FreshNetworks Blog

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Given the recent announcement that criminal records checks on volunteer child workers are to be scaled back,  the publication of an updated set of guidelines for moderating ‘interactive services’ aimed at young audiences seems like a very timely one and one that any brand or social media agency working with these audiences needs to be aware of.

Launched on Safer Internet Day (Feb 8 2011) by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, the guidelines were written with the help of child safety experts, charities and specialist moderation agencies, including our friends at eModeration and Tempero.  This is another step taken towards improving self-regulation within the social media industry, which is important for three reasons:

1. Brands have a more comprehensive, up to date framework (last set of guidelines were released in 2005) from which to confidently build and manage online communities, social networks, and social media campaigns, in a way that is safe for under 18’s.
2. The implementation of higher standards of training and moderation by proactive brands will further safeguard against unsuitable individuals interacting with children online.
3. Worried parents will be able to build more trust in the brands that are seen to implement the very highest child safety standards for the online worlds, in which their children take part in on a daily basis.

In summary, the document does the following:

• Describes the different types of user interactive services e.g. forums, message boards, chat and instant messaging, social networks

• Informs organisations of the potential risks to children using interactive services.

• Informs organisations of the issues they should take into account when considering the necessary safeguards to deploy.

• Describes the types of moderation that can be used.

• Assists organisations develop, review or update polices on the recruitment, selection, training and supervision of moderators to safeguard against unsuitable individuals gaining contact with children and reporting of incidents and concerns

If you’re in the business of building and managing online communities, as FreshNetworks is, please do read these guidelines which are also available on the UKCCIS site

Yesterday I went to a Social Media Week event hosted by the Central Office of Information (COI) that focused on data.gov.uk.

Data.gov.uk is a programme that was initiated under Gordon Brown’s tenure of Labour leadership and now continues on in a slightly slimmed down version under the coalition government.

The basic idea is that different parts of government, at local and national level, share relevant data they produce with the public. It’s a great idea because it encourages departments to be open and honest, providing the British people with access to the data that they essentially “own”.

Learnings so far:

• They’ve realised that it’s not an IT project, but a data project. It sounds obvious, but all the early problems were IT related; they soon realised they needed to focus on the data itself.
• They established public data principles, helping them publish the data in ways people can use it, like using infographics and standard data formats which can be manipulated in Excel. (Click on the infographic above or here to see it enlarged).
• They learned they need basic data standards across government organisations.
• They learned that with programmes like this, it’s best to get something out, event if it’s a rough version of what it will eventually become, and then improve it as time goes by. This helps get people engaged in the project early on.

How is the project using social media?

• They currently have several blogs, with sharing functionality and comments etc.
• There is a wiki for data.gov.uk where people can contribute and learn about the programme.
• There is an active community engaged around the programme, many of whom are developers and data analysts .
• They have realised there are distinct audiences they need to communicate with through social media and that there are different best practices for each. For example, they know that all the developers are on twitter and communicate in forums.

For those interested in social, especially it’s applications around government, probably the most exciting news is that the Data.gov.uk programme has been something of a pioneer in government for trialling the ways social might impact government activity.

It’s become a good hub for testing ideas and working out best practise, and is leading the way in taking social into other parts of government.

On Tuesday, as part of social media week,  I attended an event on “The Future of TV Advertising – Keeping it Social”. The discussion centered on how social media can bring the fragmented viewing experience back to a shared one.

Here are the main points of interest from the debate:

Traditional TV adverts

• Ads can get exponential views on YouTube – people will search for, and share, their favourite ads.
• Sky offers viewers a ‘green button’ for ads to be recorded for re-viewing or sharing with friends.
• TV ads don’t even need to be broadcast during the Superbowl – this year a large amount of “Superbowl Ads” were launched on Youtube and never broadcast on TV – huge savings!
• Lynx/Axe has released an advert virally, aiming to learn how to edit/adjust it for the broadcast version, with the hope that final version will then once again go viral. (People I spoke to afterwards were doubtful about the practicalities and costs of doing this – but it’s an interesting experiment).
• TV ads are not the be-all and end-all! ABInbev are now realizing the importance of digital for engaging young beer drinkers while they’re still developing their tastes, before they get cemented on just one or two brands.

Viewing devices for the future

• 2010 election debate – interaction from Facebook and Twitter demonstrate that live social commentary has well and truly arrived.
• However, tablets will be the next big thing with UK tablet ownership to reach 8.6m by 2014.
• Internet connected TVs will be mass-market in 2014 and are offering another avenue for ad content and social recommendation to be integrated in the viewing experience.

Social TV products to watch out for

• Miso -allows users to check-in to what they are watching; like 4square for TV (e.g. badges)
• GetGlue – same as Miso
• Starling – for “event TV” – allows audience to interact and discuss live with other fans, or restrict the circle to your friends

Examples of social integration with TV:

• Grey’s Anatomy -apparently a recent broadcast (last week in the US) overlaid an iPad app on the show. One of the characters is using twitter in the episode, and it was possible to follow this stream. This is being described as an example of what may appear in the UK when product placement regulations are loosened.
• Facebook events -setting up a Facebook event allows fans to RSVP to a show – share with their friends what they will be viewing in advance. The panel member from Facebook said this is already taking place and that we should all have seen this before. We haven’t as of yet so we’re interested to see if anyone else has?
• Facebook games running alongside broadcasts
• Million Pound Drop Live has hundreds of thousands of people playing along in parallel to the broadcast via a Facebook game. This is claimed to be just 10% of the viewing audience and so is just the start of things to come.

The key thought which came from the event was that brands who are already social-conscious will be the ones to succeed with these future tools. The adage of not shouting but listening has to be kept in mind – the brands that can find a way to lead from the 30-second “shout” into a social conversation will go on to lead the way.

If you’ve got any pics from social media week events why not upload them through instagram so they can appear on our social media week instagram photo wall? Just tweet them with the hashtag #smw and we’ll pick them up!

A few months ago I came across a blog post which compared Nestle’s Polo Mint social media campaign to that of  Mars – owned chewing gum brand Wrigley’s Extra.

Now that the campaigns have been going for a few months it’s interesting to see how things have developed.

Polo Mints

When it comes to eating Polos, are you a “sucker” or a “cruncher”?  An app on Polo’s site helps you determine which camp you fall into and then invites you to join fellow Suckers or Crunchers on a tailored Facebook page depending on the outcome.

At the time of writing, the combined total of fans for both pages was just over 56,000.

There are a variety of  Polo-based games on the site, all of which feature a running total score for each of the respective “teams”, promoting a lighthearted form of competition between the two sides that’s not dissimiliar to Cadbury’s spots v stripes campaign.

Beyond these gadgets however there is very little discussion taking place on either the “Suckers” or “Crunchers” wall. If you filter out posts made by the page admin you can see that the  community has suffered from a degree of neglect.

The most recent posts at the time of writing this blog were from 24th December announcing the close of a competition, and the weeks prior to that have simply been messages to encourage participation.  General posts that are unrelated to games or contests are usually statements rather than launch points for discussion; for example,  “I crunch therefore I am” or “Make it last – suck it”. While these posts do generate some response, the limited scope in terms of content is apparent, hence the lack of real engagement.

Wrigley’s Extra

While Polo’s campaign has the interesting dynamic of pitting fans against each other,  Wrigley’s approach demonstrates a method that goes beyond the way its product is consumed, and promotes community discussion for “foodies”  and people who are interested in good food and eating.

The Wrigley’s page is created with the premise that strongly flavoured food and drink, while one of life’s pleasures, are not necessarily things we wish to carry with us for the rest of the day on our breath.

This simple message is not directly centred on the product itself and offers several options for sustainable engagement. A clear example of this is the Enjoyment Map – a simple Google maps app that allows Wrigley’s fans to share and rate their favourite “foody” destinations.

If you filter the posts properly there is a near daily drip-feed of discussion points, ranging from debates on the best pickled food (onion, egg, or gherkin?) to the best national cuisine (which prompted a very long discussion and over 123 comments).

These discussions are generally well received, and topical timing (“Anyone else’s coffee machine working overtime today?” on a Monday, for example) fosters a united feeling between the members themselves, as well as between the members and Wrigley’s.

Conclusion

At a top level, there are more Facebook “Likes” on the Wrigley’s page than on the two Polo Mint pages combined, and well over 2.5 times the fans. Looking beyond the superficial comparison of the fan counts, it is the sustainable conversation topics and levels of engagement from Wrigley’s that makes its community the most valuable.

While Polos identified a fun and lighthearted approach to giving their fans a sense of identity, the campaign is centred around the product itself and by looking wider, Wrigley’s will be able to sustain engagement for as long as their fans enjoy eating and drinking…which will probably be a long time.

It’s social media week and as there’s so much going on all around the world we’ve decided to create  a lasting visual tribute to all the individuals, brands and agencies that are involved.

We thought it would be fun to experiment with photo sharing tool Instagram, and so over the weekend we created a live photo wall which pulls in images, in real-time, from social media week events all across the globe. Check it out at smw.freshnetworks.com.

Now it’s up and running we need you to help us capture social media week.

Think about what makes Social Media Week for you. The people you meet? The places you go to? The speakers that inspire you? Whatever it is, we want you to get your iPhone out,  snap it, tag it with #smw and then share it with Instagram.

Why Instagram?

It’s social, it’s simple and it makes even the worst photo look fantastic. (If you’re not already on it, you can download it for  FREE  from the Apple App Store).

How to get involved:

• Take your Social Media week 2011 photo with Instagram.
• Tag it with #smw.
• That’s it. We’ll do the rest.

Look out for your photos at smw.freshnetworks.com.

Don’t have an iphone? Just upload your images to twitter with the #smw hashtag and we’ll pick them up from there.