Write across media

Journey Beyond Road Trauma officially launches this Easter

In the lead up to the official national launch of JOURNEY BEYOND ROAD TRAUMA over Easter, more than 10,000 pages have been viewed in the past week by hundreds of founding members, who have signed up during the Beta (trial) stage.

Along with Sandra Cook, I am one of the produces of the site, which is an online social network for anyone affected by road trauma. Since the Beta site went live around Australia Day, people from all over the country have joined up, demonstrating that it meets a huge need in the Australian community. 

Behind every fatality and serious injury statistic there are thousands of stories. Around 1600 people die on Australian roads each year and another 140 people are seriously injured each day. Thousands more are affected by road trauma through their work in the emergency services, legal professions and disability sector. 

By joining JOURNEY BEYOND ROAD TRAUMA people can tell their story and connect with each other. Under the guidance of road safety experts, the community can channel their grief into positive action by collectively campaigning for road safety. The online space can also be used as an educational resource to complement already existing road safety campaigns.

Sandra and I believe that people affected by road trauma – either by a serious injury or a fatality - often feel voiceless and need to be heard. 

This has proven to be true; with an astounding initial response from people sharing stories about both recent losses and also people who lost a loved one 20 years ago. People living with an acquired brain injury, road crash rescue workers and counsellors have also joined. 

On joining the community, members can set up a profile, create memory spaces, connect with others affected by road trauma, tell their story with blogs, upload video, watch short documentaries and make a tribute pin by marking the scene of the collision on a Google Map.  

Existing support groups or road safety campaigners can set up their own group within the community, as a place to keep members informed or to engage in debate. 

This community-based project has been sponsored by Screen Australia, the Royal Automobile Association (RAA) in South Australia, the AER Foundation and the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC). 

We are currently looking for additional funding for stage two of the community, which will include a real time calendar, the ability to make hard copy books, a more sophisticated campaign engine and a community manager to organise special events. 

Visit the community at www.journeybeyondroadtrauma.org

You can view the press kit, FAQs and images at http://journeybeyondroadtrauma.org/cms/marketing-materials

You can listen to me being interviewed about the site on Bay FM at 10.10am AEST next Monday, 29 March. Tune into 99.9FM if you live in the Byron Shire or listen online at www.bayfm.org

Who is using Twitter in Australia?

Since my last post ("Young people questioning the authenticity of social networks"), I have tracked down some recent data about who in Australia is using Twitter, while working on an article about Twitter for the August edition of Research News (which will be published on 7 August).

Back in March, when I set up my first Twitter account (@evolvemediaoz), use of the micro-blogging site among Aussies was relatively low compared to other nationalities. According to Nielsen Online, 44 per cent of all Twitter users had only been using the service since October last year. 

In April, Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher became the first Twitter member to reach one million followers. CNN (which also now has more than a million followers) noted at the time that some bloggers and Twitter users "expressed concern that the once-cultish site is being overwhelmed by celebrities and media hype".

In the first few months of this year, Australia’s Hugh Jackman also enjoyed exponential growth in followers, particularly after he announced in April that he would donate $100,000 to one follower’s favourite charity after they convinced him why in 140 characters or less. 

By June, 21 million unique visitors around the globe had found their way to Twitter, up from 1 million in June 2008, making it the fastest growing web brand and the fourth most visited member community site (after Facebook, MySpace and Blogger). At the time of writing, 1.665 million Aussies had visited Twitter during April, May and June 2009, according to Nielsen Online. During the same time, the active online universe was about 13.647 million.

Deanie Sultana from Nielsen notes that the data reveals a skew to an older audience - a larger number of people over 35 are using Twitter than the general active online audience profile. Twitter users are also more likely to be female in comparison to the overall active online audience.

As noted in my previous post, according to a recent Urban Market Research (UMR) report from Lifelounge, a growing number of young adults are questioning their heavy reliance on social networking. 

When asked specifically about how young people are using Twitter, Lifelounge says they found that, unlike Facebook and MySpace, which were was taken up by the “early adopters” before these social networking sites went mainstream, Twitter happened the other way around. In other words, given the celebrity usage of it in the United States (i.e. Ashton Kutcher and Oprah etc), Twitter went mainstream FIRST, before the “cool kids” got a sense of it. So the UMR study found that when surveying the participants, there was almost a sense of reluctance or antagonism towards Twitter, as the trend had already gone mainstream, making them hesitant to follow the crowd.

 

Additionally, the UMR found that most had a view of Twitter being more for corporate use and not so much a “young person” thing.

Interestingly, Hugh Jackman hasn’t posted a Twitter update since 25 May. His manager says he’s taking a hiatus because, with 421,816 followers, he found it was "getting too time consuming" - presumably, even with the help of a ‘Ghitterer’ (ghost Twitterer)*. 

* I am trying to get this new word accepted into the Macquarie Dictionary by 2010...

P.S. My Twitter post on Friday 24 July has proven popular, being re-tweeting numerous times. It's also very relevant to this post - "Great edition from anthillonline.com Kevin Spacey explaining Twitter to Letterman http://bit.ly/183Y7A" 

Young people questioning authenticity of social networks

I have just started editing the August edition of Research News and this morning I am compiling the 'Topline' column, which is a summary of recent research findings. While doing so I came across a media release from Lifelounge's Urban Market Research that claims that young people are starting to question the authenticity of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

UMR is an annual trend report into the attitudes and behaviours of Australia's young adults (aged 16-30). It contains quantitative (1,662 participants) and qualitative (25 participants) data based on the five lifestyle pillars of youth culture: music, entertainment, fashion, sport and travel, and the key three influences: communication, finance, and sex, health and wellbeing. The research is weighted against ABS statistics and was conducted online between late January and March this year.

According to the more comprehensive UMR Report on Key Findings and Trends that was circulated with the media release, young Australians are seeking to balance their online worlds with more meaningful offline contact. The report concludes that young people believe "technology should assist, not dictate, how they interact with one another". As a sign of a growing backlash against impersonal digital communication, UMR says talking to friends on mobiles has increased to 97% (up from 95%) while SMSing has remain unchanged. And the modern form of the written word - emailing - is also on the rise, particularly among 16-19 year olds, increasing more than 15% from last year. 

The UMR report goes on to say that while the popularity of Facebook has doubled over the last 12 months (43.8% listed it as their favourite website, up from 21.3%), a growing number of young adults are questioning their heavy reliance on social networking. They see it as too commercial, superficial and time consuming, and are questioning its authenticity as they seek to reclaim their privacy and connect with their real friends. MySpace is on the wane (down to 10.7% from 17.5%), although it’s still considered the best online social destination for music.

There is actually no mention of Twitter in the report, so I am going back to the PR folk to find out. 

If you know of any research about how many young people are using Twitter in Australia, please comment below.

It's official: we're mainstream

If you are reading this blog (hello!), have a profile on a social networking site (like Facebook or MySpace), check out other people's profiles on social networking sites and spend at least 10 hours on the internet every week, you're part of what is officially considered the 'mainstream' by research company Nielsen Online.

On the other hand, if you upload photos or video to a third party web site (i.e. not your own site) or Twitter, then you're still amongst the minority. According to Nielsen Online, Twitter use among Aussies is relatively low compared to other nationalities - 44% of all Twitter users have only been using the service since October last year. (That number may well have jumped this week, when a mainstream TV current affairs show did a story on Twitter... unfortunately I can't remember if it was A Current Affair or the 7.30 Report and, of course, one of the annoying things about analog television is that you can't easily search it on the internet - try Googling "Twitter story" + "A Current Affair" and be prepared to get swamped.)

Nielsen Online's Internet and Technology Report is based on self-reported media consumption weekly averages, based on 2,046 surveys representing a "random stratified sample representative of Australia by state, age and gender". The full report costs big $$ but fortunately the folk at Nielsen publicity in Australia have released a number of media releases about the findings and you can download a couple of summary reports for free, once you have registered on the Nielsen site.

After reading through these media releases and summary reports, here are some of the topline findings that interested me most:

• 84% of internet users in Australia now have broadband at home
• Aussies spend an average of 16.1 hours per week online (4.6 hours of that time watching online/downloaded videos), although this has been disputed by Roy Morgan Research (see below)
• 61% of us watch TV at the same time we're online, although our primary focus is on the "lean forward" screen (AKA the internet)
• 59.9% of Australians visit online social networking sites and blogs (a little behind the global figure of 67%)  
• 6.5 million Australians belong to an online social network, with about one-third having more than one profile 
• 57% of Australian internet users published their opinions online last year 
• Australians spend, on average, almost three hours per month on Facebook 
• The biggest increase in visitors to "member community" web sites globally was among 35 to 49 year olds. 

These findings are all very interesting, but can we be confident they're accurate?

I have just written an article about this very topic for the upcoming edition of Research News (published on 3 April).

In this article, I discuss the fact that roughly this time last year, Roy Morgan launched an attack on Nielsen Online’s Internet & Technology Report, which claimed that, for the first time, Australians were spending more time online than watching television.

Following the release of 2008 findings from both companies this month (Roy Morgan Research figures are based on a survey of 20,865 Australians), Roy Morgan has challenged Nielsen Online again. According to Nielsen Online, the average Australian was spending 16.1 hours online last year versus 12.9 hours in front of the TV. 

Roy Morgan Research director of media services, William Burlace says: ‘As Nielsen use an online panel, their results are obviously skewed because their sample will be over-represented with heavy internet users.’

Roy Morgan Research say its figures show that TV remains the most-used medium, with Australians spending on average 21.5 hours per week in front of their televisions. Radio remains the second most popular medium with people listening for an average of 14.2 hours per week, while the internet comes third with an average of 10.7 hours per week. 

Analysis of the Roy Morgan data by age does reveal nuances. The internet is the "number two medium" for those under 35 (while those over 35 are more likely to listen to the radio than spend time on the internet). Roy Morgan Research argues that the only Australians who are spending, on average, a greater amount of time with the internet than television are 14 to 24 year old "heavy" internet users (those who log on more than eight times per week). 

Nielsen Online managing director Megan Clarken, however, says Roy Morgan ‘misunderstood’ Nielsen Online’s research. ‘Our research was based on the activities of Australian internet users, not the general population. If you read the report correctly, you’ll get the same numbers as Roy Morgan,’ she says.

This is true... sort of. While the average hours spent online are somewhat similar, the average hours Roy Morgan's sample spend watching TV is significantly higher than that reported by Nielsen.

  

Underwhelming uses of technology

Back in July, I received a media release from Tick Yes Pty Ltd crowing about the new online social network they had created for Bayer's period pain medication Naprogesic called A Pampered Life (I am not even going to link to it!!). At the time, I intended to blog, commenting why such a site must surely be doomed to failure, but... basically, I had more important things to do at the time. I mean, pleaseeeee! I can't possibly imagine how Tick Yes managed to convince Bayer to part with their dollars.

Unlike most authentic online social networks, A Pampered Life does not tell you how many members it has or how many people are currently online. When you click on 'Your Stories' most posts look suspiciously like they've been posted by 'pretend' people at Tick Yes. There, you will find such riveting stuff as "I had a button fall off a shoe a few weeks ago". The only useful thing I can see on the site is a period planner but, no, you won't catch me signing up. 

I was reminded of this appalling use of technology when I received a "newsletter" (sic) yesterday from Australia Post. Titled "Out of the Box" it is apparently the "newsletter" for post office box holders. Being a happy post office box holder, I couldn't wait to read the stories in the "newsletter". Alas, all it did was tell me to make sure I used my PO Box on my business stationery (d'oh!) and let me know about two 10% discounts for bulk purchases of Express Post envelopes and Parcel Post. Geez, I am glad I found out this enthralling "news", not.

Here's a few tips for Australia Post: 

1. Don't tell me it's news when it's really marketing

2. It might be worth doing some market research with PO Box holders about what they'd like to read in a PO Box newsletter and employing a couple of real journalists to write the stories - or not publishing it all. ANZ's In Business, for example, is actually useful.

3. Why reinvent the wheel? You might be better of sponsoring an existing high quality newsletter that reaches the same target audience (such as the Flying Solo newsletter for sole traders).

It just goes to show that technology, in the wrong hands, can be a dull (if not necessarily dangerous) thing.

Flash mobs were around in the 70s... sort of

A 'flash mob' this week in Sydney attracted the national media's attention, with coverage on the commercial TV news and in the dailies. After meeting behind St James Station in Hyde Park to synchronise watches, about 500 participated in the "Flash Mob Freeze!" event organised on social networking web site Facebook - although organiser Matt Van Rhoon said up to 2200 people had taken part in the freeze. At least one person couldn't count.

More than 42,000 people were reportedly invited to take part in the event on Facebook. About 3750 said they would attend. The prank was apparently inspired by similar events held in Grand Central Station in New York and London's Trafalgar Square.

Reading the mainstream press, you'd think it was the first flash mob in Australia. Not so. 'Flash mobbing' as an internet-enabled concept has been around for years. The web site www.sydmob.com, which is dedicated to 'organising pointless random acts of spontaneity', has been up and running since 2003, with its first event taking place on Saturday 23 August that year. It apparently attracted about 110-130 mobbers.

However, those inspired to organise pointless, random acts of spontaneity have been around for decades. My partner Steve recalls that in about 1978, while in class, he whispered instructions to his fellow student - who quickly passed on the message to the student sitting next to him, and so on. Inside a minute he had organised a 'flash mob'; as the minute hand hit 12 o'clock every single student in the class dropped their pen. Their astounded teacher looked up to see everyone bending down to pick up their pens. 

Slow coaches

Today I had the great pleasure of catching up with my LAMP guardian mentor Laurel Papworth in Bondi Beach. I filled her on our progress with TOUCHED BY THE ROAD TOLL and she filled me in on her consulting work and speaking engagements. Then we got to reflecting about the power of social media. On one of many occasions a few years ago, Laurel experienced the incredible immediacy of social media, when she heard about Steve Irwin's death within World of Warcraft. She quickly switched back to the "real world" to find out if the reports were true, and could find no evidence to this effect on the mainstream news sites, although someone had posted an 'unverified report' on Wikipedia. Fortunately, Laurel knew someone who worked at Cairns Hospital, who she called to verify the rumour. Her contact was astounded that she knew what had happened, because the helicopter with Irwin's body hadn't even landed yet. This tale became a feature story in the Sydney Morning Herald I believe (Laurel, correct me if I am wrong).

Tonight I have had my own wee taste of the power of social media. I have been travelling for the past two weeks, so it must have been at least three weeks ago that a friend sent me a link to a You Tube video featuring some poor old sod stuck in an elevator for 40-odd hours. Well, on 28 May 2008, Screenhub reported on the case, based on a story in the New Yorker on 21 April 2008.

"How old hat?", I heard myself say. Until I read the New Yorker article and discovered that this guy had been stuck in the lift way back in 1999. Everything old is new again...

The weirdest thing about this whole story is that I too was stuck in an elevator for a considerable amount of time, way back in about 1989, when I was studying at RMIT and went on a field excursion to the Melbourn Sun (now Herald-Sun) offices. Filled with bravado, myself and about three other students decided to take the short cut outta there AKA the goods lift. When it got stuck, we got slightly anxious, but were soon distracted by the many Sun staff who wandered by, and peered into the 30cm verge to ask us "What are you doing in there?"

The potential for sarcasm was, as I am sure you can imagine, HUGE.

Fabi the whale travels Oz for Visual Petition

A few months ago my good friend, business colleague and mad keen surfer Russell Green from RUCC Pty Ltd told me about Visual Petition, and asked me for my support. Visual Petition is a global petition for the conservation of marine animals, backed by Byron local and soul surfer Dave Rastovich and numerous other surfing luminaries. Jack Johnson, Kelly Slater, Andy Irons, Wolfmother, Missy Higgins, Xavier Rudd, Mick Fanning, Ben Harper, Taj Burrow and many more have added their names to the growing petition. But they also gave it a face, many faces.

Only a few nights after I joined the petition - and gave it a very unfamous face - another good friend of mine, the fabulous Fabiola, offered to make a paper mache whale for me to take to Melbourne, where I was attending a 40th birthday party - the ideal setting to collect more pictures/signatures. Fabi the whale was born.

Surfers for Cetaceans, the group behind the Visual Petition, will be attending the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Chile in June 2008, where it  will be printing out all of the visual petitions onto three huge banners, to be presented to the IWC delegates and the international media in protest of the dolphin and whale killing.

Fabi the whale has since been embraced by almost 100 people and pictures of her now form part of the 'petition wall', which will become the banners presented at the IWC meeting. You can see part of the petition wall, starring Fabi the whale of course, by clicking on the link below.

View part of the petition wall, starring Fabi the whale

The full petition wall is online at http://www.visualpetition.com/slippages/petitionwall.php

To Ning, or not to Ning?

In the past few days, I have been assessing the pros and cons of using a white label software solution like Ning to create an online social network. I have used Ning myself to set up one group, and have been an active participant in another Ning group (for which it served the purpose beautifully) but I am developing a new major new multi-platform project called TURN YOUR TOWN UPSIDE DOWN and wanted to find out if white label tools like Ning and KickApps would cut the mustard.

I participated in AFTRS Laboratory of Advanced Media Production (LAMP) in February this year and my wonderful mentor Laurel Papworth told me there that she had yet to see the evidence that Ning is sufficiently scalable. Ning social networks tend to number the tens or hundreds, rather than the thousands. Of the top ten most active groups listed on Ning’s Network Creators home page today, most have fewer than 30 members. Only one – the Ning Developers Network - has more than 100 (357 members to be precise).

Despite its popularity (some 67,000 + networks up and running), I wanted to know whether Ning had been used for really big networks (in excess of 100,000) and if not, why not. So I started with a Google search for "Ning sucks" to quickly track down the critics, and found a number of posts on blogs and developer forums such as Tech Crunch. I also found an excellent critique on Poynter Online.

A number of comments on these blogs and forums suggested that white label solutions like Ning would not give us sufficient control over either security or reliability of service.

Indeed, Ning’s terms and conditions state:

To enable a great experience for all Users on the Ning Platform, you, as a Network Creator, must ensure your Network(s) don't unduly degrade the performance of the Ning Platform. If your Network(s) exceed the quotas and limitations set by Ning (e.g., API calls or bandwidth) or otherwise degrade performance of the Ning Platform or other services in any way, we may suspend your Network(s) at our sole discretion.

As far as I can tell, it is also not possible to effectively ban members on Ning (given that you do not get access to granular security detail like IP addresses). Given that TURN YOUR TOWN is a site that will include many members who are minors, it is very important we have complete control over who can belong to the community.

Finally, Ning’s terms and conditions would appear to preclude us from monetising our community:

You agree not to use any Personal Data disclosed to you by Ning for any purpose other than using the Ning Platform or a Network in accordance with these Terms and the Privacy Policy. You agree not to harvest any email addresses from Networks or the Ning Platform for the purpose of sending email.

I also consulted developers’ forums and a number of developers expressed views similar to this: ‘I can't see the ability to build a system of any non-hack scale in that kind of sandbox.’

So while Ning is ideally suited for smaller, amateur networks I think it's clear we need to build our own customised system for this project. This will enable us to exploit our intellectual property rights in other international territories, which is very important given that we intend to develop this as a multi-platform format.

Disagree? Then leave me a comment ;-)