Food, Days Out and Travel stories from Brighton, London and the Rest of the World

Thursday

Feminism 3.0 - take another look

With the subject at hand, social media and Feminism having such significance to women across the generations, guest blogger Amelia Charman came along to the event to assess what impressions she took away with her.  Recently out of college the digital communication is an inescapable part of a twenty something's world, so here is what Amelia made of the topics covered.
Feminism 3.0

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Tuesday

Let's Call it Sexual Politics 3.0

A well-informed and I suspect a rather wise female writer said recently that if you want to publish an article about feminism, repackage it as sexual politics to make it more palatable.  Taking this rather sensible advice I've re-packaged Feminism 3.0 and given it a new title, just in case I can entice the unwary reader to read on.
Entrance to Brighton Dome

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Sunday

Brighton SEO 2013 - Useful and free SEO links

#brightonSEO 2013
When I found out I had a ticket for #brightonSEO, I was so excited, to say the least.  It would be my first time attending any sort of conference / instructional day out about how to create a successful online presence and I had high hopes for what it could deliver.  What I knew before hand was that on the word / tech scale my experience had me closer to the word rather than the tech end.  What I found out is that this meant that the talks fell mainly in the muddling middle of my understanding, neither so clear that I was nodding sagely and saying, yah, yah to myself, nor too murky that I sat there mouthing WTF.  So, with that said, if you're a geek look away now as my notes probably aren't for you.  However, if you're more of a content king, then check out some of the gems below, picked up from the tech experts at Brighton SEO 2013.

Twitter - well, do you?

Live, Public, Conversational, that's how Twitter defines itself, to which I would add, Meritocratic and that's why I love it so much.  The first session of the day was opened by Oliver Snoddy, Head Planner at Twitter UK who gave examples of how successfully Twitter can focus on a moment and through the multiplier effect engage with a vast and disparate audience that other more single focused media cannot reach.  To illustrate this point he used Stanley Milgrim's study of how a visible crowd has the power to steer attention to wherever the crowd is looking.   In relation to Twitter a staggering 3.2 million tweets in and around the moment Murray won Wimbledon clearly demonstrates the power of the moment to engage a large audience.  Currently there are around 15 million users in the UK, 80% of which access it from their mobile, which makes sense, as I found when I first tried using Twitter online myself.   Initially I didn't get it, but then  as soon as I started to use it on my iPhone the platform started to make sense.  Twitter's limited number of characters makes it a perfect portable platform.  Reading anything longer on such a small screen becomes a chore.  Twitter keeps it brief and immediate.  So, you want to join in?  Or maybe you want to amplify your connectedness to your Followers and find more Followers, then Snoddy suggests tweeting about food, fitness or shopping and add the #hungry, #run or #shopping to your tweet and by doing this, you've just joined one of the top three most popular convos on Twitter.  If you really are new to Twitter and don't know what to do next, tap #Discover on the bottom bar of Twitter as it appears on iPhone, then go to the top bar, tap the search icon (microscope) type in the hashtag you've just used, eg #shopping and scroll through what people are saying. 

So, did Snoddy give us any idea of what to expect next from Twitter?  Twitter are adding analytics to user profiles, this means you will now have Twitter data at your fingertips and soon you'll be seeing Twitter Amplify too, a product that enables adverts to precede popular video clips.  Advertising has just found a new bandwaggon.

A Multitude of Analytic Web Resources

The other speaker of note that I heard was Jennifer Sable-Lopez @jennita, Director of Community at Moz - Software and Community for Better Marketing.  Possibly the most generous in terms of suggesting online resources to help understand and use data.  A list that of course included some Moz resources too and with good reason as both their blog and Twitter analytics app, Followerwonk are really good resources to check out.

Perhaps the best place to start before embarking on research of the various analytic tools online is to read some articles that will give you specific help in a particular area.  The Moz Blog has a whole host of articles that may be a good starting point, here are a few to give you a flavour:

Once you are clear on what you need, here are some websites that you might like:
bit.ly - Your bitmarks  
This offers a URL redirection service with real time link tracking ie it's excellent for generating short links for using on Twitter.
FollowerwonkTwitter analytics, follower segmentation, social graph tracking, and more
Created by Moz, this website allows you to search Twitter bios, compare users, analyse, track and sort followers.  Some of the tools are free and easy to use, quickly producing some colourful charts and data. 
What I found out - the times of day my Followers are most actively tweeting, where they live (which country) and what words they use most often.
Bufferapp -   A Smarter Way to Share on Social Media
Buffer allows you to share pages you are reading and can automatically share posts throughout the day.
Unified Social - Smart Social for Smart Marketers
Offering brands and businesses help with reaching their target audiences on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms using a cloud based social operating platform.
Simply Measured - Easy Social Media Analytics and Measurement  
Offers free reports.
Social Engage - Social Location Marketing at its Best  
A non-profit team of experts in social media who can market your business through social networks.
True Social Metrics - Social Media Analytics 
They aim to offer a social media analytics tool that solves the problem of social media ROI and includes a section on mentions. 
Sprout Social - Social Media Management Software for Business  
Created to help businesses find new customers and grow their social media presence.

Other sites that were mentioned later in the day included -

Majestic SEO - Backlink Checker and Site Explorer  
Link intelligence tools for SEO and internet PR and Marketing, which show inbound link and site summary data.
The Official Microsoft IIS free SEO toolkit 
Offers detailed analysis and search engine friendly suggestions to help improve the relevance of your website in search results right away.
Screaming Frog - SEO, Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing  



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Saturday

The BIG Connected TV Brighton Conference 2013 - review by BroHo

Billed as a Practical Guide to Making Money and Reaching New Audiences within Connected TV, the Big Connected TV conference took place this Wednesday 4 September at Komedia, in the heart of the Brighton North Laine area.
Andy Keetch, Brandwatch at Connected TV

Its aim was to discuss how traditional TV formats are merging with other multi-media platforms, including the internet, mobiles and games and there were a range of speakers from within the industry providing case studies and discussions on some of the most innovative projects recently shaking things up, in a Connected TV kinda way.

Bob Maddams, Creative Director at BroHo, a Brighton and Hove based video production company and creative consultancy went along to find what they had to say.
Matt Locke and panel at Connected TV

Rob Barnes, The Project Factory at Connected TV
TV is dead. Long live TV.

The Big Connected TV Brighton Conference at the Komedia had a serious subject - how to make money out of the digitally connected TV landscape. A heavyweight line up of speakers included Holly Goodier, Director of Marketing and Audiences at the BBC; Richard Waterworth, EMEA YouTube, and our very own Angi Mariani from Latest TV here in Brighton, amongst others.

They all had interesting stories to tell about how they saw the future, and the overall theme I took out from the event was that this future is anything but certain. What is for sure though is that multiple viewing platforms, mobile phones and iPads and the like, is completely changing the way people watch “TV”. The big game changers seem to be the convergence of technologies, especially broadcast and social media, and the growing role of the data geek informing content creators and advertisers how their “Inventory” is being consumed. I had visions of them being able to tell me that when a teenager slumps on a sofa with one eye on the telly and the other on his mobile, some data cruncher somewhere actually knows which finger he’s picking his nose with. 

There were lively Q&A sessions after each speaker and the busiest question-fielder was Angi Mariani from Latest TV who set out the case for Brighton’s new TV station with passion stressing that it represented a very real business opportunity for local content creators. The day was hosted brilliantly by Matt Lock from Storythings who certainly helped me make a lot more sense of each topic with his knowledgeable summing up and question prompting. So, did the day inspire me to come up with some ideas about how to make money from the new TV landscape? Put it this way, I've already sketched out a couple of pitches to take to Dragon’s Den. But wait a minute, haven’t I got Angi Mariani’s phone number somewhere.
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Sunday

Is Feminism a dirty word? 14 September 2013, Brighton Dome Corn Exchange

Brighton Digital Festival 2013 explores whether social media is a friend or foe at Feminism 3.0

Bridget Christie

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Become Social Media Savvy this September with the Brighton Digital Festival

Hard to believe I know, but it really is 1st September, which means the height of summer is over and that the C word is only four months away.  But, enough of that already, September is a wonderful month and with it comes the return of the Brighton Digital Festival.

Phoenix, Brighton



This year BDF is bigger and better than ever with over 150 events, reaching out to non-techies, children and providing some exciting opportunities to find out how to harness the ever increasing power of the internet for everyone else too.

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