New Toys: Wooshii, Hootsuite 2.0, Twitterskins

Friday again, and this time an extended weekend to look forward to. This week has been very productive in terms of finding new social media tools and apps. Here are just a few of the applications we’ve signed up to:

• Wooshii – Currently still in Alpha, this new viral marketplace allows brands, creatives and publishers to create an account (with a combination of the 3 titles if you wish) to “buy, sell and spread viral marketing campaigns”.

We, like many others have had the chance to preview the site before it goes live and it looks quite promising. The main idea behind it is that creative people can upload their creations for others to purchase, brands can circulate their viral campaigns and have them rated and sent across the web by everyone else, and publishers can earn money by publishing content on their website or blog.

We’ll keep our ears to the web for this one, and let you know when it goes public via Twitter @sticky_media.

• Hootsuite 2.0 – You may well have heard of this one already, and especially if you had the first version of Hootsuite. For those of you who don’t know, Hootsuite is a web-based platform for managing your Twitter profile (or multiple profiles) and viewing analytics data, similar to TweetDeck, only for the web and not the desktop.

Hootsuite boasts several new features including customisable, draggable columns for your Tweets, more statistical capability and an auto-refresh.

As we’ve said above, it’s great for managing multiple profiles and if you class yourself as a Twitter power-user.

• TwitterSkins – This is a great new website by Ben Townsend (@Twitte_rskins) featuring Apps, Mashups, Follower Tools and Skins (including some free downloadable ones).

We got featured in the skins section this week thanks to Ben, who is rapidly adding new ones everyday including @MarketingDonut and @Tamar from Techipedia.

Add yourself by visiting the “Submit a Skin” page.


That’s all folks, have a great bank holiday weekend, and let us know if you find any more great apps and sites in the comments below.

BT suspends graduate recruitment as recession ends?

Telecommunications company BT announced today that they would be suspending their graduate recruitment scheme with no current plans to reintroduce it, citing the recession and “headcount pressures” as the reason for the axe.

This comes on the same day as The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) claim the recession is over, thanks to the biggest increase in business confidence since 2007.

Findings from the survey of over 1,000 chartered accountants show a record rise in confidence from -28.2 at the end of March, to +4.8 at the end of June, "suggesting the UK recession is at an end" according to ICAEW’s CEO Michael Izza.

Also today, the CBI have called for part of the Government’s £500m recruitment fund to be used to create 50,000 new apprenticeships, and for businesses to be given a subsidy of £2,500 for training younger employees.

Director General of the CBI, Richard Lambert said “Young people are being hardest hit by unemployment, and the government must increase the opportunities available to limit its scarring effects."

So, how will BT’s decision affect graduate unemployment? Have your say in the comments below.

Top Tweets of the Twitter #lists Meme

The #lists hashtag is currently trending on Twitter about to-do lists with a twist.

For those of you not yet in the know, the basis of the Tweet is confirming your completion of a task (hence the “to-do”) and ending by rhyming “to-do” with anything you can think of.

So, in no particular order, let’s have a look at some of the best ones so far:

@bluno Just played a prank on a Ranger Smith in Jellystone Park, so I can cross that off my Yogi Bear & Boo Boo list #lists

@M1N10N On a plane, eating the chicken meal and it made me violently sick over the pilot ;( Thats one more off my flew-chew-spew-on-crew list #lists

@bethanee_c Just finished recording a duet with Take That so I can cross that off my Lulu list. #lists

@philmscribe: Nodded in affirmation to some solid, unarguable fact. Can cross that off my Too True List #lists

@LudditeWebDev That's me done the red square on the board, but not the green, yellow or blue squares. One crossed off my Ludo list. #lists

@thomasblythe Just told an old woman with more kids than she knows what to do with, what to do, crossing that of my living-in-a-shoe list #lists

@njhamer Just said hello to Pete Townshend and talked about my generation. So I can cross that off my The Who list #lists

@FilthyLurker just rendezvoused with Sean Connery on a russian sub, so I can cross that off my buckaroo list. #lists

@mr_craig Learned the difference between a drag queen and an electropop duo. Can cross that off my La Rue/La Roux list. #lists

@stooopot Made a kite from garden canes, Fed the panda, constructed a small beach hut. That's my Bamboo list sorted. #lists

@daveyp I've just met a minor character from Blackadder. I can cross that off my Le Comte de Frou Frou list #lists

@steelcatDelivered the scripted line before David Tennant's first line in this scene, so I can cross that off my cue Who list. #lists

@ManoDestra Went to the Highlands, chased some haggis, tossed the kaiber and did a bit of a fling. That's one off my Och Aye Tha Noo list. #lists

@lesleyhoss Just learnt to pronounce silent consonants, so I can cross that off my gnu list #lists

And our favourite so far:

@bluno Just returned my dead parrot to the pet store, so I can cross that off my Norwegian Blue list #lists

We'll update with new ones, but in the meantime, have we missed any blinders? Add your favourites in the comments below.

"New Scottish Time" - Hoax? Or legitimate finding?

News has broken on the interwebs of a possible geographical miscalculation from back when time zones were designated, meaning most of our clocks are out by 20 minutes.

Read the PR release here: http://www.prlog.org/10312906-edinburgh-researcher-discovers-time-is-more-relative-than-we-thought.html

Right now, social networks are all a-Twitter with the story and the hashtag "#watson24hour", the Twitter page of Mark Watson's 24 Web Show. #stephenfry is also credited with early posts: "The source for new information on time appears to be #watson24hour" (3 Hours Ago) and "Can it be that it's 20 mins earlier than we thought it was? That GMT has to be recalculated in light of new evidence? So I'm hearing..." (4 Hours Ago).

So far, the claim has not been verified as legitimate, and even Wikipedia is maintaining a page on "New Scottish Time" as marked for "speedy deletion" if it turns out to be a "blatent and obvious hoax".

Sticky Media will continue to keep its collective ears to the social media wall.


[Update] Further to our thoughts of a hoax, anyone digging to Mark Watson's 24 Show, will find the following posts and a reference to the tasks page -

By: admin
Posted: 18 Aug 2009 12:24 UTC

The show has begun! Welcome to all.

We are currently deciding what to do about the fact that the show started 20 minutes late.

By: admin
Posted: 18 Aug 2009 01:42 UTC

We have decided to change the world's reference time zone to New Scottish Time. This time is 20 minutes behind the current reference time, GMT. See the tasks page for more information.

A hoax after all. But a clever one at that. We're off to catch up 20 minutes of work.

Is Social Media a fad? - Social Media Revolution [Video]

Check out this brilliant vid about the growth of social media and comparisons with traditional media:



The guy behind the video, Erik Qualman can be found at Socialnomics.net, and followed on Twitter @Equalman.

Also, see the similiarly styled "Web 2.0 - The Machine is Us/ing Us", a popular video from 2007.

How Not to Succeed in a Video Job Interview + Competition (Win Skype Prizes)

More and more companies are starting to use Skype to interview potential employees, given it’s usually much cheaper and more convenient than meeting a candidate in person.

However, just like with a face-to-face interview, there’s a right way and a wrong way...

Check out this terrible mock-interview by Walletpop’s Jason Cochran (or “Mason Mockran” as he is here) and head over to Walletpop to enter their excellent competition to win Skype prizes (including a 2.4 GHz True Digital Stereo Wireless Headset).




Posted by Ady Harold - Web Marketing Manager

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for contact information and further details on our web services.

Why You Shouldn’t Have Your Boss on Facebook

Whilst the need for employers and jobseekers to be on social networking sites is pretty important at the moment, it’s good to remember that having your boss on your Facebook is probably not a good idea… (Contains language some readers may find offensive)

(Courtesy of Digg)

To avoid being a web sensation for all the wrong reasons, read Mashable’s quick guide on employer/employee online relations here:

http://mashable.com/2009/08/07/friending-your-employees/


Posted by Ady Harold - Web Marketing Manager

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for contact information and further details on our web services.