Out of the Ordinary

TweetEnders

Twitter is most definitely the media’s flavour of the month right now. Newspapers, TV programmes and blogs are awash with the ‘latest craze to grip the nation’. While the hyperbole that always characterises these debates will undoubtedly pass as quickly as it arose, it does raise some interesting questions about the compelling nature of Twitter.

Beyond, the obvious fact that humans have always been social beings and that Twitter is yet another example of an advance in digital technology that makes it easier for us to satisfy our underlying human need to feel connected with each other, there are some interesting parallels to be drawn from the traditional media world to help explain why the average Twitter user is so interested in the minutia of the lives of some many people beyond their immediate social circle.

First and most obviously the fact that Stephen Fry has over 250,000 followers on Twitter, and counting, can easily be explained by the obsession with celebrity which fuels the modern media and specifically by looking at the success of magazines like Hello which provide their readers with an insight into the daily lives of their ‘heroes’. In that regard Twitter can be seen as just Hello magazine in real time.

But that doesn’t explain why so many of us are as equally interested in the vicissitudes of the lives of those who we know but wouldn’t necessarily buy more than one beer for on a big night out. In my view this is more akin to the fascination in the details of everyday live that has sustained soap operas like EastEnders and Coronation Street for so long. Yes these soap operas have the occasional 'big' story' lines but for the most part they are focused on the detail of the ordinary lives of everyday folk. Just like Twitter.

It’s not rocket science but it is life Jim, only just as we know it.

Tache love from Remington

As those of you who had the misfortune to bump into me over the last four weeks can testify for the month of September I have been growing a less than glorious mustache to raise sponsorship money for the Everyman charity as part of their annual Tacheback campaign. Its a fantastic event which since 2003 has raised over £700,000 for Everyman's life saving vital research into testicular and prostate cancer. This year Tacheback is being supported by Remington which is a great brand fit given the need to trim even the most unimpressive of taches (trust me I know). So it was with great pleasure that I unwrapped my High Precision washable grooming kit courtesy of Remington for the ceremonial shaving off of my tache yesterday. Of course having provided me with the tools for the job they did not put me under any obligation to write about it here but it certainly served its purpose well and as its so rare to see brands engaging with the community in such a positive fashion I am delighted to give credit where credits due. I just hope that now I am so well tooled up I can avoid the temptation to grow a goatee.

Although the taches all came off at the end September donations can still be made here so please feel free to dig dip.

Google @ Ten

At ten years old this month it is hard to imagine a better mirror for the vacillations of digital’s rise than the growth of Google. For better or for worse, the West coast search giant is the defining narrative of the Internet age. From ambitious, altruistic start-up and poster-child of digital cool, determined to democratise the world’s information – motto: “Don’t Be Evil” - to publicly-listed media behemoth, Google’s maturation reflects all that is right, and for some, wrong, about the digital era and the world that has evolved around it.

For an industry that, arguably, struggled for credibility in its embryonic days, battling for space alongside the slow-moving giants of traditional media, Google bought a level of business, and financial, maturity that other dot.coms conspicuously failed to muster. With admirable determination, interpreted by many from the old-school as a dangerous bravado - a characteristic that to many epitomised the dot.com boom of the late 1990s - Google has been built with what now feels like fearless, and fearsome, calculation into conversely one of the most respected and most formidable brands in the world. What is indisputable is that during this evolution they have dragged digital with them from precocious upstart to a major player at the high table of media and marketing.

That this has all happened in such a short space of time only serves to make the story more remarkable. In the time it takes most corporations to squeeze their latest widget through development, Google has revolutionized a whole market, if not an entire generation. It now reaches deep into every recess of modern life and, in the developed world, and much of the developing one, there is no brand that wields such an overwhelming influence. Even language is not immune, with billions around the globe now “googling” every day, as the OED will attest.

And yet, perhaps, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to get too worked up over the Google-isation of modern life. For, really, how different are co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page from the newspaper, industry and even technology barons of yesteryear? Our own, real life Charles Kanes and Daniel Plainviews? Or just two more Bill Gates’? Is this not merely the latest manifestation of centuries old Capitalism, one that like our forbearers we must and inevitably will, however reluctantly for some, embrace?

Amidst all the fog, controversy and divided opinion, in just a decade, Google has transformed the way we live. Hyperbole? Absolutely not. In an age saturated by information, billions of images, sounds and data-bytes circulating cyber-space, only one company has the ability to harvest what we need, and what we don’t, whenever we want it. Now resolutely in every corner of the planet, it may not necessarily be the vision of philanthropy that many expected, but it is here to stay. And as each day passes there seem to be fewer and fewer companies able to challenge its dominance.

The challenge for Google over its next ten years will be to remain true to the values that have driven is astonishing growth over the last ten years.

MINI Me

I don't normally talk about campaigns we have worked on but I thought you might enjoy this!

The future of the web

I was asked at a conference recently to give some predictions about the future of the web. Not you understand what apps will follow on from Web 2.0 favorites such as Twitter and Facebook but instead more big picture stuff. So here we go with my five predictions:

The web will be pervasive. Not just mobile, although that is definitely the next immediate stage of this evolution, but truly everywhere with almost every conceivable device capable of linking to the all encompassing network.

The web will be fluid. The distinction between the real and virtual, on and offline, worlds will disappear with services that seamlessly bridge the two without any obvious transition. Nike iD is just a forerunner for what we should expect in the future.

The web will be cognitive.  This is not just the semantic web but a significant step beyond where the intelligence in the network provides a human context for everything that takes place.

The web will be anonymous. There will be a mainstream backlash against the fact that through a combination of social media apps like Facebook, LinkedIn and Flickr so much personal information is readily accessible on line. In response a significant number of people will seek anonymity online much in the same way that people delisted themselves from phone books in the 1980s.

The web will be intimate. This may seem contrary to the anonymity described above but for those who remain fully engaged with the web the information that they provide about themselves and the fingerprints that they leave as they move about the web will enable a whole host of new services which are tailored specifically around the specific characteristics of those who consume them. 

What's in a name

With a track record including KaZaA and Skype Janus Friis has got to be one of the most talented, not to mention prolific, internet entrepreneurs out there. So those of us in the TV, advertising or content business should ignore his latest initiative, The Venice Project, at our peril.

So what is The Venice Project? Well according to Friis' blog:

It’s simple, really — we are trying to bring together the best of TV with the best of the Internet. We think TV is one of the most powerful, engaging mass medias of all time. People love TV, but they also hate TV. They love the (sometimes…) amazing storytelling, the richness, the quality itself. But they hate the linearness, the lack of choice, the lack of basic things like being able to search. And wholly missing is everything that we are now accustomed to from the Internet: tagging, recommendations, choice, and so on… TV is 507 channels and nothing on and we want to help change that!

Sound intriguing? Well keep an eye on The Venice Project website to stay tuned.