Why Social Media is critical for the Conservatives

David Cameron’s speech this afternoon left us all in no doubt that the Conservatives are confident about a win at the next General Election.

So confident, that already I’ve heard him referred to as ‘the next Prime Minister’ in several blogs.

But the margins aren’t that different and we’ve seen bigger turnarounds before. Party chairman Eric Pickles himself told the conference just a few days ago that, “it’s not in the bag yet”, or words to that effect. He was right.

We were all confident of Hillary Clinton’s victory for months, but it turned in the favour of Barack Obama. Why? Well, he was speaking to voters in a different way. He was engaging them individually through social media, giving them the power to spread the word and allowing everyone to get involved on the issues that mattered to them (instead of just those who’d signed up for coffee mornings and leafletting).

The Conservatives need to address this now. More precisely, MPs and PPCs need to address this now. Candidates need to get on Twitter, Facebook (if not already) and make sure their presence on the web ties everything together.

This video, about social media websites for Conservatives, neatly explains it all…

Google Logo Celebrates Barcode

Today’s Google logo, in case someone somewhere hasn’t noticed, is a barcode. It’s to celebrate the 57th anniversary of the first patent on the barcode (source: Washington Post).

Google is frequently changing its logo around to reflect calendar events and holidays: most recently the birthdays of Gandhi and HG Wells. They usually bear some similarity to the original.

However, while today’s barcode is technically the same (for those of us with barcode readers or a checkout job in Waitrose), to most of us is just, well, a barcode.

What a fantastic position to be in – Google has been the most powerful brand in the world for several years; an amazing feat considering that the brand itself isn’t even consistent (the designer’s number one rule).

Predictably, the new logo is attracting a lot of chatter on Twitter, where even this article will appear shortly.

So, for the purposes of completeness, here is the Google logo as a new(er) type of barcode – the QR code. It allows camera-and-Internet-enabled mobile ‘phone owners to browse to an exact URL (or upload contact details) based on the content of a 2D shape, much like the 1952 version.

For comparison, to its right is the QR code for inward investment agency Into Somerset – a code that has been popping up around the London Underground, encouraging businesses to relocate to the Westcountry.

QR codes are essentially a free technology – the better generator in my opinion is this one.

Dual Screen Laptops are coming soon-ish

With all of those social media platforms open in browser windows (and even tabbing isn’t enough on busy days), as well as Microsoft Word, Excel, Pages, Preview, Mail, Skype and the printer app – all open at once, desktop real estate is at a premium.

But according to Gizmodo, there is a solution on the way – gScreen’s dual 15.4 inch Spacebook will solve a lot of these problems.

(Do you remember the IBM Thinkpad W700, with secondary display?)

The Alaskan company is aiming the product at filmmakers, artists, photographers and the military, and describe it as “opposite to a netbook”. It runs Windows 7. And it could be on the market by Christmas, although that is optimistic.

Only trouble is, it’s not a Mac.