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Get your hands on a Nokia N900, Nokia N97 mini
or Nokia Booklet 3G !!!
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Following my recent Social Media work in Budapest, I’m pleased to announce that I can provide one lucky individual with their very own chance of Nokia goodness – get your hands on your very own choice of either the Nokia N900, Nokia N97 mini or the Nokia Booklet 3G – the prize will arrive in the form of a free product trial (hopefully before the official UK release dates but sadly this I can’t guarantee).

Please note that the winning entry will be selected at random but if there’s less than ten correct entries overall then the first correct entry will be deemed the winner. The competition closing date will be Monday 2nd November 2009 10am GMT.

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Simply tweet (or leave a comment below containing) the following message word-for-word (with the blank’s replaced by the correct one-word answers) for your chance to win:

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Missing blogger’s first name = blank. The boat sailed from Port number blank. A Star blank.
#Nokia #OnlineAsItHappens    http://bit.ly/3gahcC

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Below are two ‘yet-to-be-released’ Nseries video’s… watch them closely because there were four bloggers in Budapest (I was one of them) but only three of them feature in both of the following video’s. You can find some additional clues in my blog posts if you need them.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Image: Blog Action Day 2009 Original badge supplied and licensed under creative commons by Change.org–

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As I begin typing this post its 23:05pm and I’m in a parking bay at Gatwick Airport awaiting an imminent ‘phone-call for pick-up’ from my parents who are due to return from holiday via Gatwick’s North Terminal. I find myself accompanied only by my laptop, a stream of informative tweets and a random assortment of thoughts (some of which are my own)…

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Six days ago I missed my opportunity to support the worthy ‘Blog Action Day #BAD09‘ campaign, my intention to publish a Climate Change related blog post was overpowered by my to-do list but the act of doing so has never left my consciousness. This appears to be the moment I write and publish my belated submission, and as fate would have it, its based on something I read only 5mins ago on Twitter.com.

The fact that I’ve just driven a forty minute journey to an airport to collect my parents from their incoming five hour flight is perhaps not the best start towards legitimatizing a Climate Change post but this behavior may pail in comparison to what I’m currently pondering – I’d love to hear your thoughts and extend the range of my current thinking:

Earlier today (21st October 2009) it was announced that the Microsoft search engine Bing.com had purchased the legal right to process and display real-time data from Twitter.com and Facebook.com within its own search results.

Just minutes ago, approximately five hours after I first heard of Bing’s announcement, Marissa Mayer of Google.com has just announced (via her twitter.com account and Google’s official blog) that the worlds largest and most popular search engine has also struck a deal to use twitter.com real-time data in Google search results.

In short, this means that Google.com and Bing.com (two of the worlds biggest players in internet search) could soon be providing ‘up-to-the-minute’ relevant results (and in time I’m guessing these may even encompass up-to-the-second results for key topics). In Future, the introduction of such search technologies will perhaps even replace the Days-Old-References and Paid-Adword search infrastructure we are currently used too.

On the face of it this all sounds fantastic, having access to the most up-to-date information is a positive concept with massive benefits for everyone (up-to-the minute/second data would be brilliant for academia and small business, to name but two potential users); and the ability to search for a town name or a person and be given news that happened only moments before would be amazing for citizen journalism and society as a whole.

This said, the likely carbon emissions and wider climate changing effects of cloud computing, continuous data processing and yet more digital legacy, waste and storage requirements leave me hesitant and more than a little concerned about the long-term consequences. The reason for this post however is not to tackle such hearty debates as power consumption and server efficiency, but to raise one further and perhaps more important point:

During the past year a growing number of businesses, SPAMers and so called Social Media Marketeers have been jumping on board the twitter.com bandwagon, unconscious to the global impact and clueless to the long-term destination, filling it with valueless tweets, get-rich-quick-advice and porn links in misguided attempts to increase their Audiences and Website Footfall. Now given these latest announcements from Google and Bing I feel its probable that the problem will get worse before it gets better – every Breakfast-Cereal-Entrepreneur and Zig Ziglar wannabe will perceive twitter.com as the latest ‘cost-free’ search-engine-optimization (SEO) and keyword pipeline towards Top 10 search listings on Google.

With this in mind, I think its safe to say that Google.com, Bing.com or any other real-time search organizations will already be looking beyond simple keyword algorithms and twitter trends, towards the reliability and associated networks and conversations of user accounts and tweets, and drilling down further still into the profiles, links, analytics and assets. I only wish they’d announce the complexities of their search methodologies to the mindless Breakfast-Cereal-Entrepreneur, Joe Public and Social Media Marketeer, as to put an instant stop to a large percentage of useless keyword attempts and valueless content creation.

I’ve spoken my mind enough and hopefully planted a Climate Change related seed of thought. I’ll leave you with one final ‘announcement from this week‘ that in some way relates to the above:

The American Government, specifically the CIA (already rumored to own parts of Facebook) have just invested heavily in real-time search and social media monitoring technologies – put short, this means its likely that global governments will soon be monitoring more than CCTV, Bank Statements and Credit Card Transactions (if they aren’t already doing so that is). I’m personally not paranoid about such things but I can see why people do have privacy concerns, especially if they are up to no good. With this said, I live in hope that such governments and authorities might at some point in the future be using such monitoring technologies and tools to Criminalize, Prosecute and Carbon Tax the individuals and businesses that consciously waste and SPAM our powerful digital resources – beware anyone thinking of short-term SEO and Keyword gain!

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Additional notations for future pondering:
Top 10 Best Green Social Networks

On Monday 9th November 2009 (between 9:30am – 12:30pm)
Tuttle.101 (otherwise known as Social Media Café Medway)
will be upstairs in The George Vaults Rochester (Kent)
(35 The High Street, Rochester – click here for a map)

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Photo: Tuttle.101 in Rochester, Medway (Kent) Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Peter Harris–

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What is Tuttle?
The Tuttle Club is a loose association of people working better together both online and off.

It is not a business networking event. It is simply a meeting place for people to share in conversation, have a coffee, work on their laptop (with free WiFi), and hopefully talk to complete strangers about what they are reading, inspired by, or perhaps even working on in their shed or spare time – hopefully leading to some creative collaboration and long-term innovation.

In this video, Lloyd Davis (the Founder of Tuttle) loosely outlines it’s story in conversation with Chris Dalby:

You don’t need to sign-up to attend but please do leave a comment below (with preferably your name and email) so there’s a rough idea who and how many are coming.

If you’d like more information please email (tuttle101@fellowcreative.com) or call me directly (Carl: 07929 601737).
More information on the ‘now global’ Tuttle Club can be found via the original tuttleclub blog.

We look forward to meeting you there =)

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I am not a Computer Programmer or Web Developer, nor am I a Social Media Consultant, but I do pay them to work alongside me.

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I designed and launched this very website 6 months ago but due to time limitations and cashflow its never had all the features I’d ideally like. However, during the past 6 months it has still received over 11,000 visits, equating to over 20,000 page views. In terms of well known blogs or online content resources these statistics are minuscule but I think they may prove to be of interest given some key facts: at no point have I spent any money on marketing or print promotion, nor have I paid for services like Google Adwords or Search Engine Optimization (SEO); but perhaps even more interestingly ‘I deliver services based on experience and ideas, I don’t actually sell any online products’ and I’ve written no more than 22 blog posts (this one now being the 23rd).

I decided to write this blog post for five key reasons:
1) a new client asked me my thoughts on evolving their existing website and content to make it more engaging, measurable and profitable. 2) over recent years many organizations and individuals have approached me to ask similar questions. 3) increasingly I meet traditional marketing folk who now call themselves ‘Social Media Marketeers & Consultants‘ because they’ve recently got a blog and started promoting their clients using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. 4) on a daily basis I see utterly useless blog posts with titles like: ‘20 ways to make money from your website’, ‘50 ways to get your website noticed’, ‘Social Media is the new sales model’ and ‘Top 10 Twitter Tips’… but the 5th and most important reason I decided to publish this post is because I’ve seen very few consultancies or marketeers actually practicing and demonstrating what they preach by making public their very own statistics, mistakes and experiences (separate from the rarely released client case study).

Surely people and organizations are defined by what they actually do, not by what they tell others to do.

Social Media is now a trend, and sadly many individuals and organizations have a tendency to follow the crowd without really questioning or understanding if its actually the right direction or medium for them.

Before you read any further I must make it clear that this very site was not cheap to setup, I spent a lot of my own billable time designing the brand aesthetic and planning the scalable site functionality that sits somewhat behind the scenes, and even though I have long-term partnerships with trusted developers it still cost me over £3000 of my own physical cash to implement at the standard I’d expect (I even used a FREE open-source platform called WordPress) – if I’d delivered the same specification and man hours to a client I would have charged them £6,500 minimum.

Now with the above said, and given my day to day experience of clients, its likely you’ll be sat on one side of a dividing line, one side will be of the opinion that £6,500 is far too expensive for ‘a simple website with no payment facilities’, and the others will be sat enthusiastically amongst some large competitors, but still telling themselves and others that they haven’t got enough budget to create the ’shiniest website with all the trendy features’. I will now attempt to navigate the pro’s and con’s of such a dividing line, but first I offer some context and much needed background:

I was introduced to The Internet and World Wide Web in 1997 (aged 17), by which time I’d already become the family help-desk for programming central heating systems, repairing Microsoft Office macro viruses and fixing Microsoft Windows 3.11 / 95 issues. I was also the sales assistant at Staples who sold ‘the right product, not the most expensive business machine’ to the clueless parent customers who wanted a computer for young Jimmy to do his home-work on. I used plain English and simple explanations instead of jargon terms like Mhz, RAM and Macro Virus.

Before Google was founded in 1998 I’d already designed and hand-coded my first commercial client website compliant with HTML 3.2 and I’d become truly inspired by the potential of digital technologies and shiny things. By early 1999 I’d purchased my first domain name and done enough commercial work to fund my first mobile phone. I purchased my first Apple in 2001 but I’d been using Apple Macintosh’s and Photoshop since Art College in 1996.

I think its safe for me to call myself an early adopter (some might say Geek), but its also clear that I didn’t and couldn’t envisage the Digital World in which we live today, nor could I imagine that I’d now be recognized by the leading technology brand that built my first mobile handset or be facilitating thinking at the UK’s largest specialist Social Media Agency.

With the above outlined I will say again: I am not a Computer Programmer or Web Developer, nor am I a Social Media Consultant. I am a Creative Midwife™ and Joiner-of-Dots; I deliver ‘What Can Be’ by joining the dots between ideas, people and technologies.

I must also make clear that my mind and enthusiasm for technology has never been driven by consumerism or the latest materialistic fashion. I am driven by possibility and I believe: 1) if something is not broken then there is no need to fix it. 2) form follows function. 3) if you plan and choose well you buy few. 4) if you opt for the cheapest option it will undoubtedly prove to be the most expensive in the long-term. 5) an author can’t engage everyone by telling a single inspirational story, but if they choose to release a range of short stories amongst a group, at least one is likely to be shared (amongst or beyond the group) to inspire more engagement with their works.

As an insight to belief number three: the 1st Generation iPhone (2G) I purchased in 2007 is still my chosen mobile phone handset today (its only my third mobile phone in over ten years). Sure I use almost every feature it has to offer but I see no real ’sustainable’ benefit in upgrading it to the latest iPhone 3GS (or any other device currently on the market). My first mobile phone was a Nokia 6110 purchased in 1999, in 2003 I purchased a Sony CMD Z7 which I used for four years until my iPhone purchase (its also worth noting that I gave my Sony CMD Z7 to my dad and although he doesn’t use the Email or Mobile Internet functionality for which I bought it, he does still use it today).

Likewise to my iPhone, neither of the early devices were the cheapest but because I understood exactly what I needed them to do and how my requirements for them might evolve I managed to make each investment last 4 years (which in terms of technology is a very long time indeed). Yes there is now a newer version of the iPhone available but its not that much quicker than the one I bought two years ago, and even though the new release has video capability, the camera quality still isn’t good enough for me to do with it what I’d like. Even now, probably a year before such a device is released, I can say that my next handset will allow me to create both low and high-quality image/video content at different resolutions at the flick of a switch, the camera lens will swivel 360° and have zoom functionality, it will allow me to live-stream video to the internet without a need for a permanent WiFi connection, as well as be equipped with the existing Mac compatible syncing and web-based feature-set I require for my work (including all the online conversation and application integration I already use on a daily basis). You might also be interested to know that I did in fact type-up, upload and edit parts of this blog post via an iPhone WordPress application; I also have an iPhone application that enables me to view the real-time Google Analytics for this very site.

During recent years my career and enthusiasm has left me privileged enough to play with the latest gadgets and Nokia prototypes, I’ve embraced social networking head-on (I started using twitter.com on 16 December 2007, at least a year after I’d joined Facebook), and before most people had even heard the term ‘Social Media’ I was employing the talents of ‘now widely recognized professionals’ such as Social Media Journalist Christian Payne (@Documentally) and Social & Learning Technologist Josie Fraser (@JosieFraser). More recently I find myself pioneering video conversation platforms like Phreadz and exploring the potential of live-streamed video direct to (and from) a mobile device.

When I purchased my first mobile phone in 1999 I perceived its function as being ‘a central point of contact for me to make and receive phonecalls and txts whilst mobile, so I could keep in touch with and be contacted by others’. In hindsight I now believe the role of the mobile device has evolved to be much broader (some might say its always needed a broader description).

I now suggest it is a device to ‘manage and enhance communication, connection, expression, education and inspiration’ that helps deliver ‘mobile conversation, interaction and content to not only my fingertips and senses but those of my community, wherever we are’ – thus making engaging media increasingly accessible and more ‘digitally social’.

And being bold I suggest that such a description should be the leading thought amongst anyone building or commissioning websites or online marketing from this day forward.

Please note I use the term ‘digitally social’ as a precautionary phrase because I don’t want anyone to think that I see digital ‘virtual-world’ communication as a superior replacement to actual face-to-face ‘real-world’ interaction when in fact I don’t believe anything will ever be better than a conversation in a ‘real-world’ café over coffee or a Guinness.

The main point I’m trying to make here is that ’socially engaging communication’ does not take the form of a traditionally published press release or one-directional article on a static website or homepage. It does in fact arrive in various distributable *multi-directional* shapes and sizes which can be shared across and added to all manner of other websites, devices and applications, and accessed everywhere and anywhere, through monitor, touchscreen, keypad or API, and more often than not without any need for a user login. Most importantly, because different people communicate in different ways and like to be communicated to in different ways, conversational and engaging content is multi-channel, it takes the form of videos, images, text, audio, links and any other expressive medium you care to think up.

Back in 1997, whilst I was hand-coding my first websites, I watched businesses discover the Internet trend, they very quickly went from spending £6,500 on the design and print of 8,000 brochures, to having expectations of ’spending less’ but instantly having more than 8,000 potential customers on their website. Just like many others at the time, I perceived a business website as an online version of a business brochure (with a few interactive bits thrown in to enhance engagement) but for at least the past four years I’ve understood, created and interacted with websites, brands and online content in a completely different way. But I suggest that many key folk still haven’t noticed this fundamental evolutionary shift.

It appears that a difference in perception now forms a fundamental barrier in brand communication, social engagement and most importantly ‘positive social change’ – and I can’t help but feel that many businesses and NGOs (who are potentially key ‘content producers’ and ‘citizen journalists’ for social good) haven’t yet grasped a simple related fact:

Online communication is no longer about having a web-based brochure containing one-directional promotional spiel supported by some retouched photos, a list of positive testimonials and a contact form; nor is it about setting up your own ‘walled and branded’ social network or forum. It is actually about *being ready and prepared* to connect with people on their terms, where they like to hangout, without giving them a sales pitch or trying to distract them with an advertising banner, but by providing them with some useful, thought provoking and inspirational content of actual substance (something that they want to share or engage with). Having a website is in fact only a small part of a much larger network of communication activity (both online and offline), where engaging content, personal inspiration and useful community connection actually rises above the noise – to an inter-connected and open domain; a platform for people to promote your message, support your values and inspire others to engage with you directly – welcome to the social web!

The Web Trend Map below may help put your business website into perspective (please remember that this image is only a small section of a much bigger picture).

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Image: http://informationarchitects.jp : Web Trend Map 3 Original image uploaded and licensed under creative commons by Evitc–

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Now I’ll try to explain how I followed my outlined principles to float above the noise and deliver over 20,000 page views within 6 months; only publishing 22 blog posts and without spending anything on marketing or promotion (or generating any SPAM or eNewsletters).
I’ll also explain what I believe to be my return on investment [ROI], plus the additional social return on investment [SROI].

I intend to explore how I implemented WordPress.Org as both a Content Management System (CMS) and Blogging Platform to develop a scalable and adaptable website with a life expectancy of at least two years (hopefully four years). I’ll cover both my WordPress Statistics, Google Analytics, Bit.ly URL Monitoring, Comments and Trackbacks. I’ll cover my use of Social Media and what value and time I give to it (in addition to my continuous client deliverables, real-world networking, event attending and presentation commitments). I will also cover the value a well executed design instantly added to my site in regards to Google Rankings and FREE Third Party Promotion. I’ll explain why I haven’t yet paid for Google Adwords or Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I’ll close by trying to explain my current Google Ranking and so called ’strategy’ for the next 6 months.

To be continued…

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(NB: the content of this post is Part 1 of 2 – Part 2 will soon be available here)

Please click here for information on the next Tuttle.101 (due: 9th November 2009)

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Yesterday (Monday 5th October 2009), the upper floor of The George Vaults in Rochester (Kent) housed the first Tuttle.101
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Photo: Tuttle.101 in Rochester, Medway (Kent) Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Peter Harris–

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Announced only six days previous, and with very little organization (one blog post, two phone calls, twelve emails and a few initial tweets) resulted in a somewhat impressive attendee list of fourteen – no mean feat considering it was held at 9.30am on a rainy Monday morning (plus the fact at least four people got in touch to say they couldn’t make it this time round but would definitely come to the potential ‘next one’).

Attendees traveled to the Rochester venue from as far away as Cranbrook (an hour journey by car) so I remain convinced that there is a need for Tuttle gatherings in Kent.

With folk like Rob oCallagham already running Tuttle Royal Tunbridge Wells (tuttle.rtw) and initiatives like @CanterburyGeeks drawing crowds of twenty+ each month, I’m encouraged to find the seeds of a seemingly underground ‘Digital Creative’ community that is indeed willing to get out from behind their laptop monitor provided a platform for real-world inspiration and conversation presents itself. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who arrived with open minds and enthusiasm (full attendee list below) – I do hope everyone got something interesting out of the conversation and I’m happy to find that the initial feedback has been extremely positive.

As for what happens next, that’s up to you… I’d certainly like to organize another tuttle.101 to support the Digital Creatives (and the wider community of interesting folk) in Medway but a once a week commitment would be a struggle at present. This said, Tuttle in Royal Tunbridge Wells is every Wednesday (and has a monthly social ‘twuddle’ session in a pub) and I’ve also heard discussions about a potential Tuttle.Maidstone; there also appears to be a host of tweetups across Kent (including one this month being hosted by Wonderful Creative). This makes me wonder if a rolling Carousel of Tuttle events might actually be the most useful and worthwhile route forward.

My final thought is that we had no female attendees even though I personally invited five – if you know of any please do share this post with them!

Thank you! I’d love to hear your thoughts… ;-)

PS: If anyone is wondering why its called Tuttle.101 instead of Tuttle.Medway please do click here and read the post!

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Tuttle.101 attendee list 5/10/09 (in no specific order):

Rob oCallagham @robocallaghan
Chris Dalby @yellowpark (http://www.yellowpark.net)
James Yourke @BecomeKnown (http://www.becomeknown.co.uk)
Ahmed Nuaman @ahmednuaman (http://www.ahmednuaman.com)
Tom Lindridge @FutureBlogging (http://www.futureblogging.co.uk)
David Bahia @DavidBahia
Peter Harris @Sarchi (http://waterhole-forma.blogspot.com)
Brian Condon @brian_condon (http://complexitygroup.com)
Alastair Wood @alastairwood (http://www.awaccs.co.uk)
Russ McVeigh (http://www.russellmcveigh.info)
Steve Fleming (http://www.copythatworks.co.uk)
Peter Micklewright (http://rbpdesign.co.uk)
Steve Rowland (http://steverowland.co.uk and founder of MadeInMedway)
Duncan Court (http://cyberkix.co.uk)
Carl Jeffrey @fellowcreative (http://www.fellowcreative.com)

Plus some folk who’ve already expressed an interest in the next one:

Alex McIntyre @alex_mcintyre
Mark Phipps @fipz
Simon Wakeman @simonwakeman
Simon Mohr @canterburygeeks (http://semsolutions.co.uk)
Tim Deeson @deeson_emedia (http://semsolutions.co.uk)
Ben Breckler @benbreckler (http://www.benbreckler.com)
Ciaran Oliver @kentpictures (http://www.oliverphoto.co.uk)

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What is Tuttle?
The Tuttle Club is a loose association of people working better together both online and off.

It is not a business networking event. It is simply a meeting place for people to share in conversation, have a coffee, work on their laptop (with free WiFi), and hopefully talk to complete strangers about what they are reading, inspired by, or perhaps even working on in their shed or spare time – hopefully leading to some creative collaboration and long-term innovation.

In this video, Lloyd Davis (the Founder of Tuttle) loosely outlines it’s story in conversation with Chris Dalby:

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When and Where?
Monday 5th October 2009 may seem like a strange day for a networking event, but I repeat, this is not a business networking event! 9.30am – 11.30am, wear what you like, bring who you like, share what you like, and it doesn’t necessarily have to end at 11.30am.

The Venue: The George Vaults (35 The High Street, Rochester – upstairs!). It’s free to attend (you might have to buy your own coffee).

You don’t need to sign-up to attend but please do email or leave a comment below (with preferably your name and email) so we have a rough idea who’s and how many are coming. If anyone would like to sponsor the coffee please don’t hesitate to let me know =)

If you’d like more information please email (tuttle101@fellowcreative.com) or call me directly (Carl: 07929 601737).
More information on the ‘now global’ Tuttle Club can be found via the original tuttleclub blog.

We look forward to meeting you there =)

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IF YOU CUT OFF A SPIDERS HEAD, it dies; but if you cut off a starfish’s leg, it grows a new one, and that leg can grow an entirely new starfish.

Quote from Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom.
Authors of ‘The Starfish and The Spider’.

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As some of you may know I was recently invited to Budapest to take part in filming and social media production for the new Nokia Nseries Campaign (currently code-named #budaviral it is perhaps a little presumptuous on behalf of the marketing department) but the invitation to join a select team of mobile geeks and bloggers was an awesome opportunity and too good to turn down.

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When I boarded my flight to Hungary I was carrying with me a book entitled ‘The Starfish and The Spider’. I was also very aware that my iPhone was my primary mobile handset – so why had Nokia invited me? and what were they expecting from me?

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Photo: Budapest
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

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Before I continue, and for those that may question the sustainability of such a trip (900 mile flight each way) I would like to point out that my focus in this instance was positive ’social impact’ over ‘environmental change’ (although EasyJet do have a CSR Policy I have to admit I’m not an enthusiastic fan of corporate carbon offsetting, but I was pleased to see only one empty seat on-board my return flight, in comparison to the twenty or so available on my outbound journey).

I firmly believe that social media tools and technologies have the ability to connect, unite, empower and educate communities towards positive change (both social and environmental) – as Nokia themselves are demonstrating with their Responsiveness Campaign (exploring the positive impacts of responsive conversation) supported by TED Fellow Kyra Gaunt.
I myself spend most of my days joining dots between technologies and ideas to empower positive impact – hence SustainableWidget.com and my client list focused on training & development, education and entrepreneurship, and socially and environmentally positive enterprise.

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However, getting back to the Starfish…

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Nokia’s invitation in this case had me both intrigued and a little nervous for different reasons… given my design background I’ve been an Apple user (some might say fanboy) for thirteen years and a business contract iPhone user since August 2007. However, I personally think the iPhone camera sucks and I find Apple’s ‘corporate non-transparent ways’ and ’sometimes suspicious governance’ of its App Store ’specifically for video-streaming services’ extremely frustrating (and some might say non existent).

With this in mind and given the fact my Digital SLR just isn’t portable 24/7, I do tend to carry a Nokia N96 mobile in my bag, from which I sparingly record video footage, live-stream via Qik.com and take photographs of useful quality (5 mega pixels).

Over recent months I’ve also been carrying an Nokia N97 which is equipped with a slightly better camera lens (Carl Zeiss Tessar 2.8/5.4) and comes pre-installed with Qik.com live-streaming; but if I’m honest I do leave the real social media content creation and mobile geekness to entertaining and talented folk like Christian Payne and James Whatley (I’m more interested in how all this shiny stuff can be used at a global/regional/social/academic/community level to bring people and ideas together for positive change).

I prefer bottom-up, multi-channel ‘community focused’ mindsets (some might say web 2.0 principles) as opposed to those of one-way corporate governance and dictatorship – I choose Starfish over Spiders.

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With this said, and given my recent experiences of Nokia, I’d like to voice my viewpoint to anyone who’s interested:

Apple design and manufacture solid consumer electronics that deliver intuitive usability to a mass and global market. Apple are undoubtedly best-known for their hardware products (including the Apple Mac, iPod and iPhone) but in my personal opinion the most impressive part about their diverse and ground breaking product range is often overlooked (especially by the mass market).

The combination of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system and iTunes media platform delivers an unparalleled and unrivaled user experience! Lets face it, the reason most people overlook beautiful simplicity is because its so simple they don’t need to (or even require time to) stop and think about it. I only wish Apple made ‘touch-tone call-center systems’ – the world would be a better place and I might actually be able to talk to my bank manager!

Apple’s product quality, intuitive user experience and developer community have made them a world leader. The App Store topped 1.5 Billion Downloads in its first year and with less than 3 years in the mobile industry its supposedly on target to be market leader by 2013.

But remember I personally think the iPhone camera sucks and I find Apple’s ‘corporate non-transparent ways’ and ’sometimes suspicious governance’ of its App Store ’specifically for video-streaming services’ extremely frustrating. And more importantly still, I know I’m not alone.

I might be an early adopter in the technology space but I’m confident that those who frequent my circle will agree that being able to upload a video to YouTube is not enough (especially when its sprinkled with targeted advertising later), and its certainly not enough when so much more is easily possible (I’m reluctant to believe its a matter of cost).

It may surprise some of you to hear me say, others will have heard me openly say it already, but compared to the iPhone I actually prefer the look and tactility of the Nokia N97, and I’d even go so far as to say the build quality is better – if only it had an intuitive OS interface and keyboard (?)

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It is with the above ‘open mindset’ that I landed in Budapest…

A nagging voice in my head kept telling me that Nokia wouldn’t be able to live up to my Apple expectations. What I found made me re-evaluate.

I found Nokia’s team to be extremely ‘community and socially minded’ in there approach and very open in conversation; not just excited about their products but more interested in what I and those around me thought we could (or wanted to) do with them. They appear to understand why I carry multiple devices and they didn’t appear at all threatened by the presence of a competitors product or a non Ovi Store App (I fail to name another brand that would be so open to this situation – perhaps Google?). Nokia appeared to understand why I prefer the App Store to Nokia Ovi, and they appeared to recognize iPhone OS is more intuitive than Nokia’s current Sybian OS.

The independent bloggers I met all shared their own stories about how the Nokia Marketing Team had actively promoted blog posts that highlighted ‘traditionally negative’ product flaws and drawbacks. Nokia seem to understand that ‘learning through doing is key’ and providing an open platform for constructive criticism and negative consumer feedback is a strength not a weakness in today’s connected ‘bottom-up’ world. Inviting bloggers and Nokia fanboys to see the latest toys is one thing but to boldly invite an opinionated Mac Addict along shows confidence in product.

Photo: My hands on an Nokia N900 Prototype
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

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The very fact that Nokia are developing innovative multi-channel Social-Media tools like Noise Cancellation Headsets and products like the Booklet 3G’s makes me feel they understand a growing audience and mindset; and better still I think they understand their competitor marketplace (especially with Google and HTC now on the playing field). The N97 and specifically the N900 demonstrate to me that Nokia understand that one button clad product doesn’t fit all but making an adaptable touchscreen interface can help. Sure their current standing is in mobile (especially in developing markets) but I’m encouraged by the fact its building upon its impressive audio and camera know-how to develop new legs in other markets like Netbook’s and VOIP.

I left Budapest impressed with a Starfish, and I keep my fingers crossed that Nokia sort out their OS Interface before a competitor releases a decent quality camera and signs-off on a live-streaming App. The fact that they are working in developing markets gives me confidence that not only will a more intuitive and useful user experience emerge on a Nokia device but its sense of social media and global connectivity/transparency will grow.

Nokia, if you are listening, thank you for making me welcome =)
I’ll leave you with three thoughts, imagine what you could do away from Ovi…

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To read more content from our Budapest adventures here are some relevant links:

#BudaViral: Social Media Adventures in Budapest with Nokia
Nokia Nseries Campaign: A Storyboard of Secrets from Budapest #BudaViral
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My Review: Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905 (Probably the ideal freelancer/co-working headset?
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My Review: Nokia Booklet 3G
Ben’s Review: TheReallyMobileProject.com – Nokia Booklet 3G
Stefanos’ Review (in Greek): Pestaola.gr – Nokia Booklet 3G
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N97 mini and N900 stuff can be found here: http://thereallymobileproject.com
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On a personal note I have also tried to inject my own viewpoint surrounding Nokia’s brand and philosophy. In truth the biggest surprise for me was not the revealing of a Nokia product, it was the revealing of a Nokia mindset…

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The aim of this, my final #BudaViral post, is to reveal a little more about what is yet to come from the Nokia Nseries Campaign, and provide you with an insight into an as yet unfinished series of short videos, locations and storyboards…

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I spent three days in Budapest, during which time I watched full-time tech bloggers like Stefanos Kofopoulos and Jeremiah Anway geek-out, I witnessed consulting professionals like Ben Smith from The Really Mobile Project not only demonstrate his skills and knowledge but also evolve at rapid pace into an acting luminary. I stood in the shadows whilst Ben showed off his stage prowess as ‘man drinking water at the office water cooler’, Jeremiah played ‘wannabe ticket taut’ and ‘man in church’, Stefanos became ‘master of his own ship’; and then finally I got my role: ‘man paying cash for hi-five‘.

I only have one photo related to the above, sadly I missed all of the other opportunities because I was offline at the time ;-(

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Director Osmo Walden and his awesome team. It was an absolute pleasure working with you and I look forward to seeing the final footage. Thank you for your patience given the retakes required on my non speaking part *doh!* ;-)

For the Nokia fanboys and girls out there you might be interested to know that four short films make up the Nseries campaign. All are now in post-production having special effects added and ‘hi-fives re-mastered’, I’m assuming they’ll be released to the public at some point in November (TBC). Until then then you’ll have to make do with the following images and videos, they certainly don’t give you the storyline or sequences because that would be giving too much away…

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Below are clues for all 4 Nokia Nseries clips…

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Click here to view the embedded video.

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My final note (an additional extra):

The Nokia #budaviral team flew out of Hungary during the early morning of Friday 18th Sept 09. Thankfully I secured a seat on board an evening flight back to the UK. This means I got to spend a few hours exploring Budapest on foot.

Wandering the wide streets of the Hungarian Capital I pondered the yet to be disclosed Nseries campaign positioning statement (tagline). This led to a series of seemingly random tweets in my feed. Sadly I can’t tell you what the positioning statement is but I’ll leave you with these few things to ponder…

Click here to view the embedded video.

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To read more content from our Budapest adventures here are some relevant links:

#BudaViral: Social Media Adventures in Budapest with Nokia
Brand Philosophy: Is Nokia a Starfish or a Spider?
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My Review: Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905 (Probably the ideal freelancer/co-working headset?
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My Review: Nokia Booklet 3G
Ben’s Review: TheReallyMobileProject.com – Nokia Booklet 3G
Stefanos’ Review (in Greek): Pestaola.gr – Nokia Booklet 3G
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N97 mini and N900 stuff can be found here: http://thereallymobileproject.com
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The temperature is a reported 26 degrees, standing to my right is Director Osmo Walden who’s commanding a RED camera and a forty strong film crew; and I appear to be part of a four-man team of mobile fanboy’s and bloggers (and now padawan acting extra’s) for a set of Nokia Nseries video shoots.

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Photo: Nokia Budapest #budaviral team (sadly too many people to fit into one photo)
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

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The team (pictured above) includes Ben Smith of TheReallyMobileProject (left:1), Nokia fanboy and self proclaimed ‘Tablet Guy’ Jeremiah Anway (2), Tom Hall of Nokia WOMWorld (3), full-time Greek God and blogger Stefanos Kofopoulos (4), and myself (standing behind an N97 taking the photo).

All of whom landed at Budapest Ferihegy International Airport late last night to meet each other over a quick beer, grab approximately four hours sleep, before receiving a 4.45am wake-up call to our first location shoot (a Church found somewhere within the Hungarian capital). –

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Photo: Nokia N00 prototype (which will become N900)
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

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So how (I hear you ask) did I ‘a self-proclaimed iPhone addict and less than regular blogger’ find myself amongst these respected online folk and surrounded by a host of as yet un-launched (and even un-seen) Nokia devices? in Budapest of all places?

The short answer is I’m not entirely sure, except to say that only a few days ago I became the recipient of a slightly cryptic email from Nokia WOMWorld, stemming from my love of shiny things, my involvement in the social media space, and the fact I gained some networked support from Nokia in 2008 when I designed and hosted a ‘VITAL Event introducing Social-Media to Creative Students and Professionals‘ on behalf of my client University for the Creative Arts.

The email read:

“Nokia will be in Budapest next week shooting a new and exciting Nseries campaign. We wondered if you would be interested in coming along for a couple of days and perhaps take part in some filming?”

Photo: Port 46, River Danumbe, Budapest
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

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Never one to miss an opportunity, enticed by the words ‘exciting new Nseries campaign’, and somewhat wary of the words ‘take part in filming’ I now find myself at the second shoot location of the day. I’m on board a boat, moored at Port 46 on the River Danube, with my iPhone and trusty MacBook Pro in clear view of the Nokia staff team. I’m also equipped with a Nokia N96 and N97, and have a prototype Nokia N97 mini, a Nokia CityMan 450 and a prototype handset marked N00 charging from my mac USB port (otherwise known as a prototype N900). In the background I can hear discussions surrounding a DHL delivery of a Nokia Booklet 3G.

Knowing full well that the respected team around me will be providing reliable and technical geekery on the aforementioned hardware (devices and prototypes) I will avoid publishing such content. In addition to tweets, audioboos and Qiks (provided the new SIM starts to work), the content I produce in Budapest will likely focus on Nokia’s philosophy and approach to their Nseries campaign instead of the products themselves.

After all, I’m currently reading ‘The Star Fish and The Spider‘ as recommended to me by Dave Stone, and I’m extremely intrigued to find out why they’ve invited me ‘a primary iPhone user’ over to Budapest – so far the Nokia management have been extremely accepting of my Apple preferences for tweeting and blogging…

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To read more content from our Budapest adventures here are some relevant links:

Nokia Nseries Campaign: A Storyboard of Secrets from Budapest #BudaViral
Brand Philosophy: Is Nokia a Starfish or a Spider?
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My Review: Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905 (Probably the ideal freelancer/co-working headset?
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My Review: Nokia Booklet 3G
Ben’s Review: TheReallyMobileProject.com – Nokia Booklet 3G
Stefanos’ Review (in Greek): Pestaola.gr – Nokia Booklet 3G
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N97 mini and N900 stuff can be found here: http://thereallymobileproject.com
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Budapest Location Photos
Nokia Nseries Products

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Photo: Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me
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Now, upon hearing the term ‘Bluetooth headset’ you can be forgiven for conjuring up images of ‘traditional earpieces and call-centre esq microphones’. The truth does in fact reveal a pair of sleek looking DJ-esq headphones, equipped with microphone functionality, and capable of connecting wireless-ly and seamlessly to almost any device via Bluetooth – including your mobile phone and Bluetooth enabled laptop (my Mac integrated them within seconds without any need for a separate software install).

As a freelancer, and regular co-worker at places like The Skiff, I spend much of my time wearing a pair of Sony MDR-500 DJ headphones, after four years I’m now on my second pair. Without breaking the bank (available for around £50), and remembering that I’m not a professional DJ or Sound Engineer, the MDR-500’s are my preferred ‘cans’ for both sound quality, environment-noise reduction and build comfort (DJ professional MDR-700’s are available for around £85 but these are unwarranted for my uses).

With the above said, I’ve now tried Nokia’s BH-905’s, and I might never buy another pair of MDR’s (and from a life-long fan of Sony this is big news!).

Nokia’s headset is priced at around £250, that’s £200 more expensive than my beloved Sony’s and I’d suggest the sound quality and build quality is extremely similar, but as a user of audio/video services like Skype and Phreadz, and as a regular attendee of virtual events and sometimes noisy co-working environments, the Nokia headset comes equipped with ten powerful weapons that appeal to me greatly:

Its the first product to feature ‘multi-microphone feed-forward active noise cancellation technology’… meaning its equipped with ten individual microphones that work together to provide more accurate noise cancellation for both voice and music.

For any freelancers or co-workers out there who’d like to make calls to clients without them hearing everything else that’s going on around you, or as a co-worker who’d like to work to the sound of your music (or even in silence) without distraction I suggest that Nokia’s certainly worth a look.

Nokia are convinced they’ve created the best Bluetooth headset ever built, and being totally honest I’m inclined to agree but I feel the £250 pricetag won’t make it the winner it should be.

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However, when I think how much some people spend on other microphones, headsets and VOIP services, and how ridiculous some Bluetooth earpieces look, I think £250 might actually be warranted – especially if I could actually charge it through the USB port of my Mac (on the move) but from what I’ve seen it currently has to be charged directly from a plug on a mains supply which in my book is its only major flaw – I hope you’re listening Nokia! please correct me if I’m wrong but there was no USB cable in the box I demo’d ? =)

The Headset comes packed in a case with audio cables and adapters galore. Finally I’ll note that the headphones do work via a normal audio-jack if you wish to save Bluetooth juice, but be aware that if they run out of power the noise cancellation feature won’t work (I’m yet to discover if the voice microphone dies at this point too but I’m guessing it does?).

PLEASE NOTE: Micky Fin (Editor of NokiaUsers.net) has since informed me that the Headset does recharge via a MicroUSB FTW!! – many thanks Micky ;-)

Here is Nokia’s explanation of the technology:

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More details can be found here on the official Nokia BH-905 micro-site.

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To read more content from our Budapest adventures here are some relevant links:

#BudaViral: Social Media Adventures in Budapest with Nokia
Nokia Nseries Campaign: A Storyboard of Secrets from Budapest #BudaViral
Brand Philosophy: Is Nokia a Starfish or a Spider?
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My Review: Nokia Booklet 3G
Ben’s Review: TheReallyMobileProject.com – Nokia Booklet 3G
Stefanos’ Review (in Greek): Pestaola.gr – Nokia Booklet 3G
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N97 mini and N900 stuff can be found here: http://thereallymobileproject.com
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