Ad Age Power 150 - ranking of the top European blogs

The AdAge Power 150 is a comprehensive ranking of the worlds top media and marketing blogs. The AdAge Power 150 takes into account a range of metrics from inlinks to traffic to Google Page Rank and lists over 700 blogs. The full list can be seen at http://adage.com/power150 and blogs can be submitted for listing at http://adage.com/power150/submit.

The AdAge Power 150 is (unsurprisingly) dominated by US / Canadian bloggers, however around 15% of the list consists of European bloggers. James Gordon-MacIntosh has published a UK specific Power 150 ranking on his blog (http://t4w.blogs.com/spinningaround) and it started me thinking about what the European Power 150 list would look like. I obviously then got carried away and drew up the whole thing!

I am not planning to make this a regular exercise, however this is the full ranking of the European blogs on the AdAge Power 150 for 19th July 2008:

Power150 European ranking		Power150 Global rank	Blog name	Power150 Score	Country
1		21	Adverblog	98	ITALY
2		22	Adland	98	SWEDEN
3		23	I believe in adv	98	ITALY
4		33	Niche Marketing	93	POLAND
5		35	Adverbox	92	ITALY
6		45	Russell Davies	88	ENGLAND
7		49	David Airey	85	SCOTLAND
8		50	Osocio	85	HOLLAND
9		51	Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog	84	BELGIUM
10		53	Blogstorm	84	ENGLAND
11		60	Neville Hobson	81	ENGLAND
12		62	Joost De Valk’s SEO Blog	81	HOLLAND
13		82	Adliterate	73	ENGLAND
14		91	Only Dead Fish	71	ENGLAND
15		104	Media Culpa	70	SWEDEN
16		107	Crack Unit	69	ENGLAND
17		111	PR Blogger	68	ENGLAND
18		115	Viralblog	67	HOLLAND
19		133	The Engaging Brand	65	ENGLAND
20		137	Talent Imitates, Genius Steals	65	ENGLAND
21		139	Behind the Buzz	64	UK
22		153	Joe La Pompe	63	FRANCE
23		161	Welcome to Optimism	62	ENGLAND
24		163	Fresh Creation	62	HOLLAND
25		170	HERD	61	ENGLAND
26		172	Krishna De’s BizGrowth News	61	IRELAND
27		175	The Hidden Persuader	60	PORTUGAL
28		176	Because The Message Is The Medium	60	ANDORRA
29		179	The Kaiser Edition	60	GERMANY
30		184	Make Marketing History	59	ENGLAND
31		191	Search Engine Marketing Blog	59	IRELAND
32		204	Invisible Red	57	PORTUGAL
33		210	Modern Marketing	57	ENGLAND
34		211	Cross The Breeze	57	BELGIUM
35		216	Coolz0r – Marketing Thoughts	56	BELGIUM
36		218	A PR Guy’s Musings	55	ENGLAND
37		219	Mindblob	55	BELGIUM
38		220	Spinning Around	55	ENGLAND
39		221	Crenk	55	ENGLAND
40		222	A Source Of Inspiration	55	PORTUGAL
41		224	Fraser’s Affiliate Marketing Blog	55	SCOTLAND
42		226	Blog till you drop	55	ENGLAND
43		234	PPC Blog	55	ENGLAND
44		235	Marketallica	55	TURKEY
45		242	BeRelevant: Email Marketing	54	BELGIUM
46		243	No Man Is An Iland	54	AUSTRIA
47		247	Social Hallucinations	53	DENMARK
48		265	Wiep.net	52	HOLLAND
49		268	SEOCO	52	ENGLAND
50		272	Ewritings	51	GERMANY
51		283	Faster Future	50	ENGLAND
52		287	Adofdamonth.com	50	HUNGARY
53		288	Hobo SEO UK	50	SCOTLAND
54		296	Greenormal	49	ENGLAND
55		315	The Ad Pit	47	ENGLAND
56		326	Life Moves Pretty Fast	46	ENGLAND
57		328	Drew B’s take on PR	46	ENGLAND
58		331	Murphy’s Law	46	IRELAND
59		341	Brendan Cooper	45	ENGLAND
60		343	Living In A Digital World	45	ENGLAND
61		362	50-Plus Marketing	43	ENGLAND
62		366	Beyond PR	43	ENGLAND
63		373	Interactive Marketing Trends	43	ENGLAND
64		378	Brand Strategy Magazine Blog	42	ENGLAND
65		380	Living Brands	42	ENGLAND
66		382	Simon Says	42	ENGLAND
67		394	Nick Burcher	41	ENGLAND
68		398	Wadd’s Tech PR Blog	41	ENGLAND
69		401	Mediations	41	ENGLAND
70		407	Duckeldanny	41	GERMANY
71		409	BSI – Research Blog	40	GERMANY
72		410	Business and Games Blog	40	BELGIUM
73		433	Raw Stylus	38	ENGLAND
74		434	This is HERD	38	ENGLAND
75		444	Rubbishcorp	37	ENGLAND
76		451	London Calling	37	ENGLAND
77		455	Simon Wakeman	36	ENGLAND
78		459	The Way Of The Web	36	ENGLAND
79		478	(Almost) Always Thinking	35	ENGLAND
80		503	Get International Clients	34	FRANCE
81		523	A Mountain Dweller in the Thames Valley	33	ENGLAND
82		528	Event Manager Blog	33	UK
83		529	Marketing Safari	33	ICELAND
84		533	Bad Idea, Indeed	32	BELGIUM
85		540	Vincent Thome’s blog	32	ENGLAND
86		543	Unleashed On Marketing	32	ENGLAND
87		544	Pudding Relations	32	ENGLAND
88		558	MobileWeb.be Blog	31	BELGIUM
89		563	Brandgym Blog	30	ENGLAND
90		564	[Bluurb] Stuff and Things	30	ENGLAND
91		567	BrandXpress Blog	30	ROMANIA
92		574	All Things PR	30	ENGLAND
93		584	The New Marketing	29	ENGLAND
94		596	Indolent.com	29	ENGLAND
95		603	Urbanology Weblog	28	HOLLAND
96		605	PR Voice	28	ENGLAND
97		620	In The Cowshed	27	ENGLAND
98		626	Dragan Varagic Blog	27	RUSSIA
99		629	Yacco’s Blog	26	HOLLAND
100		633	Offer and Acceptance	26	ENGLAND
101		634	No Copy	26	BELGIUM
102		637	25 Letters in the Alphabet	26	ENGLAND
103		643	Creative in London	25	ENGLAND
104		649	Be.Interactive	25	BELGIUM
105		663	10 Yetis PR Blog	23	ENGLAND
106		665	The Customer Experience Labs	23	SWITZERLAND
107		680	Digital Examples	22	ENGLAND
108		694	PR Wordsmith	21	ENGLAND
109		710	Thinking Sparks	19	HOLLAND
110		712	From PR to Eternity	19	ENGLAND
111		716	Yet Another Planning Blog	19	ENGLAND
112		718	Mesh-Box	19	GERMANY
113		723	Noticing	16	UK

- 21 European countries are represented on the AdAge Power 150 list and the 113 European blogs make up around 15% of the total AdAge Power 150 listing. Shown as a pie chart (!) here:

European countries represented on the AdAge Power 150 (click for larger image)

- Top blogs for each of the European countries represented on the AdAge Power 150 Global Blog Ranking:

21) ITALY : Adverblog
22) SWEDEN: Adland
33) POLAND: Niche Marketing
45) ENGLAND: Russell Davies
50) HOLLAND: Osocio
49) SCOTLAND: David Airey
51) BELGIUM: Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog
153) FRANCE: Joe La Pompe
172) IRELAND: Krishna De's BizGrowth News
176) ANDORRA: Because The Message Is The Medium
179) GERMANY: The Kaiser Edition
175) PORTUGAL: The Hidden Persuader
235) TURKEY: Marketallica
247) DENMARK: Social Hallucinations
243) AUSTRIA: No Man Is An Iland
287) HUNGARY: AdOfDaMonth
529) ICELAND: Marketing Safari
567) ROMANIA: BrandXpress Blog
626) RUSSIA: Dragan Varagic Blog
665) SWITZERLAND: The Customer Experience Labs

The above list of European blogs demonstrates how large and far reaching the AdAge Power 150 ranking is becoming. The Power 150 is developing into a key reference point for marketing blogs and I expect the Power 150 to keep growing as word spreads and more non-US blogs apply to be listed.

Let me know if anything is incorrect and feel free to leave comments!

5 examples of Wimbledon using social media (and Andy Murray on Twitter!)

Wimbledon are using social media as the tournament continues to experiment with new technology to extend the championships reach.

There is extensive BBC interactive Wimbledon coverage and international audiences can buy an online video stream subscription through Wimbledon Live on the Wimbledon website.

However, whilst the Wimbledon website gains high traffic (8.6 million unique visitors viewing over 266 million pages in 2007), Wimbledon are also extending coverage by using social networks and social media. The aim is to create opportunities for deeper engagement with the tournament and allow Wimbledon fans to discuss and share Wimbledon content.

1) Wimbledon Facebook Fan Page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wimbledon/15690358731?ref=s

The Wimbledon Facebook Fan Page is a great example of how Facebook Fan Pages can be used.

The Wimbledon Facebook Fan Page acts as a hub for all the Wimbledon online activity and gives Facebook users insight to the tournament. A wide range of photos and videos have been posted, official Wimbledon bloggers leave Facebook notes and updates, an MP3 player broadcasts Radio Wimbledon and Wimbledon fans have the chance to vote in Wimbledon Polls and opportunities to upload their own Wimbledon content.

The Wimbledon Fan Page has over 9,000 fans.

UPDATE: Facebook have deleted this page because they classify Wimbledon as a 'corporation'........ http://tinyurl.com/5kgcb2

2) Wimbledon in Second Life

IBM provide the technology for Wimbledon and since 2006 IBM programmers have been bringing Wimbledon experiences into Second Life. For 2008 a mini-Wimbledon has been built with courts, various IBM behind the scenes info stands, links to live scores and free gifts / games.

I went to look and visited the Wimbledon Second Life shop where I was able to get free strawberries and cream, a Wimbledon towel (that also doubles up as a Magic Carpet), an umbrella, poncho, a tennis racket (to partcipate in games) and 'Wimbledon Eyes' (though I'm not quite sure what these are.)

I also got given a Second Life Wimbledon T-shirt (which I am wearing in the picture below), though I would recommend familiarising yourself with how to change clothes before trying to put the T-shirt on - I ended up naked on the court for a good few minutes while I worked out how to change clothes!

There are also supplemental areas such as the Wimbledon back office and a roof garden where you can drink free Pimms and eat more strawberries and cream.
During the day the Wimbledon area is staffed by super-helpful IBM employees who can answer questions and guide you around. This really adds something to this environment and I enjoyed being able to engage on a personal level.

Second Life Wimbledon is there until the end of the tournament, have a look before it goes!

Wimbledon Second Life address:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/IBM%207/133/167/23

3) Wimbledon YouTube

Wimbledon are uploading daily previews and interviews to YouTube and then presenting these video clips on the Wimbledon Facebook page

Here is the Day 9 Wimbledon YouTube preview:



4) Wimbledon blogs and Fanlog

Wimbledon are running a Fanlog through the Wimbledon website and publishing Facebook notes on the Wimbledon Facebook Page.

These posts aim to provide alternative viewpoints to the main media reporting by allowing both Fans and behind the scenes people to publish their thoughts.

5) Wimbledon Twitter

Wimbledon started using Twitter in 2007 (under the username Wimbledon2007) to publish scores and updates.

Twitter is again being used this year, but under the more generic
http://www.twitter.com/wimbledon.

The 2008 Wimbledon tournament is also represented on Twitter by Andy Murray! Thanks to Jemima Kiss we learn that Andy Murray is a Twitterer and has been updating his account as the build up and tournament has progressed. Since Andy Murray's Twitter use has been highlighted his following has grown significantly - join in at http://twitter.com/andy_murray

Wimbledon continue to experiment with technology and the social media initiatives that are running around the tournament are interesting. It presents an intriguing blend of tradition (white kits etc) and modernity, but seems to work and successfully brings Wimbledon to life online.

5 examples of how YouTube influence in UK politics is growing

YouTube influence in UK politics is growing and UK politicians are having to quickly adapt to a new way of communicating with voters. Much as politicians had to learn new techniques as TV became a mass medium, so politicians are having to adjust to be able to successfully communicate using new web channels like YouTube.

Whilst UK politics lags behind the US in utilising YouTube as a campaigning tool, parties are developing their YouTube offerings (though I think it will be a while yet before we see UK candidature / policy announcements on YouTube or 'Obama Girl' equivalents!)

Here are 5 examples of how YouTube influence in UK politics is growing:

1) Ask Gordon on YouTube

Run through the Downing Street channel, the 'Ask The PM' initiative is allowing YouTube users to upload video questions for Gordon Brown. The YouTube community then vote to establish the most popular questions and Gordon Brown has pledged to answer them on 23rd June.

2) House Of Lords on YouTube

http://uk.youtube.com/ukparliament

In an effort to engage younger generations the House Of Lords is uploading explanatory videos to the Parliament channel on YouTube. We have already seen the launch of 'Lords Of The Blog' an 'experimental blogging project to encourage direct dialogue between web users across the world and Members of the House of Lords' and a YouTube presence is the obvious next step.

Five videos have been uploaded to start things off (including 'House of Lords- what's it all about') with the promise of more to come. According to Lord Speaker Baroness Hayman, the House Of Lords hopes that the YouTube channel "will help to combat some of the outdated stereotypes of members of the upper house."

3) Webcameron

One of the first UK politicians to really embrace YouTube, David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, continues to update his vlogging channel Webcameron. Rather than just upload policy announcements and press conference coverage, David Cameron is using Webcameron to give viewers exclusives and behind the scenes access. A good example of this is the footage that was shot around the time that Boris Johnson's London Mayor victory was announced:

http://www.youtube.com/user/webcameronuk

4) London Mayor election campaign

The London Mayor election was the first major British election conducted in a YouTube / Web 2.0 world. All the major candidates had strategy in these areas and there was some effective work, even though the audience for the message was small (the British electorate are significantly lagging the US in engaging with candidates online.)

One of the better videos was Boris Johnson's Apprentice parody:

YouTube as a campaigning tool will grow and by the time the next UK general election comes around (2009?) it will have a significant role to play.

5) Downing Street YouTube channel

The Downing Street channel on YouTube started out as hub for historic Prime Minister / government speeches and video from the Downing Street archives (eg Lloyd Georges first visit to Chequers or 'Bonar Law forms a new government.') In recent times though it has tended to aggregate the activity of Tony Blair / Gordon Brown with speeches and policy announcements making up the bulk of the DowningSt channel videos.

'Tony Blair félicite Nicolas Sarkozy (en français)' is by far the most viewed clip on the Downing Street channel with 485,809 views. After Sarkozy won the French election Tony Blair recorded a congratulatory message in French and presented it through YouTube. This has a very high view count and shows an implicit understanding of how to use YouTube effectively.

No-one has yet defined what the official Downing Street YouTube channel should be for, but the views received for Tony Blair's message to Sarkozy show how effective it an be if used properly.

All of the above point to the growing influence of YouTube in UK politics. YouTube will engage younger generations far more effectively than an MPs constituency surgery or door box generic printed material. YouTube allows a two way dialogue with youth on their terms (they can choose whether to engage and choose the timing and terms on which they do so) and against the backdrop of the US primary campaigns, the UK political establishment is starting to realise how important YouTube is becoming.

The Apprentice - 'Social TV' demonstrating how viewers are consuming TV and internet at the same time

The final of the BBC's Apprentice is shown tonight and it is a good example of how blogs and online comment around TV shows is becoming more prevalent - and it is important for this to be recognised in online strategy.

There are two key tenets of communications planning around online:

1) No channel works in isolation

2) The 'last click wins model' does not give the full picture (there will be a range of media influence throughout the purchase process.)

However, whilst it is intuitive that consumers use the internet whilst watching TV or do something else whilst listening to the radio, it is notoriously difficult to prove (especially measurement of the relative worth of each media constituent in the path to purchase.)

The Apprentice currently provides a good anecdotal backdrop to this thinking as there is significant online discussion around the programme. Most newspapers have comment - from former contestant Katie Hopkins recording her thoughts on a Sun blog to fired contestants posting on the My Telegraph platform, however the most interesting example is the Guardian's Apprentice 'Organ Gringer' blog.

Apprentice blogs at the Sun and Telegraph websites:



The Guardian 'Organ Grinder' Apprentice live blog:


In the same way that Guardian journalists blog live around sports events / technology launches, Guardian journalist Anna Pickard live blogs during each episode of the Apprentice. A devoted following have been leaving hundreds of comments as the show progresses and these are a visible manifestation of the trend to watch TV at the same time as using the internet - though it would be great to get more statistics on this!

Perhaps this is also a justification for the BBC plan to create a web page for every show in the BBC archive? The BBC could easily form communities around these pages and use them as a focal point for fans, rather than see other media organisations hosting discussion groups around BBC programming. Indeed developing interactive discussion around popular shows would be a major draw and could even see the BBC archive leveraged to create a significant social platform, especially if over time actual footage and episodes were made available.

The role of the internet in TV viewing is therefore not just based around catch-up TV and video on demand. Blogs and social media can be used to expand programme reach and audience interaction, with event TV like the Apprentice proving particularly popular - we are heading to a point where all TV be 'social' with viewers being able to feed back throughout every programme. Social media offers some interesting opportunities for two-way dialogue between programme and viewers, and as technology gets more sophisticated this level of this interaction will surely increase?

Euro 2008 - 5 examples of online developments and digital initiatives

Euro 2008 will see a range of digital developments. The first major tournament played in a Web 2.0 world - there are already some interesting things happening.

Here are 5 examples of how digital is bringing Euro 2008 to life:

1) UEFA Euro 2008 website

The official UEFA Euro 2008 site has some interesting ways of engaging fans. From McDonalds sponsored fantasy football through to wide ranging RSS XML news feeds and even team specific widgets that can be included on blogs and in blog posts.

In the absence of England, I am supporting Sweden and this is the Swedish UEFA Euro 2008 widget:

http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/

2) Euro 2008 Blogs

Alongside official media coverage, Euro 2008 will be covered extensively through 'citizen journalism' and blogs. I was intrigued to see that even the President of the Swedish FA, Lars-Åke Lagrell, plans to blog throughout the tournament!

Lars-Åke Lagrell - Swedish FA President and Euro 2008 blogger (photo: Aftonbladet)

Lagrell promises to write about everything from meetings with the UEFA President Michel Platini to activities with the Swedish team and I am sure he won't be the only official involved in blogging activities!

LINK: Media Culpa

3) PUMA are running 'Together Everywhere' pan-European mobile activity around Euro 2008

Publicis Groupe company Phone Valley have created a Euro 2008 pan-european mobile campaign for Puma under the banner of 'Together Everywhere.'

The 'Together Everywhere' service, brings together supporters of the 16 national teams in real time. As soon as their favourite team scores, PUMA will call the supporters that have signed up for the service and instantly let them take part in a teleconference with friends, whether in the stadium, out in the street, a pub or in front of the TV!

'Together Everywhere' is the first mobile community marketing campaign carried out simultaneously in 13 countries and as well as the free teleconferencing it features a mobile site with exclusive free content, mobile goal alerts, registration by SMS and mcouponing. The campaign is supported by above the line / traditional advertising, mobile banner ads and a WAP push short code.

4) Euro 2008 online streaming of live matches

In the UK the BBC and plan to show their Euro 2008 games live online through video streaming, whilst ITV.com will be showing highlights online as soon as the games have finished.

All across Europe other broadcasters have similar plans and there are a number of other video websites that will also be showing the Euro 2008 matches live online.

5) 23 days - the YouTube Fan Diary

Whilst YouTube won't be able to show Euro2008 highlights, YouTube are running a Euro 2008 fan channel called '23 days - the YouTube Fan Diary'. They aim to have fans uploading videos of themselves at the tournament and will highlight the best contributions.


England are not at Euro 2008, but across Europe there is significant interest and these digital developments will help bring it to life for fans.

Eurovision 2008 - predicting the winner using internet data!

The Eurovision song contest 2008 has a significant internet footprint with websites, blogs, YouTube channels and photo galleries highlighting contestants and various aspects of the competition.

In theory it is possible to use internet trends to predict who will do well in Eurovision 2008 (maybe even pick the winner) by looking at which artist / country has created the most buzz online. Currently analysis of internet activity suggests Greece could be the country to back!

1) Activity on the official Eurovision website suggests Greece is the most popular entry

The main centre of activity online is the eurovision.tv website. The official Eurovision 2008 website produces a constant stream of news, whilst also acting as a hub for other things like the Eurovision 2008 blogs (MyEurovision) and the Eurovision 2008 YouTube channel.

Official Eurovision website

The MyEurovision blogs have a tag cloud that shows the most popular topics discussed by contributors:

Official Eurovision website blog tag cloud

This tag cloud shows that the most popular country discussed on the official Eurovision blogs is Greece, followed by Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. There are no polls on the eurovision.tv site, but the most buzz is clearly around Greek entry.

2) Activity on the websites of national broadcasters favours Greece

National broadcasters are running their own Eurovision 2008 websites. The BBC have a well developed microsite at www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision and users can watch video performances of all the songs. They do not have a visible viewer count though and with no user polls it is difficult to gain any insight into what British Eurovision fans are thinking.

Screengrab of BBC Eurovision site

(UPDATE - the BBC have published the results of their online poll and have tipped Sweden to win - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7400508.stm)

It's more interesting to look at sites like the website for German Eurovision Song Contest broadcaster NDR. Their recent poll of Germans created the following results. First place was Germany (surprise), second Greece, third Armenia, fourth Sweden and fifth place was Serbia.

3) Views on Eurovision YouTube channels favour a range of countries, but Greece is still popular

View count on YouTube can give an indication as to the popularity of each entry. There are a number of Eurovision channels on YouTube, with the main ones being the official channel at www.youtube.com/eurovision and unofficial Eurovision channels at www.youtube.com/esctoday and http://www.youtube.com/eurovision2008serbia.

YouTube view count for Eurovision2008serbia YouTube channel

The most watched 2008 videos on the ESC today YouTube channel are for Kalomira, the Greek entry. Whilst this entry is also popular on the Eurovision2008serbia YouTube channel, the most viewed songs here are from Romania, Spain and France. On the main Eurovision YouTube site the most viewed videos are for Greece, Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium (though the popularity of the Belgium video may be more down to a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ than people liking the song!)

Belgian entry Ishtar has a 'wardrobe malfunction' in rehearsal

4) Google Trends shows that more people are searching on Google for Kalomoira / Kalomoira than any other Eurovision act

Google trends shows volume of searches on Google for different Eurovision acts. The combination of Kalomoira / Kalomira results in a greater number of Google queries than any other act. Dima Bilan and Charlotte Perelli also have significant search volumes, but on Google the Eurovision entry for Greece is the most popular.

Google trends data shows Greek entry is most searched for on Google

(Note – the biggest search engine in Russia is Yandex not Google, so these results are more an indication of Western European taste rather than evidence from all 43 countries. It is also notable that Eurovision searches on Google are predominantly from Greece!)

Summary

The fact that Greece has the most internet hype around its Eurovision 2008 entry, may well be linked to the fact that Greek people are searching for Eurovision more than anyone else. Internet buzz is also skewed to Western Europe where internet penetration is higher. However, whilst Russia are the clear favourite (especially given the way the voting works), the above data suggests that Greece have a good chance!

Skype Nomad - promoting Skype through 33 days of 'perpetual motion'

Travel journalist, Rebecca Campbell, has assumed the role of 'Skype Nomad' and is aiming to spend 33 days travelling / blogging the world, demonstrating 'how mobile Skype can be.'

The Skype Nomad adventure has just started. She left Heathrow over the weekend and the Skype Nomad itinerary entails being permanently in motion for the duration of the 33 day trip (even sleeping whilst travelling!)

According to the Skype blog: "She'll be hopping from jet to rickshaw and bumboat in Singapore to a Fogg-esque hot-air balloon over the Alps in Austria, to gondola in Venice, a boat cruising the Yangtze River in China, cable car in San Francisco, dog sled in Alaska, the famed cross-continental Indian Pacific train between Sydney and Perth in her native Australia, and a boat ride across the Baltic from Sweden to Skype's supreme HQ in Tallinn, Estonia to finish up June 6, "D-Day.""

Unsurprisingly this journey has a large array of social media initiatives attached to it. From Skype users being able to connect to her in real time through Skype to the obligatory Facebook / MySpace pages as well as use of Flickr, Twitter and more niche sites like Dopplr.

Skype Nomad Flickr -http://www.flickr.com/photos/skypenomad

Skype Nomad Twitter - http://twitter.com/skype_nomad

Skype Nomad MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/skypenomad

The Skype Nomad itinerary can be seen on the Skype Nomad YouTube channel here:

There is also a Skype Nomad 'traditional' blog which contains links to all her social media and also a 3D globe that shows her progress.

The Skype Nomad blog

Everything is updated through Skype mobile internet and I assume these adventures will all be aggregated into a book once the trip has finished? The Skype Nomad project is another interesting way of promoting a product by going to extreme lengths to demonstrate its functionality, whilst using social media and PR to bring the whole thing to life. It is also commendable that this project is raising money for charity at the same time.

Google Twins, Googlegangers - the trend of meeting namesakes is growing!

More and more people seem to be becoming aware of namesakes and are actively seeking them out, spawning new Google nouns and interesting online activity. The crowd at Watford Football Club used to sing 'There's only one Graham Taylor', however a quick internet search would have revealed another one that does pottery in Lesotho!

It is not just getting easier to search for like named people (though Facebook really need to improve their Search mechanism), but it is also getting easier to stumble across them too. The Google Alerts service is also inadvertently encouraging the trend of following name sakes. Setting up a Google Alert on your own name means Google email you a link every time you are mentioned on the web. This provides a rich source of information, not only about yourself but also about your namesakes as it is not yet able to filter information to specific personal level - someone recently told me how he is unwittingly following the career of a Manchester boxer because they share the same name and Google Alerts send him regular updates!

Finding out about doppelgangers is not a new idea though. In 1999 Dave Gorman went on a well documented quest to find 54 other people with the same name. This adventure was commissioned as a TV series / published as a book:
(http://www.davegorman.com/projects_are_you_dave_gorman.html)

Whilst in the US this idea has been revisited with the new book / film "Finding Angela Shelton" which features a writer named Angela Shelton describing her meetings with 40 other Angela Sheltons.

The trend for seeking out / contacting namesakes seems to be growing and has even spawned new phrases such as 'Google twins' or Googlegängers (a term that was the American Dialect Society's "most creative" word last year) . Bloggers blog about their namesakes and there is evidence all over the internet of people meeting others who share the same name.

Sites like SameNameAsMe have appeared and Facebook groups such as 'people called Wilding' are gathering same named people together. Uli Selzer from Toyota advocates the idea of the 'power of tribes' where people are using the internet to form groups around common interest rather than through geography, and the grouping of people where the only thing they have in common is the same name is a great example of this in action.

The New York Times has explored the sociological aspect of this trend and suggests that 'human beings are unconsciously drawn to people and things that remind us of ourselves.' Their full article is here: http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=154692&f=21

Personally I think the seeking out of Googlegangers is an interesting development as it highlights that Search is more than just utility, it can be used for leisure too (and I assume this is to the detriment of other media channels.) Whilst the web continues to evolve into a semantic web (which seeks to better understand the purpose of a users enquiry), I guess it will be a while before an algorithm can accurately capture user intent around random activities such as seeking out 'Google Twins'!

Turning Point : Fall Of Liberty - a new game promoted through innovative blog strategy and Facebook

Turning Point : Fall Of Liberty is a new Xbox / PS3 game by Codemasters and it has been promoted with some innovative online work.

Winston Churchill was run over by a New York taxi in 1931. He survived this, however the game works from the premise that he didn't. As a result New York is invaded and the game play focuses around the efforts of a New York resistance movement.

The promotion around this game is not limited to traditional online advertising. The trailer is unofficially on YouTube here:


But the interesting marketing advertising is based around a blog and Facebook.

Turning Point: Fall Of Liberty blog

Codemasters launched a search (through a blog at http://codemastersquest.wordpress.com) to find Mario Contasino, the driver of the 1931 taxi that ran over Churchill. This has been linked to by a range of websites and has received significant press coverage. The quest was also spotted by The Genealogue (http://www.genealogue.com/2008/02/bonkers-for-yonkers.html) and they helped trace not just Mario Contasino but his relatives too!

At the outset of the campaign typing 'Mario Contasino' into Google returned only four results and the query 'Contasino' returned ten. Typing 'Mario Contasino' into Google now produces 2,620 results and 'Contasino' returns 3,910. So on Google indexing alone this looks like a successful campaign.

Turning Point: Fall Of Liberty Facebook profile

There is also activity on Facebook. A profile has been set up for Mario Contasino and anyone befriending him (430 friends at the last count) is entered into a prize draw to win a PS3 and a copy of the game.

Whilst there has been standard display activity, the blog quest and the Facebook work raise this advertising above the bulk of other video game promotion!

Digital Perspectives - a collaborative work in progress!

Since I started www.nickburcher.com I have 'met' a variety of people from across the globe. People have fed back on things I have written and I have participated in conversations that other people have started.

One of the most striking aspects is that while digital properties like Google or Facebook may be similar in every market, the significance of them and the way they are being used is different in every region.

I plan to produce a non-profit, collaborative document to try and capture a global digital perspective, with the hope being that it can represent viewpoints and ideas from different countries. This is a non-profit initiative and is aiming to get personal opinions rather than company / business contributions. I couldn't think of anything better than 'Digital Perspectives' - happy to change it if anyone can suggest something better!

I will publish the paper as it progresses with a Creative Commons non-copyright licence on this blog and will encourage contributors to publish it on their sites too. I will provide links to the personal sites of anyone who contributes and will encourage contributors to the same.

My hope is that this will be interesting for all involved as well as all contributors getting SEO benefit from links and resulting exposure.

Content can be anything to do with digital from your country and can be taken from an existing blog post or could be something specially created for this. I don't think it needs to be any more than 250 words for each contribution (though it there are no strict rules!). I aim to publish a first draft 3 weeks from now and will keep updating it whenever anyone sends new content.

I have personally invited people I have met in Holland, Sweden, Australia, Norway, USA, Singapore, France and UK. It is not limited to this group though and I hope more people can contribute. If you like the idea of this then please feel free to blog about it, tell your friends and encourage others - link to this post and / or send submissions to nickburcher AT gmail.com!

(Also if anyone knows how to create a clickable badge that can be distributed that would be great!)

Looking forward to seeing what (if anything) happens!

The 'Matter Box' is a new experiment in direct mail - and mine has arrived!

I recently stumbled across an intriguing post on Russell Davies' blog. He highlighted an experiment where Tim Milne from Matter was "trying to turn direct mail into something you might actually want to receive. He's running a test programme at the moment and looking for volunteers for the pilot."

I thought this sounded interesting and followed the links through to the 'Matter' site to find out more about the pilot project ( http://www.matterbox.co.uk/index.php .)

The site told me:

"Matter is a box full of interesting stuff.

Matter is a new and unique idea in communications that brings companies and people together around real, physical stuff–things you can hold in your hands, keep in your drawer, or give to your friends. It's a new way for companies to introduce themselves by giving you something you might like."

So I filled in my details and early today my Matter box was delivered today:

This impressive, sturdy box then opened up nicely:

and revealed a whole collection of interesting things!

The Matter blog gives a full run down of the contents and the story behind each of the items - http://matterbox.co.uk/matterblog/?p=32

Our favourite item was the Sony Playdoh - a great way of enhancing the Rabbits creative and very well received by the younger members of our household! Also noteworthy were the Sony Ericsson Music Monster (which managed to intrigue me enough to send me back online to the website it detailed http://www.mymusicmonster.co.uk) and the EVO Top Trumps (which showed us that traditional games can still be fun!)

I think the online response element is interesting. The contents of the box bring brands to life / create further engagement by creating physical connections with a consumer, but if the right physical connection is made the consumer can be prompted to go back online (as I did with the Sony Music Monster.) If people get really excited they will talk about it on blogs, social networks and other interactive areas. Being included in the Matterbox isn't just a nice way of extending a TV campaign, it can also create online buzz and positive sentiment as recepients feel compelled to talk about particularly interesting things received. The Matterbox could therefore become a powerful example of how online and offline can effectively work together.

Thank you Matterbox, looking forward to the next one!

Beppe Grillo - using blogs and online video to make Italian politics more accountable

Today in Italy the 61st government in 63 years collapsed and may signal not just the end of Prodi's government, but also the collapse of the much heralded 'Second Republic.'

The Italian media is (allegedly) rarely objective about politics as it is so embroiled in the political process (Berlusconi ownership etc) - many feel it is unlikely that today's events will receive balanced coverage from the mainstream Italian media. Publishers who are critical of the government / Italian political process though, have found themselves in court and many are no longer prepared to produce content that could put them in this position.

The peculiar, traditional media set-up in Italy has resulted in the general public embracing the new found political objectivity offered by citizen journalism and blogging - and an Italian comedian called Beppe Grillo is leading the way (http://www.beppegrillo.it)

According to Technorati, Beppe Grillo's blog has an authority