Olympic twitter tagline #080808

Today’s Olympic opening ceremony left me both impressed and confused. The two year rehearsal period paid off and produced the most visually impressive performance that I have ever seen. Ironically the controlled manner in which the performance was carried out mirrors China’s total control over its own and the Tibetan people. However the chineese also encouraged people across the globe to submit online posts and content relating to the Olympic Games.

By adding the tagline #080808 to users content the information could be easily retrieved and then syndicated across multiple official and unofficial sites.

After watching the opening ceremony in Trafalgar square and then examining the sheer number and diversity of messages escalating around the blogosphere a true online community was formed and in full swing.

Hopefully due to the huge number of posts that were being published every second a substantial amount made it through the great firewall of china.

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) Copycat Killing in Thailand

Grand Theft Auto has been blamed for the killing of a taxi driver in Thailand. Plice chef investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak said the 18 year old student "wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game,"
New Era Interactive Media, have now stated that they were "sending out requests today to outlets and shops to pull the games off their shelves and we will replace them with other games."
Chief police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak said, "[The teenager] said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game."
GTA has been taken of the shelves across Thailand as the student awats trial and a ossible death penalty.

NYPD encourages citizens to use their phones to film crime

Two years ago I saw a young teenager who appeared to have stolen 2 DVDs receive OTT manhandling first by a security guard and then by two Hertfordshire police officers. Due to their lack of care and their insistence in holding on to his body a number of struggles soon led to the child being forced face down on a busy Watford high street as the frantic police officers awaited further backup! At the time I complained to the policeman who was brandishing most of the punishment. He took immediate offence and directed some of his rage in a mumbled outburst towards me. This led me to brandish my first video Camera phone (a Nokia 7600). After about 10 seconds of filming I was told by a different officer that I was not allowed to film the incident and if I didn’t leave the scene I would be arrested! Despite other citizens also kicking up a fuss none of our comments were listened to.

We were also told that we could only make a statement if we made our own way to the station. (Regrettably I did not find out where their station was and make a formal complaint). Since then I have been increasingly fascinated in how mobile UGC (user generated content) can help/hinder police investigations and trials. A few months ago I brainstormed ideas surrounding a mobile video upload site for a neighborhood watch campaign. However I disregarded the concept due to the fact that someone filming an incident could easily become a victim if they were seen. Therefore I came to the conclusion that such a campaign would never take off in the UK.

In New York however the police are actively encouraging citizens to stand up against crime and use their phone for the good of their fellow New Yorkers. "We're putting technology in place to enable us to do that. It's a fact of life, everybody has a camera in their telephones. When people can record an event taking place that helps us during an investigation, it's helpful." (New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly) Furthermore the NY police are actively encouraging citizens to film any wrong doings by the police. It will be interesting to see the success of this project and whether such a scheme ay e day be embraced in the UK and across the Globe.

Here is a recent mobile phone video of a NYPD officer assaulting a cyclist. It has already received over 1m views on Youtube:

Youtube Video Marketing Strategy for Charities

Marketeers have been harnessing the power of video on video sharing sites for years. However submitting videos to sites such as Youtube, Yahoo Video, Metacafe etc is now widely embraced by smaller charities and organisations in order to help further their cause.

Small scale Youtube marketing strategy

Ø Watch and research other charities videos
Ø Make your video interesting
Ø Include a call to action at the end
Ø Seed the video using relevant (Meta) keywords and descriptions
Ø Let your user base know that the video exists by sending out an email with a link to the video
Ø Once you have the embed code seed it on Social networking sites (Facebook, Myspace, blogs etc)
Ø Encourage people to share the video
I have helped numerous charities market themselves within video sharing sites. I am happy to give free advice and recommend a bespoke strategy over the phone.