I find it mildly traumatic that my brain can be so accurately represented by a piece of data visualisation, but this is what the guys over at Information Is Beautiful have managed. Even my once beloved Facebook Zombie’s get a mention.
So, with the digital distraction so plentiful, how can brands avoid being bumped for the latest eBay notification? It is interesting to note that the traditional branded areas are largely confined to the bottom sections of the pyramid, perhaps explaining the rush for the iPhone. It is also worth nothing the almost chronological descent of the pyramid; suggesting that the brand who invests in the latest technologies stands the greatest chance of success.
According to the pyramid, re-Tweeting is more distracting than an e-mail announcing mass redundancy, although there are no signs that anyone is yet willing to combine these two particular distractions.
The story of a band from Sheffield that were catapulted to number one based on their MySpace fan base is an often told story. However, as the band ready their third album, social media is again at the forefront of their promotion.
Neatly ticking off the social media ‘Do’s’, the band’s video blog has kept contact with their fans during their time off and given the notoriously press-shy band a ‘face’, in the shape of head correspondent Matt Helders.
But of course, the key to this is extracting what the fans want and giving it to them where they already are… a view into the life of a Rock Star. Sex, drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll? More fresh laundry, cheap haircuts and falling asleep at P. Diddy parties according to the bands ‘A View From’ video diaries.
No Jack White-esque subscription models here, thankyou very much. Just a great example of giving fans what they want, freely and easily.
No prizes for originality today I’m afraid, but the death of an icon has triggered an amazing online response, with Facebook groups, Tweets, Last.FM plays and search volumes that prompted Google to think it was “under attack” all supplemented by an unhealthy amount of pretty rubbish jokes.
At last count, 561 groups have been created today around R.I.P Michael Jackson with over 300,000 members. We have tracked the largest group over an hour this afternoon and have witnessed staggering viral growth in real time.
So with such viral momentum behind these groups, the only question left to ask is, where is my invite!?
After a good few years of seeing his work plastered across the Daily Mail and pimped at every second rate market stall across the land, it is no wonder that people are now firmly sceptical of the health and safety flaunting lunatic that is Banksy.
But with the announcement of his new residency at Bristol Museum, it is difficult to not be intrigued but surprisingly difficult to actually get excited. My main problem with it is that as a former Bristol resident, it was a little treat to discover a Banksy and feel part of a secret society of wall gazers.
Secret societies like that shouldn’t ever fall into your Mum’s consciousness, as Mr Banks has.
But will the show be good? By the looks of the below video, I’d say yeah. I’ll pass my judgement when the accompanying knock-off prints hit Spitalfields Market.
The Gallagher brothers don’t strike me as the type of guys who could waste a couple hours on YouTube, stalk ex-girlfriends on Facebook or even book their train tickets online.
But as is so often the case, I appear to have been proven wrong; the brothers have spent the last couple of months dedicating their evenings to building up a loyal following of fans across the internet. With Liam now spreading his musing with 26,000 followers on Twitter, answering his fans questions via YouTube and even on his own Pretty Green community, we could now, after 15 years of drudgery be approaching Oasis 2.0. Cementing their place at the vanguard of modern communication, Noel recently won an NME award for his blogging.
So what next for Britpop’s invasion of social media? Can Space reinvent themselves as the saviours of Friends Reunited or will the long-awaited Dodgy reunion happen in Second Life? One thing is for sure, @damonalbarn needs to watch his back.
Effectively cutting out the time saving aspect of e-mail and the personal touch of a hand written letter, Celery allows you to keep in touch with your dear old gran, without ever having to try and even explain the concept of the internet to her.
The service converts e-mail messages and Tweets to fax and delivers them to your technophobe contacts for a small fee of $14 a month, meaning that you can now add your offline friends to the loop of tipsy Tweeting!
This service presents a huge opportunity for the youth of today; Mail-merged, 140 character thankyou letters to your loved one at Christmas? Yes please.
I blogged last week about the unlikely rise to stardom of web designers. This week I’m treading a slightly more obvious route to glory; the good old fashioned rock star.
The internet, and social media especially has eliminated many barriers between musicians and their loyal fans, from The Libertines inviting their forum to a gig in their house to Kanye West posting demo versions of new tracks on his blog. Slice The Pie is a new service that seeks to take this one step further and allow fans to invest in brand new musicians, in return for a slice of the potential returns, mentions on the album sleeve or just a copy of the album itself.
It is brilliant to see the internet triggering new thinking amongst the music industry, after so many years of Napster bashing traditionalism.
The internet has given rise to many unlikely stars, but web designers are surely the most niche yet. Design Charts aggregates weekly traffic to sites across their network of elite web designers and generates a Top 40.
Spin off T.V shows are unlikely, but once again the internet shows it’s brilliance at giving the niche it’s superstars… all packaged up in a rather lovely website (of course)
Despite talking a good diet, Team Jam’s fitness levels are an all time low.
‘Fun Run’ has been a contradiction in terms until Alex Ostrowki had a stab at it, basing the new version around spontaneity and social interaction. Directional prompts dictate a route and social prompts dictate behaviour, all started by the honk of a rather big horn! Sounds like a brilliant plan to me.
Next steps – get the team out of skinny jeans and into some polyester based sports gear.
