In 2013 we hire detectives to investigate ourselves, in 2023?…

The actor Ashley Judd is an interesting character. Not only is she a Hollywood star, she is also married to the Scottish racing driver (with the Scottish name) Dario Franchitti and is dropping hints that she is about to contest the US Senate seat for Kentucky.

While it is mischievous to think of her imploring Dario to go ‘faster, faster’ while they are in their love shack, it is certainly bizarre to know that two weeks ago she engaged a private investigator… to examine her own past. Continue reading

The best time on mobile to reach Twitter audience is 10pm… and via Facebook app

People versed in social media know that the best time to post on Facebook is around 9pm, not so many know how this works on mobile… least of all Facebook itself.

But a new report by Citrix ByteMobile shows that old social habits are indeed dying hard on this channel. It says that the best time for all social networks is around 10pm, just before traffic falls off a cliff and most of us fall into Bedforshire.

The report goes on to say that the mobile Facebook app also drives traffic to Twitter and YouTube as well as other sites such as Tumblr and eBay. There’s also stuff on there about which apps block up the mobile network and how mobile video is driving data.

From a publisher’s point of view, however, the best thing about this particular report is the way it was distributed by the PR company. Instead of an easy-to-read synopsis for a really-lazy-journalist to cut-and-paste into a ‘story’, the raw data from a detailed report meant this particular writer had to research, parse and think about it a bit more than usual.

And that is a very good thing… must post this on my mobile at 10pm when you hepcats are more likely to read it.

Facebook should have an 'engaged' link not a Like button that 98% of people only use once

By regular contributor Lloyd Gofton who tweets here

As a social species, we should expect our habits and actions on social networks to reflect our natural priorities as humans… as a species we crave companionship and like to feel part of a community.

Our instinct is to learn from each other and share our experiences with like-minded individuals. That habit has served us well, but at some point in our conversations and relationships the number of contacts we have has been given a higher value than the quality of the connection we have with those individuals, groups and brands. Continue reading

Sweden's Twitter experiment was an epic fail… but we've all been there

Another week, another social media screw-up. When will brands and people ever learn? The social network is a public entity and has to be respected as much as any other channel that has an audience.

The list is endless of how companies treat social media as a place to show off about their brands, believing the world loves them as much as they love themselves. This is certainly not the case with many brands and boy is it easy to engage a ‘hater’ audience. Continue reading

Little Grey Cells #3… It’s time for an end of the TV-versus-internet argument

* Tess Alps is the CEO of Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV, and avid campaigner for the end of the TV-versus-Internet argument. She spares a few moments to engage with her Little Grey Cells

I like lots of media other than TV
Yes, both as a consumer and as a marketing professional. But I do this job because I have a strong sense of injustice; no medium is more undervalued or misrepresented than TV. It’s a mission.

TV, not the TV
That’s what I represent and care about. The cultural importance of that professionally produced content can’t be overstated and it needs serious money to maintain the quality and range we currently enjoy. I couldn’t care less what technology delivers it or what screen you watch it on. Continue reading