I am sitting in Nacka, Sweden outside the office of one of my clients. My attention is drawn to a Tweet from Richard Gatarski, Weconverse, that points my eye towards a live Bambuser feed from the Berghs School of Communication.
Richard is right now streaming the opening lesson for the 2009 class of advertising at the Berghs School of Communication.
THIS IS A SHIFT in more ways than one.
- Richard Gatarski is the king of digital communication and future trends. In other words the students meet someone from the world of internet in their first lesson – not any old advertising guru.
- This is a school where students pay to learn. Yet I can follow their opening seminar online via bambuser. Openness!
- Richard is opening up backchannels on Twitter and Bambuser. The students learn about open conversations.
- Mobile internet. A couple of minutes ago a few students waved their arms in the class room as to see themselves that they were really live. Their getting the picture.
- Schools will open up. Schools will change. Schools will adapt new technologies. I just hope this happens to a lot of them before my kids start.
Richard is heading Berghs into the future of communication. Rock on!
Berghs are learning from the best. Rock on!
Så är det med den saken. TV kanalen Berghs Live hittar du förstås på www.berghslive.com. Resten av tablån för dagen hittar du här.
ps. Någon som har Screenflow och vill ödsla 10 minuter på att spela in?
(for you who does not speak Swedish. I’ll be attending Berghslive today, Saturday at 14:25 to talk about technology and communication…in Swedish.)
Earlier this morning I got an mail from Eva Hamilton, CEO of the Swedish Television letting me know that the SVT Play Beta was live. Obviously this must have been produced by some PR agency that decided my blog was a relevant target when spreading the news. But hey, aren’t we all suckers for spreading gossip.
The new site from SVT is big step in the right direction. It seems inspired by HULU.com and from both a brand and usability point view the new site is a big step forward. The only thing I miss right now is an ajax based search functionality. Something like Booli’s search would have made the site complete from a usability point of view.
The social interaction is missing, and it’s the key to getting paid.
I think SVT is missing out on a great opportunity here. Sites like YouTube, Ustream, Vimeo and Hulu got something that SVT has yet not implemented – a personal profile for the viewer.
The opportunity to save favorites, create your own playlists, tag content, write reviews, comment, get personal recommendations, get friends, subscribe to content, create your own channels etc are functionalities that could very well be the foundation to a long term solution to the licensing problem online. (SVT is free to watch in Sweden but you have to pay a license fee for having a TV set). I’m sure if I could log in to my profile during the day to prepare a schedule for the evening, maybe put together my own children’s show, check on recommendations, watch trailers etc I would be happy to continue to pay my license fee.
Of course this is probably something that we’ll see coming in the future. At least the design has room for more buttons and functionalities. However if it had been implemented in the beta launch today my headline would have been “Swedish Television launches the worlds best online television site”. Now I’ll have to go with the headline above instead.
A great site but still a beta
I’ve obviously been spoiled with Google having 45% of their services in beta mode. Years ago beta meant you could expect a lot of things to come, but today I want a beta to kick ass! To sum things up the new site is a huge step forward but I would have loved to see more social networking functionalities. So, what do you think. Head over to the new SVT Play Beta and judge for yourselves.
Finally, Eva said in her mail that she and her colleagues were looking forward to my post and would follow my comments on the new site with great interest. So, Eva, I expect you to join the debate here on my blog in the comments field – that, if something would prove that you and the Swedish Television are on top of your game.
I attended a thing called the Blogger Meetup at SIME today where we all had informal session with Kris Hoet, Joi Ito, Tom Crampton, Dave Sifry, Nico Luma and Bob Stumpel. The talk was mostly why people were blogging, how blogging would evolve in the future and how to make money off it. Absolutely one of the better takeouts from this years SIME (so far) even though I think it could have been more of a meetup rather than a ‘listenup’.
It triggered a though. Why am I blogging?
I started blogging already back in 2002. But I only managed to publish a few post before I grew tired of it. I basically felt as I had nothing to say. It then took a couple of years before I started again. This time I wasn’t really sure what to write about either. But, after a couple of posts I found it that my blog was the perfect place to share my inspirations and thoughts. The actual time it takes to write a post and value if it’s important enough to share made it the perfect filter in terms of remembering things that I must save for a rainy day.
Back in 1997 I had a specific software that made it possible for me to save links and data I found important. The thing was that the database was soon filled with shit. It simply was to easy to just post things into that black hole of mine. Since then I’ve created folders on my computer, fantastic bookmark categorization systems and used tools like Del.icio.us. Every tool has sooner or later become impossible to find things in. The blog however has never failed me. If I think it’s important I’ll blog it.
Not making money ON my blog has always been a golden rule I don’t wanna break. I quite often get approached by companies that want me to blog about something or place links in specific posts or banners on the site. No. Always my answer – NO. Accepting money would question my integrity.
Do I make money OFF my blog? I certainly hope so! Obviously I do think that my blog helps position me as a modern communicator, an innovator and someone with quite an eye for what’s up in terms of communication and advertising. My blog is the perfect CV and company platform combined so to say.
So, to sum it up: My blog is my filter, it’s my competence and it’s the professional me.
What is your blog to you?
ps. See, I saved some great links, share some knowledge and had a nice time in the SIME bar.
Följ min blogg med bloglovin
On the 12th and the morning of the 13th november (tomorrow and the day after) I’ll attend the Scandinavian Interactive Media Event – SIME.
I’ll also attend the Top100 event on the evening of the 12th.
If you happen to be there and wanna meet up for a chat. Feel free to contact me either before or during the event and we’ll bounce ideas, talk strategies or simply enjoy a fine expresso in the bar.
I’m in Spårvagnshallarna on a MSN Innovate semiar i Stockholm, Sweden.
There’s this woman presenting two interesting reports. The first one called Mediascope Europe and the second one Online Shoppers 2008.
Some Key Findings from Mediascope Europe:
- 169 million people now online across 10
- European markets
- 16-24 year olds now go online more frequently than they watch TV, for the first time (14,7 Hours Per Week)
- 48.5 million internet users now spend more than 16 hours a week on the web
- The nordic countries provide most everyday users
- Broadband penetration increases again with 8 in 10 Euro users now enjoying a high
- speed connection
- 40% of the Europeans watch less TV because of the TV
- 80% of the Europeans Internet users have bought something online.
A summary of the key findings from the Online Shoppers Europe:
- 40% of all European online shoppers have changed their mind about which brand to buy following research on the web, highlighting the power that websites can have in the purchasing decision.
- Online shoppers from more mature online markets are more likely to change their mind on what brand to buy following web research, than online consumers from less developed markets. As markets develop in online sophistication, shoppers will consume a wider variety of marketing messages and information sources to make their purchase decision which increasingly influences their brand and product choice. As a result, marketers must develop ever more effective strategies to engage with their consumers.
- The web is an ever more powerful resource for consumers wishing to research a product or brand. Over half (59%) of online shoppers cite that websites of well known brands are an important source of information when researching or considering a product or service and search engines are considered more useful (76%) than personal recommendations (72%).
- Marketers need to provide relevant information at the right time and in the right place online to ensure effective engagement with their consumers whilst they are in the purchase making process.
- More and more shoppers are making the most of the convenience of online shopping. 80% of European internet users have bought a product or service online, up 3% since 2006 and double the 2004 figure. Online shoppers made 1.3 billion purchases in just a six month period, spending an average of €747 each
online.
- There are gender differences between goods consumed by online shoppers with female shoppers focusing on clothes (40% vs. 27% of men) and holidays (46% vs. 38% of men) while their male counterparts go for electrical goods (39% vs. 27% of women) and CDs (25% vs. 20% of women. Marketers should be aware of these gender differences when developing online marketing campaigns.
Visit EIAA to download these two and other reports.
