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Digital RoundUP 18/02/2013

Pedrom Pourkashanian — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:36:35 +0000

Welcome to a new feature from the PushON team, every Monday we will be putting our Digital RoundUP blog online. This is your chance to catch up on the news from the last 7 days within the digital sector.

Mailbox Email App Release

To start the week off, we were given the opportunity to test out the latest Mailbox app to be released on the iPhone.

After reading the article in Mashable we signed up for the app using the reservation system they initially set up. Once the app was released onto the app store we were up and running within 24 hours in the queue, starting at 6,000 with 600,000+ people behind, all waiting to see what the hype around the app was about. Due to this long drawn out process we heard mixed opinions from people about having to wait this long to use an app, with Arj in the office starting at around 950,000 and only just passing 600,000 today (some 7 days later).

The app is great for Gmail users as it instantly encourages you to tidy up your inbox, sorting through all the archived emails and spam in one go. When starting up, I was prompted with the information that I had 1,500 unread emails (I’m blaming the iPhone Mail app for this). After a few hours sorting through all the emails, I was informed that within ‘Settings‘ you could change the ‘Badge Count‘ to ‘Show 1 for new messages‘, a quick fix for those who don’t have the time to trawl through the 100′s of unread emails that have been archived through the iPhones original ’Mail‘ app.

Another useful tool built into the ‘Settings‘, is the Snoozes option, where you can Start your day at say 8:00 AM, Start the weekend at 10:00 AM and End your day at 6:00 PM to ensure that you are not overrun with constant notifications once you are out of work hours.

Overall, the app is the perfect alternative to the iPhone’s built in Mail app and provides some stiff competition and potential features for iPhone to mull over if they want to improve their services. The ease of swiping right to save or delete and swiping left to archive or remind yourself at a later date is a real dream to use and it will have you swiping from right to left all day.

We give this app a 4 out of 5, if you didn’t have to wait to use it then we would give it 5 out of 5.

Download Mailbox here and get to the back of the queue!

Lego forces management to sit social exams

Lego’s director of social media Lars Silberbauer said that “everyone in a company needs to get what it is to be social”.

Anyone who uses social media at Lego were already subjected to a development programme. Participants undertake a day-long course which culminates in a theoretical and practical exam.

Silberbauer emphasised the value of social media;

“We have four ways of creating value out of creating engagement,” he said. “Increasing sales, becoming more efficient in our marketing, building brand affinity and protecting our brand via social media.”

Yandex passes Bing to become 4^th Largest Search Engine

Yandex (the Russian search engine) surpasses Microsoft’s Bing on the number of monthly search queries worldwide. Bing did 4.477 billion queries and Yandex did 4.844 billion, although both were eclipsed by Google with 114.73 billion queries and a 65.2% market share.

In third place was the Chinese search engine Baidu, so what does this all mean?

Put simply, the audience growth in Russia is on an upward trajectory whereas in the Western markets it has somewhat stagnated. 2013 could prove to be Bing’s toughest year.

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Events next week

rebeccarae — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:52:26 +0000

On Monday it’s Valentine’s day. And you know what that means? Yes, its the DMEX: social media for freelancers event at the Macdonald Townhouse Hotel. Go to learn about social media basics, and maybe hook up.

Then on Tuesday, Preston types get down to the New Continental Pub at 6:30 for The Preston Social. It’s designed to bring together those interested in social and digital media from the local area to learn, teach and meet each other.

Wednesday is for those of you thinking of entering the Big Chip awards. It’ll give you a chance to get some tips on entering followed by drinks and networking. This is at Bar 38 from 6.

For a full calendar of events, look on our design and digital events calendar
If you want your event added, contact Rebecca on info@pushon.co.uk

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Social Media Policies & their importance for us all…

Guest — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:33:54 +0000

As we embrace the ever-changing environment of web 2.0, and come into contact with it more and more during our day-to-day lives, one thing that stands out is that social networks are proliferating. Not only in the number of them that exist but with the user base that exists on them. According to a study by Nielsen in April 2010:

22% of all time spent on the Internet worldwide is on a social network
75% of Internet users visit a social network or blog when they go online (24% increase from last year)
The average worldwide user now spends 6 hours using social networks a month, this was only 3 and a half hours last year (66% increase)

I’ve noticed this change, 3 years ago I would have never thought that I would have to one day explain to my [rather upset] mother why I ‘ignored’ her friend request on Facebook…

With this proliferation, comes the extent to which these social networks are encroaching on peoples lives. One question that business leaders are asking themselves nowadays is, whether or not they should seek to stop their employees using their social networks (which has happened increasingly with the rise in smartphone penetrations) or embrace it.

One area where this becomes apparent is when you recognise that many of the world’s largest multinational corporations have embraced these networks and empowered their employee base on them, to use them to greater effect. Many times embracing these networks have shown positive changes in the way that they conduct business. There are numerous examples of this, many of which are recorded on the Social Media Governance Database. Some of the companies have social media policies to steal from these, plus others, are summarised below:

Dell – Have invested large amounts of money into building a cross-platform community, this includes: Numerous Twitter usernames (for each country, as well as for different areas of business), a very active presence on Facebook, and host a growing network of blogs.

Intel - Like Dell, have fully embraced social media usage across their company. The foundations of this started with the creation of Intelpedia, a team based collaboration in the form of a wiki which now holds some 15,000 articles. The development of this eventually led to the establishment of the Social Media Guidelines (now, impressively, available in over 35 languages). And most interestingly the creation of the Social Media Center of Excellence demonstrated the impact of social media on Intel, where a multi-disciplined team with knowledge spanning legal, marketing, PR and web-based communications was formed in order to establish protocols and strategies for Intel employees and their use of social media tools. Furthermore, Intel’s benefits from using social media has been proved by the introduction of the Digital IQ certificate offered to their employees, the content of this course is explained in more detail here. One key learning here is their views on moderation and their Good, the Bad, but not the Ugly framework – simply put, if content is good or bad then it is approved (you should not dissaprove negative content, it could lead to vital learnings about your company) however, if content is ‘ugly’ offensive or discriminatory then dissaprove it.

Kodak – If you’re looking for a concise introduction to social media from the perspective of a global brand, whilst also gaining tips and insights into how they approach it as a corporation then the most all encompassing guide would be Kodak’s.

And, (rather bizarrely) the US Air Force – Where some companies have detailed their policies through practice and the development of schemes, others, such as the US Air Force (of all people!), have formalized their practices in a framework widely referenced in the digital circuit. Their approach the social media as a whole should also be praised for their forward looking stance, especially when existing as an entirely different organisation as the others listed here. Their reason for the adoption of social media protocols can be understood by Colonel Caldwell’s (acting Director of Public Affairs) realisation that ’75% of Airmen use Myspace, 70% use Youtube and 50% use Facebook’ (a number that has no doubt grown since that interview) and his wish to have “330,000 people [the entirety of the US Air Force] to be in Public Affairs”.

I know what you’re thinking, “knowing all this is great, but what does it mean for me?”. Well if, or more appropriately, when you embrace social media I would take away some of the common themes that arise in all social media engagement guidelines that I have come across, these are:

Be Yourself – When posting online ensure that you always name yourself (and job title/position, if appropriate) and are open about who you are. Remember, you are engaging people on a ‘social level’ – speak to them as you would in person. Hopefully it goes without saying that ‘gansta’ or ‘txt’ speak probably won’t be understood by all, so ‘avoid spkin n a wy ppl wnt undrstnd’…

Cite Your Sources – If you’ve gained the information/opinions that you’re writing about from somewhere then tell people where to find it by linking to it, give them the credit they deserve. It’s worth noting here that passing work/information off as your own is a big no no in social media, don’t do it – you will be found out!

Authorship – Take ownership of what you’re saying, the content you post is your own. Some of the major brands also say that when in doubt here post a disclaimer alongside your message,Intel’s suggest using this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent Intel’s positions, strategies, or opinions.”

Don’t Denigrate – Avoid conflict with others and as with most professional conversations avoid politics and religion. Remember that in the digital realm it is very hard to remove what you publish once published, and sometimes simple deleting content can have even worse consequences. Be mindful that what you publish will be widely accessible, and will be around for a long time.

Add value – IBM are considered social media policy pioneers and their view on adding value is one to learn from. They state that if information: ‘Will help people do their jobs and solve problems, improve knowledge and skills, contributes to your companies products or services, promotes your companies values or builds a sense of community’, then it is ‘adding value’.

Sometimes Everybody is Wrong… – Did you post something that has since been disproved? If so, don’t be afraid to follow up a blog post explaining this and admitting that you were wrong. As it has been stated before, treat it as though you would in real life.

PushON’s Recommendations for starting out in Social Media are:

Get Involved – Like so many other aspects of online and digital marketing the best advice is to simply use it and learn as you go along, you’ll be surprised how quickly you pick it up.

Create Accounts (Even just to have a play) – My suggestions would be to create a Twitter and Facebook account (if you haven’t already then get with the times, I mean my mum is on it, come on!). If you want to get more adventurous then have a play with the newer social networks too such as Gowalla and FourSquare.

Download Social Media Client[s] – There are lots out there so have a look around everybody has their own preferences, personally I use Tweetdeck which is the market share leader and is also used by the majority of PushON staff (there are versions for your PC, Mac, smartphone, iPad etc). This client can add columns from a variety of social media networks including: Twitter, Facebook and FourSquare amongst others…

Manage You Accounts - If you begin getting experienced with social media then you may find yourself using multiple accounts for each network. Please take my advice and be careful which account you are posting on. Nothing’s worse than accidently telling your entire corporate followbase that “you got so drunk you vommited on your neighbours cat last night…”

Post Frequently – The SEO’s reading this will know how important this helps to gain ranking, but think of it this way: If you’re going for a beer and looking for some company, are you more likely to invite the person that you go out with on a regular occasion and that will have stuff to talk about, or the one that you see rarely and that never replies to your texts? Catch my drift?…

Be Interesting – One of the best ways I’ve gained a good follower base on Twitter is by posting (and retweeting) stuff that I read and find interesting, whether this is on social media methods, riding your bike, or your collection of old crisp packets – you’d be surprised how many people there are out there interested in the same things.

Respond – Remember that one important thing about social media is that it’s ‘social’, so respond to people is they have questions, or strike up conversations with people that have posted something of interest to you.

Whilst in the bigger organisations social media governance has become a key area of consideration for the legal teams. Smaller organisations might not have quite such a rigorous approach, but that still doesn’t mean that you should disregard it. Being mindful of your own and your employees’ actions whilst in your business context is one of the oldest good management styles, and these days this expands into the social media realm.

By learning from these examples, following the guidelines set out above and by implementing your own Social Media Policy you could avoid any disastrous consequences developing from social media usage, and “who knows?” you could learn something…

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Online Marketing Courses

Katrina Gallagher — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:53:36 +0000

Simon and myself are both presenting tonight at different locations in Manchester.

Simon will be talking about the SEO Principles at Manchester Central Library at 5.30pm for Manchester Digital Development Agency (MDDA), and I’ll be talking to small business owners about Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing at 5.30pm at St Peters High, Levenshulme for Blue Orchid training.

I’ve added the presentation slides for both training courses for those who attend.

Seo Principles

PushOn PPC Presentation

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A week with Google

Guest — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:42:30 +0000

Last week I was invited to attend two Google seminars in Manchester. The first was a newly launched Google Analytics training session hosted by Google’s Manchester based Agency Relationships Team, the other was a Google Tech Talk aimed at giving Manchester computer science students a ‘look under the bonnet’ of how the worlds favorite search engine is built.

Google Analytics Training

Google offer Analytics as a free package with little or no support packages. Their philosophy is to offer it free with no support rather then to charge users and employ support staff. So under the premise that Google offer no support it was a rare opportunity to be invited to the first free UK Analytics training session. On hand were Google’s Manchester office staff and one of Google’s Authorised Analytics Consultants, Omega Digital Media.

The session looked at Analytics integration with other Google products, such as Adwords, Maps and Checkout, along with a quick overview of some of the new features promised in the next version of Analytics. The team from Omega also covered a lot of common implementation issues with Analytics, like tracking traffic between two domains and issues arising form having multiple tracking software in place. This went down really well with all that attended and the Q&A session gave a real insight into the scalability of Analytics; from small sites and blogs to massive e-commerce solutions.

Google Tech Talk

This was a quick look at how Google actually use a lot of the Software Engineering theory taught to computer science students in Manchester to solve complex problems faced at Google, this came as quite a surprise to many students (and some of the lecturers!) David Singleton, Mobile engineer at Google London, went through a few worked examples of Google technology uncovered:

Spelling Correction – Based on Bayesian probability theory
Google Recommended News – Uses Naive Hash Functions (Modular Arithmetic)
1-800-GOOG-411 – Using Finite State Machines and speech recognition using spectral analysis

The Tech Talk team were a group of Google software engineers who had a wide range of experience working within the industry. They were mainly based in Zürich, Google’s software engineering home where their staff are fondly referred to as ‘Zooglers‘.

So what did I learn?

Well this week I had a unique experience to see Google from two very different angles. It helped me to understand Google’s mission statement a little better

“Organising the worlds information and making it universally accessible and useful.”

I learnt that Google aren’t going away, that they have some fantastic products available with some very interesting ones shortly to come to market. Pair that with the fact that they are recruiting heavily some of the best talent from the UK and across the world and the only conclusion I can come to is – The future looks even brighter for Google.

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