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M A G A Z I N E
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April 5, 2013
Issue: 4
M A G A Z I N E
dench MOVE OVER DIERDRE THERE’S A NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
seven sisters 4eva #tagmagazine
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CONTENTS 24
APRIL 5, 2013 ISSUE 4 the cloud 12
14
16
Paris Brown Twitter has become a legal minefield of late, the latest victim is only 17 and she’s had to quit her new job
Lewis Watson YouTube sensation Lewis Watson releases his very first EP attempting to go from stream to mainstream Google Glass Google’s latest innovation will transform not only the way we communicate but how we view the world
features 24
50
28
32
16 32 36 find us on
@hashtagmaguk
Seven Sisters Move aside Eastenders and Coronation Street. Introducing the future of soaps, the social opera Nationwide The world’s largest building society opens its doors to tell us how they’re utilising social media Tweevolution Two years since the arab spring new analysis shows the impact social media sites are still having today
trend 36
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The Iron Lady Following the death of the former Prime Minister find out how the online community responded Technology Check out the very latest technology to get your hands on with our indepth reviews and views
the vault 50
The Vault This week we take a trip down memory lane as we chart the career of the very first social media band
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OUR
DREAM TEAM INTRODUCING.. melissa nuckley Melissa is a freelance journalist and graphic designer, with a passion for all things social media. Here to deliver you with latest news and trends concerning Twitter.
Emmanuel Shogbolu Emmanuel Shogbolu is a graphic designer, photographer and overall media specialist working in London. When Emmanuel is not contributing to the magazine, he tends to spend most of his time at pubs politicing about music and boxing.
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# peter mannion Peter is an experienced journalist and broadcaster, with a passion for politics, sport and technology. Here every week to give you fun and interesting features.
welcome What’s up guys? Welcome to the wonderful world of #tag! We’re here to fill you in with the latest in social media be it Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and many more.. #Soyeah, as you should be aware by now the idea of this weekly mag is to document the latest on goings in the world that is socially inclined. Our cover story this month features an interview with the makers of a revolutionary new soap opera called Seven Sisters, the first ever ‘social opera’, that requires its audience to tune in via Twitter rather than TV. How on earth will it work, well flick to page 23 and you’ll find out. The #tag team had a sit down in the office and gave an ear to the up and coming Internet and soon to be global sensation Lewis Watson. We also caught up with Nationwide Building Society’s head of social media to have a word about how they have recently embraced the World Wide Web as a source of communication between them and their customers. Have a flick through the rest of our pages to read on hot topics such a count down of the top most retweets of all time and the response on twitter following the death of Margaret Thatcher – we even chart the career of the very first social media band and loads more.
Enjoy!
Emmenual Shogbolu
Peter Mannion #tagmagazine
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VIEWTIFUL #8
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builtmore house This stunning view was taken from Ameria’s largest privately owned home, Builtmore House. Built in the late 19th century by George Washington Vanderbilt II it’s a whopping 178,926 square feet and has more than 250 rooms. Situated in Asheville, North Carolina on on America’s east coast this extraordinary home is nestled amongst mountainous terrain and attracts thousands of visitors every year. Gorgeous. Tweet us your beautiful pics and amazing views using #viewtiful
Picture courtesy of Elizabeth Albert, Flickr
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Picture courtesy of rossbreadmore, Flickr
the cloud
Au Revoir, Paris #12
ore and more people are learning the hard way when it comes to publishing abusive, illegal or simply outrageous content online, with the latest victim coming by the name of Paris Brown. After what no doubt would have been one of the proudest days of her life after being awarded the brand new role of Youth Crime Commissioner for Kent Police, she was forced to quit for controversial tweets she
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had sent a few years previous. Initially she tried to carry on in ÂŁ15,000 a year job by apologising profusely during an emotional and promptly organised press conference shortly after the revelations were reported. The tweets themselves included boasts about her sex life, violence, drinking binges and drugs but some were of a more serious nature, which have been interpreted as homophobic and racist and have led to a
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police investigation about them. But with so much media attention put on her and an a police investigation looming over her head it was just too much for the seventeen yearold who declined to take up her position as the country’s first Youth Crime Commissioner. Ms Brown is just one in a growing number of people who are finding out that posting seemingly innocuous content online can have dire consequences.
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Lewis Watson picture courtesy of Braden Fletcher, Flickr and picture of Psy courtesy of Eva Rinaldi, Flickr
news
wild child
New Tricks: He only picked up a guitar at sixteen and now he’s taking the charts by storm
ewis Watson only starting playing the guitar when he was bought one for his sixteenth birthday. But within only a few years he had secured a massive fan base and a major record label. So how did he do it? Like many wannabe musicians he created a YouTube account. He started posting covers of songs under the name HolyLoowis, to avoid the attentions of any friends.
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we aint no(se) fools #14
His hits and subscribers grew steadily until he posted his cover of Tracy Champman’s Fast Car, then around 1000 subscribers turned into 23,000. After a former music tutor helped him release his first record and he was soon snapped up by Warner Bros. Records. The rest, as they say, is history. Lewis is due to go on his very first tour of the UK in June.
oogle has never been a company to take itself too seriously. Just search for ‘where is Chuck Norris’ using the‘I’m Felling Lucky’
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button and it will return, Google won’t search for Chuck Norris because it knows you don’t find Chuck Norris, he finds you. They are especially
The Wild EP is out now, £1.49 on iTunes
YouTube Sensation: This year Psy’s Gangnam Style became the most watched video ever
comical when it comes to April Fools’ Day, every year coming up with plenty of outrageously witty or bizarre exploits to try and catch the
unsuspecting Google-r (ok, that’s probably not a word) out. This year they surpassed all previous years but introducing Google NoseBETA . As the name suggests, the service enables the user to smell the things they’ve just searched for. Upon clicking the blue try button Google redirects you to amusing searches such as “wet dog,” “used napkin,” or “diaper.” You crazy fools!
Picture courtesy of Google Inc.
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through the looking glass
his time no tricks from Google but perhaps one of the smartest, most anticipated pieces of tech to debut since the iPhone. Google Glass is real, it’s here and it’s here to stay. A cross between wearing glasses and using a smartphone, it allows you to take pictures, record video, and search but all totally hands-free, accessed solely through voice command. It will even give you information when you don’t ask for it. The example Google use is of a person at an airport, it will show you all the boarding information you need on screen, without prompt.
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No release release date or price has been confirmed but we do know it comes in five different colours. Oooooh. Unfortunately unless you entered a competition to try them out you’re going to have to wait to get your hands on a pair. Registrations closed last week for the #ifihadglass competition. Entrants had to explain why they deserved to try out one of the first-ever Google Glass Explorer Editions and also complete an application form, with the winners getting to try out one of the most sought after bits of tech. Those lucky so and so’s.
Google co-founder: Sergey Brin
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Glass Facts: • Look like glasses • Voice command • Takes pics
• Records video • Share content
• Use Google Maps • Strong & light • Sleek design • five colours • No price
Pictures courtesy of Google Inc.
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news
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news
TWITTER IS SET TO HIRE A “HEAD OF NEWS AND JOURNALISM” full time position based in New York City has been released to the public. The position available comes with a long list of essential practises needed to qualify for the role. Experience leading teams in reporting, editing or managing journalists, as well as a strong record of executing strategic partnerships are key skills needed to apply for the position.
A
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does twitter need you?
Twitter plays an essential role in the evolution of the news industry, we’ve already seen change in the way news breaks and how journalists have been provided with new ways to connect with their readers. So if you so happen to have all the skills needed to be considered for the job role, visit www.twitter.com and apply. Good luck!
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Experience needed: Minimum of 15 years in news in editorial or journalism, 10 years of managing teams and at least 5 years executing strategic partnerships
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news
twitter launches music app!
a new app that recommends tracks to music fans based on the artists they follow. Words: Melissa Nuckley
his April we say the release of the speculated Twitter app #Music, there is no doubt that most of Twitter’s users already have a deep interest in music, but until now there had been no controlled way for artists or fans to leverage that over the micro-blogging site. Twitter #Music has been described as a music discovery tool. It works as a music player however given the choice I’m sure most would rather stick to our dedicated music streaming apps before resorting to
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using Twitter music. For the best experience when using #Music, you’ll need to be subscribed to Spotify or Rdio will be needed, using ITunes only gives users the ability hear the preview of a song. You don’t need to be signed into Twitter to use the app, but doing provides personalized recommendations. If you don’t already have a twitter account, you’ll need one to be able to access that feature. The new Twitter music service aims to combine all the music your followers decide
to tweet and listen to and merge it into one phenomenal playlist, providing a personalised radio station based on the exquisite tastes of those whose tweets you signed up to see. Twitters move into creating apps such as #music and Vine, is a clear sign of an attempt to reposition the social-networking giant as an entertainment source online, bringing it closer to the multimedia social network that Facebook has become over the past two years.
#music - powered by what your friends and the community on twitter are sharing
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news
Instagram users scram s some of you may be aware, Instagram received a lot of criticism for trying to introduce their new policies, which suggested it could sell users’ personal pictures to advertisers. Statistics show that Instagram lost close to HALF of its daily users on the December 17th – the day
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Text By Emmanuel Shogbolu
“STATISTICS SHOW THAT INSTAGRAM LOST CLOSE TO HALF OF ITS DAILY USERS... IN LESS THAN A MONTH” in which the controversial news was announced. Instagram’s active daily users – supposedly the highest frequency user group amongst all social networks– have dropped from 16.35 to 8.42 million in less than a month. In the past celebrities as Anderson cooper, Olivia Wide & Kim Kardashian (who all received thousands of retweets), have expressed their disgust through twitter. But fortunately, this over ambitious bid failed; now they plan to backtrack plans, until further notice that is.
Thinking about deleting your account or already have? How about these Alternatives:
Flickr
camera+
The original photo-sharing site have recently revamped its iPhone app for the first time in three years to include ‘Instagram-style’ filters for the first time. iOS - Free
100 Cameras In 1
Hipstamatic
100 Cameras In 1: Includes 100 effects to add to your photos in a fast, simple app allowing users to share via email, Twitter and Facebook. iOS – Free/£1.50
This Lordy app aims to recreate the analogue effect within digital photography and is expandable with a range of digital lenses. iOS - Free #22
A much more ‘accomplished photographer’ feel than Instagram, this app includes a selection of editing options that extend beyond simple filters. iOS - £0.69
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seven sisters
THE SOCIAL MEDIA SOAP OPERA AIMING TO TAKE ON THE NATION’S FAVOURITES
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seven sisters
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ith established soaps like Eastenders, Coronation Steeet and Emmerdale still attracting millions of viewers every week you wouldn’t think there was room for one more, slightly different, rival. But Awesix Media are ready to unleash a new form of soap, in the form of social opera, Seven Sisters. We spoke to creative director Danielle Vanier to find out what exactly this exciting new concept is and how they see it evolving in the future... So, what is Seven Sisters? Seven Sisters is the newest form of entertainment to hit your mobile screens. It’s a soap opera based solely online and will initially follow five characters living in North London. We are combining Britain’s love of soap operas with their obsession for social networking. And how did this intriguing idea come about? The idea was basically founded on the premise that all successful forms of communication at some point
get used as an artistic medium. Social media is exactly that – a form of communication, so why shouldn’t it too be used as an artistic medium. From there the idea grew and the benefits became clearer. For example it’s far more flexible and in tune with modern lifestyles than traditional media, it can be more current and therefore easier for the audience to relate to. You’ve coined the phrase ‘social opera’ so is it going to work?t A Social Opera is a completely foreign concept to most people outside of the show, including the audience. Our first aim is to capture people’s interest and show them how this concept can work for them. We want people to read tweets by characters and think ‘yes I saw that too, you’re right’ and to relate to the individual characters and the situations they find themselves in.
“We are combining Britain’s love of soap operas with their obsession for social networking.”
How are you going to judge how successful it is? There really is only one measure of success – people following the show and it becoming a part of their lives.
Danielle Vanier is the creative director for Awesix Media the innovative bods behind this interesting new concept
Picture courtesy of Danielle Vanier
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seven sisters
What difficulties have you experienced so far in bring your vision to life? Nobody has ever done it before so there’s no path to follow! But this has been half of the fun too, working out how we balance the relationship between writer and director, how to tell a story in 140 characters, how to provide live content 24 hours a day and still have time to remain sane. Overall, what has been the reaction to the venture? Very promising. Most people’s immediate reaction is ‘why hasn’t this been dvone before?’ which is great. The enthusiasm we have had from all sorts of people has been really surprising and in many cases has actually given us ideas that we’ve thrown into the mix.
Picture courtesy of lwpkommunikacio, Flickr
“Most people’s immediate reaction is ‘why hasn’t this been done before?’” Seven Sisters promise to be the biggest thing to hit a soap opera since a Grant Mitchell right hook
Are there any Biancas or Deirdrets to watch out for? The characters, who are portrayed by real writers include the tcalled Seb, his arrogant onoff boyfriend called Mario, his half-sister Lucinda, embracing her promiscuous party lifestyle in the City, Annie the country girl trying to make her way in the big smoke and the alpha male named Bobby, riding the wave of single life in London. And finally, how donvisage it evolving in the future? Really the possibilities are endless. One of the beauties of a social opera is that it hovers somewhere between reality and fiction. We’re working on some really fun ideas for the future which the audience can be a part of.
meet the cast Mari o Delaney Arogant
boyfriend of Seb.
Lucinda Morgan-Smith
@Mario_Delaney “In a cab on the way to #SevenSisters from mine and the arse has just fallen out of the day...! Ugly ass skies”
Event manager and unashamed party girl.
@DindaInTheCity “#bakedcamenbert and #frillyknickers #perfectdatenightin” Saucy!
@Bobby_Gardner Finally the bday boy is here @sebsmith99 is ready for some carnage!
@SebSmith99 “@anniejazzhands @bobby_ garden @cindainthecity @ mario_delaney yep, couldn’t wait, ordered food”
Seb Smith East London cool kid Lad! Dating disaster area & West End wannabe
Annie Jones Bobby gardner
All round loveable guy and woman magnet
Pictures courtesy of Awesix Media
@anniejazzhands Loving the #Camden vibe in the sunshine. Even dressed the part today...well, accessorised! #fashion
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nationwide
future banking WE GO INSIDE THE WORLD’S LARGEST BUILDING SOCIETY TO SEE HOW THEY’RE TACKLING THE WORLD OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW THEY SEE IT DEVELOPING IN THE, WELL, FUTURE...
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nationwide
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tnteracting with a financial institution may not be the most fun or glamorous thing you can do whilst social networking, but to get an idea of how companies are using social media to engage with their customer we spoke to Paul Beadle, Senior Manager of Nationwide Building Society’s social media team who told us the future of banking will very much involve social media. “It was decided that we should do something around social media so we set up a project team.” He confirms. “For a lot of people it’s about Facebook and waterskiing
kittens, but the reality is social media is what people are saying about us on forums and twitter and other websites. “It’s about how those things are being picked up by journalists and turned into stories. Once you started that listening the only way you could engage with those
“It’s really about talking about lifestyle things rather than mortgages.” people was getting onto social media. That’s why we started creating Twitter and Facebook pages because we knew if we created a Twitter page people would come to us and ask us those questions.” For Beadle and his team that was only the start. Once the pages were decided upon and created they couldn’t rest on their laurels. It was then time to start interacting, but that’s where their biggest challenge
came from. “The next bit is how you engage with those people and that’s probably the hardest part because we’re not a fast moving consumer brand. The first part of engagement is actually listening to people, finding out what the problem is and then you can start to talk about other stuff that they may be interested in. “It’s really about talking about lifestyle things rather than mortgages. If you start talking to people about mortgages they’re probably going to fall asleep but if you talk to people about buying their first house or putting enough money away to provide for your kids’ education or for your pension then they’re a bit more engaged. “It’s a bit like having a discussion about it down the pub. If you talk about mortgages, it’s a bit like ‘whatever’ but if you talk about ‘I want move out’ or ‘I want to get my own home’ then they’re a bit more engaged and someone might say ‘oh yeah I went to Nationwide’ that stuff starts to resonate.
Picture courtesy of Nationwide Building Society
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nationwide That for us was what social media was all about.” By their own admission, Nationwide may have been a tad slow in properly getting to grips with social media but they firmly see social media and all the different and varied communication channels playing a big part in the future of banking. “The challenge now is to get to the next step forward, it’s about thinking to the future as a business,” he said. “So we’re starting to think about how you do person to person contactless payments? What’s next for the app? How do we engage with consumers on Skype-like video conferencing technology and where does social media fit in with that? “There’s a French-Canadian blogger who’s got a site called ‘Visible Banking’ and he looks around the world at what people are doing and you’ve got banks in South East Asia that have branches embedded in Facebook! American Express is doing
something where you can pay with a Twitter #tag. That’s all really interesting stuff and if you look at where we are, which to us feels like such a step change but whereas in future you could be doing lots more. “There are also things being done around ‘checking in’ like you do in Costa and you could get 25% off and that’s where we could go with this. It is social media in that it’s using social media-style approaches but it’s e-commerce at the same time. “Our chief executive Graham Beale is saying I don’t want us to be seen as being the old building society, behind the curve and a bit fuddy duddy, I want us to be forward looking and forward thinking.” Beadle and his team have big plans for the future but it’s not all about future tech and extravagant gadgets. There are simple things that they would like to start doing very soon that would make interacting and resolving customer problems a whole lot simpler.
“Banks in South East Asia that have branches embedded in Facebook!”
“I know that with our emails often what you get is people on the website that are looking for something and they cant find it, so they ask the question. So it could be that perhaps not quite right but if 25% of those people don’t know how to use a card reader instead of sending them a page with all the information on it we could send them a video via our YouTube page.” Nationwide currently has three different Twitter account, a Facebook page and a YouTube channel. And as Beadle explains using all of these mediums is important to how they engage with the younger demographic. “It’s about looking at our whole demographic and realising that this is something we need to do. The channels that we have to communicate are changing. Whether you like it nor not social media is growing. “I’ve had emails from older people saying ‘I don’t know why you’re using social media it’s a terrible thing’ but a 25 or 30 year-old will use social media as their
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favourite channel. If we don’t acknowledge that we’ll miss out. It’s not about looking to a younger demographic, it’s about using all the possible communication channels that are available to us.” So has Nationwide’s venture into social media been a success? Well, a few months ago Nationwide had an issue with direct debits where it had mistakenly taken two lots of payments. Whilst the issue occurring was not ideal, with the help of social media they were able to resolve many customers’ issues. “When we had an issue with direct debits we had a lot of positive feedback from journalists saying how well we handled the situation. We need to get smarter about measuring customer satisfaction, that’s the biggest pitfall the social media has. What does a ‘like’ mean on Facebook? That will depend on how that customer interacts with you, if they like you but don’t come back to the page then it’s not worth an awful lot but if they’re there on a regular basis then they’re worth more.”
Picture courtesy of Nationwide Building Society
Nationwide’s social media dream team, led by Paul Beadle (second from the right)
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Picture courtesy of Eastern Affairs
arab spring
tweevolution TWO YEARS SINCE THE ARAB SPRING WE SEE HOW TWITTER IS STILL MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE REGION
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pinion is still split about the extent to which social media sites like Twitter, Facbook and YouTube helped to overtthrow regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, but new analysis of tweets sent from inside Egypt, Libya and Syria suggests using this type of communication is still high on the agenda for those Arab nations. Keywords from Tweets were analysed from Egypt, Libya and Syria and the key finding of the study was that after the uprisings brought down decades-old regimes (or not, in Syria’s case) people in the two North African states are still expressing their opinions and views of the current political atmosphere and talking about the new institutions and how to build a new government.
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In Egypt roughly 12 million tweets sent in Arabic and just over one million sent in English were analysed February 2011 to June 2012. Over the time period it concluded how the focus went from reflecting on the revolution at the beginning of the time period to re-building and introducing new state institutions and the upcoming elections. Meanwhile, in Libya the tweets presented a slightly different picture, especially when looking at what language the tweets were sent in. Following the death of their former dictator Colonel Gaddafi, in October 2011, and until December of the same year, in English more tweets were about military clashes, while in Arabic most of the conversations were about state-building. Although the uprising in Syria hasn’t
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“focus went from reflecting on the revolution... to new state institutions and the upcoming elections.”
led to a regime change (predictably) most tweets discussed clashes of violence and war, whilst a number reflected on coping with death.
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arab spring
THE STATS
egypt
After overthrowing their regiemes what’s the talk on the social media highway on the Arabian Penincular?
Under SCAF Rule: 11 Feb, 2011 - 11 Nov, 2011
54%
• of Arabic tweets about “reflections on the revolution”
Egyptian Elections: 12 Nov, 2011 - 1 Jun, 2012
• shift from revolution to state-building
WHAT ABOUT...
• In Arabic, 20% of the conversation discusses Free Syrian Army progress and anti-Assad opinion. In English, the proportion of the conversation about Free Syrian Army’s progress and anti-Assad opinion is 14%.
syria 1 in 3 1 in 10 1 in 20
• In English, 7% of the conversation critisies the U.N. and includes appeals to the world beyond Syria to intervene. In Arabic, this segment is 4% of the conversation.
tweets sent disucssed the punishment and/or fate of Gaddafi’s family, supporters and the crimes his regime committed.
39% 1%
of tweets related to statebuilding and National Transitional Council reported military clashes
tweets sent talked about the future of Libya in a positive, optimistic light.
tweets sent talked about the future of Libya in a negative, pessimistic light.
Picture courtesy of mapsof.net
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arabic vs english
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libya
10% 30%
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trend (politics)
FAREWELL IRON LADY.. A split nation: Twitter consumed by publics mixed response to ex PMs death Words: Melissa Nuckley he controversial former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher passed away this April and the news of her death instantly sparked reactions over social media sites. Twitter users across the globe took straight to twitter to share their thoughts. Known to many as the
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Irony Lady she transformed Britain’s economy during the 1980s, #Thatcher, MargaretThatcher and #IronLady were some of the most trending words on Twitter this month as the divided nation took to the social-blogging site to mourn and ridicule the former Prime Minister.
FACTS: Who metioned Margaret Thatcher over Twitter
35%
SENTIMENT OF POSTS
43% Negative
18%
39%
Positive
Neutral
More than 4 in 10 comments made in social media sites about Thatcher’s passing were negative.
65% 900 posts per minute in the first 3 hours of hearing the news.
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trend (sport)
joey BARTON Blasted over controversial tweets NEVER KNOWING WHEN TO
BUTTON IT, BARTON FINDS HIMSELF IN TROUBLE AGAIN.
Words: Melissa Nuckley ot one to shy away when its comes to sharing his opinion across the micro-blogging site, the on-loan Marseille midfielder has yet again hit headlines across sport news. With over two million followers Barton has become one of the most followed sports stars within the tweeting community. Despite his many disputes over social media sites, he is still finding ways to entertain his many loyal followers, Barton recently launched a search for a Twitter follower to join him on the Lions tour to Australia. Barton recently escaped punishment when French Football
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Federation’s ethics council were unable to judge the case that took place early this April. Barton faced trouble over his foulmouthed twitter rant about Paris Saint Germain defender Thiago Silva when he took to the social networking site to brand Silva an ‘overweight ladyboy’. He’s most recent offensive tweet branded QPR’s players as ‘maggots’ and ‘W******’ after they were relegated from the Premier League. As he continues to cause controversy across twitter his reputation as one of football’s aggressive thinkers remains.
A Controverisal Career
Feb 2004: Picks up the first red card of his career for arguing with the referee at halftime. Apr 2004: Leaves the ground Stadium before kick-off after being left out of the team. Jul 2004: Incites a 10-man brawl during City's preseason friendly. Dec 2004: Stubs a lit cigar in the eye of a youth-team player at a Christmas party. May 2005: Breaks the leg of a pedestrian while driving through Liverpool at 2am. Jun 2005: Sent home from City's pre-season tour of Thailand after a brawl in
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the team hotel Sep 2006: Drops his shorts during a match. Dec 2006: Criticising England players for bringing out autobiographies. Apr 2007: Criticises his club's performances and recruitment policy. May 2007: Assaults team-mate during a training session, who had to go to hospital with a damaged cornea and retina in his left eye. Dec 2007: Attacks a 16-yearold boy outside a McDonalds and later jailed for six months for assault. May 2012: Sent off on final day of the season for elbowing a player. After bring sent off he then kicked and attempted to headbut two other players.
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trend
TWITTER FACTS & FIGURES Twitter recently celebrated its 7th birthday in March and since its launch in 2006 it’s worldwide growth has been tremendous. Its seen private internet users and public corporations embrace the microblogging site to share news, photos, links and more. Take a look at some of twitters most interesting facts and figures that explore who tweets, why they do and how often they do it. Information taken from Hootsuite (social media managemen)
24%
tweet their location
40%
3 years 2 months and 1 d from the first tweet to th
post personal updates
send direct messages
55%
28%
share videos
retw
72%
52%
retweet others
5pm is the best time t
54%
post general life observations
share photos
53%
Wan RETWEE
Words: Melissa Nuckley
share links to news stories
62%
post work updates
The average twitter user has
27 followers
46%
of users are male
54%
of users are female #40
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trend
24%
nt a ET?
Several times a day
12%
1-2 days per week Once a day
5% 5% 7% 7%
to get weeted
day. The time it took
he
12%
How active are twitter users and how frequently do they check their account?
Less often
19% 21%
Never Every few weeks 3-5 times a weeks
billionth. Over 450,000 new accounts are created everyday (that’s 5.2 every second, every day) 177 million tweets sent per day There has been more than an 182% increase in mobile twitter users in the past year 92% of retweets are based on “interesting content” only 26% are due to tweets including “please RT”
177 million
tweets sent per day
Every minute, 700 YouTube videos are shared on twitter
On the March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey sent the first public tweet into the world (“just
setting up my twttr”) #tagmagazine
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10
most retweeted tweets of all time
NO REWARDS FOR GUESSING THAT TWITTER’S LIST OF THE TOP 10 MOST RETWEETED TWEETS OF ALL TIME IS DOMINATED BY NUMEROUS CELEBRITIES.
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1. Barack Obama (500K+) @BarackObama Four more years. 2. Justin Bieber (200K+) @justinbieber RIP Avalanna. i love you
3. T.J. Lang (98K+) @TJLang70 Fuck it NFL.. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs. 4. Floyd Mayweather (89K+) @FloydMayweather Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out let’s fight May 5th give the world what they want to see. 5. Kim Kardashian (68K+) @KimKardashian A 15 year old girl who is terminal w/ cancer has made a bucket list. 1 of her wishes is to trend on Twitter. Give a RT #alicebucketlist 6. Lady Gaga (34K+) @ladygaga Never be afraid to dream.
7. Katy Perry (33K+) @katyperry The new song Skyscraper by @ddlovato is pure perfection. Her voice is one of the BEST undiscovered beauties. Can’t wait for the full record. 8. Selena Gomez (32K+) @selenagomez SO, SO proud of @ddlovato #skyscraper Incredible, beautiful and so inspiring.. 9. Rihanna (29K+) @rihanna Welcome to the world princess Carter! Love Aunty Rih
10. Taylor Swift (25K+) @taylorswift13 I’m so 22 right now. #tagmagazine
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heard it through the grape.. witter may have the monopoly on short text social media communication but the company have now ventured into the world of video, with something that’s simple, intuitive, and, most importantly, fun. Vine allows users to create six-second, looping videos to share in-app and on Facebook and Twitter. Apart from a small issue with large influx of adult material on launch, most of the content is smart and engaging, and that because it’s so easy to use, with its bespoke app.
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One of the current down side is that the app is currently only available on the Apple App Store. Twitter insists that it’s working on bringing Vine to other platforms, but for now, a significant percentage of smartphone users are shut out from creating Vine videos. Another is Facebook integration. The original version of the app incorporated the Facebook “Find people” function, but Facebook promptly cut off Vine’s access, placing a major roadblock to finding friends. To make matters worse, Facebook’s limits
TOUCHSPEAKER isentangling wires from electronic equipment is one of life’s small annoyances, slyly raising blood pressure alongside slow walkers and disrupted public transport. Rather like a small trendy brick, the ThumbsUp! Touch Speaker is a portable, wireless speaker that uses Near Field Audio technology to amplify sound.
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on the news feed and open graph actions mean that Vine videos can’t be viewed natively, instead showing up as a link that a user has to click through. Despite its infancy and aforementioned issues, Vine has quickly established itself as the leader in social video. The simplicity of Vine is perfect to encourage people and brands consumers to adopt the app. Once it expands beyond the App Store it will surely be a main stay of social for many years to come. For now let’s sit back and watch Vine grow.
OLYMPUS XZ-2 It’s compact, smart and boasts a powerful 2.5W x 2 RMS output for quality audio. It is compatible with most iOS services as well as Android, and features an optional 3.5mm connection for on the go. A modern version of the 1980s boombox-on-shoulder practice (that carries less risk of back injury). Touch speaker By ThumbsUp, £29.99. Menkind.co.uk
f you’re looking for a high-end c o m p a c t camera that works like a D-SLR, then it’s worth checking out Olympus’s popular XZ-2. It offers 12.3 megapixels of digital quality, plus analogue D-SLR controls – the adjustable ring means you can focus and zoom the good ol’ fashioned manual way, whilst the button next to it lets you switch between digital and
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analogue modes with ease. Plus you can play film director with its HD movie capability, and experiment with a set of eleven different art filters.
Olympus XZ-2 By Olympus, £399.95. Olmypus.co.uk
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iphone killer Words by Emmanuel Shogbolu
amsung’s new smartphone might be the biggest thing to come out of South Korean Republic since “Gangnam Style.” The Galaxy S4’s gargantuan 5” Super AMOLED screen is big enough to dwarf the competition and at 1080p and 441 pixels-per-inch, it’s pin-sharp - making it the best phone for streaming HD movies in town. The follow-up to the muchloved S3 has had an upgrade under the surface, too: including an ultra-fast quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 2GB of RAM. But the real innovations with the Galaxy S4 - and why Apple should start to watch its back - is in two new features:
eye-tracking and S Health. The muchvaunted eye tracking uses the front-facing camera to sense when you’re looking at that enormous display, pausing videos when you’re looking away, for example. It can sense your fingers, too - swiping your hand over the screen to answer a call or skip a music track is a neat trick; useful when your hands are occupied. The second killer feature, S Health, uses a built-in pedometer to track your movement; think of it as an alternative to Nike’s Fuelband but with the addition of useful Android apps. Now we just need to figure out how to fit the thing in our pockets…
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Picture courtesy of Bleeding Mole, Flickr
WE PAY HOMAGE TO THE CAREER OF PERHAPS THE VERY FIRST BAND TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS VIA THE ONLINE MUSIC COMMUNITY B
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efore the Arctic Monkeys came along any band longing for that illusive record label had no choice but to trudge the country playing to every venue they could in the hope they would be picked. But with some luck and plenty of northern graft this Sheffield band went on to become the pioneers of internet-based music that turned conventional know-how on its head. Back in 2005 they went from unsigned obscurities to a No 1 single with their first official release, provoking hysterical scenes outside oversubscribed venues they had no right to fill.
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PROFILE formed: 2002 from: sheffield genre: indie rock band members: alex Turner, jamie cook nick o’malley matt helders label: domino albums: whatever people say i am, that’s what i’m not; favourite worst nightmare; humbug; suck it and see biggest hits: i bet you look good on the dance floor (1); when the sun goes down (1); brainstorm (2); fluorescent adolescent(5)
But beneath all the hype was four lads from West Yorkshire who just loved making and playing music. So how did they do it? Well, partly through their own skill and intuition and partly through their own fans. They started giving out free samples of their music at all their gigs. Fans then shared these songs by setting up a page on a new music site called MySpace. Their popularity grew at a radid rate, they were signed up by Domino – who at the time had also snapped up Franz Ferdinand – and the rest, as they say, is history.
Picture courtesy of Jason Persse, Flickr
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