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The internet hasn’t put the passion back into German politics

By Steffi Nowak

Yesterday the German people once again voted for a new Government, an event that usually takes place every four years.  As with all elections, the internet proved to be a vital source of information about the different political parties, their manifestos and the candidates who wanted to become “Bundeskanzler” (head of state).

   

However, what struck me (and I guess a great number of other young Germans who are not yet utterly weary about politics), was the total lack of passion and enthusiasm surrounding German politics (not to mention the absence of a charismatic candidate!).

 

In Germany things are very different than in the US for example. German politicians live up to the national stereotype of being firm and accurate without any hint of charm or self-mockery. Electioneering from all parties wasn’t only slow, it was so boring and this remained the case right up to election day, usually ‘high noon’ for the campaigning parties!

 

Last year, many of us marvelled at how President Obama successfully re-invented grassroot politics by utilising the web.  Never before had the internet played such a key role in canvassing support.  It’s been a very different story here.  German politicians simply haven’t recognised the power of the web, with activity limited to the odd candidate posting blogs gossiping about their rivals.   Indeed, the majority of web content came from independent blogs, for example F!xmbr and TV… und so, which bemoaned the lack of optimism and the uninspired election campaigns.

 

Maybe German politicians were put off by Obama’s lack of political luck with his plans to reform the US health insurance system. This may even be the reason why the SPD (Social Democratic Party) didn’t want anything to do with candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s  Obama-style “Steini-Girl” campaign, which featured heavily on YouTube.

 

For the German public at least, the internet hasn’t put the passion back into politics.

Vultures circling for product placement cash

By Claire Ayles

 

This week’s announcement to allow product placement in British TV shows is a much needed shot in the arm for beleaguered commercial broadcasters. 

 

But behind the jubilation, there’s been a bit of a turf war about who’s in the better position to facilitate product placement, with the ad industry squaring up against PR agencies for the right to take the bigger slice of pie. 

 

Both industries obviously have strong credentials.  Ad execs are used to buying opportunities that are proven to reach the right people, while PRs are expert at making products relevant and desirable.  Both these elements will play a crucial part. 

 

But how much money is actually up for grabs here?  While some experts value the market quite highly, Cazenove rightly points out that us Brits don’t always like the hard sell, and therefore predicts the market will be worth a meagre £70m, with just £30m going to ITV.  While this amount of money certainly isn’t to be sniffed at, it’ll only boost ITV’s ad coffers by 2%. 

 

So it looks like the two industries might just be fighting for scraps.  However, with the UK ad market shrinking at 14% a year, there’s no doubt which is hungrier.

Twitter makes you a twit

By Mike King

 

It’s not been a great week for promoting the use of social media.  The widely reported story about two young girls in Australia, who were trapped in a storm drain and used their mobile phones to update their Facebook status rather than call for help, did little to foster a positive image of young social media users.  It is difficult to argue that these girls weren’t seriously lacking some basic life skills and common sense, but to imply that Facebook was somehow to blame is a bit rich. 

 

Particularly when a study from psychologist Dr Tracy Alloway from the University of Stirling shows that Facebook enhances intelligence. Twitter, on the other hand, supposedly makes people stupid.

 

Dr Alloway studies working memory, the ability to remember, recall and process information.  Working memory, according to Dr Alloway, has been shown to be more important than IQ when it comes to academic studies. 

 

Dr Alloway claims that her recent study shows that Twitter and YouTube hinder the development of working memory because they constantly bombard the user with small chunks of information that require very little recall or processing. 

 

The opposite applies to activities on Facebook or playing video games which are apparently good for enhancing intelligence because they exercise working memory.  Based on the evidence from Australia I’m not sure that I’m convinced.

 

Of course, given that anyone on Twitter is likely to also be a regular user of a social media site like Facebook there’s almost certainly nothing to worry about.  I’m sure they’ll all just cancel each other out.  I’d be far more worried about kids spending hour upon hour passively watching TV.

Battling the back to school blues

By Carol Pender

 

This week officially marks what in France is known as ‘la rentrée’. It is synonymous, not just with the return to school, but with the end of the lazy, hazy days of August during which economic and political life comes to a standstill, the Parisians leave the capital en masse, and you have absolutely no problem finding a seat outside a café or restaurant (unless they’re closed as well of course!). As if to underline the fact that summer is over and reflect the general mood, September 1 was greeted with rain after days of clear skies, and public transport is yet again overflowing with men and women battling their way to the office, all be them a little more tanned than usual.

 

In many ways, la rentrée is a lot like New Year. The holidays are over, which has everyone a little down in the dumps, you’ve probably indulged far too much, and so you look towards the future with a set of new resolutions, which normally includes kick-starting your health and fitness habits.

 

So keeping in that spirit, and to face the rentrée in a positive frame of mind, the French team has been thinking about ways in which we can maybe improve the way we work and interact with clients and journalists. Some of these are things I’m sure many of you do already, but it’s easy to slip into bad habits. In any case, here is what we’ve come up with:

• Clean out your inbox on a regular basis and file all important emails in a logical, intelligent way so that they will be easy to find!
• Don’t drop everything to reply to an email that isn’t urgent i.e. prioritise
• Begin monthly reports at the beginning of the report and fill them in gradually – don’t wait to do everything at the last minute
• Don’t have blind faith in your computer’s spelling and grammar check; it will only lead you astray. In fact, don’t have blind faith in anything!
• Remember to support and praise each other for work well done. Not everyone  remembers to do it, but it’s always nice to hear, particularly from colleagues you  respect
• Find a healthy way to handle stress. Some can do it by nature, others need a little help (not necessarily liquid help, hence the ‘healthy’ part!). Reading, yoga, breathing techniques or knock-the-crap out of you kickboxing – whatever works for you to switch off and leave the office behind without taking your bad day out on the hapless boyfriend, wife or stranger in the street.  It’s only work for goodness sake ;-)

So there you have it. Just a few ideas to ponder on – I’m sure you can think of plenty more ways to make the office a more agreeable, conducive working environment for everyone, so don’t be afraid to share.

But especially, Bonne Rentrée à toutes et à tous!!