Nielsen just recently released its Social Media Q3 Report and, unsurprisingly, social media is on the rise. Anyone who is remotely connected to the outside world could have guessed that social media is infiltrating almost every aspect of how we live. Whether it’s brands asking consumers to “like” them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter, or live events like political debates or sporting games flashing a hashtag for people to join a live discussion of the event, social media is seemingly everywhere! And, while the Nielsen report may simply confirm what we already know, some of the stats they’ve uncovered are still mind-boggling enough to make your jaw drop. more… New Social Media Stats – Who is Most Likely to Network?

The app. This expression is actually an abbreviation of the word application. Applications such as calendars and calculators had already been on the first mobile phones but with the invention of the iPhone a whole world with small varied apps seemed to arise. Meanwhile, the number of different apps for multiple operating systems on different output devices such as smartphones or tablet computers has become unmanageable, but you will always find new little gadgets that are more or less useful or that make everyday life easier.
Here are two top and flop apps: more… Apps – must-haves and useless stuff

The Boston Globe recently published a slideshow series on social media etiquette, listing helpful tips, dos, and don’ts of social networking sites, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. As social media continues to evolve, many are still learning as they go and will likely get their wrists slapped along the way. To help prevent any blunders though, reading through some of these highlights may be a good place to start! more… Social Media Dos and Don’ts

This year, the IFA took place in the German capital Berlin from 2nd to 7th September 2011, and there was not only a record in the number of guests, but there were also many bizarre but nevertheless useful gadgets to explore.
238 000 visitors attended the huge trade show with 140,200 square meters and 1,441 exhibitors.

This year, the technical focus was on Tablet PCs, Ultrabooks and 3D-Smart-TV as well as on all kinds of gadgets like housekeeping robots or video Post-its for the refrigerator.

The leading innovation, however, is and will remain three-dimensional technology, which was presented in all its facets: displays, pocket camcorders with double lenses to take both videos and photos in 3D and laptop computers with three-dimensional displays. And the best thing is: There is no need of 3D-glasses anymore! At this point though, we may ask ourselves if those three-dimensional displays supplement or replace the classic, “normal” displays.

And this gadget is simply grandiose: The loudspeaker by Gear4 in the style of the famous birds from the gaming app Angry Birds. This will put a smile on the face of every Angry Bird fan and everyone who is secretly addicted to this game. Whether we use it as an iPod docking-station or as a plug-and-play-loudspeaker – we would love to let those adorable creatures play our music.

The “Brain Wave mind control” by Haier whereas, could be rather called bizarre or very futuristic. “Brain Wave mind control” enables humans by means of a headset to switch channels or control volume with the mere thought of it.
Of course remote.

What Day Should App Day Be?

Ok, crazy idea time: I just picked up my phone and found that there were updates for about ten of my applications, some of which I know were updated just days ago, or at most, maybe a couple weeks ago. I find this somewhat annoying.

Firstly, though not really of concern for me as I am still grandfathered in to Verizon’s unlimited data plans, is that updates take bandwidth. If you have to contend with multiple updates that come one after another for each of your apps, many only to fix one small thing that should have been grouped in with others, and you’re not using an unlimited data plan, these app updates are wasting your bandwidth allotment, and potentially costing you money if they result in overages. more… “Yo, When Does the New App Drop?” Why Apps Need A Taste of the Music Scene

The latest comment for the German PR magazine PR Report was provided by Vera Likhosherstova from GlobalCom Russia. The article was published in the September issue of the magazine  (see image). Here’s the English version of Vera’s comment:

You will not grasp her with your mind
Or cover with a common label,
For Russia is one of a kind –
Believe in her, if you are able…

(Fedor Tyutchev, translated by Anatoly Liberman) more… How to curb the Russian Market

I read PR Daily’s piece by David Rockland entitled PR Measurement beyond the Barcelona Principles and it quite rightly stated that AVE will not be missed.  AVE, for those new to PR, stands for advertising value equivalent and is the practice of placing a value on PR as the cost of purchasing the same in advertising space.  This was a common practice in the PR industry many years ago but with most progressive agencies and in house PR teams, it hasn’t even been mentioned or discussed for years.  I would guarantee that over half of our agency has never heard of AVE. more… Barcelona, Lisbon and next year Paris – Does Measurement Travel?

It’s nearly time for IFA again and gadget fans enjoy the variety of product news. Receiving a test product caused a discussion around the topic eReaders versus books during our lunch break. We summarized the exchanged arguments for you: more… eReader versus Book

Has social media lost its kick? Apparently so, according to an eMarketer  article indicating that among 16 to 24 year-olds in the US, social network usage growth has slowed to a crawl while the majority of users on sites like Twitter are primarily focused on disseminating content such as linking to videos and news stories (click here for the report findings). But there is a silver lining – while growth appears to be slowing, original content is in high demand. As noted in the report, consumers are hungry for knowledge from brands, presenting the ideal opportunity for brands to get their message heard. more… Changes in Social Media Behavior Present Opportunities for Fresh Content

When you deal with a topic on a daily basis it is sometimes hard to estimate how informed a larger audience is about it. Is it (still) a topic for experts, is the general public interested at all, what do people think about it and do they feel well informed?
Dealing with the topic smart grid in our daily PR and media activities in the cleantech market we wanted to find out about the knowledge and thoughts of a larger audience. We did a survey with more than 1.000 participant on the topic smart grid via our CleanEnergy Project. more… Smart Grid – hype topic or information gap?