Blogs

#CanMan Candidates Announced

Two individuals swap cities – equipped with nothing but a smartphone, they attempt to live off the goodwill of the locals through social media for a week!

In conjunction with Social Media Week, Can Man Live on Social Media Alone is a daring cross-city social experiment to evaluate whether one intrepid traveller can depend on nothing but the good will of locals and the power of social media to survive in a foreign city for one week.

From 9th – 15th February, our #CanManLondon and our #CanManSG will trade cities, power up their social media channels and prepare for the best (or worst).

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Calling All Start-ups: Ogilvy's SMW Social Spin @ London Eye, Apply Now!

London Eye

On Wednesday 15th February, Ogilvy & Mather are hosting the Ogilvy Social Spin @ London Eye, a VIP party on the London Eye as part of their premier sponsorship of Social Media Week London.

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Event Highlights to Whet your Social Brow #smwldn

Here are the pick of some of our featured events which have just gone live. They are already making waves at this year's Social Media Week London, which is less than two weeks away! They are all hosted at this year's hub, the Design Council. Sign up now to secure your place.

Family Circles: Parents, Children and Marketers, Tuesday 14th February 

Seen through the prism of the family, this session will investigate the dynamics of the socially connected family unit and how marketers engage. Speakers include Jules Kendrick from Mumsnet and former Head of BBC Children's Interactive, Marc Goodchild

Inside the Firewall: The Social Business Revolution. Supported by Nokia, Friday 17th February 

How social media trends, disciplines and tactics are being used inside organisations to revolutionise internal communications, collaborative working, customer care, product development and building profitability. Confirmed speakers include, Head of Online at WWF UK, Adrian Cockle and Leading Consultant on Social Business, Euan Semple

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Dell Announces pre-SXSW Unconference: Social Media and Technology Trends in Small Business

#DellSTU11 - Dell's Social Media & Community Unconference by Dell Inc.

Heading out to Austin for this year's SXSW extravaganza? Or you'll be in the neighbourhood? Interested in meeting startups from around the globe and spending time at Dell's HQ, then take a gander at this event our friends at Dell are putting together the day before SXSW kicks off.

Centered on their HQ campus at Round Rock a few miles from Austin, Dell are  hosting a full day Unconference March 8th, 2012 (the day before SXSW), on social and technology trends in small businesses- a fast-paced, intense and fun event environment that allows participants to control the agenda.

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Filling up Fast #smwldn

We're delighted to annouce that since event registration opened last week on the 17th January there have been over five thousand unique attendees register for events globally in the twelve key cities taking part in this year's Social Media Week 2012 which focuses on Empowering Change through Collaboration.

Over two thousand attendees are registered for events in London alone. Which events are you coming to? Keep an eye out on the schedule of events as more are being added every day! 

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Digital Startups Get Chance to PICNIC in Amsterdam - Apply Now

PICNIC Amsterdam by Mark Florquin

After a successful trip to Berlin last year, CIKTN have teamed up with PICNIC, one of the must-attend digital conferences in Europe, and the UK Science & Innovation Network for a special event on 21/22nd Feb in Amsterdam.

Kicking off what's billed as a series of events between UK firms and Amsterdam, which has a strong reputation for digital businesses, this looks like a promising intiative for digital firms looking to start or develop a foothold in Europe.

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Calling all #smwldn Volunteers

Have an appetite for social media, blogging, twitter, and all things facebook? Want an insight into the world of social and the opportunity to meet some big brands, agencies and industry experts? Then we have the perfect opening for you.

Social Media Week London is less then 4 weeks away, and we need your help. Running from 13-17 February 2012 we are looking for enthusiastic individuals to help us make Social Media Week London a huge success.

We are looking for everyone, from keen bloggers to interviewers, super organised timekeepers to designers - if you want to help we want you!

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Roll up, roll up! Social Media Week Event Registration is now OPEN!

SMW 2012 Registration Open

FINALLY! The day has come!

Event registration has officially opened for Social Media Week 2012 - in London and globally! And boy, are we excited.

SMW London 2012 (Mon 13th - Fri 17th February) boasts a HUGE list of exciting events which focus on all sorts of social media ideas, issues, strategies, etc. 

So - what event/s are YOU going to sign up for?

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Cookie Law Update: Regulators Weigh In and Implied Consent Lives

balance by ROSS HONG KONG

New Year, fresh start, and for online marketers in the UK, that includes finalising preparations for a market where the ePrivacy Directive is actually enforced.  The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) initially granted a 12-month reprieve from enforcement to give us time to ‘get our houses in order,’ but the reprieve will be a distant memory when it expires on May 25th.  Did I just spoil your day?  The good news is that consensus is beginning to emerge on first steps that you can take, and more importantly, the ICO has not demanded that the market go opt-in.

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No Event too Big or too Small, all are Welcome at #smwldn

Thinking of getting really involved in this year's Social Media Week and organising your own special event?

Now is your chance. You don't need to be a large company or an agency or even a professional event organiser. Anyone can submit a event for the week, all you need is our handy guide to event planning and some good ideas. 

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How to Livestream your Event #smwldn

Is your event now live on Social Media Week?

If the answer is yes, then give yourself a big pat on the back and follow the four simple steps below to make your event as available as possible. 

This year we have teamed up with Livestream so you can make the most of your event by having it streamed on the official London Social Media Week channel for all to enjoy. It's also free. 

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Simon Says: You're Wrong about Spotify

Spotify

"Spotify Paid Lady Gaga $167 For 1,000,000 Plays"

This headline showed the “dark side” of music streaming start up, Spotify. Critics were in awe about how little artists were being paid for their hard work. Despite the short lived pleas from Spotify that they paid more per play people focused on this number, as if it was a bad thing.

Paying an artist less than 1p per play sounds like a raw deal, until you remember Spotify is a marketing platform. Spotify is designed as a service for people to listen to their favourite tracks cheaply. Why does this benefit the artist? Because if you love their music, you’ll go to the show, get the t-shirt and support the live scene.

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UKTI Mission to SXSW 2012: The Companies Announced

SXSW 2011

Congratulations to the 39 leading UK digital companies selected for this year's UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) Mission to South by South West 2012.

The exciting mission will see the companies travel out to Austin, Texas for an action-packed 5 days at SXSW Interactive, one of the largest and most well known conferences focused on digital media and technology.

Each of the companies joining the mission are listed below, don't hesitate to drop them a line directly to arrange a time to meet up in Austin, or follow their progress via their Twitter accounts. You can follow the UKTI team's coverage of the mission on Twitter @uktiatsxswi.

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Countdown to Social Media Week 2012 #smwldn

Oh my, it's exactly six weeks today until Social Media Week opens. We're getting very excited with all the fab events being registered and will soon be announcing our partners and sponsors. 

Here are two key dates for your diary to make sure you can really get engaged in all the action. 

1. Five weeks left to submit your event, submissions close on the 6th February. Need some help? Here are all the tips you could ever need

2. One week until event registration opens! If you want to get ahead sign up now and you can look through the schedule of events and add them to your favourities. Event registration opens on the 17th January

We can't wait to see you all, keep an eye out on the blog or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Simon Says: Supermarkets can do so much more with Social & Technology

Supermarket

Technology is designed to make our lives easier, faster and ultimately more fun.

Tesco is my supermarket of choice. This isn’t because it’s the nearest shop to me. Nor is it because I think they are the cheapest. It might have something to do with the fact I worked for almost all of the other big chain supermarkets in my teens and still have a little grudge about being treated poorly for minimum wage, but I think the main reason I’ll go to Tescos is the clubcard.

At the start of 2011 I purchased my first iPhone. When I got it home I immediately started downloading apps. Once I’d got Angry Birds, Facebook & Twitter I started to search for the more "specific" apps for me. I found the Tesco Clubcard app and moved straight over.

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