Some other tweets posted by BPGlobalPR:

• I used to have to kick a sandcastle to ruin a child’s day. Now I just throw a match at it. That’s progress. ^Tony about 5 hours ago via web
• Man, we miss the days when an Easter weekend and Terry Schiavo distracted you from our deadly mistakes. http://ow.ly/1ZzL3 about 5 hours ago via web
• We will not honor any claims or complaints unless they are submitted as delicate, yet robust haikus. Go ahead, try. #bphaiku about 9 hours ago via TweetDeck
• In case you missed our latest magic show, we made a fire vortex on the water! Tada! http://ow.ly/1Zw6h #bpmagic about 10 hours ago via TweetDeck
• We’ve sent a free $200 whores gift basket to our workers on the beach in lieu of respirators. http://ow.ly/1ZupI #bpcares about 11 hours ago via web

Obviously this is a stunt as someone has created the account earlier today. I’m sure the account will be deleted soon, but if it raises awareness and gets reports of Justin Bieper of the radio then I’m all for it. In amongst all the tweets there are some interesting links to read from credible sources (although you might find main stream media not so credible due to reports that there is a ‘Mass Media Blackout’, either way check it out. I got a laugh out of it and became more informed at the same time).

Cost-Effective Scalability, Oh-my!

Lightweight Models & Cost-Effective Scalability, Oh-my!

Lightweight Models & Cost-Effective Scalability, Oh-my!

It might seem like a quest to have the best of everything but Lightweight Models & Cost-Effective Scalability isn’t that mythical. You don’t have to battle the the wicked witches, but that doesn’t say it is a simple path to take either.

So lets talk about an example that exists out there already:

Wikipedia – www.wikipedia.org

We all know what Wikipedia is but in case you missed it (perhaps your just starting to use a computer?), Wikipedia is a free-content encyclopedia that is based on an openly=editable model. It allows users to add articles/pages and also edit existing ones in a self organising way.

So lets take a look at some stats and see how large Wikipedia is, bear in mind this is only the English side of Wikipedia and doesn’t count for other languages.

I’ve also put together a more visual representation taken from the wiki stats page, Click to enlarge the view!

So there is no doubt that Wikipedia is large, and they have use an Open Source, Scalable solution across multiple servers, multiple countries, etc. All with less than 30 staff members dedicated staff members. Of course you don’t have to be as large as wikipedia to use the software and there are in fact many smaller sites that use the same software. You might not have the large economies of scale either, and that doesn’t matter because there are effective solutions out there.

Enter LAMP, a solution stack of open source software that is ready to take on your needs. LAMP is actually an acronym (not a light stand) that represents the key open source software packages.

Linux – An operating system
Apache – A HTTP web server
MySQL – Database software
PHP – A language in which you can code web pages

LAMP allows you set up and host your own site with ease, it is scalable and as for the cost effect side – it is Open Source. I’ve heard lots of rumours but I haven’t been able to find any ‘hard facts’, but major sites like Facebook and Flicr are based on LAMP, or at least were at some stage. I could say my site is based on a LAMP distro to also make a point (but it isn’t), however there is nothing stopping you from starting your own site and doing so.

The next biggest craze though is cloud-computing and business creating their sites of API’s, and renting CPU power from Google, while hosting data on Amazon S3, etc. The reason I avoided this is because it is very much on the hype cycle and I don’t feel comfortable not having that much control. This might be changing (and it looks so), but it is hard to recommend outsourcing a solution when you can get started yourself easily with LAMP!

The original Napster was a hugely successful online music sharing service, which was shut down by court order. However it paved the way for many other P2P file-sharing programs. The question of whether these sites are ethical is still a controversial issue.

So what can the music industry do to solve this dilemma? There has been an interesting site discussed on several blogging networks that may just have a solution.

Guvera, a new website has stated that they have found a way to make downloading music legal! “The biggest change to media in history. Music, film and TV for free”. As stated on their Myspace page, Guvera is set to give people access to free music, built around a very unique business model that still pays the artists.

There is a still a lot of mystery surrounding the site, however you can pre-register at www.guvera.com. The site asks its users a number of questions, such as their interests in music, food, films, countries and much more.

For more information, click on the following link:

http://www.promoney.com.au/pdf/client_resources/Guvera_Investor_Presentation_August09___1_20.pdf

http://www.promoney.com.au/pdf/client_resources/pdf2/Guvera_Investor_Presentation_August09___2_20.pdf

It appears as although advertisers will be paying for the free content themselves. This concept definitely sounds like a new and exciting way to gain access to television, film and music content. I think it could represents a new Internet phenomenon.

What are your thoughts on the matter, would you be more tempted to download content if it is free and legal? Or would relying on advertisers to provide this service deter you? I for one cannot wait to see what Guvera presents.

Information on the internet suggests that the planned launch of mid this year has had some unexpected delays but it can’t be too long now.

• http://twitter.com/Guvera – Guvera’s Twitter Account
• http://www.myspace.com/guveradotcom – Guvera’s My Space Account
• http://www.linkedin.com/companies/guvera – Guvera’s LinkedIn Account

iSnack2.0

Vegemite's next generation product - iSnack2.0

The new product from Kraft did engage the community by asking them questions about the old classic Vegemite. In fact over 300,000 people engaged in an online survey to come up with the new product (How Do You Like Your Vegemite Census – 2008). Further on from the survey they opened up a forum to the public where you can share how you eat your Vegemite. I’ve copied a few responses that caught my eye below!

• Vegemite with Spaghetti Bolognaise
• Vegemite with Pancakes
• Vegemite with Tomoatoe Sauce (Toast)
• Vegemite in Mashed Potatoe
• Vegemite with Bananas
• Vegemite Gravy

So getting back to the survey and the new name. Over 48,000 names for the new product were suggested from Australia and New Zealand combined and a Web Designer from Western Australia won it. Now I think engaging the community is great, but perhaps this is an example where there also needed to be a voting system in place as I don’t think this is a good title. I’ve mentioned before that “web 2.0″ (by the way that is where his inspiration was from) is a buzz word and is a trend that is dropping. The lower case i follow by an upper case letter and the rest of the word is also a fad to going on at the moment (think of all the Apple products).

More to the point, where do you draw the line between technology / food / consumer engagement / common sense / control and how will the success of the product be monitored (sales naturally I imagine as money wins?

The new label and product will hit our shelves October 5th which I’m sure will have a take up as people will be keen to taste the new product, I just feel that product such as Vegemite which has become an Australian icon has taken the wrong move with its product name. On the other side, it is a great example how a company has engaged its consumers to come up with a new product and meet the needs, the survey itself was a good idea.

Anyway let me know what you think about the new name and if you are keen to try the product!

Twitter is a micro blogging web 2.0, social networking, latest trend, etc…. site….. that allows you to post short messages (think sms), videos, links, photos ‘Out There’ (the Internet/twitter sphere). If you are more of a video person, the guys at http://www.commoncraft.com have put together a great video which you can watch here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

Or just click play – below:

So in short, it is a way read and share messages from people you know to see what they are up to and also a way to see what the rest of the world is up to. Of course not everyone is doing that, or believes there is a point in doing that. If you have the time, take a look at this interview that David Letterman had with Kevin Spacey: Letterman on Twitter: “A Waste of Time”

It is a great video and well worth the watch. But it does raise the question. Is Twitter a waste of time? Before I answer, I would like to point to another video by Common Craft which can be watched here – http://www.commoncraft.com/twitter-search

or just watch the video below:

So if you had to ask yourself as a business is Twitter as waste of time? I would strongly advise you to rephrase that and put forward the question ‘Can we ignore twitter?’.

I would like to focus on Dell. They have embraced the web, and have been a great example how distribution/warehouse costs can be managed effectively to create a ‘just on time’ business model with its partners. Until this year, they only sold their products online. Now they have changed that and have Dick Smith Electronics, and Officeworks where you can walk into a store and buy a PC.

So what have Dell done with twitter? Embraced it! Here are a few of the Dell twitter accounts (there were at least 20 different accounts I found I could follow depending on my needs):

• http://twitter.com/Direct
• http://twitter.com/DellHomeSalesAU
• http://twitter.com/Direct2Dell
• http://twitter.com/DellYourBlog

Dell has been tracking the amount of people who have clicked through their links and it has raked in a cool $3 million (Mentioned on ViralBlog). With results like that it puts Dell up there in the top 100 most mentioned brands on twitter. For a full list of sites you can check out www.revolutionmagazine.com where you can see the likes of Starbucks taking up first position.

The contents in of the e-mail displays Abbey’s opinion that the client is a ‘complete dick’ and is asking how to deal with him. Shortly after Craig received the e-mail he has forwarded it on to his contacts. From there, they have forwarded it on, and so forth until it has landed in my inbox (Brisbane, Queensland). After forwarding this e-mail on again a co-worker started a search on the web with her name.

Straight away he was able to find her name in the search results and it appears that Abbey has sky rocketed on search results, but hit rock bottom in creating a positive web presence. Not only has these made it on twitter, digg and blogs. Newspapers and the media have posted this on their own sites (and most likely printed it in their paper) across the world. I’ve copied some of the search results are below:

Abbey Sherwell

Abusive email accidentally sent to client goes viral

Leaked Entertainment Books email trail

Account manager sacked after accidentally abusing client by email

Fans defend Geelong worker sacked over email

Geelong women sacked for sending obscene email to client

How not to do business: a lesson by Abbey Sherwell

Do Your Own Search – http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=Abbey+Sherwell

If you want to read the e-mail yourself, there are plenty of links above. Two links I didn’t include are the facebook groups which have now been created. The are a ‘Save Abbey Sherwell’ and ‘Don’t Save Abbey Sherwell’, which at time of writing has a 173 members vs 86 members respectfully. These numbers for me represent an example of a basic poll on how people feel about what has happened. How do you feel?

This is a great example of how powerful and viral the web is becoming and it doesn’t look like it is going to slow down. It also means that a creating a positive web presence is becoming an essential thing in our everyday world. Future employers don’t just look at resumes any more, they do a search for you on the net to see what is out there. They want to know who you are and what you do.

For me reading this article made me feel a bit sorry for Abbey, but as a gentle reminder that keeping professional practice in the workplace (both internally and externally) is essential as you never know what could happen. If you have other examples or can share your own story be sure to leave a comment.

How would Abbey Sherwell combat this?

Has it made you think differently how you act in the workplace?

Do you think what has happened is fair?

Have you been forwarded the e-mail yourself already?

• Blogs
• Blogging
• Blogshphere
• Web 2.0
• Social networking
• Online Interactions
• Enterprise 2.0
• Tweets

Is what it is all about these days. Interactions between platforms, instant communication and feedback. Suddenly a target audience of a few because an audience of many.

I’ve just bought myself an iPhone and have found it incredibly easy not online get online and use, but through the app store. Download a wordpress app to post this article, download a twitter app to see what is going on (I created a twitter account last night) and post (photos included).

With a little bit of work I was able to integrate the two together on my site automatically. So I thought I would share a quick story about how I first used twitter, before creating an account.

A co-worker and I were having lunch outside, enjoying a burger at the the local fish and chips shop (Fish Kitchen) and we started seeing smoke in the air. We all had guesses of what it was and with our bad sense of direction we didn’t get close. On the way back to work we started seeing the news choppers flying over head, we knew this had to be big news and with a tip from a passer by, it sounded like a pub had caught fire.

So we made a competition to see who could find out what was happening first back in the office. I did a few searches on google news. It didn’t turn up any results, so I thought I would try twitter for the first time. With a few searches of ‘pub fire’ I soon found out that it was the Norman Hotel that had caught on fire. A few more tweets and I found out the #hashtag which had been created and I started getting photos of what was happening in real time. I had clearly won the competition and it at least 15 minutes before the mainstream media posted anything. Around 5 minutes later before mainstream media had ant photos. Another 5 – 10 minutes before they posted video from the choppers.

The craziest thing was that it was twitters that had posted links to the news articles as they were been posted, not the media themselves. In a competition to get the news out. Social networking sites like Twitter were miles ahead and it really gave a sense that the power is with the people. I even found that I was really well informed and there were photos the media just didn’t have (A guy working opposite took a photo as he was clearing the area, another one with fire trucks, etc).

Now that I’m on twitter, have an iPhone in my pocket. I’m ready to bring you “the news first”, “as it happens”, because why write it down on paper for just myself?