Anthony Carter|November 8, 2010|0

Now the British Monarchy Has a Facebook Page

Not just satisfied with having a Twitter account it seems that the Royal Family wants to broaden their social media influence with a Facebook page. The British monarchy has had to watch their power and influence slip away over the years, but just maybe they can regain some of this with the help of social media. After all, we have seen many ordinary people find international fame with their social media antics so why not the Royal Family?

There are currently half a billion people using Facebook and there is now doubting that it is an influential social media website. To make the most of it though users have to interact with the community and inject their personality into their page. The Royal Family’s Twitter account feels more like a spam account and there is no attempt at interaction – should we dare to hope that more is going to happen with this Facebook page. It would be nice to have a few interactions with Prince Charles and having the Queen comment on my holiday pics would be nice – it probably won’t happen though.

The power of social media is increasing all the time and it can no longer be ignored by anyone who wants to build a reputation. It is getting to the stage where failure to have a Facebook page makes you a bit irrelevant. It seems that somebody in the Royal Family’s publicity team has noticed this and had decided to remedy the situation. It will be interesting to see how they make use of this page; it could probably get a lot of followers if it was handled correctly. Maybe they could provide information and pictures that are not available elsewhere – at least give something of value to those who might join.

Posted in Facebook | , , , , |
Anthony Carter|November 5, 2010|5

The Social Network Movie Depicts Mark Zuckerberg as a Strange One

The Social Network movie has been out for a few weeks now and if you haven’t seen it you should take the time. This film depicts the rise of Mark Zuckerberg from a nerdy rich kid in a prestigious college to nerdy billionaire. I had been expecting a portrayal of Zuckerberg as some type of modern day hero but he actually comes across as a complete twat in the movie – albeit a very shrewd and successful one. In this film you get the idea that the founder of Facebook is willing to do anything and backstab anyone in order to achieve his goal. The strange thing is though that there is no indication as to what this goal might be – world domination perhaps?

I have always loved movies where the underdog comes from nothing and makes it to the top. The Mark Zuckerberg story though is nothing like that – not really. He obviously had a lot of money behind him as well as all the right connections – he also went to one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. This is not a story of ‘poor boy does good’ but more ‘privileged guy benefits from his advantages’. The movie also gives the message that you have to be willing to be sneaky and ruthless if you want to be a success in the modern world – probably not the best message to be sending the kids. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that Zuckerberg is a talented guy – there is no doubt about that.

Despite the fact that this movie left me less impressed with Mark Zukerberg it is definitely one of the best films of the year so far. It is a surprisingly exciting movie despite the fact that the subject sounds a bit dry.

Posted in Social News | , |
Anthony Carter|November 4, 2010|0

UK Government Asks US to Remove Al-Qaeda Videos on YouTube

The UK government is annoyed over the number of Al-Qaeda videos available on YouTube; most of these have been posted from US websites. The government is blaming these videos for radicalising young people in the UK – these propaganda videos are blamed for encouraging a recent attack against a Labour MP. There is no doubt that these hate videos can cause a lot of harm, but there is concern about how exactly this can be handled.  The folks at YouTube do remove offending material but it usually takes quite a bit of time – during this period a video can be watched by millions of people. Some countries have responded by banning YouTube altogether, but this is unlikely to happen in the UK – it would cause an outrage.

Social media has been great for giving us all a voice. It is now possible for practically anyone to be heard by thousands if not millions of people – if you have the motivation and time you could easily raise your profile to almost celebrity status. There are also drawbacks with giving people a platform; it means that they can use this to spread heat speech or further a lunatic agenda – there will always be those poor saps who can be lured in. The rise of social media means that there is no a lot more dangerous causes to attract those who feel some dissatisfaction with their life.

The concerns voiced by the UK government are legitimate but it is hard to think of a way that things can be improved. The fact is that there is a lot more venues for hate speech than YouTube and if you close one door another one will just open. In fact pushing back against the hate mongers might be just what they want.

Posted in Youtube | , |
Anthony Carter|November 3, 2010|1

Police in the UK are to Receive Social Media Training

Social media has become an increasingly important part of our lives and evidence can be seen by the fact that it has now been decided that the UK police force should receive social media training. It hasn’t escaped the notice of the ‘boys in blue’ that citizens now spend a lot of their time on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. It is hoped that the use of this media by the police will be useful for gaining information and improving relations with the general public. Officers will be hoping that there are plenty of people online who will want to be their friends of followers.

This move by the UK police force to make more use of social media certainly makes a lot of sense. In the last year we have seen how citizens have used this technology to catch people up to no good. There have already been many examples of people doing dirty deeds that were caught on amateur video which was later posted on YouTube. You even have criminals boasting about their escapades on their Facebook page. The bad guys seem to have already developed a taste for social media so it would be remiss of the police to not get in on the act.

It would be interesting to find out what is going to be taught in these new social media courses aimed at the police force. Will they be told about how to get followers on Twitter and build a Facebook fan page? Will they be warned about not irritating their followers by tweeting too many links or acting like a spammer? Will the police start to really engage with the online community or will it just be automated tweets and updates?

Posted in Social News | , , |
Musa Aykac|October 15, 2010|15

TED is Set to Become Popular Application on iPad

TED is an extremely already one of the most influential websites in the world but it is set to increase its popularity by becoming an application on the iPad. There is also an iPhone/iPod Touch application for fans of this social media website. The stated aim of TED is to providing ‘riveting talks by remarkable people; free to the world. There is unlikely to be any other resource in the world where the most important thinkers of the modern age provide their wisdom free of charge. TED stands for ‘Technology, Entertainment, and Design’ although the subjects covered by the speakers seem to cover every conceivable subject.

There is an awful lot of junk on the web but websites like TED are pure quality; in fact it is websites like this that rekindle my belief in the great benefits of the web. The videos available on the website now run well into the hundreds and each one of them is thought provoking. When you spend some time on TED, you never leave feeling like you have just been goofing off. In fact some of these talks can be so inspirational that they can change lives forever. It is one of the few websites in the world that everyone should have in their bookmarks. This website not only provides important ideas but it also challenges our preconceived opinions – something that is becoming more important as more of us take up residence in online echo chambers.

This new TED application on the iPad is sure to be a huge hit. I would advise anyone reading to waste no time and download this one straight away before you get – you will thank me for it. You can then look forward to thousands of hours of entertainment with more on the way all the time.

Posted in News | , , , , , |
Musa Aykac|October 14, 2010|2

UK Drivers Use Update Social Media Sites While Driving

New research published by the RAC suggests that almost half of drivers will sometimes text or update their social media profiles while driving. This means that while their eyes are meant to be on the road ahead they are involved in writing messages. In the past there was a lot of fear about people using their mobile phone while driving; especially after it was discovered that this was potentially more dangerous than drunk driving. The idea that people might actually be willing to drive while updating their Twitter or FaceBook page at the same time is worrying indeed.  This is sure to lead to many accidents; in fact it likely has done this already.

Social media has become an important part of our lives; some of us devote hours each day to this world. Updating our profiles is now just something we automatically do but we have to draw the line somewhere. The fact that so many people are willing to do this while driving a car is scary. The problem is that many of us just feel compelled to respond right away when somebody sends a reply our way. Responding while driving can feel perfectly harmless; the problem is though that our eyes only have to be off the road for a couple of seconds and this could cause us to end up in a collision.

It really is reckless of us to be texting, emailing, or updating or social media websites while driving. Surely if it is that important we can pull over to the side of the road; what type of message is that important that it can’t wait a few minutes? The sad fact is that many accidents are likely to occur while we are just making some comment that is not important at all. We risk our lives and other people’s lives for nothing.

Posted in News | , , , |
Musa Aykac|October 13, 2010|1

New Digg CEO Starts Off With an Apology

The new Digg CEO has started off his stewardship with an apology to all those people who felt they were cheated by the changes and chaos of Digg 4. These are not just empty words because Matt Williams has promised to address all the complaints made by users and to bring back many of functions that were controversially removed from the site. This means that we should soon expect to see the ‘bury’ button back as well as a return to something similar to the old algorithm for determining the top story.

This backtracking by Digg will be viewed as a triumph by many of the sites most loyal users – people who recently abandoned the website because of the changes. Digg can probably expect to get most of these people back in the fold again. Others though will view this as a regressive step and will feel that Digg should have kept to their new vision. The fact is that websites need to evolve in order to stay relevant and that while change might be threatening to some people it is needed.

Digg have been a bit unfortunate because their changes were not only quite extreme but the transformation occurred along with too many technical glitches. Perhaps if the changes had been technically smoother then there would have been no need to back down. Sure people would have grumbled but they probably would have relented in the end. In fact Digg has provided the perfect example of how not to introduce a changed system – they did almost everything wrong. Change has to occur and people are always going to resist it. You beat people’s resistance by convincing them that there has been an improvement in things – Digg failed to do this and now they have to retreat.

Posted in Digg | , |
Musa Aykac|October 12, 2010|0

Microsoft Causes Confusion with Angry Birds Blunder

An apparent blunder by Microsoft has seen them advertising a popular game for their new Windows 7 phone even though they don’t actually have the rights for the game. The company used a picture of the game in their promotional material and this made many people excited about the possibility of it being available on the phone. The game in questions is Angry Birds and it is currently one of the most popular applications available. Some are questioning if this blunder was an honest mistake or if Microsoft is just desperate to promote their phone – considering this phone is unlikely to be as popular as Microsoft had been expecting.

The makers of Angry Birds were annoyed by Microsoft’s apparent lack of respect for their intellectual property. It does seem a bit inexcusable that a company as rich and powerful as Microsoft would make such a mistake – how hard can it be to find out which games will be coming to the phone? It seems suspicious and some would say that this was a deliberate ploy to mislead customers. Maybe Microsoft thought that the makers of Angry Birds would be flattered to have the association? If they did then that certainly backfired.

Now that Microsoft has claimed Angry Birds for their phone the pressure is on them now to actually get this game on the platform. Angry Birds has proved to be a real success on the iPhone and getting it for the Windows 7 phone would definitely be a great move. The way the developers responded to Microsoft’s claim about having the game already though is evidence that it is not a done deal at all. There once was a time when developers would practically beg to be on the Microsoft platform – things do seem to be changing.

Posted in News | , , , , |
Musa Aykac|October 11, 2010|2

Is Digg Turning Things Around?

Only a week ago things looked fairly bleak for Digg. This social media site seemed to be on an unstoppable downward spiral with fans deserting them and the boss Kevin Rose hinting that he wanted out. What a difference a week makes though and it now seems that Digg might not be entirely out of the game. The administrators of the website seem to have swallowed their pride and are now listening to their critics. The outcome is that people are coming back to the website and the grumbling seems to be subsiding.  In fact, for the first time in weeks when you visit Digg you don’t feel like you are looking at a disaster in progress.

When Digg introduced changes a few weeks ago things went badly; most of the users of the site hated the changes. To make matters worse, the change to Digg 4 was far from graceful; there seemed to be constant hiccups and the site was offline more than it was on. Then the usually loyal fans of the website began actually sabotaging it with criticisms and spam. It all looked pretty hopeless and Kevin Rose no longer seemed like the golden boy that many of us once viewed him as. In fact instead of everything he touched turning to gold it now seemed like it was all turning to that brown smelly stuff.

It is good to see that things are getting back on track for Digg; or maybe I’m being a bit to presumptuous here. There is no doubt that grave damage has been done to Digg’s reputation over the last few weeks but just maybe they really will turn it around. Maybe in a year’s time we will be looking back on this as the period when Digg became bigger than ever – who knows.

Posted in Digg | , |
Musa Aykac|October 8, 2010|0

Facebook Annoys Users Once Again

Once again there are concerns about a new feature that has become available on Facebook. Although this social media website continues to grow impressively they have also lost a lot of previously loyal users because of privacy fears. It seems that Facebook feel they can afford to lose these users but this newest feature once again raises fears that the social media site is getting out of control. The latest complaints occur because of a new capability called new groups application; an application that allows you to tag anyone you want to be part of a group.

The motive behind the ‘new group’s application’ is that it gives users the ability create a personal group around anything they want; you just tag the people you want to be involved. This means that you can post information about a party and tag anybody you want to invite. The problem though is that you can tag anybody you want; even though these are not people who follow you. The fear is that people can create a page devoted to anything and tag you as a member. This page could be something that is completely against your values but you will be there tagged as a member. This information can be then made public. This feature has already been used to make some celebrities look bad; one politician was tagged for a group devoted to porn.

It really does seem sometimes that Facebook doesn’t care about their users. They just bulldoze ahead with things with the arrogance that they can take the loss of people choose to abandon them. When you have half a billion users it does put you in a powerful position. The reality is though that you can push people too far and the bigger they come, the harder they fall.

Posted in Facebook | , , |