Feeling Green

Russell’s bright green post got me thinking about how brands are approaching climate change, so I decided to have a look around. I came across this really interesting Google blog post about how Google have offered all their European employees Google-branded bikes to get to work. Google is cool. And they’re helping their employees to ‘think green’.

While surfing I also found this nice digg-style site ‘Do the right thing’, where you can add and rate stories about brands who are doing the right thing (or not). So I decided to add this Google story. I went on there today to see my post third most rated on the homepage. Chuffed! Apparently, nine people so far think it’s really important. And Amelia thinks it’s pioneering (thanks)!

 I’m feeling green…

Ad Bitching

I’m not entirely sure if these superb ads are all real, but I like them anyway. And they seem to be generating a lot of ‘word of mouse’ and diggs, and not surprising as people are very passionate about cars. It’s actually quite interesting if any are user-generated. As this highlights todays DIY Remix culture where people make mash-ups and actually create content for brands.

BMW vs. Mercedes. Owch…

 

 BMW vs. Audi. Priceless…

 Audi vs. BMW. Ooh good come back!

Subura takes on Audi & BMW. Kinda highlights the fact that their car is pretty ugly!

BMW subtlely mocks Jaguar. Nice…

Mobile Social Networks - how social are they?

 

Orange have just announced an exclusive deal with Bebo, to bring the social space exclusively to Orange customers on-the-move. This follows from Vodafone’s recent exclusive deal with the ever-popular MySpace. Nobody really knows how long this ‘exclusivity’ will last.

Sorry to moan, but I thought that social networks were all about openness, connectedness and participation! But these exclusive mobile deals mean that not everyone will have access on their mobile. I guess we could call this ‘anti-social networking’. The Orange CEO talks about the benefits of ‘anywhere’ and ‘anytime’. But what about ‘anyone’?! They have put the technology first, and the consumer second. We been hearing predictions for 2007 as the year of mobile social networking, but this is unlikely to happen if people can’t actually connect through their mobile with all their friends in their network.

Is your MySpace profile damaging your job prospects?

More and more employees are checking out candidates MySpace and Facebook profiles, to gather background information. I guess this is just one of the drawbacks of living in an open and connected ‘conversation era’ (a term I picked up on i-wisdom)!  It makes you wonder, at what point does this become too intrusive? When they check to see how many friends you have? When they make judgements on your  photos (often drunken)?!

The blog posts I read on this subject at pfj were quite interesting, here’s a few gems:

Fred - that explains why I can’t get a job. 

Andi - who would want to work for someone who would do this?

Paul - I am a cynic and think that certain employers will even considerthe photo’s and what people look like.

Recently we’ve been seeing how brands who connect through social media no longer own their content. Is this the same for consumers too? I wonder if consumers who connect through social media no longer have control over their own profiles, and also open themselves up for scrutiny.

iPhone what? It’s all about the Google phone

Well, admittedly it’s all just speculation at this stage, nevertheless I’ve seen some cool pics of the so-called Google Phone on a Google Blog. If it is indeed real, the iPhone has some serious competition!

The Google Phone brings the power of the internet in your pocket, in a simple and intuitive device.  It combines the traditional voice and SMS capabilities of phones with all the exciting Google services from the PC such as Search, Gmail, Maps, Blogger…

It kinda makes you wonder what Google are going to do next. Google cars? Google money? Maybe I’m just paranoid about Google taking over the world…

This reminds me of an Apple spoof I came across today, very funny.

  

Me-toos

Anthony Mayfield has recently brought to light the gazillions of MySpace me-toos that are out there, but also the vast number of brands that are jumping on the bandwagon. And in my recent post I touched on Sony’s ‘me-too’ version of Second Life. This has all got me thinking about all the Web 2.0 sites out there, and the number of ‘me-too’ sites that have followed. How many will we end up with?!

Today I came across several Digg me-toos. There’s imgppl.com which is a photo voting community, and also hugg.com (aw) which is a Digg me-too for green news.

 

I wonder how many Web 2.0 me-toos are out there?  And who will stick around?

Sony reveals its new ‘Home’

Sony has just revealed its plans for a 3D universe and social networking service called ‘Home’, where people can meet, chat and share content with ‘friends’. This is supposed to be part of a new movement called ‘Game 3.0′ - I’m clearly behind the curve as I’d never heard of Game 2.0 or even 1.0 - anyone?! Sony is also hoping that brands will want to create spaces within their 3D ‘Home’, and I’m almost sure they will as everyone wants a slice of the virtual pie.

With the rise of social networks like MySpace and 3D worlds like Second Life, many brands are attempting to harness the power of user-generated content.  They often do this in a ‘me-too’ type fashion - a great example of this is the Dr. Martins beautifully executed but utterly pointless freedm2 site (this amused me), which attempts to be everything. Nevertheless, this will be an interesting one to watch out for - there’s no denying the vast gaming community that exists out there, and perhaps there is a consumer need for this community to share and collaborate in a virtual space.

 

Let’s talk face-to-face

According to this, it seems we have now forgotten how to communicate with each other effectively - as we use email more and more rather than actually talking face-to-face. 

To be honest it’s not shocking, I am guilty of sending emails to people in the office, when it would be much easier if we had just spoke in person. I think sometimes we can waste our time emailing people back and forth rather than just having a proper conversation, which is surely what we should be doing?

Saying that, my memory is pretty crap and I probably wouldn’t remember stuff without looking back at my emails.

Email me your thoughts? I mean er, let’s talk face to face…