Following the recent Riots across England, the UK Government is considering the possibility of “shutting down” social media in times of trouble.  Was social media the cause?..  Is pressing the off button the answer?..

The following personal opinions expand on my comments which featured on the recent “Drum Scottish Media Podcast” – listen to it on SoundCloud, or find it on Itunes.  Apologies in advance for the “note-like” style of this post – That’s what these were, my notes, and so don’t judge my grammar and punctuation!

The Government reaction…

It’s not unusual for governments to have a knee jerk reaction… to be seen to be doing something extreme under extreme circumstances, and the rioting was certainly extreme.

Last weeks news about the 2 chester men jailed for 4 years each shows that the government and the courts are looking to be seen as acting strongly – some would say disproportinatley, and their overall reaction to social media’s role in this is similar…

..but I’d personally hope that even they see the initial response as overkill, and potentially more damaging than good…

 To clarify what the Government have actually said so far…

Specifically, Home Secretary Theresa May who plans to sit down with the likes of Blackberry, Twitter and Facebook etc, to discuss the issues:

“Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and messaging services like Blackberry Messenger have been used to coordinate criminality, and stay one step ahead of the police… I will convene a meeting with ACPO (The Association of Chief Police Officers) , the police and representatives from the social media industries to work out how we can improve the technological and related legal capability of the police.”

She goes on to say:

“Among the issues we will discuss is whether we should disrupt messaging services when trouble is being planned.”

This is almost a copy of what David Cameron had said earlier in the week which was:

“We are working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality,”

 The tone of all of these govrnment comments is pretty much a damning one for the social media tools..  but what we’ve got to remember, are that they are just tools…  just ways that allow people to converse and share info, and chat,… so…

Should governments have the power to turn off social media during riots and unrest?

Some people will think this is a good thing – but – where does it stop…?  Jam all the mobile phone signals..?  Turn off the internet?  Burn all the notepads and pencils? – I mean seriously – do they think that restricting use of the tools will stop certain people mistreating them?…  

Look at Egypy, look at Libya, look at China…  all places that have banned and limited the use of social media tools – did it stop people using them?  Of course not – did it encourage them to use them more?  Yes it did….

The GOOD of social media…

The other thing that I feel strongly about is the way the media report on the use of social media…  the same way that that computer games are the cause of street violence and car jacking, and the TV is the cause of obesity.  It’s way to easy to highlight the BAD..  but everything has an element of bad in it – and often the good is forgotten about….

Well, just as looters have used tech to co-ordinate, Londoners have resorted to their own methods of reacting to the situation in a crowd-sourced manner.

A hashtag started trending in relation to the cleanup: #RiotCleanup and another response has been to start mapping where incidents occurred.  Other uses have helped to actually catch the rioters…  CatchaLooter (@Catchalooter on Twitter), and numerous blogs have been setup where people are encouraged to upload pictures of looters.

***Combine this with the new facebook facial recognition – and you’ve got a system that’s potentially more effective – response times – for fighting crime than any police system!**

All good uses of Social media to help with the aftermath…

Is this a form of citizen journalism, or community empowerment – or Is this advocating a new form of citizen vigilantism? Or is the just a faster response than the Police would ever be capable of without the public’s help…  the police are doing it themselves now..(see Greater Manchester example below)

And of course there’s the great Scottish example, where it seems that the whole of Scotland on facebook, turned on the guy who setup his “Let’s start a riot in Glasgow”..  with people en-masse reporting him to facebook and the authorities, and the inevitable follow up arrest!..  Don’t think that got any media attention outside Scotland?

The point is – to say that Social Media is used for “plotting violence, disorder and criminality” is absolutely true – by a small minority…  a fact that I think is conveniently forgotten when the government wants to be seen to be taking tough action. 

The role of the police…

One of Thersa May’s comments that I do agree with…

… “work out how we can improve the technological and related legal capability of the police.”

I think that Is a good thing – the police usage – and probably even their basic understanding of some of these tools is so mixed – some of them get it, some don’t….

For example – The official Metrepolitan police twitter feed – has tweeted 640 times in 2 years…  (most of them in the past few weeks funnily enough – a bit of damage limitation I’m guessing), remains a broadcast channel for them, with virtually ZERO interaction with the public…41,000 followers, and they follow back 10.  By no means a good case study in Twitter usage on how to engage an audience…

Even when some of the individual forces who have been doing it better have gotten it wrong…  you’ll maybe have seen reports yesterday about one of the suspected rioters having his home burnt down vigilante style…  how did this happen?  Because Greater Manchester Police tweeted his name and address – before the guy has even been convicted!??  And this from a force that up until yesterday were seen to do social media well, and had a previously good record of engaging with the community through twitter…

But credit where credit’s due -  some of the individual forces are doing it much better…  Sussex Police for example…  they run a realtime blog, and utilise twitter to keep the public updated..  so you can imagine it was heavily used over the past couple of weeks…  But they recently thanked the community for engaging with them on twitter, by finding out the official news rather than flooding the phonelines as would have been the case in the past…

And to be a little fairer to Manchester – they have used the tools for good as well…

GMP launches #shopalooter campaign.
Give us info and make the looters pay for their crimes..
Upload info at http://bit.ly/c3q1qk

So – if we ban the tools  to limit the BAD from social media, then we limit all the good as well….  And that’s even before we begin to talk about freedom of expression, and access to information, and human rights…

Legislation and new laws?

A statement by the Police saying “that anyone inciting violence on social networks will have to deal with the authorities.”  – OF COURSE!!??!!

But does the current law allow them to do so…  or are today’s laws out of date for this Generation Y public.

Cameron:

“I have also asked the police if they need any other new powers. Police were facing a new circumstance where rioters were using the BlackBerry Messenger service, a closed network, to organise riots. We’ve got to examine that and work out how to get ahead of them.”

 The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act already allows them to get access to BBM messages or other social network material once an order has been issued, so actually, social media is no different really from the phone system and the postal system, which can be intercepted if the police can identify suspects in advance.

But to go further and to have live monitoring of random conversations across BBM or Facebook etc – this would require new laws, a huge investment in police time, and strong involvement from the various networks themselves.

Questions

Should the networks be more proactive about banning people and take some responsibility?

Should blackberry, facebook and twitter etc have stronger partnerships with the Police and other agencies to allow the trouble to be identified earlier..  to flush out who the people are, and to auto-report certain things to the police?

Or should the Police and authorities have the right to just shut it down..?

…all of the above – probably very doable, but all opening a whole can of worms with regard privacy and civil liberties! 

Any thoughts?

Come and say hello. You might win an iPhone!

A quick note before this week’s main article – today (Friday 18 March) and tomorrow (Saturday 19 March) the NS Design team are at Scotland’s biggest business exhibition New Start Scotland.

It’s at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston and we’re on stand D17.

If you come and talk to us about mobile websites you’ll be entered into a prize draw where you could win an iPhone!

You’ll be able to find out more about what we do, meet some of the team, and realise I’m even shorter in the flesh than I look on television.

A warm welcome awaits, so if you’re at New Start Scotland come to stand D17 and say hi.

Don’t Design By Committee!

(A horse designed by committee)

When they’re having a website built some businesses get their priorities all wrong.

And instead of approaching the project from the point of view of what their customers want, they get bogged down with their own internal politics and obsessing over what they themselves on the inside think it should look like.

This puts the web designers they’ve hired to do the work in an almost impossible position.

These highly skilled people instinctively know what visitors to websites want and how to get good results on-line. They’ve built dozens, if not hundreds of sites in the past (more than likely for other businesses in your sector) and are right on top of the latest techniques and software. These men and women are experts and you’d be mad not to take their advice!

Some companies end up in an embarrassing, endless loop of to-ing and fro-ing back and forward with tweaks and changes and meetings and embarrassing “I’m sorry, but the Managing Director’s not really sure he likes that” type phone calls.

Pleasing the client will always be a good web designer’s priority but they also want to create a site that does a good job and works for you so although you’ll never sense their frustration when you call with ANOTHER set of changes I do wonder how many sit squashing stress relief balls in their hands while they’re on the phone!

The good news is, these problems can be eliminated with a little bit of planning in advance.

Here’s how…

All this reminds me of a radio station I heard about once where the presenter got a call from the furious station owner while doing his show one night.

“I don’t want to hear that Dire Straits song EVER again!” he yelled. “Why did you play it?”

“Er, because it was on the playlist the Programme Controller gave me” the presenter explained.

“Well it’ll be coming off the playlist straight away…my mother hates it”.

Fair enough…but this radio station was aimed at men in their 40s!

This kind of thinking holds businesses back and plays havoc with web design projects.

I think it comes about because bosses (just like the rest of us!) are extremely busy.

So when the idea for a new website is mooted they’re happy to delegate and take a backseat.

But as the project moves along they find some time and become interested and CAN’T RESIST a bit of tinkering here and there! Then after having their say they get caught up in something else and, well, you can see that stress ball getting squashed a bit harder in the web design office!

Here’s another way some of these problems can be avoided…

Something else that can often go wrong and it brings down the whole quality of a website is when the client tries to make it do too much.

You end up with massive clutter and it’s a horrible experience for the end user.

A good example is in the media where you have half the business focussed on content, and the other half dedicated to selling advertising space. Increasingly, there’s a third area they all want and that’s interaction with users.

Some businesses and some web designers manage to integrate everything really well.

Others struggle.

Here’s two websites from organisations with big fan bases. They want to increase their number of Twitter followers. Which of the two makes it easiest?

http://www.wtks.com or http://www.glasgowrocks.co.uk

I’m sure you’ll agree the Scottish Rocks site is far easier to navigate and an all round better experience. That Twitter link is easy to find. Real Radio 104.1’s site (despite almost certainly costing much more money) is full of clutter and the Twitter link is buried deep in a sub menu. I’m sure everything’s there for a reason and is important to the station but the content gets suffocated and trying to find anything of value is a horrible experience.

Inside the company, everyone at Real Radio 104.1 will be happy because THEIR BIT is on the website. But what do the listeners think? “This radio station isn’t sure what it’s about, and I haven’t got a clue where to start”.

At the Glasgow Rocks site, decisions were made about what to put in and what to leave out; people compromised and considered what the user wanted from the site. And the end result is a smart site, where it’s easy to buy tickets, get the latest results and find out more about the team. And because it’s not swamped with adverts, you actually notice the couple that are there.

Whatever you want your website to do, better to pick a few things and do them really well, than try to force it to do absolutely everything.

Get your internal politics straight, get the big boss in the briefing and then let the experts get on with creating the on-line equivalent of a beautiful, sleek horse, instead of a camel that just gives everyone the hump.

Have you experienced a case of “design by committee”?  Share your comments below!

So a thin but energetic Steve Jobs came off his sick bed on Wednesday to launch Apple’s “blockbuster” new product iPad 2.

The up-graded but thinner and lighter version of the device now sports 2 cameras, a faster processor and comes in a choice of white or black. If you pay extra you can add a clever looking cover which doubles as a stand.

I was invited on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss it (click here to listen) and as is the case EVERY time I mention the iPad someone responds with “I’m not sure I see the point in it”.

There’s clearly demand for tablets – more than 15 million iPads have been sold since April – and Motorola, HP, Blackberry and Samsung are all launching rival products with Sony rumoured to be planning its debut before the end of the year.

But many consumers can’t justify the expense or don’t know what they’d use it for. I’ll be honest with you, that’s how I feel. I haven’t discovered that killer application that would turn the device from something I admire (and sometimes even lust after a little bit!) to something essential that I’m prepared to buy.

It’s been interesting to read the recent press coverage about Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock, which has given an iPad to every pupil.

Tabloid coverage has stirred things up and suggests an embarrassment of riches in this privately funded school at a time when the public sector is making painful cuts. Opinion is divided. Some people are appalled, they see iPads as glorified toys, think the pupils are spoiled and claim education’s gone mad.

Others look enviously while moaning about woeful IT provison in state run schools and ask if you can afford to send your child to a school with better equipment, then why not?

For an in depth account of how it’s being used used at Cedars School this article  is worth a read.

I’ve got two problems with all this.

First, in my opinion, the iPad is the wrong tool to be giving out in classrooms.

I can see the value in teachers not having to worry about handouts and books and pupils being able to e-mail homework so it can be marked while the teacher nips up to Glasgow on the train in the evening (although I can’t imagine my wife EVER doing that if her pupils had iPads!).

I’m against them being handed out to every pupil because I think they actually LIMIT children’s imaginations.

Watch the video to find out what I mean…

There is a huge debate to be had about IT provision in schools (actually I’d prefer action rather than more talking) but focussing on whether pupils should have iPads won’t help.

There’s a massive job to be done with infrastructure. Better broadband speed is essential. Crippling security controls that means English teachers can’t show scenes of Romeo and Juliet on YouTube is another issue. The GLOW system which gives every pupil and teacher an e-mail address and allows for on-line sharing of resources is great but lacks storage capacity, gets clogged up and grinds to a halt if it’s being run on PCs that only scraped through the Millennium Bug compliance test.

There’s a lack of joined up thinking and that’s causing increasing frustration. There are many people within education who see IT as an expensive nuisance. I believe there’s a risk technology could get squeezed out of the curriculum, just at the time Scotland desperately needs to develop these skills.

Literacy, Health and Well Being and Numeracy are the 3 big areas the new Curriculum for Excellence revolves around. Are technology and creative industries going to have to make do with a wobbly table at a careers fair once a year?

Scotland has a vibrant digital sector which is doing well against the odds. To get to the next level we need young people to come out of high school buzzing with ideas and excitement. Companies like NS Design and many others are ready and willing to get involved and work with local authorities who want to increase what their schools offer in this area and make best use of the resources available.

My message to young people today would be this: Forget about the iPad. Develop your imagination and concentrate on how technology can solve people’s problems.

And to parents, teachers, politicians and everyone in the industry, I’d say “Give them all the encouragement and support you can”.

Speculative Design work (Spec work) is something that we’re often asked for – either informally by clients who are promising to commission us for a web design and development job on the back of it, or formally, in web design tender documents, where a requirement of our response to tender is to include design ideas and/or mockups.

Spec work is never a good idea, and we’ll nearly always say NO.  Good design is based on a response to a problem, not on quickly pulling together something which looks nice, and might impress a client.  We’d much rather wait until you did actually commission us, and then work with you to design something that’s 100% suitable for your needs, not waste time (and ultimately your money) on something that will (and should) never end up getting used.

If you’re asking us for design spec work so you can evaluate our design skills, then just ask us for relevant examples of work; which we’ll gladly hand-pick from our extensive portfolio of happy clients for you.  Surely you want your design to be the best it possibly can be, and designing things on spec will never provide you with that.

I could go on, but instead I’ll just point you to the No-Spec website if you’re wanting to know more!

Isn’t it a great feeling when you thought you might be mad and then realised thousands of other people are exactly the same?!

I had that happy revelation this week when I discovered I qualify (by the skin of my teeth) as a member of “Generation Y”.

I’m not a fan of giving people labels and that one sounds like a frightening bacteria you might discover in a pot of yoghurt that’s past it’s sell by date. But Generation Y is the name experts use to describe everyone who born in the period 1977 to 1994. (I arrived in ’78). They’re people who’ve grown up taking the computer for granted. They’ve had them at home, at school and at work. Many will have clicked a mouse before learning joined up writing and some have no concept of a world without mobile phones and the internet.

In the last 10 years this generation has come out of education and entered employment. In the next 10 years they’ll make up the biggest chunk of the country’s workforce.

Yet some people including many company bosses and members of the older generation see this group as a problem. They’re regarded as shallow, brash, spoiled, demanding, disruptive and lazy. But ask one member of Generation Y to describe another and they’ll use words like “talented, go getting and ambitious”. Ask a company like Google where it would be without a workforce largely made up of Generation Ys and their response would probably be “sunk”.

So there’s conflict and misunderstanding but also opportunities for anyone who understands this new generation of workers and is able to accommodate their flaws and reap the benefits of their strengths.

And if you don’t “get” Generation Y then what’s coming next is going to change things even more. Watch the video to find out why…

This is all important for businesses because in the next few years you’re going to have to employ these people. And if they’re not already, they’re going to become your customers too.

So how do you deal with them? And how do you get the best out of them? As a self proclaimed elder statesmen of Generation Y I am happy to share 12 of our workplace secrets…

1. We have an expectation that things will be fair. And we’d rather work for a small, ethical company than a big nasty one. This applies to how staff are treated but also what the business does in the wider world. Even Generation Y has it’s share of greedy people but I do think petroleum companies and banks will have to change or they’ll struggle to recruit.

2. We owe you nothing and will leave whenever it suits us. But if we believe in you we’ll work extremely long hours, defend you to the hilt and give you everything we’ve got. We’re available 24/7 for the right project. This applies to companies we work for but also brands we buy and services we use. Already people are loyal to Sky TV or Virgin Media or the Orange mobile phone network.

3. You will NEVER stop us using Facebook or e-mail for personal use at work. If you block it on the computer we’ll use our phones. If you understood us you’d realise your idea of “wasting time on-line” could actually benefit your business.

4. We don’t expect a lunch break or Bank Holidays. We never use our full holiday entitlement.

5. Our life is an open book and privacy is something only The Queen worries about. We’ll happily show you pictures of everything we got up to last Friday night and don’t expect you to hold it against us.

6. Most of us are riddled with debt after higher education so the promise of a pension 40 years from now isn’t much of a selling point.

7. We want constant change, feedback and development. We expect you to take an interest in us as individuals rather than just the tasks we’re paid to do.

8. If a manager says “my door is always open” we will take that at face value and share our thoughts because we’re passionate about making things better.

9. It really doesn’t matter where you’re from. All forms of discrimination aren’t just “off limits” they’re regarded as incredibly old fashioned and embarrassing. “Everyone is equal” isn’t an aim, it’s a fact.

10. Being bored is something we can’t tolerate. We’ll go to almost any lengths NOT to be bored. This can cause problems at work but if this refusal to be bored is harnessed correctly it could lead to new ideas and innovations and people being willing to fill skills gaps in other areas of the business.

11. We pity those who spend their time in meetings.

12. Why would anybody ever wear a tie? But if you’re over 50 and we’ve seen you wear one, you can’t stop now.

This is a generation who take ownership of what we do and wants to control its own destiny. We’ve been brought up thinking we really can have it all and the idealism which older generations might have left behind still burns inside us. We genuinely believe we can build our perfect world around us and we’re willing to work incredibly hard to make that happen. Clinging to a dead end job in a dying industry is utterly beyond us. One example is my brother, who’s just turning 30. He grew up mad about cars and wanted to work in automotive engineering. He did this and then felt the effects of the manufacturing industry in decline. Now he’s happy working for a rapidly expanding company that makes wind turbines.

But what’s the single most important thing you need to know about Generation Y?

Watch the video to find out.

There have been some excellent studies into Generation Y and the difficulties certain business sectors have with them. These include Gillian Maxwell and Susan M Ogden’s work at Glasgow Caledonian University and I’d also recommend this for some further reading. 

Generation Y are a cynical bunch and make instant judgements about people and businesses. This matters when you’re creating a website or using social media. If you’re seen as open, forthright and interesting Generation Y will engage with you and go to great lengths to spread your message, with some even becoming unofficial “ambassadors” for your brand. A great example of this is @sodastreamUK on Twitter.

But if your website is difficult to navigate, your social media use just shameless self promotion, and your customer service fails to deliver you’ll lose them and never get them back for a second visit.

Do you agree with my 12 Generation Y workplace secrets?  Have you got some of your own to share? Please do so in “comments” and let me know what you think. Understand Generation Y and work with them and they’ll serve your business incredibly well, taking you to heights you never thought possible. Get them wrong and work against them and you’ll feel the sting of their secret weapon…complete indifference.

Earlier this week, I remembered why I try not to visit the Apple Store very often…  having gone in for “just a wee look”, and walked out with the new AppleTV2 and having upgraded my iPhone!

Ok – being honest, I did actually plan to do these things at some point, but the Apple Store (and it’s brilliant staff) have a habit of encouraging you into these things..  that and the products are so seductively sexy you just need to have them.  There was also another very good reason for me simply having to upgrade my iPhone 3G to iPhone 4 – my wife got one before me, and being the true geek in the family I couldn’t be outdone for too long

So… here’s just a very short review of both these new toys:

Apple TV

The new Apple TV is tiny, and the box it comes in is tiny, and (having played with the old Apple TV) you can’t not be impressed by how tiny (and sleek) it really is.  That is until you realise that the tiny box doesn’t contain an HDMI cable to plug the thing into the telly!  Bit of a failure on Apple’s part to not make this clearer on the box, or for them not to mention this when selling it to me…  However, a quick steal from the SKY HD Box, and it was up and running.  Configuration was easy, and now have all my music, films, podcasts etc all streaming to the HD TV in the living room.  Add to that the “Remote” app that allows you to control the appleTV (and Itunes on your computer) and it all works very well indeed!

Apple iPhone 4

Not that I really needed the new iPhone (my iPhone 3G has been doing me just fine), but my reasoning behind buying it was as follows:

1. I was out of contract (with O2) so I *could* upgrade
2. I was nearly using up all my 16GB storage on current phone
3. My wife got one last week and that annoyed me

The truth is – other than it being far prettier than the old one, the new apple iPhone isn’t a massive improvment in my opinion.  Yes, it’s got new things like “facetime” (apple’s version of skype video), and includes a little compass so I know which direction I’m going in, as well as a much improved camera and new video camera (HD quality)..  but apart from that – if you’ve already updated your software to V4 on the older 3G (or 3GS), then there’s not a great deal to benefit from.  The battery (not that I’ve had time yet to fully test this) is supposedly a lot better (which wouldn’t be difficult!) which will be a bonus!

Did I really need to upgrade, probably not, do I regret paying £299 – no, especially when I’ll sell my existing iPhone 3G for approx £160.  Have I restored my position of King-Geek in my household..  (was there ever any chance of losing it?)….  Now who want’s facetime!

It might have had over 4000 unique visitors in a few days, and generated a serious bit of buzz on Twitter, but our Social media experiment based on a spoof website for the Papal Visit, hasn’t gone down well with Paypal.

The site in question can be found here – www.paypalvisit.com (be quick, it’ll be gone soon!), and as explained on an earlier blog post  it was simply a bit of fun, combined with a test of Twitter’s capability to turn “nothing” into something Viral!

However.. just days after it went live, we received an official email from “EBay Enforcement”..  A summary of which is below:

PayPal, Inc. (“PayPal”) does not permit use of its trademarked name PAYPAL in a domain name. 

Such use is in violation of international intellectual property regulations and the trademark laws of many countries worldwide

Additionally, arbitrary use of the word PAL in a domain is problematic if the connected website is used in association with a business making use of PayPal or operating in the same sphere of business as PayPal.

While PayPal respects your right of expression and your desire to conduct business on the Internet, PayPal must enforce its own rights in order to protect its valuable and famous trademark. For these reasons, and to avoid consumer confusion, PayPal must insist that you not use the domain name for any purpose, do not sell, offer to sell or transfer the domain name to a third party, and instead simply let the domain registration expire.  

eBay Inc.
Legal Department

Rather than just “do as we were told”, we actively tried to engage with Paypal/Ebay and tried to clarify that the site was not a phishing site, nor a spam site, not trying to rip off Paypal (or the Pope!) in any way.  It was just a bit of fun, and we pointed them to the blog above!

Unfortunately, they didn’t change their opinion, and came back with:

While we have no desire to interfere with your legitimate business purposes, we cannot allow the use of a domain which contains the registered PayPal trademark, which could lead to confusion or dilution of the PayPal trademark itself.

The content of the site should not contain any unauthorized use of any of PayPal’s Intellectual Property such as trademarks or copyrights. The site currently contains the PayPal Logo, which is not allowed.

So I’m afraid that the site as we know it will vanish into cyberspace history. Yes, we could modify it, change the domain name, remove the branding that is “based on” the Paypal logo etc etc etc, but really what’s the point.  It was an experiment based on the “here and now”, and it’s perhaps fitting that it ends just as quickly as it arrived.

A few comments from Twitter:

always new the Vatican never had a sense of humour

I would take them on Gary – the publicity would be massive – the legal costs would not be low though – bummer. Lol

Ridiculous, as you were providing them with free publicity! At least Catholics saw the funny side when Ebay didn’t.

Pathetic response from PayPal, no sense of humour, but then not surprised as they have the worst customer service on Earth.

fwiw, you have legal protection for use of the name there. Arkell v Pressdram is probably rather relevant.

Oops! You can’t use the word Pal?! Crazy.

Nice one Gary, maybe it’s better than it dies in this furore, at least you get some exposure out of it! idiots!

Susan Boyle is currently enjoying unexpected Global success following her recent appearance on “Britains Got Talent”, with the subsequent media hype help making her into a household name, but NOT on the internet.  Why? – because all of the susanboyle internet domains names were snapped up by cybersquatters, the moment they realised the value in her name (with the exception of the .com – which was already owned by a artist in Texas – I wonder if her spam has increased?).

Many of the sites which were registered in the days following her appearance on the show are branded “fan sites”, but call me cynical – I’m sure they’ll also be fully aware of the potential value such a high profile celebrity name brings with it.  With YouTube now at over 50 MILLION views for the Susan Boyle Clip, it’s easy to see how getting just a small percentage of the current Google searches to your site could bring in some financial gain, not to mention the possibility of Susan herself wanting to buy it from them.

On the 17th April, I emailed Talkback Thames (the production company responsible for Susan’s current fame), and explained:

“…surely you have a responsibility to Susan, to help protect her best interests, and with the knowledge that she was likely to become the subject of media interest (given the show is pre-recorded), I find it difficult to understand why you (acting on her behalf) did not takle measures to ensure the relevant domain names were secured in advance of such public exposure, and therefore protecting her online identity for the future.”
 
I did received a response, claiming that they “already have domain names secured for them (they are just not active yet)”, however I’ve still to find the domains they are referring to, and in a news article released just 1 week after this, Susan herself is reported to have confirmed she doesn’t actually have an official website.

The issue of celebrity cybersquatting is nothing new, and I use Susan Boyle as a very current example, however, I could easily substitute any “reality TV star” from Britain’s got Talent, or X Factor etc.  The same thing happens every year with Big Brother – the contestant’s names are registered as domain names often within minutes of them being announced on the first live show.  We know – we’ve seen the orders!

So whether you’re destined to be the next overnight global success or not, make sure that you understand the value in your own name, and take steps to protect it online by registering your domain name(s),  or risk exploitation by all your adoring “fans”.

“Homecoming Scotland” – a spectacular calendar of events throughout 2009 that Scots and those who “love Scotland” will flock to – but at who’s benefit?

Dressed up in Tartan, Haggis and Whiskey (no stereotypes here then), the Homecoming campaign is being heavily advertised on TV, through it’s dedicated website , and via the many events carrying the campaign logo.  Interestingly the TV advert was originally planned to only screen in Scotland, but after widespread astonishment has also just recently been released on an American audience.

The message is fairly straightforward – “come to Scotland, attend our events, and spend money”.  On the face of it, the concept is a good one, and one that Golf loving, whiskey drinking Americans might actually fall for.  Start looking a little deeper however, and you could be excused for seeing this as a very clever push from Mr Salmond and some popular celebrity Nationalists to promote all things Scottishness ahead of next years Independence referendum. 

Whatever your political view, Alex Salmond recently promised the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce that the Homecoming will be critical to helping businesses survive  through the economic recession,  claiming returns of over £40 million from the 100,000 increase of expected tourists.  But will the average Scottish small business actually see any of this, or will it simply increase the profits of the likes of Turnberry Golf Course (owned by an American company)  and other “stereotypically Scottish” attractions. 

More importantly – what about the massive £1.25 million budget (already thought to be overspent) agreed by the Scottish Government to market the Homecoming or the £200,000 spent in producing the TV advert (most of which I assume went to Sean Connery and singing lessons)?  Would this have been better spent elsewhere?  I’m sure if you ask any small business owner the answer will be a resounding yes – on issues such as employment, redundancies, lending, grants, simplified public sector tendering, shorter payment terms,  tax breaks, VAT changes (the move to a 15% rate actually cost us money), and many more ‘immediate’ concerns that are directly impacting the small business sector. 

I’d argue against spending the large sums mentioned in promoting a false “shiny happy Scotland” and all things Scottishness,  when in fact things are far from rosy for small businesses (the FSB have just confirmed a 214% increase to the FSB small business help-line) – often the heart of local economies and communities, and crucial to the country as a whole.  The general idea of Homecoming is not a bad one, but to quote The Bard – “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an ‘men  Gang aft agley”.