You may have heard the term ‘Social Media’ being banded around lots recently but what does it really mean?

As with any new term there are many different definitions of exactly what it mean and I liked this one from Web Pro News

Social media describes the online tools that people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself, thus facilitating conversations and interaction online between groups of people. These tools include blogs, message boards, podcasts, micro blogs, lifestreams, bookmarks, networks, communities, wikis, and vlogs.

Still unsure? The following YouTube video does a great job explaining the term (even if the guy commentating does have a pretty annoying voice!)

Despite the glut of exciting projects – both new and ongoing – that are keeping everyone at IE very busy indeed, many of the team have at times spared a thought for the events unfolding a few thousand miles across the Atlantic. Hockey moms, pit bulls, the cost of the First Lady’s wardrobe, the US vox pop – it’s all been hard to ignore.

From a marketing perspective, elections can be very interesting indeed. A huge amount of effort goes into persuading voters to leave their mark in the right box. Nationwide market research and opinions polls, voter analysis and segmentation, a deluge of high-value advertising collateral – each one is a vital ingredient in the creation of that all-important political brand that draws in votes.

Delving back into US presidential history – specifically into those dark days pre-web when marketing was just so much harder – I noticed that a common denominator to virtually all campaigns was a strong slogan, often accompanied by a badge. Some are definitely pretty sharp, whereas to say that others are showing their age is generous.

Some of my favourite examples are shown below. However, I certainly feel that if prospective presidents of yesteryear had IE’s team of designers and branding whizzes on side, the look and feel of their campaign collateral would have been much less amateur! Maybe voter expectations were lower…?

Eisenhower US presidential campaign 1952

Lyndon Johnson US presidential campaign 1964

Herbert Hoover US presidential campaign 1928

Wendell Willkie US presidential campaign 1940

A draft report from the US Army warns that Twitter and other online tools could be used to plan terrorist attacks. This may seem farfetched at first but if you consider their example of a Google Maps mashup whereby Twitter is used to report on military activity and then locations plotted on a map then it all becomes more feasible.

Twitter can also be used to remotely control devices and it is feared that it may be used to detonate explosives in the same way mobile phones were used in the Madrid Train bombings in 2004. A more light hearted and slightly disturbing way Twitter has been used for remote control is shown in the video below.

How 2.0: Make a Twittering Teddy Bear from My Home 2.0 DIY on Vimeo.

There have been concerns over the use of VOIP (Voice Over IP) technologies such as Skype (reportedly one of the Taliban’s favoured communication channels) for a while now. It is more difficult for security agencies to intercept conversations as well as being easy to use voice changing software and caller ID spoofing.

A security stir seems to always be caused by new technology from mobile phones to the VOIP but security agencies just need to adapt at the same rate.

I’m running the half marathon on Sunday. I’m no athlete so in order not to embarrass myself I’ve taken my training quite seriously. By seriously I mean geekely…

It’s well known that I really like spreadsheets - for organising everything, and my training plan has been no exception. It’s got every 144.52 miles that I’ve run in the 19 Hours 43 Minutes and 47 Seconds of training that I’ve done. It’s also got charts showing my actual pace and formulas to calculate my normalised half marathon time from every run.

That’s all quite geeky but this may just top it…

It’s live so you’ll know where I am whenever I turn my iPhone on. After the race I’ll find a way of exporting a record of it.

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

If you happen to see this post while the race is on then please do leave a comment - I’ll obviously be otherwise engaged…

There was a very interesting interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning about the future of blogging. Technology consultant Robert Hamman and Guardian writer/blogger Kate Bevan were discussing an article on the Wired website that blogging is dead. It was argued that blogging used to be something that gave amateurs a voice and now it has been overtaken by professionals, described by Wired as a “tsunami of paid bilge”.

The other argument is that as web has moved on, people’s attention spans have reduced and they don’t want to read a whole post. This is the why we have seen the rapid emergence of Twitter. Twitter allows users to micro-blog by posting Tweets of a maximum 140 characters. The portability and informality of this has really caught on with many people now Twittering from their phones, desktop apps and the web. As promised Twitter is something I will revisit in detail as I find it absolutely fascinating.

However, blogs are still a huge business, providing a personal space for people to quickly reach very niche audiences, and you will be glad to hear that we won’t be stopping our blogging anytime soon.

Listen to the whole interview on the BBC Site (sorry if you are outside of the UK it won’t play!) and read the Wired article.