The infographic below highlights the importance of engaging with consumers via their mobile phone
Humanising Technology
We are information seeking creatures (always have been, always will be)
StartUpStay Review
I am currently sat in Belfast airport writing a blog post (and review) on my experiences with StartupStay. In a nutshell, StartupStay is couch surfers for the startup generation. I have followed them on Twitter for a while and I sent a tweet of support a month or so ago after reading about their offering. Although they haven’t officially launched yet I thought it would be worth contacting them to see if they had any suitable hosts in Belfast ahead of a three day business trip to the City.
I was given three offers. The first offer pulled out due to it being inconvenient. The second person accepted however due to me being out of the country when she did (at The Next Web’s Startup Rally) I was slow responding and the host unfortunately had left to go to Scotland before I had a chance to reply. However, StartupStay came to the rescue at the last minute and found an awesome host. Richard Brown, a developer and entrepreneur based in Belfast put me up for the three days and was a awesome host. I spent most of the time in Belfast at an external office but did manage to have a few pints and a meal on the last day.
I would like to thank StartupStay and Richard for helping to make my stay in Belfast awesome ‘ it “was a good crack, so it was” (sorry I had to get this quote into the post). Anyhow, I would also like to recommend startup stay to founders, VC’s and entrepreneurs of all ages.
EasyJet Sunset…
Signup to become a beta StartupStay host or traveller today 🙂
Exclusive interview with Klara the Cow at TNW2012
Dungville was a location based game created for The Next Web Conference 2012. It included a real farmer, a cow called Klara and a field divided into 48 squares to roam in. The winner of the game was the person who predicted which grids would attain the most dung over the conference. The poo was weighed by an independent referee to ensure that there was no 'foul play'.
HOWEVER there was an element of controversy surrounding Dungville and it's star Klara. It seems that Klara's real name is not actually Klara! Klara is a stereotypical name given to Dutch cows. My interview with the cow and the farmer can be seen below:
Social Media Strategist’s first software platform is selected for The Next Web’s Startup Rally 2012
DeadSocial have been selected as one of the final 19 startups to pitch, present and launch their startup at The Next Web's 'Startup Rally' in Amsterdam later this month. Visitors to DeadSocial are currently able to create personal profiles and claim their unique username ahead of the event however the Startup Rally will be the first time that the functionality is released and made 'forever free' to the general public. James Norris the founder of DeadSocial will be present and launch DeadSocial live on stage infront of the World's media and industry experts. The event will also be broadcast live online to an audience of thousands.
The competition is divided into two channels – Alpha and Beta.
The Alpha channel features 9 new startups (including DeadSocial) launch for the first time, while the Beta channel is all about existing names with big new announcements. A panel of experts, chaired by Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, will question each startup and judge their pitches to choose this year's winners. The Next Web Conference 2012 will be held on the 25th-27th April. The conference will feature a number of speakers from Adobe to Youtube and attract 1800 digital leaders from across the Globe.
Social TV World Summit 2012
Social Media Strategist will be a media partner for the upcoming Social TV World Summit 2012: This is a premiere event dedicated to the social media revolution specifically focusing on the convergence with TV and TV enabled platforms. Social TV is an area that has started to cross over to the mainstream over the last year. With the upcoming OS updates and hardware partnerships soon to be announced by 'Google TV' could 2012 be 'the year' of Social TV? I am really looking forward to the event and meeting potential partners over the two days.
Social TV World Summit is on between the 22nd-23rd May 2012 at the Royal Garden Hotel, London. It will address the future of Social TV which arguably has become a game-changer in the way ordinary people watch TV. Ally Branley, Head of Social Media at Channel 4 commented on the Summit: “A fantastic programme, covering the right issues at the right time.” The Social TV World Summit will address key issues such as the land grab for the second screen, privacy and security, social TV and customer identification management, the development of transmedia story telling, development of social recommendation applications, gamification of programming, establishing the future of the user experience, LBS and TV, customer identification and customer relationship management. The full agenda can be found by downloading the brochure.
The Social TV World Summit will feature an impressive array of speakers from the forefront of social TV strategies. Karla Geci, Head of Platform Partnerships, EMEA from Facebook will open the conference with her Keynote Case Study on Facebook Driving Social TV Engagement and Simon Morris, Chief Marketing Officer from LoveFilm will provide the Keynote address on Evolving OTT Content to Integrate Social Interaction. The Summit will also be packed with 50+ speakers from companies such as Shazam, Al Jazeera, Foursqaure, Zeebox, MTV Networks, NBC, BBC and many more.
Informa Telecoms & Media The IP&TV Awards are organized by Informa Telecoms & Media, the leading provider of business intelligence and strategic services to the global telecoms and media markets. Driven by constant first-hand contact with the industry, its 90 analysts and researchers produce a range of intelligence services including news and analytical products, in depth market reports and datasets focussed on technology, strategy and content. Informa Telecoms & Media also organises 125 global annual events, attended by more than 70,000 executives worldwide.
For media information please contact Stephen Scott at stephen.scott@informa.com or on +44 20 3377 3313
DeadSocial is announced at SXSW
DeadSocial a new startup by James Norris (Social Media Strategist) has been announced at SXSW. It allows anyone to create a series of messages that are only sent out after a user dies! More information can be viewed via the video below:
Since heading over to the USA for SXSW the response has been awesome by the general public as well as the mainstream media.
“So, whether you want to leave a humorous ‘I told you I was ill…’ status update, a poignant farewell, or feed your social media addiction long after you’re belly-up in the ground, DeadSocial could be the answer to your prayers”. The Next Web.
“As crazy as it sound this just might work” Techcrunch
Explaining the MilkoSystem / Milk-o-system
Being English I drink tea… Being a bit of a workaholic I drink coffee. I probably drink between half and three quarters of a pint of milk each day.
Most of us Brits drink milk and buy milk according to our needs and the needs of those who we live with. Most families and cohabitating households roughly know how much milk they need to purchase and when to buy it.
Milk is bought and drunk in accordance with a range of factors. These factors may include and range from who purchased the last pint, how long it's been in the fridge and how much milk each person normally drinks . "Artificial milk ecosystems' (or "MilkOSystems") can be found in millions of homes across the UK and Ireland.
Generally speaking MlkoSystems rely on certain steady variables (some of which have been outlined above). However, disaster can strike when things go wrong…. An unexpected guest, changes in the shopping routine, a housemate going away on holiday or a desire to eat custard for pudding. These are all factors that need to be considered and addressed on a regular basis. A successful MilkoSystem is about having just the right amount of milk at any one moment in time. Too much milk can lead to it going off and being wasted. Too little milk can may lead to an evening without a cup of tea or even missing out on breakfast (the most important meal of the day).
The MilkoSystem was is a term given to the the milk ecosystem favoured by the British public. It was created 15 minutes ago by me. I not work for Apple and will not sue you for using the term (I would be flattered if you adopted it).
More information about Milk can be found here
BlackBerry Developer Conference 2012
I will be flying out to Amsterdam for the BlackBerry Developer Conference on Wednesday. This is going to be good prep for mobile world congress and Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival which I'm supporting this year. If anyone fancies finding more about the festival whist at the conference let me know.
I have needed to broaden my knowledge of BlackBerry applications and the RIM platform for ages and this should be the perfect place to do so! BlackBerry have also very kindly announced that they will be giving a free PlayBook to each attendee. I will write a little review about how I get along with it next weekend.
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Tuttle Nottingham
Last Friday I ventured up to Nottingham for "Tuttle Nottingham". This specific meetup was part of the "Tech on Trial" series investigating "Digital Legacy – No one lives for ever… do they?"
I would like to say a belated (but big) THANK YOU to
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