More of This

This week saw political figures respond to questions asked by social network users. Barak Obama spent half an hour answering a variety of questions from Youtube users. While he was only able to answer a few of the 11,696 questions asked it was great to see the president of the United States taking the time to respond directly to his citizens. The video has received almost half a million views and has over 9,000 comments. That shows a great level of discussion and influence with a smart piece of crowd sourcing.

Over in the UK Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was taking part in a similar endeavor. Reddit users had been asked to submit questions for Nick and then vote up their most popular questions. Mr Clegg then answered these questions in a refreshingly under produced Youtube video. It was great to see a party leader taking the time to go into other communities and get involved in discussions.

David Cameron has also taken some time to answer user submitted questions. Although the Liberal Democrats approach of going into existing communities may be preferential to some, it is great to see the Tories taking this action (they also have a nice and slick system for submitting and voting for comments).

Why is this worthwhile? A couple of Youtube comments from Nick Cleggs Reddit video make it perfectly clear why.

The next step is for the parties to get involved in these comments on their own videos

Less of This

Labour have a bunch of “tools for your website” on their official site. Rather than focus on their own policies they seem to have taken the school boy approach of throwing insults. There are a series of “satirical” widgets that you can install on your site to show txt speak conversations from the Conservatives. Hardly the most thought provoking or conversation starting stuff. Instead of creating fake conversations for your site perhaps they should help voters engage in real conversations with the party?

Have a look at the offending item below and let us know what you think. How do you think the political parties should be using social media?

5 of the best

Data.gov.uk

Probably the biggest news of the last week was the government launching data.gov an online platform for all its publicly available data. On a basic level this means you could search the site rather than submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act. On a more exciting level it means developers can use this data to create interesting applications and websites. Check out a couple of websites that have already been built Safer Streets and Where Does My Money Go.

Test Tube

Just like Google uses its Labs to show off new ideas and experiments Youtube is doing the same with Test Tube. Insights for Audience and Comments search are really useful for finding out what the Youtube audience is interested  in and talking about.

Preparing for the Launch of the Games and Applications Dashboards

Prepare for another change to how you use Facebook. The current Facebook interface for applications and games has always felt a little makeshift. Now Facebook have created a special dashboard for users to get all of their information in one place. Hopefully this will mean I stop getting ugly duckling gifts on my wall, thanks mum.

Does your company really want to hang out with me?

A succinct and spot on observation of how some businesses still use Social Media. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard Social Media referred to as “A marketing channel” or “promotional tool”. Stop trying to push your message for just one minute and actually listen to what the people you are shouting at want to say.

Your State of the Union

Even with data.gov it looks as though our government is still playing catchup with America. Not only will this years Citizens address be streamed live on Youtube, but users will be able to submit questions to President Obama! Users can then vote on their favourite questions and some of the highest rated will be asked to him the following week. Now that is Social Media!

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Charlie Simpson -  Just Giving

This young man wanted to raise some money for the people of Haiti with a sponsored bike ride. He set himself a target of £500, a whopping target for any one child to raise (I think the most I managed was £50 for a junior fun run.) He has now raised over £160k not bad…not bad at all Charlie. An amazing achievement, but I wouldn’t hire him as my financial forecaster.

Music spies a Spotify sunrise

We are big fans of Spotify here in the Qube office, but have often wondered whether or not it is financially viable. Well it seems the answer is yes and no. Other than the UK and Spain subscription levels are good, but us Brits don’t mind persevering through adverts to get ourselves a bargain. Personally I would like to see more features for my £10 a month. What would get you to upgrade to a Spotify premium account?

Billy Moyers interviews David Simon (creator of the Wire)

If you are a big fan of The Wire this is a must watch. If you haven’t seen it yet this video does contain spoilers…so don’t watch it, just go buy the complete box set here (Do we get commission for this?). You can thank me later .

Functional – why simple, small and cheap appeals to all

Some great examples of why cheap and simple works! Sometimes the best solution is the simplest.

TV shows on Youtube

Not sure how new this is but I just found that Channel 4 and 5 have put all their on demand shows on Youtube. Seems like a smart idea to me. It is a shame that they have disabled comments on the videos though, would be a great way to create conversations and get feedback on episodes.

5 of the best

Old people talking about Facebook Exodus

Apparently teenagers are leaving Facebook as it is too full of adults, who wants their mum checking their Facebook wall after all. Anecdotally I don’t see much evidence to back this up, most teenagers I know cant seem to get enough Facebook! There are also a bunch of Youtube opinion videos from teenagers for some interesting insight. One thing I would say to many of those complaints against Facebook is that it is just a tool. A tool that is only as good as what you do with it, so if someones status updates annoy you just un-friend them. (more insightful Facebook advice is available on request )

The Whuffie Bank

A virtual bank, but not for your money. The Whuffie Bank is building a new currency based on our reputations. Twitter and Facebook are making our online reputation really important, we all excerpt our own influence over groups of people in different ways. This site offers you a way of turning your reputation into a currency that can be traded and used for … well whatever someone is willing to give you for it. I first scoffed at this site and thought “It will never take off”, but then I tried to be a bit more open minded about it. The money we use today is just a system we all believe in and use, what is to say a new virtual currency couldn’t exist and do the same? Food for thought.

YouTube to introduce live sports coverage

Youtube will start showing live sports shows, only Cricket for now but this marks an interesting move for the video sharing site. Obviously this means you can watch it anywhere without a TV licence, but what does it mean for the product? One of Youtube’s main features is the ability to rate and comment. This could be the beginning of live sport becoming social in a big way.

Virtual game purchases benefit Haiti Relief Fund

The recent events in Haiti have been tragic and is something we all need to help with. Whenever such atrocities happen companies often donate large sums of money, but more importantly those companies use their influence to encourage others to help. Hugely popular Facebook game Farmville has recently added some virtual items that can be purchased to support the Haiti Relief Fund. I think this is a great idea and something all people and businesses of influence should be encouraged to do. Think about how you can use your influence to help others when they need it most.

Manchester United bans players from using Twitter

After some high profile Twitter gaffs from professional footballers Man Utd have banned their players from having a presence on social networking sites. It is a shame that the club feels the need to control the PR of their players so heavily. The nice thing about footballers being allowed to use these networks is it actually made them appear as real people, with real faults. It also gave them direct contact with the fans who help pay their wages, something that is surprisingly lacking in the modern game.

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Silicone ‘clay’ lets consumers modify troublesome products

If the product you bought doesn’t quite fit the bill, maybe you can customise it? This stuff looks a bit like silly putty to me, but hey maybe it is just what I need to fix my action mans broken arm.

Crayola Color Chart, 1903-2010

How Crayola’s colours have evolved over the year. I like cool looking diagrams .

Crappy Taxidermy

This is a weird and slightly creepy site. Probably not for everyone and the title pretty much says it all.

Love Money

I have been whining about lack of really good online banking tools for a while, it looks like the banks aren’t listening but at least someone is! Love Money requires you put in your account name and password (which is a little scary) but in return offers you a financial breakdown of your spending in a really useful way. You can even set personal savings goals for it to track. Definitely one to watch.

Irrational Behaviour

For anyone interesting in videogames especially those create by Ken Levine (System Shock, Bioshock, X-com) should go check out Irrational games new website and should definatly check out their new podcast. A great example of how to do a company podcast and how to make it interesting.

Its 2010! We are now in the future, hooray. Lets kick off the year with a nice 5 of the best blog. Please comment below on your favourite stories .

5 of the best

4chan Presents: YouTube Porn Day

Today is Youtube Porn day! 4chan has often been a force to be reckoned with, as creators of some of the biggest internet memes they really know how to create a social movement. So whether or not you agree with their latest campaign or the reasons behind it, you have to marvel at 4chans ability to mobilise large amounts of people in such a short space of time.

Social Network Removes 5,000 Users For Putting On Weight During Holiday Season

If you put any weight on during the Christmas season you may not be eligible for the Beautiful People social network. Robert Hintze, Founder “Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.”

Social media challenges social rules

How have you found social media changing the social rules and your social interactions? I have found myself using Facebook at the dinner table or immidiatly tweeting a quote from somebody, I wonder how these networks and our constant access to them is changing how we interact with people.

Personalised Newspaper target young readers

With more and more people getting their news online these days it is easy to see why newspaper moguls like Mr Murdoch are scared of their paper empire folding. The personalised newspaper idea has been floated around a few times and to my knowledge with little success. Also a lot of people are getting their news up to the minute from their peers through services like Twitter, is there still a space for this sort of thing?

The 100 Most Social Brands of 2009

An interesting list, but as I don’t see Qube Media on there I doubt its validity .

5 of the rest

Regretsy

Etsy is a great website that allows creative types to sell their wares. There are some truly great and unique items on their, however there are some items that are perhaps not so great (but still unique!).

This is Photobomb

Putting bunny ears behind someones head is so last decade!

Things You Saw In A Movie

Ever been watching a film and wondered where you could also get the same treadmill used by Will Smith in I am Legend? Well now you can! The site is a little bare at the moment, but give it some time and this could be a really useful resource for perfectly recreating that scene in Ferris Bueller where he uses a dummy on a string to convince his parents he is still asleep! (That’s my dream prank…)

Nexus One

The Android vs iPhone war wages on as Google announces it is moving into the mobile hardware market with its new phone, the Nexus One. I’m not sure it is a game changer for the phone industry, but anything that creates strong competition in a market is good for all of us with a pinchant for sexy smart phones.

Peter Griffin uses Grand Theft Auto as a driving tutorial

This is how I learnt to drive and also how to deal with people. Who says videogames aren’t educational!

5 of the best

Facebook cracks down on ads, developers left out in the cold

Facebook has been cracking down on adverts that are against its policy, this has unfortunately led to some developers having their Facebook apps shut down. There will always be a conflict between having an open platform and keeping everyone happy, where does the balance lie?

Uk Tribes

Youth culture is big, always has been and always will be. As an outsider understanding the different tribes is really important especially if you want to engage with them. This is a really interesting site to help you understand exactly what the kids are into.

The History and Evolution of Social Media

It is really amazing to see how far we have come in such a short space of time! Just over five years ago there wasn’t even a Facebook.

Advertising moving online – but where?

@brightonargusjo gives her two pence on online advertising, there are some interesting comments worth reading as well!

New Look on youtube

Stumbled across New Look’s Youtube channel the other day. It is great to see big name brands creating branded communities that aren’t just about pushing their own agenda. Users are invited to be a part of the channel and will be rewarded with vouchers for there involvement. Well done New Look!

5 of the rest

Faces in Places

I love playing this game when I’m out and about. Might find some of my own to submit (I don’t think the colon right bracket counts)

Dead Flies Art

I’m not sure if this is cool….or just plain creepy

Farmers using vending machines to sell produce

Possibly the coolest vending machines in the world, that said I wouldn’t want my eggs dropped from the top shelf for me to collect!

Toy Story 3 Trailer

If you have a heart you should be VERY excited to see the trailer for Toy Story 3 is up! I can’t wait!!

World of Goo pay what you like

If you even vaguely like games…go buy world of goo for your PC/Mac/Linux! It is a pay what you like promotion so you can spend as little as a penny, I happily spent into the pounds on this Full of charm and hours of fun! The offer is only available until the 19th of October, so go buy it! What have you got to lose?

The “traditional” games are starting to incorporate more social features outside of simply allowing them to be multi-player. There are now games that incentivise through your friends high-scores (Burnout Paradise) allow you to share you creations (LittleBigPlanet, Spore) or incorporate them into your social spaces with Youtube (Noby Noby Boy) and Twitter support (Blur).

The majority of these are designed as games first, with social features playing a supporting but not necessarily crucial role. One of the core reasons for that is there are still a high number of people who do not have their games machine hooked up to the Internet. Their machines are used for single player or local experiences with friends.

As we move forward the gap between offline and online users will fall, but one place where this issue has already been removed is in the social networks we use. When a game exists on a social network you know that the user is always going to be online when playing and have a rich amount of information to be able to tap into such as who their friends are or what pictures they are in. I am looking directly at you here Facebook. This neatly brings me on to a company that has fascinated me for a while, Playfish.

Playfish was founded in 2007 and is now a multi million pound company with millions of customers. Not bad for a couple of years work!

All of Playfish’s games are free to play on Facebook and all of them incorporate elements of your profile. Rather than go really in depth as to why Playfish have been so successful or how they make money (save those for another blog post!) I thought I would just pull in some examples of how Playfish use the benifits of being on a social network to the fullest advantage.

Crazy Planets

In Crazy Planets your character’s head is made from your profile picture, new units are given faces from the friends of your choosing. Making me feel that much more guilty when I accidently walk my girlfriend into a pit of lava! Sorry hunny…

The game also gives you higher in game rewards based on how many of your friends play, incentivising the player to encourage his or her friends to join in.

Mini Golf Party

In mini golf party players will see their friends watching them on the course and have a constant reminder of their friends scores (see above picture). Not only does this increase the social feeling of the game it encourages players to try and compete with their friends and continue to play.

Pet Society

In Pet Society players are surrounded by a village that is unique to them. It is made up of houses designed and decorated by their other friends playing the game. Even when their friends are offline they can visit the other pets, share items, play or just see what they have been up to. This is a game all about social interaction and personal expression and is now 14m users strong!

Overall the best thing about these games is always feeling connected to your friends whether they are online or not. The social experiment is just beginning and as more games move towards our social networks the more connected they will become to our lives even when we are not playing!

Our 5 favourite social media stories from the past week and  5 other random things that may or may not be interesting.

5 of the best

Nine extremely successful non-English social networking sites

Despite it being called the world wide web I often find myself ignorant to the social networks used in other countries (other than I could tell you Orkut is big in Brazil). So here is a list of 9 very very successful social networks that have been snubbed by English speakers.

Why Social Media Isn’t Living Up to the Hype (Yet)

An interesting point of view on why some people don’t think Social Media is living up to its hype. “When presented with a new technology, people tend to use that innovation to do existing jobs more effectively”

Gadget shoppers branded ‘stupid’

A group of Dixons employees branded their customers “Stupid” in a Facebook group 3,000 strong. Dixon’s say they are dealing with the problem and in all fairness it is not really their fault. It is all of our responsibilities to be courteous online and respect people and if you don’t you must be prepared for the consequences. Keep your job grievances to your friends in the pub and not the entire internet!

Social media in the workplace: two approaches

We had some interesting talking points last week with Portsmouth City Council banning Facebook and Brighton council trying to embrace it. So here is a more outside perspective on the whole situation.

Green Writer

There is a fairly common theme on 5 of the best that I like to show off social networks that facilitate relationships between buyers and sellers. Without the need to really worry about geographical boundaries people who have a need and people who have a solution can come together and make the world a better place or in this case can help make new films

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The Onion – Youtube

Everyone’s favourite satirical newspaper is on Youtube, very funny videos!

High-Resolution Image Enlargement Technology

Imagine browsing the web like this! I love new and exciting ways to look at the way we use things. This also has a slight hint of prezi.com which caught my eye (but didn’t have enough room to fit into 5 0f the best)

Fantastic Mr. Fox – Trailer

I LOVE THIS TRAILER! If you are a fan of Wes Anderson‘s work (The Life Aquatic and The Royal Tenenbaums) then make sure you watch this. If you aren’t a fan or don’t know who he is…watch it anyway!

Could the UK drive on the right?

Samoa has just switched to driving on the right hand side of the road. Is it even feasible that the UK could do the same?

Eco houses snap together like Lego Bricks

Not to be confused with James May’s Lego House but an actual modular house. Think I will stick to my flat for now!