Smart brands have always recognized that successful branding and marketing comes from using a suitable mix of mediums based on an intelligent strategy. Twitter is just one such medium that can be used as a powerful tool to quickly share information, gather market intelligence and insights, and build relationships with consumers.

Consumers certainly realize the potential of Twitter, with over 155 million Tweets sent every day and over 200 million registered users, combined with the influence it played in the recent London riots – both in good and bad ways – it demonstrates how powerful this social platform can be. Read More »

Research from marketing agency MBA has found that 50% of those surveyed are in favour of shutting social networks when faced with extraordinary circumstances such as riots.

That’s a scarily large number of people out of a reasonably large survey (2,000). Luckily it comes after social media executives from Twitter, Facebook and Research in Motion met with the Home Secretary Theresa May and others and it was made clear that the government’s foolish idea of shutting social networks was not on the agenda.

Still that is a worryingly high number of people agreeing with David Cameron’s Daily Mail inspired call to shut social networks. Read More »

Other than the aggregation engine that is the Huffington Post few online only sites have managed to achieve mass market success and now Slate, one of the oldest online only magazines, has swung the axe and cut some of its most high profile staff.

Coming on the day when yet another newspaper announced it was putting up a paywall, this time the Newsquest-owned Herald in Scotland, is that another nail in the coffin of free web content? Read More »

The honeymoon period is over, you’ve spent too much time together, things aren’t how they used to be and quite honestly, you’re starting to think about the future of your relationship… with social media.

Our feelings about the social media platforms we use are changing, with Facebook perhaps losing its novelty, and new platforms evolving faster than we can sign up. What started out as a quick and easy way to keep in touch with friends and loved ones quickly turned in to something we depend on far more than we ever thought we would, with social media becoming our chosen method to organise our social lives, publicly fall out and make up, and document almost every bit of what we do. Read More »

Perhaps not too scarred from his last listening excursive, health secretary Andrew Lansley launched a crowd-sourcing initiative this week, calling on the general public and healthcare professionals to submit ideas for a series of health apps which could help improve NHS healthcare.

While Lansley has been lambasted for being seriously out of touch over his botched NHS reform plans of late, the move does touch on a wider trend in using digital technology to aid healthcare. Read More »

Wade Cothran is apparently the “Best Roommate Ever” and he’s gone viral on Twitter after his amusing expletive ridden Craigslist ad caught the attention of the likes of the Huffington Post and actor and Twitter super user Ashton Kutcher who tweeted an endorsement to his almost seven million plus followers.

This has sent Cothran’s @bestRoomyEver Twitter account skywards racking up more than 9,000 followers as he tweets away with more reasons you should let him be your room mate as he moves from Alabama to San Francisco for a new job. Read More »

On the day that Steve Jobs steps down as Apple CEO, there is lots of great Apple coverage around today showing some of the ads of Apple past and Apple’s history as presented by Steve JobsMore, but if you haven’t seen this video you really should.

It is the Original 1984 Macintosh Introduction: the magic moment, when Steve Jobs unveils the Macintosh and releases it from its bag. Read More »

As executives from Facebook, Twitter Blackberry manufacturer, Research in Motion, today meet with Home Secretary Theresa May to discuss the riots in England can we be clear here and say clearly that the idea of switching off social networks in the event of riots or social unrest is a ridiculous non-starter. It should not be entertained in anyway shape or form. Could you imagine the government also suggesting a media blackout?

It shows more than anything that the government having been initially slow to respond as the riots started, flailing around for a national response, is out of touch. Read More »

Lift: reward-based self-improvement system

Some information about the next venture by Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams have emerged, and although detail is scant, it is very intriguing.

Dubbed ‘Lift’, at the moment we are being told that it is a prototype relating to how ‘technology can help unlock human potential, especially through the use of positive reinforcement’.

Read More »

Good infographic here comparing the Top 10 social networking sites. It says they account for closing on 1.5 billion users between them, but more than a third of that, of course, belongs to one company. As well as the big names of Facebook and Twitter it looks at some of the smaller ones that still have millions of members each. The surprise is maybe that MySpace still boasts 100 million members.

It estimates that seven out of 10 web users are active on at least one social network and that nine out of 10 marketers use social networking to promote their business in some way. Take a look. Read More »