Conversation tracking in Virtual Worlds

Last week Habbo Hotel launched a brand tracking tool that allows you to monitor conversations about brands and products in the virtual world.

I think this is a very smart move by Habbo as one of the barriers to brands getting involved in virtual worlds is the fear they can't track what is being said about them. Hopefully, this will encourage more companies to engage with people in their own spaces rather than trying to drag them to their corporate website.

Perhaps this move by Habbo will be the kick off for other virtual worlds and communities to launch similar tools.

Manchester tells its story via social media

I really like the idea that the people at Salford University and friends have come up called New Mornings Old Streets - that is encouraging people to show everyday life in the North West using social media. The initiative is looking for 500 people to submit short videos, audio commentary and other multi-media content describing everyday life in the NW.

It is based on a 1959 BBC production, A Morning in the Streets, that focused on working class life in the region.

The project is open to anyone living or working in the Salford and Greater Manchester area.

Coke Facebook facial recognition app

I came across a nifty Facebook application by Coke that uses facial recognition technology to find people on Facebook that look like you. I believe it's got some fudge factor built in that stops you just finding loads of piccies of yourself.

It's a really cool app that uses cutting edge police-grade tech, but feels a like bit pointless, IMHO. Or maybe I've just lost my sense of frivolity.

US army using social media

When talking to people about social media, you often get the response "oh, we could never relinquish control/have people freely talking about us/risk someone saying something negative" [delete as appropriate]. "Our company is too conservative" or "there are too many sensitive issues in our sector."

But then you look at what the US Army are doing - traditionally one of the most conservative organisations in the world and involved in some of the most sensitive and controversial events of the last 20 years. They are encouraging Soldier Generated Content via blogs and twitter, getting soldiers to tell their stories via content sharing sites. And you can't help thinking if the US Army can do it, they why can't a bank/pharma company/etc do it?

SGT Tharaldsen: Manchu Mile from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

Pitching video story ideas

I came across a neat idea - a site where you can pitch your video story ideas to professional Video Journalists. It's on consumerist.com.

I like it cos you actually have to pay to send in your story idea - eliminating lots of spamming and rubbish suggestions. The ideas are considered by a group of professional video journalists and then they contact you if they want to make the video.

It could be a good site for PRs as more stories are being told via video. I need to check it out properly though.

McCann wins best social media campaign

I hope you don't mind a quick bit of trumpet blowing, but I just wanted to say a short woo hoo! and maybe a Woot! Woot! for the CIPR Pride Gold award for Best use of Social Media that we won for the Durex Play O campaign.

It was a hell of a night [I paid for it the next day] as we also won best CSR campaign for the Rediscovering Food and Flavours campaign which communicated how to improve the quality of life for people suffering from kidney disease.

Brazen PR stole the show with the award for Best Consultancy, plus a few others. Big hand to them.

Wiki of digital media in Asia

I came across this very handy resource - a wiki of all things digital and social media in Asia - called Digital Media Across Asia.

It's very comprehensive with markets reports, examples and breakdowns by country. Given that Asia has 500 million internet users - almost half the global internet population - its definitely worth checking out.