Todays trending topics are unsurprisingly Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett related and the problems in Iran are still fresh in our minds so Twiday is here to cheer you up!

@glennw‘s favourites

@bowlesy:

Very sad about Michael Jackson. HABITAT – for all your furniture needs – habitat.co.uk.

@robertashley:

Robot chefs flip pancakes, creepily sort sushi and pastries: http://bit.ly/1621De

@tomkiss:

Jurassic Park Dinosaurs sound less scary when saying “Heyyyy” http://tr.im/pJn5 LOL

@rossbreadmore:

Beautifully simple solution to the problem of bulky british plugs http://bit.ly/OPIB6

@mrtomasz‘s favourites

@kerb

RIP http://bit.ly/K04J4 (via @tobybarnes)

@fionajane:

Bonnie Tyler, literal video version….awesome. http://bit.ly/Kwhw9 (FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY)

@glennw (Glenn fake retweeted me)

RT @mrtomasz: I am so funny I make everyone laugh with my tweets….even this one is funny…I made @glennw laugh so hard he puked! I rule.

@nijay‘s favourites

@alexcowell

I’m lost for words… only 30% of people know where their lungs are http://bit.ly/WW2Zp

@megpickard

…at times like these, Sky Newsreaders become like slightly upmarket QVC hosts. Having to ad lib with not enough to say.

@adamcoomes:

New Buzz Study: Iran election crisis gives media power to individuals http://bit.ly/FizJr

@misslucie:

L’Oreal are found guilty of racism, http://tinyurl.com/n85s5y. Time to ditch those products – they’re not worth it

@fionajane‘s favourites

@tweetmeme

Do U Make These 7 Common Mistakes & Bore People Half to Death? http://bit.ly/O2Exr (Take heed – good conversation tips)

@MonaWalsh‘s favourites

@marcthevet:

It’s ‘Take Your Dog to Work Day’ tomorrow! http://www.marcthevet.com/623/ Walkies #TWAGO

World’s Biggest Puppy Party #Brighton 19th Sept 2009 http://bit.ly/Dx56i

@maxwellinever

Worst Daily Mail poll ever. Vote yes to skew the results and pass it on http://bit.ly/w4b6Q

5 of the best says shame on you to Habitat and their naughty spammy ways. This weeks 5 of the rest has all the Fs Funny, Fashion and inFormative (ok that last one was pushing it a bit.)

5 of the best

Spezify

Spezify is a visual search engine that pulls in content from all sorts of social networks such as twitter, flickr and youtube. It presents this back as a collage of images. Great for getting a feel for a brand or topic however I’m not sure how realiable it will be for some terms. Let me know if you find it useful.

Spezify search for Nike

How not to use Twitter: HabitatUK as a case study

Naughty naughty habitat! A lot of spam accounts have been using a Twitter trending hashtag to give their tweets greater exposure, but this is the first time I have seen a big name business do it! Habitat have since removed the offending tweets but have yet to apologise or even admit to their spammy twitter behaviour.

Facebook readies rival to Twitter Search

Facebook are trying to take on Twitter’s real time search with a version of their own. Facebook has been sorely lacking a way of really finding out what people are talking about and with millions upon millions of users this could become a really useful tool for listening to audiences.

Facebook’s click fraud problem

Click fraud has been an issue with online advertising for a while. It now seems though that click fraud has become a major issue for people advertising on Facebook. Have any of you had a similar problem?

BooneOakley.com

Boon Oakley are an ad agency who have built their entire site out of youtube videos. Very cleverly made and a great use of social media. Really gets across their creativity and their ability to do something different.

5 of the rest

DEADLINE post-it stop motion

So, so tempted to make one of these in the office. Not sure if I could get away with pretending it was work or not though.

The Nike Experiment: How the Shoe Giant Unleashed the Power of Personal Metrics

For the runners out there. Nike+ is a really interesting way of tracking your running and getting healthier. This article explains why everyone loves it so much.

Zero Out of Five

Remember how bored you used to get in exams? Here is a blog full of very funny exam papers featuring lovely student’s (and sometimes teacher’s) doodles.

(The green pen is the teachers additions)

Writing Microcopy

Even as someone who doesn’t write much copy I found this is a really interesting article. Even the smallest bit of text can make a huge difference to how people find using your website.

Social Media Venn Diagram

A t-shirt for all you social media experts out there

Qube’s got a social media clinic at the Public Engagement Conference at the IBIS, Earls Court today.

Our MD, Andrew, did a round table (with more than 100 people, no mean feat) talking about openness, transparency and their role in helping people engage with your organisation.

It generated some very interesting discussion and showed a variety of differing opinions from people in the public sector.

Caroline Wright, Director of communications for the Department of Children, Schools and Families gave an insightful talk on exploiting digital to create dialogue and engage. She highlighted the importance of having a consistent message delivered through a number of platforms, rather than a ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy.

On a personal note, I’ve just eaten an enormous piece of chocolate cake and feel a little sick, but Glenn’s thinking of going back for seconds…

I love social media, and hate racism. Which is why I was particularly pleased when this delightfully xenophobic poll courtesy of the Daily Mail swung right back round and hit them in the face thanks to good ol’ Twitter.

The poll asks whether or not gipsies should be allowed to jump the NHS waiting list. Whether or not they should or even if the poll is politically correct is not really what I’m interested in though.

What I am interested in is how viral the poll has gone and how quickly it has achieved it. People have been sending the link around the interweb to skew the results and show the Daily Mail up. As I’m writing this, there have been 190+ retweets of it in the past 20 minutes, and it is currently number 5 on trending topics. Social Media is such a powerful tool that when people get up in arms about something, big things can happen, such as giving the impression that Daily Mail readers are perhaps more liberal minded than most may think.

I hope another paper prints a story tomorrow about how Daily Mail readers think gipsies should go straight to the front of NHS waiting list. Yay social media.

This weeks best shows off some really useful social media case studies. Using examples of how other companies have used social media is often the best way of explaining how it all works, they can also be quite inspiring. The rest has a few things to make you giggle, my favourite being the adorable party cat (he is so cute!).

5 of the best

The Top 10 Viral Marketing Campaigns Of All Time

If you are looking for inspiration on going viral look no further! My personal favourite is the football clip, pretty sure it is not 100% real.

Examples of social media success stories

The best way to explain how social media or platform works is with examples. If your client’s view on Twitter is still, “isn’t that just full of people saying what they had for breakfast.” show them what other companies, potentially their competitors, are using it for.

Guy #3

This is a great real world example of how groups can form. It usually takes a few brave people to start and join in but it can very quickly snowball. If you follow the link Seth Godin will probably explain it better

Where’s The Party?

Calsberg are just about to launch their new where’s the party phone app. You can use it to find out where the big events are and where everyone is hanging out. The site is still in Beta at the moment but it will be interesting to see what the take up is like when it launches.

6 Directions on Social Media Measurement: How Will We Come Together?

One of the big sticking points for social media for many people is still measurement. Lots of organisations have their own opinion on how it should be done, can they all come together?

5 of the rest

Party Cat

I’m not normally a fan of webcomics but this one really made me chuckle. Owning a Party Cat would be awesome! (for a while). Luka is sort of our own Party Dog, except she sleeps more than she parties.

Mind-Melting Demo Disasters

An indie record label has been going through its old demos and posting up some of the more unusual/funny/terrible ones they find. Prepare to have your musical tastes insulted.

I Stole Your Images and Now I’m Suing You

Oh internet, never change!

As a social media agency we spend a good proportion of our working day writing, listening to and reading dialogue on the web.

The written word has never been so important yet writers still struggle to get work and some clients still focus on the more graphical elements of their brands visual identity.  Nearly all of us who work at Qube have either done a creative writing course, plan to take a writing course, worked as a writer or write as a hobby. Maybe thats not unusual in our creative generation full of aspiring writers pronouncing their opinions and thoughts across blogsphere,  however we risk losing an important point, that writing – even in the form of conversation online – is still an art, and a professional art at that.

I think brand language – or as its more commonly known, brand copy – is one of the (if not the most) important aspects of brand management within a social web world.  The words you use to describe yourself, the words you use to approach people, the words you use to respond to people – and of course, the words you use to get people to find you!  We all know just how easy it is to be misconstrued on an email or across forums, its the same for any other written communication absent of visual cues.  Just see how Nick Asbury (D&AD award winner) took the most carefully thought out corporate words and re-arranged them into something completely different – and unfortunately into something way more engaging and differentiating!

Your words, more than ever before, have to deliver against relevance and interest for those on the receiving end as well as continually support your overall brand proposition and stand you apart from everyone else.  Its a tough order and it should be given the professional time and investment it deserves.

See what your brand language is telling the visitors to your site by copying the text into this basic word cloud generator.  I think Qube Media’s words on our ‘about us’ website page are spot on for the functional side of our brand – it would be interesting to do this alongside our competitors and see whether we need to work a bit more on brand language (tone and content) thats truly unique to us.

Brand language rules, don’t underestimate it!

Hey its Twiday, the Qubites have been busy tweeting and retweeting this week. Here are our highlights!

@glennw

@azaaza

Firefox just passed the 300 million user mark, with 101.2 active daily users. Go team Firefox!

@nsuttner

My waiting for Peggle iPhone paid off! It’s only a dollar right now! Mwaha! http://tr.im/oayJ (such a great game!)

@infobunny

Huh? News? Wha? http://tinyurl.com/lns9gy

@MonaWalsh

@guardiantech

Web inventor to help Downing Street open up government data http://bit.ly/15LQVL

@twago

Help us build a picture of the nations travel habits by updating yours followed by #TWAGO

@nijay

@Econsultancy

The 10 biggest lies entrepreneurs tell themselves http://bit.ly/14iSQH

@luckyshirt

Of course geniuses are depressed; stupid people don’t even realize that the Hokey Pokey ends with a preposition.

@Econsultancy

Top ten online PR fails http://bit.ly/MKwSW

@seelpod

@Annemcx

Digital Influence Mapping Project: 6 Directions on Social Media Measurement: How Will We Come Together? http://ff.im/-3QREU

Companies ignore social media and the digital consumer at their peril – Brand Republic http://ff.im/-3QBsP

@jpob

iPhone stencil kit from Design Commission (mechanical pencil included), $16.95: http://bit.ly/RQV6v

5 of the best is again rather Twitter heavy, but I guess it is still the big buzz in the world of Social Media. 5 of the rest has some real treats for you, especially check out the terribly awesome knock offs (it is also the story related to the blog title)!

5 of the best

Ten Ways To Decide If Your Business Should Tweet

If your business or client is still unsure about using Twitter this article has some short and sharp topics to help them decide.

25 Awesome Facebook Apps for Designers

25 lovely Facebook apps for showing off your art, making designs and editing photos. I personally use Picnik quite a lot and it is really good web app.

Pepsi Raw puts Twitter on its can

Pepsi’s new Raw product has put their Twitter address on the can for feedback. Anyone else spotted other examples of Twitter in the wild like this?

Twitter hype punctured by study

“According to research” Just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content, a Harvard study of 300,000 users found. Not to completely dismiss this article but,personally , I would read it with a pinch of salt.

Seventeen things that people are actually saying when they retweet others

I cant really think of any other reasons why one would retweet. This is my favourite reason, “I hope the person I’m RTing this from notices and follows me back.” Obviously I would never do that….

5 of the rest

Wolfram Alpha Is Actually a Frustrated Stand-Up Comedian

This is why Wolfram Alpha was created!

The Fringe Thing

The Fringe festival is coming up soon and to promote it they have built a real time-sink of a web game. There are a lot of things you can type into this thing. A lot!

Peter Callesen

This guy makes some really interesting artwork.

Terribly Awesome Knockoffs

This is probably the best toy I have ever seen! If anyone is going to China soon please get me one.

Robinsons and Wimbledon

I am getting quite excited that Wimbledon is just around the corner. So here is a little fact for you about Wimbledon and Robinsons fruit juice. (A Glenn fact if you will)

Twiday Twiday, dun nu nur nur nur nur. Ok so it is very hard to right down Twiday to the Stingray theme tune..maybe someone else can do a better job. Anyway, here are the Qubites favourite tweets of the last week! Would also like to welcome @fionajane to Twiday .

@glennw

@ruskin147

http://tinyurl.com/ocys47 My top ten tips for teeny tech reporters.

@Brian_Ashcraft

Green tea… Coca-Cola Plus? http://tinyurl.com/prchwr (whaaa?)

@rossbreadmore

lovely combination of QR codes and Twitter for book – keep it foolish http://bit.ly/aQh95

@seelpod

Qube are 6 years old today!!

@MonaWalsh

@qubemedia

Oooh. Facebook vs Twitter in a TV battle to see who has the most influence. Who will win? http://ow.ly/aArz

@mikebutcher

China shuts down Twitter in lead up to Tiananmen anniversary http://is.gd/MaOy (via @amanda)

@Shortlisted

I find this pic strangely calming http://imgur.com/SHmvT.jpg

@mrtomasz

@robinmatthewfry

In olden times we’d chat with our neighbours and had community spirit. Now I can go online and tell the world what d*cks my neighbours are.

@nijay

@sebleedelisle

“The Day There Was No News” this is art IMHOhttp://www.flickr.com/photo…

@seelpod

@GordonMacMillan

Harvard report: Top 10% of Twitter users ac for 90% of tweets on a typical social network http://tinyurl.com/kouaf9

@fionajane

@robclaisse

crazy parkour gymnastic dude, had to just re-watch this video for the 3rd time http://bit.ly/BV6oH

5 of the best and 5 of the rest is here on another sunny afternoon! A lovely guide to buzz monitoring tools, a hands on with Google Wave and “The Bloody Apprentice” are my highlights of the week. Comment away if you like what you read

5 of the best

Buzz Tracking And Social Media Monitoring: Best Tools To Do Ego Searching And Find Out Who Is Talking About Me – Mini-Guide

A really good list of Buzz monitoring tools with a nice table to show you the features they have.

Bing

Bing is Microsoft’s new attempt at taking the crown from Google. I was expecting just to find a re-skinned Live search, but was pleasantly surprised to find it was a nice improvement! Smooth and slick interface with a few improvements over Google’s. Will it change the habit of a lifetime? Probably not, but I would recommend at least giving it a look.

The Susan Boyle Effect: Always be prepared to monetize

An interesting look at how businesses are still not often ready to monetize their online content. ITV have missed out on a lot of money by failing to move quick enough.

10% Of Twitter Users Account For 90% Of Twitter Activity

The 80-20 ratio is normally the benchmark for these sort of things so it is interesting to see reports saying 10% of the twitter community contribute 90% of the content.

Twitlonger

For when 140 characters just aren’t quite enough.

5 of the rest

Texts from last night

A site for submitting those oh so funny late night texts. This is now my second favourite site behind notalwaysright

Cassetteboy vs The Bloody Apprentice

Cassetteboy does it again with this Apprentice remix video, very very funny!

Tweeting Too Hard

“Where self-important tweets get the recognition they deserve.” I think I will submit Mona sending herself a tweet “@monawalsh”

Google Wave hands-on: Weird and wonderful

Hands on impressions with Google’s new communication platform. There are a few naysayers out there but personally I am excited to give it a try.

KFC No Longer Permitted To Use Word ‘Eat’ In Advertisements

So funny I wish it was true!