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I spent the weekend before last searching the internet for news about the well-being of members of my extended family who live just outside Concepcion – the epicentre of the huge earthquake that rocked Chile on 26 February. I was surprised to find that Google quickly became completely irrelevant to my search for information. It just wasn’t fast, micro or specific enough for my needs. At some point, they’ll get their social search fine tuned and consistent, and they’ll kick the spam merchants out of Google News, but until then Google fails big time when it comes to meeting an immediate, urgent need for micro-level information about something that has just happened. Read on to find out how social media networks succeeded where Google failed.

The urgent need for news

In January I wrote about the way that social media was helping with the aid efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. I had no way of knowing at the time that just a few short weeks later I’d be using my personal social networks to try and track members of my own extended family caught up in an earthquake elsewhere in the world. But on Saturday morning I opened my eyes at about 8am and had a conversation with my husband (who was checking his crackberry – an early morning habit) that went something like this:

Him: “There’s just been a big earthquake in Chile – 8.8 on the Richter scale.”

Me: “Oh no.”

Him: “Epicentre in somewhere called . . . Concepcion?”

Me: “Oh god no. That’s where the family are!”

To cut a long story short, part of my extended family is Chilean: four generations – grandparents, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who all live in Chiguayante, just outside Concepcion. Fourteen family members in total.

I spent the rest of the weekend glued to my computer as I took on the task of “social media monitoring” and quite a lot of “outreach” on Facebook and Twitter on behalf of the family, whilst others desperately tried the “direct marketing” approach of phoning and emailing.
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Like most people, I’ve spent the last week watching the depth of the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti reveal itself with an increasing sense of horror and disbelief. And probably like most people, I’ve donated as much as I could afford to the relief effort via the Disasters and Emergency Committee (DEC) website, because, as one colleague put it: “There’s pretty much nothing else that I can practically do to help the people of Haiti.”

The story that has been playing out on our TV screens and newspapers is truly shocking, and there seems to be a battle going on over which story the media wants to tell. What’s going to sell more papers or get more views or viewers? The story of “hope” (the one word headline on the Sun’s front page on Monday) – that people are still being pulled out of the rubble alive nearly a week on from the earthquake? Or the story of “human evil” – that “thugs” (as the Metro’s front page so eloquently described the Haitian earthquake survivors) are “looting, shooting and lynching” (the Telegraph) as a response to humanitarian efforts to provide them with food and water. (The fact that we’ve all donated £25million so far tends to suggest the Sun got it right again!)

Of course, the need of the media to create simplified, exaggerated, panic-driven narratives in order to grab attention from their competitors is nothing new. But as my sister (who works in the digital communications team at the Department for International Development  – DfID) explained to me as she worked a Sunday shift whilst visiting me this weekend – the way that the media tells these kinds of story has had a direct impact on the amount of money raised by DEC in the past.

I was fascinated, then, to see that her emergency shift supporting the DfID press office with their communications relating to relief efforts in Haiti wasn’t so she could help with press enquiries. Rather she was working to publish updates on DfID’s own website, and pictures and relief plan details directly to social media places such as Flickr and Twitter and on their blog pages. I watched her upload this Creative Commons map (which she sourced from Wikimedia) showing the exact location of the Leogain to Flickr, a region of Haiti that no one had yet managed to get to, and where DfID co-ordinated rescue teams were planning to travel to next. In a situation like this, providing pictures, updates and information directly to people like you and me – rather than relying on the press to tell the story – means that we are able to make up our own minds whether we think that this is a cause that’s worth our money without the filter of headlines, editors and ad sales targets.

Personally, I find this a very easy decision to make! But for those who might be worried that their money might somehow end up being “looted” by “thugs”, these images and updates tell a pretty clear story.

I’d really recommend adding DfID and other relief co-ordinating agencies to your social media feeds and streams if you are interested in getting a clearer understanding of what is happening in Haiti. With news breaking today that a second earthquake  measuring 6.1 shook the island this morning, the success of social media to help raise awareness about the need for donations could make a big difference to Haitian survivors.

IMAGE CREDIT: Michael Haig / Department for International Development via Creative Commons licence

HEADER IMAGE CREDIT: The U.S. Army

Spotify – sounds like a rubbish Harry Potter spell, but is nevertheless among the most wondrous developments of a busy 2009. It gives us the ability to share and extend our love of music in ways that would have been unthinkable before. And the ability, on a moment’s whim, to subject colleagues to the most horrendous and all-but-forgotten 80s hair rock.

So, in the Spotify spirit of enabling both good and evil to flourish, we offer you, without prejudice, the iCrossing UK Christmas Playlist – a collaborative effort of festive proportions.

It features some of the loveliest Christmas (and Christmassy) music ever made, including several tunes I first came across on this gem of a compilation from 2000, Jeepster/XFM’s It’s a cool cool Christmas. These include Low’s ‘Just Like Christmas’, Eels’ ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas’ and El Vez’s ‘Feliz Navidad’ – classics one and all.

There are leftfield corkers (gawd bless you Flaming Lips), perfect wintry pop songs (El Perro del Mar), some frequent fliers (Sufjan Stevens, Vince Guaraldi Trio, Soulsavers), folky tearjerkers (Handsome Family) and a smattering of smooth crooning classics, whose glories refuse to fade despite limitless exposure.

It also includes some tracks that ought, in my opinion, never to be played, anywhere. I initially took out the Paul McCartney track thinking that someone had dropped it in there for a joke; but having heard its heart-felt defence by our head of search innovation Addam Hassan it’s back in. I’m sorry.

Such is the closely intertwined beauty and horror of Spotify. But unlike an inextricable taped compilation of ye olden days, this one’s ready for swift reinterpretation. So, please: stick it on, pluck the bounteous wheat for your own Christmas playlist, and let us know what treasures we’ve missed.

Merry Christmas!

There are also a few tracks that Spotify could not muster which would otherwise have been in there. King among them, Half Man Half Biscuit’s ‘It’s cliched to be cynical at Christmas’ (but at least you can go to YouTube for that, thanks Ben).

Google, still on the case to collect as much personal information possible and have now expanded on the features provided through ones Google Account. Users can now create a personalised Google Profile which will enable you to rank for your name in Google.com (has not been rolled out to the UK yet)

Google are aware that millions of users are searching the web every day for name related searches. An Australian scientist concluded that most web users were not satisfied with the search results when users Googled their name, also known as Egosurfing.

“One problem is they don’t have any control over the search results. Either they don’t like the search results, or what happens most of the time is, they’re not listed on the first page” Says Joe Kraus, Google’s director of product management

A Google Profile enables users create their own “online brand” and enable Google Account holders to publish an online representation of themselves in their own words. You can enter as much or as little information as you want, however Google have stated that the more information you enter the better you will rank for your name. Here is some of the information you can enter:

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We’ve made the move to our lovely new office in Brighton. It’s amazing!

We have a massive roof terrace, sea views, giant games, a ‘library’ (also potentially a gaming room if I have my way as it’s fitted with some nice screens!), Jamie Oliver’s restaurant and a lucky voice below.

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Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter: “We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them. We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts.” (from an interview in Marketing, via @timaldiss)

Not much detail thus far – but given the grey area for content on Twitter, I wonder how commercial use would be defined. Would each tweet have to be vetted for potential commercial bias? Would a freelancer or small business constitute a brand?

And even if they can implement a workable scheme for separating non-commercial use from brands, is Twitter in a powerful enough position to attempt this without leaking users to other micro-blogging platforms?

We’re pleased to announce that iCrossing are sponsoring this years’ Brightwest, the Brighton Twestival.

Brighton is 1 of 100 cities globally taking part in the celebrations held to help raise money and awareness for those that need it by bringing together a mix of like minded people who actively particiapate in the Twitter and wider social media communitiy.

More than one billion people on the planet don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water. That’s one in six of us. Charity: water is working on dramatically slashing that figure and by supporting the Brighton Twestival you can help them achieve it.

The event is taking place at the Black Lion (14 Black Lion Street) next to our soon to be spanking new offices on the 12th of February at 7:30.

You can catch our very own Antony Mayfield who has volunteered his fine MCing skills for the Twingo…that’s right a Twittery type  of bingo. We’re told there’s going to be drinks galore, games, Djs and dancing plus it’s all for a good cause!  

Looking forward to seeing you there…

This week saw our team participate in the Travel Industry Five-a-Sides up at Wembley Goals Soccer Centre.

Two qualifying groups were drawn and we were in the group with Virgin Hols, Low Cost Beds, Trip Advisor and teletext.

First up were Low cost beds where our team lost 2-1 but a screamer of a goal from Neil Cains. Next were Teletext where a tight game ensued but we lost again 0-1. We knew we were in trouble as the the strongest team in the tourno were up next – virgin Hols had already scored 13 goals on their way to the quarters; and we weren’t wrong – they scored another 4 past us without reply.

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iCrossing staff played friday afternoon host to Creative Director Jim McNiven from local viral specialists Kerb last Friday (check out their hugely popular viral games chart here).

Kerb and iCrossing UK have had a similar past, both originating in bedrooms in flats in Brighton! Jim and UK CEO Arjo Ghosh have rubbed shoulders at various Brighton events over the year. Both companies work with some great clients – Kerb’s list including E4 and Playstation (an upcoming pitch for this project is planned to be hosted inside the gameworld of a Playstation game).

Although Kerb are reknown for the Flash based games Jim describes what they do as ‘digital engagement’. Throughout Jim’s enormously entertaining presentation he was equally insightful – he stated enormous figures for engagement, and also conversion figures that DM would be proud of!

Jim demonstrated several Flash based creatives and talked about viral as an outcome rather than a concept. He also drew analogies between a traditional media buy for display creative and hosting for Flash-based client-commissioned games, both of which have brand as well as direct data capture input.

Check out there viral games chart here, and their latest launch – Locoroco 2 – here. Jim tells me this morning that since it’s launch on Friday Locoroco 2 has already had 200 unique users on this one site.