Now I have seen it all...Frank Turner advertising gig tickets on Facebook!
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Bands embracing social media
Now I have seen it all...Frank Turner advertising gig tickets on Facebook!
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Brands on Twitter...get ready for a good critiquing!
It's cool to be on Twitter don't you know, your nan might not be tweeting yet but you can bet that a lot of high street stores/supermarkets/big brands are all trying to get in on the action and join the "uber cool" new found land. Well, uber cool might not be true but marketing/pr gurus will have decided that they MUST be on Twitter and have dived in without any objectives set or any real purpose, other than to show face in this new landscape.
We have two lucky contenders today whose Twitter presence and practice will be examined but I am generally quite nice so I usually just have nice things to say. Unless you do something wrong, then i will be quite unpleasant.
First up we have the Carphone Warehouse. http://twitter.com/carphoneware
CPW once had a bad reputation, cowboys and hard sellers often resulting with angry customers. Twitter is a great place to vent your anger and so it only seems natural that CPW should have a presence here to actually feedback on the criticism. I was very anti CPW but i have to say that their Twitter account is pretty good. They reply to any mention of their name with what appears to be a lot of happy customers. They also share relavent news articles and improvements to their service. You don't feel like they are just on Twitter for the sake of being on Twitter but that it actually adds value for their customers.
Second up today is Magners Cider. http://twitter.com/magnersuk
Magners use their social media channels as a way of associating itself with comedy as well as plugging its product. They run lots of competitions and post up links to events they have sponsored. They reply to lots of tweets and often tweet some entertaining content. They blend the art of plugging their product and making the content interesting enough to keep following them and winning their competitions feels very achievable.
Short and sweet.
We have two lucky contenders today whose Twitter presence and practice will be examined but I am generally quite nice so I usually just have nice things to say. Unless you do something wrong, then i will be quite unpleasant.
First up we have the Carphone Warehouse. http://twitter.com/carphoneware
CPW once had a bad reputation, cowboys and hard sellers often resulting with angry customers. Twitter is a great place to vent your anger and so it only seems natural that CPW should have a presence here to actually feedback on the criticism. I was very anti CPW but i have to say that their Twitter account is pretty good. They reply to any mention of their name with what appears to be a lot of happy customers. They also share relavent news articles and improvements to their service. You don't feel like they are just on Twitter for the sake of being on Twitter but that it actually adds value for their customers.
Second up today is Magners Cider. http://twitter.com/magnersuk
Magners use their social media channels as a way of associating itself with comedy as well as plugging its product. They run lots of competitions and post up links to events they have sponsored. They reply to lots of tweets and often tweet some entertaining content. They blend the art of plugging their product and making the content interesting enough to keep following them and winning their competitions feels very achievable.
Short and sweet.
Monday, 19 April 2010
IAB SMC Practitioner Programme
First session this morning at the IAB headquarters. Wonderful bacon sandwiches to start...
Full write up to come but a great first session and corporate twitter accounts beware, a critique will be coming your way soon!
http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/socialmediacertificate070610.mxs
7B33C95GMCY4
Full write up to come but a great first session and corporate twitter accounts beware, a critique will be coming your way soon!
http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/socialmediacertificate070610.mxs
7B33C95GMCY4
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Apple Magic Mouse Review
I got the new Apple Magic Mouse a few weeks ago and i have to say that it is beautiful. The first sight of it in the box it comes in simply leaves you in awe. Once out of the box the awe continues and you question why such a magnificent looking mouse hasn't been made before.
It was very simple to get working; you simply turn on bluetooth on your computer, flick the switch on the back of the mouse and you are ready to go. Already used to multi-touch with my macbook, i was very interested to see how this carried over to a regular mouse.
The Magic Mouse works on every surface although i felt a little bit of resistance on the table i was using at work. Clicking is very satisfying and it's nice being able to left and right click without having 2 different buttons. Scrolling also works very nicely and reacts very quickly. Two finger swiping is nice when going through photos but i rarely use it in my browser. The 360degree scrolling is also useful, especially on my Macbook when my browsers windows are not often maximised.
My only issue with the Magic Mouse was that having been used to the multi-touch trackpad on my Macbook, I am very used to the 4 finger swipes for Expose and show desktop. These are my 2 most used multi-touch functions and are particularly useful on a laptop with a small screen.
This issue was solved however when browsing through Twitter posts and stumbling upon a Tweet about BetterTouchTool. This application makes the Magic Mouse completely customisable. This includes a 1 finger tapping, 2 finger tapping, 2 finger swiping, 3 finger swiping etc. This opens up the possibilities of the the mouse massively and becomes a very efficient tool. You can set any gesture to do pretty much anything, for example copy and pasting.
I first set up the mouse to start Expose with a 3 finger swipe down and a 3 finger swipe up to show the desktop (like the 4 finger functions on the Macbook trackpad) but after a few days decided to change these to 2 finger swipes because 3 fingers swipes didn't feel as natural or easy.
Whilst the Magic Mouse is quite expensive, if you want a fully customisable mouse that looks beautiful and is a dream to use then you will have no problems paying over the odds (as you do with all Apple products but most enthusiasts feel the extra cash is worth it).
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Indian Lamb in Spice and Yoghurt
I love cooking, read my C.V if you don't believe me. I love things that take ages to cook. I am of the opinion that everything tastes better when it is slow cooked.
Anyway, when ever I cook something I really like I will be writing the recipe in this blog and sticking a picture if I remember to take one.
So last night was Indian Lamb in Spice and Yoghurt. I really like Indian food and lamb is probably my favourite meat so this was a winner before i even started cooking.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped - I used shallots
125g plain yoghurt
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cardamon - didn't use this
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves - didn't use this either
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
400g can of chopped tomatoes
1kg boned leg of lamb, chopped up - i used a shoulder joint and cooked it a bit longer
1 teaspoon garam masala
chopped fresh coriander leaves
1) heat oil in a wok over a medium heat and add the onion, stirring for 5min or until softened.
2) stir in the yoghurt, chili powder, coriander, cumin, cardamon, cloves, turmeric, garlic and ginger.
3) add the tomatoes and 1 teaspoon salt then simmer for 5min
4) add the lamb and stir until coated
4) cover and cook over a low heat, stirring every now and again for 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours or until lamb is tender
5) add the garam masala to the curry and mix through
6) Sprinkle coriander leaves over the top.
This recipe was taken from "The Essential Wok Cookbook" by Murdoch Books
It was delicious, i had expected to have some left over for lunch today but when I got to the fridge found that my bloody sister had taken what was left for lunch at work.
Not impressed.
Anyway, when ever I cook something I really like I will be writing the recipe in this blog and sticking a picture if I remember to take one.
So last night was Indian Lamb in Spice and Yoghurt. I really like Indian food and lamb is probably my favourite meat so this was a winner before i even started cooking.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped - I used shallots
125g plain yoghurt
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cardamon - didn't use this
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves - didn't use this either
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
400g can of chopped tomatoes
1kg boned leg of lamb, chopped up - i used a shoulder joint and cooked it a bit longer
1 teaspoon garam masala
chopped fresh coriander leaves
1) heat oil in a wok over a medium heat and add the onion, stirring for 5min or until softened.
2) stir in the yoghurt, chili powder, coriander, cumin, cardamon, cloves, turmeric, garlic and ginger.
3) add the tomatoes and 1 teaspoon salt then simmer for 5min
4) add the lamb and stir until coated
4) cover and cook over a low heat, stirring every now and again for 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours or until lamb is tender
5) add the garam masala to the curry and mix through
6) Sprinkle coriander leaves over the top.
This recipe was taken from "The Essential Wok Cookbook" by Murdoch Books
It was delicious, i had expected to have some left over for lunch today but when I got to the fridge found that my bloody sister had taken what was left for lunch at work.
Not impressed.
New York, New York. 2009
These are the photos from my trip to New York with my girlfriend in the Summer after my exams had finished.
There are lots from the helicopter ride we took over NYC but i would like to add that i will certainly never be doing this again after the tragedy a few months ago.
Awesome trip though.
There are lots from the helicopter ride we took over NYC but i would like to add that i will certainly never be doing this again after the tragedy a few months ago.
Awesome trip though.
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