Art, an octopus and social media

Strange things happen in social media. Last night was stranger than normal.

Yesterday morning I was using Twitter to complain about doing Excel spreadsheets at work. I felt, I said, like #afishoutofwater – or, I then wrote, exercising a Spanish idiom, ‘Como un pulpo en un garaje.’ – which translates into English as ‘Like an octopus in the garage.’

Less than 12 hours later a website called Irkafirka published this:

Oddly, I first saw the illustration moments after getting home from El Camino Spanish bar in King’s Cross. And waking up this morning I imagined that I’d probably had a little too much sangria – but, after checking, it’s quite real.

It all stems from an idea that Irkafirka’s founders have had to illustrate a random selection of tweets then publish them as quickly as possible. On their website, they write:

The Rules:

1. Irkafirka is as fresh as possible. We aim to post illustrations within 24 hours of the tweet that inspired them.

2. We are not aquainted with our chosen tweeters. Tweets are chosen by a random process of dipping in and out of the massive data deluge that Twitter has become.

3. Suggestions are warmly welcomed but almost certainly ignored. Which isn’t to say that we don’t have a price. You want a commission, you’ve got to pony up. Call it becoming a patron of the arts.

4. We aim to post illustrations daily, but we have jobs, family and cinema tickets, all of which have to take priority from time to time.

5. If we stop enjoying it, we’ll stop.

6. We can break any of the rules except 5.

There are more illustrations on their website. I think it’s a wonderful idea that will work brilliantly over time – just so long as they can keep it going.

I’m after a copy of my tweet #3125 to hang on the wall, and when I asked if I could buy the artwork they responded with:

Nothing more for me to say to irkafirka then, but THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND I BLOODY LOVE IT.

—

image credit: freekvandenbergh on Flickr

Irkafirka are @chrisbell @Pockless on Twitter

2005: social media?

About five years after its launch, last Sunday evening, You Tube announced that they are now receiving two billion hits per day. On their official blog they wrote:

Five years ago, after months of late nights, testing and preparation, YouTube’s founders launched the first beta version of YouTube.com in May, with a simple mission: give anyone a place to easily upload their videos and share them with the world. Whether you were an aspiring filmmaker, a politician, a proud parent, or someone who just wanted to connect with something bigger, YouTube became the place where you could broadcast yourself. [Link to full post]

Not only is the two billion milestone noteworthy, but the fact that the site is five years old is also well worth noting.

There’s a good argument that 2005 was the pivotal year in the shaping of the Internet as we know it. You Tube was founded, Mark Zuckerberg opened Facebook up to schools across America, and Yahoo acquired two year-old Del.icio.us and one year-old Flickr.

For the sake of nostalgia, here is what some of these websites looked like back then, five years ago.

• You Tube

Billed rather simply as a digital photo repository back in 2005 – their logo has hardly changed a bit in the last five years. The homepage design obviously owes quite a bit to Google’s, who, in any case, bought the site in November 2006 for $1.65 billion.

(Click on the picture above to expand to full size)

–

• Google

In 2005 Google was already looking fairly grown up and confident. Very few changes were made to this minimalist homepage design until just a few weeks ago.

You’ll spot here that back then Google were busy promoting Froogle, their price comparison service which was later rebranded as Google Product Search.

(Click on the picture above to expand to full size)

–

• Blogger

In May 2005, blogger was already six years old. Therefore it predates Web 2.0 and is one of a few notable survivors of the Dot Com Crash in 2000. It had been acquired by Google in 2003 and by the time of this screenshot it was by far the most popular blogging software available.

In May 2005 they launched Blogger Mobile, which allowed people to blog by text message –making them, by my reckoning, just about two years too early.

(Click on the picture above to expand to full size)

–

• Wordpress

Wordpress would supplant Blogger in popularity over the next few years. It’s interesting to note, however, their reasons for encouraging people to use their software. ‘You can stop sending mass emails to everyone’, ‘You can archive your thoughts’ and ‘Why the heck not?’

Indeed.

(Click on the picture above to expand to full size)

–

• Facebook

Facebook has retained this familiar feel from the start, but its evolution has been a little more complex than most.

Back in 2005 there were two Facebooks, one for people in college and one for people in high school. All the dots would be joined up over the next year as it began the march that would see it become the most popular site in America.

(Click on the picture above to expand to full size)

–

• The BBC

Back in 2005 I had never written a blog, had never used Facebook and only seen a handful of You Tube videos, but I was already mildly addicted to the Internet. And from a sunny Madrid and a fitful Internet connection, the BBC’s official site was where I spent most of my time.

(Click on the picture above to expand to full size)

–

• The Guardian

And 2005 was a time before guardian.co.uk existed. Back then it was known as the Guardian Unlimited – a website that promised such things as ‘All the headlines from today’s first edition.’

From that I suppose you can summise that the website was still being considered as some kind of digital reflection of the newspaper – and not really a strong publication in its own right.

(Click on the picture above to expand to full size)

–

• Flickr

Flickr now hosts more than four billion images and is the most popular image sharing site on the web. Back in 2005 PC World were offering them some kind words:

‘Cutting edge real-time photo sharing’, they said. They were right.

(Click on the picture above to expand to full size)

–

• And in 2006 … Twitter

Twitter didn’t exist in 2005 and it wouldn’t appear properly until more than a year or so later. Therefore it’s just tagged on to the end of this post. It’s a good demonstation of  just what can be done in four years with a scruffily designed website, a clever idea and a willingness to stick with your logo through thick and thin.

(Click on the picture above to expand to full size)

–

Top image credit: TonVC on Flickr

Screen shots pulled out of the Way Back Machine

]]> http://www.digital-notebook.com/2010/05/18/the-internet-five-years-ago/feed/ 2 http://www.digital-notebook.com/2010/05/12/andrew-sparrow-on-live-blogging-the-general-election/ http://www.digital-notebook.com/2010/05/12/andrew-sparrow-on-live-blogging-the-general-election/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 10:01:08 +0000 Peter Moore http://www.digital-notebook.com/?p=934

14,000 words per day

It’s worth taking a moment to thank Andrew Sparrow for locking himself up in the Guardian’s offices for the last month and producing a great live blog of the General Election campaign and the eventual change of government.

He’s written an interesting piece on the practicalities of live blogging and how writing up to 14,000 words a day gave him a unique insight into the campaign. Sparrow’s a fan of the art and so am I. Live blogging is another skill that should be incorporated into practical journalism qualifications.

Interestingly, he writes:

“If journalism is the first draft of history, live blogging is the first draft of journalism.”

It’s a great line, and it certainly has merit. But Sparrow’s blog was also a collection of information from elsewhere: quotes from MPs on Twitter, the recording of Gordon Brown and bigotgate on Audioboo, the photos of Cameron and the Queen on Twitpic and so on.

Therefore, perhaps I could amend Sparrow’s statement slightly and suggest that social media is the first draft of journalism?

Anyway. Here’s a very quick sketch of how news was reported throughout the General Election campaign.

—

Image credit: C4Chaos

Image credit: My David Cameron

How to laugh at a politician

On election morning I thought it’d be a good idea to look back at the last few months’ online political satire. I’m not sure that it has been quite the digital election that I was anticipating, with TV being, if anything, the defining medium, but the Internet has certainly added something.

And here is a quick round up of the best digital satire.

1. My David Cameron

A website set up in January this year by by Clifford Singer, creative director at Sparkloop graphic design agency, shortly after David Cameron’s heavily airbrushed face appeared on 759 billboards about the country.

The site received 90,000 unique visitors in two weeks, with anyone able to share their version of the Cameron poster.

2. #itsnicksfault

After a furious press turned on Nick Clegg for daring to become popular without their support, their negative headlines were ridiculed on Twitter as Rory Cellan Jones explains in this blog post. Some of his highlights being:

“Just had a giant chocolate eclair with cream. All #nickcleggsfault”
“We’ve run out of houmous #NickCleggsfault”
“Pompey not being allowed to play in Europe. #nickcleggsfault”
“Got rid of the wasp and a new wasp has arrived. #nickcleggsfault”
“I got my debit card stolen #nickcleggsfault”

3. Charlie Brooker in the Guardian

Charlie Brooker has been on enormously good form in the last few weeks. I think my favourite paragraph of his was this, just after the final leaders’ debate:

According to some polls, Cameron won, or at the very least tied with Clegg. Which is odd, because to my biased eyes, he looked hilariously worried whenever the others were talking. He often wore a face like the Fat Controller trying to wee through a Hula Hoop without splashing the sides, in fact. Perhaps that’s just the expression he pulls when he’s concentrating, in which case it’s fair to say he’d be the first prime minister in history who could look inadvertently funny while pushing the nuclear button.

[Charlie Brooker - BBC debate was a cross between Songs of Praise and Over the Rainbow]

4. The Daily Mash

Odd and shocking as ever, the writers at the Daily Mash have obviously enjoyed the fact that there is an election on:

Clegg to clean up politics using his personal bank account – [link]

BNP launches aryan spread – [link]

Brown to be turned into glue – [link]

5. The election debates and social media

As Shane Richmond explains here, watching the leaders’ debates with Twitter added an extra dimension to the whole thing. Facebook was pretty good too.

6. Matt on the General Election

A cross over from the mainstream media here, but it’s well worth checking out Matt’s bank of General Election cartoons at the Telegraph. There’s a particularly good one of David Cameron pestering a sleeping couple.

7. Nope

Currently doing the rounds on Twitter. Published in response to the Sun’s front page.

Image taken from Mattlays’ Twitpic.

UPDATE 8am: It’s only an hour since I posted this, but already Liberal Conspiracy are publishing lots of different variations of the Cameron frontpage. It’s an echo of the airbrush moment, and it’s interesting to wonder what effect it will have – if any – on polling day.

8. The Peter Mandleson Experience

And, lastly of all, this video of Peter Mandleson and Gordon Brown having a jam is quite brilliant.

—

Right. Enough silliness – I’ve got to decide who to vote for.

The perils of going out for a loaf of bread in Rochdale

Yesterday was an unusual day and one that Gordon Brown will never forget. Personally, I feel quite sorry for him. You can accuse him of being short-tempered, autocratic and blinkered if you will, but one thing that I don’t think Gordon Brown is, is disingenuous. Today that’s exactly how it looks and I hope it doesn’t become the slip that characterises the end of his career. That would be unfair.

As some people have already pointed out, Brown was dreadfully unlucky yesterday. The audio fell straight into the Rupert Murdoch’s hands rather than anyone else’s; the sound was sweet and crisp and Gillian Duffy turned out to be a respectable lady with the perfect background for the Tory press to exploit.

But there was also some other factors that combined to make the incident into a perfect social media story. Here they are:

1. Time

Brown closed his car door a little after midday and Andrew Sparrow reported that ‘Gordon Brown has been caught on a microphone…’ at 12.18pm.

Britons were sat before their computers with their lunch hours approaching – time to discuss, blog, tweet or whatever.  For Gordon Brown there was another seven hours of campaigning to go before the evening, and the story had the whole day to play out.

2. Quality content

Shortly after Sky News producer Tami Hoffman had noticed, analysed then broadcast the audio it was being uploaded to streaming sites across the Internet. What’s more, it was high quality.

Within half an hour the video was featured on Brightcove and shortly after that it was uploaded to Audioboo and any newspaper or blogger could feature. With content to link to, people linked – circulating the story far quicker that the television could do alone.

3. Exposure

Social media excels when exposing perceived wrongs. Look at the Trafigura case last September or Jan Moir’s article about Stephen Gately’s death. Now here was the Prime Minister using scandalous language to describe a potential voter.

Just the type of thing to tweet about.

4. Narrative

The story lingered. First Gordon Brown was in Jeremy Vine’s radio studio, then he was back on his way to Rochdale, then he was in Gillian Duffy’s house and then he was on her doorstep, smiling like a Cheshire cat. Many newspapers live-blogged the whole thing and evening into the evening people were still tweeting about whether or not the Sun had paid £50,000 for a story.

It was very much like watching a long episode of Neighbours, albeit with deeper, Scottish accents. At 3.42pm, when Gilliam Duffy’s door swung open, Andrew Sparrow wrote something on the Guardian blog that summed it all up:

“Everyone: the door has opened. This is live blogging at its best. More follows.”

–

Image credit: Downing Street

Lip Dub – Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger

I first saw this video on Friday and instantly loved it. It was energetic, original, funny, compelling and full of unexpected twists.

The very fact that it is still in my head on the following Tuesday is reason enough to put it up on this blog. The video itself might be three years old, but that, I suppose, is just a reminder that the best online content can stay hot for a very. long. time. It’s also quite enough to make me think about getting a job in New York.

Anyway. Enjoy.

Lip Dub – Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.

image credit: kevinlabianco