04-21-09

Social Media Conspiracy Theory #1

People just want to be recognised online – using any means necessary to get links, followers, respect, love, admiration, fame etc.

Brands just want to sell people stuff online – using any means necessary to get people talking about their stuff and selling more of it.

People and brands do a merry jig with each other working out how they can use each other to get what they want.

People exchange a little bit of their soul in exchange for the opportunity to get a little bit more of whatever they are looking for to make them feel all nice inside.

So brands just need to work out the best exchange rate.

I think I should go to bed now . . .

PS – I’m not saying this applies to everything, is fact and should be taken as any kind of I believe this to be 100% true statement. It’s just a thought.

04-15-09

Examples of ‘Human’

I’ve blogged before about being human, have been mentioning it a lot on Twitter, have a heap of bookmarks saved under ‘human’ on Delicous and use the (beta) strapline for what I do as ‘web participation for human brands and beings. You could say it was something very close to my heart.

So, on a similar vein to my previous post which seemed to go down pretty well, I’d like to share some examples of ‘human’ from over the past few weeks/months that have caught my attention. It’s all those things, big or small, mostly online, that brands (and people!) do that makes the web a more human place. Little reminders of who we are that help us to engage with each other. And make stuff better. More human. And just nicer to interact with. Oh and just plain funny too.

Elliot Kember > Lovely little disclaimer (and awesome twitter-app-disguised-as-a-spreadsheet idea too)

Hype Machine > Disclaimer and general site copy, including the thank-you section

Twitter > Sign telling people where the new office is (Obligatory Twitter mention in a blog post? Complete)

Field Notes > general web site copy, especially the contact us page

“Peace, Love, Unity, Respect” receipt > from somewhere in New York

Starbucks > Sara (no h)

Digg community > Bohemian Rhapsody, in Digg comments!

Forum banter > Forum members have fun with photoshop (not sure this really fits in with the theme but I reckon it’s very funny – click through for the whole thread)

Any more examples? Let me know in the comments or @me. And in the meantime, remember that behind those screens isn’t just a pair of eyeballs . . . we’re all human beings.

02-03-09

Just be “human” (and be nice)

Think of people you like. What characteristics to they have? I bet they are kind, considerate, funny, sharing, trustworthy, respectful, appreciative, honest, caring, genuine, warm, friendly, approachable etc. They listen to you. They speak to you when you speak to them. They respond to feedback. They don’t shout at you. They respect your time. They aren’t pushy. They arrive on time. They say nice things about you. They are honest with you. You get the idea.

Now think about the people you don’t like. What characteristics do they have. I bet they are stingy, thoughtless, boring, untrustworthy, ungrateful, dishonest, fake, cold, unapproachable etc. They don’t listen to you. They talk over you or interrupt you. They have their own agenda. They don’t always respond to you. They shout at you. They ram things down your throat. They are late for stuff. They say nasty things about you behind your back. They don’t always tell you the truth. Again you get the idea.

So, what I’m trying to say is that this whole social media thing is simple. Just be human. Brands need to behave exactly the same way as real human beings. In fact, what are brands anyway? They are things created by human beings. Companies are collections of human beings. The walls of companies are being pulled down by social media. Quite literally, people are emerging from the shadows of companies and creating our perception of companies and brands, rather than their marketing.

To me, Rax is Splendid. James is Spinvox. JP is O2. Mike is Techcrunch. Will is NixonMcinnes. Wadds is Rainier. Steve is 3W. Iain is Poke. Again, you get the idea.

So, be a decent human being. Be all the things that people like about the people they like. And if you look deep into yourself (as a brand, a company or as a person) and don’t like what you see, then change it. Social media is an amplifier. All the bad stuff gets worse. All the good stuff gets better.

James is onto this. As are other people. It’s not something new. It’s not something that clever, or complicated. The hard part is when you do look inwards and find some of those nasty characteristics are a lot closer to home than they should be.

And that’s it – my thought for today. Just be human. And if you can’t be a decent one, you need to change – as in a world where technology adoption is growing at an ever-increasing rate, it’s becoming even more important.

Photo from a great collection of slides from Will Lion

Top image from Jared Donovan

Update – some people (quite rightly so) have likened this to Jimbob’s “Be Nice” post. One that I most definitely read at the time and agreed with – I even left ‘be human’ in the comments. So, as a nice person would, I just wanted to make sure that you guys know that and in honour of that have amended the title. Jimbob is a top bloke, a genuinely nice human being!

As is Faris, who also thinks we should be nice. And admits too to probably stealing the idea off Jimbob . . . .

01-27-09

50 people, one question

I’ve been busy again and as a result the blog has taken a back seat again, but I’m trying desperately not to worry about it and just do what comes naturally. Indeed, I’m spending most of my time on Twitter and feeding delicious – so am very much still active online, I just haven’t taken the time out to post. Like a lot of people recently I think.

Also – I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about stuff. What I want to be doing this year, where I’m taking my work, which of the growing number of personal projects I’m going to focus on and make happen. Who I’d like to be working with. What it’s going to be like being a dad. That sort of thing. And in the meantime, I’ve been cracking on with a number of great things.

Bobbie just shared this and it was enough of a motivator to share. It just struck a chord with me. All very human – a word and a theme that you’re going to here a lot about from me this year.

Fifty People, One Question: London from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

Fifty People, One Question: New York from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

01-06-09

It’s all about the data

Hello and Happy New Year. I am now back online after a nice refreshing break from the interwebz. Well almost, kind of in an iPhone kind of way. Anyway, like everyone else, I have a gazillion of things that I’d love to do this year, lots of thoughts on what might be in store for us netizens, loads of ideas about the future of the web and how it’s all about being human, lots of questions to ask and people to talk to.

But for the time being, whilst I play catch up and get my head back into everything after playing way too much Guitar Hero and spending too much money on geeky stuff, here’s a simply awesome data visualisation of a year’s worth of edits on OpenStreetMap.org.

OSM 2008: A Year of Edits from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

Data is the future. Of advertising, of the web, of everything. (Yes, I watched the Kevin Kelly 5000 days TED talk again recently!)

12-10-08

Bums and Gin

Take a photo of a bum and a bottle of gin, upload it with Twitpic and tag it with #bumsandgin and hey presto, you’ve joined the rather specialist bums and gin meme currently being fueled by Infobunny (aka lo-fi librarian). Crazy interwebz hey?

11-24-08

And don’t f*ck around

We went to Amsterdam at the weekend for the first time. We stayed at the Bellevue hotel right in the centre for one night (highly recommended if you need a really central half-decent place to stay) and picked one of the worst weekends weather-wise to go there. We had a good weekend, staying in Amsterdam on the Friday night and then heading on over to Alkmaar to surprise our friend Joe for his 30th birthday on the Saturday.

On our travels walking around the streets of Amsterdam, we saw this sign and loved its brutal honesty. Being 2008, I was able to find a great pic of it super quick when we got back. Oh and the tenuous link back to something? Well I think that brands are going to start being a little bit more honest with people and a little less nice. There’s too much ‘innocence’ going on these days and brands are becoming more ‘human’ all the time.

Oh and for the record, no I didn’t indulge in anything other than chips and mayonnaise from the wonderfully named Chipsy Kings and a few cheeky beers while I was over there!

11-18-08

Steve Jobs flipping it to IBM

Sorry, couldn’t resist posting this for a number of reasons. Here’s Steve Jobs flipping it to IBM, teaching us that invaluable lesson that anything you do offline (past, present and especially future) is more than likely to make it online – especially if you’re a world-famous CEO. And on the internet, it’s there forever. No harm done though. It’s just Steve, being human.

[Via Edible Apple]

11-11-08

Yeah, yeah

Blimey. Been super busy over the past week week doing all sorts of work-related stuff like launching Facebook applications with the guys over at GetThemIn, engaging with Gadget Show fans using Twitter on behalf of simplifyDigital and talking to my builder about the blog/website I’m setting up for him in return for half a concrete floor!

Also, I’ve dealt with man-flu, ripped out my old kitchen and set up a temporary new kitchen, learnt a bit about how to use my new Roland SH101, remotely prevented my dad from getting hit with a virus on his computer and also caught up with the inbox nightmare that awaited me after just a few days off.

So, there-in lies the reason for the fact that I’ve just listed out stuff that’s prevented me from blogging about something super interesting for a bit, rather than write something about something super-interesting. You could of course just follow me on Friendfeed or subscribe to my delicious feed or follow me on Twitter. I’m pretty active over there all the time, every day. It’s the blog that suffers first when things get busy. Same for everyone else?

10-24-08

Little Big Planet – Will you marry me?

Wow. Ben has just spotted this. Jed05 created a level on Little Big Planet in order to propose to his girlfriend. First, mariage proposals on Twitter, now in-game proposals. Just wow. < voiceofanoldperson> What is the world coming to? < /voiceofanoldperson>

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