Rebecca Who!?

I'd like to rant on here about how cool I am, but I'm not cool, I'm just nosy. I hate to be left out of stuff so I'm always there, at your event, finding out about you and what you do. That's how I ended up running a radio show about Manchester, lecturing at Salford uni and how I got a job working at PushON.

I like to take pictures. Just another way of me being nosy really. I take pictures of events and also 'urban landscapes' - y'know buildings and walls and what not. I used to be a punk, but I'm retired now, It's easier to be calm about things and also I like jazz, and disco... and funk and stuff, so I can't really be a punk.

Cosmonaughts are cool. I like space and physics and new technology. I used to want to be one of them, but I'm not Russian, sooo that went out of the window! You can find me on Twitter @RebeccaWho oh, and I'll be at your event.

Profile

Rebecca Rae
Digital Whatnot
Internet | Manchester, United Kingdom, GB

Summary

Researching, thinking, learning, PR, marketing, social media, mobile marketing, new technologies, project management, content production, THE INTERNET. Thinking outside the box.. or inside the box.. whatever's cool nowadays. And just trying to stay ahead of that goddamn curve.

I've spoken at conferences, sat on panels and provided comment for radio and magazines on Technology the web and social media. Recently I've spoken at Liverpool Sound City and MVMNT about social Media in the music industry and on BBC Radio Manchester about the use of social media in the riots.
Specialties: Project Management, Account Management, Planning, Strategy, Digital, Creative

Experience

  • Jan 2006 - Present
    Freelancer / RebeccaWho!?
    Co-owner of illustrator print store Picmix www.picmixstore.com

    Lecturer at The University of Salford (@ProfWho on Twitter) in Digital media, Branding and Events on the Design Futures course

    Events manager (Including The Circuit Series, Nabs battle of the bands, The Feed and There Will Be Blood)

    Social Media Strategist and Social Buzz Creation (Including @foodsummit @MFDF)

    Photographer http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccarae/collections/72157624983960280/
    and occasional designer and illustrator

    Radio Presenter/ Producer (Inc: All FM,The Mainstream www.radiomainstream.blogspot.com/ www.allfm.org and Podcast Lovecats in infinate Space http://www.mixcloud.com/LoveCatsinInfiniteSpace/)

    And Troublemaker

    I've worked for companies such as DKNY, Mercedes Benz, The Fashion Network, The Circle Club, Nabs, The University of Salford, The Food Summit, Cahoona, Manchester Food and Drink festival
  • Dec 2010 - Nov 2011
    Digital Marketing Consultant / PushON
    Digital PR, marketing, copy, content, events, ideas, social media, content management, account management, new technology advice and implementation.
  • Sept 2004 - 2011
    Lecturer/ Demonstrator/ Ambassador / University of Salford
    I wrote and now deliver the module 'Professional Practice 2' for the second year students on The Design Cluster. It's a live project ran by the students aiming to integrate them into 'life after uni' - looking at events, digital marketing, personal marketing and branding.

    Prior to this, I worked a short full time contract as a Demonstrator on the Design Cluster of courses. This involved me managing the studio, dealing with student requests, delivering lectures, one to one tuition with students, sitting in on interviews and promoting the course through open days and digital marketing.

    I also worked part time for 3 years within the Universities marketing department giving presentations to prospective students and assisting with various other activities aimed at giving guidance and advice about university life and the creative courses available.
  • Feb 2010 - Dec 2010
    Research Executive / Virtual Surveys
    My job here was project managing and delivering on-line research projects providing high end analysis and business insights. This was through on-line research communities, which involved elements of community management. As a side role, I was responsible for implementing and managing the new design of any on-line assets such as new community websites or emails.
  • Jun 2009 - Feb 2010
    Brand Communication Assistant / Magnetic North
    My job was to launch and re launch some of mN's products. Including social media, PR and marketing strategy writing and implementation, market research, intelligence gathering, product development and liaising with and briefing partners, producers, web designers and everyone else involved in the creation of the products.
  • Jun 2008 - Oct 2008
    Junior Studio Manager / True North
    I saw myself as 'mum'. I had to look after all of the designers, make sure they were happy, stock up the studio, make sure it was ship shape. I managed diaries and booked in meetings.

    On top of this I was brought in to help design and implement a new piece of project management software which I then had to train all staff in and force them to use it. Often plying them with beers and pizza. I wasn't popular - people don't like timesheets.

Education

  • 2004 - 2008
    The University of Salford
    1st in Design Management for the Creative Industries
    Activities: Ran the Salford University snowsports society socials for a year. Was Student Rep for 4 years on my course. Won 'Best Student' award in the Design Cluster on graduation Won the 'Best Contribution to school' award on graduation

Additional Information

Websites:
Portfolio, Twitter: RebeccaWho, Twitter: ProfWho
Honors:
'Best Overall Student' Design Cluster - Salford Uni 'Best Contribution to School' School of Design - Salford Uni The 'Ill do it' Award Design Cluster 2008 Gold Award for 4 years of Student representation 'Best Pirate' Salford Snowsports Society 2005 'Most Money Raised for Charity' Pedal Cart Challenge 2002
Interests:
Snowboarding, Reading, Radio, Films, Music, Architecture, Photography,
The LinkedIn

Posts

November 16, 08:35 AM
Pay up! Or not, whatever.

So I'm doing a blog about the design/ digital events scene in Manchester and the issue of charging for events. 

This is something I've wanted to blog about for a while and will use Get It Out as an opportunity. I hope this seems like a view of the industry from my perceptive and not any kind of rant, although it is quite long...

 

Disclaimer: This is something I'd be interested to hear feedback on. I'm not saying I'm right, or I know the answer, there's no research behind it, it's just what I've seen. 

In the beginning 

Over the years I've put on plenty of industry events. It started in 2006 with The Circuit Series. They started up because The Circle Club wanted to get a crowd in early doors. The idea behind this was that attendees might be new customers who would come back, but also because it would get a bar spend in for that evening. 

The format was a debate panel, as no one else was doing it. I wanted to make it feisty. Keeping it informal, so people felt comfortable but also well produced, so it didn't feel amateur. Topics differed from business through design to property and Manchester in general. For the panel I tried to get people who were interesting, had differing views and had the 'famous factor' ie: people might just come because it's them. None of the panellists asked for money, social media wasn't as big as it was today and although I did put a lot of work in, we always got audiences. They were often subbed by their companies to attend. 

I charged £6 on the door and took the takings and also got a cut of the bar and often sponsorship. It probably didn't cover the amount of time I put into it, but It was certainly enough, because I also enjoyed the events and the people I met at them.

Then the environment started to change. It was the recession. People stopped coming. Speakers started asking for money. A lot of other events started popping up, small meet ups, basic networking events. All of which were free. 

I gave up. It was starting to become very difficult to get people to come. I even made them free, but even the idea of even coming and paying for drinks seemed too much for people. So sadly, I put The Circuit Series to rest.

EVENT = FREE STUFF

A few years later, and I watched people expect FREE. In all walks of life. It got even worse with many Twitter people being invited to launch events put on by PR agencies all over Manchester and not only getting in for free, but also getting free food and drinks and sometimes more. 'EVENT' became synonymous with 'FREE STUFF' with hashtags like #launchpartythursdays being banded around and the term 'ligger' being used to describe people on the lookout for a free sandwich. 

One of the most disheartening things I saw on twitter (more than once) was someone with a cool little project putting together a little handmade launch party to try to help spread the word of their not-for profit whatever and then people not only asking whether there would be free drinks at the event, but then scoffing and haughtily demanding why they should even go if there was nothing free! To be honest,they were right, I don't know what Miss Fanzine was expecting inviting That Twitter User with all of their 1200 followers to an event with nothing free. I mean, why on earth would they make the effort? They have 1200 followers. What's the incentive? It's certainly not an interesting creative project. Why would anyone want to enhance their lives with that? In fact, just make a bank transfer directly into their account...

...Anyway, I didn't mean that to get so scornful. But things cost money. 

The Northern Quarter street party had a backlash for charging. I agree that charging was kind of against the 'let's all club together' mentality of a street party, but I understood that it's not always so easy to run an event for free, and stuff had to be paid for.

I'm attending (not really!)

There seems to be a reaction against this more recently. It's not cool to be a ligger and people have gotten used to the launch party thing and calmed down a little. But in the meantime, all of the networking events that sprang up are carrying on and getting more followers, and there's more and more events until my entire diary is filled up with samey Eventbrite or Meet-up based networking events. Each one has hundreds of people signed up to it's 'I'm attending' list, but less than half of those people will show up. because they sign up for them all 'just incase' and with no commitment. 

"Just oversubscribe your event" many would say, but I've seen a couple of disasters when that happens. People standing, not cool, people turned away, worse than not cool. It sounds cool: "yeah people complained, but my event was so popular people had to stand and some where turned away, next time book it quicker" - But that's not how I work. I'd rather stage a professional event where everyone knew they were getting in and could fit appropriately in the venue. 

Things are a changing...

Anyway, since The Circuit Series, I've ran quite a number of other events, just for something to do, sometimes freelance, and mostly for free. They've worked out quite well, and I've not had any disasters. I charge for The Feed, to cover venue and equipment costs (It doesn't cover it) - it's not as easy as it used to be, but attendance is quite good. There are other examples; Blab is the bigger sister of Northern Digitals. They charge for their events and they also sell out within hours. 
Why Am I getting hung up on attendance?

The problem with not filling the venue is bad for a few reasons:

1) For the speakers: It's terrible presenting to a half empty room
2) For the attendees: So there's no atmosphere and no one new to talk to? Pfft.
3) For the venue: I often get the venue from very trusting venue owners based on a bar spend purely to cover their costs. 

If I know in advance there's not much take up, I know to do more marketing. 

Charging at Get It Out

Get It Out is my latest venture with Hugh Garry. His time is split between London and Manchester. He feels London has more creative events going on, and that's his motivation behind wanting to set something up. I was keen to get involved, because Hugh has the right contacts and had some great concepts. I love all of the events going on already in manchester, but I do think there's room for more. So long as they're a little different. 

We debated the idea of charging, initially, only for one reason. Attendance. The venue is small. We could try the oversubscribe thing, but you can't be sure all of those people wont turn up. Or even will turn up. I've seen it happen. I've had 70 RSVP's to a Circuit Series and had a handful turn up. Even if you charge, a percentage wont turn up, but it limits this to a sensible number. 

I was worried about the charge, because I wanted it to be a more friendly affair. I even considered going in blind and not having any tickets or registration AT ALL. Thought it might be quite
interesting to see what happened. Anyway, after a consultation with Hugh and Twitter, I nervously put a £5 charge on the eventbrite page. 

We wanted people who wanted to come to come. 

What will we do with that money?
We don't know yet. We thought about giving it back to attendees somehow in the form of food and drink or even a raffle. We also liked the idea of having a pot that we could dip into and pay travel for people from far and wide to share their stories with us. Or to put into bigger events. 

What's the point in this post?
I dunno, I just wanted to give my perspective on charging for events. What do you think? How do you feel about paying for events? Do you run events and have some thoughts?

 

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May 06, 06:52 AM
Get Jake to Hyper Island

UPDAYE: Jake will NOT be attending the Hyper Island scheme. I wish him all the best in the future and know he'll do well. 

Jake, is easily the most motivated, talented and savvy 18 year old I've ever had the pleasure to meet. He's an illustrator and he's already working in the industry with a recent piece of work being used by  Sony Ericsson on a research community site design. So unsurprisingly, he has recently been given some sort of Google scholarship to attend Hyper Island. Exciting yeah? Well, not so. His parents have too many doubts to allow him to attend the course (easily). He both wants and needs their support. This post is a plea to his parents to allow him to attend the course and support and be proud of what he has achieved by getting a place on this course. Tweet at his mum @donnaivill to tell her why he should go! Let's get Jake to Hyper Island.

Hyper Island brings round an exciting time for Creative education. For too long it's been stilted by the bureaucracy and dusty shelves of academic institutions. Don't get me wrong, I work for a creative university course and the lecturers there do great things. And I know some great people who are really fighting against the stifling atmosphere of the university system to achieve brilliant stuff... but they seem to be in the minority. 

Yes, Universities can do great things for some people, teaching them the skills they need and giving them the structure, confidence and basic skills some people need. But I don't think they're for everyone. 

Hyper Island is fully ‘in the know’ with the Industry 

More often than not, university courses struggle to keep up with industry practices and teach outdated techniques, or skills that are not in demand in the industry.  Not only is this a key for relevance with work in a fast moving digital world, it ensures you can hit the ground running and be super employable. Hyper Island is reactive and can adapt to meet it’s needs. It's also ran by people in or from the industry. It's probably good to point out here that I've never been asked what degree I had, or even if I had one, because I was working with the industry during my degree - so that overruled it. You'll find this a common occurrence in the digital/ creative industry. 

Hyper Island is exciting

They keep motivation up for all who attend it, striving to challenge them. Isn't this what we're supposed to be doing as creative people? Challenging the norm? Being creative in our choices? If Jake went to University, he's so bright and motivated I only believe he would get bored. They would teach him (at a slow pace) things he already knows and nothing he couldn't teach himself. This doesn't seem to be the case with Hyper Island.

Hyper Island is worth the money

£9000 tuition fees? Nuff said... It IS also a 'proper' course. And is supported by organisations such as NESTA  Channel 4, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sony Games, Wieden + Kennedy, MTV, TBWA and Code Computerlove (Some of the biggest names in the industry)

Hyper Island Graduates are MASSIVELY employable

In an industry which is constantly complaining about the calibur of graduates, and questioning the worth of degrees Hyper Island is a breath of fresh air. Degrees are churning out thousands of graphics students. Hyper Island stands out. Everyone, worldwide, wants a Hyper Island graduate. 

and so @donnaIvill, I leave you with the thought that Jake might just know exactally what he's talking about in this case ;p

I'll happily talk to you in person about any of this if you like over tea or something. And will finish up with some facts and things.

 

Rebecca

Lecturer BA Design Management and Design Futures University of Salford

Social Media Architect, PushON

 

QUOTES:

"The organisation is already known for running high-profile industry masterclasses for media organisations which recently included working with Channel 4 executives on the television station's rebranding." The Guardian 

"this import from Sweden claims huge worldwide success – with graduates from its schools to be found in leading ad agencies, digital businesses and even negotiators on the global stage." The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/nov/28/manchester-media-digital-hyper-island-school

"Oh boy. I am so happy that I am not 20 year old creative. Otherwise I would get pretty quickly pretty frustrated by the competition of Hyper Islanders" Gerald Hensel, Strategist for Blast Radius, Amsterdam

http://davaidavai.com/2011/04/12/hyper-island-the-intern-store-is-about-to-launch/

"The project has all the right backing and input to do something special." HeBe Media

http://www.hebemedia.com/everything-blog/2011/3/2/hyper-island-arrives-in-manchester.html

 

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May 05, 06:13 PM
Not Shhh at all...

I'm doing a new series of events called The Feed with PushON.

If you like a bit of a good debate, then come down. Or don't, whatevz. Those of you who remember Ye Old Circuit Series at The Circle Club will know what I'm on about. It's pretty much the same format, just rebooted. It's gonna be bigger, better and have MOAR PIES.

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October 11, 03:24 PM
Manchester Foodies

Manchester Food and Drink festival run an awards ceremony for the best consumables in the city. This, I know about. My gut was not free and took a lot of cultivating. Hopefully (If I do this right, I'm a live blog virgin) I will be updating as it goes along LIVE and from my press table.

Always a tough job catering for a food based event. Hilton are doing well so far with 2 mini starter things. An Amuse Bouche - Potted shrimp and crab with caviar and creme fraiche. Then Potted ham with brioche. Tiny little things but then there's another 4 courses to go! Not on my own any more either Kat from The Fashion Network has rocked up and I've collared the photographer (Simon from Rags to Bitches) #newbestfriends 

Just been for a wander and found the beautiful Manchester Confidential lot. Rather quiet at the moment. I'm sure they'll get more rowdy later on. 

Actually, I spoke too soon. I can see (and hear) something going on over the other side of the room. I blame the roaming singer. She's well causing trouble. Simon has gone to investigate.  Being fed rumours now that Phil Jones is having a heart attack and Thomas has won everything by Paul Astill (He owns Cord .... and Thomas, so don't listen to him!)

Just went to go and see where the trouble came from and Kat saw some CELEBS. Asked if I could have a picture 'For The Website'. Little do they know that it's just my blog.... Well they didn't ask WHAT website did they? Kat was well chuffed that NODDY HOLDER smiled at her. Woah. This is big. Better than when I met Mr Motivator. 

Common Bar are getting ready for the announcements. Will is having a go at me. He says I should just say that everyone is having a really nice night and to stop taking the piss out of everyone. (He did go on about something to do with cheap suits from Next, but I'm not sure who he was referring to, so lets just pretend that never happened. He is super pissed anyway so none of it counts.) He always takes the piss out of me #hipstergate Although Kat pointed out that he did say we look fabulous - so maybe he's not that full of shit. (Luv you really Will)

OK, so now we're eating cheese on toast AFTER the dessert. What's THAT all about? Forgot to mention that the main was the BEST Venison I've ever eaten. Oooo, BBC radio Manchester on the stage doing Live stuff - bit like me. With the talking, not the writing. Pam Astill won some wine in the Raffle. I think they mean Paul. Anthea from Unicorn won the Mark Addy raffle. That's cos she's magical or something. #Cheat 

Oh right, Now Sam, the wine buyer from Sam's Chop House is stealing our wine. We did have enough for 8 people. 

 

Best Beer is Cascade. Dunno who they are. Maybe I should. 

Sustainable Bar is Podium - Hilton

Community Foodie Award - Mustard Tree

Best retail: Unicorn 

Peoples Choice Award: Gordo from Man Con comes onto the stage to Hero by Enrique Iglesias and rapturous whooping. Damson won. 

The wine award - Hanging Ditch. OK, they're getting snogged by the dude from the radio... 

Fish and Chips award - Hollands Pies revealing the award (They've tweeted at me you know.) Winner:Tony's stadium chippy. Good for them.

Casual Dining - Barburrito. 

Family Friendly - Robbie Williams, Doin it for the kids - Chocolate Cafe wins. 

Bar of the Year - DRUMROLLPLEASE - Common Bar - One of my faves

Best Pub - Marble Arch. Happy about this one.

Best newcomer - Mark Addy - YESSSssssss.

Best Chef - David Gale from the Hilton. It was good Venison. 


I've lost track of the winners due to Twitter fake Retweet abuse from @chesha @mofgimmers, @jonnohopkins and @discouturekat. I thought these people where my friends. 

 

GREAT, and now it's over. Thank you and goodnight. 

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September 21, 03:50 PM
That Time Twitter Fucked up (Again) The story.

@RebeccaWho sensed something was wrong so she thought she would go to twitter to find out what the problem was. She heard a shout from @thesophiew
“ What the hell was that. Massive purple letters and tweeting random nonsense?! ARGH.“

She realises that it’s safer within the confines of Hootsuite and pays a visit to the wise elders @SophieBradshaw and @CheShA to find out what’s going on. Apparently it was an XSS attack. Those cheeky hackers!
“This is all because if the new, forced t.co link system, brought in so they could datamine even more. Serves them right”
@CheShA explains

@harrybailey @simonwebbon and @rebeccawho,  the three great warriors of the Twitter Apocalypse, meet in the confines of Hootsuite.
“I've yet to see any of this malarkey first hand...but I'm impressed in principle”  Says @SimonWebbon
@RebeccaWho nods. “A worthy adversary”
@harrybailey exclaims that he is going in... "I never usually use the Twitter website, but today I am because I enjoy living life on the edge. "
“Like your thinking. As Baz would say ‘Do something everyday that scares you’” @RebeccaWho replies. But she makes no move towards Twitter. He mocks Rebecca who for staying in Hootsuite. “Buck buck buck buckaaahhhh” and runs into the battle zone, followed cautiously by @RebeccaWho and @SimonWebbon
He is instantly attacked. @RebeccaWho grabs a stretcher and calls for help. but it’s too later for him. “It’s no use" he says "only one bullet left and that's for me. See you on the other side." BLAM.


*THAKA THOOOM* Thunder rips through the air


@RebeccaWho kits herself out for battle. Puts on her helmet and puts her guns into their holsters. And walks towards Twitter with @simonwebbon.

All around her people are dropping. @TheEvilFrog shouts over to her: “what's happening?”
“Hackers” she replies “They're all over Twitter.”
Someone nearby is hit.
”GET DOWN!!!” she screams as she commando rolls away shooting at the attacker
BLAM BLAM


Meanwhile, in the midst of war the young warrior @iloveedna prepares to  make his way to find his sensei, @rebeccawho as she lives in a safe position within Hootsuite.
His friend and sparring partner @_Cabble fears for @Iloveedsa’s safety:
“adopt the fetal position Jake and hope you make it through, god speed”
“Should I hide under the stairs”
“stairs, table, bomb shelter preferably , if you get withdrawal symptoms you can recreate twitter using pen & paper”
But there was no stopping Jake, so they set off together to find @rebeccawho


@rebeccawho sets up her sniper rifle in a suitable position on the edges of Twitter.
All of a sudden @RebeccaWho sees that her friend, @Kelsey_feed has been hit multiple times by the Hackers. She runs over to him.
“I broked the internet” he says as he stands up.

Knowing the real source of the attack, RebeccaWho shakes Kelsey. Why isn’t he with his son,  @Iloveedna, why has he come to battle? She worries about @iloveeda’s safety.

Get off Twitter - as fast as you can. It's not safe there. *Pushes Kelsey out of the way of a hack attack and dives to safety*
“That was very selfless and brave. I thank you.”
@RebeccaWho Reloads a gun and throws it to @Kelsey_feed
“Watch your back.”

In a safe area of Hootsuite, the members of #fluclub (@MissJayneLouise @deshannon and @RebeccaWho’s sister, @MeredithSimpkin) are arguing about who is to provide what for the first #fluclub meeting, Oblivious to the carnage outside:
“So I have to do tissues *and* films? This is too much responsibility, I'm calling in sick.#fluclub” Sulks @MissJayneLouise
“part-timers”. Tuts @MeredithSimpkin
They are suddenly attacked. @MeredithSimpkin calmly calls the meeting to an end. She knows what to do. She makes her way to the nearby home of her sister @rebeccawho.

Covered by @simonwebbons expert gun weilding skills Rebeccawho bravely gets out her semi automatic and runs *in slowmotion* straight into the battlefield.

@_Cabble turns up in time to watch @RebeccaWho get attacked by the hackers.. He runs towards her shouting “MEDIC! MEDIC!, we need a god damn medic over here!”

@Kelsey_Feed is at the scene, he kneels by @RebeccaWho.
“Noooooo... I've been hit!” She says
“There was some sort of retweet going on, it just happened so fast. take care of @iloveedna for me.”
don't. you. dare. leave. us... " Cries @Kelsey_Feed

@_Cabble arrives, but @RebeccaWho is weak. She hands him a note.
“Give this to @MeredithSimpkin for me”

@MeredithSimpkin arrives and sees that her Sister has fallen “oh noooooo.......@rebeccawho can't die!” She screams and is held back by @deshannon “someone, DO SOMETHING!!!”

@RebeccaWho coughs and dies Cuts to scenes of Rebecca laughing with friends with soft lighting - pref pastel colours

@_Cabble hands @MeredithSimpkin the note.

@Meredith Simpkin Screams:
“Damn you Twitter and Fuck you #fluclub too”

The hackers had already began to retreat. . the dust settles. Twitter is now safe... UNTIL NEXT TIME

DUN DUN DUUUUNNNNN.
 

 

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July 13, 06:50 PM
This is bugging me

I know this is a tired old discussion, but I have this conversation ,like, at least once a week:

Them: "Twitters shit"
Me: "Have you ever used it"
Them: "no"

!!!??? Whaaat!!??

I'm not arsed if they don't want to use Twitter. They don't even have to try it if they don't think it's for them. Whatever. But you can't just slag it off if you don't know anything about it.

Their main argument for not using Twitter will be something like "It's all inane babble, I don't want to know what people have had for lunch"

And the logic here fails again. These people will inevitably be Facebook users. Inane babble anyone?

If I'm being really judgemental, Facebook updates are pretty much just inane babble aimed at getting some attention "Oh, I've had SUCH a bad day, I just want a hug :("  or "Some men are idiots" (Prompting the "Oh why honey, whats wrong" response) Although, I did just log in and couldn't find an update from a real person that wasn't trying to promote something.

Also, how ironic is this? It's a group where people talk about how Twitter is a waste of time and Internet space.

That is all.

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July 06, 04:44 PM
Operation get out of The City

See the full gallery on Posterous

Us city dwellers spend a lot of time in the city. Manchester, we live here, we work here, it has everything. Including some pockets of 3G. Why would we leave? For some fresh air and grass, that's why. And that's what we did and that's what we will do again. 

A few things happened while I was away:
1) I got older. I will be now ticking a new age box. Lots of people made me smile this birthday, you know who you are - thanks.
2) I realised that in the very few times I've been camping, I've been ill. Including Swine flu at The Big Chill last year and Tonsillitis this time round. True Story.
3) I had Nytol for the first time. It's crazy stuff.
4) Phones ran out of battery and noone really minded. But the fact that even if they did have battery, we couldn't use them due to lack of any kind of signal was baffling.

Flickr Set

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June 10, 10:30 AM
#FutureRetroRoombaHipsterCat

Introducing a project by @CheShA, inspired by @unmrkddr encouraged by @RebeccaWho.

Starring, ROOMBA CAT

and FUTURE RETRO CAT

We thought it would kill the internets. It did not. This is probably a good thing.


---->>>>FutureRetroRoombaHipsterCat<<<<----

 

 

 

 

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June 10, 08:33 AM
AJANAKU - Google Chrome & Light fantastic

I wrote about that cool Google Chrome video on AJANAKU here. You know the one, all like "Yeah, Google Chrome. What? Faster than lightening?" I also wrote about some cool light show on AJANAKU here.

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June 10, 08:29 AM
Mbote Readers!

Now you know how to greet people in Lingala!

I'm just putting pics my flickr account (I was formally on Picasa.) I have chosen to change because of the more social aspect to flickr and frankly, I think the way it displays the sets is pretty. Although I do remember that flickr has a very confusing and rather unintuative, frustrating menu.

I will review both thoroughly and report back. In the meantime, I took some photographs at The Food and Drink Summit and they are here. You should look. They have Loyd Grossman in them. Playing Guitar. Rocking Out... and girls dancing for him... #livingthedream

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May 26, 11:36 AM
#twbb2

There Will Be Blood Returns to Common Bar and sells out in less than an hour!!! More spaces may be released nearer the time, Keep your eyes peeled

We're back! Following on from our rather successful first gathering, we're pleased to be returning to Common on 8th June to take all fo you Digital Content Producer types through the benefits and pitfalls of user generated content. It's a minefield, but is it the future of the web? We've got Hugh Garry from BBC Radio One and Kate Staniforth from LateRooms.com on hand to let you know their thoughts.

RSVP here: http://twbb2.eventbrite.com/

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May 24, 06:18 PM
#foodsummit

See the full gallery on Posterous
So today I 'Live Tweeted' all of my 'Digitally Produced Content' from The Food and Drink Summit. There was a Twitter account @foodsummit. A hashtag #foodsummit and I used flickr and Audio Boo. Highlight? Loyd Grossman.

Listen!

UPDATE: AudioBoo 'Featured' one of my AudioBoo's from the day. Cool.

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May 05, 05:06 PM
TWBB

There Will Be Blood. An event I did for people who make stuff that goes in the internet and makes it fun and pretty. (Digital Content Producers). A @rebeccawho/ @jonthebeef/ @hereinthehive collaboration Photographs by @Lodge28

 

 

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April 30, 02:00 PM
AJANAKU - Dwelle

I wrote stuff about cool looking sheds you can live in on AJANAKU. I'd proper grab one myself if I had any money whatsoever. They are cool, sustainable and made by some very nice people. :)

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April 29, 07:29 AM
AJANAKU - Bras and Stuff

I wrote a about a posh bra shop in Manchester for AJANAKU. Think I'm going to have a little ongoing columny style thing called Out and About with Rebecca Who or The Adventures of Rebecca Who. What do you reckon?

It means I defo need a new small camera too. Not arsed about zoom, want a very good auto setting and good in low light. Maybe with a decent film option too (with OK sound quality or the option to add a mic? Maybe?) Around £150. Any recommendations?

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April 28, 06:40 PM
What? Second life for business! #DofD

I attended a ‘mixed reality’ conference about ‘working virtually’ called Death of Distance. 

Naturally, I attended it virtually, to get the full experience. This consisted of a Second Life platform and video streams from the ‘Real Life’ event in Manchester and a stream from Newcastle.

Here’s a confession for you, I used to play a lot of Role Playing Games (RPG’s) on the interwebs, which is essentially what Second Life is. Only back in my day, we just used crudely drawn pictures of our characters and wrote stuff that we were “saying” and *doing* (in-joke) on forums rather than actually interacting virtually with moving characters and what-not. Although I haven’t really used Second Life, I was interested in having a go.

I’m all for virtual working. Admittedly there are still larger companies that struggle at it because of IT rules and legislation but there are plenty of companies that do it comfortably. Especially small, creative, young companies. But saying that, the research agency I work for, Virtual Surveys (which is 10 years old) built its business on being virtual and they do it very well indeed.

BUT, what the discussion was more about was working using virtual worlds such as Second Life and this is precisely where the discussion let me down.

Even though I entered the world excited, open-minded and ready to learn, the scepticism started to infect me early on, like a disease. The software had to be downloaded, it was massive. And I needed add-ons like Quicktime. I had to learn how to use it and make my avatar (Which is a whole other story around cultural and personal issues). And this is what any first time user will have to do. Pain-in-the-arse. Especially since were all moving towards Cloud Computing, I don’t have as much memory as I used to and HATE downloading ANYTHING.

In-World (More lingo) was full of massive advocates for the business use of Second Life (events, conferences, team building, networking) but they all seemed to be developers for the platform. I got into arguments with them.

This is what led me to my first thought and question: EVENTS. I run events and would love to cut costs by running events virtually. Sounds great on paper, but there seem to be so many barriers with this and each one I could write an essay on: Technology, culture, use, in-world audience, lingo.

Sure, people are having successes with them, but is it a novelty? Does it have longevity? I would LOVE to know.

Then we move on to business use: What are the demographics of Second Life like internally? I don’t know, but would they be useful for me to network with? I can’t see myself allocating time for networking in second life. If I wanted to run conferences virtually or speak to clients or work with colleagues – I would want to see their (real) FACE (No particular reason for capitalisation, I just like the word FACE) and hear their voices. I don’t think I’m being old fashioned here, but I think some sort of collaboration software with video (which, by the way, didn’t end up working at all at DofD in-world), voice and text would be more fit for purpose.

I’m not saying it wouldn’t work, because companies are seeing results and there are creative agencies like Corporation Pop doing exciting things. But I am yet to be convinced - unfortunatly the platform clouded the content at this event (Irony?) . I just can’t see the business benefits of flying around a virtual world watching other virtual people (or animals or aliens) having virtual sex.  

Oooo, controversial.

FOOTNOTE: Just a thought: Virtual networking was almost nill on Twitter for this event. @chesha a twitter follower just tweeted this at me: "thought you had one of your I'm-a-massive-social-media-hipster parties yesterday? I just checked and you were only one virtual-hipstering" Maybe Second Lifers don't virtually network that well? 

 

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April 28, 05:23 AM
AJANAKU - The Beehaus

An article I wrote for online global magazine AJANAKU about BEES and The Beehaus. I love BEES. BEES are great. Buzz Buzz Buzz. I want a swarm. The queen will be called Margret and I will make 'Honey from Who Patio'. First, I need a patio. 

 

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April 12, 07:46 AM
The happiest video I have ever seen
March 01, 12:02 PM
The Intel adverts are boss

They make me smile everytime.

Our rockstars arn't like your rockstars:

Our comedians arn't like your comedians:

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February 17, 08:08 AM
Take That are Hobbits
I did a blog

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January 15, 03:35 AM

goldslugsthegod:

R. Kelly deserves his own meme so I made one haha.

January 07, 05:24 PM

Just favorited “Moodymann @ RBMA Rollerskating Jam” by oldschool on Mixcloud.com

December 29, 10:08 PM

Just favorited “Block Party Teaser” by Mof Gimmers on Mixcloud.com

December 25, 08:54 PM

cabble:

iheartchaos:

Best Christmas tree ever?

PORTAL CHRISTMAS TREE

December 24, 04:54 PM
December 11, 08:42 PM

vinyl4giants:

nickdrake:

Pam Grier.

Merry Xmas, my gift to you is #PamGrier.

December 11, 05:55 PM

I dunno who did it. Soz :/

November 19, 07:49 PM

chesha:

Thanks Cabble 

November 19, 07:45 PM
November 19, 07:44 PM

Rainbow wig and dash jacket want

November 19, 07:42 PM

chesha:

Full res image HERE because Tumblr seems to be crapping out on this one. 

September 23, 11:29 AM

sirmitchell:

This cannot be real. It just can’t. 

September 23, 11:28 AM
July 01, 10:18 PM

iamthephotographer:

Game - LIL B

June 28, 12:43 PM

wow. 

June 28, 12:41 PM

Wu Tang Pony

May 23, 01:32 PM

Just favorited “Love Cats In Infinite Space - Show 2” by LoveCatsinInfiniteSpace on Mixcloud.com

May 20, 10:07 AM

#SAScon: mingling - LIVE at http://bambuser.com/v/1670671

May 20, 09:46 AM

#SAScon: conversion attribution - LIVE at http://bambuser.com/v/1670600

May 20, 09:40 AM

#soundcity11 - LIVE at http://bambuser.com/v/1670590

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February 17, 04:39 AM
Last Week in Digital – WC 6.2.12

Groupon Posts Loss in Fourth Quarter

The Story

Who would have guessed it? Just over a year ago Groupon turned down a hefty $6billion offer from Google – which they duly rejected, citing ambitions of building the company independently.Well so far it’s going swimmingly as they have just posted a loss of $43 million in the fourth quarter of the year. Whilst revenue has grown by a staggering 194% to $507 million, huge expenditure on advertising among other things have left them once again firmly within the red.

What Does it Mean for Groupon?

The announcement alone doesn’t mean too much as lots of big companies post losses. This is different though. When they turned down the extraordinary offer, Groupon were the new kids on the block offering a product unlike anyone else. The business itself had gone viral, becoming a household name based on the generous discounts they could offer. Since then, that market has been saturated with thousands of similar companies using the same business model. Now Groupon doesn’t seem so special. Yes, in terms of brand awareness, Groupon still dominates but these companies are only as good as their offers, and with similar offerings throughout the market, its hard to see how Groupon will recoup a return anywhere near the offer from Google.

What Does it Mean for Users?

Nothing. In short – if Groupon ceases to exists, there is a market full to the brim offering the same product.

More info on Groupon’s financial loss announcement

Shopping Cart Abandonment Infographic

There’s no greater pain from an e-commerce perspective than when you’ve managed to:

  1. Drive a prospective customer to your website
  2. They have successfully navigated your website
  3. They have selected a product and made the decision to purchase it
  4. They have added the product to their basket

…and then after all that they decide not to complete the purchase. To keep your e-commerce manage from ripping their hair out (and probably yours too) here’s a great infographic to help optimise the whole payment process.

Google Introduce Sitelink Arrows

As is the life of SEO’s, something minute has changed in the SERP’s and we all excited. This time they’ve implemented some tiny arrows next to sitelinks within the SERP’s.

Take a look at the arrows implemented within Google’s SERP’s

Bing Testing New Results Design

In the same vein, Bing are testing out a new design for their SERP’s. It looks much cleaner and fresher.

Take a look at Bing’s new SERP design

TIP: How to Build an Advanced Keyword Analysis Report in Excel

Dan Peskin has posted a great ‘how to’ on SEOmoz to help analyse keyword data from multiple places (Analytics, Adwords, Webmaster Tools, etc.).

Take a look at how to build and advanced keyword analysis report in excel

February 16, 07:16 AM
What do SEOs actually do?

Jumping on the bandwagon, here’s our ‘What SEOs do’ meme…

February 16, 05:54 AM
Swiss firm introduces new technology to challenge QR codes

Kooaba, a specialist technology company based in Zurich, Switzerland, has introduced a new app which, it claims , has the potential to render QR codes irrelevant.

The new app, called Shortcut, enables the smartphone user to glean the type of information currently available from the scanning of QR codes by instead simply scanning their phone over ordinary images.

Once the image has been scanned it is reproduced digitally on the smartphone screen and can then also be used to connect, via the web, to information relevant to that image.

In addition, the smartphone user will be able to add comments and even their own images to what they have found, before sharing the information with others.

The app is in fact a development of a previously available technology from Kooaba called Paperboy. This latter app was used by news media organisations for capturing digital images of printed material.

Since Paperboy is so familiar to newspaper and magazine companies, Kooaba’s Chief Executive Officer, Herbert Bay, says the latter are particularly receptive to the concept of Shortcut; describing these media as ‘low-hanging fruit for our app’:

“…we can make them interactive’, he says, ‘In addition they can sell their advertisers on that interactivity…it removes the needs for QR codes”.

To date, the new technology, which works on iPhones, Windows Phones, and Androids, has already been adopted by the publications USA Today and the New York Post.

Bay says he is currently looking for ‘strategic investment’ in sales and business development schemes in order to further promote Shortcut.

February 15, 09:50 AM
David Edmundson Bird Naked

February 08, 06:33 AM
YouTube says one hour of video is uploaded to its site every second

Video-sharing social media site YouTube has released data claiming unprecedented growth in both the volume of video material regularly uploaded to its site and the number of views received.

According to the site, which is now owned by search engine giant Google, the quantity of video material it receives via upload each minute has risen exponentially from six hours per minute during its launch year of 2007, to 24 hours per minute in 2010; and to 60 hours per minute in the present day (or, of course, it is keen to point out, one hour of video material every second).

In the past six months alone, the company says, the volume in video uploads has increased by 30%.

Meanwhile, YouTube has also claimed a substantial increase in its viewing figures; boasting 800 million viewers per month. The company also claims that four billion video views take place on its site each day across the globe; a rise of 25% in the past eight months.

YouTube points out that this volume of viewing equates to one video being watched each day by half the population on the planet. Furthermore, the company insists, its viewing figures are still growing.

The growth in video material and viewing trends can of course only help to enhance YouTube’s reputation as one of the best sites for investing in pay per click (PPC) online advertising.

YouTube recently restyled its home page to try and reposition itself more as a social networking site, whilst promoting its capacity for supplying feature-length films.

February 01, 11:19 AM
Guardian Secret Footballer Twitter account reveals FA social media policy (via Joey Barton)

The Guardian Secret Footballer Twitter account, the accompaniment to the mystery man’s column, has become one of the most interesting accounts on Twitter over the last year or so. The account, in which an unknown footballer tweets behind-the-scenes information, offers a window into a world that hasn’t before been seen by the typical fan.

Today proved no different, as the Guardian Secret Footballer tweeted photos of a letter sent by the Football Association in regards to its social media policy. Yes, just like your own workplace has rules in place to ensure the company is not brought into disrepute, so does the FA.

To take a leaf from the Letters of Note Twitter account, here’s a transcription:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Social Networking websites

Further to my letter dated 20th January 2011, I am writing in relation to the use of social networking websites by Participants.

The FA has seen an increase in the number of complaints and referrals it has received in relation to postings on sites such as Twitter. You will appreciate that this is of concern to The FA and we would ask that you remind all Participants at your club, with particular reference to all players, of the following key points.

- All comments on social networking sites may be considered public comment by The FA

- Any comments which are improper, bring the game into disrepute or are threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting may lead to disciplinary action

- Comments about match officials which imply bias, attack the officials’ integrity or are overtly personal in nature are considered improper

- Comments which include a reference to a person’s ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, faith, gender, sexual orientation or disability may be considered aggravated and attract a high disciplinary sanction

- Re-Tweeting another person’s post may lead to disciplinary action if the original comment was improper

- Deleting or apologising publicly for an improper posting, whilst advisable, does not prevent disciplinary action being taken

- An individual is strictly responsible for any posting on his/her account. Participants should take every care to ensure that others do not access their account, as the fact that a posting or comment may have been made by a third party will not prevent disciplinary action being taken against the account holder

Participants are required to act in the best interest of the game at all times and should be aware that theirs postings on social networking sites are likely to be subject to public and media scrutiny.

Whilst we are conscious that the use of social networking sites can be positive we must advise that Participants exercise caution with the content of any postings.

If you have any queries in relation to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours faithfully,

Jenni Kennedy

Head of Off-Field Football Regulation

Those who follow football players on Twitter will no doubt be aware of the Joey Barton Twitter account, which has landed the temperamental star plenty of criticism in the past. The FA’s letter comes in the wake of Barton’s recent revelation he receives regular warnings to curb his Twitter behaviour, particularly when it comes to predicting match results.

He said: “According to the FA, I am not allowed to give my opinion of possible results in case that is seen as insider information. These people are so out of touch with reality it’s untrue.”

February 01, 08:44 AM
Pssst… BBC Sport. You may want to redirect your 2012 Olympics pages.

Just a quick blog post this afternoon after I noticed the BBC Sport website has undergone a relaunch.

As you do (as an SEO) when a new popular site launches; I dug around a little bit to see what was working and what wasn’t, and came across the below.

They’ve migrated some of their URLs over to a new structure (news.bbc.co.uk/sport1 to www.bbc.co.uk/sport), but they’ve not redirected some of their old content pages – most noticibly the ones for the Olympic Games which are happening this year.

The above shows the URL for www.bbc.co.uk/olympics ranking for “Olympics” searches in Google. The URL shown redirects to another (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/default.stm), which was seemingly the main URL being used for the Olympics content prior to the website relaunch. When visited, the URL shows the following:

The relaunch has now moved the Olympics section to http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/2012/ – however no redirects are currently in place to this.

They should probably look at sorting that, considering the Olympics is somewhat of an important news event this year.

January 26, 04:30 AM
UK growth in smartphone usage revealed as largest in survey of five developed countries

An increase in smartphone usage among UK consumers between January and October last year was higher than in the US, Germany, Japan, France; according to a new survey commissioned by search engine giant Google.

The survey, carried out on Google’s behalf by the Ipsos Mori research company, revealed that usage in the UK rose from 30% to 45% during this ten-month period; whilst usage in the US and France rose from 31% to 38%, and 27% to 38% respectively; and usage in Japan and Germany rose from 6% to 17%, and from 18% to 23% respectively.

The survey found that among smartphone users, accessing the internet on a daily basis was a very common activity; with 54% doing so in the UK. The country with the highest percentage of smartphone users accessing the web on a daily basis was Japan with 88%.

The survey also found however that, across the five countries, smartphone users had not abandoned their laptop or desktop computers; with general usage of the latter devices remaining more or less constant; and with approximately the same percentage of users accessing the internet via PCs as via smartphones.

Another interesting finding from the survey was the fact that, across all five countries, smartphone users were around 50% more likely than non-users to own a tablet.

Looking at actual tablet usage, the survey found that that this had grown among UK consumers from 4% to 6%; whilst in the US it stood at 11%.

January 25, 04:26 AM
YouTube says one hour of video is uploaded to its site every second

Video-sharing social media site YouTube has released data claiming unprecedented growth in both the volume of video material regularly uploaded to its site and the number of views received.

According to the site, which is now owned by search engine giant Google, the quantity of video material it receives via upload each minute has risen exponentially from six hours per minute during its launch year of 2007, to 24 hours per minute in 2010; and to 60 hours per minute in the present day (or, of course, it is keen to point out, one hour of video material every second).

In the past six months alone, the company says, the volume in video uploads has increased by 30%.

Meanwhile, YouTube has also claimed a substantial increase in its viewing figures; boasting 800 million viewers per month. The company also claims that four billion video views take place on its site each day across the globe; a rise of 25% in the past eight months.

YouTube points out that this volume of viewing equates to one video being watched each day by half the population on the planet. Furthermore, the company insists, its viewing figures are still growing.

The growth in video material and viewing trends can of course only help to enhance YouTube’s reputation as one of the best sites for investing in pay per click (PPC) online advertising.

YouTube recently restyled its home page to try and reposition itself more as a social networking site, whilst promoting its capacity for supplying feature-length films.

January 19, 06:39 AM
Tall hot blonde or talhotblond? – The dangers of dress-up online

Channel 4 aired the documentary talhotblond last night. For those who didn’t see it (SPOILER ALERT), it’s the true story of 47-year-old Thomas Montgomery, who meets 18-year-old tall hot blonde Jessi in a chat room. She is known as talhotblond, and he is marinesniper – an 18-year-old marine called Tommy.

Their relationship progresses sexually and emotionally – all online – until Montgomery’s wife gets wind of the situation and reveals the truth about ‘Tommy’ in a letter to Jessi. By this time, Jessi has struck up a friendship with 22-year-old Brian Barrett, a real-life co-worker of Montgomery. Brian comforts Jessi, who continues to speak to both men online, until one day Montgomery snaps and kills Brian in a vengeful, jealous rage with three gunshots.

It doesn’t end there. When the police arrive at Jessi’s house to alert her she may be in danger, it turns out Jessi’s mother Mary Shieler is actually talhotblond, and has been masquerading as her own daughter online – including sending them the real Jessi’s underwear and provocative photos taken without her knowledge – the whole time.

Firstly, let’s not lose sight of the fact that Tom Montgomery killed a man in cold blood. While Shieler’s actions were the catalyst for the incident, it would be naive to assume Montgomery could not have been provoked offline should another scenario had risen. However, the fact remains Shieler was the catalyst in this case; the ins-and-outs of which could only have unfolded in the way they did on the internet.

It’s long been said that people are a lot braver on the internet, and will act a certain way online because they believe they are not going to be held to account. These people, these ‘keyboard warriors’ – a group I’ve certainly been a part of – clearly still see the internet as a toy or a novelty, nastily typing past the fact that the internet is very much a part of the mainstream now and is something that isn’t going to go away.

And as the internet becomes a bigger part of everyday life, it makes perfect, unarguable sense that regulation surrounding it is brought in-line with offline law. This doesn’t mean taking away a person’s freedoms – or even their right to steal music and films – but to simply be responsible for how they behave.

Indeed, if people want to fight for freedoms in a place that doesn’t actually exist, let them, but the fact remains they should be held responsible for the way they behave.

Mary Shieler is not responsible for the death of Brian Barrett; Thomas Montgomery killed Brian Barrett. That doesn’t mean that Shieler’s role in the killing should be dismissed because it was virtual.

Brian Barrett’s parents have set up a petition calling for lawmakers to review the laws surrounding internet accountability.

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