PR FROM THE BEACH

#2010 - A Year in Hashtags

Back at work and wading through remaining relics of last year, I realised 2010 was the year in which hashtags finally made it as the early 21st century headline. As I've been explaining them to people for years, it was great to see this breakthrough point. Whatever was going on, the hashtag became - finally - the defining reference point for the collective consciousness if you really wanted to find out what was going on, who was affected and what needed to be done.

Just days away from the first anniversary of the Haitian earthquake, below are the hashtags that will, for me anyway, signal the step-changes and life-changing events of 2010.

• #Haiti - in January, a 7.0M earthquake flattens poverty stricken Haiti. One year on, the plight of the people living there continues to be dire and help is still needed for the thousands suffering appalling conditions.
• #Chile - in February, Chile is hit by a whopping 8.8M earthquake lasting three minutes. Recovery is faster than for Haiti, but 541 lives are lost, tsunami warnings issued and the rebuild continues.
• #Iceland - the volcanic eruption that paralysed Europe and stalled air travel around the world. The volcano's name - Eyjafjallajökull - was much too long for a hashtag, so either #iceland or #volcano became the mustering point as people wondered if, when and how they were going to get home.
• #Deepwater - when the Deepwater Horizon rig blew out on April 20, the hashtag activity was limited to an active - and angry - conversation among those concerned about what was going to happen next. Amazingly, the companies most closely involved at this point, the owners and contractors respectively - Transocean and Halliburton - deftly slipped into invisibility as 'Big Brother' BP stepped in to try to stem the leak. Very swiftly, hashtags changed with #bpoil, #bpspill, #bpceo, #oilspill among the most used.
• #greece and #thailand both crashed in to the trends maps at the end of April thanks to civil unrest in both countries.
• #allwhites and the Soccer World Cup in South Africa provided welcome respite from the disasters and deaths that had dominated the first half of 2010. Some of my favourite Twitter conversations took place in the middle of the night in June as collectively, Kiwi #allwhites fans settled down to watch the matches together and quip about them online. A personal favourite of mine in June was #wprf as the World Public Relations Forum was held in Stockholm, with much tweeting done by all.
• #wikileaks sprung into action for the first time in July, with the first documents hitting the public consciousness. It was a hashtag we were going to see a lot more of as the year progressed.
• #eqnz - September saw the most devastating natural disaster New Zealand has seen in many years. Civil Defence NZ didn't get the hang of hashtags at all, with ridiculously long hashtags being used by the organisation - even when the community had settled on #eqnz. As the aftershocks continue, the hashtag remains a rallying point for Canterbury - and Civil Defence still hasn't got the hang of them!
• #Chile was back in October as the rescue of the trapped underground miners got underway. Here in NZ, conversation was just as hot and controversial around #paulhenry, after the broadcaster resigned from TVNZ.
• #pikeriver - tragically, in November, our own #pikeriver miners were not to have the same triumphant outcome as those in Chile. Like #eqnz, #pikeriver remains a much-used, much referenced hashtag for those still affected by these two major events, even after the mainstream coverage and commentary has moved on.
• #socialmedia was a continuing favourite in December, but #willandkate got a look in along with #secretsantas and, of course, #christmas.

 

Which brings us to #2011. If #2010 was the year of the hashtag, then by my reckoning, #2011 will be the year of the live tweet chat - so watch out for one you might be interested in and take the opportunity whenever you can to join in. And, as a final note, as we stand at the gate of the year, my hope for you is that all your hashtags be happy ones.

 

 

Do you trust Facebook to get your 'social context' right?

In the interesting video below, a doggedly-determined and earnest 'Face' from Facebook tells us how he would love to get messages from his grandma, his mates, his loved ones all in one place, without the hassle of different devices and methods. In fact, what he would like more than anything is something similar to the treasured 'box of letters' his grandma kept, full of missives from his grandfather.

And then behold! He tells us that now Facebook can ride to the rescue with its all-in-one new messaging system that works like email and, surprise, surprise, you won't have to think at all, because good old Facebook will organise everything for you.

How marvellous. How seemingly thoughtful and benign. Until you stop and realise just what Facebook's organisation of your 'social context' and 'social inbox' will actually mean. If you have any doubts as to where it's heading and what you will miss, track your Facebook news feeds for a week or so and monitor how many updates you miss from your friends.  I think it will be less 'box of letters' and more 'control box' in the long run.

The checks and boundaries being set in this system (launched a week or so ago) may look inviting but the reality is that it is another step towards control of your communication.  If you want to use it, great. But be aware of everything you are signing up for!

 

 

When the Ghost in the Machine needs to back off

So this weekend Facebook decided that it would make some decisions on my behalf, selectively editing my friends' updates, information, quiz results, likes (but not dislikes as there is no button) et al. Today, Google launches social search so I can retrieve information from my public social graph that will take me one step nearer to the most recommended coffee shop this side of the CBD - but only if the Google machine considers it relevant based on decisions it has made about me - and you - as determined by our online profiles.

Marvellous isn't it. Clever almost beyond words. Deeply impressed that they can mine the data so efficiently. But one major thing has slipped the minds of the great and good - I don't want them editing my information or the news that comes to me, be it social news, mainstream news or an update from my Great Aunt Edy (if I had such a relative).  We had enough 'editing' of information during the reign of mass media. Information was power and selective distribution fed the hierarchical business models that have been collapsing around our ears the last year or two.

I am more than happy for them to find the information - but deliver it whole, unaltered, unchanged. Let me decide. The kind of selective editing currently being proffered is not about being a helpful 'free' service provider. It is about behavioural control, social selection for influence and steering users towards content that will power advertising revenue and stimulate a little mouse action. Methinks it is time to make sure that today's ghosts in the machine don't surreptitiously remove  the 'social' from social media and replace it with 'remote control'.

That marvellous Orwellian phrase 'Big Brother is Watching You' is now surpassed. Great Google and Fearsome Facebook will simply tell you what they think you should know.

Afghan men can now starve their wives. How can we let such a law exist?

A great deal of hot air is generated by bloggers and other commentators when it comes to the power of the web to change things. The potential exists for sure - and yet a law like this can be passed today,in 2009, when we are all supposed to be 'civilised' human beings.

It is not a just or reasonable law that allows husbands to starve their wives if they do not have sex. The law of any land should protect, guard and provide justice for all, not create situations where human rights are so obviously and dreadfully undermined. Where are the cries of international condemnation? Cloaked and hidden beneath the politics of Afghanistan no doubt, which is of small comfort to the women this law will imprison, kill and degrade. Surely, as we have the freedom and the tools to protest, we could use that freedom to oppose such oppression and in doing so, turn at least some of the hot air into something tangible and of real value?

This month, Amnesty International has been running a series of Dinners for Dignity, where participants host a dinner in their own homes, raise some modest funds, send off some postcards asking for someone's freedom and toast - in water, soup, tea, coffee or whatever is to hand - the many freedoms we all enjoy yet probably take for granted.  There is still time to take part and in doing so, perhaps you could spare some time to write, campaign or make your voice heard in opposition to this dreadful law.  As the paraphrased Burke quote goes:

"All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to remain silent".

I'll take that to mean all of us as Burke lived at a time when the majority of women were treated as chattels and possessions, rather than humans worthy of dignity. I would further lament that although it was attributed to Burke, philosopher and politician of the 1700s, the sentiment - whether expressed by him or not - unfortunately remains resonant to this day.

"Christmas is for Children", goes the saying - unless of course you are a child soldier in Darfur...

My youngest child is 12 years old. We have - like many other families around the world - been happily getting ready for Christmas over the last couple of days.  Amidst the comfort we are fortunate enough to share, I find it hard to imagine a world where at 12, my youngest would be given a gun and forced to march to war.  And yet here I am, living in such a world.

Today I read - yet again - of the increased numbers of child soldiers, this time in Darfur.  In Darfur, which has hosted such horror and tragedy for the last five years, it is perhaps no surprise that so many thousands of children have been drafted into action. But is it not just in Darfur. Elsewhere in the world, children are forced into military service or used in some way to further conflict. In May this year, in case you missed it, the Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers published its global report on the use of children by governments, rebels, militia and others around the world.  It makes grim reading and you feel pretty powerless to act by the end. But despite the grim read, we can all do something to help  and, if you feel so moved, I would urge you to at least trawl the Coalition's site and look at some of the things that can be done to chip away at the circumstances that cause our young and vulnerable to be exploited and damaged in this way.

This small excerpt from the report, gives an indication as to the scope of the problem:

...the Coalition’s research reveals a number of disturbing findings that make it clear that the efforts to date have been insufficient.

The first of these findings is perhaps the most stark. It is this: when armed conflict breaks out, reignites or intensifies, children will almost inevitably become involved as soldiers. The Central African Republic, Chad, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan (Darfur) are all cases in point.

Next, efforts to demobilize children during conflict have met with only limited success. Peace remains the main hope for securing the release of child soldiers from armed forces and groups, a fact that further reinforces the importance of child protection being integral to peace negotiations, as well as the need for explicit provisions relating to child soldiers in ceasefire and peace agreements.

The impact of efforts to end child soldier recruitment and use by armed groups has been similarly limited. Armed groups in at least 24 countries located in every region of the world were known to have recruited under-18s and many have used them in hostilities. Many have proved resistant to pressure and persuasion. Their widely diverse characters, aims and methods, and the varied environments in which they operate militate against generic solutions. Effective strategies must be multifaceted and context-specific. Above all, they must address root causes. Poor governance and its effects, including impoverishment, inequality, discrimination and human rights abuses, are all known to contribute to the risk that children will be recruited by armed groups. While such conditions persist, children will remain vulnerable to involvement in armed forces and groups.

The report is only published every few years.  Perhaps by taking some time out from the turkey we could each play a small part by doing something that might create hope - and peace - for these children.

Cast a wary eye North as Iceland riots over crisis

Currently being reported as food riots in some blogs, the unrest in Iceland sees a physical manifestation of the financial meltdown that left the country all but bankrupt and, at times, facing severe food shortages. 

Here's the ITN report on YouTube and a report from The Scotsman.  Check on some of the blog conversations and you will see they are being dubbed 'food riots'.  Reviewing what has gone on, the riots are less about food and more about the future people see themselves facing - although I worry that the question of food may come into the protests soon. The actions taken by normally placid Icelandic citizens demonstrate the extent to which trust in the system - and those responsible for running the system - has been lost  We have seen food riots elsewhere in the world throughout this year (April was particulary notable for this)  and although any sort of riot is disturbing, a food riot, perhaps more than any other expresses the desperation people feel when they are cornered and without hope when it comes to the essentials of life. I think we will see more actual food riots from previously peaceful people in the months ahead and not simply because there are food shortages - primarily because people will simply not be able to afford the basics. Here in NZ, the average family food bill has risen by at least $35 - $50 per week in the last twelve months.

Without wishing to be a doom-mongerer - rather acting as an observant forecaster - there's definitely a storm brewing. Good crisis communication starts with tackling and resolving the issue long before it becomes a crisis.  Sadly, the issue has been around for the last eighteen months (longer in many parts of the globe) but very little overt action has been taken to address this fundamental concern for every single person. Hatches are not being battened, the political fallout will be extreme and the social cost immense. Oh dear.

First planet pictured outside our solar system - Hubble does it again

I've been a big fan of the Hubble space telescope since its launch and avidly followed its adventures since it first began looking out into space.  Late last week while I was zipping around, I came across this story from Hubble.

"Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have taken the first visible-light snapshot of a planet orbiting another star. The images show the planet, named Fomalhaut b, as a tiny point source of light orbiting the nearby, bright southern star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Australis. An immense debris disk about 21.5 billion miles across surrounds the star. Fomalhaut b is orbiting 1.8 billion miles inside the disk's sharp inner edge."

Won't be too long I reckon until we are having tea with ET.  There is a brilliant photo gallery, of which the pic below is one.  Definitely worth checking out - if only as a reminder that there are bigger things to think about than the credit crunch.

Food Shortages: One leader calls for help, another executes those who call

Contrasting approaches to critical food shortages are apparent today. Neither needs much comment from me.
On the one hand, according to Malaysian news agency Bernama: "Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has called for global political will to address severe food shortages and help developing countries reduce hunger and poverty as the situation becomes more critical with the international financial turmoil". 
On the other hand, in North Korea, The Times (London) reports: "North Korea is clamping down on mobile phones and long distance telephone calls to prevent the spread of news about a worsening food crisis, according to the United Nations investigator on human rights for the isolated communist country."  The investigator goes on to say that public executions have been used as a means to intimidate the public.
Perhaps we could make that call on behalf of those who are unable to do so themselves - or at least respond to the Malaysian plea and add our voices to their call for action, hopefully driving a global political will that will address this situation before it is too late for another million or so people - simply trying to feed their families, just like us.

Food shortages: Price of food basics triples - 923 million people undernourished worldwide

We are just over a week on from World Food Day.  Statistics published to coincide with the event indicate that 923 million people worldwide are short of food and undernourished. If that number is too big to cope with, or seems meaningless, then think of it as every person in America - North and South - being without food. Or every single country in the European Union, plus a few more for good measure, without the wherewithal to feed that population.

As you know, I have been mithering about food shortages from Iceland to Egypt, Peru to Haiti, for most of this year and over the last week I have monitored what's happening even more closely than normal. For over two million people in North Korea, October looks like it will be the worst month yet as current reports from Associated Press indicate starvation is now a reality in parts of the country, even though the regime is apparently taking draconian steps to prevent the spread of this news to the world at large.

Food crisis looms on back of finance woes - but who will act now?

There were plenty of warnings out there over the last twelve to fifteen months that trust in the global financial markets had weakened and was at breaking point. My ears pricked up permanently and I went to action stations when the UK's Northern Rock foundered and I have no doubt that history will probably mark that as one of the most contagious moments in this viral panic.

Of more concern to me currently is the ever increasing prospect of a 'food meltdown'. Again, the warning signs are there and have been for some time. There has been a small blip of hope as the financial panic pushes the price of commodities down - particularly oil, which impacts on the transport of food and its subsequent cost around the world. The UN has been warning the world for some time, but so absorbed has the media become in conveying the sense of panic over the cash, the issue of food has, somewhat stupidly, taken a back seat.

I say stupidly because we can't eat the notes and the money is still all there - just redistributed in someone else's pocket. The system is foundering because people and institutions now have limited or little trust in each other - or the system itself. This can be corrected and corrected quickly through repaired relationships, a fresh look at the system so that it is 'reengineered' in a format that allows people to work within it with renewed confidence. A system that doesn't permit directors of failed companies to walk off with several million dollars in their trousers, instead one which provides fair return for those who save, invest, borrow, build and repay. Those of us who, despite the hullabaloo, are still going to work, still paying for our mortgages, our credit cards, business liabilities and investments and who haven't yet opted to stash our life savings under the mattress.

What we can't 'turn around' with any great speed is the problem of food. Take a look at some of the reports, listen to what is being said. Get out in the garden and plant some potatoes. Surely to goodness some real attention needs to be paid to this issue and appropriate action taken? Yes, they need to fix the money and this can be done quite quickly if the culture of fear, mistrust, panic and self-protectionism is overcome. But the food? This will take longer, create lasting scars in many countries, result in the deaths of thousands and be the source of far greater global upheaval in the long term.

If there was a job for social media at this point in time, it would be in acting as a viral movement that brings the issue of food shortages - and a call to action - to many millions online who are subjected to mainstream media saturation coverage of the financial markets, the US election and very little else. Unless of course you count the monkey waiters in Japan. All rather reminiscent of Nero playing his lyre while Rome was consumed by the flames...