Month: March 2017

Do social media competitions work?

Have you come across those social media posts where the people you follow say something nice about a company in order to be entered into a prize draw or some sort of competition? You can spot them because they use a specific hashtag, or they say something like ‘RT in order to win’.   I … Continue reading Do social media competitions work?

How Alexa got its name

I always assumed that the name for Amazon’s smart voice assistant, Alexa, was some sort of nod to the (female) name Alexandra. But I was wrong. The creator of Alexa, Brewster Kahle, revealed how he came up with that name, in an interview with Kara Swisher for the Decode Recode podcast, which you can listen … Continue reading How Alexa got its name

Smartphone use: e-mail and social up; phone calls down

Deloitte’s 2016 Global Mobile Consumer survey reveals that the proportion of UK smartphone users who use their phone for web-enabled activities continues to increase. For instance, 56% of users now use instant messaging at least once a week. The number is 59% for social networks, and 71% for e-mail. At the same time, the proportion … Continue reading Smartphone use: e-mail and social up; phone calls down

Privacy threats: more than hacking or unauthorised surveillance

When we talk about privacy problems, we tend to focus on the collection or use of personal data without that person’s informed consent – for instance, hacking, unauthorised access, staff (mis)behaviour, or automated data collection.   However, a person’s privacy may be compromised even when they willingly agreed to share their data. Dan Nunan and … Continue reading Privacy threats: more than hacking or unauthorised surveillance

Something for your weekend: Why Seth Godin blogs

Seth Godin was interviewed by Debbie Millman, for the Design Matters podcast. It is a wide ranging and really interesting interview, which you can listen to, here.   At one point (around 30 minutes in), Debbie notes that Seth has been sharing material online, for free, for quite a long time, and asks why he … Continue reading Something for your weekend: Why Seth Godin blogs