Is new media bad for your health?

I attended a lecture given last night by Baroness Susan Greenfield at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. The talk had been organised by the Women of the Year as their Annual Lecture with the title: “The impact of current technology on the mind of the 21st century child”. It was a reprise of a speech she had given to the House of Lords.

Susan Greenfield

What she was trying to achieve, was to encourage government to fund research into the impact of current technology on the young brain. Her concern was whether the increase in autism and ADHD could be linked with the amount of time young children spend looking at computer screens. She didnt say that there was a link – but that it should be explored.

She talked to us for an hour to lay out her argument. (Some people were impressed that she talked for 60 minutes without notes – I was more impressed that she could stand for over an hour on ’skyscraper’ heels without toppling over!).

She explained how every single human brain is unique – which is truly remarkable. Every brain develops as a result of the interaction with the surrounding environment giving unique experiences. The more the brain is stimulated, the more connections that are made. Rats and mice living in a controlled ’sterile’ laboratory environment had less mobilitythroughout their lives than those who had a more stimulating environment. The more that the brain is used, the more it develops and grows. Research of London cabbies who have to memorise the streets of London to gain ‘The Knowledge’ have more highly developed hippocampi (the area of the brain which deals with memory).

Taxis

She also talked about the need to balance our human desire to have our senses stimulated with the need to develop meaning. The front cortex of the brain balances risk. Some research suggested that obese people are less risk averse than the rest of the population. The Baroness was concerned that children sat in front of computer screens may also be at risk from lack of development of this area of their brain. She showed research of how 21st children spend their time which illustrated that many spend more time interacting with technology than at school or with their families.

A panel challenged some of her views, but did seem supportive of the need for research. In particular, Martha Lane Fox, (one of the co-founders of Lastminute.com) argued that new technology provided access to so much knowledge, and could be a real force for good. She explained how she was able to use Twitter to seek views before the debate that evening and had a wide range of responses – which only new technology could provide.

Martha Lane Fox

My own take was to share Susan Greenfield’s concern that research does not seem to be taking ploace about the impact on the health of children – or the impact on society of the new technology. I was particularly concerned about the impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds who may not have sufficient access to a range of experiences to balance the amount of time spent in front of a computer screen. However, I do think that research wll also find real positive features of the development of the brain through the stimulation given and through the access to knowledge. I also wonder whether government should fund the research, or whether the creators of new technology should also provide funding. I would also think it should be global research – although starting with the UK would be good!

I certainly felt that my own small brain had a serious workout last night – and now appreciate how important that is!

User Generated Content

So the key to social media seems to be content created by users. What Shirky says is that in the olden days, professional writers, journalists, editors, sub-editors, (your mother?) used to filter material before you watched or read it. Other people chose what stuff you would have access to. They decided whether a story was news, and whether it would get ‘air-time’. The government could even slap a ‘D-Notice’ on something (oops, now called a DA-Notice…surely nothing to do with a Duck’s Anatomy?) and the story would never surface.

So now, according to Meerman Scott, Shirky, Scoble, Godin and the other ‘in-crowders’, the real secret to social media is that the strength is in users generating material without the editing/filtering. So if I ‘google’ something, or look a subject up on Wikipedia, the odds are that I will get a mass of data to filter myself, and that the content will have had minimal editing by a ‘professional’.

As news stories break around the world ‘citizen journalists’ are filing the material onto social newtorks or direct to mainstream media channels.

If you story, or video or picture is interesting or quirky enough – who knows, you could gather quite a following!

Go to it!

Nudge

Nudge

I’ve just skim read Thaler & Sustein’s book “Nudge” . It is very similar in style to Malcolm Gladwell’s “Tipping Point” in that both race through a range of examples at an almost “breathless pace”. Writing about “Nudge”, Leavitt is quoted as “…it is fun to read, drawing on examples as far afield as urinals, organ donations and marriage”. In fact I found the examples in “Nudge” annoying – but perhaps it was beacuse I had already experienced the approach in “Tipping Point” and “Blink”. Gladwell’s books are easier to follow for me – more conversational. Rather like his talk on TED . Whereas Thaler and Sunstein write about “choice architecture” and “libertarian paternalism”. I get the ‘nudge’ examples, but the use of such unattractive terms puts me off their book and made it heavier reading than I wanted. I couldnt find any speeches by either of the on TED, but I guess its only a matter of time!

Blink

Having said that, I do think that their examples are useful to practitioners of social marketing. (Particularly as the NHS is investing heavily in social marketing these days)! The Texas Anti-litter campaign was interesting.

It was probably the hype which led me to have unrealsitic expectations about the book

Tipping Point

Annual Reports – any good ones out there?

I’ve been asked to select some good examples of Annual Reports from the not-for-proft sector for a colleague to look at.

Anyone know any good ones??

The Delphi Method

Those of you following this post (is there anybody out there?), I have decided at last on the Research Question for my MSc dissertation:

“Following the impact of the Obama campaign, what is the potential role of new media in persuasion, engagement and participation in politics in the UK ?”

I have been thinking of the most appropriate forms of research and also which audiences to reach. What I am aiming to do is to research politicians in the UK, PR practitioners and the general public.

Following a suggestion from one of my supervisors (Rudiger Theilmann) for PR practioners I am going to try out the Delphi Method of forecasting. There is a helpful article about the Delphi Method on Wikipedia. It seems to be a really useful way of gathering and refining data from a panel of experts on your chosen subject. The experts answer questions set by the facilitator. The facilitator (me, in this case) summarises the responses and the answers are given back to the panel to revise their answers in the light of responses given by all of the panel members anonymously.

There is a really helpful site which runs a Delphi session for you. I have set up my panel of 10 PR practitioner experts and am giving it a go! Wish me luck!

Get R.E.A.L.!

I went to a Winter Warmer networking evening courtesy of Impact Executives ( a top interim provider). (I know they areexcellent because they have given me work)!

A highlight of the evening was the talk by Mindy Gibbins Klein on four aspects of ‘thought leadership’. She introduced her talk as: “No matter what kind of work you are doing, chances are you have come up against competition and that will only increase in a tough market. If there is a smaller pie, you need a bigger piece just to stay competitive, and you need to stand out from the crowd. Not only do you need to be the best, but you also need to communicate that clearly to your market.”

She used the acronym REAL to provide us with focus:

REACH

ENGAGEMENT

AUTHORITY

LONGEVITY.

Mindy Gibbins Klein

 

Reach was about making sure that you considered your network and looked at sensible ways of extending it.

Engagement was about appropriate engagement with your network. Using new media, keeping in touch.

Authority was about being perceived as an expert – particularly important to us interims! She suggested writing articles, speaking at conferences, having people write about you. Good personal PR in other words!

Longevity was about establishing yourself with a track record. This is important in the current climate as clients are likely to go for the interim that they know will deliver because they have in the past. There may not be the luxury of going for an unknown quantity.

Mindy inspired me to dust off my approach to promoting my skills and experience – so job well done!

PitBull Politics

Howard Belk, Chief Creative Officer at Siegel and Gale  

Howard Belk

criticised John McCain for going ‘off brand’ by switching from his “Straight Talk Express” campaign bus to “attack politics” when his campaign started to fall behind. Alan Siegel said that his shift in tactics was “a display of desperation”.

In Marketing (11 Nov 08), Steve Harty, Chairman of BBH New York wrote that “US citizens are much more sophisticated consumers of politics now”.

In the final Presidential televised debate, Senator Obama accused his opponent of running a wholly negative campaign. According to the University of Wisconsin’s Advertising Project, McCain did use a higher proportion of attack adverts. In the four months to 4 October, 47% of Republican ads were negative (focusing on Obama), 26% were positive, and 27% were mixed, the Wisconsin study says.

The analyisis from the marketing gurus is that US voters are getting more ’savvy’ and are rebelling against “attack politics”. But how will the UK political parties react? The updated Labour Party website criticises the ‘do nothing Tories’. And the Conservatives similarly criticise Labour’s approach to apprenticeships. Will voters here be put off by attacks, or do they see it all as part of the political circus?

Small Fry

 

Interim Marketplace

So …how is the current market for interims? Especially for corporate communications specialists like me?

I am currently working part-time: 2 or 3 days a week. January was busier than February in terms of calls from agencies about possible roles. This month has been quiet in terms of agency contact so far.

One public sector agency said that a lot of government departments and NDPBs would wait now until the start of the new budget year in April before recruiting. May be some validity.

Any thoughts out there?

‘Party’ Politics – Obama-style

The ‘Obama for America’ campaign is continuing to support President Obama by exhorting individuals who registered to support Barack Obama’s presidential campaign to keep involved.

Obama

E-mails from President Obama were sent to all registered users of the website on Monday 2 February. Individuals were invited to organise Economic Recovery House Meetings this weekend and to use the website to download material, to ask questions, and to promote their event. USA Today reported the use of campaign-style techniques.

The e-mail also invited questions to be sent about economic issues with the aim of addressing the issues and concerns in a video to be prepared by Governor Tim Kaine. Over 30,000 questions were received.

The e-mail continued some of the key themes from his campaign: working across political parties, citizen participation, and transparent government. The email has the following quotes:

“The stakes are too high to allow partisan politics to get in the way.”  And: “…unprecedented transparency and accountability…you will be able to see how every penny in this plan is being spent”.

A follow-up e-mail was sent by Obama for America Campaign Manager David Plouffe on 4 February. This e-mail had the embedded video of interviews by Barack Obama about the need for the economic recovery plan. “The President is leading. Help is on the way”.

According to the Obama for America website today, 3,200 House Parties have been registered for this weekend. Participants are encouraged to share their experiences through photographs and their accounts on the blog. A further e-mail containing videos from President Obama and Governor Kaine alerted supporters that an Inspector Genral will be set up to oversee the spending of the Stimulus Funds and that a website www.recovery.gov would be set up to demonstrate where the money has been spent and what the outcomes will be.

Mainstream media have been covering the events.

It will be interesting to see how this experiment in active participation works – and how the mainstream and new media report it!

Trunk Monkey

Trunk Monkey Hairdresser?

Surely one of the great benefits of Web2.0 is how quickly we can all share a smile. The Trunk Monkey comes care of those wonderful marketing people at Suburban cars of Sandy, Oregon. I want one!

As the commercials were made in 2003, lets hope the company is surviving the recession! The agency which made them, R/West, get most of their revenue from licensing the Trunk Monkey commercials.

My favourite commercial has to be the EDS cat herder now available on YouTube. Rather sniffily, EDS on ther website declined to make the commercial available – so its great to be able to experience it again!  Dare I say I also used to sing along to the Meowmix commercials? Humour in advertising is great!