Cx3: Royal change management

Yesterday, there was the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. The day was declared a bank holiday in the UK, we were glued to the television and there were thousands of very British street parties up and down the country...hurrah for the happy couple!

However yesterday, the royal wedding also re-positioned the popular 'William and Kate' brand past a superficial excuse to have a party. The new 'Duke and Duchess of Cambridge' brand, for a day, lead the nation (and the world) with values of awareness, relevance, accessibility and acceptance that will be influential in shaping the future monarchy in the United Kingdom.

It was an uncompromising marriage meme connecting tradition with modernity, regal with common, youth with wisdom, Smiths with Beckhams, Grace Kelly glamour with fascinator fad, respectful etiquette with carefree abandonment, serious with fun, old with new...I could go on with the dichotomies, but the message is clear.

Accessibility to the royal couple's wedding day embraced today's technology. Live streaming records were broken as people around the world watched the wedding over the internet, topping 300,000 concurrent users on Livestream.

Social amplification of the event dominated trends on Twitter, Facebook and Google. 65% of the conversation came from the USA and 20% from the UK.

Healthy social commentary including the good (that McQueen dress by Sarah Burton); the bad (Princess Beatrice's ridiculous Royal Wedding hat - OMG); and the unexpected - the matron of honor upstaging the bride (the earthy 'Pippa Middleton Ass Appreciation Society' on Facebook), says it all.

The official royal wedding photographs have been released on Flickr.

So, to a truely global, social and accessible Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - royal change management facilitators, I raise a glass.

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Cx3: London calling

London's spectacular 2011 New Year firework fantasia demonstrated to the world the vibrance and confidence of a city commanding contemporary modernity, integrating seamlessly with its solid heritage foundation. A powerful and explosive message (excuse all the puns) against a backdrop of austerity, political coalition and global economic uncertainty...but a necessary one.

Digital communication turned a transitional corner in 2010. Economic escapism embraced 'Club Apple' and 'Club Google' feeding an uncontrollable behavioural craving enabling us to dance with the seductive iPhone, iPad, Android, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare brands...the hedonisitic 1980's revival relived for a new generation as they indulged - ordering another bottle of digital Veuve, posting their Facebook status, Tweeting when the Champagne was corked and uploading a brand reputation damaging video of complaint to the world on YouTube.

Joking aside, 2011 does have a more serious corporate tone - Relationships; Partnership; Performance; Delivery. 2010 was also a transitionary cornerstone for businesses as they too played with new ways of communicating through emerging digital channels, however, it's now time for the maturity of digital to be realised and strategic long-term commitment to enable the returns of nurtured stakeholder relationships and sustained growth to be fulfilled.

The complexities of corporate communications are such that traditional communication channels will not disappear from the mix, however, the focus of reaching and fulfilling stakeholder audience demands will be key. Maximising performance will result in appropriate targeting to reach 'the right' stakeholders using their preferred communication 'channel of choice' - even if that is now a 140 character dialogue on Twitter.

So the prospect for digital corporate communications in 2011 is positively coming of age. A solid strategic communication tradition is the foundation for confidently commanding new channels (including digital) to realise sustained performance and nurture ongoing stakeholder relationships and reputational brand loyalty.

London's New Year fireworks chimed positive sentiment for London to be sustained throughout 2011 as the world's eyes become focussed on the city as the stage (and worldwide tourist destination) for the marriage of Britain's future King and Queen, and on the upcoming London Olympics in 2012...oh my, I've embedded a YouTube video of the fireworks into my blog post - Let the digital games begin ;-)

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Cx3: Visualizing Facebook friendships

This was posted a couple of weeks ago and passed me by, but better late than never as it is a pretty impressive bit of work (you could almost call it art), representing global Facebook connections.

It has been created by Facebook engineering intern Paul Butler and visualises the geographic friendship connections from available data. Paul writes in his article Visualizing Friendships that what emerged was

"a surprisingly detailed map of the world. Not only were continents visible, certain international borders were apparent as well. What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn't represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships. Each line might represent a friendship made while travelling, a family member abroad, or an old college friend pulled away by the various forces of life".

Quite noticeabley China is missing from the map (but then Facebook does not have a presence there), and parts of central Africa.

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Cx3: 2010 Facebook and Twitter demographics

Source: Digital Surgeons

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Cx3: If Facebook was a country - stats

In the week that Facebook is hitting the 500 million users milestone, let's take a look at some Facebook statistics.

To put this 500 million users figure into some context. If Facebook was a country, its population would be the third largest in the world - behind China and India, and ahead of the United States in fourth place.

Currently, the country with the fastest growing Facebook population is China with a 47.02% growth rate. In fact, Asia dominates most of the top ten fastest growing Facebook populations.


Specifically in the United Kingdom, there is around 27,000,000 Facebook users (the greatest number outside of the USA) with a propensity of users in the 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 age range - click on the charts to the right for gender/age demographics for Facebook in the UK.

For more geographic and demographic Facebook statistics, visit CheckFacebook.com. It is a great interactive tool that gives some very insightful stats. Geek head now safely back in its box.

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Cx3: The social media content grid

Our friends at JESS3 have worked-up another infographic to help demistify the ever moving social media landscape. It is meant to help organisations figure out (and work through) oft-asked, burning questions about social media such as:

1. Which platform works best for what we are trying to achieve?
2. Where does social media figure in the purchase funnel/sales cycle?
3. Who should "own" social media?
4. How can we utilize social channels outside of just Facebook and Twitter?

Along the X-axis, they've plotted the purchase funnel: from awareness to consideration (and ultimately conversion and advocacy). Along the Y-axis, they've plotted to what extent their should be organisational input, oversight and control - and to what extent employees should be leading the charge to create content.

More information on the content grid can be found on JESS3's blog.

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Cx3: BBC iPlayer and Facebook link

The BBC will forge closer links with social networking firms this week when it unveils a new version of its catch-up television service iPlayer that integrates with Facebook and Twitter.

The corporation is trying to strike a more conciliatory tone over its digital expansion plans after coming under fire from commercial rivals, which accuse it of attempting to colonise the web.

The BBC is proposing to close or merge half of its sites by 2012 and cut its £135m online budget by 25%. But the launch of a range of iPhone applications has been held up by the BBC Trust after the complaints.

The iPlayer remains central to the BBC’s digital push, however. There were 118m viewer and listener requests to the service in March, including 84m to watch television programmes. The new version will let users share what they are watching with Facebook friends or comment via Twitter.

“We want to do fewer things even better,” said Erik Huggers, the BBC’s director of future media and technology. He added that the new iPlayer would be more “simple, personal and connected”. “We must no longer try to do everything online but focus on delivering genuinely world-class services like the BBC iPlayer.”

Last week Project Canvas, a BBC-led plan to bring internet television to the masses, avoided an Office of Fair Trading investigation despite being attacked by BSkyB and Virgin Media. By combining Freeview with a broadband connection, catch-up services such as iPlayer and ITV Player will be more widely available on television sets.

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BBC links iPlayer to Facebook

Cx3: 2009 social media highlights

2009 is almost over, and no blog would be worth its salt without the obligatory picking out of choice highlights from the year - and Cx3 is no exception. Yes, I may be slightly biased with my selection towards the UK and my indulgance in the banal, but hey...it's Christmas!

Twitter
What can I say? 2009 was the year Twitter went mainstream. Twitter progressed from the techy early adopters to the majority in the product lifecycle. Why? Most noticably was an acceptance by traditional media broadcasters that Twitter was a powerful channel for real-time news distribution (that acctually beat them at their own game). The publicity and exposure Twitter received with the Hudson plane landing and Iran elections catapulted the Twitter communication channel into the spotlight. Secondly, the increased share of the iPhone in the smartphone mobile market allowed the mainstream masses access to a multitude of Twitter apps.

Susan Boyle
Who would have believed that Britain's Got Talent would be the source of the most watched video on YouTube in 2009. Susan Boyle, the fiesty wannabe singer from Scotland, became a worldwide conversational buzz overnight. Yes she didn't win the show (and maybe this was a blessing in disguise), but it's not stopped the '#susanboyle' having the UK's Christmas number one album in 2009.

#uksnow
Us weather obsessed Brits demonstrated our need to share our meteorological interest when, in February 2009, we suffered the worst snow for 20 years. The '#uksnow' hashtag trended on Twitter, and mobile pictures / videos were uploaded to Twitpic, Flickr, blogs, Youtube etc...The world suffered a global drift of British snow - what are we like? Sorry world.

iPhone
Ok, so I finally succumbed to Apple's charms and purchased the iPhone 3GS in July 2009. Seriously though, Apple has made a major dent in the share of the UK smartphone mobile market with the iPhone, and is doing the same in the US. The iPhone has been elevated to a desirable must-have object that is transforming the way we communicate..."What iPhone apps have you got?"

Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry has become the unlikely champion and celebrity spokesperson of Twitter in the UK. The expert wordsmith and linguist, has perfectly tweeted his intelligent wry wit to the score of 1,000,000+ followers. A worthy face to represent British Twits (that didn't come out right, did it).

Citizen journalism
The Iran election (influencial event rather than highlight), proved the demonstrable truth that Twitter had arrived as a channel for citizen journalists to broadcast real-time news worldwide, where traditional news broadcasters failed. The Iran election was also a milestone for integrated media channel broadcasting - BBC TV news adopted to broadcast YouTube videos when their reporters were denied access by the Iranian government, in order to sustain a newsworthy story.

Facebook v X Factor
The might of Facebook against the might of X Factor saw a historic battle to reach the prestigious number one spot in the UK Christmas singles chart. A Facebook campaign 'Rage Against The Machine for Christmas No1', created by Jon and Tracy Morter, was a reaction against X Factor potentially spawning the UK's Christmas number one single for the fifth year in a row. The Facebook campaign captured the public's imagination and Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing in the Name' successfully beat 'The Climb' by X Factor's Joe McElderry into second place by 50,000 copies.

2009 really has been a year where social media 'est arrivé'. In observing these choice highlights, there is a bridging commonality of the seamless social media integration with mainstream communication channels - predominantly broadcast and mobile.

Marketers realise that social media reaches an audience, and its dynamics sit within the holistic communications mix - let's see how marketers maximise the effectiveness of social media in 2010.

Merry Xmas!

Cx3: Rage Against The Machine beats X Factor

One of the most competitive battles to reach the UK's Christmas number one in chart history has been won by Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing in the Name' (supported by a fierce Facebook campaign), beating 'The Climb' by X Factor's Joe McElderry into second place.

The Facebook campaign 'Rage Against The Machine for Christmas No1', created by Jon and Tracy Morter as a reaction against X Factor potentially spawning the UK's Christmas number one single for the fifth year in a row, resulted in 500,000 downloads being sold beating the X Factor winner by 50,000 copies.

Colin Paterson, BBC News Entertainment correspondent comments:

"It is simply one of the biggest shocks in chart history.

The common belief was that the race for Christmas number one had been destroyed by the X Factor.

For the last four years the winning act has been top of the festive charts by a landslide. Bookmakers only took bets on who would be number two.

This year the corporate might of Simon Cowell has been defeated by a husband and wife's Facebook campaign.

The result is 'Killing In The Name', which most parents would be pretty reluctant to play to their children. It contains 17 uses of the F-word.

This chart shock is right up there with Spiller's 'Groovejet' derailing the start of Victoria Beckham's non-Spice Career in 2000 or crooner Engelbert Humperdink ending The Beatles' run of 11 number ones in a row.

Two other points - this could become an annual event - the public deciding on a track with which to take on the X Factor winner.

Secondly there is still every chance Joe will reach number one next week.

The Rage Against Machine campaign was designed for one week only so Joe could get the top spot, saving him the indignity of being the first ever X Factor winner not to hit number one with their debut single."

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Cx3: Who is Gio Compario?

Absolutely loving the 'Who is Gio?' PR campaign to support Go Compare's ATL advertising starring the coffee shop opera singing wonder that is Gio Compario (and he's only a tenor/tenner...oh how we laughed!). Inspired by the Google Latitude stunt, the search for Gio is on, 39 people, 39 locations...But who is Gio?



The rising Go Compare star introduces his own Gio Compario campaign site. You can join his many fans on Facebook, and also follow operatic antics on Gio Compario's Twitter.



Following this one closely to see where Gio goes next.

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Cx3: Powerful social media stats

Some powerful stats demonstrating why social media is not just a fad - if Facebook were a country it would be the fourth largest in the world...plus many more.

Cx3: Social Networking World Forum

Shaping the future of social media, the Social Networking World Forum is being held at the Olympia Conference Centre, London on 9th and 10th March 2009. The event includes:

- Two day conference dedicated to social networking.
- Co-located conference on - mobile social networking.
- Featuring key speakers from global brands, organisations, social networking publishers and developers, pioneering social media leaders, top agencies, content producers plus many more.
- Joint exhibition combining social networking and mobile social networking formats.
- Evening Networking Reception co-hosted with Mashable.
- Co-hosted workshops from the Facebook Developers Garage.
- Free to attend exhibition only pass available.

Make a booking for the Social Networking World Forum

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Cx3 blog entry: The growth of Twitter
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Cx3 blog entry: Generation Y communicate, unite and shout

Cx3: The growth of Twitter

Over the past twelve months, the use of Twitter has grown by nearly 1,000%, according to industry analysts HitWise. The Twitter site jumped from 2,953rd most popular site in the UK in 2008 to 291st as of mid-January 2009.

Hitwise research director Heather Dougherty said "A big driver of traffic to Twitter last week was around the US Airways plane crash in to the Hudson River last Thursday, driving many posts and updates about the situation." The first picture of the crash was posted to TwitPic, and has sparked a new era of citizen journalism.

The dominance of smartphone mobile technology in 2008, the integration of social media and social networking user behaviour becoming the norm can be attributed to Twitter's growth.

Twitter still has a long way to go. The ‘Social Networking and Forums’ communications category for week ending 17 January 2009 ranks Twitter as 23rd based on site visits – only 0.24% for the category. Facebook sustains its leading position, with nearly 38% of site visits, twice as many as YouTube and four times more than predecessor Bebo.

"Twitter receives the largest amount of its traffic from the USA, but its penetration is greater in the UK market," said Robin Goad, a research director at Hitwise.

"However, the US may overtake the UK the week following the surge in Tweets during Barack Obama's inauguration. The new American President is already the most followed person on Twitter."

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Facebook: the influential social networking book face

Social networking is a significant communications channel and, like the 'Hoover' brand name that evolved to collectively refer to all vacuum cleaners, it is the 'Facebook' brand name that is creeping into everyday vocabulary of the masses ("I Facebook; I'm Facebooking; I'll Facebook you; I Facebooked you"), and as a result, starting to collectively represent an understanding of what social networks are about.

In the UK, Facebook has the greatest market share of all the social networks (with MySpace and Bebo following behind), however, attached to this comes huge proactive responsibilities to ensure that the perception of social networking, as a channel, remains largely positive going forward. The EU agency for network and information security ENISA has already published a paper of security issues and recommendations for social networks (PDF 0.8MB) that Facebook needs to embrace given the responsibility of its leadership position.

Gartner research has reported that businesses have yet to realise the potential opportunities and benefits of social networking that would support corporate communications, both internal and external. Part of this tardiness is down to what Gartner research term 'throwing sheep' syndrome - the superficial (yet popular) 'Am I hot?' widgets typically found on Facebook.

The research found that 38% of PC and mobile phone users connect to sites like MySpace and Facebook via PCs. Single people and teenagers and more men than women came top in terms of usage. The survey revealed that in large part they went online for entertainment purposes or to keep up with friends and family - social activities, therefore, the challenge is harnessing this behavioural usage for a business benefit.

The success of Facebook is its widgets, the viral approach it takes in organically publicising these ensuring compatibility across channels, the member-get-member approach to pulling-in new users, and the sustained loyalty it receives from like-minded social groups with a common interest who return to the network in order to fulfill a need. If businesses embrace these behavioural traits, then the power of social networking as a corporate communication channel can be realised.

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Download ENISA Position Paper: Security Issues and Recommendations for Online Social Networks (PDF 0.8MB)
Cx3 Blog entry: Generation Y communicate, unite and shout

Generation Y communicate, unite and shout

The YouTube video above, uploaded by a 15 year old, is just one of many videos that have been posted remembering the life of Ben Kinsella, who was killed in a knife crime at the weekend.

Generation Y, moved by his death, leveraged their online social networks and called to unite and march against knife crime in Ben Kinsella's name. Dozen's of groups were set up on Facebook to remember Ben and recruited the call to march.

In a short space of time, social networking returned a 400-strong crowd to walk in the street and shout "What are we here for? Ben. Why are we here? No knives."

As a result, a united message was broadcast nationally on television and appeared in the printed press. This demonstrates how Generation Y achieve a motivated end goal by naturally harnessing the power of social networking and web 2.0.