Webcurios 28/06/13

Oh Terry! From a Tumblr – no idea who by, sorry.

THE BITS FOR PEOPLE WHO LAUGHABLY CLAIM TO WORK IN ‘THE INDUSTRY’ 

Facebook:

• Facebook knows so much more about you than you think it does: So this was a bit awkward for them last week. The whole ‘someone may have seen your phone number on Facebook – SORRY!’ thing is actually less of an issue, here; the big story is about the data which Facebook has about you and the connections in your life which you really have no idea about whatsoever. It raises all sorts of questions about the amount of data about users’ personal information which the site is harvesting from the aforementioned users’ interactions with third parties – basically, is Facebook snooping on who you message most, chat with most, etc? The answer, for any of you still struggling with the horrifically surveilled dystopian future we’re currently rushing headlong into with nary a care, is a resounding ‘yes’. THANKS, FACEBOOK!
• ‘Like’ Replies for Mobile: This is hugely interesting from a linguistic point of view; if you think about the lasting and very real communications changes which Facebook and the rest have engendered, not only behaviorally but in terms of language, etc, this can be seen as another significant step in the modification of the manner in which we communicate by the services we use. To quote the piece, because I’m lazy and strapped for time, ‘Facebook’s iOS and Android apps have rolled out the option in messages to reply with a one-tap thumbs-up Like button sticker’. Let’s all look forward to a future in which we ask people questions in REAL LIFE and they respond in the affirmative by saying ‘LIKE!’ and we stab them to death and are left rotting away in a jail cell knowing, deep down, that we did the right thing. 
• Facebook Developing ‘Reader’ (apparently): Just worth noting. Apparently they’re working on a Flipboard-esque product for mobiles/tablets. Should this be the case (it will be the case), it will give extra weight to the platform when it comes to CONTENT SHARING and REACH and all those other horrible words which you people continue to use despite them being total bunkum. 
• Related Hashtags: They launched hashtags the other week; this has now been extended to mobile, and they’ve also rolled out the ‘related hashtags’ feature, which will suggest additional often-used hashtags when you search another hashtag (it’s rapidly coming to the point where the word ‘hashtag’ has lost all meaning for me, in the way that words are wont to do when repeated too much). Another Twitter-esque feature, but one which potentially has a bit of a negative implication for brands (or at least it will if I can persuade everyone using Facebook to start posting things about brands in the same sentence as, say #kiddiebongo. Not sure it will work, but I live in hope). 
• Better Advertising Performance Reporting: Yawn. Still, some of you may care. Basically you now get to know exactly how many people, where, when, and how, failed to give anything resembling a *ahem* fig about your promoted post. 
• The Bits About Instagram Video: So this is still a thing, a week after launch. It’s actually been quite interesting to watch the reaction; I still personally think that the lack of current Twitter compatibility, and the problems with embedding, are things they need to fix, but what do I know? Rhetorical, by the way. Anyhow, this is a decent piece about why the service is going to work (DUH!), and this is actually a really smart, in-depth comparison of the two services which is worth reading if you’re interested in the whole thing, and this is a direct head-to-head opinion from a professional Vine-maker (I know! That’s actually a job!!!!), and this is a silly-but-fun webthingy which gives you a rolling head-to-head between Instagram videos and Vine videos, and which will steal the rest of your day if you’re not careful so BE CAREFUL. 

Twitter:

• The Amazing Price of TV-linked Ads on Twitter: A few weeks ago I mentioned the new Twitter service which will allow advertisers to show promoted tweets to people who’ve been tweeting about a show in which their TV ad has also appeared. Now details emerge about the minimum spend associated with it. $100k!!!! I know that this obviously isn’t a fixed rate card, and there will be bulk-buy ad bundles available to the big boys (HELLO SIR MARTIN!!!), but still – that’s a LOT of money. Although, I suppose, when you compare it to the sort of costs of a TV campaign, etc, it’s still small beer. Nonetheless, the nice men and women at Twitter HQ are unlikely to be going hungry any time soon. 
• Twitter To Launch Live Events Platform: This is interesting. The basic premise is that Twitter is considering creating a new service within the platform which will allow people to track reaction to live events in better fashion. At the moment you’re limited to using search within Tweetdeck, or similar; this sounds a little more like a Radian6-type overview for people watching things later, which show peaks and troughs in conversations, hot topics at varying points, etc. So, for example, you’ll be able to see that the bit that got everyone excited in your favourite TV show occurred 47:32 minutes in, and skip straight to it, and see what everyone was saying about it on the internet STRAIGHT AWAY without having to go through the tedious rigmarole of actually watching the whole thing, and without that whole pesky ‘element of surprise and unpredictability’ thing. Oh, hang on, THAT SOUNDS GHASTLY. Welcome to a future in which we all only consume the best bits of anything (‘best bits’ as defined by the idiotic lumpenproletariat of the internetzzzz) – basically reducing all media and experience to a YouTube highlights reel. THANKS, INTERNET!
• Geotargeted Ads: Would you like the opportunity to see promotional messages from brands, retailers, etc, whenever you fire up Twitter near one of their shops / billboards / sponsored Tube stations / etc? No? Tough, ‘cos that’s what’s going to happen whether you like it or not. STOP SNIVELLING.

Other Stuff About Advermarketingpr:

• Noone Cares About You, Food Brand On ‘Social Media’: I’m only including this because it made me LAUGH. To quote, “A study of 85 of the UK’s leading food brands reveals that just 10 brands account for 96% of all social media food conversations”. Which is AMAZING. Even for those 10 brands who make up that 96%, the conversations are largely ones that NOONE WANTS TO HAVE WITH THEM. Can this please be a wake-up call, please, to the fact that REAL PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO TALK TO BISCUITS ON THE INTERNET? Thanks x
• Grindr Was The Most-Used App at Cannes: But only because Apple’s stringent policies mean that there’s currently no ‘FindADealer’ app for iPhone.
• Mint Sells Stickygram: I’m including this partly because I like the people at Mint who’ve always been unfailingly lovely, but also because it’s an interesting example of agencies making things JUST FOR THEMSELVES and doing well out of it. Well done, people at Mint.
• Coke Do Another SuperClever Thingzzzz: Look, I’m getting bored of Coke being so good too. I know, it’s tedious. This, though, is just LOVELY. Taking the clever webvideo trend of using photography for stop-motion animation, this is a beautiful idea, executed perfectly, and SO SIMPLE. Aside from the tshirt printing and mailing, it’s also pretty damn cheap. Watch this be done by someone else significantly less impressively in about a month.
• Diesel Outsource Their Tumblr: Under the ostensible guise of ‘tell us what inspires you, cool people of the internet!’, Diesel have effectively outsourced the content curation for their Tumblr to their fanbase. Which is really smart on several levels – other people, who don’t want to pay agencies shedloads to make ‘content calendars’ and other such rubbish, LEARN (NB – will only work if you’re a brand which people for some reason care about. Biscuits probably need not apply. Except maybe digestives, or Rich Tea. Mmmmm, Rich Tea. Web Curios is open to gift parcels from adverprmarketeers).
• Nike Skatepark ON A BARGE: Last Saturday was, apparently, world skateboarding day or somesuch. To celebrate, Nike made a skatepark. On a barge, floating off Manhattan. This is really quite impressive – as is the manner in which they allowed people access to it.
• The Musical Magazine, by Billboard: The now-obligatory ‘thing done by an agency in Brazil’, this is for Billboard magazine which uses NFC chips embedded in the magazine covers to allow readers (or just randoms in a newsagent’s, if the video’s to be believed) the opportunity to hear the music written about in the mag on their smartphone. Really slick (and, I imagine, pretty expensive). 
• Geordie Shore Uses Snapchat: I’ve never seen Geordie Shore, but I imagine it to be the televisual equivalent of Chlamydia. Anyway, they’re promoting ‘saucy’ behind-the-scenes content using Snapchat. Clever them. Am I the only person who’s expecting a full ‘reality TV show with proper hardcore bongo internet sideline’-type thing in the next year? Eh? Oh.
• Watch Dogs Promo Website: Watch Dogs is a videogame coming out later this year, all about data and surveillance and STUFF. This is a super-clever promo website for it, which tracks publicly available information in real-time across 3 European cities (London, Paris and Berlin), pointing out very cleverly both one of the game’s central conceits (ie that information is everywhere and accessing it is easy) and also the proliferation of available data which exists in the real world. It’s got a nice glitchy aesthetic about it and the webwork is pretty slick too: overall this ticks a LOT of internet-friendly boxes and will doubtless go everywhere – kudos to the developers.
• Adecco’s Marketing / Advertising / PR People Are Thieves And Scum: I mean REALLY. That’s so, so shoddy on many levels. The follow-up post from earlier this week about how they’ve not even acknowledged this is also worth reading. Ugh, some people.
• JG Ballard Predicts the Future: It saddened me that Ballard never really got to grips with the web in his later works; anyway, this is an incredible piece of predictive futurology from 1977 in which he basically nails the concept of our reflective, narcissistic digital existences. Yay, us!
• Korean Anti-Suicide Bridge Thingy: To close out this section on something resembling a high, have this Lion-winning effort. Really good work, for a good cause.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS: Silicon Beach is a fantastic conference taking place in September in Bournemouth. With speakers from organisations including Havas, Rewired State, Code Club and Dare, there’s a world-class line-up of marketing, tech, and creative folks. Imperica readers benefit from a significant discount on the ticket prices for Silicon Beach. The sooner you book, the more you save. We’ll be interviewing and profiling some of the event’s speakers in coming weeks, but for now, click here for your cheapo tickets.

Photo by Thongdee Varunyoo

OTHER THINGS I HAVE FOUND OF MODERATE-TO-GREAT INTEREST, PT. 1:

• Kickstarter Apologises: This is a bit comms-y, so perhaps should go up there but WHAT-EVER. Kickstarter last week got a lot of flack for hosting a funding bid from a self-confessed PUA for an advice book which was basically quite rapey. This is their apology for that, which is a case study in how companies REALLY CAN admit they were wrong. It’s possible – maybe everyone should try it every now and again. 
• Using Adverts for Whistleblowing: This is superclever, if a little technical (don’t worry, you don’t actually need to understand how it works). A service which allows people to anonymously submit information through a central source using banner ads as the input / exchange mechanism. REALLY sneaky…
• The Fcuk You Tapestry: Childish-but-lovely, this is Modern Toss doing a long, continuous comic around one central theme (you may be able to guess what the theme is from the title). Sweary and childish and depressingly true and funny.
• Weird, Tiny Japanese Sweets: This is all in Japanese, so obviously I understanding NOTHING of it, but it seems to be a blog dedicated to those weird Japanese sweets that are designed to look like something else (ie hamburgers). THERE IS ONE WHICH LOOKS LIKE A TOILET. Madness.
• The Art of Vagina: Speaking of odd Japanese things (SEAMLESS!), this is Japanese artist Rokudenashiko’s work which focuses on recontextualising and demystifying the female genitalia. The link is totally SFW, I promise. I can’t deny that it’s a little strange, though.
• Marbles: Continuing the genital theme (SEAMLESS!), this is a blog which collects pictures of the testicles of classical sculptures. That’s it. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?
• (Another) Lifelogging Camera: I’ve been watching this stuff for a while now, since I first stumbled across the Viconrevue about 4 years ago. This is the latest in the line of ‘cameras which you can wear round your neck and will take pictures of your entire life’-things, and it’s called Memoto, and it takes 2 photos a minute and automatically uploads them to the cloud and makes them searchable, and I don’t know WHAT to think about this sort of thing any more. Effectively it’s all going to be obsolete-d by Google Glass or its successors, but perhaps this is ARTIER and therefore better. Or it’s actually sneakier and more covert. Not sure really. Confused. Fingers hurt. TYPING.
• Track Your Child’s Phone: This is an app which effectively acts as a Trojan on a kid’s phone so that a parent can know where they are (and what they’re texting) ALL THE TIME. It’s unclear how exactly you install it, and whether it requires an consent from the surveillee, but it’s an horrific idea in any case. Just a thought, but if you think that you need to keep tabs on your children like this then perhaps, just perhaps, there are some other steps you might want to think about taking instead of passive snooping. Also, thanks to BBM, Whatsapp, etc, it’s functionally sort of useless. IN YOUR FACE, SPYPARENTS!
• Pr0nography From The 8-bit Era: A great site collecting 8-bit bongo from the C64 era. This really is pr0n, so usual NSFW labels apply, but really, I don’t think anyone could possibly get off on this (or indeed really be offended by it – then again, as has been proven time and time again to my inevitable detriment, I possibly have different offence thresholds to other people). 
• Charge Your Phone With FIRE: This is just incredible (or at least it is to a man with a very rudimentary grasp of physics like me). These products combine wood-burning stoves with power for mobiles and LED lights – so you can cook you dinner whilst using the excess heat to, say light your campsite or power your laptop or something. Ingenious, and HUGELY potentially valuable for the developing world. 
• Fund The Poetry Drone: A project to pay for a military drone to be used to drop poetry rather than shoot people. Silly, whimsical and absolutely necessary (well, ok, perhaps not in the grans scheme of things, but, you know, RIGHT ON, KIDS!).
• Appalling ‘Anti-Jihadist’ Ammunition: I’ve had a bit of a dig around this, and I don’t think it’s a spoof or a joke. So what this means is that there really are people (with, as you’d expect, a poor grasp of grammar and punctuation) who think that pork-infused ammunition to use against the GROWING JIHADIST THREAT is A Good Thing. Thanks, America!

By Keita Morimoto

OTHER THINGS I HAVE FOUND OF MODERATE-TO-GREAT INTEREST, PT. 2:

• Posters From Your FB Pics: Or Instagram, or Flickr. Anyway, this is a cool looking service which will make beautiful-looking posters from your pictures on social media. There’s a brand thing here, somewhere, for the right people. Think about it. 
• Catflakes: Snowflake modelling + cats = HOURS (well, ok, minutes) of fun. Really a lot more hypnotic than it has any right to be.
• Thug Notes: Just brilliant. Literary criticism from the ghetto. Like Cliff Notes, but funny and (really) actually really, really smart. If you have a kid or nephew or something who’s doing English, you might want to bookmark this.
• The Art of the World Cup: Who cares about the protests? BUY A PRINT! There are some quite cool pieces on here, but the prices are another thing for Brazil’s poor to get angry about (along with, you know, all the other stuff)
• Pikinis: Are you the sort of creepy pervert who spends hours sweaty-palmed on Facebook looking through the photos of all your friends and acquaintances for a flash of bare flesh? Well you’re in luck, as this disquieting app will basically automate the process for you, thereby leaving you with more time to take a long, hard look at yourself. The best thing about this is the level of unintentional trauma that will be inflicted upon people who are Facebook friends with their family members.
• The Anti-NSA Font: A font which is, supposedly, incapable of being read by spiders and bots. There’s been quite a lot of skepticism about whether or not this would actually work, but I applaud the theory behind its creation.
• The Internet Movie Firearms Database: Have you ever seen a film and thought ‘Hm, I wish there was a place online where I could find out more about exactly which type of gun the one-man zen army Steven Seagal used to inflict high-velocity justice on the bad people’? OH GOOD – here is that very website. You’re welcome. 
• Cross-sections of Ammunition: Beautiful photos of ammo, cut in half (also, SEAMLESS!).
• Pictures of the Solstice & Supermoon: Just beautiful. The Atlantic as ever giving good photo.
• The Flatpack Rowing Boat: In the whimsical world which exists in my head, where fathers and sons play together happily and make treehouses and learn stuff and share interests and OH GOD I’M GOING TO START CRYING, this is the most popular present in the world. Just how much fun would it be to make this and then go boating? 
• Buy Invisible Ink: Another from the Boys’ Own school of things (SEAMLESS!), this is an online shop which sells all sorts of high-end inks, the best being the invisible stuff. Can we go back to sending each other secret messages and things, IN REAL LIFE? Without wishing to tarnish this with the toilet brish of commerce, there’s a lovely campaign-based thing for a brand here. Maybe something for INFLUENCERS (ugh) or SUPERFANS (double-ugh) or OH GOD I’VE RUINED IT HAVEN’T I?
• Paparazzi Proposals: I think that this is really, really weird – but then again I’m not 100% sold on the idea of matrimony in the first place, so I’m not target audience I guess. This is a service from the US that will help you plan an elabroate wedding proposal, and then provide photographers to hide in the bushes and take CANDID SNAPSHOTS of the whole event. Which means you have to be pretty certain that the answer’s going to be yes if you want to avoid a whole load of pictures of weeping and embarrassment and passers-by trying to hide their schadenfreude. BONUS FACT – I know someone who was once proposed to in a crowded restaurant in Washington DC. She said ‘no’. It was, I am led to believe, not a little awkward (they are now very happily married though, happy-ending fans, so don’t feel too bad about the whole thing). 
• Lorem Gibson: Filler text based on the works of William Gibson. 
• Introversion: A beautiful, short comic extolling the virtues of quiet. 
• Ultimate 0s and Xs: Find someone in your office / house / field / train carriage to play this with NOW. 
• Gorgeous Photographs of India: One of the best Flickr sets I’ve seen in ages, these are truly beautiful and worth taking a 10 minute eyestroll through.
• The Box-art of Psygnosis: There are about 6 of you for whom this is going to give huge, warm, fuzzy flashbacks. ENJOY! (if you need an explanation as to what the link is about you are not one of those people and you can probably skip this one). 
• The Internet K-hole: This is an incredible (and quite NSFW-ish) collection of vintage WTF-ish pictures. WARNING: There is a dead, gutted bear in one of the pictures which a couple of people got upset about when I tweeted this. Sorry, sensitive animal lovers. 
• Hollow: Finally, the best webthing of the week. This is a gorgeous online project which is part website, part documentary, part art project, and all wonderful. It tells the story of a dying town in the US, and it is so beautifully made and told. Set aside 15 minutes and really do pay attention – I promise it will reward you. Made by the very talented Elaine McMillion.

By Nir Arieli

The Circus of Tumblrs:

• Fcuk No Internet Dating: A tumbr highlighting all the bad things about internet dating. Starts off sort of funny and then you get the crushing realisation that this is someone’s reality and internal monologue, and you get a little bit sad inside (EDIT it is by Amelia, fyi, and is in no way a reflection of the inside of her head).
• Exploding Actresses: This has been everywhere in the past few days, but in case it’s passed you by this is a selection of gifs featuring actresses from iconic films whose heads, at certain points, explode for no apparent reason. Just…just look, ok?
• Bad Hairdressers’ Names: The crap names of hair salons. You thought ‘A Cut Above’ was a nadir? OHNONONONO!
• My Startup Has 30 Days To Live: A somewhat sobering antidote to the FCUK YEAH STARTUPS! attitude which prevails at the moment. It sounds HARD and SAD.
• Tiny Pantone Matching: Small things which match Pantone colour swatches. Oddly lovely, though I don’t quite know why.
• Thumbs & Ammo: Stills from movies in which the guns have been replaced with cheery thumbs-ups. 
• Rap Posters: One of the best things I’ve seen all week. A new poster each day, depicting classic hiphop albums in minimalist fashion, by the super-talented Zaven Najjar, a Paris-based designed. Amazed he’s not selling them.

LONG THINGS WHICH ARE LONG AND WHICH YOU SHOULD ADD TO YOUR ‘READ LATER LISTS AND FOR WHICH YOUR BRAIN WILL THANK YOU:

• Signing At Rap Gigs: Holly Maniatti achieved minor internet fame last week when a video of her signing along at a Wu Tang gig went everywhere. This is a lovely piece looking at her craft, and how it works – it makes me really, really want to learn how to swear in sign language, which I am aware is childish. Sorry.
• Me And My Monkey: This really IS long, but it’s an incredible read. If you’ve ever read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Ham, this may ring some bells – confessions of a white-collar junkie, from a 1995 Washington Post. Awesome writing and really worth the effort. 
• What Words Are Worth: This is an excellent piece of writing about journalism and freelancing in the internet age, and what words are worth. If you do any sort of writing for a living, and particularly if you work on a ‘payment per article’ basis rather than being a staffer, this will resonate. Also, there’s a lot of stuff I didn’t previously know about the differential payment rates offered by different publications (there’s a LOT of difference).
• The Kanye Collage: I read this and my jaw dropped. I don’t think that this is getting the recognition it deserves. A collage of excerpts from Kanye West interviews, edited into a coherent whole, which absolutely nails his whole narcissistic messiah complex schtick and how unpleasant it often seems. I am so impressed at the craft behind this. Maybe that makes me an idiot. BONUS KANYE: here’s a piece in defence of his hubris, from Buzzfeed (but it’s the decent bit of Buzzfeed, so I don’t feel so bad about linking it). 
• What Winning Looks Like: Seemingly-obligatory VICE link of the week, this one looking at the mess which everyone has made of Afghanistan. Sobering, but excellent journalism. 
• Samuel Pepys Favourite Bongo Mag: A fascinating look at a sex manual from the 17th Century. I believe the term to use here is ‘bawdy’. A little NSFW, but in a really Olde Worlde fashion which probably makes it ok. Not sure how HR would look at it, but worth a gamble I reckon.
• What It Might Be Like To Be An Octopus: Taking Nagel’s famous ‘bat’ question as its starting point, this is a decent and accessible look at an interesting philosophical problem which is pleasingly accessible even to people like me who remember about 3 things from the two philosophy degrees we did 15 years ago.
• Big Narstie vs Game Of Thrones: Following from the Eastenders critique which I linked to a few months back, this is London grime PERSONALITY Big Narstie waxing lyrical about popular sex’n’death series Game of Thrones. I don’t even watch the show, but this had me crying in parts. 
• London Apps: Not really a long read as such, but a good list of apps which are useful to Londoners, put together by app developer and professional Beard Michael Hobson. 
• Detritus: A beautiful experiment in interactive fiction which I’ve put here because it’s probably a 10 minute playthrough and requires quite a bit of reading. It’s worth it, though – it’s quite the lovely thing, and rewards your time.

By Jen Mann

 

NOW, FINALLY, MOVING PICTURES AND SOUNDS! (Not including the Dawkins meme thing by Saatchi at Cannes last week (oh, ok, it’s here) because you’ve all seen it already and also it basically screws itself by not working properly as a meme which sort of undermines the whole point of it):

1) I’m a big fan of actor, rapper, general agitator and all-round clever man Riz MC. This is him doing some properly good spoken word at a recent bookslam event. The audio’s not great, but do listen – it’s not only technically excellent but it’s smart and funny too: 

10) Finally, a proper labour of love from my good friend and  renaissance man Akira The Don. This is his epic tribute to Game of Thrones, featuring the aforementioned Big Narstie and a whole load of superhighqualitygreenscreen action. This is Games For The Thrones and it is EPIC: