June 2007 Archives - 3/4 - TheWayoftheWeb

Why not use the net to do some good…

June 8, 2007 By Dan Thornton Leave a Comment

I’m surprised I haven’t seen this mentioned on more blogs and tech sites. A new Amnesty International campaign ahs seen their website redone as http://irrepressible.info, targeting internet censorship, which has resulted in prison sentences, and corporal punishment for bloggers etc around the world.

The cleverest part is that you can install a widget in your blog by copying and pasting some code, which then displays snippets of content. The content is material that has led to someone being arrested and imprisoned under censorship laws, and the idea is that if enough people display the widget, the whole point of the censorship becomes meaningless.

I would have though I’d have seen this on countless blogs by now, seeing as it’s something so close to bloggers hearts, but maybe there’s a fear factor involved. If someone’s been arrested in Iraq or China, then maybe bloggers in other parts of the world think they could be next?

Or more plausibly, could it be because Amnesty mention Google (Owners of Blogspot), along with Yahoo etc in their articles?

Whatever, there are static buttons for email, and website use, that look a little like this:

At least if I display the widget I’m only likely to lose a blog, rather than my freedom. And it wouldn’t be the first time my widget has got me in trouble

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: censorship, google, widget, yahoo

Mashable gets it’s own social network

June 7, 2007 By Dan Thornton Leave a Comment

For ages, www.mashable.com has been a really good news site covering social networks, but now mashable man Pete Cashmore has thrown his hat into the social network provider ring with www.my.mashable.com.

It’s clean and simple to use, and fairly basic at the moment, but the most interesting aspect is that you can join networks for all the social sites you use, such as Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Pandora etc. New starters like Virb are also included.

My lovely new profile is here.

It’s quite interesting finding out exactly how many social sites I’ve signed up for, and seeing other users, but I’d hazard a guess that this is the first step towards integration across sites.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: facebook, flickr, integration, last.fm, mashable, msypace, my.mashable, pandora, virb

User engagement ain’t always easy…

June 6, 2007 By Dan Thornton Leave a Comment

Almost every brand and company is now looking to jump on the user content and creation bandwagon before it roles out of town. And as the internet is all about people creating, it seems pretty logical.

But for managers and executives more than one step removed from the process, it can seem such as easy way to get some adverts or marketing. But the penny is starting to drop. The NY Times has covered the troubles the Heinz brand has faced, with a call for five Youtube videos good enough to air on TV so far resulting in 370 entries which simply aren’t making the grade:

Free registration is required to view the full article, here.

“But these companies have found that inviting consumers to create their advertising is often more stressful, costly and time-consuming than just rolling up their sleeves and doing the work themselves. Many entries are mediocre, if not downright bad, and sifting through them requires full-time attention. And even the most well-known brands often spend millions of dollars upfront to get the word out to consumers.”

It seems like a good time to remind everyone that the most well known examples of Youtube videos are the fake (Lonelygirl15), or individuals that have then been adopted by companies (Miming to music videos etc). And when Doritos invested in a similar campaign, it cost $1.3million.

Buffer

Filed Under: user generated content Tagged With: heinz, new york times, user generated content

Why make excuses?

June 6, 2007 By Dan Thornton 2 Comments

As much as I try to avoid the internet trap of constantly reciting buzzwords and cliches, I realised during my recent sabbatical that I’ve fallen into one of the most common habits of anyone working on the net…

Making excuses…

When I buy a new household gadget, like the vacuum cleaner and washing machine I recently purchased, I expect to just plug them in and go. And the vacuum cleaner, despite only costing £30, has actually been pretty enjoyable, and made cleaning up during my house move fun. It’s small, light, bagless, and has enough suction to pick up anything I need it to. Plus it makes a noise akin to a jet engine on take-off. Meanwhile the washing machine cleans clothes, and has a timer to let me know how long before it’s ended. They’re not the best, most expensive, or coolest gadgets, but they work.

Which is why it’s a shock to get back to explaining the reason a website doesn’t work properly is because of deadlines, or developer problems, or integrating technology, or the server caching, or one of the other 100 stock reasons why things don’t always run smoothly. Even the best sites experience niggles and occasional problems, and it seems to be accepted because ‘it’s the way the internet is’.

I’s probably a hang up from the days that installing even a game or small programme on your PC took days as everything conflicted, followed by the two hour wait for a page to download from a site in the glorious dial-up era. But every time an excuse is made, it makes it more acceptable for things to continue in the same way.

There’s no reason for a lot of problems. Adequate hosting and server space, proven software solutions, and good developers are all out there. You just have to use them, and not make excuses if things aren’t going so well.

On a brighter note, my Zen Broadband account has been transferred, and worked perfectly from the moment everything was plugged in again. That’s how it should be, even if the delay was double by BT not issuing a simultaneous move code which actually worked! I’ll have to check my speed tonight to see if moving to within 500 metres of the phone exchange (from 3.34km away!) has made a big difference.

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