Does it matter if 24% of tweets are automated

This is just one of the interesting statistics held in the recent report, Inside Twitter by Sysomos, which goes into some serious detail about this most loved and hated darling of the social media set.  There are more women twitters than men, 50% of twitterers have less than 6 followers, and Tuesday is the most active day for tweets are just a few of the facts in the report.

Regardless of this, there is a genuine question about how all of this activity is converting into revenue, and how long will it be before Twitter is replaced with the new microblogging kid on the block.  For me, both these questions are largely irrelevant as the important change is not Twitter itself, but the realisation of the value in listening and sharing small things. 

For me, I only began to understand the relevance of Twitter once I realised that it is not about what you say (or tweet), but about who you are following.  Once you begin to find tweets that interest you and stimulate your thinking, then very quickly you begin to extend your range of people you follow, and all of a sudden, it is an indispensable input to your day.  The ability to surround yourself with other people's thinking massively accelerates your ability to sort relecant from irrelevant content - it gives you focus!

So, whether Twitter continues its meteoric growth, or whether it begins to plateau and fall from grace in the style of Myspace, the essence of Twitter will live on for a very long time. 

Follow me on www.twitter.com/rosstmw and lets continue the conversation

Nokia augmented reality vision missing a trick

The new Nokia future vision video is out on YouTube of course, and shows some interesting aspects of future interaction with digital.  Digitally-enabled glasses cant be that far away (though I hope they will look better than those in the video). 

However there are two aspects that seem to me to be out of place in any vision of the medium-term future.  Firstly, it is the phone itself.  Surely, this will evolve from being the remarkably current-looking phone in the video, complete with QWERTY keypad.  And secondly, it is the complete lack of innovation in using voice as a means of control, and still relying on the phone keyboard, or manually selecing emoticons.  Voice to text, and conversely text to voice is already pretty advanced.  Anyone trying out the AT&T Labs demo will realise that the unintelligible robotic voices are a thing of the past already, and Google Voice can transcribe quickly and easily from voice into text.

Surely, language is the most natural interface we have with our external environment.  Being able to interact with the digital world simply using your voice will surely be a key indicatori of the progress we are making towards a more natural interaction with the digital world and beyond, back to reality again.

New Freelander ad is certainly not new!

I have written recently about the Olympus Pen Story, which I thought was a beautifully constructed short film.  Subsequently, someone kindly pointed out on this blog that it had been copied from an earlier Japanese film which was remarkably similar.  Now, I see that the latest Freelander ad looks like another very close copy of the same film, though with far less invention or charm in my opinion.

While I see that Olympus have now referenced the creator of "A wolf loves pork", Mr Taijin Takeuc, I am curious to see if Freelander and Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R acknowledge Mr Taijin Takeuc.  I hope that Freelander and Olympus are making an appropriate donation to support his work, as I am sure they do to their "creative" agencies. 

An old debate I am sure, but at what point does inspiration become plagiarism?

Is Google search evolving fast enough?

The latest iteration of Google search, http://www2.sandbox.google.com/, is now available for general testing.  The speed with which suggested search terms are returned is genuinely impressive, but are google now being held back by their approach to treating all information equally?  I would find the results so much more useful if they were categorised in some way, identifying those results which were created by individuals in social spaces for example, as in many instances, that is what I am now looking for.  It would be great to see the results grouped around social content, as they do for images for example, and then able to filter by type, for example reviews, microblogs, or bookmarks.

I often find myelf adapting the search terms I am using to try and identify user generated content (add "review" or "blog" to search term for example).  So Google, it would be greate if you could help me out here, and use this amazing technology you are now demonstrating to bring back more than just suggested search terms, but content types and maybe indications of influence as well.

Thanks,

Ross

Does it matter if 24% of tweets are created by bots?

This is just one of the interesting statistics held in the recent report, Inside Twitter by Sysomos, which goes into some serious detail about this most loved and hated darling of the social media set.  There are more women twitters than men, 50% of twitterers have less than 6 followers, and Tuesday is the most active day for tweets are just a few of the facts in the report.

Regardless of this, there is a genuine question about how all of this activity is converting into revenue, and how long will it be before Twitter is replaced with the new microblogging kid on the block.  For me, both these questions are largely irrelevant as the important change is not Twitter itself, but the realisation of the value in listening and sharing small things. 

For me, I only began to understand the relevance of Twitter once I realised that it is not about what you say (or tweet), but about who you are following.  Once you begin to find tweets that interest you and stimulate your thinking, then very quickly you begin to extend your range of people you follow, and all of a sudden, it is an indispensable input to your day.  The ability to surround yourself with other people's thinking massively accelerates your ability to sort relecant from irrelevant content - it gives you focus!

So, whether Twitter continues its meteoric growth, or whether it begins to plateau and fall from grace in the style of Myspace, the essence of Twitter will live on for a very long time. 

Follow me on www.twitter.com/rosstmw if you agree!

Unusable recycling bins

Usability is not just for websites you know.  The principles of usability must surely be considered in the design of any product, virtual or real.  If so, then what was going on when the recycling bins at TMW were designed.  We have had the same bins for at least a couple of years now, and still, every single day, I have to force myself to read the bins before giving up and shoving the waste in one of them.  They are just so bad, on so many levels.

Firstly, they are identical in size and shape, only differentiated since one of them has a white top and one has an orange top.  Both have large recycle logos on the front, even though one is for non recyclables.  The bin for recyclables is orange.  Why?  Since when did orange mean recylcle.  They both have words on the lid, setting out what can and also what cant be put in each bin. Yet, that serves only to further confuse having both positives and negatives on each bin.  Both the holes are the same size.  Sandwich boxes tend to be made up of plastic film and cardboard - what happens to them?  Empty drink bottles are still a bit damp - do they count as wet waste?

 So, almost every day, I need to stand in front of the bins, read the words, and still not know what to do with my sandwich box, 

Can anyone suggest any other products in your offices which are more poorly designed than these?

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Microsoft IE8 Vomit ad - no publicity is bad publicity?

Microsoft has just pulled its latest ad for IE8, OMGIGP, delightfully shorthand for – “Oh my god I'm going to puke". This is a surefire way of getting everyone to search for the ad and look at it.  Such as here on Youtube, or here on an australian news site, because of course you cant put the genie back in the internet bottle any more.  So, is it really deserving of the current outcry?

In short, I think it probably is.  It is bad on so many levels, some offensive such as the implication that it is still ok to view sites which make you vomit, as long as you do it using IE8s new private browsing function, some tasteless such as vomiting over someone, and some simply because creatively it sucks.

Is there such a thing as bad publicity today?  I dont know, but I for one feel significantly less warm towards Microsoft today than I did yesterday before I had come across their IE8 ad, and while I am now aware of IE8, I really dont feel like downloading it right now.

Is social media here to stay?

 Someone asked me the interesting question recently "Do you think social media is just a passing phase?", which made me think. Why is it that this new social behaviour online has taken off so overwhelmingly that it is now estimated that by 2010, 70 percent of all online content will be user-generated?

 Until now, communication can be seen as two broadly distinct streams - conversation and communication. Conversation being an interaction between a few people, and communication allowing a message to be broadcast to many people yet with little or no interaction.

1. Conversation has evolved to allow increasing distances to be incorporated into conversation, from talking, through the invention of the telegraph, the telephone and of course email.

2. Communication can be seen as evolving from the town crier, rapidly increasing the speed, complexity and reach of the communication.  First up was the revolution created by Johannes Gutenberg as the printing press was developed, then radio, then television and finally web.

Social media is the first time in history that the two streams have come together, allowing mass conversations to happen.  I think we are only just beginning to see the real impact of this revolution in behaviours, now we can evolve a conversation, our thinking and our perspectives not just in conversation with one or two others, but with thousands of people simultaneously.  Google Wave looks like a possible contender for the next phase in this development, but it is now just taking the principles of simultaneous massive conversations forward in more innovative ways.

So yes, I do think social media is here to stay.

If I invented a new diary, what would it look like?

What would a diary look like if someone invented it today?  A combination of blog, photosharing, video, facebook, google maps, outlook and a thousand other things too.  I have long had a vision of a tool which stores a record of my life - linking linking events, times, friends, relationships, experiences and achievements.  So far though, I have yet to find anything which really does what I want, in a way which is easy to use. 

But maybe it is coming.   I have just come across ThisMoment.  I used a recent work trip to Dubai to record of a "Moment" (Trip to Dubai) to see what it was like, and overall, it was a fairly smooth and enjoyable experience that I can see having a place in the future.  Using Facebook connect allowed me to sign in incredibly easily, and integrated seamlessly allowing me to pick up Facebook frieds, photos etc.  It is fairly thin at the moment in the sites which are integrated but hopefully this will advance over time.  It certainly shows the value of Facebook Connect and is a good start at the very least in combining images, video, contact and events/moments to create a permanent record of things.  Overlaying how you feel about a particular moment is an interesting focus, though I am not sure one which works very well yet.

It is my daughter's birthday at the weekend, and that might provide a more memorable and worthy "Moment" to create and store.

Blackberry detox

I am just back from annual holiday and this year, 2 weeks away....  Fabulous!  2 whole weeks. So, as I set off, I dutifully turn off the blackberry email push.

Oh.  No flashing red light,  I still find myself checking email, even though it has been switched off

Email has come to mean that I am wanted, needed, valued. With no emails, then have I become superfluous?  What is going on?  How is everything going?  Of course, the bigger question is why should I care when I am on a Greek beach for the next two weeks, but I have become so used to being plugged into what is going on almost 24 hours a day that becoming unplugged is incredibly difficult. 

Our pace of life at work has accelerated such that I expect to be plugged in almost 24 hours a day. Blackberries allow us to take our office with us wherever we go, at any time. We are never away from the office, and never unable to answer questions. Add in twitter and facebook updates on your mobile, and a holiday quickly becomes merely a change in location.

So, I went cold turkey on the blackberry, and it took a few days, but I did manage to wean myself off blackberry dependency and eventually thoroughly enjoyed the freedom from emails.  Have I changed my blackberry habits after returning though?  Try emailing me after 9pm and see!

The Apprentice is the future of TV

I have watched the apprentice, as many of us have, for several seasons now.  Last week brought a whole new dimension to the experience.  At the start of the programme,  the BBC encouraged me to play along with the Apprentice Predictor.,  This allowed me to vote at any time on who I thought would be fired, to change my vote at any point, but most importantly, to see how everyone else was voting at any one time.  A careless or mindless comment, and their popularity for being the next to be fired could shoot up by 10 or 20%.  You can instantaneously see whether you agree or disagree with the rest of the world.  It really did make the programme much more entertaining and engaging.

 And I see that Samsung is already adding in Twitter to its new range of TVs.   Services like Joost already allow you to share your viewing experiences online, and this is one more step to sharing your TV viewing with your friends without having them clutter your lounge and empty your fridge of beers.  TV is adapting to social media, and potentially making the experience much more compelling and complete.

Lorraine next for the chop!

Business cards and twitter addresses

Business cards in today's digital age seem so anachronistic, and yet there is still a warmth in the reality of the protocol of exchanging business cards which just wouldnt be the same if you merely touch phones or some such digital equivalent.  And yet, business cards still need to move with the times.  Having taken on a new role, I am getting new cards and the old ones seem a bit out of date really.  Web address and email are of course entirely appropriate ways of enabling direct contact, but that hardly covers the multitude of channels that have now exploded as ways of following, networking or sharing a future relationship.  And yet, where do you draw the line. 

First up seems to add a @twitter address.  How do you format this though?  Just @rosstmw?  or www.twitter.com/rosstmw? or Twitter: @rosstmw? or variants such as Follow me @rosstmw?  Next up would then be the blog address, but for this blog, I would need an extension to my busines card.  Linkedin profile?  Seems sensible, but then you can find the linkedin address from the email address, so that doesnt really seem as essential.

And then the more extreme versions: flickr accounts, plaxo, youtube, delicious.  What about your ebay store page even?

 I can already see examples of cards where the whole of the back is taken up with contact suggestions.  At the end of the day though, while all of these are potentially very worthy, do you really need to advertise all these to people the first time you meet? Maybe a better way is for all the elements of your digital life to link together.  The best example I have come across is this, the Google Me business card, though unfortunately, it will never work for me!

Surely Disney can do better than this....?

 I just received an email from Disney, addressed to "Dear Family".  Not a great start is it.  The email itself consists of just a couple of large images, with all the text in the image, and with the main call to action to "Play the game.  Check out your personal code and see if you're a winner".  This takes you through to a massively underwhelming landing page, dominated by disney images, but with a small text box suggesting you can now get your code.  Usability is dreadful, design is poor and overall the experience leaves me feeling worse about Disney than when I started.  I am sure they will get a strong overall response to the campaign, sufficient to claim it as a success, simply due to the strength of people's affection for Disney, but I am sure that long term it is damaging to one of the most valuable and loved brands in the world. After the campaign, I am less likely to engage with any future communications from Disney, and certainly feel less inclined to visit Disneyland. Despite my click counting towards the success of the campaign, long term, the damage is done.

Augmented reality through mobile phones

Nokia has announced a new service now available on several of its existing phones - Nokia Point and Shoot. Although only in Beta, it seems to be going in the same direction as Google's mobile platforms on the G1 which support applications such as ShopSavvy and Wikitude, which allow images from the camera to be interpreted by the phone, combined with additional information such as location, and other internet content.

Increasingly, mobiles will allow us to interact intelligently with real world objects.  Snap the bus stop outside work, and you could be told when the next bus will be along to take you home. Snap the TV, and you could get a list of what is on and when, and what your friends are already watching (see my earlier post!). The opportunity to use your mobile phone as a means of identifying and interacting with the real world will create enormous opportunities in the coming years.

And as mobiles become more powerful, and more capable of interpreting images,  then how far can this capability be pushed?  What if your phone accurately interpret your voice, or even read lips.  Only a small leap forward from image recognition to simple movement recognition surely. There is a lot of work going on at the moment to remove the dependency on the keyboard as the main internet interface.  Lip reading would be an amazing way of allowing us to interact more naturally with the web....

Trans-generational influence - or when did my 6-year old son's brand choices become cool?

I just purchased my first ever pair of Geox shoes.  Fans of childrens' Saturday morning television will probably recognise the brand of shoes that breathes.  The first pair of Geox shoes for myself that is, as my son, 6, has already had several pairs.  He is a big fan of the shoes, but since when was his choice of brands influencing my own choice of footwear? 

My father used to use (and vigorously encourage me to use) Kiwi shoe polish.  I have been through a long phase of not really polishing shoes at all, simply throwing them away when they get too tatty to wear.  However, can I now appreciate the pleasure of polishing shoes as well as polished shoes, and Kiwi is really the only polish to choose.  Part of the pleasure of this is the evocation of times past and the appreciation of those values.

I am still immune, as far as I can tell, to the charms of High Street Musical 3, and Marks and Spencer cardigans, but is this only a matter of time?  As we go through life, we continually become susceptible to influence from new directions, from both older and younger generations.  The interesting question for marketing is when are people most susceptible to these influences from both below and above?  At what point do the choices of both younger and older generations become desirable?  And when are you likely to find me in a Ben 10 t-shirt and a navy cardie, sat in my slippers and playing Bakugan?