Digital Media Academy

Alumni Engagement

2012-01-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

Is NUS really interested in Alumni Engagement?

When did anyone at NUS last visited their web page?

I thought it was hacked!

What's going on?

--Robin Low

My shrinking world

2012-01-13T23:35:00.000-05:00

It is interesting that when social media started, the world got smaller. Suddenly, I could connect with some many more people, and learn more about the little things of my friends and families.

Search engine technologies has brought us information on our fingertips. Today, we can read about a product which we are interested in buying from another person who is not paid by the manufacturer, an honest opinion which we can trust. We can also research and compare features, specifications and pricing.

Our collective voices get heard. From blogging to tweeting, we share information and form groups with common interest. We curate information and share news that matter to us with our friends. We learn more about our friends and ourselves a post at a time.

With improvement in technology, things are changing. Today, I find that my world is shrinking. Somehow, my searches are tailored to my previous searches with the preferences of my friends. My newsfeeds show me news that my friends are sharing. Suddenly, even my Google searches are tailored to my preferences.

I am not sure if it will improve the quality of my searches, however, on my YouTube recommended videos are showing me what my Google+ friends are watching.

Looking at it all, I believe our experience online is getting narrower day by day. The role of search engine optimization is changing. Perhaps we should take social media optimization more seriously.

I've seen many videos and articles that went viral, as they get to the right networks of people and spread like wildfire. There are a few key factors in common with viral content:

1) Title
2) Description
3) Tags
4) Content Distribution

It is very interesting that now, well placed content can reach many people in a short period of time, however, it is also very disturbing that even the best articles without the right distribution can never be found.

-- Robin Low

#SMRT Social Media Crisis -- no end in sight

2011-12-17T02:07:00.000-05:00

With the breakdown in SMRT trains, 3 times this week, the public was increasingly angry as it comes after the announcement and price increase for Taxis in Singapore.

This week, Circle Line was down, and on 15 Dec, the NS Line is badly disrupted and it created a crisis where power was out, ventilation was cut off, and someone had to break a window for air.

Then it comes the memes.

Clearly at this point, people are concerned and unhappy. On a few articles, thousands of people voiced their unhappiness. However, the state media and the communications department started to make stories which enraged the public more.

‘Train disruptions unacceptable and unforgivable’

The credibility of State Controlled Media -- Straitstimes is also questioned.
The Straits Times reports factually – not

The news title keeps changing on Straitstimes.
Singaporeans confident of MRT despite Thursday's MRT breakdown

The media also tries to cover things up with the "Extra income fiasco"
Yahoo! News 1 The Straits Times 0 Either that or the ST reporter is not trying too hard.

This is the photo which enraged many Singaporeans too.

Next comes the #PRFAIL from the communications department.

MRT breakdown: Don't break the windows, says SMRT
One frustrated commuter used a fire extinguisher to smash the glass on the door.
He should not have done so but considering the situation, he will not be penalised, SMRT officials said.

This is official statement from SMRT where a train stuck for hours in a tunnel without ventilation, and when passengers find it hard to breathe, a man smashed the windows to let air in, and SMRT was "considering" the possibility of pressing charges. -- WHAT KIND OF RESPONSE IS THIS?

The state controlled media also penalized Hossan Leong for sharing information on the incident which he read on tweets on Radio, informing the public that the MRT may be down and asking them to seek alternative transportation methods.

And this led to the awkard moment on TV.

So not only had the PR team of SMRT fail to handle the crisis, it seem to enrage the public more.

Unfortunately for SMRT, the worst is not over as the trains broke down today again.

So did the bus ferrying the passengers.

How can SMRT restore confidence and happiness in passengers?

It seemed like in their monopolistic market they are in, they do not really care as shown in their attitude and response. Will the government step in? I do not think so as well as it was quite clear that PTC and the Minister of Transport is one of them.

There is a Facebook Page to share your experience on the MRT http://www.facebook.com/sgmrt

I am not sure if they are interested in solving the problems, but there is a crisis growing, and people are not getting satisfaction.

-- Robin Low

Social Media is about Long Term Engagement (Singapore)

2011-12-07T23:50:00.000-05:00

March 2011, in Singapore, Nicole Seah is the most influential blogger in Singapore. During the elections, Lee Kuan Yew had the support of many influential bloggers including Xia Xue, who apparently could not manage her emotions when Nicole Seah, a relatively young lady was seen as more influential than her, decided to help boost Lee Kuan Yew's Facebook popularity.

Along with many other bloggers who were invited to meet the PAP group, Lee Kuan Yew's Facebook Page was boosted till he has more fans than Nicole Seah in May 2011.

However, it is very clear that if you do not engage anyone, like Lee Kuan Yew, no matter how much you pay for people to follow you, you are still not influential! Number of followers does not equal to engagement and influence.

Today, 6 months later, Nicole Seah does have more followers than Lee Kuan Yew.

"Engage or Die." -- Brian Solis.

--Robin Low

Increasing visibility on Social Media

2011-11-29T01:47:00.001-05:00

I've often been questioned by companies who were using social media, but simply failing to yield any success or even views, and I'm going to share some general tips on increasing visibility on the various platforms.

1) Tags.

On of the main reasons why people can't find your pictures or videos is "not tagging". On YouTube, and Flickr, a good description with the right keywords and catchy title of the video or image makes a big difference.

2) Hashtags.

On Twitter, I find that many people actually search hashtags for topics they are interested in, and it does help gain visibility. Furthermore, hashtags sort of make the tweet stand out in the newsfeeds and lets people know the focus of the tweet. An great #Example will be this.

3) Selective CAPITALIZATION

I've found this method very useful on Facebook and Twitter. By sharing information on Facebook or Twitter, the inclusion of capital letters to emphasize the USEFULNESS and READABILITY is very useful, and it does increase the chances of your link attached getting clicked on.

4) RT and Share information

Not all information you post need to be from your business. People tend to follow you on Twitter or Facebook because you are giving value. If there are good articles or information that you think your fans or follower would like to know, just share it.

5) Start discussion with influential people on Facebook and Twitter.

The conversations which should add to the discussion will let others know how interesting you are and hopefully win some followers.

6) Create a business Page on Facebook and Google+

Profiles on Facebook have a 5000 friend limit and Pages does allow you to see engagement data. Same thing on Google+. Adding fans into your circles can help expand the reach of your content.

7) Tag others in your post on Google+, Facebook and Twitter

It not only points their attention to your post, you may get more engagement when they respond.

8) Ask questions to try to get response.

Social media is 2 way engagement. Look at ways to generate a response from your fans or followers. Interact and engage in meaningful conversations.

9) Answer questions you know the answer of.

On your feeds, if you know the answer of something, just be helpful and answer it. It can happen on Twitter, simply by searching relevant terms used in your industry, on Quora by looking for questions you know answers of, and on LinkedIn Answers -- be friendly and helpful by answering questions.

10) Provide value (or free stuff)

Give people a reason why they should follow your business. If could be updated news, tips or even a free ebook a month, etc.

I hope these tips work.

There is also another article from Hubspot which I find interesting and relevant. -> 20-ways-to-increase-content-visibility

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @dmediaacademy

-- Robin Low

Men can fix everything

2011-11-19T10:50:00.000-05:00

I've seen this email getting forwarded many times, so I'm going to share the contents of it to free up your inbox.

MEN CAN FIX ANYTHING!

And... IF WOMEN RULED THE WORLD

-- Robin Low

Business Schools should focus more on communications.

2011-11-10T16:58:00.000-05:00

In most universities, the communications department which trains students in Public Relations, Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs tend to be in a different department.

Business schools have courses which never cover much on public relations or any form of public engagement. Often, the mindsets of the people in Arts and Social Science (Communications School for many universities) and Business School is very different. The students and much of the lecturers alike have very different ideas on businesses. Generally, an Arts graduate would focus on activism, ethics and some may even believe that big corporations are evil. On the other hand, a business student would believe that one would need to create a lot of networth to be influential and create change. They are not wrong, but most of the time, they will both benefit when they understand their different fields.

Today, the biggest businesses are no longer the giant oil companies or property developers. Instead, the Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter are so valuable now, and they are essentially, communications company (or manufacture tools for communications). Creating, using and understand the new ways which corporations communicate or create awareness, crisis management and engage the media and the public are pretty much a very important skill any business person should have.

In fact, I feel that for a social entrepreneur, perhaps it would be more suitable for him to go to a communications school as gathering support, changing mindsets through soft power is something you probably will not learn in business school. When you have a social cause, attracting other supporters to help with the business planning will not be hard if you can communicate your ideas to them. And a good news pitch can create a lot of awareness and allow the social business to be noticed.

-- Robin Low

Google+ now open to celebrities and businesses.

2011-11-07T20:33:00.000-05:00

Today, Google's social networking service Google Plus (Google+) is now open for businesses. Facebook had a great advantage over Google+ -- Facebook Pages. The new feature, called Google + Pages, marks a long-awaited policy change for the company, finally allowing other businesses and brands to be able to openly creating Google Plus profile pages and adding other Google Plus users to their “circles” (that’s Google Plus’s version of Friends and Followers).

Until now, Plus was open only to individuals. Google says more than 40 million people have Plus profiles. Facebook has more than 800 million users. In addition to companies, celebrities and sports teams will be able to set up Google Plus pages just as they can on Facebook.

If you have a business and want a presence on Google+, hurry up and add your mark on Google+

The Internet Trololo

2011-11-04T16:40:00.000-04:00

When I am calling for accountability and transparency, or when I voice that I do not agree with certain government policies, I am called names.

When I agree with some of the policies of the government, or when I think certain corporation should be given a chance or the demands of people online are unreasonable, I get called this.

But this is the Internet. Trololo lives in the Internet. I love the Internet as I can find a diverse set of opinions, some of which I agree with. Some may call it the Wild west, and some people hide behind their annoymous veils, however, I feel that to be credible and build trust, most people online use their REAL identities. I would not bother explaining or arguing with an online Troll, just out there to seek controversies for the sake of an argument.

As for large organizations or the government, engaging with the public online -- taking in the good and the bad -- is just part of the job. Learning about the concerns of the people should be an important part of decision making and perhaps before making an unpopular decision, some explanation on the reason would be good. Yes, it does take more effort, but you gain more supporters in the end, it is branding, and it is for the long run.

-- Robin Low

New engagement for the future.

2011-10-19T12:50:00.000-04:00

MICA’s new agendum for cyber control?

It seems like Singapore is a very progressive country, trying to be #1 in a lot of things. It has achieved a lot in the past, but the government's need to control conversations and all forms of media.

I feel that for Singapore’s online environment, open public engagement is key. Trying to control conversation, censorship and other forms of heavy handed legislation will often fail or see even more negative results.

People can always use faux identities and with different groups seeding false information as legislation causes paranoia. Transparency should be encouraged, and this can only be done if the government is willing to be transparent.

Training on Internet safety should be replaced with personal branding, and users should understand that it is more important for them to engage with a real identity to build credibility. Many forward thinking organizations are crowdsourcing for ideas and -- solutions, why should the government not follow these good examples.

-- Robin Low

Nikon #statusfail

2011-10-12T12:50:00.000-04:00

When engagement of photographers is not done with photographers, the language and tone will cause an otherwise successful interaction to fail, and if it continues, the fan base will be lost!

Know your audience before you post.

-- Robin Low

Some popular pics

2011-09-29T12:04:00.002-04:00

Some popular pics that are being shared on Facebook and Twitter

Enjoy

-- Robin Low

Facebook changes -- Understand and appreciate

2011-09-27T02:15:00.000-04:00

There seems to be a lot of changes to Facebook recently, especially after the emergence of Google+. Some of the changes seemed pretty minor, and some quite dramatic. Many people are unhappy about the changes as some are afraid about their privacy settings getting changed again. These concerns seem valid as Facebook has indeed not managed some of the changes well, however, the recent changes which many people complained about does not seem as bad as it appears to be -- but you need to know why it benefits you.

Firstly, there may seem to be an overflow of information but if you look at the scrolling sidebar which looks like a twitter feed or advertisement, it is actually a list of "not so important feed" Facebook calls "Ticker". All “lightweight” information is going to the Ticker, so you don't have to see your friends liking a post or getting killed in Mafia wars on the main Facebook feeds.

Besides that, the layout of how Facebook displays photos is also changed. The photos will be displayed with a big photo and 2 smaller ones on the side when you upload an album, so your friends can view the photos better on the mobile phone.

You’re going to get a Timeline (an opt in feature) — a scrapbook of your life. In a complete overhaul of its ever-evolving profile page, Facebook is introducing Timeline. This is a stream of information about you — the photos you’ve posted, all your status updates, the apps you’ve used, even the places you’ve visited on a world map — that scrolls all the way back to your birth.

Facebook Gestures is launched and you don’t have to just Like something — now you can [verb] any [noun]. So now Facebook’s partners and developers can turn any verb into a button. Also note that Facebook apps need only ask permission once to share stories on your behalf, but it will not spam your friend's news feeds as it will appear in the ticker only.

You can watch TV and movies, listen to music, and read news with your friends — all within Facebook. Facebook has partnered many other side and after F8, there are a lot more things you can do without ever having to leave Facebook.

When you understand some of these changes are actually improvements to help you, perhaps its time to embrace the change and learn to appreciate it more.

-- Robin Low

For more information on Ticker, Timeline and Gestures, here are some relevant links.

Facebook Changes Again: Everything You Need To Know
What Should Facebook Page Admistrators Do After F8?
Facebook Timeline Redefines User Profiles

Some Social Media Courses in Singapore in September.

2011-09-14T11:48:00.000-04:00

Social Media Unleashed
Capitalizing on Social Media to Unleash Your Brand and
Enhance Customer Relationships

Social Media Unleashed

Social Media and Public Engagement
Master the Art of Trend Spotting & Crowd Sourcing through Customer Interaction

Social Media and Public Engagement

Marketing and PR on a budget

2011-09-12T04:45:00.001-04:00

Entrepreneurship Workshop

organized by

NUS Entrepreneurship Centre

(Division of NUS Enterprise)

Title :	"Marketing and PR on a budget”
Speaker :	Mr. Robin Low Serial Entrepreneur
Date :	15-16 September 2011
Time :	9:00am - 5:00pm
Venue :	National University of Singapore Blk 15 Prince George’s Park Residence Basement 1, Venture Lab Singapore 118430 Please click HERE for direction
Registration :	Admission is FREE Please register your details HERE by 13 September, noon Seats are limited so please register early to secure a place

Abstract:

This 2 days course in marketing and PR is for startups and entrepreneurs to jump start their public relations and social media activities and engage the public with web 2.0 tools and strategies. This workshop is suitable for those who have no prior knowledge of public relations, social media or experience in copywriting to attend and walk away having the confidence to start a social media campaign and engage with media.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The emphasis of this course is the effective ways to communicate across different platforms and media, leveraging on new web technologies to engage and reach out to crowds. After which you can do the following:

Leverage on Web 2.0 communication channel and other free tools
Understand social media and the tools that will help your brand / business
Understand Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Youtube and how to engage people on these platforms to spread word of mouth
Use Google Adwords to learn the basics of SEO, long tail and short tail keywords.
Enhance relationship and engage with customers, potential clients, online connectors, and influencers to create brand awareness and brand loyalty
Learn about social media crisis, and their effects
Plan social media strategies and policies
Pitch opinions, stories and press releases to traditional media and influencers

Training Objectives and Expectation

· Understand how to leverage social media as a business tool

· Learn to pitch stories and successes to influencers

· Perform one to many communication, yet feel personal

· Understanding user generated content

· Learn to crowdsource for ideas and designs and engage your community

About The Trainer:

Robin is an international entrepreneur who is involved in training, researching and consulting companies on the use of Social Media. Robin is currently helping in a project on rebranding Baja California in a collaboration project with Emerson College and the Mexican Tourism Board. Robin is also giving trainings to the Tourism industry in Sri Lanka and several companies in Singapore.

Robin has been training companies on Social Media since 2008, and in 2009 did a comprehensive training for Aitken Spence Hotels and Aitken Spence Travels, the largest hotel chain in Sri Lanka, which has Luxury hotels in Maldives, India, Oman and Sri Lanka. Aitken Spence has since seen an increase in hotel occupancy, customer retention and Internet bookings.

Robin is a guest speaker at many universities, including Emerson College, Harvard University, National University of Singapore and Singapore Management Institute. Robin also started @SGbrands, a twitter account helping Singapore Companies spread their brands and @SGTweetup, a twitter networking account. And managed several Twitter gatherings and talks in Singapore, Boston and New York.

Robin's cat, Satsugai is voted as #1 Cat (Shorty Awards) and has more than 22,000 twitter followers and 2500 fans on Facebook. Satsugaicat is currently helping spread awareness of Cat Welfare Society and other worthy pet causes.

Robin is also a Co-founder of Relief 2.0 (relief20.com) collaborative disaster recovery with dignity, inclusion, generation and redistribution of wealth, and was in Japan a week after the Earthquake and Tsunami.

We look forward to your participation!

Freddie Mercury Doodle

2011-09-05T04:53:00.000-04:00

Google pays tribute to Freddie Mercury, who would turn 65 today with this Doodle which is one of the best I've seen so far.

It really makes me wonder, what else is there in Google which they have not released? Of course I would love to see a Doodle that may be slightly more interactive as well, perhaps allowing users to remix the song and add their own photos, etc.

Still, one of the best Doodles I've seen so far.

-- Robin Low

The Spin Media

2011-08-30T06:41:00.000-04:00

On Social Media, you want to engage, sometimes control the message, but not appear like you are trying to spin information your way. It is very easy to find out and more people will be pissed off.

On Aug 29, Dr Tan Cheng Bock was interviewed and he considered himself "outside PAP" and this is what he has to say. "There's definitely a division in the PAP: Tan Cheng Bock"

'There's definitely a division in the PAP,' said Dr Tan at a media conference hours after he lost to Dr Tony Tan by a narrow margin of 0.34 percentage point.

'It is reflected in the votes,' he added, noting that he and Dr Tony Tan scored around 35 per cent of the valid votes.

'We were so close. The PAP split is exactly right down the middle,' he added.

However a few days later, the PAP came out with this article, Outcome of presidential election is 'choice of Singaporeans': Yaacob

Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Yaacob Ibrahim highlighted that candidates Dr Tony Tan and Dr Tan Cheng Bock, garnered some 70 per cent of the total votes together in the recent presidential elections.

'I think there is a strong support for the party in that sense. But it is clear that the people were divided...that we were basically having to decide between two very very good candidates,' he said.

From a 0.34% victory to a 70 percent vote? Where did the Minister for Information, Communications get his information and this is how he communicates?

He is trying too hard to spin this, a 0.34% win is a win, and you need to work hard to try to see why 65% of Singaporeans do not like your PAP candidate, and win them over with soft power -- not spin.

This is simply a joke and people on the web can self-organize and have a good laugh.

-- Robin Low

Facebook Privacy Change

2011-08-24T09:44:00.000-04:00

With the competition coming strong from Google+, Facebook innovates on the complains heard from many Facebook users about privacy.

On Your Profile

Your profile should feel like your home on the web - you should never feel like stuff appears there that you don't want, and you should never wonder who sees what's there. The profile is getting some new tools that give you clearer, more consistent controls over how photos and posts get added to it, and who can see everything that lives there.

Looks like there will be finer controls on sharing your information.

Another problem I faced often is getting tagged in random pictures. I welcome some of the tagging, however I really hate Facebook stores that tag you on their products to get your attention.

Well, it looks like you now get a chance to approve tags on either profile or photos.

(You can find more detail on the profile settings here: http://www.facebook.com/about/control)

Content Tag Review

Before: Anyone who could see your photos or posts could add tags to them.

Going Forward: You have the option to review and approve or reject any tag someone tries to add to your photos and posts.

Tag Locations in Posts

Before: You could only "check in" to locations using the Places feature on a smart phone.

Going Forward: Now you can add location to anything. Lots of people use Facebook to talk about where they are, have been or want to go. Now you can add location from anywhere, regardless of what device you are using, or whether it is a status update, photo or Wall post. Of course, you can always choose not to add location at all.

Other changes include:

In line controls - each item on a user's wall has individual privacy options, such as public, friends and custom
Tag takedown - the ability to remove tags of self, ask the person who tagged you to remove it, or block the tagger
Universal tagging - users can tag anyone, not just Facebook friends. Other person can choose not to accept the tagged post on their profile
Profile view - the option to see how others view your profile is added above the news feed

I welcome the new changes and hope to see it soon.

-- Robin Low

For more information, visit the FB Blog.

Heart

2011-08-22T05:34:00.000-04:00

When someone tells you to draw a heart, what do you draw?

Or do you draw

Or will you just do this?

<3

Texting and technology has changed our lives.

Singapore Presidential Election

2011-08-17T10:38:00.000-04:00

Tan Kin Lian
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2011/08/election-symbol-for-tan-kin-lian-hi-5.html

My election symbol is a raised hand in a speech box. The raised hand represents the people of Singapore and the five fingers symbolises the 5 personal values that I hope will guide our country: Honesty, Fairness, Positive Attitude, Courage and Public Service. The hand is inside a speech box which represents my slogan to be the Voice of the People. The colour of our campaign is Red+White (representing Singapore) and Grey (representing independence from any political party).

His blog is a simple blogspot, looks clean and nice, but not very "savvy"

Tan Cheng Bock
http://www.tanchengbock.org/

Why I chose the palm tree as my election symbol.
The leaves of the palm represent...s our multiracial society, the trunk represents them coming together, and the roots represents us taking root in Singapore. My Chinese name is 木, so a tree represents my name. My supporter also mentioned that the tall solo tree signifies integrity, independence and transparency.

Mr Tan's blog is a little messy, and his attempts to use "Social media" sees an empty Twitter Feed. This Youtube video dubbed with someone else's voice makes me feel that he is very "fake" The blog does not give me a good feeling at all.

Tan Jee Say
http://www.tanjeesay.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/TJS_BANNER.jpg

Mr Tan unveiled his campaign symbol, the shape of a heart, which he said stands for conscience and empathy.

Mr Tan's Blog is a very effective wordpress blog which is clean and simple. It looks very nice and not "corporate" and yet all the information is there.

Tony Tan
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Tony-Tan-for-President/111779502245855
www.tonytan.sg

Here's my symbol, the good old spectacles. ...No one ever ruined his or her eyesight by taking a long term view.

Tony Tan's Blog seemed new, it was not found but he did spend $$ on Google Adwords.
It is professionally made, and definitely feels "Presidential" and "Corporate"

----------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, I like Tan Jee Say's Blog best as it is functional and his logo is the best thus far.

Tony Tan's glasses has so many meanings and I could think of many that are not so positive. His webpage again feels a little last minute and a little too professional and high budget.

Well, it seems that the presidential election is both online and offline, all the best to all the candidates!

-- Robin Low

Curry Incident

2011-08-12T05:21:00.001-04:00

Right before the National Day in Singapore, This news report came out.
Number of neighbour disputes hit high

I have posted the whole report below, but there is a SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS brewing when you search for Singapore Indian Curry on Google, you actually get this:

There are a few weak attempts to try to resolve the incident, and the government is still using traditional PR methods, "Mediators are a neutral third party"

There seemed to be no attempts to engage in the current conversations and address the problem. I understand that there are "Hard Power" approach, however, I feel that the government has to start engaging the public and use "Soft Power" to influence and build trust.

For one, a quick response in the comments to address the concerns would be much appreciated by the public, but it seems that since the elections is over, there is much less interest in attempts to please the needs of Singaporeans.

-- Robin Low

Here is an excerpt of the News Report (Copied and pasted before any edits by the Newspaper)

"Number of neighbour disputes hit high

Neighbours lack communication and increasingly intolerant: CMC
by Quek Sue Wen Carolyn
04:45 AM Aug 08, 2011
SINGAPORE - From dripping laundry to obstruction at common areas to the cooking of curry, there have been more than 300 cases a year since 2008 of warring neighbours taking to mediation to iron out their differences.

Last year, the proportion of neighbour disputes handled by the Community Mediation Centre (CMC) hit a high - with such cases making up two thirds of the total case load. And the trend has not escaped the attention of the authorities.

Responding to Today's queries, a Housing and Development Board (HDB) spokesman said that it is currently reviewing its penalty framework for public nuisance and is consulting views from various stakeholders.

The spokesman added that the authorities will take enforcement action, as a last resort, if the disturbance in question affects the neighbourhood, and when all efforts to resolve the matter amicably have failed.

The spokesman said: "In such instances, the HDB may initiate legal action to compulsorily acquire the flat or impose the penalty."

The CMC is the main mediation body here for social, community and family disputes that do not involve a seizable offence.

Out of the 498 cases seen by the CMC last year, 67 per cent were neighbour disputes, an increase from the 2007 where such disputes only made up 50 per cent of the centre's caseload. (see table)

According to the CMC, 75 per cent of these mediated neighbour dispute cases usually reach settlement.

Still, according to two CMC volunteer mediators - who have about 13 years of experience presiding over 200 cases each - neighbours are getting increasingly intolerant of each other and pick on trivial matters at times. There is also a lack of communication, so when conflicts arise, they would rather seek a third party than settle the matter themselves.

Madam Marcellina Giam, 54, a CMC master mediator, told Today: "I feel (neighbours) are less tolerant these days and they are bringing very small neighbourhood disputes to the CMC like disputes over a few pots of flowers or washing the corridor, which never used to happen."

Fellow master mediator Thirunal Karasu Palaniappan, 49, added that unlike in the past, when the "kampung spirit" was strong and neighbours ventured into each other's homes freely, many neighbours now do not know each other.

A silver lining

Most of the cases the mediators have seen are between neighbours living in public housing, though they have handled some cases involving residents of private estates. About 80 cases the CMC saw in the past two years were also referred to it by the HDB. This is out of the 1,700 complaints on inconsiderate neighbour behaviour the HDB receives on average in a year.

Mediators are also seeing more disputes involving new immigrants. Both mediators felt that most of the cases they see could be easily solved by the neighbours themselves but the latter choose not to.

As a dispute can usually take up to one hour to resolve and in one session, they said this showed how all that was needed was face-to-face communication to settle matters amicably.

While mediators are seeing a greater proportion of neighbour disputes among the cases that they handle, the good news is that fewer neighbours are taking the legal route to resolve their differences.

According to the Subordinate Courts, with the introduction of a more rigorous and proactive case management and pre-trial process last year, a majority of magistrates' complaints - which include neighbour disputes - have been resolved without the need for a full trial.

In 2009, there were 4,569 magistrates' complaints filed but this dropped by 412 complaints to 4,157 last year. In the first six months of this year, there were about 1,800 magistrates' complaints.

This translates to fewer cases in the Neighbourhood Court, a dedicated court set in 2008 solely to deal with neighbour disputes.

"Frivolous and unmeritorious complaints are weeded out at an early stage while the rest are settled by way of mediation, which has been very successful," said a Subordinates Courts spokesman.

When neighbours disagree ...
by Quek Sue Wen Carolyn
Case 1: A family, who had just moved here from China, had resorted to mediation because they could not stand the smell of curry that their Singaporean Indian neighbours would often cook. The Indian family, who were mindful of their neighbour's aversion, had already taken to closing their doors and windows whenever they cooked the dish, but this was not enough.

"They said: 'Can you please do something? Can you don't cook curry? Can you don't eat curry?'," said Madam Marcellina Giam, a Community Mediation Centre mediator. But the Indian family stood firm. In the end, Mdm Giam got the Indian family to agree to cook curry only when the Chinese family was not home. In return, they wanted their Chinese neighbours to at least give their dish a try.

Case 2: A 40-year-old sales manager was shocked to find a note posted in one of the lifts of his Telok Blangah block. The anonymous writer had complained that his children were making "ear-piercing screams everyday and making the environment very unconducive for resting". The writer said the screams were "hurting the ears" of the residents and called on the children's parents to be "socially responsible".

The sales manager, who wanted only to be known as Mr Su, said he thought of responding and finding out who the letter writer was. He decided against it eventually. "I don't know why the writer had to do that, he could have approached me directly," Mr Su told Today.

He has also told his two sons aged three and five not to make too much noise when they play. Mr Su also said he will let the matter rest - provided it does not happen again. Carolyn Quek"

Its on Bloomberg now!

Creative Ads

2011-08-03T09:45:00.002-04:00

I really like these AT&T ads, great visually, and even so interesting that I'm sharing them.

-- Robin Low

Google+ - Will it be successful?

2011-07-26T01:19:00.000-04:00

I've seen the way Google+ integrates with your Gmail, and your Google searches when you are logged in. I must say, it seems pretty well thought of and well executed.

Comparing it to Twitter, Google+ has some similarities as you can follow famous people like Mark Zuckerberg or even Family Guy and add them to your circle! Google+ does not allow you to play social games like Twitter.

Comparing it to Facebook, Google+ allows you to post photos, share messages to specific groups of friends (in your circles) It allows you to share links and of course, spammers selling links for $$

SEO Shop Puts 50 Google +1s on Sale for Just $9.99

I think with Chrome browser, there is a lot that can be done to make Google+ better than Facebook and Twitter. As suggested by my friend Charlie, there are a few features on Google Wave that were very useful.

When people started a conversation, you can simply add others in and join the conversation instantly. You can sort of do this with circles but it is just different. I'm not sure if Google is going to add that feature as I feel it is very inclusive and it allows others to add friends that might further the conversation, enhancing the collaboration.

One important thing to note. Google+ is available in China! Though reported that it is very slow, the availability may make Google+ take off as it does make the world a smaller place for conversations to happen.

I would like to see more for Google+. Companies should be allowed to have Google+ profiles as certain companies have supporters that want to hear what the company have to say, like on Twitter. Today, as Google+ is still in beta, only a few companies are allowed to have Google+ profiles.

Will Google+ be successful or terminated like Google Wave? It looks as though Google may have finally got the Social Network right, but it is still too early to know.

-- Robin Low

Google+ Revisited

2011-07-24T12:33:00.002-04:00

As the days go by, I start to notice my Gmail connecting more with my Google+. As I already check Facebook daily, this little subtle notification is great as it notifies me when something happens to my Google+.

Not only when it tells me what the notification actually is, you can check it out on Google+ with just one click. (Click on "View All")

If you get a notification like someone adding you to their Google+ Circle, you get to see each notification and check it out by clicking on the little arrow on the notification that catches your attention, and check on other notifications by clicking on "newer" or "older"

You can even update your Google+ status on Gmail itself!

Just click on the "Share" tab.

I find myself using Google+ more because of this Gmail integration. I think this integration clearly makes me visit Google+ more.

Here is my profile, perhaps we can know each other better too!

http://gplus.to/robinlow
https://profiles.google.com/robinlow

-- Robin Low

Tips and information on Google+

2011-07-16T02:31:00.002-04:00

After trying out Google+ for a little more than 2 weeks, I'm starting to get the hang of it.

First Look at Google+ (G+)

Design: It looks and feels like a Google product, all white and clean looking. Even the Google+ application looks clean.

Usability: Google+ is not like Google Wave, filled with tons of things you can do. Its essentially simple and clean. Here are the following features:

For Mobile + Web
- Home (Stream) - Nothing new, like Facebook news Feeds.

- Huddle - Huddle is basically a group-texting feature for the Circles you create.

- Photo - The photo editor is essentially Facebook photos but with a photo editor. It’s quick and well-organized, making it a welcome addition to Google+.

- Profile - Google+ Profiles essentially port the existing data on your Google Profile. Nothing new here.

- Circles - Much easier to use than Facebook friend list or Twitter lists. Drag and drop feature is fantastic!

- Notifications - Tells you updates which may concern you. Similar to Facebook Updates.

Web only

- Hangouts - Hangouts is one of the more innovative concepts of Google+, it’s a cool approach to getting users to accept group video chat. The camera switching feature (it changes who’s on camera based on who’s talking) is far superior to having multiple video feeds open at the same time. That said, it will require users checking their Google+ streams every day for potential chats to join. This is indeed better the Skype!

- Sparks - Google created a recommendation engine! It’s designed to augment Google+, and if it works as Google designed it, it will create winners and losers in the publishing world, making Google +1 buttons actually matter.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Google is opening invites to more people, I was able to use the different features more.

What I like about Google+

Circles: The drag and drop feature using HTML5 is indeed great and user friendly. Instead of mass conversations happening, Google puts the communication back in the different overlapping circle of friends.

It makes a lot of sharing more relevant and targeted, and your friends will feel less "spammed" as the information is more relevant to them.

Hangout: The video chat thing is indeed awesome. Its what I've been wanting on Skype, and I was surprised that Google actually came out with it first. It will be a killer app if there is critical mass, but I feel that it might become a novelty as I've done 2 great chats, and could not get friends to "Hang out" even with 100+ friends.

Spark: Content discovery through the "+1" is a very cool thing. Just like Facebook Likes, but for Google, it can recommend you things as well as you log in your Google Profile and use the search.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Will Google+ make way for more spam emails?

I feel that with Google+, certain information for Chain emails can be just shared with Google+. Now, with your GMAIL, you can share content from your emails directly!

I think this is a step up from the chain emails and mass mails which get deleted or filtered most of the time. Hopefully, marketers can use this to share information with people, and not use the mass mailing. Since people are already sharing information on Facebook, I think eventually, we may get less spam email, and hopefully "relevant" information on our G+ streams.

This way, instead of email marketing, with G+, it may now become social media sharing, and as people can be segmented in different groups, this may make the information you share more targeted and hopefully, getting more views.

-----------------------------------------------------------

So if you have read about the exciting features, but have not started to use G+, here are a few tips to get started:

1) Start by finding people you know
2) Then find people you don't know. (Simply type their names in the "Find People" box and you can follow these famous people.
3) Get your circles organized. (Segment your friends, overlap is ok)
4) Fill in your Google Profile
5) Follow some folks from Google?
6) Comment and interact with the interesting content.
7) Set up Sparks. (Will help you get interesting content you like)
8) Join Hangouts
9) Check out Suggestions, add them to different circles as you wish.
10) View the different stream and circles to get different content.
11) Create a GPlus account (go to gplus.to)
12) Invite friends and family.

I hope you find this information useful, if you find more uses and cool things about Google+, feel free to contact me or add me to your Google+ (http://gplus.to/robinlow)

-- Robin Low

Google+ for non US members

2011-07-10T03:25:00.000-04:00

Is there Google+ for non US members?

Many people have Google+ accounts.

But there is no Google+ App in the App Market for non US members outside US.

So what can you do?

I've asked around and managed to have friends recommend me to this thread.

XDA member sacredsoul posted the solution for you. Developed under the codename Emerald Sea, Google+ is basically Google’s latest attempt at creating a social network, each Google+ profile will center around the Stream, which is essentially the same thing as Facebook’s news feed – where all of your info and updates from your chums are rounded up and constantly updated. The Stream will be joined by four core elements – Circles, Hangouts, Huddle and Sparks.

Just click on his link in the message ->here<-.

Show some thanks!

Not there is Google+ for non US members!

-- Robin Low

Social Media Budget. (Malaysia Toursim under fire)

2011-06-14T10:38:00.001-04:00

Yes, companies are spending a lot of money on social media and advertising these days, but a recent report on the Malaysia's Government RM1,758,432 spending on 20,292 Facebook is starting to raise eyebrows.

In this article, "Tourism Malaysia under fire for FB spending" it shows the importance of a good solid plan to measure ROI, as the results from the marketing from Facebook may have even yielded more tourists who spend more that that amount.

I do not agree that a 6 year old can start a FB page well, but I'd agree that the budget was a little high. "You need RM1.8 million to run Facebook pages and applications? A six-year-old can start a Facebook page," said Loke.

I personally think that while it is good for an agency to help your business get started in Facebook and Twitter, ultimately, it is your voice online, and you should not outsource it to a third party, internal training and a good social media policy to get corporate wide support and involvement may prove to be more effective and REAL in your engagement, and people can tell if you are genuine.

I went to check out the FB pages, and felt that "http://www.facebook.com/CutiCuti1Malaysia" is a pretty ok page with decent interaction, however, if you are a tourist going to Malaysia, Would you even think about searching for such a name? (Especially if you don't know Malay)

You need to understand what you are spending on and how it will help you. Get empowered by knowledge and information.

-- Robin Low

The numbers

2011-05-26T10:03:00.000-04:00

Critical mass is very important, to be the best, to stay on top, to attract talent, to get new ideas and innovation...

Recently, I was in Silicon valley, and I spoke to some folks at Google, Facebook and Nvidia. Their culture seems to be completely different from Singapore, wanting to be the "silicon valley" of Asia. I think the mindset basically is due to education.

In the US, there are a lot of people (because US is big) and the education system though highly irregular, produces the best people. There is no doubt that the top universities are doing something right, but basically, after interacting with the folks who are in the top tech companies, all of them -- love tech.

Passion is a driving force behind the people, and since young, they love to get their hands dirty and invent things. Silicon valley is a great place to be for engineers, and the education system produces a few kinds of people. One that is unfocused and don't know what to do with their lives, and another type who are driven by their passion to create and seek education to enable them. In America, education is not just a piece of paper. You learn things, and although it does not bring as much prestige, the whole system is based on performance.

Having a masters degree or a PHd does not guarantee that the employee has a better way of innovating and creating the edge for a company. Basically, people are worth what they can contribute. In many companies, solving problems is what they do best, (so that they are in business) and in top companies, they need to solve very hard problems.

It does not take a person with PHd to solve these problem, but rather, a passionate, driven individual with great amounts of experience and a bright spark. For most cases, innovation is found throughout the ranks of the company and rewarded accordingly. With the companies run by Engineers (instead of MBAs) the culture of innovation and performance exceeds that which satisfies the stakeholders, and that is one of the reason why they can get the best of of their people and be on top.

It is not surprising that many like to get their advanced degrees in America, and few in Singapore. It is not that people are stupid in Singapore, but rather, the need.

The problems Singapore is trying to solve are not as challenging, and the advanced degrees are purely for cosmetic reasons. Perhaps for a promotion and moving up the corporate ladder. Few I've seen applied their knowledge to their passion and develop great things, and because the pool of people is rather small, it is very hard to get great help.

The problem of critical mass of talent, market size and access is also key to the success in many technology companies. The culture of inventing, instead of outsourcing core competencies is essential when you are competing at the highest level as creating your technology is better than managing it at the top.

For social networks, creating a conductive, inclusive environment is key for conversation. There is a need to get a core group of focused people, but also a need to get the numbers up sometimes.

There are always silent lurkers on blogs and Facebook pages, and for something to be turned to action, you may need the numbers to spark off something new and interesting, like a long discussion. A few comments can spark off the interest of the silent lurkers to get them in the conversation.

I feel that the numbers game is very important to success. If you do not have the numbers, perhaps collaboration and partnerships may be the answer.

-- Robin Low

Spotting and starting a trend

2011-05-10T10:15:00.000-04:00

Spotted a trend, posted information on a page with a very targeted audience.

You immediately get a lot of responses, in a very short time.

Depending on your tone, you can get different responses, and attract different responses.

-- Robin Low

SG elections 2011

2011-05-08T12:58:00.000-04:00

The Singapore General elections is over and even though there is overwhelming support on social media for the opposition, for most of Singapore, the PAP swept the elections.

Here are a few conclusions that I could come out with:

1) Slacktivism at work -- people click on like without reading as it seems cool to participating in "opposition stuff"

2) People just want to be part of something -- they will vote the incumbent no matter what, the join in social media to participate.

3) Stupid people spoil votes -- When you put "Go home" beside the party who you not want to win, you are actually voting for them.

There was indeed many reasons, and it was an eye opener. With thousands of fans on Facebook, huge crowds during rallies, many opposition parties fail to get more than 45% of votes of Singaporeans.

Everything that they could do online, they did pretty well, and the rallies were fine, and PAP did drop the ball for many replies, and even when they failed to engage the people, they seem to do well at the polls.

Social media is clearly not enough for a party to win in an election.

-- Robin Low

Social media - will it translate to opposition victory?

2011-04-28T22:02:00.000-04:00

There is much evidence that the opposition is engaging more on social media than the incumbent party. In fact, with the controlled media in Singapore, many have turned to the Internet for a more balanced view of things. There is much anger among the people as well. Many felt that the PAP is censoring comments and not reply to them online.

I believe in previous elections, the turnout was much higher for the opposition as well, and for some cases, the PAP won.

In 1988, the PAP targeted Francis Seow, a former Solicitor-General of Singapore and President of the Law Society. Mr Seow was ‘exposed’ as a serial womaniser and tax cheat, and was also accused of being a ‘foreign agent’ who was out to destabilise Singapore. Mr Seow’s WP team in Eunos GRC won 49.1% of the votes before he was hounded out of the country on trumped-up charges.

n 1991, the WP’s Jufrie Mahmood, who also stood in Eunos GRC, attracted flak for being a ‘Malay chauvinist’.

In 1997, the WP’s Tang Liang Hong, who was running with then-party leader J B Jeyaretnam in Cheng San GRC, was accused of being an ‘anti-Christian Chinese chauvinist’. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong turned the battle for Cheng San into a personal battle, saying that voters were making a choice between him and Mr Tang, even though Mr Goh was not a candidate for the constituency.

Eventually, Mr Goh and 11 other PAP leaders, including Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Mr Teo Chee Hean and Dr Tony Tan, sued Mr Tang for defamation on the grounds that he said that the allegations of racism were “lies”. In doing so, they argued, he was alleging that they were “liars” and therefore unfit for office. Unsurprisingly, Mr Tang was ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages to the PAP leaders, and was forced to leave Singapore as a result.

In 2001, Dr Chee Soon Juan, the leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, was the ‘chosen one’. He was sued for defamation by Mr Goh and Mr Lee (Kuan Yew) because he brought up the issue of a clandestine billion-dollar loan to Indonesian President Suharto. Dr Chee was also branded a “heckler” and “street hustler”, and was ordered to pay more than half a million dollars in damages. He was made a bankrupt and has been unable to contest any elections since then.

And in 2006, in an incident that remains fresh in the memory of many Singaporeans, the WP’s James Gomez was accused of dishonesty and “criminal intimidation” because of a discrepancy with regards to the filing of his minority candidate form. The “Gomez Saga” dominated the agenda in the lead-up to polling day, with little attention given to the actual debate concerning national policy. Dr Gomez was detained by the police for questioning the day after the election, in which his WP team clinched 44% of the vote in Aljunied GRC.

---------------------

PAP Rally

WP Rally

------------------------------------------------------

There is indeed more people interested in politics today than it was 5 - 10 years ago, and the once politically apathetic youth are participating and sharing information as well.

I have no doubt that if it is an online poll, the Opposition would win, but with the myriad conditions and rules placed, a lot of the online community, whom are Singaporeans overseas are not eligible to vote as they have not registered. (Its not even nomination day, and they were already not eligible.)

For the case of Obama, it was not only on online chatter, there was much activity on the ground and the ground coordination was very well organized and online supporters/students are activated to raise issues with their friends and families, and share what they have learned. This is not seen in Singapore yet.

So is online social media and large turnouts enough?

Only time will tell...

-- Robin Low

data from : LET THE MUDSLINGING BEGIN

Build trust! Don't Astroturf.

2011-04-25T09:18:00.001-04:00

It is very important to build trust. Even when there is lack of engagement, using fake IDs to post to your page will only destroy what little you have built.

It is not hard to check on the fake profiles, and when someone found it out, well, the rest is history, and what ever engagement that was built, and reputation will all be destroyed.

I feel sorry for the 13,000 fans. How many of them are real?

-- Robin Low

Social Media Progress Report -- Singapore

2011-04-15T11:38:00.000-04:00

Singapore has a very high Internet Penetration and mobile user base, and it is not surprising that the usage of Facebook is on the rise.

Singapore Facebook Statistics
General info
Total Facebook Users: 2 498 300
Penetration of population: 53.14%
Position in the list: 49.
Penetration of online pop.: 68.29%
Average CPC: $0.63
Average CPM: $0.35

Info from Socialbakers

As a results, there is a flurry of companies and organizations getting on Facebook. I've done some training with a few groups, and it has been going on for months and now my classes are at maximum capacity, however, for a lot of the more conservative companies, I realized that many of the companies are still not engaging in conversations, and their major concerns are still negative feedback!

People are going to talk about your company whether you are on Facebook or not. If people cannot post comments on your Facebook page, it is like telling your fans, I'm not interested to hear from you!

My friend Jeremy Woolf from Text100 shared another link: placebook Which has a map showing the number of Facebook users. Its pretty interesting and informative to look at.

He also shared the Twitter Reach

With more savvy Internet users and a highly educated population, it is strange that many of the businesses want to use social media and is afraid to get negative comments.

Well, my solution is:

ENGAGE! You need to find out the problems and solve them. Win your customers back!
Ignoring them does not solve anything!

-- Robin low

TEDxEarthquake9.0

2011-04-04T12:31:00.000-04:00

For creating awareness and getting noticed on Social Media, participating or in the case of Carlos Miranda Levy, running TEDxEarthquake9.0 to create awareness for his Relief 2.0 and shine the light on the new Relief practices which is more inclusive, and gives survivors options.

Many of the survivors are business owners. Although they have lost everything, their homes, their stores, or even their loved ones, many are still strong, and want to restart, but they are unable to do so as they do not have enough money to do so.

This is the similar situation to many survivors in disasters all over the world. After the disaster destroys physical infrastructure, human capacity remains but it is often ignored by conventional relief efforts, and the survivors are turned into refugees.

Relief 2.0 is a new approach to Relief after a disaster, and it leverages on social media to be effective and efficient.

Relief 2.0 is the practice of running the last mile in the field through independent field units supported by mobile technologies and social networks, connecting resources, stakeholders, needs, organizations, volunteers and survivors in an efficient, effective and timely manner, filling the gaps created by bureaucracy and slow response from top-down hierarchies.

It is the result of field experience, the relentless pursuit of committed volunteers to be effective and respond to the requests of disaster survivors and the humane sympathy and empathy of global volunteers who remotely support their operation using mobile phones, community radio, the Internet and social media and networks.

In Relief 2.0 we deploy multidisciplinary and mixed small independent units of locals and foreigners, empowered to assess each situation and make decisions on their own, constantly connected and supported by mobile technologies and a distributed network of contacts which monitors and follows their activities and requests via mobile phones, SMS, twitter feed, blogs and social networks and relays any need they have to others who can in turn relay to others until the needs are fulfilled by someone in a broad network of volunteers, stakeholders and concerned institutions.

As opposed to top-down, rigid chains of command and action, these units form a distributed open network where each member has connections in multiple directions and is willing to hook up to other networks. When confronted with a a problem, each unit solves it with self initiative without waiting to be told what to do, and when unable to do so, relays the need and enables others to help.

--------------------------------------------------------

At TEDxEarthquake9.0, Relief 2.0 will be one of the talks and it will indeed leverage on the branding of the TED talks, and create a lot of awareness in the process. Many other quake related technologies will also be revealed, and there will be a simulcast in Tokyo, Singapore and other parts of the world.

TEDxEarthquake9.0 will be held on Sunday April 10, 2011 - 1pm 6pm. At Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.

-- Robin Low

Relief 2.0

2011-03-16T09:45:00.000-04:00

Relief 2.0 -- Big in Japan Mission

Relief 2.0 is going to Japan to use Social Media for Relief Efforts and run the last mile.

Relief 2.0 -- Using Social Media for Relief.

What is Relief 2.0

Relief 2.0 is the practice of running the last mile in the field through independent field units supported by mobile technologies and social networks, connecting resources, stakeholders, needs, organizations, volunteers and survivors in an efficient, effective and timely manner, filling the gaps created by bureaucracy and slow response from top-down hierarchies.
It is the result of field experience, the relentless pursuit of committed volunteers to be effective and respond to the requests of disaster survivors and the humane sympathy and empathy of global volunteers who remotely support their operation using mobile phones, community radio, the Internet and social media and networks.
In Relief 2.0 we deploy multidisciplinary and mixed small independent units of locals and foreigners, empowered to assess each situation and make decisions on their own, constantly connected and supported by mobile technologies and a distributed network of contacts which monitors and follows their activities and requests via mobile phones, SMS, twitter feed, blogs and social networks and relays any need they have to others who can in turn relay to others until the needs are fulfilled by someone in a broad network of volunteers, stakeholders and concerned institutions.
As opposed to top-down, rigid chains of command and action, these units form a distributed open network where each member has connections in multiple directions and is willing to hook up to other networks. When confronted with a a problem, each unit solves it with self initiative without waiting to be told what to do, and when unable to do so, relays the need and enables others to help.
--------------------------------------------

Relief 2.0 is founded by Carlos

About Carlos Miranda Levy

He is a Social Entrepreneur in Residence, National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre.

Digital Vision Fellow, Stanford University

Founder of Educar.org, BibliotecasVirtuales.com, SocInfo.com and CIVILA.com

Social Entrepreneur, Technology, Innovation and Social Media and Development Consultant.

Developer of educational, cultural and development initiatives with high impact across Latin America and the world, focused on latin american culture and development opportunities. Currently traveling across America to work with local communities on education, ICT, environment, culture and open source workshops and practical experiences.

I don´t know much about a lot of stuff. I know some interesting things about a few things, mainly because I have been lucky to work next to a lot of people who know a lot of stuff.

----

Currently Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre, 2004-2005 Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University, 2004 Google Developing World Scholarship recipient, acknowledged on 2000 by CNN as one of Latin America's top 20 most influential people on the Internet.

I have extensive field experience and given conferences and workhops in over 15 countries covering Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, USA and Asia, in the fields of human development, public policy, education, technology, social entrepreneurship, social media and networks, creativity, innovation, and open and collaborative content since 1996. My consulting work includes ICT Public Policies, National ICT Strategies and National Education Portals funded by United Nations, World Bank, IADB and local governments in 10 countries.

My Current Work as Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre.

- Relief 2.0: how to effectively run the last mile and deliver relief efforts using mobile technologies, social networks and engaging local stakeholders when disaster strikes with efficiency and accountability. Visual model available at: http://www.socinfo.com/relief20/ecosystem

- Social Gaming for Social Good: how to leverage the penetration of social media and games to engage a larger audience with social issues and have a real life positive impact of their time spent playing. As in linking FarmVille to Real Farms. Visual model available at: http://www.socinfo.com/social-gaming/social-change/ecosystem

- Local Innovation and Global Entrepreneurship: A model for leveraging the competitive advantage of local factors to succeed in global markets.

- Entrepreneurs 2.0: A global collaborative network of Entrepreneurs to promote social innovation, entrepreneurial solutions to the challenges of the world and to support entrepreneurs in the developing world not limited to the exclusive conventional circles and hubs of entrepreneurship centres and universities.

My On-Line Projects: The CIVILA - Virtual Cities Network

The CIVILA - Virtual Cities - Network I founded back in 1996 engages over 4 million people throughout the world sharing and accessing content and ideas, mostly on education, literature and culture. ( traffic data: http://short.civila.com/traffic )

The main two projects are Educar.org, an education portal and network of teachers and students, and BibliotecasVirtuales.com, a lively literary community of readers and writers, with 2 million and 1.5 million active users every month, respectively ( http://short.educar.org/traffic & http://short.educar.org/map / http://short.bibliotecasvirtuales.com/traffic & http://short.bibliotecasvirtuales.com/map ).

Another project worthy of consideration is NavidadLatina.com, our Christmas site, which engages around 5 million users during the Christmas season. The rest are local sites such as RedArgentina.com, RedColombiana.com, RedMexicana.com, etc. (meaning Argentinean network, Colombian network, etc.)

My Role as Innovation Events Facilitator

- TEDx:
o I have co-hosted TEDxSantoDomingo on 2009 and 2010 (Dominican Republic).
o I was part of the organizing team of TEDxNUS 2010 (Singapore).
o I am coordinating TEDxKRP (as in Kent Ridge Park) to showcase local innovation and global entrepreneurship initiatives in Singapore and around the world next February.

- GSIF: I am also part of the organizing committee of the Global Social Innovation Forum 2010 to take place on December 2010 in Singapore.

- Entrepreneurial Events at Stanford University: I have actively collaborated with the Society for Entrepreneurship in Latin America (SELA) and the Social Entrepreneurship Showcase taking place on campus at Stanford.

Our Haiti Relief 2.0 Experience ( http://www.socinfo.com/haiti/ ): A week after the Haiti Earthquake, we started a 4 weeks stretch of 12 missions coordinated entirely through social networks (Twitter, Facebook and mobile phones), word of mouth and face to face engagement of local stakeholders, donors and institutions, eventually receiving support of famous Hollywood actors as Vin Diesel and Paul Walker and supporting the work of Universities such as Harvard and Stanford when most resources were being held or moving slowly because of bureaucratic procedures. The results were presented on a seminar we did at Stanford University ( http://www.socinfo.com/haiti/relief ), also organized via social networks. Our current Relief 2.0 ( http://www.socinfo.com/relief20/ )model being developed at the National University of Singapore in collaboration with Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab builds upon this and other experiences.

Beware of iPhone Auto Correct.

2011-03-07T01:31:00.000-05:00

Beware of iPhone Auto Correct.

Here are some more reasons not to get an iPhone..

LOL!

-- Robin Low

Weird & funny searches

2011-02-22T21:20:00.000-05:00

I found this interesting site, and the searches is simple hilarious!

WTF!!!

You are not popular until people wonder if you have Herpes

Seems like a lot of women do these searches.

Does Speam whiten teeth!! LOL

Wonder if a lot of people met Jesus with a tattoo...

Urban Legend alert!

Albino, people want to know more...

Women that think about this are simply gross!

LOL!

Fat people are searching ...

Sounds like a conservative republican would search this.

WTF!! I guess they search the North American kind of Indian more

Do Insects Fart??

Haha... U mean Mexicans do not have Valentine?

Must have played too much D&D

Ewwww....

Do blind people see dream??

I guess people are weird!

-- Robin Low

RedCross Twitter Disaster and Recovery.

2011-02-20T11:27:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, @RedCross sent out a rogue tweet accidentally, and the American Red Cross has to do its own disaster recovery to disarm a potentially embarrassing Tweet.

Gloria Huang blamed the gaffe on her lack of facility with Hootsuite — the message was meant for her private account.

Red Cross took the tweet down. While some blogs picked up the initial tweet, the Red Cross averted a PR crisis with the following good-humored tweet which acknowledged the mistake:

Dogfish Head, has also acknowledged the incident by asking fans to donate to the Red Cross.

The whole crisis which may have blown into a bigger crisis was acted on quickly, and done so with a tad of humor. It was a pretty good recovery, and Red Cross recovered nicely.

-- Robin Low

Quora -- New Personal Branding Tool

2011-02-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

There are more and more people getting on Quora.

Just like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, Quora allows you to network and engage with other people.

If you’re really serious about personal branding, you might even have your own Facebook Page, Twitter account and LinkedIn Profile. Where else can you build your personal profile and showcase your expertise?

Quora is the online question and answer community that can be added to the list of social media tools you can use.

To use Quora effectively, Mashable has some tips for you to increase your visibility. 12 Ways to Use Quora For Your Job Search

Check it out, it is now getting a lot of attention, and indeed, it can answer a lot of your questions.

-- Robin Low

The changing phase of mobile devices.

2011-02-10T02:10:00.001-05:00

As portable devices such as mobile phones, tablets and notebooks become more popular, companies need to watch for the trends now when deciding on the platforms to engage their customers

Gartner: Android smartphone sales surged 888.8% in 2010

Manufacturers shipped 67.2 million Android smartphones last year, up from 6.8 million in 2009. That works out to an average 184,000 Android smartphones sold per day. By comparison, Apple sold an average 127,000 iOS smartphones a day, or 46.6 million for the year.

Previously, Apple, once thought to be a dominant iOS for smartphones has now lost his growth compared the the explosive growth of Android smartphones.

In an earlier note, Nokia must change or be 'burned alive', says chief executive Stephen Elop it is clear that Nokia has lost its edge on the mobile phone market.

So how does this affect your business?

1) Applications.
If you are interested in creating apps for your clients, Android is now a very promising platform, more so than iOS. You can almost ignore Symbian development platform.

2) Mobility.
When more people have 3G enabled devices, they are able to go online on the move. It means there are more people you can engage around the clock on social networks if you engage them properly.

3) Information.
With the increase in 3G users and information at their fingertips, it is harder for a "sale" to sell things which is not as good. Customers have all the information at their fingertips to compare prices and talk about your company. It is important to watch what the public is saying and react and adjust to the responses.

4) Location based apps.
With more GPS enabled phones sold, there are more opportunities to leverage on apps like Foursquare and Gowalla to promote your business. The number of users is growing and watch what your competitors are doing or offering.

-- Robin Low

Leaping your business into the next level

2011-01-31T03:41:00.000-05:00

The year of the rabbit is coming, and here are some examples which company are leaping into social media.

Samsung Bunny Jigsaw Game

To usher in the year of the Rabbit, let’s see how good you are at recognizing bunny species. The quicker you are at guessing the right species, the closer you are to winning. Our first 3 puzzle pieces are already out! Hop over to the Bunny Jigsaw Game now!

Beside the jigsaw puzzle, Samsung seems to have many bunny related interactions with fans.

Well, rabbit year aside, many companies are hopping on with more than just a broadcast like campaign. Here are some that I came across recently that engage with their fans more than just the "like" button on Facebook.

Inciting a Fan Mob: Skittles

“Mob the Rainbow” is an ongoing social media program developed for Skittles by EVB that gives fans the opportunity to “mob” together to cause a fun or quirky outcome. For example, in the first campaign, called “Valentine the Rainbow,” Skittles asked its “Mob” to send a Valentine to an unsuspecting parking enforcement officer who was deserving of some love. Over 45,000 people joined the Mob and elected to attend the event. Cards were delivered to the stunned meter maid on Valentine’s Day by a Skittles Mob “representative” dressed in a cupid costume and driving a Skittles van. Video captured at the event was then re-broadcast back to the audience through a “Mob the Rainbow” tab on the brand’s Facebook Page.
In a subsequent campaign, Skittles mobilized the troops to send a student to bowling college. For “Scholarship the Rainbow,” Skittles told the mob that it would require 100,000 Likes to generate a $10,000 scholarship. Within a week, Skittles had received 150,000 Likes, and young James Fulp was on his way to bowling college.
The program has been a huge success: in the six months following the launch of Mob the Rainbow, the Skittles fan base has quadrupled to more than 14 million fans.

Mob Case Study from Daniel Stein on Vimeo.

Always remember, the Internet allows 2 way communication, and today, successful companies are moving away from just getting the attention of their fans -- they are engaging their fans to spread positive word of mouth, and turning fans into evangelists.

HOW TO: Engage and Mobilize Facebook Fans Beyond the “Like” There are many companies that are becoming leaders in this space, and in the coming rabbit year ahead, are you ready to leap forward and make the change?

-- Robin Low

Trends summary for 2011

2011-01-26T11:12:00.000-05:00

After going through some blogs, here are a few trends which I agree.

# Social Media going from local to global with big brands, not just national or local campaigns, but companies like Ford or Starbucks launching global Social Media campaigns.

# Social integration to old websites making them ´hip´ again, breathing new life to old portals and sites, making them information centrals for all information and profiles over the web and especially Social Media.

# Location based apps will play a bigger role

# Social CRM and Business Intelligence will be catching wind. Salesforce, Oracle and SAP will surely blow the horn for everyone to understand the importance of the social aspects in their tools, and the trend for using Social Media in general to support activities and decision making will increase fast. The importance of identifying influencers also grows as taking advantage of influencers and trends in business is growing.

# more companies will hire community managers

# Social recruiting going big – it´s been talked about for ages now, but finally in 2011 even the small companies enter Social Media to find new and better applicants, and to attract the passive resource pool. Many companies have used LinkedIn for years, Twitter has been used now by many in 2010, and the early adopters have entered Facebook.

# Social commerce will play a big role in influencing customers.

# Social Media metrics and analysis tools are becoming popular. There´s been a lot of talk about Social Media ROI, and the general need for metrics and analysis is now critical for many. However, users who are currently using tools will get more complex and leverage it for more than analysis purposes.

# Usage of social media for personal branding will be on the rise as more people realize the value.

# Social media will be integrated into businesses for forward looking companies. It will not be a stand alone department as more companies will find more effective ways to use social media to add value to their company.

-- Robin Low

Online Citizens in Singapore -- A Crisis?

2011-01-18T17:02:00.000-05:00

The Singapore Government has controlled Media for a long time. The Media Development Authority was setup to control the dissemination of information to Singaporeans. Censorship was done so that propaganda by foreign nations do not threaten the sovereign nation.

For long periods of time, the right to demonstrate, the right to protest and simply the right to pick a president is not available to Singaporeans. For the most part, the Singapore Government can do a pretty good job in transforming Singapore to a first world economy, without the participation of its people. Even though Singapore considers themselves a democratic country, the majority of the citizens do not get a chance to vote for anything. Politics is a subject that is faux pas in the University, at work and most public places.

For the longest time, Singaporeans have much to say, but they usually gather at food courts and coffee places and voice dissatisfaction among strangers, and nothing has solidified. You get to hear complains from Cab drivers, on buses and barber shops, but it seems that much of the population is too petrified to do anything.

With the Internet and Web 2.0, people with similar interests -- wanting their opinions heard by the government -- found social networks that they can self organize, share information and learn from one another.

The social networks grew, and although a lot of these social networks and blogs are considered not much of a threat to the government, are starting to become more and more influential.

A popular site: The Temasek Review
Is an alternative source of information which challenges the government's information and statistics, and makes fun of the controlled mainstream media in Singapore, is starting to gain readership and participation.

Another popular site: The Online Citizen
Has more Facebook Fans and vibrant discussions that the government news sites. The Online Citizen constantly talks about situations and things happening in Singapore or affecting Singapore, and they have an independent view from the traditional press in Singapore.

With the popularity of social media, and extremely high Internet penetration in Singapore, these online groups are starting to become a threat, especially when the election year approaches, and since the government would still like to control the message on all mediums, like they have done in the past for Magazines like Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) which was banned in Singapore in September 2006 for taking a different view of 인민의 어버이 the "father of our people" Lee Kwan Yew.

Controlling or banning a printed magazine may be an easy task, but with social networks, and the ease of starting up a new blog and webpage, managing information is a much harder task, even for Singapore.

Online Crisis.

With the alternative voices increasing in volume online, it is increasingly hard to snuff out dissent. However, these are the steps that the government is taking to control the alternative views.

1) Temasek Review

The Government has its Singapore Investment Subsidiary -- Temasek Holdings.(Temasek - 'Sea Town' in Javanese, spelt Tumasik was the name of an early city on the site of modern Singapore. From the 14th century, the island has also been known as Singapura, which is derived from Sanskrit and means "Lion City".)

Temasek Holdings with the nations' sovereign wealth is suing Temasek Reviews for using the name Temasek, and confusing people. (Temasek Holdings does not really need a review or review anything.) And Temasek Holdings wants Temasek Review website to change its name. --> News <-- There is also a new law enacted: In relation to registering a company with the name "Temasek" in it, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority Singapore (ACRA), in its website, advised that the following is not allowed:
1. Undesirable names
2. Names which are identical to a sole-proprietorship / partnership name or to that of any other company, corporation, limited liability partnership or limited partnership
3. Names which are identical to a name being reserved under the Business Registration Act, the Companies Act, the Limited Liability Partnerships Act or Limited Partnerships Act
4. Names which the Minister has directed the Registrar not to accept for registration, eg Temasek

2) The Online Citizen (TOC)

PM wants TOC gazetted as Political Association, so the Media Development Authority (MDA) has written to The Online Citizen’s Joshua Chiang and Choo Zheng Xi, informing them that TOC has been determined to be ‘providing a programme for the promotion or discussion of political issues relating to Singapore’. As such, the website has to be registered with the MDA ‘under condition 4 of the Schedule to the Broadcasting (Class License) Notification’.

What exactly does that mean?

1) It cannot get foreign donations.
(I don't think it is funded by foreign elements or sources anyway.)

2) They need to list the identities of its owners, editorial team and administrators.

Wait... as political website under condition 4 of the Schedule to the Broadcasting (Class License) Notification.

What is this Condition 4?

"An Internet Content Provider who is or is determined by the Authority to be a body of persons engaged in the propagation, promotion or discussion of political or religious issues relating to Singapore on the World Wide Web through the Internet, shall register with the Authority within 14 days after the commencement of its service, or within such longer time as the Authority may permit"

And what is a Political Association? According to the Political Donations Act,

"political association" means —

(a) a political party or an organisation which has as one of its objects or activities the promotion or procuring of the election to Parliament or to the office of President of a candidate or candidates endorsed by the organisation; or

(b) an organisation (not being a branch of any organisation) whose objects or activities relate wholly or mainly to politics in Singapore and which is declared by the Minister, by order in the Gazette, to be a political association for the purposes of this Act;

Although TOC tried to appeal the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has reaffirmed its position that TOC is a political association.

The laws and rules after becoming a political association is much tougher, and it often leaves the people in charge more liable for their actions.

Will these moves stop the online voices in Singapore?

Only time will tell.

-- Robin Low

Convergence

2011-01-18T10:45:00.000-05:00

Today, the way people consume media has changed greatly. People can consume news from various different mediums and the information we get are getting faster.
News no longer just happen once a day. News does not wait a week for the PR team to come out with a good angle. The timetable is gone, if you don’t react to real time, the story will move on without you.

Social media becomes a source for News. People take picture and tell stories, and sometimes stories break from non-reporters. News covers stories from blogs, and videos that become popular, incidents which people care about, and conversely, people share news as well. This cycle repeats itself, and spreads further and faster than it ever did before.

News is being consumed differently, with tablet devices and other 3G devices, people get their books, news and other medium on the go, not just from physical prints and from their computers. Print circulation is down but online and application subscription on 3G devices is on the rise. Traditional advertising is on a steep decline but digital advertising is on a sharp rise.

-- Robin Low

Social Media Professional Certification Program

2011-01-13T00:19:00.001-05:00

I often hear companies and large corporations eager to get on social media. Many companies outsource without understanding how much it takes to run a social media campaign.

Often outsourcing is not the answer as most successful, social media has many aspects which is not limited to marketing or corporate communications. And before you outsource anything, it is best you understand what is involved.

Aventis Social Media Marketing Professional Certification program

With today's consumers on social media, it is important that most businesses understand social media, engage the market and connect with their customers. Well using free social network tools to connect and spread awareness always sounds good, and knowing how to do it properly is a skill most companies need to acquire sooner or later.

Come join us on 27 & 28 Jan (Thur & Friday) 2011 in Singapore and attend this course and get certified!

-- Robin Low

View a Twitter conversation on a single page

2011-01-05T19:48:00.000-05:00

This is what I have always wanted to do on Twitter which even the New Twitter is not doing so well -- Conversations, and I've found a great tool doing it.

Bettween:

This was a pretty nifty tool to monitor the conversation!

-- Robin Low

Will the Internet change the way we shop?

2010-12-29T11:47:00.000-05:00

From this recent holiday season, we can see the trend of more people shopping online. Online Sales More Popular Than Ever: More Convenient And More Choices At Your Fingertips. -- This and many other articles have shown a growth on online shopping.

What are the reasons?

For one, eBay and Amazon is getting more popular than before. With low prices and lesser overhead costs (no real estate rental) They continue to thrive with lower prices.

With smart phones, buyers are increasingly aware that for most sales, the sale prices are more than that of Amazon! The Internet is increasingly integrated into our lives as this is one of the way we connect with our friends and family through social networks.

On the Internet, you do not need to compete with crowds and queue in long holiday queues. You have a wider choice and most times it costs less than stores. You expect less in terms of customer service and thus the experience is generally better because of the less expectation.

------------------------------------------------

What Groupon's Doing That Google Couldn't.

Social commerce is getting more important and popular than ever. With the profits Groupon is getting, they are getting more sales staff and targeting more SMBs which the big boys are not going after.

On the social front, social media has powered them to leverage on the masses to make the incredible sales happen. For some deals, powerful influencers can easily bring enough people to make it happen.

Many things have changed. To be successful today, businesses must embrace online strategies and social networks. Marketing traditionally can only get you that far, and the market share is shrinking. Do not stay in the past. Embrace the future.

-- Robin Low

Social media -- 2010 Update

2010-12-18T02:12:00.001-05:00

Many things have evolved in the year 2010. Social Media is HUGE -- Facebook has more than 500 Million Users, and if users of Facebook were in a country, it would be the third most populous country in the world.

In terms of usage, Facebook Users spend a total of 500 BILLION minutes on Facebook monthly. (Compared to 150 BILLION least year)

24 Hours of Video is uploaded to YouTube every minute (More than double last year), 200 BILLION videos are viewed daily (More than double last year), 4 BILLION Photos Uploaded to Flickr last year, 95% of companies in US use LinkedIn to attract and hire employees, (59% use Facebook, and 42% use Twitter), 27 MILLION average number of tweets daily (8x increase from 2009).

Social media has changed the way how a lot of people communicate, especially those under the age of 30. Together with mobile devices, social media and text messaging is more popular form of communication than voice communication.

Social media is now mainstream. Businesses are realizing that social commerce is very important, and engaging with their customers and influencers is very important as many people use the Internet to find information on products before they make the purchase, and the decision is largely based on reviews and recommendations from friends.

"Social Media is like water. On its own, water does some cool things, but when combined with other compounds it enabled the evolution of all life forms.

Social media itself is nice, but when combined with other tools, it is enabling everything to evolve from communications to business to politics to marketing"

-- Mike Voipe, CEO Hubspot.

In engaging with customers, social media empowers the customers once again, and companies need to have strategies which focus on employees and customers. They are in control.

What the F**k is Social Media NOW?

View more presentations from Marta Kagan.

Social Media is not a fad, is an important way of communication.

-- Robin Low

There will be no need for resume.

2010-12-14T01:07:00.000-05:00

With social media and personal branding, I have known so many people who get jobs through online networking, participating on forums or simply having great informative blogs.

With the power of social media, will we reach a point where a resume is no longer required? By the time the resume is needed, the contract will probably already be signed and the resume may simply be a formality for the HR department to file away.

Just like any superstar or movie stars, your portfolio is public, and everything have done is known to everyone. There will be not much need for a resume. You are your brand!

-- Robin Low

YouTube - Lebron Commercial & Spoofs (Real Time Marketing)

2010-12-03T17:36:00.001-05:00

It is very interesting how Nike Commercial can spark so many spoof videos and many of them very well made, targeting and leveraging on the controversy to help the other videos get popular (and go viral)

Original Ad:

South Park Response:

Cleveland Cavaliers Fan Response

Michael Jordan's Response:

This is real time marketing at its best.

Leveraging on current controversy and media hype over the return of Lebron James to play against Cleveland is a good way for a video to go viral.

Real time marketing is the ability to react to these micro-trends to help get a blog or video to go viral. Often, when people are trying to search for the new thing or other interesting spoof, your video can be found and played, and if its humorous, it will be shared by many as well.

The last Michael Jordan video is on the money. Well put, and great branding for Jordan. Whether it is or not made by Air Jordan, it is yet to be known, but Jordan denies it.

Whoever it was that put that spoof together did a really good job at it. Even though MJ nor Nike had anything to do with it, it sure fooled me the first time I saw.

The Rise commercial was a slap in the face to a lot of people (namely Clevelanders) so it’s no surprise there are a countless spoofs of the video. He needs to realize that everything he does will be magnified more than before so he needs to think these moves out a little more.

This currently draw a lot of attention, and if hey, do you have a Lebron video to share as well?

-- Robin Low

Rise of Social Commerce.

2010-11-29T22:05:00.000-05:00

Amazon and Ebay are giants in terms of online retail and e-commerce, but with the marketplace going in the future in terms of both monetization and socialization on social commerce, will their position be threatened?

There are a lot of smaller companies on the rise. I particularly like Woot.com where there is a new deal every day. The community actually does chat about the deals and I do find out about good deals on Twitter.

Another site that is on the rise is Groupon. I like the idea of getting together a group to ensure a deal happens, and this sometimes get influencers to spread the news of a certain deal just to make it happen. Groupon recently raised a massive round valuing the company at $1.35 billion.

Although Amazon and Ebay are trying to be more discoverable, I've not seen much effort in leveraging on social commerce by them, even on Cyber Monday. I don't blame them as they are cash rich companies, and can acquire what they lack. For example, Amazon recently made a $1.2 billion acquisition of Zappos, which I would say is a leader on customer service using Twitter and social media.

With the rise of Groupon, Gilt, LivingSocial, Vente Privee or even a possible Facebook e-commerce site, we can be assured that social commerce sells, and in the near future, I would love to see more social e-commerce site giving better interaction and engagement as we know that is what that really sells.

-- Robin Low

Social Media for Events

2010-11-21T23:14:00.000-05:00

I've went to several events and I've seen social media used in some of them. A properly used social media for events really makes the event much better. Though it is a no brainer to leverage on social media for event management, many companies still do not use them.

However, I've been to several social media conferences fail to use social media properly for the event.

Here are some good examples which I've seen using social media well.

Article from Mashable:

Blogworld takes advantage of a multitude of social networking platforms like, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Plancast, Sched.org, USTREAM () and Plixi to amplify the conference experience. According to founder and CEO Rock Calvert, the company’s use of social media prior to, during and after the the world’s largest social media conference and trade show is “…light years ahead of other conferences.”
Prior to the conference, Calvert uses various social platforms to inform people about the event, accept speaker applications and make announcements. In addition, Blogworld allows attendees to socially pick sessions, as well as invite and tell people that they are attending.
During Blogworld’s three-day conference, social platforms help facilitate and encourage attendee participation. Facebook is used to create polls, allow for public comments and encourage suggestions from attendees on how to improve the event. Organizers also encourage attendees to micro blog, which gives readers the opportunity to experience the event from numerous vantage points. Calvert credits these tools with “keeping the Blogworld experience transparent.”
How does social media make Blogworld better? In 2009, Blogworld set a Guiness World Record for the distribution of the largest mass message through social media, with a #Beatcancer hashtag. The campaign also raised more than $70,000 for social good efforts. In addition, Calvert tells us, “Social media creates social attendee lists, starts conversations, encourages meet ups, [and] allows conference organizers to react to issues immediately…. Incorporating social into our conference simply makes the experience better.”

Social Media (Twitter #Hashtags)

Hashtags are very important to an event. Planning a good hashtag to describe the event and ensuring the hashtag is not used by other people / companies for other purposes.

5 Reasons why you should have a good hashtag for the event:
1) With a properly publicized hashtag, attendees can follow the event and anything leading up to the event.
2) Attendees can connect with one another with the hashtag.
3) People who cannot attend the event can follow the event by following live tweets with the hashtag.
4) Q&A can be opened to the ground and others outside the event via hashtag.
5) Attendees can ask questions regarding the event and customer support can attend to their needs enhancing the before / during / after event engagement.

Here is a document I've created that share other best practices of social media in event management.

Social Media Event Management

-- Robin Low

Real Time Marketing

2010-11-12T23:01:00.000-05:00

When you think about the World Cup 2010, what do you think of?

I've asked this question to many people around the world the question,
"Who won the world cup in 2010?"
I get the answers, "Holland, Spain... Germany??"

However, when I ask this question,
"Do you know about Paul the Octopus?"
Everyone seem to know about this psychic octopus!

The phenomena of the psychic octopus seemed to catch the attention of hundreds of millions world wide, and before every match, people will search for videos on the octopus and see his prediction.

Just think, if any company had leveraged on this micro trend, just by posting a video of an octopus picking up their company's devices and products over the competitor, and somehow link it to the actual Paul the Octopus videos, the chance of this video going viral is much higher as during that period that span about 10 days, there is a huge trend to search for Paul the Octopus on Google and on Youtube. (getting millions of viewers is not difficult!)

Recently, there is a video of a Bruins Fan kicking a pillar in a toilet at TD Garden in Boston.

This video got viral among many Boston residents as it made it to the news.

Well, as more people are savvy about the concept of real time marketing, riding on the trend of a viral video and leveraging on the popularity to market their brand, and this can be seen by the Bruins video to the fan who vandalized the toilet.

This video reply is well timed, and I do hope it is well viewed by Bruins fans!

Good Job!

-- Robin Low

Managing Negative Comments

2010-11-03T12:15:00.000-04:00

When I give introductory talks in Singapore, the #1 question that everyone asks is "How do you manage negative feedback?" My answer, "People are already doing it now, its just that you may not be aware of it. To manage negative feedback, you need to be transparent and engage truthfully to resolve the problem. Find out exactly what happened, and FIX IT!"

Usually after some discussions, people generally agree that with or without their participation on social media, negative comments about their businesses is going to happen. However today, there is generally a lot of interest in getting on social media as many companies see it as another form of PR or advertising.

After more than a year of talks, classes and consulting, I've revisited some of these companies, and most of them have some form of Facebook / Twitter / Blog. I would congratulate them for taking action, but my pride for them was short lived as many of them can't seem to deal with negative feedback and practice, "Selective Censors."

I would not blame them as they probably just followed what the government does. In the article by SMU "Managing social media: An exercise in managing organisations" The government is seen keen to engage on social media, but deletes all negative feedback and comments. This was documented on a couple of blogs and word quickly spread over the selective deletion of comments, which led to accusations that the constituency did not care for negative feedback.

On the hand, many big brands actually embrace the negative feedbacks and comments and in return they do become a stronger brand as they are seen as respecting feedback and responding to comments. Gap is a good example, as recently, Gap change their logo and there was a large amounts of people who hated their logo. And as a result, they actually changed their logo -- AGAIN!

Gap Logo Disaster – Could Social Media Save The Day?

The Gap had a very bad situation at the start of the week and they probably all had some sleepless night after the logo they thought was the future was derided all over the web. Rather than sitting back and ignoring the critisism through The Gap have stepped up to the plate and used social media to try and fix their problems. If they are really smart they will turn this negative in to a huge positive and involve all their customers in the process of finding the new logo. They will say that yes we were wrong and open the competition up to people all over the world. Imagine the good will and buzz The Gap would create by having an open logo competition. This example just goes to show that no matter how bad things are and how much abuse you are getting online there is always a fix and if you listen to what people are saying and engage with them there is always a way out of the online disaster. I think The Gap seem smart and fairly clued in and will probably end up coming out of this pretty well.

I wonder if it is Asian culture to be defensive and never admit a mistake? I still strongly feel that one can definitely crowd source for ideas and leverage on the network, and engaging fans and supporters with social media should be the way to go when using social media, and build up a strong brand.

-- Robin Low

Interesting Images about Social Media.

2010-11-01T03:54:00.000-04:00

Infographics help communicate information in a digestible manner as they creatively present data in an understandable and engaging format.

Adding color, data and information in an interesting manner, Infographics can brighten up presentations and blogs with ease!

The Biggest Shift

The Biggest Shift details the importance and extent of social media. Essentially, if you are looking to utilize word of mouth advertising, social media is there to help boost your efforts. By focusing your marketing attention to the top social networking websites, you will see the immediate benefits of “fishing where the fish are”.

Basically, the concept is to look for location where your supporters or audience are located and engage them and make your presence felt there.

Social Marketing Compass

A compass is a device for orientating oneself and guiding physical direction. The social marketing compass points a brand in a physical and experimental direction, allowing them to connect with their customers, peers, and influencers, where those users already interact and seek guidance online.

Created to illustrate social marketing within the book Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web, this infographic was also available as a poster to celebrate the book’s pre-sale.
(by Brian Solis)

Social Landscape

This infographic describes and ranks 10 popular social media channels by customer communication, brand exposure, traffic generation and SEO impact, which enables us to get a good grasp of how each tool helps users achieve business goals.

It acts as a roadmap of the social web and demonstrates which social channel will give the most bang for the buck in terms of customer communication, brand exposure, traffic, and SEO.

Infographics are definitely a fantastic tool to show information, and I love to search for great ones to share them with you.

-- Robin Low

Twitter... A better medium for marketing?

2010-10-20T11:41:00.000-04:00

With New Twitter, I feel that more people will start using twitter at Twitter.com.

New Twitter has a split-screen and view pane that lets users share video and photos from at least 16 different media providers like Flickr, YouTube, and TwitPic. This new enhancement probably made Twitter on par at least with Facebook where embedded links with videos and photos can be seen.

I feel however, many people follow a lot more people and brands than their friends. Compared to Facebook, I follow a lot more people on Twitter and I have a lot more followers. Twitter allows me to network, and network FAST! Although Facebook pages may be like twitter, I usually go to Facebook just to read updates and interact with friends, and when I'm on twitter, I sometimes search hashtags and other interesting keywords. I also follow a lot of people, and if I read interesting things, I RT.

Recently, in an article on Yahoo by PCWorld, "Twitter Crushes Facebook For Marketing" According to a study by SocialTwist, Twitter seemed to be a far superior marketing tool compared to Facebook.

There are a few interesting points made by the article and I would like to add that for successful Facebook pages, the threaded conversations started by fans are simply priceless, and a great way to collect CRM data.

-- Robin Low

LinkedIn vs Facebook / Twitter for Events management

2010-10-12T10:30:00.001-04:00

Recently, I've done a survey on my 500+ connections in LinkedIn on "Is LinkedIn a better platform to promote Industry Events?"

Thanks to my network and their replies, I have some good feedback. (The answer was basically -- YES, but...)

1) LinkedIn will allow you to target your audience and industry. There is a higher chance of response when you ask questions or promote your events in LinkedIn groups.

2) Most users on LinkedIn do not check it daily. Do not expect a lot of discussions from a lot of people. Some LinkedIn users login once a week, and check their groups maybe once a month. Facebook however has a lot of traffic, and a lot of people check it daily.

3) LinkedIn allows you to looks at the credential of your audience. When someone asks a question, you get to see his job description. You can also tailor your response depending on your audience.

4) A Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn Hybrid is great. Facebook and Twitter is used to drive traffic to the LinkedIn Group Discussion by posting interesting articles or questions to entice people in the relevant Facebook groups to participate.

As LinkedIn is not used daily, event promotion must be done early, and even after the event, Facebook can be used to upload photos of the events, to keep groups active and engaged till your next event.

Thanks for your great responses.

-- Robin Low

Cebu Pacific Dance pays off, video gone viral

2010-10-07T03:52:00.000-04:00

Cebu Pacific Air has plans to have more airlines featuring the dancing flight attendants.

Their Youtube Video has about 8 million viewers and growing.

The video shows the flight attendants dancing in the A-320 cabin while demonstrating the use of life jackets, oxygen masks and safety belts.

Cebu Pacific has explained that the flight attendants were not forced to dance. They actually “volunteered” and “enjoyed” the dance performance. They also clarified that the formal safety instructions required by Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) was not replaced by the dance routine.

The CAAP believes that the stunt was a promotional and marketing gimmick that has violated international safety standards. It has since initiated an investigation. CAAP already talked to Cebu Pacific officials about their plans of deploying inspectors to watch the dancing flight attendants live.

Still more Cebu Pacific flights will have dancing flight attendants.

If they watched the video
Does it create awareness? -- YES
Do people want to fly Cebu Pacific if it is comparable to other flights? -- YES

I would say that their gamble was indeed a success!

Good job Cebu Pacific!

-- Robin Low

Never say no to Panda - YouTube Video

2010-09-25T13:29:00.000-04:00

Never say no to Panda

This YouTube Video is gaining a lot of popularity. Panda Cheese, a product from Arab Dairy which I understand is popular in Egypt and the Middle East.

I however feel that the company has yet to act on its YouTube success in anyway.

The commercial, I believed to be filmed in 2007 suddenly became a hit on YouTube when several influential websites like boing boing shared it, and the video immediately became an instant hit.

In my opinion, this is a WIN for the company, and they should embrace REAL TIME Marketing, and ACT on this success to start a YouTube campaign to sell more... cheese.

If I were the marketing director of the company, I would do the following.

1) Create a new Panda commercial. This time, focus on the newly found success, and label -- 2010 Never say no to Panda -- Stand a chance to win a flight to Egypt and be in a commercial with the Panda, by buying Panda Cheese.

2) Create a Panda Cheese competition where there is a serial number for each cheese sold.

3) Create a Cheese competition site. Customers can login to the site, input their personal particulars, join their Facebook group and input the serial number of their cheese to take part in the competition.

4) Share the Panda commercial video online on YouTube, and inform customers about the chance to be in the Panda commercial, and ACT NOW.

5) Track the number of customers who are joining the mailing list, collect personal information and at the same time measure ROI of increase of sales of competition due to the commercial on YouTube.

6) Pick a random winner, be transparent about the process, make another Panda video with the winner, fly Winner in and thank winner for being a customer, and create another Panda video.

I am pretty sure that this online competition does not cost much, but the impact can possibly be BIG. Celebrating customer and possibly giving away PANDA costumes to people to make more panda commercials may also work.

This is such a waste if this company misses such a golden opportunity.

-- Robin Low

BP slips out of the top 100 brands

2010-09-17T00:47:00.000-04:00

In a recent report on best global brands 2010, BP fell out of the top 100 rankings after being on the list for nine years.".

Coca-Cola topping the list for the eleventh straight year as they consistently perform very well, online and offline.

The Top 10 (value in millions)

1. Coca-Cola $70,452

2. IBM $64,727

3. Microsoft $60,895

4. Google $43,557

5. GE $42,808

6. McDonald's $33,578

7. Intel $32,015

8. Nokia $29,495

9. Disney $28,731

10. H-P $26,867

BP on the other hand failed to remain on the list after the oil spill incident. I feel that it is not the crisis that actually out them out of the top 100 list, but rather the way they handled the crisis.

They failed to give a clear direction on where BP is going in the long term. In terms of strategies and tactics used during the oil spill, it is clear that they obviously did not handle the situation well, and yet they tried to cover some of the facts, which will lead to a loss of trust.

Brands are build on trust and relationship. When you lie about something, and there is no transparency when a crisis happens, people tend to speculate and the results are much worse than the truth itself. (see Tiger Woods Case) The damage to the brand is often not considered when strategies are formulated, and it does cost the company billions and a long time to repair the damage.

Companies are only as good as the people that work for them. Giving a clear vision to people inside and out is very important to them right now. BP was unable to give a clear direction, and it makes the employees uneasy, and it is hard to perform well if the future is uncertain.

In contrast to BP, Toyota was able to better manage its recall scandal, although the carmaker did drop to number 11 in the rankings vs. number 8 in 2009.

With Digital Media getting more popular, it is important to manage and engage with the public as comments online can influence people when they are making decisions. News are happening almost in real time, and time to respond to crisis is shorten drastically.

Getting your presence on social media, and building a good base of supporters is a good way to help brands build trust and support, and in turn it may help too in times of crisis.

-- Robin Low

Empowering your employees and customers.

2010-09-12T00:24:00.000-04:00

Reading Brian Solis's blog, (R)evolution Episode One: Empowering Your Employees and Customers with Josh Bernoff about the book Empowered.

I totally agree that businesses must now compete in domains where consumers define their experiences through the connections they decide to make. In order to compete for the future, businesses must now establish a presence and earn attention, build new connections, and cultivate meaningful relationships to foster trust, loyalty, and advocacy.

Although many companies are interested in engaging in social media, the upper management is usually preventing real progress from happening as the new technology, widely available and cheap, could transform the way branding and marketing is done. Customer service, marketing and public relations can all be benefited greatly.

In order to harness the power of Web 2.0, companies need to re-organize and think of new ways and strategies. Staff needs to be trained so that they understand what is and what is not appropriate.

Many staff can influence their own groups of people, and evangelize for the company. Instead of shutting them down and quenching their passion about the company, strategies that help in the management of the networks these staff and sometimes customers have will in turn promote branding and marketing in a unparalleled manner.

-- Robin Low

Everything is better with Infographics

2010-09-05T02:02:00.000-04:00

From analyzing data, to illustrating the importance of a certain social media tool, Infographics provide a vivid picture of the data in the form of colorful diagrams.

I'm a big fan of Infographics, and even information about dead people on Facebook can be made to catch your attention.

A well designed Infographic can go a long way as many people will share them and use them in some presentation.

Infographics that provide a lot of current information can find its way into may places, and with cleverly placed company logos, these Infographics do provide great information branding for the companies who came up with the Graphics. Definitely a great marketing tool.

It is definitely a great way of bringing data to life in a very attractive and colorful manner and it brings the message across better.

-- Robin Low

HTML5 is awesome!

2010-09-03T02:12:00.000-04:00

Of all the advances on the Internet, I could not be more excited about html5.

Some of these latest sites created with html5 seems to be mind blowing!
http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

No flash download, no Quicktime, no funny apps you have to install!

It just works.

-- Robin Low

Here is another cool html5 example: http://eyestylesllc.com/

Established Brands and StartUps need Community Managers.

2010-08-22T12:55:00.000-04:00

With more people using Social Media and more chatter on brands, being on social media is very important as you can listen to what people have to say, and customers' experiences can often be enhanced or damaged through social media.

Engaging with customers on social media becomes evermore important, and dealing with negative feedbacks and engaging with bloggers with good reviews are just as important as traditional marketing.

Engaging users online is now key to many businesses as it provides word of mouth marketing and at the same time reduces the risk of a social media crisis and customer service nightmare.

In an article by Jeremiah Owyang :"The Four Tenets of the Community Manager", He lists a few good roles the Community Manager should have.

The Four Tenets of the Community Manager
In the following, I’m not going to list out all my findings, but it was clear there were 4 number of Tenets, or beliefs that each role holds. In nearly all the job descriptions, the following beliefs were spelled out as requirements for the role.

1) A Community Advocate
As a community advocate, the community managers’ primary role is to represent the customer. This includes listening, which results in monitoring, and being active in understanding what customers are saying in both the corporate community as well as external websites. Secondly, they engage customers by responding to their requests and needs or just conversations, both in private and in public.

2) Brand Evangelist
In this evangelistic role (it goes both ways) the community manager will promote events, products and upgrades to customers by using traditional marketing tactics and conversational discussions. As proven as a trusted member of the community (tenet 1) the individual has a higher degree of trust and will offer good products.

3) Savvy Communication Skills, Shapes Editorial
This tenet, which is both editorial planning and mediation serves the individual well. The community manager should first be very familiar with the tools of communication, from forums, to blogs, to podcasts, to twitter, and then understand the language and jargon that is used in the community. This individual is also responsible for mediating disputes within the community, and will lean on advocates, and embrace detractors –and sometimes removing them completely. Importantly, the role is responsible for the editorial strategy and planning within the community, and will work with many internal stakeholders to identify content, plan, publish, and follow up.

4) Gathers Community Input for Future Product and Services Perhaps the most strategic of all tenets, community managers are responsible for gathering the requirements of the community in a responsible way and presenting it to product teams. This may involve formal product requirements methods from surveys to focus groups, to facilitating the relationships between product teams and customers. The opportunity to build better products and services through this real-time live focus group are ripe, in many cases, customer communities have been waiting for a chance to give feedback.

In my previous blog on Community Managers, in my opinion, Community Managers should be like Anime Characters, Big eyes and small mouth -- being able to watch the trends, while saying enough to facilitate information and not broadcast.

The Internet should not be used as a broadcast medium, and Social platforms (like online networks) are now "listening stations" for organizations.

"Every network has an underlying purpose" and motivations for such network creation. The role of the community manager is to hold the collective vision, create and manage relationships and manage collaborative processes.

Here are 10 tips from Mashable for Aspiring Community Managers:

1. Be an Expert and Evangelist of Your Product or Company
2. Love The Product and Company, But Be the Users’ Advocate
3. Work on Your Communication Skills
4. Blog and Have a Social Presence
5. Be Authentic
6. Be Multi-Skilled and Prioritize Your Platforms Strategically
7. Listen, Add Value and Build Relationships
8. Engage Online and Off
9. Think Like an Entrepreneur and Be Quick to Adapt
10. Empower Your Colleagues to Be Community Builders

-- Robin Low

Videos you can make if you can't sleep

2010-08-14T14:21:00.000-04:00

When you can't sleep at night, and your friend would not meet you even when you came from another country to visit, you can always make a video to tell all his friends about what happened in a video.

And what's even better, Hitler will be involved.

Hopefully your friend will learn quickly not to miss another appointment again.

-- Robin Low

Updates on Facebook Pages

2010-08-04T04:11:00.001-04:00

Facebook Pages is updating ever often, the recent change above :

It gives the owner of the page more information in the form of a graph.

I like the change as it give the owner of the page better visibility of the engagement in terms of day, and the trend.

Great Job Facebook Team!

-- Robin Low

Courtesy of @Satsugaicat

Social Media for Education Advancement.

2010-08-01T10:04:00.000-04:00

I attended the CASE Masterclass conducted by Andy Shaindlin and he has brought out some fantastic points that I would love to share:

Organize without Organization.

Today, Universities and Alumni Associations no longer have monopoly over Alumni Data.

Alumni can organize their own special interest groups and target event invitations to exclusive audiences.

In fact, many students have already started their own Alumni Groups on the different social media platforms, and the birth of Web 2.0 have already enabled Alumni to self organize, self coordinate and self form their own interest groups to network and organize events.

So instead of hindering the self formation of ad hoc alumni groups, Universities should look in to facilitating such phenomena.

The Birth of the Community Manager.

Just like a social media team in a company, the idea of leveraging social media in education advancement is to build a non-marketing voice and build online networks.

As Andy put it: "Internet is not a broadcast medium"

Social platforms (like online networks) are now "listening stations" for organizations.

"Every network has an underlying purpose" and motivations for such network creation. The role of the community manager is to hold the collective vision, create and manage relationships and manage collaborative processes.

In an article by Jeremiah Owyang :"The Four Tenets of the Community Manager", He lists a few good roles the Community Manager should have.

The Four Tenets of the Community Manager
In the following, I’m not going to list out all my findings, but it was clear there were 4 number of Tenets, or beliefs that each role holds. In nearly all the job descriptions, the following beliefs were spelled out as requirements for the role.

1) A Community Advocate
As a community advocate, the community managers’ primary role is to represent the customer. This includes listening, which results in monitoring, and being active in understanding what customers are saying in both the corporate community as well as external websites. Secondly, they engage customers by responding to their requests and needs or just conversations, both in private and in public.

2) Brand Evangelist
In this evangelistic role (it goes both ways) the community manager will promote events, products and upgrades to customers by using traditional marketing tactics and conversational discussions. As proven as a trusted member of the community (tenet 1) the individual has a higher degree of trust and will offer good products.

3) Savvy Communication Skills, Shapes Editorial
This tenet, which is both editorial planning and mediation serves the individual well. The community manager should first be very familiar with the tools of communication, from forums, to blogs, to podcasts, to twitter, and then understand the language and jargon that is used in the community. This individual is also responsible for mediating disputes within the community, and will lean on advocates, and embrace detractors –and sometimes removing them completely. Importantly, the role is responsible for the editorial strategy and planning within the community, and will work with many internal stakeholders to identify content, plan, publish, and follow up.

4) Gathers Community Input for Future Product and Services Perhaps the most strategic of all tenets, community managers are responsible for gathering the requirements of the community in a responsible way and presenting it to product teams. This may involve formal product requirements methods from surveys to focus groups, to facilitating the relationships between product teams and customers. The opportunity to build better products and services through this real-time live focus group are ripe, in many cases, customer communities have been waiting for a chance to give feedback.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Basically, a community manager should have big eyes and small mouth.

Perfect Community Manager

And the 2 important questions that the alumni association needs to ask is:

1) For the initiative you want to start -- does the alumni want it?
2) For the service you want to provide (or build) -- is it easier to be accessed elsewhere?

If your organization is interested in engaging Alumni and Students in Social Media, please bear in mind: What works for someone may not work for you. But feel free to consider all the best practices by other organizations around the world.

Good examples
(Facebook)
Stanford University
University of Michigan

(Blog)
University of Texas at Austin

More examples on Mashable article: 10 Ways Universities Share Information Using Social Media

If you have any other suggestions, feel free to share!

-- Robin Low

Social Media World Forum Asia in Singapore on 22/23 Sept

2010-07-28T02:20:00.004-04:00

With the increase in social media awareness and engagement in Singapore, Singapore will host Social Media World Forum Asia on 22 - 23 September 2010, at Suntec City.

The conference will have a series of talks, workshops and exhibitions to visit. Many well known speakers on Social Media like Brian Solis will also be here!

This is one social media event not to be missed. With over 40 conference sessions and 50 leading speakers from the Asian social media market, this event will definitely be the ONE event on social media to attend.

From now to 22nd August 2010, you will get a 25% off if you register soon!

Conference highlights include:
- Two days of interactive & engaging conference featuring leading key figure keynotes, brand case studies, topical Q&A and debates, exhibition hall, workshops and networking.
- The event will enabling attendees to become educated, discover, engage, network, share and collaborate in the world of social media. Ideal for those looking to embrace the latest in brand engagement, monitoring, ROI, advertising and building communities.
- The key differences between the Asian Social Media market and other parts of the world
- How brands are using Social Media, Engage with customers though mobile apps and Mobile Social Media, learn about the future of Social TV, get some top tips on selecting your Social Media Agency
- How to increase customer intimacy and empowerment through Social CRM
- Best practices for delivering PR campaigns across multiple Social Media platforms
- The new buzz word “Social Search”
- HeliPad Networking Party
- Free to attend exibition-only pass available

For more information on the event, please visit their site here<--

See you there!

--Robin Low

Blogger Sharing Widget

2010-07-24T10:39:00.006-04:00

New Share buttons are now available on blogger.

When you log on to blogger, you can see it immediately, but if you miss it, this is how you can add the widget to your blog.

Click on "Design"

Click on "Edit" link (under Blog Post)

Check the box, "Show Share Button"

And now, your blogs on blogger can be shared easily by reader and your followers!

-- Robin Low

Video, Video, Video

2010-07-11T12:19:00.000-04:00

Editing your video can be free, and pretty much easy.

If you are using Windows PC, you can download Windows Media Maker. It is a program that comes with Microsoft Silverlight.

Editing the Avi video is easy, and it does not take long to master it. I took 10 minutes to make this video, embed music and create effects!

This is pretty fun as well, and it does bring more interesting elements to your blog.

So play around with Windows Media Maker, and embed videos on your blogs. Videos do make people stay longer!

-- Robin Low

Is the Banner Ads -- Dead?

2010-07-03T05:21:00.000-04:00

Digital media buyers have been trying to kill the banner ad for years. With MSNBC's decision on Monday (June 28) to ban banner ads might be a start of major changes to come in digital marketing.

Once the bread and butter of Internet Marketing, will Banner Ads soon become the thing of the past? If the banner ad is not dead, is it undergoing an evolution?

There are many interesting discussions on certain sites on the future of banner ads.

But even more radical is MSNBC.com’s decision to no longer serve banner ads, long the Web industry’s bread and butter. “The banner is dead on our site,” said Tillinghast. “They’ve become too commoditized,” particularly when they are served every time a user clicks to a new page, no matter how quickly they depart or whether they even see the whole page. But the new MSNBC.com is designed to be anti–page view to bring more content to the surface and require far less navigation by users.

...

“If someone says they are going to stop running banners, the question is why? If people have told you by their activities or communications that they don’t like banners, that’s wonderful reason to stop doing that.”
-- link

I do agree with many of the decisions to stop banner ads. Web ads are eminently ignorable, and rarely move one to laugh or cry. Interruptive marketing has seen its day, and with the increasing popularity of social media, advertisers and brands have to adapt to the changing landscape -- Engage.

Even with the animated banners, many companies find that they may get page views, however with video, photos, comments, that stuff was all disparate. Banner Ads are simply not engaging, and even if they bring traffic to a site, people leave the site and have no interest in staying.

I welcome this new vision of innovation for online marketing, and the new evolved large format ads on MSNBC looks pretty interesting and dynamic content ads will increasingly replace static ads going forward.

We are in the age of change, get with the program or be obsolete!

-- Robin Low

Twitter 2010 (Singapore)

2010-06-25T12:10:00.000-04:00

Many companies that previously overlooked Twitter have to relook at it again. Since 2008, there is simply an increase in the number of users on Twitter, In a recent research done in April 2010, there are 105,779,710 users on Twitter and the numbers are definitely growing, especially in Asia.

From the report, in Singapore, there are 930,861 users, and with a population of 4.6 million people, this is easily 20% of your population. However, the majority of this number of users are Gen Y, and with growing affluence, this market segment does have significant buying power.

A research done by Michael Netzley on the behavior of Singaporeans online, conducted by students on their friends and family yield the following results.

His findings are as follows:

1. The results from 2010 are extremely similar to 2009. I am reading this consistency as corroborating evidence of our 2009 survey. Gen Y demonstrates that it is very different from Gen X (a generational shift here comparable which, in my mind, is comparable to the U.S.'s generational shift between Gen X and Baby Boomers). Internet users in Singapore continue to consume content and observe while showing comparatively little desire to post original content (UGC). In other words, remaining in the shadows appears to be common behavior. And as we have seen in other commercial reports, social networking and watching online videos are popular online activities.
2. Twitter grew 308.5% in 2010 as compared to 2009. Still, only 47% of netizens are using Twitter each week, so the impressive uptake must be kept in a proper perspective since slightly fewer than 1 out of 2 netizens here are using Twitter.

Still Singapore enjoyed moments of popularity when Orchard Road flooded on 16 June 2010. There were many blogs talking about the flood, and "Orchard Road" became a trending topic at 9:30am.

When there was a suicide at Bedok MRT Station a few weeks back, Twitter was also flooded with Singapore Tweets about Bedok MRT.

I do believe that there is incredible potential for Twitter in Singapore and leveraging on Twitter to spread word of mouth. If your target demographics is Gen Y, and you have snazzy interesting tweets, spreading the news using Twitter in Singapore may prove to be a breeze!

-- Robin Low

Social Media for Charities

2010-06-17T10:35:00.002-04:00

I just did a presentation to train Charities to leverage on social media.

Enjoy,

Social Media for non-profits

View more presentations from Robin Low.

-- Robin Low

Social Media in Singapore

2010-06-08T10:55:00.003-04:00

I've noticed social media activities increasing in Singapore. As a social media trainer, I have been getting more requests for training.

A report by ZDnet: S'pore firms top social media adoption has results from a survey done, showing that the number of businesses engaging in social media is much higher that the global average.

After interacting with numerous companies in Singapore on social media, I observed that the larger organizations which are bureaucratic cannot implement social media well as there are still many layers of management for a decision to be made. However, many SMEs are very nimble and with little help, many of them can manage their social media activities well.

I believe the number of users on social media is also on the rise, hence it is imperative for a business to get onto social media. However, there may be pitfalls if it is not managed properly as I've seen many companies still broadcasting offers and ads on social media channels, turning off their fans and followers.

In time, I believe that social media would be just like email today -- a form of communication. However, the early adopters may be much further ahead and gain much more of an edge over the competition.

-- Robin Low

Facebook overtakes Google in Internet Traffic in Singapore

2010-06-07T09:29:00.003-04:00

Singapore: Social Networks continue to trump Search Engines

The popularity of social media is definitely growing as more and more people get onto Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. More companies are also getting into engaging the public with social media, with some doing very well, and others missing the point.

The high Internet penetration of about 75% in Singapore makes the growth of social media easy as there is much availability of 3G enabled devices. It is no wonder local companies are getting onto the bandwagon.

The major media channel -- XINMSN, a collaboration between Mediacorp and Microsoft is recently launched to try to get into video sharing and social media.

When Google (search engine) has lost out to Facebook, and with the popularity of social media still growing, it is imperative for corporations to think about social media policies and make social media one of their channels of communications.

With large companies, with plenty of market research getting onto social media, if your company is in South East Asia, shouldn't you jump on the bandwagon too?

-- Robin Low

LinkedIn group to promote industry and events

2010-06-05T01:41:00.003-04:00

For B2B and promoting industrial events, LinkedIn is probably one of the more focused social media tools an event organizer can leverage on, but what exactly makes it so good?

I'm helping a friend who is running an event management company that promotes the use of new sustainable energy for vehicles. A group was started before the event next month and got slightly more than 50 members now.

After getting used to the different arsenals you can leverage on LinkedIn, I have some observations.

In LinkedIn, the people that join your group are usually from the industry, and most of them have a lot of knowledge. There is sometimes no replies, even in big groups if the topic is not interactive enough, simply because a lot of people who join the groups are just "readers" and not a lot of them will be active enough to post discussions.

Compared to Facebook, many users do not check their LinkedIn everyday. Many people I connect with check LinkedIn once a week. In terms of going into groups and reading or posting discussions, people check even less.

Suggested from fellow social media enthusiasts, I started a Facebook group on the same topic and cross promoted the groups on both LinkedIn and Facebook. And testing some links posted, I find that people are much more active on Facebook than LinkedIn. However, many people may still feel uncomfortable to join groups in Facebook, and they are more likely to participate in discussions on a LinkedIn group.

The idea sort of worked as whenever there is new information, I post on LinkedIn and Facebook, providing multiple touchpoints for group members, and members do get involved slightly more as there are multiple places to get to the discussions and news.

I hope to get more data on this new hybrid way of using a Facebook Group to draw people to the LinkedIn group for discussions, will provide more information soon.

-- Robin Low

The pillars of social media

2010-05-29T04:48:00.002-04:00

Many companies are interested in getting onto social media, like in the dot com boom, having a webpage. But like before, building a webpage is not enough, getting traffic is the key to a successful webpage.

Even when these marketers successfully mastered optimizing their webpage to reach people, the Internet today is a slightly different place. The audience is creating and people have so much information on their fingertips. They are more unlikely to trust a corporate page's information, and they would believe a fellow blogger.

With Web 2.0, the trick now is not only to have presence and have a blog and webpage, the goal now is to grow your influence.

Pillars of Social Media

View more presentations from Robin Low.

This presentation give you a good idea on getting more follower and growing your influence -- a must have today if you want to have a successful social media campaign.

-- Robin Low

Social Media for Event Management

2010-05-20T12:15:00.000-04:00

I just finished a training session with an event management company.

After researching and getting advice from network and friends, I came out with this presentation. Social Media could help a company a great deal if they can fully leverage on their social networks to spread their events through word of mouth.

Social media for event management

View more presentations from Robin Low.

Let me know your thoughts.

-- Robin Low

Unleash your Brand

2010-05-16T10:05:00.002-04:00

In today's digital age, it would be naive to think that it would be enough by just "getting by", doing your job, working for a company. With the financial turmoil, there is no such thing as a stable job, and the old saying of "studying hard and finding a career with a big company" does not hold water anymore.

With tons of mergers and acquisitions, companies going bust, it is no longer true that you can just work for a company for the rest of your life. Even though there are no world statistics on the accumulated number of jobs of the population, there is some information on the US and UK: the book “The Economics of Earnings”, by Solomon W. Polachek and W. Stanley Siebert, presents a study in which the UK population aged between 60 and 64 years had accumulated an average of 6.9 jobs; in the US, this number for the same population equals 10.5. An average between these two figures corresponds to 8.7 jobs in a lifetime. It is safe to say that getting known and branding yourself is becoming more important than ever.

The Brand -- YOU

People have been long searching for a way to one-up the competition. With the world going into the digital age, the process of applying for jobs also have became digital.

HR departments, headhunters, VCs and other stakeholders are using the Internet and their personal networks to find opportunities. Whether it is looking for a job, starting your own business or selling your products and services, the Internet plays a big part in many industries.

Personal branding is not a new thing, for several years now, many people have been sharing good value in the Internet on their blogs. Through other social media channels or search engines, their thoughts and deeds are made known, giving them opportunities to network and even better -- find a job or business opportunity.

I have personally know many individuals who have found jobs by just networking online. How do they do it? By simply making themselves more valuable to the marketplace by showing their skills and competence.

Digital Footprint

Your digital footprint plays a very big role. In job hunting or starting a business, many people do use search engines to find out more information about you. When is the last time you search for yourself online? Is the outcome positive?

Well it is not too late. Personal branding takes time and effort. Building relationship online is the same too. It is never too late to start. Whenever you post good information on forums or blogs, or if you contribute any articles online, remember to use your real name. You will never know the things you write would be picked up somewhere and your brand would be BIG someday.

-- Robin Low

Countries participating in the World Expo 2010

2010-05-14T02:28:00.000-04:00

Expo Shanghai 2010.

In Shanghai, the World Expo can be overwhelming, I'm here for the third day, and I've barely seen enough exhibitions. (I blame it on China Expo for the long 2 hour queue.) Every participating country brings its A-game to the table and plan before you venture in blindly. Here is a list of participating countries... Hope it helps.

-- Robin Low

AMERICA (26 countries) Participating in World Expo 2010

El Salvador	Antigua and Barbuda	Brazil
Nicaragua	Mexico	Grenada
Venezuela	Ecuador	Suriname
Jamaica	Haiti	Guyana
Peru	Chile	Uruguay
Argentina	Trinidad and Tobago	Guatemala
Costa Rica	United States	Bolivia
Commonwealth of Dominica	Cuba	Canada
Dominican Republic	Barbados	Bahamas
Panama	Paraguay	Honduras
Belize	Saint Lucia	Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Colombia

EUROPE (44 countries) Participating in World Expo 2010

Malta	Iceland	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Estonia	Slovakia	Norway
San Marino	Sweden	Denmark
Austria	Cyprus	Ireland
Romania	Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Czech Republic
Greece	Finland	Serbia
Portugal	Russia	Belarus
Moldova	Montenegro	Lithuania
Belgium	Turkey	Albania
Luxembourg	Poland	Bulgaria
UK	Croatia	Germany
Ukraine	Italy	The Netherlands
Spain	Monaco	Switzerland
Hungary	France	Slovenia
Azerbaijan	Latvia	Liechtenstein
European Union	Armenia	Georgia

AFRICA (50 countries) Participating in World Expo 2010

Malawi	Libya	South Africa
Botswana	Ghana	Somalia
Chad	Liberia	Guinea-Bissau
Mozambique	Niger	Mauritius
Ethiopia	Uganda	Democratic Republic of Congo
Madagascar	Sierra Leone	Tunisia
Rwanda	Cameroon	Gabon
Morocco	Kenya	Sudan
Namibia	Zambia	Zimbabwe
Senegal	Tanzania	Egypt
Angola	Cote d'Ivoire	Comoros
Seychelles	The State of Eritrea	Mali
Lesotho	Mauritania	Cape Verde
Guinea	Nigeria	Djibouti
Benin	Equatorial Guinea	Togo
Burundi	Central African Republic	The Republic of Congo
Algeria	Burkina Faso	Gambia

ASIA (45 countries) Participating in World Expo 2010

The State of Qatar	Israel	Jordan
North Korea	Syria	United Arab Emirates
Bangladesh	Afghanistan	Maldives
Iran	Oman	Iraq
Thailand	Bhutan
Lebanon	Brunei	Kuwait
Korea	Indonesia	India
Palestine	Uzbekistan	Saudi Arabia
Japan	Yemen	Laos
Malaysia	Kyrgyzstan	Cambodia
Bahrain	Myanmar	Kazakhstan
Viet Nam	Mongolia	Nepal
Pakistan	Sri Lanka	Singapore
Timor-Leste	Tajikistan	Turkmenistan
Philippines	China

OCEANIA (15 countries) Participating in World Expo 2010

Marshall Island	Solomon Islands
Kiribati	Tuvalu
Niue	Cook Islands
Fiji	Samoa
Micronesia	Tonga
Papua New Guinea	Palau
Vanuatu	Australia
New Zealand	Nauru

International Organizations (45) Participating in World Expo 2010

United Nations Environment Programme	World Trade Organization
United Nations Capital Development Fund	International Network for Bamboo and Rattan
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS	International Council of Museums
International Maritime Organization	World Intellectual Property Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency

Traditional Twitter via phone

2010-05-07T05:20:00.000-04:00

I saw on Twitter Trending Topic,
Bedok MRT

I was a little surprised and read the news on Twitter, "Suicide at Bedok MRT." in Singapore. As I search Twitter, the information was a little garbled, some say 2 girls, and others 1 guy. But all came with the words "Stuck under the train" and "Gore". After doing a little more work, I later got more confirmation and eventually this was about 3 hours after the incident, "Man trapped under MRT train" which did not say much in the story at all.

"TRAINS running eastbound from Eunos to Tanah Merah stations on the East-West Line were disrupted on Friday afternoon after a man was trapped under a train at the Bedok MRT station.

How the incident, which occurred at 1.42pm, happened is still being investigated.

SMRT said that it immediately deployed buses to help stranded passengers at the two stations after the incident.

It is also assisting the Police with investigations into the incident."

I mean it was either an accident, murder or suicide. When people describe it with words, "gore" and "under the train" I don't think the guy survived.

But anyway, I told my mom this and she did her own search by calling her friends and her friends calling other friends. Within minutes, she got a story from a friend. "I was on the train, then I heard a crack sound and screams outside train. we were then ushered out."
-- She actually did a search among her friends and got the result!

She then called some of her friends and others called her about the incident as well.
-- Her network actually RTs

They referenced the incident as #BedokMRT
-- They have Hashtags!

I realized that all the principles you use on twitter is the same as your normal day to day communications. She just showed me that she could do similar viral messages via her house phone.

-- Robin Low

Dealing with Negative Comments and Spam

2010-04-27T01:37:00.005-04:00

For many people who have just started social media for their companies, or their own personal blogs, getting negative comments may be a nightmare. And for those who are interested in joining the social media community, this might be their greatest fear that is stopping them from joining.

In my opinion, you do not need to be afraid of negative opinions or comments. Even if you do not have a blog, someone can write bad things about you or your company, and there is nothing you can do about it.

I would say there are a few kinds of negative opinions and comments.

1) SPAM and other unrelated comments.

There are people who would just put up ads or links to their webpages, trying to sell stuff in the comments part of your blogs, Facebook pages or YouTube Video. For these people, I would recommend you simply delete these comments.

2) Negative comments that do not further the conversation from anonymous people.

For many critics, putting comments that belittle people seem to be some form of pleasure for them. If someone tells you, "YOUR BLOG SUCKS", don’t take the bait! Most of the time, these are just bitter people looking for a fight. Just like bullies in a school, all they want is a reaction from you.

I know sometimes ego may get in your way and you want to defend your blog or post, however, fighting with these people may simply be a waste of time. For many of these time wasters, I say "Delete" their posts or simply ignore them.

3) Profanities, vulgarities, defematory and personal attacks

There is no point in arguing with someone who is not civilized. Emotions may get high, and things will only be more personal. For these, I would also suggest you delete them. DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS

4) Genuine feedback of bad service received.

If there are feedback and comments about you or your products and services, you should respond, even if it puts your company in a bad light. Usually, when someone is unhappy enough to put it on a blog or find your blog and comment on it, it must be something significant.

These posts generally will try to list the problem encountered and may give supporting evidences as links. They are trying to address a problem in hopes of a pleasant resolution.

Here are a few steps I would take if I find such comments on my blog.

- Find out exactly what happened? (Ask for examples, time, place and the whole story) This would automatically remove those who try to write on behalf of their friends or other hear say stories which may be untrue.

- Reply as a comment on the blog that investigations will take place and a resolution will be done in xx days. (And do necessary research to check out what happened)

- Find out what you can do in your power to resolve the situation. (If a customer had a bad experience, perhaps a "free service" to invite them to come again, and an apology would change their opinion?)

- Make sure similar problems do not happen again, communicate with the rest of company, and thank the customer for pointing it out. (Admit the mistake, resolve and move on)

- Be transparent. Reply on the same medium the complain is made. This may be a good example of how such bad experience is resolved for other customers. If customer is in the wrong and nothing can be done about it, make sure you have an FAQ so that such mistakes do not occur again.

There is nothing really wrong with bad comments and feedback, you just have to attend to it properly.

-- Robin Low

10 Reasons to be on Social Media

2010-04-13T01:14:00.000-04:00

After giving several talks and lectures on social media in Singapore and the region, I realize that social media seemed to be still very new in Singapore, especially amongst the Gen-X and baby boomers.

In Singapore, there are more than 1 million Facebook users, and there is a growing importance bloggers and other social media influencers play in our daily lives.

With twitter gaining popularity, the number of users greatly increased after celebrities start to use this social media platform. Micro-blogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user.

With the gaining popularity of mobile social media applications and devices in Singapore, users who were previously using sms-es are starting to get on social media in a big way, participating in Foursquare, updating their Facebook and Twitter Statuses, or viewing videos on YouTube.

Many people want to know why are there so many people getting on social media, and here are some reasons that I can think of.

1) Networking - You can find all sorts of people on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Web 2.0 allows you to build up a strong network of people that share similar interests which you can find in groups. You can sometimes rely on the expertise of these people and as they come from varied backgrounds, having these people in your network is definitely great if you need to seek advice on a topic you do not understand.

2) Updated news - I could not believe how fast some of these news show up on twitter. Being on twitter, the news show up real time and unlike certain newspapers of news source, the current events you get from twitter is varied and may give you a very balanced or skewed new on a certain topic. I found out the winner of the recent F1 race even before the race ends on my live TV - talk about real time report!

3) Friendship - Updating your status or what you are doing can allow you to stay connected with your friends and family. Reading about your friend's tweets and status updates about their newborn lets you stay in touch with them, even when you cannot be there. You can also make new friends, and people with similar interests.

4) Information - You definitely get a lot of information about your industry or interests. You can find almost everything on the web, thanks to search engines, and search engines today are even trying to keep up with the real time content of social media networks. What's even better, you can post a question to your followers and sometimes they will reply you with a link of what you need!

5) Entertainment - There are tons of quotes, jokes and funny picture or video links. Endless entertainment on Facebook and Twitter. You can also follow celebrities and know what they are doing or are planning to do. Its fun!

6) Events and meet ups - Tweetups are getting more and more common, and it is quite funny that many people who are usually not social butterflies, fell more comfortable to come to a "TweetUp" or a twitter event to meet their fellow friends whom they have never met in real life on these events. It is a great way to go out and meet new people. Local events are also getting common on Facebook, and you can search for open events in your area to participate to gt to know more people.

7) Job Search - In this financial crisis, any new source where you can find a job would be a bonus isn't it? Just do a #Jobs or #Job search with #location for more specific jobs on Twitter. There are a few groups on LinkedIn just dedicated for job searches and job openings as well. It is a great place to meet others and possibly, land a new job.

8) Find someone to chat - It is easy to go to a trending topic of interest, find who is talking about it and start a chat. You can always find a friend online on your Facebook page and start a chat if you are bored or just need someone to talk to.

9) Develop Weak Ties - Weak ties can be powerful, but challenging to build across cultures, languages, and preferred sites. Weak ties are powerful because they can give you what close friends and community often cannot (e.g., different ideas, connections, resources, models, etc)

10) Personal Branding - As the information on social media is searchable and for public consumption, your ideas and your values can be shared and you can become a thought leader in your field if you share your thoughts and opinion professionally. Giving your opinion on current topics, sharing your knowledge about your industry can provide good information for people searching for it. Being open to discuss these topics can allow people to discover your passion and brand yourself as an expert, as well as create more awareness for your company and its services.

-- Robin Low

Some PR on Digital Media Academy

2010-04-05T10:10:00.002-04:00

We are on the news today.

Singapore companies want to get on social media.

SINGAPORE, Apr 5, 2010 – NUS Extension School offers hands on social media course to train executives to leverage on social media for corporate branding. Unlike short workshops that often leave participants at a loss on how to start, full courses will prepare executives, train them to use the most popular social media tools and develop strategies to leverage them for branding.

Many companies are looking for training to participate in social media. Today in Singapore, there are more than 1 million Facebook users and 3 million Internet users -- getting on social media becomes a necessity to stay in pace with competition.

With more than two-thirds of the population in Singapore using the Internet, and with the use of broadband on mobile phones are on the rise, the number of people in Singapore participating in social media will definitely increase.

Web 2.0 tools have empowered users to create content. With Facebook over 400 million users (February 2010), 55 million people on LinkedIn, 75 million people on Twitter, more than 200 million blogs, and with the help of search engines, Internet users can easily find information they need from other users.

Today, consumers are more immune to advertising. There are more channels on radio and television that every before, and less reader reading the ever more selection of printed media. Consumers are bombarded by so much advertising that they are trained to tuned them off and ignore them, making advertisements less and less effective. Consumers are also getting more informed with plenty of global choices available as information can be readily found on the Internet.

“Customer engagement is key in today’s Web 2.0 world.” Robin Low, a Social Media Trainer at NUS Extention says. “The paradigm has shifted from feeding information to facilitating user created content, making information relevant to your customers. And leveraging word of mouth is key to a company’s success.”

Social Media integration strategy.

2010-04-02T00:58:00.000-04:00

After a lot of requests on "how to start social media"

I've decided to make this slide to show you the needs and wants most company have, but still a lot of them do not get the point and spend $$$ to implement a flawed social media presence.

Social media integration strategy

View more presentations from Robin Low.

-- Robin Low