As it has expanded in size, recruiting more and more writers from different journalistic backgrounds, it has made a transition into wider areas of Digital Technology where the competition is greater and the audience is larger.

Formally known as ‘The Social Media Guide’… Now that the slogan is no longer present on the site, what kind of site are Mashable now?

Cashmore can see the opportunity with the amount of press and traffic his site receives daily. Therefore, maybe it should be leaping into reporting on all things digital/technical.
But could this transition be more of an innovative move by Cashmore; knowing that Social Media is losing the ‘what is social media’ factor that made his baby ever so popular in the first place?

Facebook recently achieved a landmark milestone in digital history, by reaching 500 million users. Funny, considering it was only a year ago that we were still trying to prove that Social Media wasn’t a fad.

Mashable’s new 2010 re-design has dropped the tagline ‘The Social Media Guide’ and opened up it’s news wings to expand into all areas of digital technology.
It had been reporting on most new technology news since launch but had always put a social media spin on it.
Only recently, has it decided to devote a large portion of it’s articles to technology without the social fluff.

With all businesses, as you expand into other areas, you face more and more competition. Where you may dominate your specific niche (in this case Social Media); if you decide to focus on multiple areas, such as Web Technology, Mobile and Business for example, you will find yourself not only taking away the USP of your site, but also confusing your core market (which in this case im not too sure what that is for Mashable).

I tweeted about this exact topic recently and the response i received was interesting. A few replies highlighted that while the engagement on Mashable is low in comparison with their ’share factor’, the point was raised that most people would rather share an article and discuss with their own network than comment directly within the article itself.

I guess that makes sense, and no-one can argue with their analytics, as it’s plain to see that Mashable receive some pretty dominating numbers.

However, as the place to visit for all new media information, wouldn’t you expect at least 0.01% of their 3 million daily page views to translate into more than their average of 16 comments per post?

Each of Mashable’s articles receive the best part of 1000 Twitter Retweets and the Facebook share’s are somewhat lower. For every 1000+ shares, we see an average of 16 comments, which to me indicates, that while we love to recycle content and share knowledge with our networks (for whatever ego boosting illusion of intelligence we want to create), as ‘Social Medium’s’, we chose to not pay much attention to the source.

I’d love to investigate into this further and really challenge the concept of sharing articles and how does it really coincide with the definitive definitions of Social Media (if there is a definitive) or at least acknowledge that sharing doesn’t always go hand in hand with ‘engagement and interaction’.

If the King Kong site of Social Media is happy to knock out relentless articles daily and keep it’s followers sharing the content, but not directly engaging; in my opinion (and that’s all this is) Mashable is losing a severe amount of brand equity, as the amount of time their average reader actually spends on the site would be minimal.

Mashable is a force, that is obvious. It’s writers know their stuff and while some of their articles are completely pointless the majority are informative and relevant.

But ask yourself this; when you visit Mashable what do you expect to find?

I can’t speak for anyone else, but do we really want to visit Mashable and see the same iPhone article that can be found on Tech Crunch, Engadget or Gizmodo?

Do we want to find Money and Finance information that we could see more comprehensively on Money Saving Expert? Do we want to watch the latest movie trailers in their Entertainment section?

Mashable is the site that made Social Media easy for people to understand and keep track of as it grew and grew.

Personally, while it’s great to be ‘that one site’ that tries to report on EVERYTHING going on in new media, at the same time, there is a huge area of confusion for the consumer.

Pete Cashmore explains in his interviews that Mashable started as a ‘mash-up’ of content on the Internet. Yet it’s tagline was Social Media and it became famous for being the Social Media Guide, not for being a source of all things digital.

I doubt Mashable will care whether it’s network interact on their website or share the content without thinking. As a business they are successful and no doubt their traffic brings ridiculous revenue; but it’s only a matter of time before the masses realise Mashable’s content isn’t as revolutionary as it used to be and people will get bored of retweeting the same recycled content.

Note: If you are one of the thousands of people that Retweet Mashable’s article’s but don’t have an opinion.
Please stop. The whole world of Twitter is following Mashable and we all see their feed.
At least be creative and voice an opinion for sharing.Similar Posts:

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• What’s a Social Media Guru?
• Engagement and Interaction = Blah Blah Blah

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So you run a business or plan on starting a business in 2010 and do not have a website; i suggest you take 10 steps back and re-evaluate where exactly you consider your market to spend the majority of their time.

If your audience is over 60 years old and you are starting a Poker Club for the elderly, then maybe yes you should create a direct marketing campaign at a selective group of old people’s homes and push the online campaign to the side.

However, if you believe that there is a large proportion of your audience using the Web; how can you expect people to buy into your brand if you don’t even buy into your brand yourself?

The first consultation i will advise on when clients enquire about Digital Strategy involves their website. A Digital Strategy is the plan of action in driving more users and traffic to a source where you can sell or promote a product.

If i ever click on a link and it takes me to a Facebook Fan Page; like the majority of users, i will glance for a few seconds, then proceed to check my own Facebook Profile and begin chatting with my network about Eastenders or Hollyoaks… NOT ABOUT YOUR BRAND!

Now that you are reconsidering your need for a website, it’s lucky i have links to the cheapest deals around isn’t it!

Click here to check out deals for Hosting Options and here for deals on Domain Names….

NOW GO!Similar Posts:

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• The Endless Job Search – Help Luca!
• Engagement and Interaction = Blah Blah Blah

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Engagement and Interaction… Engagement and Interaction… Engagement and Interaction! It’s all i keep hearing from Mashable content recyclers.

“Social Media is Engagement and Interaction and by utilising Web 2.0 in accordance to your audience you can build a reputable network and substantial ROI.”

The old boring word known as ‘Communication’ is dead. Revitalizing buzz words such as Engagement and Interaction are leading the way and a whole universe of confused brands and businesses are throwing money at rogue ‘Digital Marketers’ to explain to them what these words actually mean.

Want to know what it all really means? Here’s a simple tip that i won’t charge you a ridiculous day rate for:

It means you have to LISTEN to your audience when they speak, REPLY when comments are posted and RESEARCH available tools that are relevant to your campaigns.

I understand that not everybody is savvy with the online media world, so if you still want to pay me to teach you the fundamentals of new age words that you don’t understand; then drop me an email and i’ll be more than happy to assist. Ca-ching!
Similar Posts:

• Are Mashable Spreading Themselves Thin?
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In my last post i wrote something very personal; as i am currently going through a transition period in my journey to find self fulfillment.

Tony Robbin’s is one of the world’s most famous public speakers, first brought to my attention by my former mentor Andrew Davis. I have watched this video over and over, and some of the quotes he uses are remarkable.

Take eight mins to understand how he identifies having Clarity and Purpose in life.

“Clarity is power, you gotta know the specific result you are after. What do you want. If you can’t answer that question right now, in your personal life, in your body, in your relationships, in your finances, in your spirituality, then you’re not gonna be as fulfilled as you want to be.”

The quote above; while lengthy, is brilliant. Tony Robbins talks real sense and most of our days fly by us without us taking a moment to really understand where we are heading, what we want to achieve and how we are getting there.

“Life will pay any price you ask of it.”Similar Posts:

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• Striving To Achieve: The Layer Cake
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One of the first posts i wrote for this blog entitled Just Another Chapter In My Story explained how a series of events had occurred in my life. I ended that post writing this analogy:

Every challenge is like a chapter in a story; the story of your life. While the chapter will eventually come to an end, it does so to let another chapter begin. The next challenge will not be the final chapter in your life, and as your story goes on, each chapter will make it easier to understand what this story is about. As you progress, the book will become clear and you can conquer the rest of the story with ease.

Around six months have passed and im up at the next set of crossroads again.

Back then i had no idea what this blog would turn out to be, what would be my focus, or if anyone would care enough to read it. As i said then, it was about getting off the bench and into the game.

The last six months have been amazing though, and some of the articles i have written have gotten some fantastic feedback. From this i have given talks on Personal Branding, become a mentor to some great friends, done an array of freelance Digital work and worked with and alongside some really cool people and brands.

I have written on various topics; Personal Development, Branding, Success, Digital Marketing, Social Media, the list goes on. With the idea in mind, that i know what im talking about; im no expert, but the information is out there, so i have researched, studied and have shared.

In my game plan, I always had two methods to act as direction to finding success:

1). Create or be part of an idea, product or project that i was heavily involved in or managing. Be recognised by an industry for bringing about success and build a career upon that.

2). Build up a credible level of experience from freelancing so that i could apply to work with a large corporate company and build a career from within that company.

You can view what projects i am/have been involved in from the Projects & Clients page.

I mean ive watched and read enough Personal Branding videos and posts to know what i needed to do to put myself in the best possible position for employment… then it would only be a matter of time before either one of my projects took off or i would get hired by a big company.

So as of 28th June 2010 i am officially the Digital Marketing Analyst for Chelsea Football Club.

The big corporate brand that i have been searching for has arrived, and hopefully with this, i will be able to learn, grow and expand my skills and knowledge in the field.

The most important thing to me in my career is to make sure i am continually progressing, and with this in mind, i feel that the past six months that i have been archiving my footsteps in this industry, have lead to this crossroad where i open my next chapter.

From here on, i will try to keep this site as updated as possible with my movements and developments in the digital sector.

I want to thank you all for supporting and being part of my journey. To all of you that read, comment and retweet my posts i am forever grateful to you for sharing and believing in what i write.

See you on the other side…Similar Posts:

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Top Scorer: Luis Fabiano
England gets kicked out: Quarter Finals
Surprise Team: USA
Outside Tip: Holland
Most Heartbroken Team: England lol
Biggest Disappointment (Team): Argentina
Biggest Disappointment (Player): Rooney
Team that was great last world cup but now they are useless: France
Your coach should have picked you: Ronaldinho
Biggest Moaner: C Ronaldo
Most Overly Patriotic: USA
Players of the tournament: Fabiano or Villa
Best Fued: Capello lobbing a boot at Beckham for tryna tell him what to do.
Most patronising things said by the press: Wow Africans have boots on and they’re not playing with oranges.
Lose my tember like Zidane award: Terry when he finds out Bridge is banging his wife back home.
Best Advert: Carlsberg
Winners of the World Cup: Italy

Whats your predictions?
Copy and paste this in the comment section and we can compare notes

Top Scorer:
England gets kicked out:
Surprise Team:
Outside Tip:
Most Heartbroken Team:
Biggest Disappointment (Team):
Biggest Disappointment (Player):
Team that was great last world cup but now they are useless:
Your coach should have picked you:
Biggest Moaner:
Most Overly Patriotic:
Players of the tournament:
Best Fued:
Most patronising things said by the press:
Lose my tember like Zidane award:
Best Advert:
Winners of the World Cup:

Via Andrew DavisSimilar Posts:

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Of course the Top Link this week was going to be the unveiling of the iPhone 4. After the leak on Gizmodo in April, it was only a matter of time until we were given the real details on Apple’s latest masterpiece.

Apple have done it again. I started out with the first iPhone 2G back at the start of 2008 but in 2009 i switched over to Blackberry to get my business game on. Now i think it may be time to revert back!

Read the full post here

Read the full story here
Spotted at Mashable

Spotted at The Urban Gamer

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I could not stop laughing when i saw this. Looks like a mob boss with his leather jacket sitting in his chair giving orders to the peasants. But seriously, cruelty or comedy?

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

The iPad, combined with a little velcro, makes various devices.

Well i own my own domain so apparently i have a good chance of being skilled. Why thank you.

If you have read my ‘Which Websites and Why’ post you will know i am a big fan of TED.
In this video Minority Report science adviser and inventor John Underkoffler states that in five years time we will have the technology that we have only seen in the Iron Man films.

Its a stand alone page with a 30 minute loop of rain sounds.
However, you won’t need an umbrella.

If you found any of the above interesting or funny, please leave a comment or retweet. If you found any of the content disturbing, then please see my disclaimer and also retweet. Many thanksSimilar Posts:

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Well on Tuesday 18th May 2010, @SmilerMusic was the official Record Of The Day.

If that wasn’t enough, each and every week the music website publishes a magazine with all the details of the artists that are about to blow and features them in a nice tidy PDF.

It also, makes one of its artist’s and their track the ‘Record Of The Week’.

In other news, Enza is officially on the BBC 1Xtra ‘B’ Playlist, @SmilerMusic is in the May edition of RWD MAG and to top it all off MTV Base, The Box, Hits, Flava and AKA are all spinning the video.

Not bad considering most people were raising eyebrows at a hard Hip Hop track that had no singing hook, no bridge and no candy floss.

Breaking the mould…Similar Posts:

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Challenge: Pick up to 10 of your favorite things about your community and create an ad page on the Community section. Simple enough!

The task is to get as many comments and views as possible to this thread.

“Gumtree are passionate about communities and bringing people together.”

Being that the London Southbank is built up on creativity I decided to be a little bit more innovative with the challenge and rather than pick a selection of my favorite things, I took my new moleskin notepad, a sketchbook and my new digital camera (courtesy of Gumtree People) down to the Southbank and chose a selection of things that inspire me from the Southbank area.

So, my lovely readers, i need you guys to help me out a little:

- Head over to My Southbank
- Leave a nice little comment
- Retweet the My Southbank to your network.
- Let me know when you have done so and i will add you to my personal reward list!

**Alternatively if that is all too long, just leave a comment on this post!!**

Here is the full article for My Southbank:

The Elephants are everywhere, they look spectacular and really makes you think about the passion, creativity and effort that went into sculpting these and also what a world without Elephants would be like.

Check out some of the photos I took below and the sketch I drew of an Elephant called Maureen by Mackenzie Thorpe.

Note: The angle was different to the picture and i haven’t drawn since i left school seven years ago, so stop laughing. Thanks

81 Gower Street
London
WC1E 6HJ
+44 (0) 20 7580 3184

http://www.elephantparadelondon.org/

With galleries from the likes of Picasso and Dali and sculptures from Henry Moore it’s just a great place to observe brilliance and be inspired to create.

Even if you are not interested in art, it’s a spectacular building in a creative haven on the heart of the riverbank in South London, hence the reason why 25 million people visit every year!

53 Bankside
London SE1 9TG
+44 (0) 20 7887 8752
www.tate.org.uk

But every year The Times BFI Festival in autumn is Europe’s largest public film event and shows the best in contemporary cinema from around the world at venues across London.

Want another reason to be interested in the BFI? Check out The BFI IMAX on London’s South Bank, it has the largest cinema screen in the UK and now has a huge 3D screen also!

Belvedere Road
South Bank
Waterloo
London SE1 8XT
Box Office: +44 (0) 20 7928 3232

http://www.bfi.org.uk/

Situated on the Southbank, the Bridge links from The Tate Modern to St. Paul’s Cathedral across the River Thames. I remember walking across it when it first opened and it was nicknamed the ‘Wobbly Bridge’ and even though it doesn’t wobble anymore, every time I walk across it I think it’s moving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Bridge_(London)

It can’t be knocked that the view from any part of London’s prestigious Southbank is pretty darn epic. Whether you are staring at Parliament from the Waterloo end or the East London skyline from Blackfriars, the Southbank is without doubt my favorite part of London.

Tip: Take a walk along here on a clear night and witness London in a way that makes it without doubt the city to live in.

http://www.southbanklondon.com/

Remember, i need your help to win this, so if you are also a fan of Southbank, please head over to this thread i set up, leave a brief comment and retweet the linky!

Thanks for reading chaps!Similar Posts:

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