November 2011

Simon Says: The Future Of Social TV

Twitter TV

TV is dead.

By "TV" I mean the scheduling, and by "dead" I mean it is on its last legs. With on-demand tv and a flood of illegal files flouting around forums minutes after shows have aired it's only a matter of time until all TV is on-demand, and more importantly social.

You can currently share links to TV shows on social sites but this is limited. You can also take part in real-time conversations about TV shows on Twitter, but this isn't always as formalised as it needs to be.

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29 November 2011 by Simon Caine

SMWLDN 2012 Brainstorm Round 2 Announced 7th Dec: Food, Fashion, Sport, Music, Gaming, Family

Brain Embroidery by Spectacles

After last week's successful Social Media Week London brainstorm - we're delighted to announce a SMWLDN Brainstorm Round 2 in preparation for next February's SMWLDN on Wed 7th Dec from 6pm - 8pm in Shoreditch or TechCity, if you're startup-minded (RSVP).

This time, the aim is to focus on how social media is affecting and impacting our day-to-day lives from the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the music we listen to, the games we play, the sport (some of us, ehem) do and our families.

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28 November 2011 by Sam Michel

Your Guide to Hosting an Event for Social Media Week 2012

Plans for Social Media Week 2012 have well and truly started and some very exciting ideas have been flying around. Some events are already live in London and across the other 13 cities involved. Check out whats already planned for the week here:

http://socialmediaweek.org/schedule

Planning an event for Social Media Week can be slightly daunting. Where do you start? Do you have a panel session or a workshop? How do you invite people? Is there a hashtag for every event? Do you need to supply catering?

So many questions, so to help you plan and execute your event, along with hopefully answering all the questions you have, we've pulled together some guidelines to 'Hosting an event for SMW 2012'.

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28 November 2011 by Francesca Heath

Linkedin Bootcamp: Personal Marketing in Pictures [infographic]

Linkedin Bootcamp by mindflash.com

Our love-in with infographics continues with this doozy from mindflash with a step-by-step Linkedin Bootcamp giving some steps to get the most out of the B2B social network.

Handy and practical whether you're on the hunt for a new gig, working a business development angle or just buiding your professional profile, it's a handy check-list. Check the full list below and click-through for the big version.

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28 November 2011 by Sam Michel

A Whistlestop Tour of the UK's Digital Sector: Presentation from TechWorld

Duedil London Startup Map

A couple of weeks back I was asked to speak at TechWorld, a conference and expo organised by UK Trade & Investment. This year's event included the addition of the first TechCity Entrepreneur's Festival.

The week-long festival incorporated a bootcamp, access to investors, a giant get-together with Silicon Valley Comes to the UK, pitch training and a pitch competition. In the light of so many overseas companies heading in to London, I thought a whistlestop tour of the UK's digital sector, location of clusters and London, in particular might be handy.

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25 November 2011 by Sam Michel

The Cookie Law: Online Privacy and Your Legal Requirements

cookies by daniel.he

If you operate a business that uses cookies - for example, to track and target online behaviour - and you’re located within the EU, now is the time to get educated on the ePrivacy Directive. It’s a law, and compliance with it will start being enforced soon. In the event this is all news to you, let me explain.

The ePrivacy Directive stipulates that businesses must gain consumer consent before collecting or using their data. It applies broadly to cookies used for third party behavioural advertising and virtually any other ad-related purpose including analytics, optimisation and attribution. The scope is wide enough to implicate every site and every ad delivered in the EU.

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25 November 2011 by Scott Meyer

Social Media Week London Brainstorm: Ideas & Inspiration for 2012

BRAIN HUE Collection by Emilio Garcia

Two heads are better than one. So, 35 must be exponentially better, right?

At Chinwag, we're big fans of building things collaboratively, so we thought we'd really push the boat out for the initial planning of Social Media Week London 2012 (SMWLDN), 13-17th Feb, in case you're wondering.

On Tuesday evening, after an open invite, 35 people gathered at Ketchum PR's offices in Shoreditch to ruminate, dream and scheme on the themes for next year's SMWLDN. Analysing last year's event and taking informal soundings, the group started to explore five starting points:

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24 November 2011 by Sam Michel

Simon Says: QR codes are rubbish, use Google Goggles

Google

You love Google.

It's one of those universal tools everyone has a soft spot for. I secretly imagine people who work at Yahoo use it when their boss isn't watching. Who couldn't adore a company who has an unofficial slogan "Don't be evil."

In April 2010 the search giant purchased "PlinkArt." PlinkArt was originally designed to identify works of art once you took a photo of it. The app was one of three winners of the Education/Reference category of the Google ADC2 (Android Developer Challenge 2). Google then purchased them and added the functionality to what we now know as "Google Goggles" - a visual search engine.

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23 November 2011 by Simon Caine

HSBC Business Growth Grant: You Could be Awarded £50,000

Coins

The HSBC Business Growth Grant competition is offering funding to help grow up to four deserving businesses. 

They'll be offering up to two £50,000 Growing Business Grants to businesses using innovative ideas to grow within the UK. Two more £50,000 Overseas Trade Grants will go to businesses that have the aspiration and motivation to develop new opportunities overseas. 

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18 November 2011 by Lauren Cotton

Preparations Have Begun for the Return of Social Media Week London, 13th - 17th Feb 2012

SMWLDN

Earlier this year in February, led by Chinwag, Social Media Week London included over 110 events, 12 designed by Chinwag and a whopping 95 created and delivered with love by our 54 event partners, including Dell, Dutch Embassy, British Library, BBC, Channel 4, LikeMinds, Viadeo, We Are Social, techMAP, Ogilvy and more.

44% of events were put on by digital, traditional and social media agencies, the rest were a variety of companies, organisations and individuals from all sectors.

8,500 tickets were snapped up and over 8,500 online viewers watched livestreams. Social Media Week London (#smwldn) trended every day on Twitter surfing the wave of tweets across all the events.

It's almost that time of year again - and we're back taking the lead for Social Media Week London, 13 - 17th February 2012.

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18 November 2011 by Lauren Cotton