Search just got a whole lot more social

Next time you run a search in Google, you might notice some new features. This is big news for search and for social media. Let’s look at an example…

Read more…

Tom wrote this on 21.11.08 – 1 comment
It's filed in the Search, Social media box

New social media consultant sought

The short version:

We are inviting applications from consultants at senior and mid-weight levels to join our growing team of specialist social media practioners. We have one vacancy immediately, and possibly another soon. Please find out more here and apply.

The long version:

A while back I announced, in a blaze of glory*, our search for a PR Pirate - someone to come from the ‘traditional PR’ world and help our clients with their new digital communications strategies.

Unfortunately, no sooner had I launched the search than we won a couple of significant pieces of work which this new team member would’ve - in an ideal world - helped to deliver. Instead, Anna and I went into full-blown delivery mode, which meant that the hiring process went on ice. There was literally no time (OK, not literally).

Being upfront, there were also issues with the hiring process, which was no bed of roses**:

• the title I gave the role of Account Director didn’t meet the scope of the role, which my PR pals told me was more what you’d call a ‘Board Director’ - a naive mistake on my behalf
• the double-bubble challenge of finding someone this niche AND keen on living or already living in Brighton seemed to restrict the number of the most senior-level candidates

Something good has come out of all of this, though.

Having done the work ourselves so far, Anna and I have been able to evolve a much clearer of understanding of what the company does and DOESN’T need. My understanding of how we’re going to shape our teams in the future has evolved, and I’ve been refining these ideas with Jenni, Pete and Tom.

As a result we now have a clearer idea of our needs.

We were building here at NixonMcInnes is a hybrid consultancy offering clients a range of services focused not by the ‘what we do’ but by the ‘where we do it’.

The ‘what we do’ range of services now regularly spans Research, Strategy & Planning, Training, Digital PR and Design & Build. This range gets our clients from ‘don’t know a thing’ to ‘actively engaging’.

The ‘where we do it’ remains the same as we continue to grow and enhance our ability to help clients in the specialised and evolving sphere of social media.

So our needs are a little broader than when we kicked off the search before.

We would still love for a senior consultant from a PR background to be this next hire: that will be spiffing if it happens. But equally we are now more open-minded to the benefits that someone from a market research, online marketing, agency planning or other related discipline can bring. Because our clients need help in a range of areas.

So if you or someone you know is passionately online, and keen to participate in how the internet is changing the world we live in from an HQ here in Brighton, UK, please read the job description and get in touch.

Alternatively, if anything is unclear or you have some feedback, I’m almost all ears. Thank you.

(* and ** are Bon Jovi references. No idea why).

Will McInnes wrote this on 11.11.08 – what do you think?
It's filed in the Brighton, Recruitment, Social media, Strategy box

Current vacancy: Consultant

Notes:

1. We’re looking for an excellent, nice, smart person to join the team!
2. The backstory can be found here
3. Everyone uses the terms ‘Consultant’ and ‘Social Media’ - in our case they both actually apply to the role and aren’t meaningless buzz words :)
   

Role:

Consultant
We are currently looking for mid-weight and senior-level consultants - packages will be negotiated based on skills and experience.

Purpose

The purpose of the role is to:
•    Profitably deliver measurable business value to clients by consistently solving their problems and helping them learn.
•    Nurture and grow our relationships with a small number of major brand clients.
•    Develop a unique and profitable practice area in the company.

Brief overview of responsibilities

Understanding client needs: At all levels from market and business needs to specific project and personal needs.

Build relationships: Build a strong and trusting relationship with the key sponsor, the day-to-day clients and as many additional client contacts as possible.

Creating a practice: With the team’s support to begin with, create a personal practice of topic and/or sector expertise and package this knowledge into services that profitably meet both client needs and the company’s mission.

Deliver to clients: Profitably deliver the projects and engagements that give the clients the results they seek.

Managing people: Lead, influence and manage team members working on projects, when they may not directly report to you.

Providing intelligence: Keep the internal NM team informed of the client’s strategic and tactical direction.

Developing NixonMcInnes: Contribute to the broader development and growth of NM.
Passions and interests: A passion for the web and social media, commitment to our highly open, transparent and democratic company culture.

If you are interested in applying (or know of someone who may be!) please download the full job description which includes details on how to apply.

Thank you.

Will McInnes wrote this on – what do you think?
It's filed in the Brighton, NixonMcInnes, Recruitment box

A - Z of Social media - B is for…

Welcome back to the second in the series of the a-z of social media challenge, in which we try and find an alphabet of social media stuff that we think, is groovy.
Today I’m grabbing the baton from Anna, I’m continuing with B, and when I’m done, one of my esteemed colleagues will take the baton for C, get it?
Please do add other cool stuff that you can think for the B’s into the comments.

B

BBC backstage
BBC backstage is a developer network, it purpose is to encourage the use of BBC data in “mashups” and other online applications, at present it’s only for non-commercial use.

Their tag line is: “use our stuff to build your stuff”

Pretty straight forward really, a nice example of this is a “mashup” of BBC news with user generated content from Flickr (the photo sharing website) and you tube.

It doesn’t always work amazingly, but a good example of what can be done.

Check it out here to see the latest news stories linked with the latest user generated content:
http://www.richardaskew.co.uk/infusednews/

Blip.tv
Blip is a video blogging / podcast service, I really like it.

It seems a lot more flexible than You tube with less of the rubbish.

The player is really nice and unfussy, which is often a big turn off with the You tube player which feels cramped.

Advertising is the great thing about Blip, if you happen to make a video series that loads of people are attracted to they’ll find a sponsor for the show and split the profits with you 50/50. Nice.

Checkout the A’s here:
http://www.nixonmcinnes.co.uk/category/a2z-of-social-media/

Anyone got any more cool B’s? Would be great to see them!

Update from Twitter:

ihowie: @willmcinnes - The marketing of The Secret? Again may be I’m confusing Brand Mobilisation with Brand Infiltration.

ihowie: @willmcinnes LIlly Allen was unsigned and used social to get a buzz going and that lead to a record contract.

ihowie: @willmcinnes Brand Infiltration - The Obama campaign - they registered 1.5 million volunteers using Social Media.

marceatsworld: @willmcinnes it’s great for travelling. Check in, post photos and notes at locations based on GPS.

rosiesherry: @willmcinnes B is for @BarackObama

ihowie: @willmcinnes More Bs… Bookmarking, Best Practices, Branding Strategies, Buy ads in Social Media…

ihowie: @willmcinnes Bs… Brand infiltration, Blogger (service), Blogroll, micro-Blogging, Biggest Mistakes Made in Social Media, B to B Blogs

james2m: @willmcinnes BarCamp

empika: @willmcinnes Boo Bees?

prycie: @willmcinnes Bebo. I am too old but I have heard its what the kids do

robin1966: @willmcinnes Bahu, Backlink,

marceatsworld: @willmcinnes Brightkite! One of my new favourite iPhone apps

Patrick Mays wrote this on 10.11.08 – 5 comments
It's filed in the A2Z of Social Media, NixonMcInnes, Social media, Social networks box

We have been nominated!

We are really pleased to announce that we have been nominated for Best Blog by the Digital Media Awards: South.

Competition was really fierce – there were 144 entries from around 96 companies and the feedback from the judging panel was of the high quality of entries; however we haven’t won yet; the shortlists are now available, go take a look.

The award ceremony will take place on Thursday 27th November and winners will be announced on the night.

Wish us luck!

Ruth wrote this on – what do you think?
It's filed in the Blogging, Brighton, Events & conferences, NixonMcInnes box

Charter: responding to negative feedback and criticism online

The conversations we have on the social web are no different to conversations we have in the real world. Except that once they are out there, they are truly ‘out there’, so it’s even more important to conduct ourselves in the best way as we can, even when faced with negativity.

It’s important to recognise though that we’re not all perfect in real life, we all make slip ups, say what we don’t mean, lash out and react to unfair criticism and negativity.  We all need a ’sanity check’ now and again, something to remind us of what’s really important and what will help us stay on track and on this mission of creating stronger unions between our brands and our consumers.

So with this in mind, we have decided to put together a charter to help guide us in how we conduct ourselves on the social web when faced with negativity.

Here’s a starter for ten:

• Don’t be afraid of criticism. Be curious about it.  There is always a reason behind it.  By getting to the bottom of it, we are best equipped to deal with it. Make like a doctor who suppresses an emotional reaction to clear their minds to best understand and diagnose the problem.

• Criticism can come in many forms - fair, unfair, fairly put, snidely put, constructive, unconstructive, wrong, right, right but put in a ’school yard’ way and so on.  But if we stay consistent in our approach we can soon weed out the bad from the good, convince the sceptics and learn from the constructive critics, and our reputation for being decent and consistent will see others come to our support when we really are being unfairly attacked or misunderstood.

• Negativity presents opportunity.  An opportunity to learn and grow from constructive criticism, an opportunity to explore and understand unfair criticism to get to the point where you can give your side to the story that they may not be aware of, to turn around sceptics in the same way, or to not rise to ‘trolls’ and see them scuttle away (due to not getting the equally troll like reaction they were hoping for).

• Don’t be afraid of debate.  But be clear on the line between debate and argument.  Argument is unconstructive and alienating, debate is healthily challenging and exciting.  Debate is based on only after listening, understanding and acknowledging another’s viewpoint putting forth your own viewpoint, argument is based on emotional reaction and failing to look beyond your own rationale.

• Don’t be afraid of mistakes made – practice makes perfect as they say, and no truer than in finding the way of conducting yourself in the world and now the new online world.  If you make mistakes, if you react in a way you’re not proud of, hold your hands up, put them right - you will be respected for your honestly, braveness and awareness of your own failings.

• Get on with it, react fast - fresh and honest beats ‘too late and carefully contrived’.

• And finally, keep in mind all the time the ‘8 magical philosophies’ of conducting yourself generally online (and real life too!) that we like to hark on about at NM:

1. be authentic
2. be transparent
3. be helpful
4. be remarkable
5. pull, don’t push
6. be open
7. act fast
8. be brave

Can you think of anything else that should be included on this list?

Anna wrote this on 06.11.08 – 2 comments
It's filed in the Buzz monitoring, Mistakes, Social media, Social networks, twitter box

Flash on the Beach 2008 Round-up (Part one)

For the uninitiated, Flash on the Beach is an annual three-day conference held in Brighton every year. It now has a sister conference in the warmer and sunnier Miami. The content is mostly, as the name suggests, Flash-based, but there’s a lot of stuff that can happily be applied to many other mediums. Here’s my round-up of the bits that stood out for me over the three days.

Chris Orwig:
The Art and Craft of Photographic Impact

Bearing in mind that I’m an avid camera-weilder, let’s kick it off with my first stand-out session… and not just because it’s a talk on photography at a Flash conference!

One point that stood out for me was Chris’ notion of photography being very much like poetry, “what the novelist says in 10,000 words the poet says in 10.” That a photographer takes an idea then reduces and simplifies it. A process that easily translates to many creative endeavours, including design and development. We can use always less to communicate an idea. Less is very often more, reminding me of this very famous quote by writer Antoine de Saint Exupery:

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

He ended his session with a series of projects (they’re online so you can play along at home) as well as some book and lens recommendations.

Talking of lenses, he also touched on the perceived need to get more kit to make you a better photographer which is, of course, not true. Get out there and take photos, carry your camera around and shoot.

Erik Natzke:
Beyond the Knowledge: The Art of Play

Erik took us through his creative process of sketching out his ideas through to the finished product. His latest work involves using particles to create a brush which then draws colours from an underlying photograph to generate “paint”. Incredibly difficult to explain (Erik did it so much better!) but the results speak for themselves.

Aral Balkan:
Grab the Low-Hanging Fruit (or 5 Rules for Hedonistic Creatives)

Create. Share. Profit. Play.

Is that five? Er, anyway…

Create. Make something that works and worry about evolving it later. Don’t be scared about bashing something out and architecture… crappy code is better than no code and you can always change things later. Get it working, out there, and go from there.

Share. If you share your idea before you’ve started to create anything you create a responsibility to move on get it done.

Profit. Earn money doing what you love. If you aren’t doing what you love in your day job, make a little money on side-projects.

Most importantly… Play. There are no mistakes. Make and use happy tools… simple things that are practical, hackable and delightful.

There was one little app that Aral demonstrated that I thought was rather cool. Scratch is a MIT-developed drag and drop programming language. Basically a really intuitive way to help “young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.”

Jeremy Thorp:
Emergence

Jeremy demonstrated a couple of his recent personal projects he’d developed in Processing. Firstly, The Colour Economy:

“What if pixels were free? What if they could trade their computer-given red, green, and blue values in pursuit of a profit?

Here, we see a clear example of what I call ‘bridging behaviour’. Though individual traders are limited as to how far they can ’see’, colour groups often form ‘trade routes’ allowing them to trade over much longer distances. This is not specifically programmed behaviour, and indeed was somewhat surprising to see.”

Secondly, Plumage grabs photos from Flickr based on a keyword search and creates feathers with the colours within that photo.

Carla Diana:
Robots! The Interface Designer’s Holy Grail

I’ve always been fascinated by robots and other miscellany automata so was naturally curious about this session. Carla was the lead industrial designer on S.A.M., an emotionally expressive robot. S.A.M. is the product of Andrea Thomaz and the Georgia Institute of Technology and, sadly, I don’t seem to find anything further on it online.

What was fascinating were the ways she tried to redesign it so it no longer scared children(!), how they overcame it not having any legs and so on.

James Paterson:
Modulating a lot

Now, I’m going to have to be perfectly honest here; I didn’t actually attend James’ talk! While his name seemed incredibly familiar at the time it wasn’t until I checked out his stuff online that I realised he was the co-founder of the online (and later offline) magazine Half Empty with age-old online friend Marty Spellerberg.

Anyway, before I start to ramble on about my Internet adventures circa 1996, I’m really disappointed I missed it. He’s doing some really fun stuff nowadays! Including this (not quite as disgusting as it sounds) blackhead squeezing simulator.

And this, the Sonic Wire Sculpture, an illustrative sound engine developed by Amit Pitaru:

Well that just about rounds up the first part of this two-part retrospective extravaganza. Watch out for part two shortly!

Trevor May wrote this on 30.10.08 – what do you think?
It's filed in the Brighton, Design, Development, Events & conferences box

Padware: The grandfather of widgets from 1995

I’m not sure why this suddenly popped into my head, but I was thinking about widgets today and I remembered an article in New Scientist from 1995 about a Japanese software project called Intelligent Pads. A bit of Googling turned up the article in the NS archive (unfortunately the screenshots weren’t preserved so you have to use your imagination,) but I can’t seem to find any other references to it online. I can only assume that the project died, perhaps because it was ahead of its time.

Read more…

Tom wrote this on 25.10.08 – what do you think?
It's filed in the Widgets box

NixonMcInnes Social Media Surgery at The Future of Social Media

Hello there, we would like to announce the NixonMcInnes Social Media Surgery at The Future of Social Media show and invite you to come to our stand to have a free social media health check.

Are you a marketing or PR professional who needs help with your online strategy? Have you asked yourself or your team lately; are the arteries of your website clogged up? Does your communications plan need a detox?
Read more…

Ruth wrote this on 24.10.08 – 5 comments
It's filed in the Events & conferences, Marketing, NixonMcInnes, Social media, Strategy box

The Future of Web Apps

Tom is speaking at FOWA this Friday the 10 October just after lunch at 13:50 - 14:25 in the Business Track. He’ll be at the event on both days, so if you would like to hook up with him there then please email him in advance at tom@nixoncminnes.co.uk or call us to arrange a meet up on 01273 648301. Read more…

Ruth wrote this on 08.10.08 – 3 comments
It's filed in the Events & conferences, NixonMcInnes box