Month: <span>January 2011</span>

Month: January 2011

“C” by Tom McCarthy

I managed to get to the end of “C” without anyone asking me what it’s about. Which is just as well because it’s not a question that lends itself to a short answer. The answer to that question is usually a précis of the story and/or the high concept theme …

The method behind the madness that is @Betfairpoker.

STOP PRESS : This post was published on 24th Jan 2011 based on an interview with Richard Bloch, Head of Global PR at Betfair. I have since interviewed Richard again and the update, published a year later on 15th Jan 2012 can be read here – The @Betfairpoker Twitter story …

The reverse psychology of asterisks and other symbols.

F*ck, sh*t, p*ss, c*nt. People are overly coy with their use of vowels in four letter words on Twitter. To avoid the risk of upsetting people, and (woe of woes) becoming the victim of a mass unfollowing, they replace said vowels with an *, or a £, or a $. …

Foster’s for breakfast, or maybe Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.

“Foster’s for breakfast”, in my student days, was shorthand for a certain type of holiday. A type of holiday whose opening ceremony would be a few early morning pints of the Amber Nectar in the airport lounge. The breakfast of champions. Well Foster’s has replaced the early morning pints with …

Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and a social lesson from 25 years ago.

I saw Bruce Springsteen play Wembley Stadium (the old one) in 1985. And I saw The Rolling Stones play Wembley Stadium in nineteen ninety something. Two big brands. Same platform. Both with access to an engaged community of 70 odd thousand fans. Two very different approaches. And two very different …

RSS. Social inside the circle of trust.

I pointedly haven’t read any of the recent posts predicting the death of RSS. And I’m pointedly not linking to any of them here. Because, whatever those posts say, they’re talking bollocks. Google Reader is my favourite piece of social technology. The probability of it delivering something that I’ll find …