Entertainment.ie Adds Video
March 31, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Nice to see Entertainment.ie have added video to their site. Because we’re all too busy to search - they also tap into our Irish obsession with being busy and not having enough time.
It’s called Best of the Web. I like it. I stayed on for about 30 mins so that’s sticky! Irish music tv is good, and ‘that’s pretty underground’.
It’s Not Going Away
March 30, 2007 at 8:53 am
Back in February, the ODCE issued new disclosure requirements for companies in relation to websites and electronic communications. From 1 April, all companies have to include company name and it’s legal form, company registration number and address. It must be displayed in a prominent place, we’re going for footer - not giving away any valuable home page real estate.
The objective of this piece of EU legislation is to bring electronic communications in line with print. How long have electronic communications been around now? Why is this happening now - more than 10 years since e-communications have been in broad use?
I think it’s excessive. And smacks of bureaucrats who don’t understand the online environment. Granted, the company website might be deemed to be the online equivalent of the headed paper. But every single email is not. Some emails are formal and might be deemed to be letterhead, but the vast majority are like phone calls and chats. Instead of coming up with a solution that reflects the nature of e-communications, our friends in Brussels have just slapped the one requirement on everything.
I had considered emailing all of Brightspark’s clients to alert them and to add add the required details to their websites and email templates. The only reason I didn’t is because I thought it might have gone away. Costs the poor companies money and for what? To make it easier for spammers and identity thieves to extract company information?
Anyway, it’s THE LAW from Sunday. So if you need your site done, get in touch.
Twittering Twits
March 29, 2007 at 3:51 pm
With all the talk recently about Twitter (to Twitter or not to Twitter?), I was interested to read about a series of new reports that found limits to multi-tasking.
Original post I found here, but the detail about all the studies is here.
One would think that the kids are great at multi-tasking because they have grown up around digital devices. My nephews IM their mates while playing Nintendo, with the telly or music on in the background. However, according to the New York Times “recent research suggests that popular perception is open to question. A group of 18- to 21-year-olds and a group of 35- to 39-year-olds were given 90 seconds to translate images into numbers, using a simple code.
random thought
March 29, 2007 at 3:29 pm
here is the way to santas cottage where he lives all year round and not the north pole.
Kids Aren’t That Good At Multi-Tasking
March 27, 2007 at 7:46 am
With all the talk recently about Twitter (to Twitter or not to Twitter?), I was interested to read about a series of new reports that found limits to multi-tasking.
Original post I found here, but the detail about all the studies is here.
One would think that the kids are great at multi-tasking because they have grown up around digital devices. My nephews IM their mates while playing Nintendo, with the telly or music on in the background. However, according to the New York Times “recent research suggests that popular perception is open to question. A group of 18- to 21-year-olds and a group of 35- to 39-year-olds were given 90 seconds to translate images into numbers, using a simple code.
The younger group did 10% better when not interrupted. But when both groups were interrupted by a phone call, an SMS message or an instant message, the older group matched the younger group in speed and accuracy. The older people think more slowly, but they have a faster fluid intelligence, so they are better able to block out interruptions and choose what to focus on.”
So, how can I apply this to my life?
- Stop taking sneaky calls on the mobile while driving. Find the hands free and use it. Accept that McDowell was right.
- Turn off my email. Right now it’s off and I intend to experiment today with only checking it once an hour. I know that email interrupts my flow of thought. And if something is so urgent it can’t wait for an hour, then they’ll ring me.
- Turn off Twitter during work hours (thus setting a good example for the rest of my team - ahem!)
Rant About CDWOW
March 23, 2007 at 9:58 am
Once upon a time, before iTunes was invented, I purchased a cd from cdwow. Ever since then they have bombarded me with regular emails. I know I posted about this before, but I’m bringing it up again because now it the time to take action.
My main reason for complaint prior to this was that when you click the link on the email to unsubscribe, it takes you to the cdwow site and you have to know your user name and password in order to log in and unsubscribe. This is not email marketing best practice - you are supposed to make it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe.
I don’t know my user name and password and I used to be afraid to retrieve them in case it opens me up to even more of a barrage of emails. This morning however, I decided to succumb, retrieve them and unsubscribe from cdwow hell forever.
Can you imagine my apoplexy when I logged in and found that I was ticked yes to receive cdwow updates and yes to receive offers from partners? I never ever agree to this. Why would anyone in their right mind agree to be spammed? Because that’s essentially what it is - receiving emails from companies that you don’t know. Cdwow are lying!
Sensible readers will be making sounds round about now that I should simply report this callous breach of my wishes to the Data Protection Commissioner. Well I did and the response isn’t that hopeful. Their view is that they can only do something if the email is sent to Irish recipients from an Irish server. So even though cdwow is a dot ie, if they send the emails using a web-based email messaging service based in the US for example, then the Data Protection Commissioners have no jurisdiction. So cdwow can continue to send their tacky emails in flagrant breach of the European Directive on email communications.
What can you do? Send an email to the Data Protection Commissioners requesting them to review their stance on jurisdiction. Ask them to alter their position to investigate dot ie’s no matter what server is being used.
In the meantime, I have forwarded the offending email to a helpful person at the commissioners and have requested that she contact cdwow and request a list of their partners to whom my details might have been leaked out. Let’s see how complicit cdwow are.
And finally, for all your music needs I recommend iTunes.
My Thoughts On IIA Blogging Event
March 22, 2007 at 9:44 am
Last night at the Shelbourne Hotel, the IIA hosted an event titled “Blogging New Media Business & The Law”. One of many taking place in this town about blogging, I went along to check out the new look Shelbourne and to see what I could learn. Here’s a summary for you. And you can listen to it here.
Tom Murphy, PR for Microsoft spoke first. He was well paced and had lots of good examples to demonstrate his ideas. From a PR perspective, he summed up the benefits of blogs are follows:
- Conversation starter
- Influence the debate - my thought on this: don’t be afraid of them. There were a lot of people I spoke to last night who are in fear of blogs - “what if people post bad things about your service?”
- Reputation Management - but if you’re not true it can damage your reputation like it did with Walmart and Edelman PR in the US. Read more about flogs here.
- Advocacy - why aren’t there more not for profits bloggers?
- Feedback Loop
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Measurement
When I asked a question about how Microsoft was dealing with the Outlook 2007 problem (it’s stripping out css and ruining html emails), his rather flippant response was to send plain text mails. I don’t think so.
Next up was Sarah Carey who has her own mommy blog and from that landed a column at The Sunday Times. She had no slides, preferring instead to read from a long script. And yes, it sounded like reading. And boy was it long! She’s quite taken with herself and her own meteoric rise to writing fame (I’d never heard of her until last night). She told us stories of people being ‘really grateful’ to her and finding solace from her blog. She talked for a very long time. [I can report at this stage that the ceilings in the newly renovated Shelbourne are gorgeous].
Richard Deleran, the Business Editor of the Sunday Business Post spoke next about how the failure of Irish businesses to embrace new media is costing us money. I liked the way he named names and showed up IBEC for their stupid comment last year complaining about the style that ‘the kids’ use for communications. He made the point that the kids have grown up with multiple devices and are used to multi-tasking in a digital environment. He made a good point that we should look to the positives of this and harness it. IBEC take note!
Some interesting stats on Ireland:
- Half of all 15-24 year olds use Bebo or MySpace. That’s an awful lot of bloggers.
- We have the highest play station usage outside of Japan
- And the highest mobile penetration in Europe
Finally, TJ McIntyre of Merrion Solicitors and UCD Law Lecturer concluded by addressing the legal aspects of blogging. Given that he was the last speaker of the night and speaking about law, he did especially well because he had everyone on the edge of their seats. Put the fear of God into anyone with a blog. And as for the ones who were expressing concerns at the beginning of the evening, I’m sure they took to the hills! I won’t even attempt to summarise it here - for fear of giving out misleading information - but I’d highly recommend you listen to TJ on the podcast.
Twitter Vision : Loving It
March 20, 2007 at 10:48 pm
I still haven’t decided if I like, love or loathe Twitter or not, but I love Twittervision. Check it out - you can spend ages just watching other people’s thoughts appearing right in front of you on a lovely google map: who’s doing what all over the world.
<.p>Everyone has little green white and orange flags beside their posts - yay, at last I knew it : the Irish take over the world.
The Thing I Love Most About Twitter
March 20, 2007 at 10:17 pm
And I’m not even a cat lover. But if you are, check these, you’re sure to go aw (or paw? Sorry it’s late. I had to…)
Go Green!
March 20, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Was thinking over the weekend that another reason in favour of Email Marketing over say, direct, is the carbon footprint. It’s greener to communicate with your contacts through email.
In the years to come, I think this reason might outweigh the huge list of very valid other reasons, ie. it is less expensive, more targeted, generates full and detailed reporting, etc.
