Digital Life

Facebook rolled our facial recognition software last year to the US. It automatically scans photos and if it finds you, or someone like you in a friends photo. It will then suggest your name so that your friends can tag it.

I think the feature is clever, but what is not so clever and really surprised me is that they have implemented it with a default setting of enabled AND they have not bothered to inform its users that they have done this.

Strange messages on my PC today. Firstly I had a pop up message saying something about Skype games wants to upgrate. I clcked in not now as I don't play games and not used to seeing Skype ask these type of messages.

What would you recommend as a good low cost Skype device?

• hand held
• wi-fi
• built in webcam, speaker, microphone
• resonable screen
• good battery life
• optional kepboard (or via screen)
• less than £100

A low cost Android tablet sounds about right. I am sure there are some out there.

I've been designing, building and editing websites for a number of years. I was brought up on SEO - ensuring good meta tags and keywords; good headings; words in the copy that users are looking for, search friendly urls, etc, etc.

More recently I've paid less attention to some of this, but focused on ensuring page design is socially friendly. Many people spend more time seeking advice and recommendation from friends within Facebook or LinkedIn rather than relying on search engines bloated responses.

Was working from a different PC today. When I signed into Outlook Web Access I noticed a little green tick next to the senders name. Clicking on it showed a menu to contact the person by Skype. Very useful.

I wonder if this is a new feature on Outlook Web Access, or a third-party plugin?

I hope Tesco's new online shopping trial is a success and it is rolled out to my local town. 

The idea is simple.  Order online, drive into the  car park, flash your card and your shopping is put in your car without having to leave your seat. At only £2 it is much cheaper that the delivery option.

Whilst Twitter and Facebook can be great online tools for some brands, they are not appropriate in all circumstances. Other methods may be better to gain insight or build advocacy,

The article in Marketing Week reviews current trends and gives some good case study examples.

I've been randomly following people on Twitter for some time now, If you asked my why I follow a particular person I doubt if I could give a good answer. I found this good tool that reads the words in the bio's of your Twitter followers and then builds a tag cloud where you can see the topics you are following. 

Here is mine from today. I am happy that they are mainly work related as I expect to not use Twitter for the 'life' side of my work-life balance. I wonder if it change in 6 or 12 months time?

For some years now I have been following and using social media in my day-to-day life, both professionally and for pleasure. This is a great video about how social media is effecting our lives by author Erik Qualman of the book Socialnomics.