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Ben Goldacre provides perspective on ‘Facebook cancer’ claims

February 27, 2009 By Dan Thornton

This clip should probably become standard issue for anyone who is in a panic over the latest newspaper headlines concerning health – and particularly for anyone talking or thinking about the latest concerns about Twitter and Facebook:

Helpfully, Dr Goldacre has posted the papers and research he referenced on the Bad Science blog, and there’s some very interesting reading – well worth knowing for anyone who works with social media and social networks for any future debates.

(I already posted responses from the NHS and The Guardian’s Charles Arthur, plus my own response to the Sigman paper)

Clip found at Johnnie Moore‘s Weblog, apparently from David Smith‘s Delicious feed.

Responses to ‘social network health threat’ include the NHS

February 20, 2009 By Dan Thornton

Following the mass media coverage of Aric Sigman’s paper on the ‘biological implications of social networking’, to which I added my own response yesterday, the Institute of Biology has made the paper publicly available.

And there are two good responses to reading the paper available already, and well worth reading.

The first is by Charles Arthur on the Guardian technology blog, which is a pretty fair and balanced look at the paper.

And the second is a great examination of the findings by the National Health Service Choices site. (Cheers to @peeebeee for the tip)

Both point out that the description of the paper and the subsequent reporting appears to have made a jump from the actual research into the implications of isolation, to claiming that social networking is causing isolation without any evidence.

‘A Facebook poke cannot replace a good old hug, it seems.’ – from the Insititue of Biology’s own description.

I don’t think anyone would claim replacing physical contact with humans with digital contact exclusively would be a desirable aim – which is probably why so many online social networks are devoted to enabling people to connect and then meet in the real world – Facebook events, online dating, barcamps, unconferences, travel networks etc.

For instance, I love the latest blog post from travel network Dopplr – highlighting that there were 250,000+ times travellers were coincidentally in the same place and could have shared dinner etc.

I don’t think the debate about the potential health risks (physical and mental) of changing work and leisure should be dismissed or hidden. I just fear that, as often happens, the sensible debate gets buried under soundbites to the point that any realistic recommendations are ignored because people have become tired of the subject.

Did Twitter play a part in Facebook rolling back Terms of Service?

February 18, 2009 By Dan Thornton

An interesting post on the Twittown apps and widget community blog suggested Twitter ‘Took on Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Won‘.

It tracks the timeline between Facebook updating the Terms of Service for the social network, and rolling back to the original terms due to the outcry over ownership of content uploaded.

And while I don’t believe that Twitter outcry alone led to the decision to move back to the original terms and consult users about updates – Google blog search shows the outcry through full length blogging – the Twittown post does suggest that Twitter opinions had a significant effect.

And I would expect the Facebook team to be monitoring Twitter alongside all other channels – especially as FB considered Twitter important enough to try to buy it!

And it shows how monitoring and responding to probably the largest, and certainly the quickest online focus group makes sense for adding value and monetisation, whether it’s by Twitter, or third-party applications like Tweetdeck.

Great marketing can be quick enough to beat the news

February 18, 2009 By Dan Thornton

Now here’s an example of a great use of marketing to respond quickly and effectively to things as they happen.

I hadn’t heard anything about Virgin Trains trying to cut down on people kissing and hugging at the passenger drop-off point at Warrington Bank Quay station. Apparently a sign banning kissing was put up in a light-hearted manner to ease congestion and suggest people should go to the short-stay car park (and pay!) if they want to hug and kiss someone leaving on a trip.

Instead, the first things I saw were:

It was apparently done by St Lukes, who handle advertising for Mills & Boon, and it’s timely, considering news about the sign only appeared two days ago.

It’s also relatively low cost – there’s a Facebook group, a Twitter account, and a Flickr group. And people are being encouraged to interact and upload images of themselves kissing etc.

It’s already had a bit of coverage via Brand Republic and The School of Life.

But most importantly, it’s effective because it was done quickly, enthusiastically, and allows people to get involved.

As a result, if it becomes a huge runaway success, then it’s great. But if it only achieves minor success, then nothing has been lost except a bit of time.

And it ties in brilliantly with Mills & Boon promoting romance, rather than books about romance.

I’d guess it didn’t take much negotiation around permission and planning, which is a benefit of having clear beliefs and trust.

And suddenly a brand which I’d associate with my grandmother now seems lighthearted and fun enough to check out the next time I want to buy a romantic present.

My Christmas: Information as gifts…

January 2, 2009 By Dan Thornton

One of the detractions around social media, social networking and blogging etc is that there are plenty of people in the ‘real world’ who don’t give a monkeys about the internet.

Which may well be true, but in addition to the somewhat reasonable 140 million+ active users on Facebook, this holiday season emphasised how the world is changing on a personal level – namely the relationship between an online geek (me), and his almost technophobe parents.

It started pre-Christmas, when my folks replaced their aging desktop with a shiny new laptop and signed up for broadband. (For reference, the desktop must be about 10 years old, and they were still on dial-up!)

Then they started asking me to find albums by relatively niche Irish folk artists on Amazon. And my mother decided to borrow Tribes – which is promising as she completed a degree in sociology in her spare time a few years ago with marks I’ll always be proud and envious of!

But Christmas really was The Tipping Point.

For starters, their gift to me was a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Outliers: The Story of Success.

My gift in return was a webcam, and a quick lesson in using Windows Live Messenger, Gmail, and Flickr. (We tried Twitter but that’s probably a step too far!)

The reasons were simple:

1. They already have a hotmail email account, and although there might be better IM clients, not only is Windows Live Messenger pretty simple and easy to use, but enough people use it that I wouldn’t be sole technical support.

The main reason is that it means they can see their grandson on webcam whenever we’re online.

2. Gmail is intended to be a starting point for them to hopefully move to Google Calendar, Google Docs etc.

The main reason is that it means I can share my calendar so we can all schedule our lives and events without playing telephone tennis for days and weeks beforehand. Facebook might also be useful, but that’s for Phase 2!

3. Flickr is a nice way to start seeing the value of sharing images, tagging, etc.

But the main thing is that my dad has always had an artistic side which is always underexploited, and has always be into photography. Plus they can see ‘family only’ images of the family.

We’ve already had a couple of webcam enabled chats over IM, and I’m hoping it’ll encourage them to explore and try other new ways to share and communicate with friends and family. I’m certainly past the age of worrying that connecting with my parents might make me seem less cool, or that they’d see an inappropriate picture or comment – at my age, the chances to behave inappropriately are frustratingly rare!