The Steve Jobs Doll and Image Rights questions answered...

In Social Media Podcast No.42 we raised the question of how the Apple Corporation managed to get a Chinese manufactured doll removed from the market. As is the case with lots of things we discuss on the Social Media Podcast, the question was left unanswered - until now that is!

Those of you who listened to the podcast will recall that we were going to seek some answers to this from our friends at Morton Fraser and they've done us proud by making it the subject of a whole podcast; and what a great podcast it is.

Morton Fraser Partner and Head of Services for Business Team, Austin Flynn is joined by Sam Price - Information Technology and Intellectual Property Lawyer and, Richard McMeeken - Senior Associate and Solicitor Advocate in Morton Fraser's Commercial Litigation team dealing with contentious intellectual property disputes. Austin, Sam and Richard take part in a fascinating discussion around the issue of Image Rights which starts with the case of the Steve Jobs doll but includes references to a number of other celebrities including: David Beckham, Elvis Presley, Diana Princess of Wales, Tiger Woods, Russell Brand, the Spice Girls, Eddie Irvine, John Terry, Max Mosley, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas and Alex Salmond.

During the discussion the team discuss the differences between US and UK Law and, the conflict between the European Court of Human Rights "Rights to Privacy" and "Rights to Freedom of Expression".

It is a truly fascinating look at the whole issue of Image Rights and well worth a listen. Rarely will a question raised on the Social Media Podcast be so well answered than it has been here by the Morton Fraser to to whom we are very grateful.

Please take some time to listen to the podcast and, if you enjoy this one, we are sure you will other podcasts released by Morton Fraser - You can subscribe to their podcast here.

You can listen to the Steve Jobs and Image Rights podcast here:

Subscribe/Download Morton Fraser Podcast on iTunes

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One or Two profiles? Make an informed choice...

I'm two-thirds way through a busy week of speaking engagements; yesterday I addressed a staff conference and today I was presenting to a Special Interest Group from the Institute of Fundraising. These presentations appear to have gone well with some great discussion during the Q&A sessions.

One topic came up at both events and, it is something that social media participants are asking at almost every event I attend; should you have a personal and a business profile if you're using social media platforms for business purposes?

There are mixed views on this, some believe two profiles are necessary to keep your business and personal/family posts relevant to audience you're addressing, others believe in a single profile. There are pros and cons to both approaches and I would encourage everyone to explore the options before making a choice.

A great starting point is the next New Media Breakfast in Edinburgh on the 15th March when Jennifer Holloway will explore this very topic in some detail. I was lucky enough to be present at her presentation in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago and I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to make a more informed choice about how they manage their personal profile online.

FOR INDIVIDUALS AND BUSINESS OWNERS ALIKE
This presentation is perfect for anyone using social media whether in a personal or a business context. It's also an extremely useful presentation for business owners who are struggling with this particular part of their social media policy.

Jennifer is an expert in personal branding and a highly entertaining presenter, attending her presentation will certainly leave you better informed about the choices and the best way forward for your particular set of circumstances.

If you would like to read more about Jennifer's presentation, please use the following link.

Personal Branding and your Online Persona Read More...

If you would like to book for the breakfast you can do so using the button below:

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March New Media Breakfast, Glasgow - TOP GEAR - A guide to making good technology buying decisions today.

TOP GEAR - A guide to making good technology buying decisions today.

New Media Breakfast presentation by Iain Murray of Principle Consulting

Wikipedia’s entry on Moore’s law describes “a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware whereby the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. The period often quoted as “18 months” is due to David House, an Intel executive, who predicted that period for a doubling in chip performance (being a combination of the effect of more transistors and them being faster).

The capabilities of many digital electronic devices are strongly linked to Moore’s law: processing speed, memory capacity, sensors and even the number and size of pixels in digital cameras. All of these are improving at (roughly) exponential rates as well (see Other formulations and similar laws). This exponential improvement has dramatically enhanced the impact of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world economy. Moore’s law describes a driving force of technological and social change in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.”

What this means to the rest of us is that it is almost impossible to keep up with the latest technology and the things that it can do. The danger is that we make a bad procurement decision and end up with Betamax (beaten by VHS) or HD DVD (beaten by Blu-ray), and we have wasted our money.

Coupled with this is the significant trend towards web based software, cloud computing and Apps. These too can be baffling and the cause for consternation about what to buy, and when will it become obsolete.

Iain Murray has been delivering a version of this presentation since 2005, when there was no iphone and no Apps and he has been updating it regularly ever since. The ethos of the presentation remains the same, show how today’s ‘available’ technology can make an impact on your personal productivity, your business and your staff.

This year fatBuzz and Iain have teamed up with CommsWorld to bring the presentation to life. Commsworld are a leading voice and data solutions provider and mobile and fixed communications technology. Iain will merge the presentation on what technology and applications to consider with some live hands on demonstrations of everything from mobile phones to tablets. He will look at the do’s and don’ts of data management, looking at cloud computing applications as well as mobile data costs.

Iain will also look at the plethora of mobile applications out there today, picking and demonstrating some of the best Apps for business and personal productivity. He has been an avid user or Social Media and will also cover the applications and technology needed to make the best use of Social Media on the move.

Iain’s talks have proved very popular and this year’s new and enhanced presentation promises to be the most dynamic and informative yet. If you want to know how to maximise the technology and the applications available today then this is a talk not to be missed. Places will go fast for this so please book early.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Iain Murray is the founder of Principle Consulting a Management Consultancy business specialising in Property & Facilities Management as well as all other aspects of business advice from business development to long term strategy. Iain has a career in business spanning over 25 years and has held the Facilities Management industry’s top position as Chair of the British Institute of Facilities Management. He is currently the Deputy Chair of Global FM, the global Association of Associations representing over 50,000 FM’s worldwide.

Iain was an early adopter of Social Media and a pioneer in business on the use of integrated and cloud technology. He has won awards for integrating several technologies to improve the efficiency of service while making significant operational savings.

Our connection with Iain came about when he attended the first New Media Breakfast, opened his laptop and appointed himself as the official ‘tweeter’ for the event. He has now attended and spoken several times at the NMB and is a permanent member of the Social Media Podcast team, recording a podcast a couple of times a month.

Iain is continuing his crusade to introduce Social Media to business and his tweets are reaching a global audience and following. Iain regularly write and presents on the benefits and merits of Social Media for business with a style that is both engaging and witty.

Sponsored by

HOW TO BOOK

Venue: 29 Member’s Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow

Date: Friday 30th March 2012

Time: 7.30am for 8am

We hope you can make it along to this event. If so, I look forward to seeing you on the day.

BOOK FOR NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST GLASGOW HERE:

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The new Facebook Timeline layout for Pages explained on video

No doubt lots of people will be throwing their hands in the air this week when they see the impending changes to Facebook business pages; we'll probably see the usual complaints, predictions of their demise and, threats to leave the platform all together.  It'll be no different from every other time they've made significant changes and everyone will eventually embrace them.

The changes to Pages are certainly significant and, they will have a real impact on some businesses, particularly those using fangates or, the "refresh page" operation on a default Welcome page to issues some kind of promotion or discount code when the page reloads.  Why?  Because there are no default landing pages anymore and, the page no longer refreshes when you "Like" it so it can't redirect to a "Special Offer" or promotion page.

I think Facebook has used these changes to try and increase their own advertising revenue; the restrictions about what you can and can't put in the new header are a clear indication of this.  Who can blame them?  It's the cost we have to pay for using a "free" platform and, with an IPO round the corner,Facebook are under pressure to prove its ability to generate revenue.

The restrictions on advertising may achieve higher sales for Facebook but, there is another outcome to consider; when blatant advertising is not allowed, businesses will rely on better content and greater engagement to make their pages work for them and that's no bad thing.

We have put together a short video highlighting the main changes to the Pages, it is important that you watch this and be aware of how these changes will affect the way you currently use Facebook.  Every page will be switched to the new timeline layout by the 30th March so, you should start to think about it now.

Here are the main changes and some of the new functionality:

If fatBuzz can help you with the changes or, your Facebook/social media strategy please don't hesitate to call us, we're happy to have a coffee and a chat.

PLEASE SHARE THIS
I hope you have found this video useful.  If so, please use the share buttons below to tell others in your online community about it, you'll be helping them to understand this very important change to Facebook.  Thank you.

We have lots more video tips, and advice on Social Media, Design, Marketing, PR and Events at fatBuzz.TV

Timeline available for facebook Pages now...

Our Facebook Page has gone through some changes today, and adapted the new Timline feature for Business Pages.

Tell us what you think on our new Facebook Page... Do you think this offers more opportunities for business pages or does it provide setbacks for businesses on Facebook ? 

Have a look at these big name brands who have made the best of the new timeline feature...

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A classical lesson about the importance of a relevant community...

I saw a picture on Facebook today that was shared by Lynn Harris, a friend in real life as well as on Facebook; the picture was accompanied by a story that I found intriguing and fascinating for a number of reasons.

The picture is a screen grab from a video of what appears to be a busker playing the violin at the entrance to L'Enfant Plaza Station in Washington. The comment on the Facebook photo goes on to explain that the violinist was in fact one of the greatest living violinist, Joshua Bell who was playing six classical pieces - among them was a piece by Bach which is widely considered among the most demanding violin works to play. During the 43 minute performance, nobody really stopped to listen for any length of time and he collected just $32 - usually you will pay in excess of $100 per seat to see him perform.

On reading this I was compelled to explore the story further so I went to YouTube where there are several versions of the video with almost 5,000,000 views, I also found a link to the story in the Washington Post - they were behind the experiment. It is worth reading some of the many subsequent comments gathered from commuters that day.

There are several reasons I find this story so interesting and I think, in the context of social media, there are many things we can learn from it:

The importance of building a relevant community
Just before the experiment in January 2007, Joshua had performed for a hushed audience at a sell-out concert in Boston yet in the DC Metro entrance 1100 people walked straight past him on their way to work. People did not know him or, that he was performing an extremely complex piece on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars! Within the classical music community, he is adored and appreciated but in a busy station playing in front of a wide variety of people, he was anonymous.

The audience in the station that morning were intent on getting to where they had to go by a certain time whilst, the audience in Boston were there because they were fans of classical music or Joshua Bell, or both.  The potential station audience was unlimited and it was free for anybody to enjoy but, the concert audience was only available to $100+ ticket holders.

This indicates to me you can have the best and most interesting content in the World and make it available on the most public platforms but, if it's not getting in front of the right people you may as well not bother.

It's not a new story

This is the first time I have seen this story but, the experiment was actually carried out at 7:51 on 12th January 2007 - over 5 years ago. For me, this highlights the legacy benefits of creating good online content. Some of you may have seen this piece before but I noticed it today because someone in my online community shared it on Facebook. The person who shared this particular thread did so on the 16th February this year and it's had 161,231 likes and 144,565 shares in the past 9 days! Therefore, an old story is getting lots of attention because people who find it interesting now have shared it.

At fatBuzz, we are constantly amazed when we see the number of downloads every month of past episodes of our Social Media Podcast - this month we have had over a dozen downloads of a podcast that was recorded 18 months ago!

So, the next time you're creating content, don't just assume you're creating something for people to consume and share that day, week or month; instead, think about your new content as an addition to your online assets. Content will be found and shared by people when they find it interesting and relevant, not just when you find it interesting and relevant.

Was it the right time?
This experiment took place on a weekday during rush hour; I wonder how many more people might have found time to listen a bit longer if it had taken place at a different time?

Not wishing to contradict my earlier comments about legacy but think about when you release new content to get the maximum initial impact, if your community is busy during working hours, think about releasing your content early evening or maybe even over the weekend when they have more time to consume it. Experiment with the release times and monitor the reach you achieve at different times on different days.

Getting the ear of your target audience
Many of the 1100 commuters didn't hear Joshua because they were listening to their own choice of content through their headphones; I wonder if any were actually listening to a Joshua Bell recording as they walked passed him!

Choosing the right platform, or a range of platforms, is important; what's the point of producing everything on video if your community wants to listen to a podcast while they're in the gym. Alternatively, should your content be limited to Twitter messages with links to articles if your community wants to have something to read during a flight? You can't possibly please everybody but repurposing your blog post as a podcast or, producing a blog post about your latest video will help to ensure you get your content out to more people in the fashion they want to receive it.

Extending your community
The Washington Post article offers remarkable feedback from commuters who had earlier walked straight past Joshua but, I wonder what the impact was after they found out who he was? How many went and searched for him online? How many bought one of his recordings? How many shared the story with their friends?

This experiment may, or may not, have unearthed some new classical music enthusiasts or, some new Joshua Bell fans; these may be people that had never considered classical music in the past but, the "experiment" was the catalyst for their new found interest. Is there a promotion, campaign, or event that may help you extend your community?

A final thought...
Imagine, you gather all 1100 commuters in a concert hall and tell them a bit about Joshua and the piece he is about to perform, how many will become converts, fans or ambassadors? How many will be listening to him through their headphones the next time they walk through L'Enfant Plaza Station on their way to work?

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Will tomorrow's decision makers invite you to their party?

During the past couple of years I have spoken at numerous events to a wide variety of audiences from many walks of life and the same question seems to come up in one form or another at every event; what is the ROI with social media? It may not be that exact question but, regardless of how it is phrased, they want to know the same thing.

There are various ways to look at ROI and perhaps we will explore some of these in a future blog posts however, today I want to share one answer I often use which usually raises a few eyebrows and, if it is Tweeted in isolation, it is usually misinterpreted. (one of the shortcomings of a 140 character limit)

The answer is as follows:
If you are not involved in social media, you will not be getting new business in five years time.

My thinking behind this is fairly simple although I do concede the timescale will vary depending on the various factors; for some organisations it may be as little as two years and for others it may be as many as ten years. Regardless of timescale, I believe all organisations will struggle to get their fair share of new business if they are not social.

Generation ‘Y’ is growing up, they are entering the workplace and they are starting to progress through their organisaions into decision making roles. Generation ‘Y’ has never known anything but the internet; this is how they do their research, this is how they get their news, this is how the find out what’s happening in the world and in their industry – in short, this is how they communicate.

When they get responsibility for deciding who is going to be invited to tender for the supply of IT services or, who is to get the new cleaning contract or, who will provide the business travel services they will automatically research the options online. Yes, this may include your web site and good SEO will most likely make you findable.  However, what if your competitor has a similar web site but is also a highly engaged, transparent, content creator with lots of useful support information? In addition, they are highly visible and extremely well thought of in the industry and among their customers. Whom is your highly social young decision maker going to err towards?

If you are not social and not creating content you are not visible, it then follows that you will not be invited to the party when the invitations are being handed out.  Surely, the danger of being invisible vs. the rewards of being found online is ROI enough for any organisation?

There is another thing to consider; Generation ‘Y’ want to work with organisations that are social. Given what I have already said about how they use the Internet, they don’t want to work for organisations that effectively tie their arms behind their back by blocking Internet access. Why would they want to work for an organisation that will not let them use the tools with which they have grown up? How can they flourish and rise through an organisation that doesn’t enable them to communicate effectively?

I have asked various recruitment consultants if graduates ever ask about a prospective employer's social media policy and apparently, it is becoming a common question.  So, there is a very real danger that non-social businesses will struggle to recruit the best people in the future; this may affect your business much quicker than five years.

The fast maturing Generation ‘Y’ will play a very important part in the future of all businesses and, if you’re not social, the party could be over by the time you get there.

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