You may have noticed the cute story about Tiger bread. If not, let me summarise:

Giraffe bread

The story starts with a letter to Sainsbury’s from a 3 year old.

“Why is tiger bread called tiger bread? It should be called giraffe bread. Love from Lily Robinson age 3 and 1/2″.

It received a reply and they both got posted on a blog.

“I think renaming tiger bread giraffe bread is a brilliant idea – it looks much more like the blotches on a giraffe than the stripes on a tiger, doesn’t it?

“It is called tiger bread because the first baker who made it a looong time ago thought it looked stripey like a tiger. Maybe they were a bit silly.

“Chris King (age 27 & 1/3)”.

Subsequently the story hit Facebook and Twitter and then this happened:

“In response to overwhelming customer feedback that our tiger bread has more resemblance to a giraffe, from today we will be changing our tiger bread to giraffe bread and seeing how that goes.” (Sainsbury’s)

Speak up!

This story is cute but more importantly it shows that good ideas can make an impact with the support of social networks. If nobody except Lily, her mother and Chris from Sainsbury’s had been aware of the letter it’s unlikely that the change in name would have occurred.

Changing a product name from tiger bread to giraffe bread is hardly a life altering experience. The fact that a three year old can get the attention of the third largest supermarket in the UK, a company with an annual turnover in excess of £21 billion, is exciting.

Marketing gold

Lily’s idea, as well as being practical, has started a new wave of publicity for the company. Anyone reading the news story is likely to come away with a fuzzy glow (unless they’re autobots) with the idea of freshly baked tiger/giraffe bread from Sainsbury’s happily at the forefront of their minds. Feeling hungry? Can you smell the sesame oil?

Thought so.

Credit: Thanks to BBC News for my story quotes.

Restrictions seem to be light if they even exist, as tweets so far have included the announcement of a family member’s death and jokes about Swedish culture.

Sweden claims they want a broad spectrum of citizens to use their account and each individual will get a week to control the updates. It’s a novel way of using the platform and I’m keen to see how the experiment goes.

Twitter has become known for allowing brands and corporations to interact with members of the public and show their human side. It’s been embraced by many businesses in the UK and abroad but for some organisations it’s a risky step that they’d rather not take.

But what are the risks for an entire country?

An embarrassment on Twitter will be stored forever, and may go viral if it’s funny or shocking enough. Could an embarrassment bring down the government? End tourism?

It could certainly damage these things but I wouldn’t avoid visiting or trading with a country just because I disliked what one person who happened to live there said.

Neither would I assume everyone in Sweden is stupid just because one person said something a bit daft online.

Every day people make mistakes or say stupid things online – not using an official country account but still as representatives of their country and culture.

It feels like it could be a risk but I can’t put my finger on anything that might go horribly wrong. An awkward typo? A swear-filled rant? These are far from ideal but the whole point of the project is to give voice to individuals.

Are they censoring?

Given the existing content of their newly taken-over Twitter stream it’s unlikely there’s any serious censorship going on. Perhaps they don’t need censorship because they’ve already vetted the participants?

In any case, I shall be watching with interest and reporting its progress.

If you’re interested in the people in charge, follow the link in the Twitter bio to learn about who is tweeting now. At the time of writing this, Hasan is in charge and he’s a second generation immigrant with an interesting perspective on racial integration in Sweden.

View the Twitter page here: http://twitter.com/sweden/

I’ve noticed a few people following, then unfollowing, then refollowing. If I didn’t follow-back the first time just take the hint.

If you’re unfamiliar with Twitter, let me explain. People can follow me on Twitter, which means they get to see my tweets (little status updates, witty comments, etc). I get notified when they follow me as Twitter sends an email. So, I can see when people follow me initially but if they then stop following me and then start again, I get another email. This is how I know some people are following, unfollowing and refollowing. Got that? Good.

If it was just once per individual you could argue it was a mistake. They pressed the wrong button, unfollowed me and then realised their error. With some people, this has happened several times. In these instances, I think they’re just trying to get my attention.

When I first started using Twitter there was a subculture of people who thought that every follow deserved a returning follow, i.e. if someone follows me I should follow them back. This, to my mind, is a load of nonsense. I’m not interested in absolutely everyone who may wish to follow me and there are only so many people I can physically keep up with so it makes no sense to follow back unconditionally.

I imagine my ‘refollowers’ as people who thought I must have forgotten to follow back the first, second or third time and are trying to get my attention. Again. If they were behaving this way at work or at a party I’d think they were potential stalkers, or at best, utter weirdoes. I’d make sure I didn’t have to sit next to them or get locked into conversation.

Incidentally, if you think the follow/follow back culture is made up nonsense I have to inform you that I still occasionally get followed by people who mention it in their bios. Things like:

Hi, I’m Dan, I love collecting pigs, Jesus and my Mom. I always follow back.

If people have that much free time and are genuinely interested in talking to everyone they meet online then good luck to them. But following back is not something that should be done automatically. Neither is it a rule of the Twitter platform.

Who knows, perhaps there’s another reason for the constant refollows. Any ideas?

Following my recent report into the role of social media in disseminating Anders Breivik’s anti-Islamist manifesto, I’m delving into the aftermath of the UK riots.

When I heard people blaming social media for the riots my first response was to be angry and disbelieving. Social media is just a suite of tools or channels that people can use for good or bad purposes, as I’d already discussed in my recent article for Media140. I can’t have been the only one because the response to these riots online has been substantial.

People are calling for Facebook’s facial recognition capabilities to be used to help identify criminals caught on camera. A wiki, twitter account and hash tag (#riotcleanup) have all been set up with the express purpose of helping to organise and encourage cleanup operations in affected areas. The Met has posted pictures of rioters on Flickr and set up their own hash tag (#tweetalooter) to get help in identifying looters and hooligans.

Blogs, tweets and Facebook updates are all full, either of condemnation for the rioters’ acts or to express support for the cleanups and the police and other emergency services who are trying to deal with the situation.

Making changes

Although it is impossible to hold social media to account for the riots, it must be acknowledged that it has played a role. BlackBerry’s instant messaging service, which allows private and untraceable communication, has been cited as the main reason the attacks could be organised without the police catching on sooner. Even publicly open networks such as Twitter and Facebook can be hard to monitor and yet they all provided a method for rioters to communicate instantaneously. Ideas and news updates spread very quickly and make it hard for the emergency services to keep up.

Is it possible to make changes to the way we use social media? However noble the reasons behind suggesting any changes or restrictions, it would become a matter of freedom of speech. If you say that certain people are not allowed a social media account, you will be infringing their rights and it would be very hard to get that kind of act passed in parliament. The same would be true if you banned certain types of communication. And how would it be policed?

Jonathan Pollinger explained that in China, the government attempted to block certain sites including Facebook but the people have either found a way around the ban or used other networks which sprung up in its place.

So, how about giving the police greater access to our social media accounts? They can already see most of Twitter and Facebook (at least in theory, how much resource they have to monitor it is another question!). BlackBerry’s IM service, known as BBM, is private and supposedly untraceable. There has to be a good reason for this. Government security, MI5 communications or delicate business negotiations may have been the intended uses. Even if rioters are now subverting the technology it doesn’t mean that essential and legitimately private conversations aren’t continuing on the same network.

It is undoubtedly a tricky situation and I fear that, once again, people are required to take responsibility for their own actions. This should be a positive thing. In the case of the rioters, it is clearly not.

If you have an interest in either topic, please follow the links and feel free to add comments on my clients’ sites.

By now, Twitter feels about as new as my ‘decorating jeans’ but unlike that particular garment I still find Twitter useful and enjoyable. Surprisingly, despite its advancing age, there are still a lot of businesses who fail to create a good impression with Twitter. It’s a shame because Twitter is easy to use and there are plenty of third party clients that make it easy to see who is saying what about your company. This post isn’t going to dwell on the technical side of things. Most of these are easy enough to pick up on your own and anything more complicated, well, there are better people to ask than me! What I will do is give a few tips on etiquette that are designed to help business users get more out of Twitter.

Tip #1:

Start with a strategy.

Your strategy doesn’t have to be set in stone but having one will help you keep your updates relevant to your aims. It will also ensure you’re using Twitter in a way that complements other business elements such as your PR, marketing or customer service goals.

Tip #2:

Include a bio and tell people where you are!

You don’t have to give your whole address, just a general idea of where you’re based and what you do. A lot of people on Twitter like to know where their Twitter friends come from – it helps us locate local businesses and understand what time zone people are on. The bio helps us decide who we want to follow and who may be useful or interesting for us. This information can’t always be gleaned from the last couple of tweets. It also helps to build trust – a major issue for Twitter users and important for businesses everywhere!

Tip #3:

Use regularly.

People who manage online communities and companies need to be in regular attendance to build up a following and engage in relevant discussions. If you only check your ‘mentions’ column or direct messages once every six months it will be hard to re-engage with the real people who were tweeting about you.

Tip #4:

If someone tweets at you, answer it!

On Twitter things complaints and compliments can go viral but even when they don’t, there may be people following and tweeting about you that you don’t know about. Use an application like TweetDeck so you can have a ‘mentions’ column right next to your ‘all friends’ feed. You’ll never miss another mention or retweet and it’ll help you resolve complaints in a timely fashion or step in with useful information just when it’s needed. This means happy customers and good (and free) PR!

Tip #5:

Don’t try and hold a one sided conversation.

Tips #3 and #4 may have given this away but just in case, please remember that Twitter is not a broadcast channel. Links to your own products and blog posts shouldn’t be the main feature of your account. You can balance your content by engaging in relevant conversations, posting links that are interesting to your customers but come from other sources, asking questions and commenting on current affairs.*

*Some organisations may have strict rules about what is acceptable and political comment should always be kept neutral. If in doubt, leave it out or save it for your personal account!

If you’ve got any top tips for business users of Twitter feel free to add them as a comment for publication. If you disagree with any of my points, let me know and tell me why. I’m happy to learn new tricks and ideas – especially as I use Twitter for business too!

Cheltenham is known for its festivals – there’s racing, literature, jazz, poetry and now Twestival – a festival with a difference that takes place on the 24^th March at D’Fly.

Most festivals ‘do what they say on the tin’ but Twestival, which is an amalgamation of the words ‘festival’ and social media platform ‘Twitter’, isn’t actually about social media at all. The original concept of a Twestival was to use “social media for social good” and all Twestival events are organised and publicised online to raise money for local charities.

Cheltenham’s event could have been called ‘Live Music Festival’, ‘Casino Festival’, or even ‘Fabulous Cocktail Festival’ because you’ll be able to experience all three on the night!

It’s a small event compared to Cheltenham’s other festivals, starting at 7.30pm on the 24^th March and continuing late into the evening. You may know our host venue D’Fly for its excellent cocktails and delicious Thai food. For the Twestival those cocktails will be on a 2-4-1 offer, along with all bottled and draught beer.

Local bands Saskia Says and Tetrazine will be providing the music and there will be casino tables and an enormous raffle.

The event is raising money for local charity, Grow, which helps excluded people connect with each other and build a sense of community. 100% of Cheltenham Twestival’s proceeds will go to the charity.

You can purchase tickets for £5 online, and a limited number will be available at the door.

Credit goes to Jonathan Pollinger, Kym Swire, Elliott Richmond, Adrian Malpass, Chris Roberts and Rachel Pictor Roberts for their assistance in putting the event together.

Within Europe, we are fortunate to have a relatively good penetration of Internet access, admittedly some countries are better off than others; for example in Finland, the Internet is a human right and broadband access is a legal requirement for the entire country.

However, in other parts of the world countries such as India and South Africa, have technology and infrastructure hurdles to overcome, but are still pushing to connect as many individuals as possible.

As access to the Internet has becomes increasingly entwined as part of everyday lives, what is it that makes many people consider it an essential part of their lives? And would we really suffer without it?

In the first of a two part series, freelance copywriter and editor Rachel Pictor investigates our increasingly complex relationship with the online world…

GROW helps people who have become isolated and excluded from their community for a variety of reasons by bringing them together and teaching them about gardening and caring for livestock.

We hope that tickets will be available by the end of February but you can keep up to date with all the action by following the Twestival online at:

http://cheltenham.twestival.com/

http://facebook.com/chelttwestival

http://twitter.com/chelttwestival

PS. We’re looking for sponsors and raffle prizes – if you think you can help or you simply have a query about the event email chelttwestival@gmail.com

As I was catching up on my reading I was surprised to discover I had something in common with the Editor-at-large of FutureGov Asia Pacific. (As a UK based freelancer with no government tie you may wonder why I was reading it in the first place but that’s a long and tedious story.) The point is I did read it and the Editor, Laurence Millar, was commenting on the need to train “responsible users …for better quality Internet usage”.

In fact he believes it is “essential that governments invest in developing the skills and capabilities of their population.”

I’m not surprised. The Internet has so many uses, both public and private. Social Media has gone from being a lightweight ‘buzz word’ to being a serious marketing and communications tool and a major part of many communities’ lives.

It’s no longer about being able to press the right buttons on the screen. It is about choosing the most appropriate website or social media platform and understanding how and why to use it. With people getting murdered over comments on Facebook and WikiLeaks threatening the power and credibility of governments it’s important to have an understanding of the issues surrounding Internet and Social Media usage. On the flipside, Social Media does have some amazing benefits and can be useful for market research, customer service and B2B or B2C communications. It can also be a lot of fun.

Recently I’ve been writing about some of the issues and opportunities associated with Social Media for Media 140. If you have an interest in Social Media I recommend you take a look.