Facebook Timeline goes global

So we have been told. The new Facebook timeline will become mandatory in the next couple of months. I am particularly pleased about this because I was talking with a client only this morning, recommending ways to work with the timeline and advocating that we do something fun with it. Now it’s no longer optional I just have more grist to my fun-mill.

I like the timeline, it makes the experience of using Facebook more visual, more personalisable, far more interesting and engageable. And I’m someone who loves their words more than their pictures.

I am most interested to see how it translates to mobile, if at all. That and the explosion of creativity that’s going to surround the cover image. That could make a tumblr all on its own.

Beautiful installation at Osaka station

This is a beautiful and useful installation. All physical experiences have the potential to combine the two, but too often clients want one or the other. It’s our job as agencies to ensure that our physical work is both delightful and purposeful and in this way we will bring real value to our clients and to the audience.

A collection of predictions for 2012

I have been mulling over what I might usefully write at the turning of the year. I feel the need to mark the completely arbitrary distinction between 31st December and 1st January in some way. And the easiest thing would be to prepare some predictions for you to display my foresight and unbelievable genius. And my talent for sarcasm.

The fascination with making predictions about what the coming year will deliver online/in social/on mobile is a bit like the prediction frenzy that goes on in women’s magazines. Not so, you say. We base our predictions on understanding of the market, new developments we know about and our own razor sharp insight, you say. Hmmm. Who remembers the predictions around the Year of the Mobile? 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005…

And what about the various woolly predictions from last year? Here is one I read about Google+, and I kid you not,

“Someone will do something interesting with Google+”

Well strictly speaking there’s no way you could fail on that one. The writer didn’t say they were related to Mystic Meg…

Anyway – rather than attempt predictions of my own I thought I’d point you at some interesting ones on a variety of topics. If nothing else maybe you’ll get a laugh. Happy New Year!

What 2012 holds for social media on thenextweb
5 predictions for the Chinese mobile market in 2012 on Forbes
Online video predictions for  2012 from ReelSEO plus some good tips and info on searching and marketing on YouTube
*&%@#! and Other Ads Trends for 2012 from The Wall Street Journal
9 Facebook predictions for 2012 that don’t suck from NorthSocial

And finally, almost as accurate and certainly more amusing

What does the year of the Dragon hold for you? from gotohoroscope
Mystic Meg’s money predictions for 2012 from The Sun
Gung hay  fat choy! (phonetic chinese)

IAB and ISBA guidelines for paid promotion in social media

As part of our work on the IAB social media council we felt it was time to issue clear guidelines on the use of paid promotion in social media. Our regulatory group has been working hard on this and here is a short video that gives you the 3 key guidelines for complying with the law when you are paying for promotion in the social media context.

 

Women Don’t Go After the Big Jobs with Gusto: True or False?

Harvard Business Review informs us that the idea that women don’t go after the big jobs with the same gusto as the boys is just not true. They do, and they do it just like the books tell them to. But the system that works for men – offering to do more, being proactive about stating their desires,. buddying up to the boss etc – doesn’t work for women.

Why doesn’t this surprise me?

I think that when women are proactive, particularly about taking on work etc it’s just viewed as what they should be doing, the efficient women doing their jobs. Bless.

But when men take on more work people understand that they are keen to get on. Possibly this is because, by and large, men aren’t the organisers in the domestic environment. I’d love for someone to correct me on that thought.

I sometimes think we should volunteer to do less.

Though there is a lesson here for women. Apparently what does work for women is bigging themselves up. Something we need to do more of.

Check out the article here – http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/10/women_dont_go_after_the_big_jo.html

links for 2011-09-09

• Stocking Is the New Planking
  And so much safer! OR is it….
  (tags: fun humor photography)

links for 2011-09-06

• Mobile Web Use Surges in UK
  The shape of things to come – and it's not just the yoof who are logging on. It's across the board.

links for 2011-09-02

• 10% Influencer rule
  Oo my this is interesting. You only have to convince 10% of a population that something is right/good/interesting and the rest will broadly believe the same. Allegedly.

Matterbox 2

Very pleased to have come back from holiday to my Matterbox. It’s got the eggathon game inside, part of the cadbury spots and stripes campaign for the olympics. All i have to do is play the game and invent some new rules to make it more fun.

I think cadbury’s apporach to activating their sponsorship is creative and inspired. Good to see a brand really cutting through the olympic noise in an innovative and appropriate way.

Now to choose a side…

links for 2011-07-17

• The state of influencer theory on the social Web
  Interesting analysis of the current  theories of influence within social networks.
  (tags: socialmedia influence)