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The internet is buzzing today with the unveiling of Google Wave, a “new tool for communication and collaboration on the web”, or more immediately understandable as “email on crack”. As is always the way at Google, they’ve re-expressed a problem with communication as we use it today: the fact that the two largest forms of online communication, email and IM, are based around the letter and the telephone, outdated offline architectures.

Google aim to “combine conversation-type communication and collaboration-type communication” in what could be the next step forward in digital interaction, and a step closer to the workplace of the future. For the last 10 years, we’ve had many worshiping at the altar of “the end of the office”, with Signal vs Noise being one of it’s fiercest disciples. But it’s never really seemed possible: for example, we’re recruiting someone at the moment whose job role will take place primarily online, but logistics dictate that they’ll need to be in the office for things like client meetings. But if such meetings begin taking place through Wave (an entirely probable proposition, just look at the uptake of Skype in corporate culture) then we could be recruiting from a much larger field.

And what of that perennial agency problem of a colleague joining onto a campaign that’s already half way through? Wave has a nifty little feature where a user added to a “wave” can quickly watch how it’s grown into a current state, tracking what discussions were had, changes were made, and get an understanding on the gestation of an idea, rather than just dealing with a single execution made near the end of the line.

We’re very excited about how this could change the way we work …

Recruitment time here at Outside Line, as we’re looking to add another all-star member to our Marketing Team. We’re looking for a Social Media Marketing Executive, who’ll help plan, execute and track social media campaigns for the many interesting brands within our roster.

In our heads we’ve got an idea of the person we want, and it’s less to do with on-the-job experience and more about passion for social media and “super geek know-how”.

If Twitter and Facebook are like water and oxygen for you (or someone you know) please take a read of the job spec and get in touch.

Ok.. so I will be coming back to this when I have had a chance to fully consider my response but the report by Knowledge Networks seems to be a perfect example of a lack of genuine understanding of the medium. 

I think this statement says it all… 

“Obviously, a lot of people are using social media, but they are not explicitly turning to it for marketing purposes, or for finding out what products to buy. It’s really about connecting with friends, or connecting with other people,” says Dave Tice, vice president and group account director at Knowledge Networks, and the top analyst behind the report. “What we’re seeing is that word-of-mouth is still the No. 1 most influential source, followed by TV.”

Ok so if WOM is number 1 and Social Media is great at connecting with people then how about we use social media as a means of creating advocates and generating positive word of mouth… oh hang on, thats what real social media marketeers are doing.

I haven’t read the research in full yet or had time to digest it so I reserve the right to apologise if i have all this wrong but  I am guessing that what the research predominantly focuses on is classic advertising style executions in social spaces, which isn’t social media marketing!

More soon.

Last week saw the launch of an augmented reality (AR) competition for the launch of Eminem’s new album “The Relapse”. We put this site together in the Outside Line offices, and we’re pretty proud of it – in what we’re pretty sure is a world first, it’s an online AR talent competition, where users can log on, create a 3D “E”, which they can then spray paint and enter into the running for prizes.

The first round of the competition has already passed, with a trip to Detroit being dished out last week courtesy of Universal Music. The next round is open, and we’ve been promised another amazing prize will be awarded over the next month – watch the screencast above to see how easy it is, and then head over to the site to enter.

Here’s a decent tip that it seems very few people are taking heed of in the world of Twitter – if you’re obsessed with something, and it’s not an obsession that has caused people to start following you, please don’t go crazy on it.

Someone in my stream (it’d be rude to name names) recently decided to give a running commentary on the entire 90 minutes of a 2nd division football playoff game. A sure fire way to get yourself de-followed, especially by someone who has signed up to hear your thoughts on the future of media. Or how about the guy who managed to spoil Star Trek by liveblogging the whole thing using the #twitflix tag – this is annoying enough, but what about the people sat near him in the cinema! As Eric Vespe put it: “There’s no difference between what you’re doing now and what the loud teenagers constantly texting during movies do”.

Twitter is still in it’s infancy, so there are no hard and fast rules, but earlier in the week we had a little round table chat and came to the conclusion that flooding of any kind is a sure fire way to make yourself unpopular. One choice quote was “No one is interesting enough to have over 20 tweets a day” which is a nice round figure I’ll be sticking to, and advising people to do the same.

But as Clay Shirky said “It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure”. So rather than complaining, I’ll suggest a fix – equip Twitter with is a sleep button, so I can hide all updates from someone I follow for a short period of time. That way, when someone is at Cannes, or SXSW, or the FA Cup Final, I can just give them a little “time out” for a few days. The next Twitter client to do this might tempt me away from my Tweetie addicition.

Well this puts a bit of a dampener on the future of media. Hulu, launched in 2006 to jeers and snide remarks from the tech press, only to become the 6th most popular destination in the US, has been deemed “too popular” by the cable networks and content providers. Their gripes? Well, as you’d expect it’s the usual: less DVD units sold, reduced cable revenue, ad money going into the net and away from traditional media, blah blah blah …

And this just after we hear rumours leaking on Hulu’s “imminent UK launch”.

Who might be behind this? Of course, the grand old duke of old media, Rupert Murdoch, and his News Corp. dinosaurs. Having been burnt by “the future of technology” in their ill-timed MySpace buyout, they’re now circling the wagons around whatever dollar-making properties they have left, and fighting to keep them monetized at all costs. So Fox-owned FX ask for their shows to be removed from Hulu, and Murdoch turns on the charm offensive (ha!) and let’s the world know that “free is dead” and “the current days of the internet will soon be over”.

Good luck with that Rupert! Surely you’ve heard that information wants to be free?

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All blogs are not created equally. But how do those stalwarts of the blogosphere make it up there, and what steps can you follow to make your blog a destination for the many, rather than a few hundred followers?

Since moving into my new position of Social Media Geek here at Outside Line, I’ve been in a position where blogging is a much more integral part of my daily life. And as my curious mind winds it’s cogs around something new, I’ll always begin to analyse the bigger scheme of things. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking how the blogosphere has built into this independent unit of interdependent organisms we interact with today. And as a result of that thinking, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present The Blogging Ecosystem.

Up In The Clouds

The first thing you’ll notice in the ecosystem is the Cloud Cover – the big blogs, those behemoths of the Technorati Top 100, towering high over the collective with what always seems to be the best stories, the funniest links, the smartest thinking.

Some of these clouds, like the BBC, Engadget et al depend on old-school journalism – finding stories, doing the leg work, and digging deeper into what goes on behind the press releases. These guys get where they are with consistent hard work, through making contacts, and creating news.

Other clouds are run by the radical free thinkers, those visionaries who just seem to understand how the world works, how all the pieces fit together, and possess an clarity and ability to perfectly pull these thoughts into blog posts. If you were one of those, you’d know, and more of the internet would too.

And then there are those clouds that rely on the Creatives of the world – those designers, handymen, tailors, coders, [insert any possibly creative trade here], who make those “wow” artifacts that we mass email around the world’s offices everyday. These bloggers are the taste makers of the internet. And you might ask what these bloggers have that you don’t – well it often comes down to hard work and the fact that they’ve probably got 10 years worth of old posts that you lack. But beyond that, once you get into this position the power of authority is self-enforcing – because these guys always post the best stuff, then if you have something great you send it to them, further cementing their position.

The Reblogging Massive

And underneath the cloud cover, waiting for the tasty content to rain down from the skies, are The Reblogging Massive. They consume without creating, finding interesting tidbits, reblogging it, and adding their two cents.

I came across the term churnalism a while back, and this perfectly sums up what the majority of the blogosphere trades in – it’s operating a digital version of press release regurgitation. And whatever your thoughts on Merlin Mann, you can’t deny that “If linkbloggers wrote more and shovelbloggers thought more … the web would get 15% more interesting overnight.”

So the only way to free yourself from The Reblogging Massive and slowly work your way up to becoming a cloud is through content creation. I’ve experienced this first hand – a few months ago I wrote The Hierarchy Of Tweets, a post which got picked up by Mashable, Guy Kawaski, and a few other notables. And it’s through consistent creative thinking that you can lift your blog from an also-ran to a Cloud-to-be, a destination, a sure-fire subscription.

Take Think Simple Now as a perfect case study – Tina Su has taken a site from nothing to 13,000+ RSS subscribers and a Top 10k Technorati ranking through consistent creative thinking and solid hard work. She utilises social media intelligently, writes personally, and always thinks creatively.

There’s no magic bullet to creating a great blog. Just free yourself from The Reblogging Massive and do something fresh.

Megan Deal is taking Graphic Design to the extreme, and plans to go live in a warehouse space with 10 artists in the middle of nowhere (Alabama to be precise) to solve some of the world’s problems through the power of design.

But not before she sells everything she owns.

Aside from the genius URL (www.goodbyewafflemaker.com) this site is incredible as it holds a mirror up to all the flotsam and jetsam we pick up throughout our lives, those kitchen drawers filled with cocktail sticks, out of date pills and blunt scissors. How much of our lives is made up by the things we own? Or was Nick Hornby right, and it’s “it’s what you’re like, not what you like” that defines you?

(via Swiss Miss)

We highlighted a BMW advert a few weeks back where Content played second fiddle to Placement, with a BMW mockingly towering over an Audi billboard, answering it’s call.

As we said then, very aggressive, very American. But what if you were to go somewhere else? Somewhere like American but without the bravado?

Yup, it’s Canada – Montreal in fact – where a paint company promoted their “recylced paint scheme” with a genius bit of billboard work, recycling the Apple paint spills, and again making Placement the king.

We’re being bombarded by around 3,000 adverts a day, so it’s obvious that traditional media placement isn’t going to be enough. Thinking Differently is the order of the day, and if you can convey your message in an innovative manner you can be confident of breaking through that noise and leaving a mark on the consumer.

In these days of campaign seeding, blogger outreach, teasers for TV spots, and grassroots promotion, it’s refreshing to see that some people are still playing it old-school. Witness this weeks episode of 90210, and Dr Pepper’s non-to-subtle product placement. Apparently the line of dialogue “We’re on a road trip. Drinking Dr. Pepper is practically a requirement” actually features in the episode, but we’ll have to take Vulture’s word on that, as we’re too busy watching Lost and Green Wing to sully our Sky+ planners with American teen cheese …

Back in the glory days of television, advertising was all about reach – the power of your product was in how many people knew about it, hence the ridiculous cost to get a 30 second spot during Coronation Street. And as the aforementioned PVR revolution is meaning large numbers of people experience commercials as they’re fast forwarding past them at 30x speed, big companies are looking for new ways to engage with consumers.

Unfortunately, product placement isn’t the future – it’s stuck in the past, it is, as David Lynch poetically put, “total fucking bullshit” – consumers aren’t stupid, they know that Dr Pepper will have paid a boatload of cash to get themselves in here, and a viewer can’t help but feel manipulated by the workings of the industry machine.