gifernando’s posterous

In response to the great article by Mark Earls
(http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2009/02/25-random-things-and-egglaying-marsupials.html):

 Someone else dispelling the myth of "it's going viral because the
creative's great". As I keep saying it doesn't matter whether it's
brilliant creative or not. It really doesn't. It's luck.

 We've found from going through a bunch of data that you can create
good performance (i.e. for every 4 people you pick up through a highly
targeted media buy, you can get 3 of their friends in aggregate for
free - 75% viral) by making sure what you create is relevant and
social (i.e. requires more than one person to participate in order for
it to work!). Not by if its pink, green or blue or cool or even a
"great concept". It just doesn't matter. It's luck if it grows
exponentially.

 This 4/3 progression is of course is not exponential growth, but more
like the front of a bell-curve (unsurprisingly!). You might see the
same curve on other systems where there is competition (friction) -
i.e. something requires energy to get it going until it reaches a
point where the effects of friction (or competition) require too much
energy hence any growth stalls - when the energy runs out you get a
decay effect.

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I have been reliably informed that distances on the underground are measured by a measuring person and his apprentice walking and counting steps not a laser tool or anything else as you may expect. The apprentice checks the count. The report is then posted via normal mail to a central location.

 Why? Because it's always been done this way and the person measuring and their aprentice are skilled workers. If they were to be replaced with a laser distance measurer the Unions would call a strike.

 This is the tip of the iceberg. We must embrace technology and get the best value staff irrespective of where they come from in this global world or this country will become more backward - this will lead to far greater employment issues as the UK fails to compete.

 The solution - provide a better workforce in the UK through better education and a better work ethic and reform Unions starting with transport so that there are more staff with more intelligence to deal with weather issuesband less to walk lines counting with their mate.

 Sent from my iPhone

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I've alsways said that Twitter has been waiting to go mainstream - today it did when DJ Chris Moyles started talking about it on his radio 1 show.

 He got 400+ followers in about 5 minutes and interestingly was showing the power of mixed media by talking on radio and Twitter with Andy Peters, whilst effectivly providing the masses with a how to guide!

 Any companies thinking of building their own niche service should now think about 2 way integration using #tags to filter content!

 Sent from my iPhone

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http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/national/SE.html

 So predictable!

 Sent from my iPhone

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To compete in this economy companies need to generate a profit and build sustainability. This means automating as far as possible and where possible hiring the best talent with the best skills and work ethic for the price. Alps reducing the management burden.

 The wildcat strikes at power plants underly something more significant than than simply the fact that foreign workers are being employed. It's the fact that Britain is churning out Ill educated, lazy, and unskilled people compared to the countries like Portugal, Italy and more widely India and China. As an economy surely this cultural, work ethic and skills issue is at the heart of our forthcoming woes and lack of competition against the rest of the world?

  
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Interesting article highlighted by @tom_watson http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28787998/ and his statement that "US and UK gov share similar barriers to digital collaboration."

 The reason for this is that most MP's (with Tom as exception) aren't interested in learning how people communicate - they simply get experts in to tell them what their 8 year olds already know. This is the biggest barrier, and is why the UK government will fall further and further out of touch with the electorate. There is no way that policy can be set, when an 8 year old is likely to have more information at their hand to make decisions with, faster, and direct from the electorate, than an MP. The fact that an 8 year old could interpret the data sources and context better is another nail in any trust one may have with a government.

 That Obama seems so in touch with technology and is know as an active user surely puts the UK to shame.

 Is Obama in what he represents a clear indication about how backward this country is in comparison?

 Is it more like that here in the UK we vote for a non-white prime minister or a tech savvy one? The US now have both.

 (I remember a pitch recently where being questioned by an IT Director of a public body on technology infrastructure procedures. The questions asked indicated a complete lack of knowledge on how to make effective use of budget, and to such a spectacular degree that I would not have accepted the job for the business. The funny thing is that the IT Director mentioned in passing that his 8 year-old son had his own blog and was an avid user of Facebook, whilst this guy had banned it.)

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This time from O2. Again, has failed to take note of my voluntary given information to make their product and service relevant to me. Come on media agencies scale doesn't mean irrelevant. Not in this economy!

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Social Media is not a panacea! It yields exceptional results when aligned. Why is alignment so difficult in the advertising world?
 
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Here's an example of how not to advertise on Facebook. Please agencies - use the information that people give to make your product relevant to them! t-mobile is clearly not doing any targeting - I am only likely to get pissed off with this.

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I can't wait for when the monopoly ends - overpriced and a mess. Cancellations everywhere and rolling out old stock! It used to be so much better - it's as if a Brit has taken over and a sudden descent into medicreness is following sharply as is a sudden decrease in safety standards!

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