Sam Michel's blog

In Chinwag's recent Digital Mission survey looking at which global opportunities were tempting the UK's digital firms, Germany featured 4th on the list.

Update: Panel line-up and Berline startups announced. Just one travel bursary left. See below.

For those digital firms interested in this market, Creative Industries KTN (CIKTN) and Berlin Brandenburg Medianet have announced a one-day session in Berlin to introduce firms to the local market, meeting with startups and local businesses who will provide mentoring support.

The recently announced Digital Mission Observer Programme launched this week, with the trip to Washington, DC. The programme was designed specifically to offer opportunities for staff in larger corporates, professional services firms and academia a chance to benefit from the Digital Mission series.

Amongst the observers joining the DC trip is Louise Eldridge (@fieldhead) from London law firm, Finers Stephens Innocent LLP. She said,

"We're excited to be part of the mission and the observer programme affords both companies and individuals the opportunity to engage with the companies selected and learn about their drivers and to better understand how to help facilitate their growth".

The agenda includes a mixture of briefings, masterclass, speed networking, VIP reception and evening events with the US Dept of State, Microsoft, Deloitte, the State of Maryland with more to be announced shortly. Across the week-long trip there'll be opportunities to meet representatives from across the spectrum of the DC digital and governmental scene from departments to NGOs to startups and social innovators.

Woah there. Run that past me again? Yup, you read it right. Travel and listings publisher, Time Out, announced a staggering 6,000% increase in the number of downloads of their travel apps after going free.

"In June, Time Out has made the decision to make all travel apps free for the foreseeable future – a move which saw the average weekly download per app jump from 140 downloads a week to over 8000, a rise of a staggering 6000%"

Maybe it's the over-developed thumbs of the smartphone natives? Maybe the news doesn't have the draw that it used to. Either way, it's games that dominate app purchases in the US according to the latest Neilsen research.

NMA reports that of the 300,000 users surveyed in May, 93% bought mobile games, compared with 76% paid for apps with a news flavour. Surprisingly, bearing in mind thse figures relate to a US audience, the second most popular category of downloads was weather. I thought it was just us Brits who were obsessed.

The statistics reveal the top 10 categories of apps downloaded in the last 30 days are:

The team behind the North East's successful incubator, Difference Engine are back with a new accelerator fund, ignite100, backed with funds of £1m.

Jon Bradford, founder of Difference Engine, which includes Digital Mission alumni Screenreach amongst the companies is supported, returns as Executive Director with Paul Smith, a North-East based entrepreneur running the programme. He said,

"Difference Engine was the first major acceleration bootcamp programme in Europe. ignite100 redefines acceleration programmes again and will be first acceleration programme in Europe to offer up to £100k per team."

The deal?

A little over three years ago, preparations for the very first Digital Mission to New York were just starting. A lot's happened since then, so what better time to reflect on the past, and ponder the future?

In this post (sorry it's quite long), we're reflecting on the story so far, looking at the future, how the missions are funded and the work to make them sustainable in the long-term, our plans for the next Digital Missions and three exciting new initiatives, plus how to get involved.

Read on, and do comment, we'd love your feedback.

Here at Chinwag, we like a tasty infographic and this one is a doozy. Built from data collected around the time of the national census, our friend Simon Sanders from Lansons recently published it on their blog.

That's equivalent to the UK's entire working population (~29.3m in 2009 - is this rising/falling - discuss) using social media with a few more people to spare.

Update: Cookiepocalypse is over (possibly). The ICO have updated their advice, suggesting implied consent is sufficient for users. Read more

This one is going to run and run. I'm predicting that anyone in digital is going to be an expert in cookies by the end of the Summer. And not the nice baked versions either, sadly.

Imagine a 90% drop in website visitors that are willing to accept a cookie from your website. be tracked through your analytics tool? Or your advertising targeting? Or your third party shopping basket? Ouch.

That's what happened with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) implemented the new law with existing technology, over 90% of site visitors declined to accept a Google Analytics cookie, thereby disappearing from their analytics.

Whilst the powers-that-be have allowed a year for industry to figure out a way to implement the new 'daft by European standards' cookie law, its impact is dramatic, as illustrated by the graphs obtained by leading web analytics expert, Vicky Brock (@brockyvick), under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

UPDATE: Vicky has kindly shared the raw data from the FOI request if anyone fancies a spot of number-crunching.

Always a fan of a tasty infographic and this morsel from Online MBA doesn't dissappoint, featuring a breakdown of the top-line numbers behind the daily deal giants: Groupon, LivingSocial and new entrants Facebook and Google. Amazon's announcement that it's entering the fray is too new to be included.

The figures put Groupon's eyewatering valuation in perspective: revenue of $100m, valuation of $6bn and plenty of red ink. Is there a touch of snake oil amongst the current offerings? Kevin Kelleher blogging at CNN Money seems to think so:

Facebook this. Facebook that. Facebook blah blah blah. In digital circles that's all anyone seems to talk about these days. Over 500 million people can't be wrong? Or can they? The picture isn't quite as black and white, or should that be blue and white?

PR giant Edelman recently published two social media maps looking at social networks and social media consumption across Europe and Asia along with an analysis of the most popular social networks and online usage.

At first glance Facebook is dominant, with the majority of online time spent on social networks or consuming video, with Zuck's giant dominating the European scene. From the research:

Thanks to our friends at Momo London for the heads-up that applications are now open for year's Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition. 

The competition is open to startups from seven countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Spain, Turkey or the United Kingdom) and has a rather juicy €225,000 up for grabs for the leading mobile site, service or applications.

A neat demographic for those interested in how the old-school newspaper world is coping with the changes posed first by the web, and now social media created by Will Sturgeon on The Media Blog (an excellent read, follow them: @the_mediablog)

The world of work, or rather the search for work, is under-going a revolution at the hands of social media. A recent study, Kelly Global Workforce Index, shows one in 5 of US respondents are using social media for their job hunt (see below for infographic).

The recruitment landscape is still dominated by online jobs boards, with word of mouth mouth, recruitment agencies and direct approaches proving the most widely used methods.

Whilst only 1% of the survey respondents found their jobs through social media (the survey ran Oct '10 to Jan '11), this looks set to change, with 24% of respondents searching for jobs using social media.

Google might have overtaken Apple in the battle for mobile operating system dominance but in the war of brands, Apple's the new number 1 according to sixth annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study.

Up 84% on last year's value Apple takes the top slot with a brand value just topping $153m, with Google relegated to second place at $111m. Brace yourself brand pickers, here's the top ten:

Our friends at The Glasshouse have an opportunity for London companies to take part in the World to NYC programme, run by the NYC Economic Development Corporation.

A delegation of Singapore start-ups will be visiting New York as part of the World to NYC programme May 9-13 May 2011, and they're inviting a London delegation to join them. As with their previous trips, this exciting five day programme will provide valuable contacts to: investors, clients, press and investor peers in the NYC business environment.

‘London to NYC’, is part of New York City Economic Development Corporation’s ‘World to NYC’ programme, which promotes trade and investment between New York City and London who have also supported the Digital Mission to New York.