Blog - NativeHQ

Male-female ratio on social network services

1 December 2009 by Carl Morris

Here’s a chart of the male-female ratio on different social network services – including Facebook, Twitter, Ning and so on.

(I don’t know how reliable the figures are.)

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: facebook, networks, ning, twitter

Organising an event? Record and share it

7 November 2009 by Carl Morris

I met a representative of an arts organisation this week. She mentioned one of their key aims is to help artists and other people they deal with to share knowledge. So they are organising an event, a get-together, to allow people who wouldn’t normally meet to do so.

The event itself sounded like a good move. It also made me think of the possible benefits of recording the event and uploading it online.

The recording might be a video, on a service such as YouTube or Vimeo. Or it might be just the audio, on a service such as Soundcloud. Attendees and other people can then embed a player on their blogs and websites, if you allow this (and usually there’s no reason not to allow embedding). Ideally you could embed it on your organisation or company website – but you don’t even need to do that to get started, at least for now.

The equipment for just documenting something is so ridiculously cheap now. We’re not talking about high production values or live streaming, just documenting the thing.

(There plenty of other ways to document an event using social media but today I’ll focus on getting the whole event as audio or video.)

Most attendees can be fine with audio or video if you tell them beforehand. Let them know about good opportunities to introduce themselves and plug their own work – at the start of each person’s first comment for example.

For video we use the Flip cam at NativeHQ, which is just a suggestion but it is cheap and an additional bonus is its size. It’s portable and so small that even the less confident people can happily ignore it and get on with sharing their thoughts.

So here are some possible benefits.

Extending the reach
There will probably be people who want to attend your event but can’t, because of time and geography. Recording it allows them to catch up afterwards.

Reminders
For people who do attend your event it serves as a reminder of what was discussed. It might even help them to concentrate and fully participate in the meeting rather than struggle to take notes of everything.

Awareness of your organisation
Publishing a recording helps wider awareness of your organisation, its aims, its projects and so on. Relevant recordings lead to inbound links and boost to your online reputation.

Openness
One feature of the web, thought by many to be the beauty of the web, is that your recording is potentially accessible to anyone. What about exclusivity? Some audio and video services do allow you to control access to recordings. But in most situations you can just make it open. Why place limits on who can get this information? It might seem paradoxical, but some of the most competitive people and companies are the ones sharing the most useful recordings. Most things aren’t sensitive. They may as well be open.

Promotion of the event itself
This follows from the previous point. There are lots of reasons to attend your event. Some of these reasons are: meeting other attendees face-to-face, asking questions, having more influence, helping oneself to a drink or buffet. None of these are replaced by a recording. Often the recording can promote the event. (For instance, look at how the prestigious TED talks have taken off since they started sharing video. The attendance fee has increased too.)

Persistence
Having a recording of key points may allow you to avoid having to repeat yourself. You can keep the recording online for weeks, months, even years afterwards. All of the good audio and video services will give your recording a permalink. This will not change and can thus be emailed to your community and shared between them and other people. Your recording will also be found by people searching for keywords contained in its title or list of tags.

Unknown reasons
I kick myself to think of the useful events I’ve attended – or even organised – and not had recorded. That’s because you don’t always know how useful the recording will be until afterwards. Or maybe sometime later. Those meetings just vanished into thin air. I’ll get by, but it would have taken hardly any effort to record them – so why not? (I’ve also been to some boring and irrelevant meetings in my time, but that’s subjective. Even those might have been of use to someone out there. You never know.)

These benefits can apply to anything good you choose to put online, not just audio and video. You could substitute the word “recording” above with “blog post”. You might already have guessed that for me, typing out this blog post ticks off some of the benefits described above.

Filed Under: Commentary, Social media strategy Tagged With: arts, audio, events, livecasting, meeting, openness, promotion, recording, sharing, soundcloud, strategy, video, vimeo, youtube

The problem(s) with viral

5 November 2009 by Carl Morris

I’ve long had a problem with the word “viral” when used in phrases like “viral marketing”, “viral video” and related contexts. I haven’t always been able to explain exactly why in a succinct way.

Judging from his blog and the work he does, Kevin Marks is a guy who understands the web. He absolutely nails it with this blog post about the scammy connotations of viral. He suggests we retain the word “viral” but use it solely for “exploitatative applications that violate trust to reproduce against the interests of their hosts”. Love it. It’s worth reading in full, as well as this earlier post How not to be viral.

Marks’ emphasis here is on companies who create software, citing the photo sharing service Flickr as a good example of somewhere that supports “fruitful social interactions”.

Our emphasis is slightly different. In my experience the word “viral” is also used for funny videos and other online content that spreads rapidly.

For marketers discovering YouTube and other services, as methods for spreading a “brand message”, the word viral can be seductive because it implies a smaller investment of effort. (Let the viral do the work and go home early!) But of all the viral videos you can name, how many can you associate with a specific company or product? It makes a good straw poll for colleagues whenever they mention the dreaded word.

Viral videos often merely advertise themselves. That is, you remember the video but seldom remember the company. It comes back to another one of my bugbears, which is the over-emphasis on hit count or view count as metrics of success. We’ve never met a client whose sole aim was to notch up a million video views, it might help the ego but it just isn’t an objective in and of itself.

At Native, we recognise the value of good marketing – but what we do seldom intersects with interruption advertising or one-way broadcast videos and the like.

That’s because we hold that good marketing is far more than spreading a brand message. Good marketing is being aware of what people are saying about you, helping customers with problems, meeting them on their terms, making a quality product or service – and providing or supporting spaces where customers can talk to each other. These principles apply offline. Now online we have some great opportunities and tools to do these things in new ways.

Another benefit of online is allowing niche conversations about all the subjects that relate to you and your business. These take place in text, images, audio, graphic visualisations and yes, videos.

“Viral” annoys me because it’s too much of an abstraction of the real human beings you’re trying to deal with. These people become prospects, targets, vectors, hosts. This is actually how I feel I’m being categorised when I watch TV advertising now. It’s too general and it alienates me. Besides, people don’t really talk like that. The same goes for viral videos. Actually the videos that spread most effectively are the ones that have no product or company behind them, like the “free hugs” movement. People are not stupid, they’ll assess your motives and share the videos that smell genuine.

Incidentally, often the memorable and useful videos I find online are straight-to-camera, lo-fidelity, quick, unpolished recordings, not slick adverts. This is a guideline, not a rule, but if it’s a social media conversation people are coming to expect videos that are like blog posts, not brochures.

All this is about as far from a single-message viral video as you could hope to get.

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: Business, kevin marks, marketing, video, viral

A social media tour for music companies

8 October 2009 by Carl Morris

These notes accompany the presentation I gave on Friday 25th September 2009 at Galeri, Caernarfon. This post is also available in PDF format.

My main emphasis was what relevance social media might have to musicians and music companies. I began with the context of online cultures before talking about examples of technologies and services and how they might be used.

Questions we’re trying to answer:
Why should anyone care about my band?
Where I can go to find or grow communities?
What tools can help me to find fans, but also to learn how to adapt my business in a changing environment?
How should I manage the time and resources I put into my online activity – to get a good return on my investment?

A range of companies attended representing different genres. Everyone had music, in the form of songwriters, performing artists or catalogue or all three. Some took revenue from live shows, others from CDs, downloads and subscription services and others from sync licensing.

What are we talking about?

The World Wide Web began in 1990 and is always evolving. In recent years one big theme has been online participation and conversation.

“Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction and the construction of text, pictures, videos and audio.”

“Social media is people having conversations online.”

Conversations is a metaphor. The conversations take place inside and outside companies or even across the company “firewall” – between companies and the outside world. Please note: not everything in social media is in pursuit of a “marketing” function. Social media involve fans, experts, amateurs, enthusiasts and yes, customers. But overall, people. They are about every topic possible, via video, text, pictures and audio.

Social media is about much more than social networking sites. There are thousands of places online which have embraced social media. Example: Amazon user reviews and tags, also Number10.gov.uk, even a company’s own website if it has a blog or other social features, for example.

Growth

There has been huge growth in adoption of certain social media, e.g. Wikipedia, YouTube, blogs, social networks and subscription to RSS. I spent some time talking about the statistics, just to underscore the point that it’s growing.

“It’s not a fad. It’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.”

Observations about online culture

Before embarking on any “campaign” be aware of online cultures – across the web as a whole and also within individual communities. These are some of the common themes you often see. Not exhaustive, just themes you’ll see in the wild.

Human

Natural, open, honest, direct, human voices work best. Not the mission statement, brochure or telephone busy signal. The unnatural “corporate voice” is fading. People just tune out.

Read The Cluetrain Manifesto at http://www.cluetrain.com

As a general guideline if your website looks like a static brochure it’s probably not making the best use of what online can do.

Remix

By “remix” we mean that culture is adaptable. People in general have an impulse to participate and be creative.

It is a natural impulse and has existed for a long time, particularly in folk cultures and more recently in sampling. It can be easier to express through social media than it was through traditional media, there is a democratisation of media. This obviously covers music but not just music – everything.

In some ways it’s an acknowledgement of how ideas have always developed.

e.g.
Kutiman remixing YouTube http://www.thru-you.com
Sleeveface http://www.sleeveface.com
LOLcats http://icanhascheezburger.com
and other online memes.
We can actively encourage this, e.g. Radiohead releasing parts of their track for remix. Be creative.

Read “Remix” book by Lawrence Lessig

Sharing

In the music industry, if I say “sharing” we jump to thinking about unlicensed music sharing. We could have a big discussion about that.

But here I wanted to emphasise the more general nature of sharing culture – people sharing news, posting links, discoveries of new bands (and old bands). Also of course, sharing through blogs whether that be experiences, advice, links, lessons.

It’s human impulse. Increasingly this is happening in real-time too. People can share very quickly, sometimes by clicking “favourite”.

As music companies, are we giving people things they can share? If not how do we expect to be found online?

For music recommendations, we often trust our friends more than critics.

Everyone in the room has something they can share.

Be creative.

Be interesting.

An idea: why not ask your community of fans if they are sitting on their own archive photos and video of your artists? They might be grateful for recognition and links back.

Don’t be afraid of sharing niche things if that’s what you do. The web is big enough.

If things are tagged and titled properly they can be found. It helps if each item has its own unique URL. Things exist across the web, on different services. But for your own website, if you requires major restructuring to allow deep links, it may be worth the effort.

Definitely share from your back catalogue, people are ready to discover it today. Some people in the room have decades of great stuff!

Openness

This is linked to sharing and also to the human voice. There is a tendency towards openness online. If you are open, like-minded people will find you. They will also converse back.

Examples from the world that music companies inhabit – most fans would like to hear more about the process of recording, “behind the scenes” at gigs, inter-band conversation. Think about the things you take for granted which are interesting to some people.

(Openness also means being accountable for mistakes and human failings – back to the human voice again.)

This is normal now. It is rare to have a Kate Bush-type artist who needs to be totally mysterious. Don’t use this as an excuse not to open up. How will you be found?

General points about cultures

Every company is a media company. The companies who are patient and adaptable and who share will get the benefit of this. We can have our own media which are fundamentally different to traditional media “channels”. Social media don’t necessarily replace traditional media – but social media are interactive, cover more niches, they are more diverse.

As music companies, we are free to release a large amount of interesting content. There are ways to do this without annoying people as a big album launch swamping traditional media sometimes does (U2 for example). For example you can post 100 videos to YouTube. People can filter down to what they like. Read “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson.

Traditional media are preoccupied with release dates and current things. Music marketing responds to this. But online this constraint does not exist. Look at your back catalogue.

A quick tour of some technologies

These are in broad sections with examples. There is overlap and a lot of hybrid services.

We couldn’t cover everything in the limited time, so I talked about technologies and services most relevant to a music company.

Video platforms

YouTube – the definitive video sharing platform, fans are there – use it!

Vimeo – better quality but not as many active users searching

Qik – live streaming of video, e.g. for interviewing a band or streaming from a gig

In general it’s a good idea to make your videos embeddable. Do this and people can post them on their own blogs and web pages, increasing the potential number of relevant viewers. Universal Music Group don’t allow this for their videos, for some reason known only to them.

Social networking sites

Facebook – fan pages can be good as long as they are maintained. You can pull in your RSS feed of news but avoid too much automation. Again, people like to interact with a human being. In general, a Facebook page or any social media presence is a promise you will be available. (This is why you should answer email from fans.) Be aware of the walled garden – you cannot take your Facebook fans elsewhere very easily. Facebook are in control – of the experience, of your pages, of your fans. (I was banned from Facebook recently while testing something. It could happen to you. They let me back though.)

Ning – people create their own social networks. It offers more customisation than Facebook. Creating a social network is not something you do every day – but useful when you want a distinct community with its own URL. Americymru is an example of a community on Ning which you can join to discuss Welsh matters, including music. http://americymru.ning.com

Myspace – there is still value in having a Myspace account as a band or label. For gig promoters and agents it can be the definitive place to check out your music. Have up-to-date music, photos and gig dates on there. Other than that, be careful how much time you spend on it. This will depend what kind of music you work with. It’s spammy.

Twitter – I sensed some scepticism about this one, possibly because of media hype and mis-representation. If you are dealing with excellent music, then you will be talked about on Twitter (and other places) whether or not you actually have an account. Try running a search. http://twitter.com It’s a hybrid of blogging and social network, often called “microblogging” because each post is 140 characters or less. It includes mobile access. As with most social networks, any form of blatant marketing is a turn-off for people. Why not try it and see for yourself? The web is highly experimental. If you see some hype, be curious and go and decide for yourself.
Twitter is excellent for monitoring music news and social media news. It’s also potentially good for being an influencer, if you are interesting enough.

Dedicated blogging platforms

A blog is not necessarily a diary! It’s just a website organised by time. Actually a highly creative medium.

Blog is a contraction of “web log”.

WordPress – my personal favourite. It’s open source so you can ask your web person to download the code and host it yourself, on your own domain name. Endless customisation is possible in design and features. Now in use by many companies including Telegraph for their blog and comment system and Number10. Go to http://wordpress.com for the easy hosted version or http://wordpress.org for the code (if you know someone technical who can set it up on your own hosting)

Blogger – long-running but possibly looking a little dated now, limited customisability

Tumblr – more like a blog scrapbook, e.g. singer from The Decemberists shares things he is interested in (not just his own music) http://colinmeloy.tumblr.com

Posterous – dead simple blog for small posts, worth a look

There are many others. It’s technically easy to start a blog but it can take time to master it and grow to something of value. If you want to know how easy it is to start a blog, here’s a fun experiment: send an email to post@posterous.com and you’ll get an email back telling you about your new blog.

Miscellaneous

Soundcloud – audio platform (becoming popular with music companies and artists, as an alternative to CD demos and promos)

Flickr – photo sharing and discussion

Slideshare – slideshows

Last.FM – radio station with music recommendation, has a community of hardcore music fans

RSS

RSS is a way of pulling content from a website. One very useful application is setting up a feed reader and subscribing to blogs and news sites you want to follow. Instead of manually visiting site1, site2, site3, you are automating this process.

My analogy is a custom newspaper which you put together yourself. Mine has hundreds of subscriptions which I scan.

If given the choice, I will always subscribe to RSS instead of choosing an email newsletter. I use email for getting things done and my feed reader like my newspaper – for my coffee break.

Google Reader is a popular example of a feed reader. http://www.google.com/reader

You can also subscribe to search feeds, e.g. for your name and names of your bands! Many sites offer search feeds. YouTube, Twitter, Google Blogsearch are just three. Don’t be slow to find out if you’re being talked about.

Sometimes sites offer Atom feeds, it’s a slightly different file format but exactly the same in practice.

We didn’t talk about

Mobile, location-based services, social bookmarking (e.g. Delicious), activity streams, comment systems (e.g. Disqus), wikis, “user-generated content”, collaborative documents (e.g. Google Docs), APIs

In other words, social media technologies are very diverse. There are lots of companies making a play to launch their own services.

Questions from music companies

I’ve tried to reproduce questions here as accurately as I could. In my answers I gave a lot more detail. Next time I’ll consider recording it!

This time, in line with the Chatham House rule, I’ll say what was said but not who said it. This document is online at http://nativehq.com so feel free to comment there.

Question: what’s the difference between the different blogging platforms? What’s the difference between, say, WordPress and Myspace? I already have a blog on Myspace. Why would I need a blog?

The different blogging platforms are service providers so it’s about personal preference and features.

Myspace has taken inspiration from blogging platforms for its own blog feature. If Myspace is working for you and for your fans in your style of music then of course carry on and re-assess in the future.

I would say that not everyone is using Myspace, so you will miss people. With WordPress (which is my personal favourite, especially when hosted on your own domain), your own blog would be far more customisable in every way, not just in design but features – and importantly be more visible (probably). Also, your own blog would probably be less susceptible to social network fashions, as certain users have deserted Myspace. It might be an idea to do a blog and copy the relevant posts to Myspace, for people who spend time there.

Question: what about the metrics on Myspace friend count and number of plays for each track? They can be gamed/boosted with certain software.

The people who care about these figures should know that they can be gamed. Therefore there is no value in doing this. This then backfires on the cheats, or people just ignore the figures entirely.

(Questioner then said that journalists are deciding whether to feature artists on the basis of phoney counts. I don’t know whether this is this case anymore.)

Maybe there is value in having an honest but low number of plays if your music has been freshly uploaded. Under-hyped can work!

Question: in the old days we would leaf through vinyl records. Bands could build a community in their local area. Now there is so much competition from other bands worldwide. Is all this a double edged sword?

Yes it’s a doubled-edged sword because people have finite attention spans. Online has been described as an “attention economy”. People have more access to all kinds of things, not just music. So your music has to be good of course.

On the plus-side it is potentially easier to find international audiences such as Japan and America – both of which probably have big demand for Welsh music!

Someone gave the example of a successful licensing deal for an advertising campaign in another territory. (I think the implication was this was achieved thanks to online).

Question: what about quality? There is so much crap online.

This would make a good pub argument. I personally think there has always been crap, it’s just more evenly distributed.

It is about having good filters – people and sources which you trust.

As for music companies looking for artists to work with, Geoff Travis of Rough Trade has an old quote which still holds: “always work with genius”. You can’t argue with that.

Question: what do you think of Spotify?

Spotify is a streaming music service. I love it.

It has advertising but their model seems to be based on paid subscription. The advertising is apparently there to annoy music fans into subscribing!

I’m not going to prescribe Spotify for every artist and label but many people like it. As with any deal, discuss it with your digital distributor and look at the figures.

In general subscription services could be an alternative to selling copies of albums, e.g. eMusic, Nokia Comes With Music. (Comment about whether somebody could set up infrastructure to get Welsh music on subscription services or have a Welsh subscription service. Other comments outside the scope of our discussion.)

(Comment about whether it hurts other revenue. Someone was looking at releasing one track instead of a full album.) I can’t answer that for you. It could be cannibalisation or it could be “found money”, depending on what you’re doing. It’s a business decision which, again, you make based on digital distributor’s advice and wisdom from elsewhere.

There is lots of online discussion about revenue for content, e.g. http://paidcontent.co.uk – I’m here to say you should subscribe to the RSS and get smart!

Question: earlier you mentioned The Guardian review of a band which is interesting

Yes, I knew about it because somebody had posted a link on Twitter!

(We had a discussion here about the comparative value of newspaper reviews and blogs.) I think if you are good and have good PR then you can get, say, a Guardian review per album or for a high-profile gig. I’m definitely not minimising the value of newspaper coverage when I talk about social media. As far as your efforts go, the two are not even in competition.

The potential value of good social media engagement is growing.

References

Social media definition – this is an unattributed quote taken from Wikipedia but works well enough.

Some other quotes (italicised) taken from What The F**k is Social Media by Marta Kagen http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-social-media

Logos were the property of their respective companies.

Licence

The above notes are covered by Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence.

If you want to share it, see the conditions at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Filed Under: Presentations and workshops Tagged With: music, platforms, presentations, strategy

Taith o amgylch y cyfryngau cymdeithasol i gwmnïau cerddoriaeth

8 October 2009 by Carl Morris

English version available

Mae’r nodiadau hyn yn cyd-fynd â’r cyflwyniad a roddais ar ddydd Gwener 25ed Medi 2009 yn Galeri, Caernarfon. Mae cyfieithiad PDF sydd ar gael.

Prif fyrdwn fy sgwrs oedd pa mor berthnasol y gallai cyfryngau cymdeithasol fod i gerddorion a chwmnïau cerddoriaeth. Dechreuais â chyd-destun diwylliannau arlein cyn trafod enghreifftiau o dechnolegau a gwasanaethau a sut y gellid eu defnyddio.

Cwestiynau yr ydym yn ceisio eu hateb:
Pam y dylai unrhyw un fod â diddordeb yn fy mand i?
Ble allaf i fynd i ddarganfod neu i ddatblygu cymunedau?
Pa offer all fy helpu i ddarganfod edmygwyr, ond hefyd i ddysgu sut i addasu fy musnes mewn awyrgylch sy’n newid?
Sut y dylwn i reoli’r amser a’r adnoddau ydw i’n eu rhoi yn fy ngweithgaredd arlein – i gael llogau da ar fy muddsoddiad?

Roedd amrywiaeth o gwmnïau yn bresennol, yn cynrychioli gwahanol genres. Roedd pawb yn gysylltiedig â cherddoriaeth, un ai ar ffurf ysgrifenwyr caneuon, artistiaid perfformio neu gatalog neu bob un o’r tri. Roedd rhai yn cael refeniw o sioeau ‘byw’, eraill o gryno ddisgiau, lawrlwythiadau a gwasanaethau tanysgrifio ac eraill o drwyddedu sync.

Am beth ydym ni’n sôn?

Dechreuodd y We Fyd-Eang ym 1990 ac mae’n datblygu drwy’r adeg. Yn ystod y blynyddoedd diwethaf mae cyfranogiad a sgwrsio arlein wedi bod yn un thema bwysig.

“Mae cyfryngau cymdeithasol yn derm ambarél sy’n diffinio’r gwahanol weithgareddau sy’n integreiddio technoleg, rhyngweithio cymdeithasol a llunio testun, lluniau, fideos ac awdio.”

“Cyfryngau cymdeithasol yw pobl yn sgwrsio arlein.”

Metaffor yw sgyrsiau. Mae’r sgyrsiau yn digwydd y tu mewn a thu allan i gwmnïau neu hyd yn oed drwy firewall y cwmni – rhwng cwmnïau a’r byd tu allan. Sylwer: nid yw popeth yn y cyfryngau cymdeithasol yn ymwneud â ‘marchnata’. Mae cyfryngau cymdeithasol yn ymwneud ag edmygwyr, arbenigwyr, amaturiaid, cefnogwyr brwdfrydig ac ie, cwsmeriaid. Ond, at ei gilydd, pobl. Maen nhw’n trafod pob pwnc posibl, drwy gyfrwng fideo, testun, lluniau ac awdio.

Mae a wnelo cyfryngau cymdeithasol â llawer iawn mwy na safleoedd rhwydweithio cymdeithasol. Mae miloedd o leoedd arlein sydd wedi croesawu cyfryngau cymdeithasol. Enghraifft: adolygiadau defnyddiwyr Amazon, a hefyd Number10.gov.uk, a hyd yn oed gwefan cwmni os oes ganddo flog neu nodweddion cymdeithasol eraill, er enghraifft.

Twf

Mae twf enfawr wedi bod mewn mabwysiadu rhai cyfryngau cymdeithasol, e.e. Wikipedia, YouTube, blogiau, rhwydweithiau cymdeithasol a thanysgrifiadau i RSS. Treuliais rywfaint o amser yn trafod yr ystadegau, a hynny’n unig er mwyn tanlinellu’r twf hwn.

“Nid ffasiwn yw hyn. Mae’n newid sylfaenol yn y ffordd yr ydym yn cyfathrebu.”

Sylwadau ar ddiwylliant arlein

Cyn cychwyn ar unrhyw “ymgyrch” byddwch yn ymwybodol o ddiwylliannau arlein – dros y we gyfan a hefyd o fewn cymunedau unigol. Dyma rai o’r themâu cyffredin a welir yn aml. Nid yw hon yn rhestr lawn, dim ond themâu a welech yn gyffredinol.

Dynol

Lleisiau dynol naturiol, agored, onest, uniongyrchol sy’n gweithio orau. Nid y datganiad o fwriad, y pamffled neu’r sain ‘ffôn yn brysur’. Mae’r “llais corfforaethol” annaturiol yn edwino.
Mae pobl yn blino gwrando.

Darllenwch The Cluetrain Manifesto yn http://www.cluetrain.com

Fel canllaw cyffredinol os yw eich gwefan yn edrych fel pamffled statig mae’n debyg nad yw’n gwneud y defnydd gorau o’r hyn gall ‘arlein’ ei wneud.

Ailgymysgu

Mae ailgymysgu yn dangos ei bod yn bosibl addasu diwylliant. Yn gyffredinol ysgogir pobl yn reddfol i gyfranogi a bod yn greadigol.

Mae’n ysgogiad naturiol sydd wedi bodoli ers amser maith, yn arbennig mewn diwylliannau gwerin ac yn fwy diweddar mewn samplu. Gall fod yn haws mynegi drwy gyfryngau cymdeithasol nag ydoedd drwy gyfryngau traddodiadol, mae cyfryngau’n cael eu democrateiddio. Mae hyn yn amlwg yn cynnwys cerddoriaeth ond nid cerddoriaeth yn unig – popeth.

Mewn rhai ffyrdd mae’n gydnabyddiaeth o sut y mae syniadau wedi datblygu erioed.

e.e. Kutiman yn ailgymysgu YouTube http://www.thru-you.com
Sleeveface http://www.sleeveface.com
LOLcats http://icanhascheezburger.com
a memes arlein eraill.
Gallwn fynd ati i annog hyn, e.e. Radiohead yn rhyddhau rhannau’u o’u trac i’w ailgymysgu. Byddwch yn greadigol.

Darllenwch y llyfr “Remix” gan Lawrence Lessig

Rhannu

Yn y diwydiant cerddoriaeth, os ydw i’n dweud “rhannu” rydym ni’n meddwl yn syth am rannu cerddoriaeth heb drwydded. Byddai’n bosibl inni gael trafodaeth faith am hynny.

Ond yma roeddwn i eisiau pwysleisio natur fwy cyffredinol rhannu diwylliant – pobl yn rhannu newyddion, postio cysylltiadau, darganfod bandiau newydd (a hen fandiau). A hefyd wrth gwrs, rhannu profiadau, cyngor, cysylltiadau a gwersi drwy gyfrwng blogiau.

Mae’n ysgogiad dynol. Mae hyn yn digwydd fwyfwy mewn amser real hefyd. Gall pobl rannu yn gyflym iawn, weithiau drwy glicio “favourite“.

Fel cwmnïau cerddoriaeth, ydym ni’n rhoi pethau y gallant eu rhannu i bobl? Os nad ydym, sut ydym yn disgwyl i rywun ein darganfod arlein?

O ran argymelliadau mewn cerddoriaeth, yn aml rydym yn ymddiried mwy yn ein cyfeillion nag mewn adolygwyr.

Mae gan bawb yn yr ystafell rywbeth y gallant ei rannu.

Byddwch yn greadigol.

Byddwch yn ddiddorol.

Syniad: beth am holi eich cymuned o edmygwyr a oes ganddynt ffotograffau archif a fideos eu hunain o’ch artistiaid? Efallai y byddent yn ddiolchgar o gael eu cydnabod a chael cysylltiadau yn ôl.

Peidiwch ag ofni rhannu pethau arbenigol os dyna ydych chi’n ei wneud. Mae’r we yn ddigon mawr.

Os yw pethau’n cael eu tagio a’u henwi’n gywir gellir dod o hyd iddynt. Mae’n ddefnyddiol os oes gan bob eitem ei URL arbennig ei hun. Mae pethau’n bodoli dros y we, ar wahanol wasanaethau. Ond yn achos eich gwefan eich hun, os oes angen gwaith ailstrwythuro sylweddol i ganiatáu cysylltiadau dyfnach, gallai fod yn werth yr ymdrech.

Yn sicr, rhannwch eitemau o’ch ôl-gatalog, mae pobl yn barod i’w ddarganfod heddiw. Mae gan rai o’r bobl sydd yn yr ystafell werth degawdau o ddeunydd ardderchog!

Diwylliant agor

Mae hyn yn gysylltiedig â rhannu a hefyd â’r llais dynol. Mae tueddiad i fod yn onest arlein. Os ydych chi’n onest, bydd pobl o’r un anian â chi yn eich darganfod. A byddant yn sgwrsio’n ôl hefyd.

Enghreifftiau o fyd y cwmnïau cerddoriaeth – byddai’r rhan fwyaf o edmygwyr yn hoffi clywed mwy am y broses o recordio, yr hyn sy’n digwydd “y tu ôl i’r llenni” mewn gigs, sgyrsiau rhwng bandiau. Ystyriwch y pethau ydych chi’n eu cymryd yn ganiataol sy’n ddiddorol i bobl eraill.

(Mae onestrwydd hefyd yn golygu bod yn atebol am gamgymeriadau a gwendidau dynol – dod yn ôl at y llais dynol eto.)

Mae hyn yn arferol erbyn hyn. Mae’n anghyffredin cael artist fel Kate Bush sy’n mynnu bod yn ddirgelwch llwyr. Peidiwch â defnyddio hyn fel esgus rhag peidio â bod yn agored. Sut y bydd pobl yn eich darganfod?

Pwyntiau cyffredinol am ddiwylliannau

Mae pob cwmni yn gwmni cyfryngau. Bydd y cwmnïau sy’n amyneddgar ac yn hyblyg ac sy’n rhannu yn manteisio ar hyn. Mae’n bosibl inni gael ein cyfryngau ein hunain sy’n sylfaenol wahanol i ‘sianeli’ cyfryngau traddodiadol. Nid yw cyfryngau cymdeithasol o anghenraid yn cymryd lle cyfryngau traddodiadol – ond mae cyfryngau cymdeithasol yn rhyngweithiol, yn cwmpasu mwy o ‘gilfachau’. Maen nhw’n fwy amrywiol.

Fel cwmnïau cerddoriaeth, mae gennym y rhyddid i ryddhau cyfran fawr o gynnwys diddorol. Mae ffyrdd o wneud hyn heb gythruddo pobl fel y gwna cyfryngau traddodiadol weithiau wrth roi gormod o sylw i lansiad albym bwysig (e.e. U2). Er enghraifft gallwch bostio 100 fideo i YouTube. Gall pobl ffiltro i gadw’r hyn maen nhw’n ei hoffi. Darllenwch “The Long Tail” gan Chris Anderson.

Mae cyfryngau traddodiadol â’u holl fryd ar ddyddiadau rhyddhau a phethau cyfredol. Mae marchnata cerddoriaeth yn ymateb i hyn. Ond arlein nid yw hyn yn bodoli. Edrychwch ar eich ôl-gatalog.

Cipolwg sydyn ar rai technolegau

Mae’r rhain mewn adrannau eang gydag enghreifftiau. Mae rhai yn gorgyffwrdd ac mae llawer o wasanaethau hybrid.

Nid oedd yn bosibl inni drafod popeth yn yr amser cyfyngedig, felly siaradais am y technolegau a’r gwasanaethau a oedd fwyaf perthnasol i gwmni cerddoriaeth.

Platfformau fideo

YouTube – y platform rhannu fideos diffiniol, mae edmygwyr yno – defnyddiwch ef!

Vimeo – mae’r ansawdd yn well ond nid oes cymaint o ddefnyddwyr yn chwilio yma

Qik – ffrydio fideo yn fyw, e.e. ar gyfer cyfweld band neu ffrydio o gig

Fel arfer mae’n syniad da gwneud eich fideos yn fewnosodadwy. Drwy wneud hyn bydd pobl yn gallu eu postio ar eu blogiau a’u safleoedd gwe eu hunain, gan gynyddu nifer posibl y bobl sy’n eu gwylio. Nid yw Universal Music Group yn caniatáu hyn gyda’u fideos, am ryw reswm dirgel.

Safleoedd rhwydweithio cymdeithasol

Facebook – gall tudalennau edmygwyr fod yn dda os byddant yn cael eu cynnal. Gallwch dynnu eich porthiant RSS o newyddion ond dylech osgoi gormod o awtomatiaeth. Eto, mae pobl yn hoffi rhyngweithio â phobl. Yn gyffredinol, mae tudalen Facebook neu unrhyw bresenoldeb ar gyfryngau cymdeithasol yn addewid y byddwch chi ar gael. (Dyma pam y dylech chi ateb e-byst gan edmygwyr.) Cofiwch fod yn ymwybodol o’r ‘wal derfyn’ – ni allwch fynd â’ch edmygwyr Facebook i unrhyw le arall yn hawdd iawn. Facebook sy’n rheoli – rheoli’r profiad, rheoli eich tudalennau a rheoli eich edmygwyr. (Cefais fy ngwahardd o Facebook yn ddiweddar am geisio arbrofi. Gallai hynny ddigwydd i chithau. Gadawsant i mi ddychwelyd fodd bynnag.)

Ning – pobl yn creu eu rhwydweithiau cymdeithasol eu hunain. Mae’n cynnig mwy o addasiad na Facebook. Nid yw creu rhwydwaith gymdeithasol yn rhywbeth y mae rhywun yn ei wneud bob dydd – ond mae’n ddefnyddiol pan ydych eisiau cael cymuned bendant gyda’i URL ei hun. Mae Americymru yn enghraifft o gymuned ar Ning y gallwch ymuno â hi i drafod materion Cymreig, gan gynnwys cerddoriaeth. http://americymru.ning.com

Myspace – mae gwerth yn dal i fod mewn cael cyfrif Myspace fel band neu label. I hyrwyddwyr gigs ac asiantiaid gall hwn fod y lle diffiniol i glywed eich cerddoriaeth. Gofalwch fod gennych y gerddoriaeth, y ffotograffau a dyddiadau’r gigs diweddaraf yno. Fel arall, byddwch yn ofalus faint o amser ydych chi’n ei dreulio arno. Bydd hyn yn dibynnu ar ba fath o gerddoriaeth ydych chi’n gweithio. Mae’n cynhyrchu llawer o spam.

Twitter – Synhwyrais rywfaint o amheuaeth ynglyn â’r un yma, o bosibl oherwydd cyhoeddusrwydd y cyfryngau a’r ffaith fod hwn yn cael ei gam-gynrychioli. Os ydych yn delio â cherddoriaeth ardderchog, yna bydd pobl yn eich trafod ar Twitter (a lleoedd eraill) pa un ai oes gennych gyfrif neu beidio. Ceisiwch chwilio. http://twitter.com. Mae’n hybrid blogio a rhwydwaith gymdeithasol, a elwir yn aml yn microblogio oherwydd mae pob neges yn 140 llythyren neu lai. Mae’n cynnwys mynediad ffôn symudol. Yn debyg i’r rhan fwyaf o rwydweithiau cymdeithasol, mae unrhyw fath o farchnata digywilydd yn diflasu pobl. Beth am roi cynnig arno eich hunan? Mae’r we yn hynod o arbrofol. Os gwelwch ryw gyhoeddusrwydd, byddwch yn chwilfrydig ac ewch yno i benderfynu drosoch eich hun.
Mae Twitter yn ardderchog i fonitro newyddion cerddoriaeth a newyddion cyfryngau cymdeithasol. Mae hefyd o bosibl yn beth da er mwyn dylanwadu, os ydych yn ddigon diddorol.

Platfformau blogio un-pwrpas

Nid yw blog o anghenraid yn ddyddiadur! Gwefan wedi ei threfnu wrth amser. I ddweud y gwir mae’n gyfrwng hynod o greadigol.

Mae blog yn dalfyriad o’r geiriau web log.

WordPress – hwn yw fy ffefryn i. Mae’n ffynhonnell agored felly gallwch ofyn i’ch arbenigwr gwe lawrlwytho’r côd a’i letya eich hunan, ar eich enw parth eich hunan. Mae addasiad diddiwedd yn bosibl o ran cynllun a nodweddion. Erbyn hyn mae’n cael ei ddefnyddio gan lawer o gwmnïau gan gynnwys y Telegraph ar eu system sylwadau a Number10. Ewch i http://wordpress.com i gael y fersiwn letya hawdd neu i http://wordpress.org i gael y côd (os ydych yn adnabod rhywun technegol a all ei osod ar eich gwasanaeth lletya eich hun)

Blogger – wedi bodoli ers amser ond o bosibl ychydig yn hen ffasiwn erbyn hyn, addasiad cyfyngedig

Tumblr – tebycach i lyfr lloffion blogio, e.e. canwr The Decemberists yn rhannu ei ddiddordebau (nid dim ond ei gerddoriaeth ei hun) http://colinmeloy.tumblr.com

Posterous – blog hynod o syml ar gyfer postiadau bychain, gwerth cael cipolwg arno

Mae llawer mwy yn bodoli. Yn dechnegol mae’n hawdd cychwyn blog ond gall gymryd amser i’w feistroli a’i gael i dyfu’n rhywbeth o werth. Os hoffech wybod pa mor hawdd yw cychwyn blog dyma arbrawf difyr: anfonwch e-bost i post@posterous.com a chewch e-bost yn ôl yn rhoi gwybod ichi am eich blog newydd.

Amrywiol

Soundcloud – platfform awdio (dod yn boblogaidd ymhlith cwmnïau cerddoriaeth ac artistiaid, fel ateb arall yn lle cryno ddisgiau enghreifftiol a hyrwyddol)

Flickr – rhannu ffotograffau a thrafod

Slideshare – sleidiau

Last.FM – gorsaf radio ag argymhellion cerddorol, a chanddi gymuned o edmygwyr cerddoriaeth craidd caled

RSS

Mae RSS yn ffordd o dynnu cynnwys o wefan. Un cymhwysiad hynod o ddefnyddiol yw sefydlu darllenydd porthiant a thanysgrifio i flogiau a safleoedd newyddion ydych eisiau eu dilyn. Yn hytrach nag ymweld â safle1, safle 2, safle3 â llaw, rydych yn awtomeiddio’r broses hon.

Rwyf yn gweld hwn fel papur newydd wedi ei addasu yr ydych yn ei lunio eich hun.

Mae fy un i yn cynnwys cannoedd o danysgrifiadau yr wyf yn eu sganio. Petawn i’n cael y dewis, byddwn i bob amser yn tanysgrifio i RSS yn hytrach na dewis cylchlythyr e-bost. Rwyf yn defnyddio e-bost er mwyn gweithio ac yn defnyddio fy narllenydd porthiant yn union fel fy mhapur newydd – pan yw hi’n amser paned.

Mae Google Reader yn enghraifft boblogaidd o ddarllenydd porthiant. http://www.google.com/reader

Gallwch hefyd danysgrifio i chwilio am borthiannau, e.e. ar gyfer eich enw chi ac enwau eich bandiau! Mae llawer o safleoedd yn cynnig porthiannau chwilio. Tair enghraifft yn unig yw YouTube, Twitter, Google Blogsearch. Peidiwch â bod ar ei hôl hi os bydd pobl yn siarad amdanoch.

Weithiau mae safleoedd yn cynnig porthiannau Atom. Yma, mae fformat y ffeil ychydig yn wahanol ond yn union yr un fath yn ymarferol.

Ni fuom yn trafod

Gwasanaethau symudol, gwasanaethau lleoliad-seiliedig, llyfrnodi cymdeithasol (e.e. Delicious), ffrydiau gweithgaredd, systemau sylwadau (e.e. Disqus), wikis, “cynnwys a gynhyrchir gan ddefnyddwyr”, dogfennau cydweithiol (e.e. Google Docs), APIs

Mewn geiriau eraill, mae technolegau cyfryngau cymdeithasol yn amrywiol iawn. Mae llawer o gwmnïau yn ceisio lansio eu gwasanaethau eu hunain.

Cwestiynau gan gwmnïau cerddoriaeth

Yma rwyf wedi ceisio ailgynhyrchu cwestiynau mor gywir ag y gallwn. Roedd fy atebion yn llawer mwy manwl. Y tro nesaf rwyf yn ystyried recordio pethau!

Y tro hwn, yn unol â rheol Chatham House, byddaf yn dweud beth a ddywedwyd ond nid yn datgelu enw pwy a’u dywedodd.

Mae’r ddogfen hon arlein ar http://nativehq.com felly mae croeso ichi roi sylwadau yno.

Cwestiwn: beth yw’r gwahaniaeth rhwng y gwahanol blatfformau blogio? Beth yw’r gwahaniaeth rhwng, dyweder, WordPress a Myspace? Mae gen i flog eisoes ar Myspace. Pam fyddwn i angen blog?

Mae’r gwahanol blatfformau blogio yn ddarparwyr gwasanaeth felly mae’n fater o ddewisiadau a nodweddion personol.

Cafodd Myspace ei ysbrydoli gan blatfformau blogio ar gyfer ei nodwedd blogio ei hun. Os yw Myspace yn gweithio i chi a’ch edmygwyr ar gyfer eich math chi o gerddoriaeth, yna wrth gwrs, daliwch ati ac ailaseswch yn y dyfodol.

Byddwn yn dweud nad yw pawb yn defnyddio Myspace, felly byddwch yn colli pobl. Gyda WordPress (sef fy ffefryn personol i, yn arbennig pan yw’n cael ei letya ar eich parth personol), byddai eich blog yn llawer mwy addasadwy ym mhob ffordd, nid yn unig o ran cynllun ond o ran nodweddion yn ogystal – ac yn bwysig byddai hefyd yn fwy gweladwy (mae’n debyg). Hefyd, byddai eich blog chi yn debygol o fod yn llai ymatebol i ffasiynau rhwydweithiau cymdeithasol, gan fod rhai defnyddwyr wedi gadael Myspace. Efallai y byddai’n syniad gwneud blog a chopïo’r postiadau perthnasol i Myspace, i bobl sy’n treulio amser yno.

Cwestiwn: beth am y fydryddiaeth sy’n gysylltiedig â chyfrif ffrindiau a’r niferoedd o weithiau mae pob trac yn cael ei chwarae ar Myspace? Gellir eu ‘gemio’/hybu gyda meddalwedd arbennig.

Dylai’r bobl sy’n pryderu ynghylchy ffigurau hyn wybod eu bod yn bosibl eu gemio. Felly nid oes gwir werth mewn gwneud hyn. Yna mae hyn yn ôl-danio ar y twyllwyr, neu bobl sy’n anwybyddu’r ffigurau yn gyfan gwbl.

(Yna dywedodd y sawl a ofynnodd y cwestiwn fod newyddiadurwyr yn penderfynu a ddylid defnyddio’r artistiaid ar sail niferoedd ffug. Nid wyf yn gwybod ai yw hyn yn parhau i fod yn wir.)

Efallai ei bod yn werth cael nifer onest ond isel o ‘ddarllediadau’ os yw eich cerddoriaeth newydd gael ei llwytho i fyny. Gall pethau nad ydynt yn cael gormod o sylw weithio!

Cwestiwn: yn yr hen ddyddiau byddem yn chwilio drwy recordiau finyl. Gallai bandiau greu cymuned yn eu hardal leol. Nawr mae cymaint o gystadleuaeth gan fandiau eraill ledled y byd. Ai cleddyf dau finiog yw hyn?

Ydi mae’n gleddyf dau finiog gan fod cyfnodau canolbwyntio pobl yn gyfyngedig. Disgrifiwyd ‘arlein’ fel attention economy. Mae’n bosibl i bobl gyrchu pob math o bethau, nid cerddoriaeth yn unig. Felly mae’n rhaid i’ch cerddoriaeth fod yn dda wrth gwrs.

Y fantais, ar y llaw arall, yw ei bod o bosibl yn haws canfod cynulleidfaoedd rhyngwladol megis yn Japan ac America – lle mae galw mawr yn ôl pob tebyg am gerddoriaeth o Gymru!

Rhoddodd rywun yr enghraifft o fargen drwyddedu lwyddiannus ar gyfer ymgyrch hysbysebu mewn maes arall. (Credaf mai’r awgrym yma oedd bod hyn wedi ei gyflawni diolch i arlein).

Cwestiwn: beth am ansawdd? Mae cymaint o sothach arlein.

Byddai hyn yn destun dadl dda mewn tafarn. Yn bersonol rwyf yn meddwl fod sothach wedi bodoli erioed, ond ei fod wedi ei ddosbarthu’n fwy cyfartal yn yr achos hwn.

Yr hyn sy’n bwysig yw cael ffilteri da – pobl a ffynonellau ydych chi’n ymddiried ynddynt.

Ac yn achos cwmnïau cerddoriaeth sy’n chwilio am artistiaid i weithio â hwy, mae gan Geoff Travis, Rough Trade hen ddyfyniad sy’n dal yn berthnasol: “gweithiwch gydag athrylith bob amser”. Ni ellir dadlau â hynny.

Cwestiwn: beth yw eich barn chi am Spotify?

Mae Spotify yn wasanaeth ffrydio cerddoriaeth. Rwyf wrth fy modd gydag ef. Mae’n cynnwys hysbysebion ond ymddengys bod eu model yn seiliedig ar danysgrifiadau taledig. Pwrpas yr hysbysebion mae’n debyg yw cythruddo edmygwyr cerddoriaeth fel eu bod yn tanysgrifio! Nid wyf yn mynd i argymell Spotify i bob artist a label ond mae llawer o bobl yn ei hoffi. Fel gydag unrhyw fargen, trafodwch hi gyda’ch dosbarthwr digidol ac edrychwch ar y ffigurau. Ar y cyfan gallai gwasanaethau tanysgrifio fod yn ffordd arall o werthu copïau o albymau, e.e. eMusic, Nokia Comes With Music. (Sylw ynglyn â allai rhywun sefydlu rhwydwaith fewnol i gael cerddoriaeth Gymreig ar wasanaethau tanysgrifio neu gael gwasanaeth tanysgrifio Cymreig. Sylwadau eraill y tu allan i gwmpas ein trafodaeth.)

(Sylw yn gofyn a yw’n niweidio refeniw arall. Roedd rhywun yn edrych ar y posibilrwydd o ryddhau un trac yn hytrach nag albym gyfan.) Allaf i ddim ateb hyn’na i chi. Gallai fod yn ‘ganibaleiddio’ neu gallai fod yn “arian wedi ei ddarganfod”, yn dibynnu ar yr hyn yr ydych yn ei wneud. Mae’n benderfyniad busnes yr ydych, unwaith eto, yn ei wneud yn seiliedig ar gyngor dosbarthydd digidol a gwybodaeth o rywle arall.

Mae llawer o drafodaethau arlein ar refeniw am gynnwys, e.e. http://paidcontent.co.uk – Rwyf yma i ddweud wrthych y dylech danysgrifio i RSS a bod yn graff!

Cwestiwn: yn gynharach gwnaethoch grybwyll adolygiad The Guardian o fand – sy’n ddiddorol

Ie, roeddwn yn gwybod am hynny gan fod rhywun wedi postio cyswllt ar Twitter!

(Cawsom drafodaeth wedyn am werth cymharol adolygiadau papur newydd a blogiau.) Rydw i’n credu os ydych chi’n dda ac os oes gennych PR da yna mae’n bosibl ichi gael, dyweder, adolygiad gan y Guardian i bob albym neu ar gyfer gig amlwg. Yn sicr nid wyf yn dibrisio gwerth sylw gan bapurau newydd wrth siarad am gyfryngau cymdeithasol. Cyn belled ag y mae eich ymdrechion chi yn y cwestiwn, nid oes unrhyw gystadleuaeth rhwng y ddau.

Mae gwerth potensial ymrwymiad cyfryngau cymdeithasol da yn tyfu.

Cyfeiriadau

Diffiniad cyfryngau cymdeithasol – mae hwn yn ddyfyniad heb ei briodoli a gymerwyd o Wikipedia ond sy’n gweithio’n ddigon da.

Rhai dyfyniadau eraill (mewn llythrennau italig) wedi eu cymryd o What The F**k is Social Media gan Marta Kagen
http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-social-media

Roedd y logos yn eiddo i’w cwmnïau priodol.

Trwydded

Diogelir y nodiadau uchod gan Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence.

Os ydych eisiau eu rhannu, gweler yr amodau yn
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Filed Under: Social media training Tagged With: cerddoriaeth, music

Fallacious Celebrations of Facebook Fans

7 October 2009 by Carl Morris

On the O’Reilly Radar blog, Mark Drapeau is talking about US government Facebook pages, but the advice is just as applicable to anyone with a corporate or organisational Facebook page:

The meaningful question is not about who has more fans, but about who can authentically and transparently – and usefully – interact with citizens to provide social and intellectual value and become the pulse of their conversations. Here are some questions I have for governments and agencies running Facebook fan pages: What are the names of the people running the pages? What are their titles? What city is their office in? Where do they blog? Which events are they attending this year? (Can I meet them there?) How are you going to get your fans engaged in your mission? How can I tell you my stories about military service, or foreign travel, or amateur astronomy? Would those stories be helpful to you? How are you using social media like Facebook to get citizens involved in their government?

Indeed, this is applicable to any social media activity. In order for your activity to work – for your community and for you – it’s impossible to automate it or just set something up and leaving it running in the background. The value is in the human interaction.

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: facebook, government

Web2.0 and Bilingualism discussion starter

26 August 2009 by Carl Morris

Localisation fans take note, Daniel Cunliffe of University of Glamorgan has written a report on web2.0 and bilingualism, meant as a “discussion starter”.

If you’re unsure of the term “web2.0”, I would say Cunliffe has used it here as a synonym for social media. The report was commissioned by the Welsh Language Board and should be of interest to anyone running websites, blogs or any kind of other web presence intended for Welsh users. It would also be of interest in any other country or situation where bilingualism is important.

I haven’t read it in full yet but if you know me you’ll be aware that this report lives at a crossroads where two of my main interests intersect! Just don’t hold me to any of the recommendations just yet.

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: bilingual, cymraeg, english, wales

David Cameron speaks the perfect tweet?

29 July 2009 by Carl Morris

Opposition leader David Cameron appeared on radio this morning and took a cheap shot at Twitter, saying “the trouble with Twitter, the instantness (sic) of it – too many twits might make a twat.”.

We only get the glib soundbite from Cameron – crude language and all – and it adds nothing to the topic of discussion. So ironically, Cameron is guilty of being as trivial, whether by accident or by planning, as the Twitter users he presumes to criticise!

But there is a grain of truth in the point he was apparently trying to make. Yes, anyone using a communication medium – especially one so relatively new – should be aware of its limitations and be careful to avoid being misunderstood. But that’s self-evident isn’t it? That goes for blogs, television, the press, Facebook, YouTube and any of the other media “outlets” you might speak through. Radio too.

With Twitter and other social media platforms, politicians and the public sector can communicate directly with people, without the filtering or editing that takes place in traditional mainstream media. His language is unfortunate and misses the point. But I guess it’s good to hear Cameron speaking with passion and an authentic human voice. He could have posted it on Twitter.

Meanwhile Simon Dickson has some insights into Whitehall and a recent Twitter strategy document for civil servants:

Yes, Neil’s document is lengthy; and he admitted from the off that it would seem ‘a bit over the top’. But if exciting new tools like Twitter are to make it through the middle-management swamp of the Civil Service, they need to be wrapped in boring documentation like this. Whether or not it ever gets read, mandarins need to feel that your Twitter proposal has received the same proper consideration as the other (weightier?) items on their to-do list. ‘Dude! This is so cooool! We should so be doing this!’ will not get you very far.

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: davidcameron, Politics, twitter