking for young talent to mould in my own ghastly image. Read More »

Very interesting update from Google. The latest extensions to its Chrome browser will block the crappy content being pumped out by content farms, which ironically are creating content based on what users are searching for.

This is going to hit the likes of Associated Content, owned by Yahoo!, Demand Media and AOL’s growing Seed operation. Read More »

Amazingly more than 71% of the US web audience is on Facebook. That is an incredible stat for a website.

It so echoes a conversation I was having a that the weekend with an American friend. Her mother and her grandmother are both on Facebook.

Some great statistics here and no surprise that 48% of the 18-34 old age goup check it when they get up groggy eyed staring at that phone. Read More »

More reports are leaking onto the web about a possible smaller and cheaper version of Apple’s iPhone, which is being dubbed the iPhone Nano.

The phone is codenamed the N97 which is oddly the name of a Nokia phone. Is Apple having a laugh at Nokia’s expense? Read More »

Investment bank JPMorgan is hoping to get some more social media action with the launch of a new fund to invest in the new way of online and digital media companies.

The fund will raise between $500m and $750m from investors, according to a report in the New York Times. Read More »

The Football Association is toughening its response to players using social media and has warned about their comments on Twitter and other social networks.

It follows Liverpool’s Ryan Babel last month being fined £10,000 for posts on Twitter featuring a mocked-up picture of referee Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United shirt and criticism of the official. Read More »