Things move rapidly in the big ole Internet and over this bank holiday weekend I checked out Facebook "pages" again and launched the Social Media Mafia "fan" page.

But we have the FB Group, don't we?

Yes, there is a Facebook group which we have used to date to recruit interested parties, but I've noticed that FB pages provide far more useful features, namely:

Facebook Statistics

180 page views on the first day is not mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination but at least I know how many, as well as other countable features.

Export Facebook Statistics

Pretty neat, handy for dumping into some of your other data.

Facebook Social Advertisement

Note, you'll see another advert I used in the passed right after they launched the service, not a good click-thru rate, but the ad was merely text, and a bad one too.

(very handy for future events, and pulling new people in, don't you think?).

Facebook Targeting

This is an excellent feature, something many of us have used on other platforms for years. As an example for a Social Media Mafia event in Italy only why would I want to send an update to people in China?

Lastly of course this page is public and not stuck behind a "walled garden".

There are other bits 'n' bobs about Facebook Pages which make sense, though with this small example you can see the benefits are numerous and make the FB Group redundant on many levels.

So, now you should pop on over and become a fan right?

Technorati Tags: channel communication conversation facebook fan social media expert social media mafia statistics targetting social media mafia facebook fan channel communication conversation statistics targetting

Today the BBC reports Identity 'at risk' on Facebook yeah and that's news?

I hang out on Twitter a lot and it always amazes me how there is such a band wagon "fashion" approach to some of this technology, you know a real sheep follow concept going on.

People have been flabbergasted that GASP you could have details stolen on the internet, OMG shock bloody horror, that is such HUUUUUGE news!

Reality check.

To quote: "Anyone with a basic understanding of web programming can write an application." Uhh duh, so that's not happened in the previous 18 years or so of the public Internet? - It's rife!

Seriously though, phising and various other methods of data-mining have existed forever, where there is data available on the Internet a hacker will always try to retrieve it, that's the job description, am I one? No, I'm not, but I've understood that since day 1, it's so obvious it hurts, is it just me?

I've heard people talking of closing accounts, never using FB again not doing this not doing that, goodness me it's barfable really.

Two key things here:

1. Never put your DOB online
2. Never put YOU information online (I mean official YOU stuff, address, financial stuff)

It's quite simple, if you put personal data online, you can expect to be targeted no matter what the platform, if you put your trust in an online platform you are a fool, they are all crackable.

I'll be continuing to use FB and the Internet, I'll just tread with caution as I always have, and if I were you I would not follow "fashion", that's silly. Do we need a nanny do guide us through these treacherous waters? No, we just need not be fashion victims and be self-responsible, and in most spheres in mind, if you follow fashion you are blind.

Rant over.

P.S. this is not targeted at anyone in particular, just generalised.

Technorati Tags: accounts facebook fashion flock hack job phising privacy sheep twitter facebook privacy accounts fashion twitter sheep flock job hack phising

Facebook chat will aid in the reduction of publishing on the platform: Discuss

So Facebook rolls out a chat application this morning, I log in to find a list of "online friends" ready as potential victims for me to pounce on for synchronous chat!

I don't know about you, but I do like live chat, I mean hell I've used it as a business platform for about 8 years, chatting with clients and students all over the world, it's always been my office. I remember using Yahoo! extensively with students for 4 years, as our "virtual classroom", and even added away messages like "this is my office knock first", or "I'm in the garden making fireworks", poor attempts and installing a sense of go away I am busy right now.

So I'm comfortable with chat.

Already today I chatted with Jeff, Maz, Daniel, Ben, Matthias, kfir, CJ,

I do prefer though the time one has in email, the reflection time, to ponder and to measure, chat removes that and of course demands immediate attention.

Regardless of how you feel about chat itself, do you think it might actually decrease the amount of publishing on the platform itself? If you can instantly contact and ask a friend something, why would you publish, notes, forums posts and various bits and bobs?

What's your thoughts?

Technorati Tags: chat class facebook friends IM synchronous facebook friends chat class IM synchronous

I’ve been hearing a lot of talk recently that some people think it is hard to meet people they chat with online, in the real world, or to use the correct term Face To face (f2f).

I disagree with this, providing you are yourself online and offline and make no disernable distinction between the two, if you do this may not work.

Here are some ways you can in fact get off your arse and meet people.

1. Join the Social Media Mafia, it has a presence in three places currently:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Website (you can’t sign up yet)

2. Using a social network create an event, a local event close to you and invite a handful of your online friends, if they live an extra long way away make the effort and travel an hour or so on the train, it will be worth it.
3. If you do not have friends in your social network who are local, search for them, actively seek out people in your geo area and make them friends.
4. When creating your event give it a theme, give it something everyone can relate to, a commonality if you will.
5. Document your event with blogs and pictures turn it into a “club”

Ok, so not everyone is a doer or a leader to organise such things, but if you are not that way inclined have a look around at some of the online tools, Upcoming is a great one for starters.

Break your comfort zone, everyone is a little shy, but by being that little bit bolder you will reap dividends and make lots of new friends, I know I have.

I used to be so shy.

Technorati Tags: f2f facebook linked meeting social social media mafia upcoming meeting upcoming facebook linked social media mafia social f2f

Some time ago I created an awareness group in Facebook, aimed at pointing out what a dick Gordon Brown is, together with the legacy left behind by another first-class spineless tit, Blair.

The aim is to raise awareness at a few things, firstly that Brown is an un-elected leader of the UK, UN-ELECTED!!! As well as this the group is a protest about being governed by Labour, and all of their pathetic liberty stealing policies.

What pisses me off more than anything is the way that UK has become a police state, more and more liberties are being taken away from us week by week. It's a scary environment we are actually moving towards here and YOU should do something about it.

I've posted the video below which is part one of a series of videos that YOU must WATCH, and you must watch all of them. But more than that YOU should go out and tell people in the pubs, you should discuss this stuff with all your friends at work. Currently as a nation we are dumb, we need more expression of anger about all this...

Facebok protest Group

Technorati Tags: facebook labour liberties protest protest liberties facebook labour

So when Android, the open source mobile phone platform becomes the “normal”, you know, widely distributed, and of course I imagine it will, we will soon be carrying a cute little personalised Google spy in our pockets!

Hang on a minute, you what?

Ok think about this for a sec. Google Android is open source, it is an operating system, the thing which will make your phone work. Currently there are a variety of operating systems in use for mobile phones and depending on which provider you are signed up with will depend on how much access you have to “tweak” the that operating system.

Open Source

Yes Android is open source meaning the code is available for anyone to look at, therefore anyone can develop applications for. You know, all these widgets will appear, widgets like you see in your Facebook account? Well not exactly I predict many more useful applications will be available.

Personalised Info

Already your phone is capable of sending a signal back to HQ (where ever the HQ application is) stating “hey I am currently here at these coordinates”. Of course where this becomes particularly interesting is when your shopping habits and destinations are “learnt” by these new “lifestyle widgets”, yes folks when the crafty marketing peeps dip their toes in this, it will be game on.

Let’s say you often enjoy a morning pastry at the local Starbucks. Starbucks sign up with the application data service which sends the application server new information about offers they may have on at any point. You walk close to Starbucks and the suddenly “beep beep” you receive a text stating “Starbucks special offer half-price pastries today”.

Life Style Widgets

I’m going to go out on a limb and name these cute data mining packages Life Style Widgets. Do I mind this, will it bother me I can be profiled and offered various different products based on my geographic reference AND passed buying habits? Not at all, I’m really looking forward to the messages I’ll get when I walk passed a lap-dancing bar!

Seriously though folks it is coming, are you going to embrace that, or develop for it?

You Android you!

Technorati Tags: android application cell data facebook marketing mining mobile phone server starbucks widgets android marketing server widgets application mobile phone cell starbucks data mining facebook

Facebook advertisements are not so bad, in fact I find they are generally really subtle and unimposing, they just become part of the daily stream of my social graph updates.

I’ve experimented myself with a few ads recently for a project, and I found the demographic data Facebook provides pretty comprehensive for targeting just the kind of people you desire.

As an example I am currently targeting “liberal, moderate, and conservative men between 18 and 65 years old who are single, in a relationship, engaged, or married in the United States who like music production.” I’m not sure why I chose conservative men, as I look at it, in fact I should change that to cover perhaps more liberal minded folk and definitely include women too, however you get the point, the demographic is pretty neat, and my experiment is done.

I like the ads because I can pay for them on a per click basis and of course they are targeting people INTERESTED in what I’m selling.

I’ve used google adwords for literally years, since they were released actually in 2003, and as that system is also targeting contextually it makes for good conversions. However, I would say that google adwords probably would have more redundancy due to not all traffic landing on an ad placement zones to be totally pre-qualified.

I’m working with a new client now also to help them understand how they can use some of these technologies, the client works in the texas debt settlement and I spotted a competitor’s ad in my stream today, see below.

Pretty unobtrusive yet handy info if you are interested eh?

How do YOU feel about the ads in your Facebook Social Graph?

Technorati Tags: ads consolidation contextualised debt demographics facebook google texas traffic facebook ads google texas debt consolidation demographics traffic contextualised

Yesterday I mentioned to my partner I intend to use Google Calendar on my mobile phone. I also stated she’d be able to track any updates in my schedule fairly easily. For example, suppose I made an appointment during the day, and input that into Google, she would be in a position to quickly cross-check my schedule should something come on the horizon that she needed to book herself.

I thought this was pretty neat, hmm but I was wrong. Apparently it would be a little redundant due to the amount of tweeting I do concerning my plans etc. She said “I only need to see what your are tweeting and I’d know”.

This made me think hard about what I actually do indeed tweet, and this has got me wondering about my tweet use.

Fact: I am using far less text messages a month than I have in the passed to send updates to friends. I recall in the late 90s I used to get through hundreds and hundreds a month, now I get through maybe 10 a week tops.

Fact: I do indeed tweet rather openly about my whereabouts and “some” of my plans.

Fact: I seem to be actively in communication with my social graph between the hours of 8am and 8pm GMT.

Fact: Not everyone in my social graph follows me on Twitter. However, most of the others use Facebook (my tweets get shown in my FB status). The ones whom are not in either system get an email, or lastly a text message, or private IM.

Oh and of course I just call people a lot more these days too.

There we go, my communication methods have change considerably, and become almost free.

What about yours?

Technorati Tags: calendar communication facebook google sms status text twitter updates communication twitter facebook sms text calendar google updates status

Well it has been well over a week and I’ve decided that now some time has passed I’d unload some of my thoughts into my blog, after all remember my blog is the same as you’d get from me in the pub, so join me in a drink while I mention my personal highlights.

The ACHUB MediaCampBucks07 was the first if its kind for Bucks, in fact the first of its kind for many areas in UK, the slant of this event was enabling an interface of sorts between people working in the commercial sector and academia, and you know what, we all certainly achieved that.

On the day we had three broad themes running:

• Education/Web2.0
• Audio & Music
• HR/Policy/Community

Therefore three sessions were running simultaneously in order that a variety of choice was constantly present for all the participants, it was a cracking atmosphere with everyone checking out the schedules posted-up on the session room doors, and deciding if the current topic was for them, or not.

The event started for me on Friday morning by collecting Kris Eliasson from Heathrow who was representing Sony Ericsson. This guy is an ex-student of mine who studied with Audiocourses.com the distance learning school I am CEO of. Kris started as a student and then became a Production Advisor for the school and then since those days we have become good friends, and this was the first time I got to shake his hand in real-life and move onto serious discussion about the future of mobile content distribution, was awesome.

The event also saw another ex-student of Audiocourses.com in Mike O’Hara who has gone on to make audio his main income stream having set up a thriving business around podcasting, again what a buzz to see these connections firing.

On the Friday evening many of us met up in a local venue for a couple of drinks and a chat, this was the first time most of us had met and it was a real buzz seeing the next character walk in and introduce themselves, finally putting a real face to names was amazing. Observing different groups of people with wide ranging backgrounds and jobs getting social together was a thrill.

I met some amazing people on the day too numerous to mention, you know who you are and how we interacted, and let me just say thanks so much for giving and sharing, YOU made the day a success, and I’m excited to see you again soon.

I want to personally thank a few people for making the day happen, firstly Asha Treacy for driving me to the venue first thing Saturday morning, (I had abandoned my car the evening before following 4 pints of beer). CJ for being very organised and “calling time” with 10 mins to go in the sessions, this was awesome and not planned, she just took control of that and I need to thank her for it, we needed that structure. Eaon Pritchard the talented Scott who put together the logo for MediaCampBucks07 and also came up trumps with some direction boards and banners (sponsored by Weapon7) which we placed around the campus, smart man is Eaon, though he did have me worried as he had been out on the pop the night before and was missing in action for a while. Mike for getting a serious Jam scene going on in the Glasshouse on Saturday evening, sadly I missed most of it but checked out the repeat on Ustream.tv.

ACHUB MediaCampBucks07 was a success without a doubt, we had about 60 participants throughout the day all told. I’m humbled by all of this and I feel a sense of something great, we have created a brand which has a sense of expectation attached to it, all the participants now know what to expect from an ACHUB event.

Looking to the future of the ACHUB we plan to have a virtual event take place in SecondLife before xmas, probably music heavy, and also plan to host another real-life event for some time in the new year which may be similar to MediaCamp, or may be something different completely, in fact if YOU have some ideas about that I want to hear from you, I’m keen on using the momentum we have with ACHUB to continue hosting has we have done since 06.

Just to conclude ACHUB exists in two places:

ACHUB Facebook
Wiki

Recently we have secured the domain ACHUB.ORG which will likely become the main portal before too long, and yes, with user accounts so you can participate with the content, after all it is YOURS, this is YOUR group, your brand, your dynamic to embrace and share.

As a closing statement I’d like you to continue the growth of the group by bringing someone in, a stranger someone “outside” of this web2.0, someone who needs it most.

I’m keeping this short but let me know your highlight of the weekend with a cheeky comment.

Technorati Tags: achub advertising community discussion education event facebook group learning media mediacampbucks mediacampbucks07 portal sessions sharing unconference web2.0 wiki media mediacampbucks mediacampbucks07 unconference education web2.0 advertising learning sharing community achub group e

Does Social Media Cost Your Company Productivity?

An interesting one this, as I read the latest report concerning social networking sites and a loss in productivity, from Peninsula, a UK employment law firm.

The report mentions that “233 million hours are lost every month as a result of employees "wasting time" on social networking.”.

I’ve not read the full report but apparently 3500 or so companies were included in a survey, which is a fairly sufficient number to extract some meaningful evidence.

I’m presuming that the national average hourly employee rate has been used as a method of arriving at a final figure of £130m (about $260M USD) lost per day, in terms of productivity (not those companies in the survey, that’s the national figure).

Sound like a lot to you? Hmmm, well before we all get scared and start running to the IT department to switch off Facebook access, let’s give this some perspective.

Loss of Productivity

Facebook and various other social media networks are by far “small-fry” when it comes to a loss in productivity, of which in many cases has been in existence since time began. Some of the areas where losses take place might surprise you but include the following list I have cobbled together:

• World Cup cost the British economy almost £4 billion in lost productivity.
• More than one-third of UK executives believe their organisations are being "paralysed" by ineffective middle management, cutting productivity by at least £220bn every year.
• Bad hiring costs UK businesses billions in lost productivity
• Lost productivity, lost millions - New research shows that the UK's largest organisations are spending a huge amount of time getting to grips with desktop applications.
• Time-wasters cost £88bn a year in lost productivity
• Rugby World Cup to cost firms £461m in lost productivity

You can find out for yourself very easily by doing a google search on something like “productivity loss uk” and find hundreds of examples which are far higher up the leader board than the cheeky ole Facebook example, which include sick days, lateness and various other human conditions.

Balance is needed

Companies should question their own structural losses far sooner than jumping on the band wagon of social media bashing, and blaming their employees.

In addition, companies might also consider investing in some quality research to assess the extent at which social networking actually makes for a happier working environment, with satisfied employees, the argument of course is can more work per hour be achieved?

And you?

Are you in a position where social networks are frowned upon in your environment, does your very inefficient manager (costing the company thousands per year) question your usage?
Have you embraced social media as a manager, why, or why not?

Technorati Tags: company cost employees facebook finance loses money productivity profit social media survey time-wasters productivity social media cost company loses employees finance money profit survey facebook time-wasters