Whatever...

Heading to the Brit Awards? Don’t forget to tweet!

By Gemma White

It is the much anticipated Brit Awards this evening, and while the event has certainly caused some controversy in the past – for example, with Adele’s outburst when her acceptance speech was cut short in 2012 – this year has proved to be no different, and it hasn’t even started yet.    

My Twitter feed was bombarded this morning by angry and frustrated journalists who had received an email from the PR company for MasterCard – the Brit Award’s official sponsor – which asked them to agree to a number of conditions in return for tickets to the event.  The email, which has been published in full on the Press Gazette’s website, asked journalists to tweet from both their personal and publishers’ Twitter accounts throughout the duration of the event.  It had even gone to the effort of drafting the tweets that the journalists could post (how kind):

“Pre event – e.g. Really excited to be heading down to @BRITAwards tonight with @MasterCardUK #PricelessSurprises”

Journalists were understandably annoyed by this latest PR blunder, not least because it shows absolutely no understanding of the ethics behind social media campaigns, which not only need to be timely and reactive to what’s going on in the world, but also need to be authentic.  Used in the right way, social media campaigns can create excitement around an issue or event, but used in the wrong way, the buzz they create might not be positive at all.  For MasterCard it was certainly a PR #fail and, indeed, a #PricelessSurprise for the organisers of the Brit Awards.  

We can only hope that the event goes according to plan tonight, sparing itself from any further controversy, although I don’t have my hopes up given its history.  Let’s all sit back, relax and not tweet about it.

 

Game over for Flappy Bird

By Charlotte Martin

I have a number of colleagues to thank for my Candy Crush Saga obsession.  (You know who you are.)  A few months and 130 or so levels later and I’m still well and truly hooked.  I’m certainly not alone in this, much to the delight of its creator – mobile games maker, King – as the enormous and unprecedented success of Candy Crush has reportedly geared the company for an IPO later this year. 

So news of the latest addictive mobile game, Flappy Bird, caught my attention.  However, it was not long before the next big thing in addictive gaming was all over.  The creator of Flappy Bird, Vietnam-based Doug Nguyen – who created his hit game in just two to three days and was making as much as $50,000 a day in advertising revenue – recently decided to withdraw it from Android and iOS app stores.  By which point, Flappy Bird had been downloaded more than 50 million times and was the most popular game of the year so far. 

In an exclusive interview with Forbes, he explained his reasoning:  “It happened to become an addictive product.  I think it has become a problem.  To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird.  It’s gone forever."

Ironic really, given the amount of people who dream of having a eureka moment that will provide the inspiration for the next lucrative app or gaming craze.  But it seems, for this creator, the pressure of responding to fan comments and complaints was ultimately too much, and Mr Dong took to Twitter to announce his decision:  "I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down.  I cannot take this anymore...”  Cue the inevitable backlash from its fans, who tweeted their dismay with hastags #RIPFlappyBird and #SaveFlappyBird – or in the case ofsome, even sent Mr Dong death threats...  Perhaps not the quiet demise he had hoped for, but Flappy Bird certainly has provided another reminder of the addictive power of mobile gaming.

 

Tech investment to solve UK’s productivity puzzle

By Mike King

With the UK economy showing signs of healthy growth, the days of doom and gloom seem to be behind us.  Important indicators such as headline growth (the UK economy is predicted to grow by 2.5% this year); growth in the UK job market (unemployment is now down to 7.1% and will drop below the Bank of England’s 7% threshold in the next few months); and rising UK house prices all point to prosperous times ahead.

However, there has been much in the media about the UK recovery not being as straightforward as these figures suggest and there are some interesting and unusual factors coming into play.  In particular, while employment is up and the job market looks to be very much in recovery, productivity is down. 

In other words, there are more jobs but, on the whole, we are producing less per worker.  This so called ‘productivity puzzle’ is baffling many economists as, in a recovery, the opposite should be happening and productivity should improve. 

Worryingly, these figures indicate that the UK is becoming less competitive internationally, with levels of productivity in the UK now on a par with Italy (a country in recession) and way below those in Germany and France.

One theory is that companies have been employing more people rather than investing in technology and this lack of investment in technology has meant that productivity has fallen.  This is partly because wages have remained relatively low – predictions are that in real terms wages are still at 2004 levels, and will not rise above their 2009 peak until 2019 or 2020.  It is also linked to difficulties companies have had in borrowing money or, for those with money, a tendency to hold on to what cash they do have. 

In the long run, if the economy is to continue to prosper something needs to change and, thankfully, there are early signs that business investment is starting to increase.  Given the position we are in, it is more crucial than ever that this investment is channelled into the right areas.  Making the right technology decisions now is critical to our future prosperity. 

Even the church is online

By Nicole Melzer

Although I am not very religious, I still love to visit old churches and experience the history as I walk around the buildings.  There are a variety of nice buildings in Munich, including the Church of St. Peter or the Cathedral Church of Our Lady - which is well known for its ‘onion’ domes.

The Gothic cathedral and city parish church is better known as “Frauenkirche” where the legendary devil’s footprint appears on the floor in the church entrance.  According to the legend, the architect Jörg von Halsbach made a pact with the devil in order to finance the construction of the church.  He had agreed with the devil not to include windows.

Seeing that the church had in fact been built with stained-glass windows, the devil felt entitled to von Halsbach’s soul.  But, when he got inside, von Halsbach led him to a spot where no windows could be seen and, in anger, the devil stamped his hoof so hard that he left an imprint in the floor of the cathedral.

I love to hear about these creepy old stories.  But in times of modern technology, even demon fighting is becoming digital.  The latest craze is to exorcise demons by using Skype Voice over-IP connection.  The idea came from a Scottsdale reverend Pastor Bob Larson.

Finding out that such a service exists shows me that the church is speeding up its acceptance of modern technology.  Gathering believers via the Internet is not, however, a new phenomena, but it seems to be a growing one.  Today, a rising number of individuals are experiencing church online.  There are various platforms such as Church Online Platform to help launch an online ministry.  The largest one is LifeChurch.tv, an American evangelical multi-site church started in 1996 with campuses including one that meets entirely online.  In 2008 they also developed a Bible application for mobile phones.

I wonder how the church will continue to implement technology to reach its communities in the future?