...but we can't speak for anyone else

I hope Sterling didn't pay a lot for this slogan.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 03:06pm in Advertising & PR, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

EU official: Blogs may "considerably pollute cyberspace"

From our "oh, please, spare us" department comes word of EU hand-wringing about user-generated content.

Says Estonian Socialist (believe it or not; you'd have thought Estonians were tired of Soviet socialist overlords) Marianne Mikko:

"[Blogs]are in position...to considerably pollute cyberspace. We already have too much spam, misinformation and malicious intent in cyberspace."

Mikko's solution is chilling -- she's happy to compel bloggers and podcasters to register with the authorities.

"I think the public is still very trusting towards blogs, it is still seen as sincere. And it should remain sincere. For that we need a quality mark, a disclosure of who is really writing and why."

We already have a word for this. It's China.

Don't assume these are the views of one lefty nutter. Ignorance and misunderstanding of social media and user-generated media seems equally widespread on the right. German Liberal MEP Jorgo Chatzimarakis says:

"imagine pressure groups, professional interests or any other groups using blogs to pass on their message. Blogs are powerful tools, they can represent an advance form of lobbyism, which in turn can be seen as a threat."

A threat like News Corporation and Disney, you mean? Surely not.

Fortunately, the Mikko/Chatzimarakis report is unlikely to affect EU policy. But you have to wonder Estonia and Germany send such ninnies/nannies to EU Parliament.

Read more here.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 05:06pm in Citizen Journalism, Is Tedious in the House?, Online Media, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Atlanta's Terminal E: "Jesus Christ himself couldn't get his bags in less than an hour."

While I don't buy it, a widespread theory holds that ritualized humiliation and a foretaste of Hell is good for you.

Well, if the theory holds, arriving in Atlanta's Terminal E is very, very good for you.

Now, I don't want to be churlish about air travel: with luck, I can leave Copenhagen at mid-day and be in my beloved South in time for dinner. 

But Atlanta Hartsfield airport seems determined to say: we are going to make you regret arriving here.

Upon arrival at Terminal E, you are sent through the usual immigration/bag collection/customs witlessness ("Did you purchase anything abroad, sir?" "Well, I live abroad." "Did you purchase anything abroad, sir?" "You mean, besides my house and everything I own? No..." "Welcome to the USA, sir, and excuse the fact I am a moron.").

In every other airport, this exchange would signal your liberation. Not so at Atlanta Terminal E: it signals purgatory. Because now, after collecting your bags and getting them through customs, you are forced to give them up again. That's right... you must recheck your bags, and you will be given no receipt for them. And you won't be told where to pick them up -- 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away -- you will need to suss that out for yourself.

While your bags are on their way elsewhere, you will stand in yet another line and subject yourself to a full security inspection. Just as if you are about to board an airplane, instead of leave an airport. You will show your documents, you will take off your shoes, you will show that your laptop works (and woe betide the lamer who depletes his battery working on the plane).

While in line for "inspection" I muttered "This sure puts a new twist on baggage claim." To which the traveler in front of me responded, "Jesus Christ himself couldn't get his bags in less than an hour in Atlanta Hartsfield."

When you do get through security, you will need to travel 1.5 miles by train to the 2nd baggage claim. If you are lucky, your bag will arrive when you do. If it arrives before you do, there's every chance you will never see it again... the 2nd baggage claim is open to the street, and can be (and is) entered by anyone with sticky fingers and a waiting car.

Welcome to Atlanta.

Technorati Tags: atlanta, airport, hartsfield, concourse e, security, arrivls

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 04:10pm in Bizarre & Unexpected, Is Tedious in the House?, Travel | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

8 Twitter tips from a n00b

Those of you wondering about whether to start using Twitter might want to read friend David Murray's new article "How to use Twitter & whether to bother" on Ragan.com.

Murray, who is a technology skeptic, approaches Twitter as a gonzo reporter. While I'm sure this seemed like a good way to go, theMurr ended up getting a mash-note from the überbitch cartoon character of social media and flamed by one of the nicest people around. All in his first day. Probably not an auspicious start.

I'm quoted here and there in the article. Accurately and completely, of course. But reading the article makes me want to offer a few (entirely personal) tips based on my n00bish experience of a year or so on Twitter.

1. Twitter is not a social network. Twitter is micro-blogging.
2. Twitter becomes a social network.
3. "What are you doing?" is not a question you should answer.
4. "What are you doing?" becomes a question you are allowed to answer.
5. The shelf life of any "tweet" is about 20 minutes. But tweets are carved in stone.
6. Replies to your "tweets" are far more important than comments to your blog.
7. Twitter is a river you live beside. You don't have to see every passing boat or catch every fish to live beside it.
8. If your peer group is on Twitter, you miss a lot if you are not there, too.

More to come on each tip in the next few days!

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:09pm in Social Media | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Hopkins & Cook publish revised Social Media white paper

Lee Hopkins and Trevor Cook, two of Australia's the world's quick-witted thinkers about social media, have published the 3rd edition of their white paper Social Media (or how we stopped worrying and learnt to love communication).

In 46 pages of crisp writing, they cover the basics -- more, actually -- of blogging, podcasting, social networks (Facebook, Twitter) and virtual worlds (Second Life). Lot's of input from other social media users, and lots of links to best practice sites.

And it's free. So if you are new to social media, this is the place to go.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:14pm in Communication, Social Media, Writing I Enjoy | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)