Posts by :
- Newspaper organisations in countries like India have a head start. Years of experience in the West has created a real confidence in publishers who know what their readers want (such as highly regionalised editions, even down to the dialect used) and how to make profits.
- Digital media will be better understood and more profitable by the time the internet becomes ubiquitous in countries like India and China (or at least will become more accessible for millions more people). So experiments such as the News International paywalls and tailored content for mobile devices will have had time to prove themselves one way or another and the knowledge from this will mean that big online media operations in developing countries will be built on sound understandings of newer, different business models. After all, we are still finding our feet with these new technologies in the West
‘The internet of things’: Thoughts on how the evolution of the web will impact healthcare
September 30th, 2011Last week, Radio Four broadcast a talk by Russell Davies, who is amongst other things a columnist for Wired magazine and a prolific blogger about the online/digital era, all about the ‘internet with things’. The short but fascinating talk is still on iPlayer and well worth a listen.
Russell says that social web, where people’s lives are interconnected through various networks and platforms, has already evolved to such a high point that further advances will be about refinement, not revolution. The internet will always be about people, but it will become increasingly about ‘things’, where objects are connected to the internet, such as sensors on roads reporting on the weather or accidents, or sensors on animals to report on their health.
Clearly, employing such sophisticated technology would need to have a significant enough business or social benefit to justify the cost. But the argument is that this won’t stop inventors or ‘Makers’ from playing with the technology. Instead, it could enable innovation from the bottom up.
The picture below is of an internet-enabled robot. Now I’m not 100 per cent clear on how this all works as I’m far from a tech-head, but the idea is that you can fit your ‘thing’ with an Arduino, which enables you to connect the device to the internet. You can then programme it to do simple things like move forwards or backwards and trace the direction it has taken online. This doesn’t seem immediately useful, but think creatively and there is a whole world of opportunities.
The examples Russell uses are much more interesting…
Hardware Hackers are the kind of people who strap ordinary cameras to weather balloons to photograph space, give them things like the Arduino and they make machines which blow bubbles when they see their own names on twitter. Or they make pairs of lamps for lovers separated by distance – connected lamps, so if you switch one of them off, the other goes off too – a little reminder of what your love in another timezone is up to.
These are the same curious, hybrid, inventive sort of people who built the web and pioneered social media. They’re turning from mucking about with the web to mucking about with the real world because there seems to be a whole new set of interesting things to invent, unoccupied, uncolonised space.
In healthcare this is particularly relevant as such medical devices are already being built, not least of which is this amazing sonar for the visually impaired that works by telling the wearer of a glove the proximity of objects.
No doubt there will be significant developments in this field over the coming years, though it appears we are currently at a significant junction in terms of where things will head based on the decisions that will be made by the big players in technology. If Apple and Google embrace the opportunities the Arduino represents, this could mean that devices made by these companies, such as iPhones and Android phones and devices, are ‘unlocked’ to allow developers – amateur and professional – to build hardware that will work across these devices. I’m just guessing here, but wouldn’t this be a MASSIVE development that could lead to all kinds of fantastic inventions and ideas, and genuine innovation from the bottom up?
This all sounds like we’re finally living in the 21st Century. I mean, everyone is secretly disappointed that we’re not flying around in our cars yet and that the new Back To The Future Nike shoes don’t automatically do up the laces, aren’t they?
Will 2011 be remembered as the year of social media?
September 21st, 20112011 has been a momentous year for a dramatic range of news stories, but perhaps more than anything else it will be remembered as the year of social media. After the Arab Spring, the widespread effective hacking of companies, riots in England blamed on BlackBerry Messenger, super-injunctions and a legal precedent for internet ‘trolling’, social media has become recognised as a power like no other.
But do the people in power fully grasp the threats and opportunities social media represents? I think the fact that the UK government seriously considered ‘shutting down’ social media sites in response to the riots answers that question. After all, we’re not talking about a few pesky chat forums are we? The social web is a revolution in the way society communicates as a whole. It might not even be long before access to social media is considered a human right.
Social media and democracy are close bedfellows. But a technological viewpoint can be misleading. After all, the Arab Spring would never have happened if the conditions for revolution were not present and the hunger for change was not widespread. Even in populations with highly limited access to the internet, social media can still be a driver for change, mobilising a group that takes action out to the masses.
The big question is, will individual countries and economic power-blocks such as the EU and US continue to respond to social media movements, or predict and lead through social media? Of all the lessons history has to offer, 2011 should may well be remembered as a turning point at which governments realised they had to stop reacting to events and social movements around them, often far too late, and take a different approach altogether.
When #PR goes wrong: Best public relations gaffes 2011
August 11th, 2011
What India’s thriving media industry could mean for the West
August 5th, 2011Earlier this week Radio 4’s increasingly popular Today Programme investigated the thriving media industry in India. While newspapers in the UK and US are making cuts left, right and centre, India is working hard to satisfy the appetites of increasing numbers of newspaper readers across the country. Whilst one in every five papers in the world is published in India, quality journalism is not the only condition that makes this possible…
Firstly, online competition is weak. Whilst most people in the West now access news online, the number of people accessing the internet in India is comparatively low. Since newspapers are much cheaper in India relative to their cost in the West, they are also more affordable for many people. Finally, literacy is on the increase (again, contrasting to the worryingly low levels of literacy in the UK).
Media training tip #687: Sometimes it’s okay to go silent in an interview
June 9th, 2011This is not the latest trendy interview technique. Nor is it something that anyone running media training should encourage would-be interviewees to take up. After all, not acknowledging the question asked is a cardinal sin, isn’t it? It makes you look guilty of something, as if the reason you don’t want to talk about it is that you actually have something to hide. But this week the rules were thrown out of the window and a refusal to answer questions was actually a good thing.
Graham Linehan, the comedy writer most known for Father Ted and the IT Crowd, had been asked to appear on the Radio 4 Today Programme to speak about his adaptation of classic movie The Ladykillers on the stage. Since he was asked to go on the show to talk about the play, he was somewhat put out when presenter Justin Webb began attacking his decision to transfer the film to the theatre and went completely silent. After the event, he blogged: “What a treat it was to be able to complain directly to Today’s pompous John Humphries’ stand-in about the squabbling that passes for debate on that program [sic]… What the host didn’t realise is that because I’m not a politician, like the fellow I saw in the green room preparing his lines with an aide, I didn’t have to be held hostage to their artificial reductive, harmful format.”
The Today Programme apologised. So it’s tempting to think Linehan won (although he’d probably take you to task for thinking along such simplistic lines, perhaps quite rightly). However, we do not recommend giving the cold shoulder in interviews. Just look at how bad US Governor Jan Brewer looked when she refused to address questions from the media about her ill-founded claims about crime in the state…
The more technology we have, the more we want the ‘human’ touch
March 11th, 2011Have you noticed recently how the more old fashioned and Grandad-like something is, the more popular it is becoming? It seems to be more than just the revolving cycle of fashion but a genuine trend that’s been sticking around recently. It’s been something that’s been knocking around at the back of my mind for a while and only really surfaced when I saw this viral video doing the rounds:
The clip was first posted on Mashable as a calming antidote to the excitement and hype around the iPad2 launch as “basically the most soothing thing ever” (who can disagree?). But apart from being a lovely interlude to your day, it seems to touch on something consumers are increasingly seeking. Namely elements of the tactile, the nostalgic, the honest, the home-made and the retro. You only have to walk around London’s trendy East End to see how this is influencing fashion. Nobody’s really sure whether it’s ironic or not anymore, but wearing dubious knitwear is a big deal for this not insignificant youth sub-culture…
I suppose what I’m getting at is that while people are becoming increasingly technology-literate across the generations, they are also increasingly looking for the human touch in their experience. And despite what you are told, largely by people with a financial incentive, not everyone wants to immerse themselves in new technology. A manifestation of this can be seen in the way people are abandoning search engines to access online content and clicking through links their peers have recommended to them through Facebook or other social networks. My point is that ‘human’ interaction and genuine engagement is more important than ever if you want to make people really sit up and listen.
Also, looking for the ‘next big thing’ in technology might just prevent you from fully grasping the current one, both as a consumer of online content and as a provider of it. It goes back to that old chestnut of what the point of investing in a bells and whistles website or forum is if there is already an active community just around the corner? Wouldn’t it be far better to listen to that community in an attempt to understand the interests and concerns of those people, and perhaps even engage with them yourself, before even thinking about launching a me-too marketing or awareness initiative to them?
And what about the technology itself and the healthcare setting? Yes, there are numerous new apps and opportunities to optimise technology for healthcare purposes, whether it’s a disease information app or a platform to help doctors manage their patients. But these are no good without fully and truly understanding the audiences that use them. For example, you might think of using Twitter to communicate to a group of young adults about contraception. But the average Twitter user is more likely to be in their 30s than tweeting in school, and unless they ‘choose’ to follow you may be tweeting to yourself!
The worst thing you can do is assume that just because something is new and shiny, people will like it. In fact, the worst thing you can do is make assumptions at all. So why not take a long hard look at that expensive looking digital media proposal and ask the question, is all this technology relevant? If the answer is ‘yes’ then all you have to do is put your best foot forward down the intended path. If the answer is ‘no’ then you should congratulate yourself on your honesty, go back to listening to the people you want to engage with and then get thinking about what you have to bring to the party.
Is Coulson’s resignation the start of big changes to UK media?
January 24th, 2011When a spokesman needs a spokesman, it is time to step down. So said Andy Coulson on Friday as he resigned as Downing Street Director of Communications following persistent allegations that he oversaw journalists illegally hacking the phones of high-profile public figures during his editorship of the News of the World. To PR and media professionals, the way the resignation was announced is particularly interesting, not least from an issues management perspective. So how was this particular bomb dropped?
Read the rest of this entry “
Wakefield’s ‘fraud’ helped by existing anti-vaccine sentiment
January 6th, 2011With a detailed investigation of the MMR vaccine scare published today in the BMJ, Editor Fiona Godlee has said Dr Andrew Wakefield orchestrated a large-scale hoax. The investigation, conducted by journalist Brian Deer, exposes the financial gains Dr Wakefield stood to make through linking the MMR vaccine with autism. Deer highlights in his ‘Secrets of the MMR scare’ article that Wakefield made well over £400,000 through a lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers – and planned to profit from his own measles vaccine.
Read the rest of this entry “
Vodafone: When online PR goes wrong #mademesmile
December 14th, 2010If a brand is at the heart of a reputational issue, you’d be forgiven for expecting the issue to come up if you ask people about that brand. But what if you went ahead anyway, thinking that the positive nature of the campaign would off-set any damaging commentary about that ugly little issue you’re avoiding? Well, that’s when things go wrong as Vodafone’s failed #mademesmile Twitter campaign shows…
Read the rest of this entry “
What makes a good viral video in healthcare?
December 1st, 2010The Guardian’s top ten viral videos of the week is a good stop for anyone curious about what is setting trends out there (especially if you’re after a laugh too!) There is a highly unpredictable element in what becomes popular and the most popular videos are often the strangest, unlikeliest videos. However, there are more brands featured in the viral top ten than you might think, such as the recent Walmart clown advert or the video for the Durex ‘baby app’ which aims to put men off unprotected sex by turning their phones into virtual babies. This shows us that there are significant audiences for the rough and ready, home-made viral videos that we used to associate with YouTube in its earliest days, and professionally made videos developed to motivate changes in behaviour. InPharm’s Dominic Tyer recently blogged on two good examples of such videos in healthcare, which we wanted to take a little further…
Read the rest of this entry “
