via kikolani.com
The HTC Rhyme
The HTC Rhyme is something of a delicate matter, as it is HTC's firstphone that is said to have been designed with a female audience in mind. Yet it comes in dull colours and looks quite a lot like every other HTC handset we’ve seen so far.
PENTAX Q-REVIEW
Let’s get one thing straight from the start. The Pentax Q is quite an incredible camera to behold. It’s tiny. But not only is it tiny, it also looks great.
NIKON 1 V1
Nikon has announced two new compact system cameras: the Nikon 1 V1 and the Nikon 1 J1. We got our hands on both new cameras today, so until we can bring you our Nikon 1 V1 review
The ULTra Personal Rapid Transit System
"Think of it as a horizontal lift," says Fraser Brown, managing director of ULTra, the company that has built a new way to travel to Heathrow Terminal 5 from the business car park
THREE MIFI HSPA
Three has updated its MiFi range with the new Huawei E586 complete with HSPA+, and we have managed to get our hands on one to test out all its mobile internet goodness
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
14 Best Practices for Long-Term Social Media Success
Brian Solis is principal of Altimeter Group, a leading research-based advisory firm. Brian is also the author of the all-new Engage!, an award-winning guide for businesses to build and measure success in the social web. Follow him on Twitter.
As a consumer, you are blasted with the same request over and over: “Follow Us on Twitter, Like Us on Facebook.” Why should I? What’s in it for me? These are questions of which a significant number of businesses cannot genuinely answer.
Today, a notable number of businesses are approaching branded social channels from a “ready, fire, aim” approach. This method conjures a facade of achievement when in fact, any progress, if at all recognized, is short term and shoddy at best. Many focus on numbers without first analyzing who they’re trying to reach and, more importantly, how engagement satisfies the needs of their customers. Without a mature content and engagement strategy, a great unfollow and unlike movement is inevitable.
A Focused Perspective
The key to zooming in on purpose and usefulness within social channels starts with the realization that there is no one audience. Nor is there a sustainable market for branded messages, marketing campaigns, or “Tweet/Like to Win” contests. Indeed, every channel created to represent the brand must carry a purpose, mission and corresponding value. One of the most common questions I’m asked by businesses of all shapes and sizes is, “What is the right number of accounts we should have in each social network?” Or, “How many profiles is too many or too few?”
The answer is as simple as it is revealing. Create the number of channels that meaningfully extend the focus of your business. Only create channels that enhance the brand message without diluting it. And make sure you have the capacity to keep all the channels relevant.
So what are the best practices for creating an engaging social stream? Let’s take a look at the traits of some of the more successful and regarded brands in the business.
1. Design an Effective Channel Strategy: Evaluate the main brand, sub brands and notable personalities that engender a “follow worthy” or “likable” presence. If there are other accounts that exist beyond the initial strategy, assess their value as a standalone channel and its current state. It may be best to simply truncate accounts or close them all together.
2. Create a Life Support System: Develop an organized framework that supports each presence uniquely. Ensure that each account establishes a rhythm that meets the needs of its audience.
3. Mission and Purpose: Know the audience you’re trying to reach and design a communicable mission and purpose for each account.
4. Develop an Editorial Program: Create an editorial program that addresses the various needs of the social consumer including entertainment, sales, service, engagement, HR, etc. Evoke the new K.I.S.S. (Keep It Significant and Shareable). Create content that’s both engaging, contextually relevant and shareable. Think beyond the basics and use polls, curation, promotional content and questions to your advantage.
5. Construct a Listening Framework: The best listeners make the best conversationalists. Build a listening framework that monitors the brands as well as the distinct conversations related to each account.
6. Establish Conversational Workflow: Each account requires an information path and workflow. They also require bridges between them to ensure that every representative is informed and that the right delegates within the business are on point to engage or respond accordingly.
7. Formulate a Decision Tree: Draft a clear flowchart that details the steps for a variety of “if this happens, then do this” situations. This is designed to help representatives follow a defined path for the real-time nature of engagement.
8. Initiate a Training Program: Representatives will require ongoing training to stay sharp and focused. Every engagement either reinforces or takes away from the brand experience. As technology moves faster than our ability to master its lessons, training keeps employees on track.
9. Install a Governance and Reward System: Much like the marketing team protects the integrity of the brand and how it’s presented, a social team is necessary to manage the integrity of each Twitter account as well as the overall portfolio. At the same time, a reward system must be put in place to encourage exceptional work.
10. Draft a Social Media Brand Style Guide: Chances are a style guide already exists that communicates brand presentation, usage guidelines and other forms of brand-related marketing aesthetics. This guide requires a significant update to account for social media. Its primary function is to define the brand persona, characteristics, voice, and essence.
11. Compose Guidelines: Develop a social media policy that conveys the Dos and don’ts of social media. If one already exists, update it. Current laws may protect employees’ rights to express opinion about employers within their personal accounts. Additionally, many employees complain that the existing guidelines are either too extreme or ambiguous to define successful engagement. Design the guideline to serve as guardrails and also a roadmap to success.
12. Serve Customers and Prospects: Social consumers now expect brands to solve problems and answer questions in social streams. Each channel requires a service function or a dedicated channel to satisfy needs and promote appreciation and loyalty.
13. Employ Language and Timing Techniques: Two points of note — timing is everything and in brevity there’s clarity. Studies already show that the timing and language of tweets and Facebook updates determine overall reach and engagement. Optimize language and timing to make every update count.
14. Design Engagement and Performance Metrics: Monitor the performance of each account to improve its engagement and editorial strategy.
Following these best practices will prevent your brand from falling victim to the coming wave of customer unlikes and unfollows. But more importantly, focusing social channels and investing in the value of each will improve the customer experience and encourage greater engagement. By increasing meaningful interaction, brand reach is dramatically amplified through the social effect. Your customers will not only be encouraged to “like” your brand, but genuinely love it.
Interested in more Soccial Media resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.
via mashable.com
Monday, May 2, 2011
VIEW OF DEAD BIN LADEN---Fight over release of Bin Laden body photographs
Fight over release of Bin Laden body photographs
Published: 02 May, 2011, 20:35
A news broadcast on Arabic satellite news channel Al-Arabiya showing an image which has been circulating on the internet and allegedly shows the body of Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, on May 2, 2011 (AFP Photo / Sabah Arar)
Even hours after President Barak Obama announced the death of Osama Bin Laden on Sunday night, people began rallying for the release of photos of the deceased al-Qaeda leader.
But although US officials have attested without a doubt that it is the body of Bin Laden that was identified and buried at sea, skepticism is already running rampant among the public. While many are championing the release of the death photos to see the damage done by US troops, others are seeking out photographic proof to serve as confirmation of the assassination of the 9-11 mastermind.
“There’s no doubt it’s him,” said a US official to ABC News. The source says that they have seen the photos that show the slain terrorist—all 6’4” of him—complete with head wounds, guts and gore. Officials have confirmed that, with the help of DNA testing, they have “99.9 percent certainty” that it was Bin Laden that they took down. Even if they may be ripe with exposed brains and bloodied flesh, though, many Americans are already bringing forth allegations involving alternative theories behind the demise of Bin Laden.Infowars.org has reported that one former Bin Laden affiliate says that the corpse of Bin Laden has been “on ice” for nearly a decade, with government officials awaiting an opportune moment to disclose the details of his death. They say that former Council on Foreign Relations member Steve R. Pieczenik confirmed the death of Bin Laden back in 2002 and that the video of the al-Qaeda leader taking credit for the September 11 attacks was a hoax used to manipulate the public in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack. A newswire issued by the ANI news agency cites a Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) statement that also denies reports that Bin Laden was killed, and the Afghan Taliban has denounced such allegations as well. Retired Brig. and Ex Chief of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence Hameed Gul says that "The statements by the Americans don’t seem a reality, in the visuals of Osama, he seems much younger and they claim that no American was killed in the helicopter crash, I doubt all this. Obama is a smart person, this is a great start to his election campaign. The time is tough for Pakistan now."Overseas, even others continue to dispute the claims. Syed Munawar Hasan, a member of parliament for Ameer Jamat-e-Islami, is telling the media that the US’ false claim nothing other than propaganda directed against PakistanFurthermore, Infowars goes on to cite several other leading officials that have alleged Bin Laden has been long deceased, conjuring recollections of Former CIA official Robert Baer confirming his death in 2008, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s assumption that he had passed in 2002 and even Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's 2003 announcement that she believed President George W Bush was waiting for a politically expedient moment to speak about the capture of Bin Laden.As US officials announced today that photos of Bin Laden’s corpse exist — yet may or may not be released to the media—and that the body has already been disposed of before public consumption, many are demanding proof before they play ball with the word of the government.
If the photos are released, they are said to show a massive head would about the left eye of Bin Laden. The US government released photos of the slain sons of Saddam Hussein in 2003, but not until morticians had acted on the bodies.
