I have not written in a blog post in a while so I thought I would get back into the swing of things. Rest assured I have still been busy. Sometimes it is good to take a step back once in a while. If you follow me Twitter you may have noticed that I now have over 1000 followers. This is quite an important milestone but I always like to keep things in perspective.

I remember several years ago on MySpace how people would try and just get as many friends as possible thinking that was the way to get popular and recognised but it soon devalued the whole experience. I think many have learned from the mistakes of the past and times have changed a lot since then. I definitely believe in quality over quantity.

When the blog and the Twitter page came into existence a couple of years back I could not of predicted exactly where it would lead. Along the way I have been able to explore the online social space and evolve with it. I have also met some really interesting people in real-life too! So it isn't just about talking online.

As far as this blog goes I am looking to continue to approach different issues and perspectives as well as engage with others. I am planning to expand the online social presence further but that is the subject for another post. If you haven't already, please feel free to check out some of my tunes on my SoundCloud page. Even if you're not into Drum'n'bass or Dubstep you should still give them a listen... :)

One thing I would really like to encourage is comments on my blog too. I really value your input and I look as the blog posts I write as just the starting point to more discussion. At the end of the day everything that is going on is a big learning curve for everyone...

It has been no secret that the internet culture of sharing information and news content has been an increasingly large thorn in the side of large news corporations. However, media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, feels he has the answer and can reverse slumping revenue by charging for news content.

Strangely enough the only reason I heard about this story was because I was following the Guardian on Twitter. I then did a Google News search to find more about the story. I cannot think of a better way of illustrating the problem that large old media corporations are facing at this moment in time.

In a video interview on YouTube, the media mogul Murdoch discusses how 'everyone has been asleep' and how the content should never have been free in the first place. He then went on to accuse the likes of Google and Microsoft of stealing his stories. To me it seems like the last frenzied scrap by a dying autocratic media business model. He seems to place little or no value on the fact that such companies are directing potential customers to his news websites. They simply act as indexers or portals that lead users to the content and are not responsible for the content itself. It is centralised media corporations which have been asleep not everyone else.

If they were awake they would have realised that there is a fundamental shift taking place in the media landscape. It is now evolving to a more distributed decentralised two-way model of sharing news and information. It is not a case that one corporation can take charge and own the stories. The story is no longer static content at a point in time but a dynamically evolving entity of which we are all part of and can all have our voices heard. The value of this human connectedness and sharing goes way beyond profit margins of large old autocratic media corporations. However, a new business model will soon evolve out the ashes of the old media world. I doubt it will be what we expect. The internet is funny like that.

What is more is that people have already had a taste of this new evolution and will not give it up. At the end of the day corporations like Murdoch's provide a service for customers and in order to do this effectively they need listen to what customers want and value instead of being 'asleep'. It is no longer the case that they will have exclusivity to impose a rigid view of the world on its audiences. I am not sure those audiences are not even theirs any more - they are more mine and yours. This audience exclusivity is and will continue to be challenged by the new distributed online information sharing model.

By next year it may be difficult to find Murdoch news content in Google or Bing as he attempts to charge users for content. I am keen to see how this works out and if it is viable business model as all this may achieve is to further reduce his influence, audience and ultimately revenue.

We have seen it throughout history that empires rise and fall mostly due to inflexibilty and being unadaptable to changing environmental conditions.

I guess what I am trying to say can be summed up in one sentence or status update. Click here...

With the advancement of any new media many get swept up by it but there are always those who want to dampen the spirits and rain on people's parades.

I recently read a an article on USA Today about how Twitter haters see no point in Tweeting. It is nice that they are able to have their views discussed online and shared on social media. ;)

Apparently most of what is discussed on Twitter is pointless babble but hang on a minute.... most of what is discussed offline is pointless babble too! Sensationalist tabloid journalism and reality TV shows could also be seen as pointless gossip but people still like it. One of the arguments that keeps coming up over and over is that Twitter and social media are making people lose human contact.

I find it strange that many of the people who hold these views have never even bothered to go on Twitter and experience it for themselves. In spite of this they will quite happily give judgements on what society should or should not be doing based on little or no information. Maybe it is a case of sour grapes at not being invited to the party.

Far from limiting human contact social media actually gives people different ways of communicating with others across the world. Twitter has been a great way for people to organise meetings in person or Tweetups. Such meetings with diverse sets of people would not have been possible in the past.

Online tools are great for start up businesses on a budget who quickly want to make a name for themselves. They have also been successfully used to inform people of political issues from the Obama campaign to US Healthcare/NHS debate. I am not saying social media world is all rosey and there are issues to deal with, however, change is never easy. Social media should be looked as tool to facilitate and enhance human communication and not a limiting factor.

Whenever something new comes along there are always 'haters'. In Hiphop they are always talking 'dealing with playa haters' and this is no different. When something gets popular there always people who want to take shots and have rant about how bad life is. Just because these people do not understand something does not mean they should hate on it. If they want to actually do some research and come back some sound arguments then great. In the meantime they should not try and spoil it for everyone else who is benefiting from social media. It they don't like it they don't have to join but...

Don't Drink The Hatorade!

While many of us in Online PR and Media make a big noise about strategies and content we often forget the people who made this possible in the first place

Many people know of the Mark Zuckerbergs or Brin and Pages of this world, however, there are many unknown software/online tool developers who offer their expertise online for free or little cost. These people are largely forgotten when people in the media make a big noise. It is only right that their efforts be noticed and valued.

With the rise of social media we have seen the all sorts of online applications pop up performing a giant multitude of tasks. Facebook, for example, has a variety of third party applications which have been by designed by developers around the world. Its continued success is certainly in part dependent on external application developers.

In Twitter's case such external applications seem to be even more important. From your Tweetdecks, to your Hootsuites, to your Twininfluences, to your Tweetlaters all offer a free service (at least initially) for businesses and individuals. This is all thanks to some clever software developers and coders.

Much of this is born of the 'open source' philosophy where developers create software for convenience before profit and can be modified by any other developer to meet their own needs. The open-source software licence does credit the original author, however, the software can distributed or copied with no restriction. People around the world from different countries and cultures come together and collaborate on fantastic projects which lead to browsers like Firefox and operating systems like Ubuntu.

Inspite of the contribution of these developers are still often looked upon with ridicule and contempt by many for being 'sad geeks'. I had a friend that worked at a Tech agency a while back (which will remain nameless) and he was very surprised at the snobbery they exhibited for technology and their own clients some of which were software developers! Their lack of knowledge of IT/Online processes was astounding. Unfortunately, it seems that this kind of attitude is still quite prevalent from certain people in the media industry even though their future business will be reliant on these very same IT/Online processes.

It is very unfortunate that the developers do not get the kudos they deserve especially as people are currently trying to make money from these tools. Content is, of course, important but it would not be accessible without the creativity and expertise of developers.

Google's search engine dominance is a subject that has been discussed before on this blog in October of last year where I questioned whether the Google search engine was on the way out.

It has only been a matter of weeks since Microsoft's launch of its new search engine Bing. The new service was aimed to win some of the search engine market share which Google has dominated for so long. Recent weeks have seen Bing claim up to 15% of the market and it continues to further challenge Google.

Microsoft's challenge has not been unanswered as Google announced today that it would be launching it's own operating system in a direct challenge to Microsoft's dominance of the operating system market. It is possible that Windows may become a thing of the past if Microsoft do not up it's game. Its continued success will hinge upon Windows 7 which is due to be released later this year. However, Microsoft has had great difficulty in previous years with a very lack-lustre reaction to Vista. Microsoft even agreed a deal with some PC companies to ship new PCs with the older OS Windows XP. Vista has been viewed for the most part been viewed as clunky, cumbersome with some significant security flaws.

With the wide variety of Google Applications and products such as Maps, Gmail, Street View and the upcoming Wave would people be happy using a Google OS to? For my part I like to have a bit of variety in my life and would not like all of my IT tasks to be reliant on one company. On the other hand, Microsoft’s offerings have not been anywhere close and even the enthusiasm of Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer could not win me round. It is a real pain for people to keep having to learn how to use new systems and people favour what they are familiar with. This is the reason for people's and business' reliance on Microsoft. However, just because something is familiar does not mean it is the best product out there. Many people also go for an open source linux based operating system such as Ubuntu. Its open source nature means it free to use, distribute and modify if necessary. However, Linux operating systems have a reputation of being a little too techie for the average 'Joe' off the street.

The Google OS will have to be very easy-to-use if it is going to realistically challenge Windows and it will have to demonstrate clearly benefits on security and privacy issues. Google is a strong, well-recognised, trusted brand and this will give it a strong foundation.

There is also another OS that I have not mentioned and that is MAC OSX which comes with Apple's computers. As people have become very used to using iTunes and MAC the Apple OS looks like it is also coming to more prominence. While much of the focus is a showdown between Google and Microsoft a new OS will also affect Apple.

Who knows? What happens if another Search Engine or OS player comes on the market? How will these companies feel about splitting the market further? The IT/Online world is constantly evolving and anything is possible right now. Whatever happens Google, Microsoft, Apple and whoever else will have to integrate with each other to survive the fast-paced online world.

With the rise of new social media channels and other online tools many people have been talking about the decline or even death of the conventional media. This could be one explanation though I feel it could be seen more as an evolution of media.

Unfortunately this evolution is happening very fast and leaving some people in its wake. As Matthew quite rightly put in his comment on my previous post this process is also being quickened by the recession. For instance in Bristol, regional newspapers such as the Western Daily Press, have made large redundancies to their staff. Bristol’s radio scene seems to have shrunk as well with the relocation and redundancies. I think there must be similar trends throughout the UK.

Across the pond in States papers like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (one of the oldest in Seattle) rolls out its last newspaper today and becomes a totally online entity. They follow in the footsteps of many other US publications to the online realm. Around the world people are utilising media in new ways.

However, I am not sure that journalists and conventional PR people should get too fearful of the new online world. What is needed is an understanding of how their skills could be best used within the online realm. Social media allows obtaining feedback and interaction with an audience which simply was not possible in previous media channels. While this may involve learning a totally new IT skill-set it is preferable than being left on the sidelines as more social media tools appear.

That being said, the instincts for clear communications and stories that conventional PR, Journalists and other people in the media have developed over years of experience are still greatly needed especially in a confusing online world. While web wizardry and social media can dress things up very nice you always need something with substance to begin with.