Simon Collister, PhD

Strategy + Consulting

Web 2.0

New sites – some work, some don’t

by simoncollister Leave a Comment

I’ve noticed a few new sites being launched/re-launched over the last few days. Some are working smoothly, others, well… erm, aren’t.

For instance BBC Radio 1 seems to have been launching various features over a period of time. I visited the site on Sunday and loved its web 2.0 feel and oodles of useful technology.

On the other hand, The Times Newspaper seems to have re-launched its website today [via Lewis 360] and… oh dear. It don’t look too good (see below). The text is all overlapping making it impossible to read any content. It’s nice to know even big outlets have teething problems!

Untitled_2

Thirdly, the BBC’s Economy Editor, Evan Davis, has a new blog, Evanomics which so far, looks good. BBC 2 – Times 0. [via Guy Clapperton]

Technorati tags: BBC Radio 1; Times Newspaper; Evan Davis;

EXCLUSIVE: We, the economy – Nicholas Sarkozy at Le Web 3

by simoncollister Leave a Comment

Nicholas Sarkozy has delivered his speech. If my french is up to scratch I have posted a summary below:

France is last but one in the OECD table of countries profiting from the internet

After life sciences France must make investing in R&D for the internet a priority

But Msr Sarkozy also promised a major commitment to rolling e-initiatives across government especially in education and health to provide greater access and improved services

He promised to invest in free sites for culture such as digitising archives and making them freely available.

[Soundbite alert] "What is public must be genuinely public."

France’s problem is reacts too late to opportunities because it has to wait for the government to appoint companies for the jobs.

France must become a country where people can invest.

The internet opens up frontiers, but it is too powerful to become the domain of the rich.

The internet develops through creativity but monopolies risk controlling everything. The internet is not made for monopolies.

The internet is a continent of new liberties and we, the economy must help make the country flourish.

Ok. So my french is really GCSE standard but according to the translator that’s more or less what was said.

I found it refreshing to hear a politician speaking with a clear knowledge of the way the web needs to be harnessed for society.

Whereas UK shadow chancellor, George Osbourne, gave a speech recently which was like a web 2.0 shopping list, Msr Sarkozy (or his speech-writer) really addressed the ideas behind the tools.

Tags: ;

How the US watches TV differently from the UK

by simoncollister Leave a Comment

A BBC / ICM poll showed yesterday that online video was eroding television’s market share. The research found that nearly half (43%) of the 2,000-odd people questioned who watched video online admitted they watched less TV as a result. You can almost hear the broadcasting behemoths quaking in their boots.

Or can you? Further research from US network, CBS, seems to show the opposite. Ian Delaney spotted it and quotes from the channel’s press release:

"CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” has added 200,000 (+5%) new viewers while “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” is up 100,000 viewers (+7%) since the YouTube postings started."

This is really interesting stuff and gives us a glimpse of the difference between broadcaster attitudes in the States and the UK.

CBS in the States is actively using YouTube as a marketing tool to (in their words) ‘seed’ TV shows with a potential online audience.

This is something I’m not aware the BBC is doing. I posted earlier in the year about coming across snippets of the BBC’s (then) new Armando Iannucci show, Time Trumpet, on YouTube. But these weren’t uploaded as official BBC material and frankly were a bit too short/cut up to be worthwhile to anyone not familiar with Iannucci’s material.

Maybe the BBC will use the findings to inform its online marketing but even if so, whoever picked the headline stat for the news story went with the scary "Oh my God! No-one’s going to watch TV anymore!" which certainly won’t be the case as Simon Wakeman makes clear in a comment on Ian Delaney’s blog:

"A few years down the track the distinction between broadcast TV and online video will be less anyway, as more content is consumed online on demand, whether it’s shared video or video from “traditional” broadcasters."

It goes to show that a lot of UK media companies still aren’t understanding the full benefits or impact of online consumption.

As a footnote, the CIPR’s newly released consultation Code of Conduct has a reminder for PR practitioners that they have a duty to obey copyright laws when dealing in social media. That’s fair enough I suppose. Everyone has an obligation to obey the laws of the land.

But what about when practitioners’ clients are faced with the dilemma of allowing people to share content which will breach copyright laws but potentially increase the client’s audience or market-share?

Interesting and confusing times.

You know it’s Friday when you read about the web 2.0 drinking game….

by simoncollister 1 Comment

Shotglasses1Well, Ian Delaney is exploring some major issues around tagging and intelligent search. At the same time Simon Wakeman is following up on David Brain’s suggestions for a CIPR social media code of conduct.

Meanwhile Steve Rubel has a very thought-provoking destroying post about a great new web 2.0 based drinking game. So that’s how they have fun in Silicon Valley. Huzzah!