The morning after the night before

January 30th, 2009

The Champagne bottles are empty, the candles blown out and Democracy has celebrated its first birthday in typical style.

Last night’s party was our chance to say thank you to everybody who’s supported us in the past year. Clients, friends, suppliers, advisors: the input from you all has made this possible. And we’re more grateful than you could ever know.

If you came along, it was great to see you – even if we see you most days anyway! – and if you couldn’t make it, then there should be a little present winging its way to you.

The Yang Sing Oriental hosted our gathering in typical style; the drink flowed, cake was consumed and everybody had a great time.

by and tagged ,
Posted in Democracy | No Comments »

Blogging lesson: number 1

January 26th, 2009

As I write my first blog I must admit that my excitement is tinged with trepidation.

My online presence to date has involved writing for The Yorker, finding online academic resources and a healthy amount of Facebook stalking. Turning my internet experience to business is a whole new challenge.

Today, as we reviewed the papers (a new daily habit), I realised that not every blogger gets it right all the time.

Paul Daniels hit the headlines when he used his blog to defend his glamorous assistant and lovely wife Debbie McGee after the Daily Mail used an unflattering shot of her in a bikini on their holidays.

As I leap headfirst into the online world, Paul’s presence at my virtual side is reassuring. Blogging is clearly a difficult art to master and using your blog as a platform for a rant against the press, posting a picture of your wife’s breasts or one of yourself in a balaclava on the beach may not be the best way to go about it.

As Paul demonstrates so well, in the complex world of the blog even the best of us can get it wrong sometimes. But at least he’s being talked about, which, as I’m coming to learn, is a big part of being in the online world.

If you want to chat further about Paul, or anything else for that matter, you can find me on linkedin and twitter.

by and tagged , , , ,
Posted in Democracy, Gone surfing | No Comments »

CHARLIE JOINS THE TEAM

January 23rd, 2009

We’ve got a new team member – Charlie Morley, 22, is joining the Democracy team as our first PR Apprentice.

Competition for the role was high, with over one hundred applicants applying for the position, performing exceptionally well in a combination of psychometric, numerical and verbal reasoning tests devised by business psychology consultants Psycuity, before being selected to take part in the formal interview process.

There were a lot of great candidates who applied for the role, but with the help of the team at Psycuity we were able to make an informed decision about who was the best candidate for the business as we move into our second year.

Charlie, who has a degree in English Lit and experience in both online journalism and events management, will be adding her first comments to the blog later today . . .

by and tagged , ,
Posted in Democracy | No Comments »

President 2.0

January 22nd, 2009

The litter from the parade has been swept, the party glasses cleared and Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States faces the cold reality of living up to the hype.

As President 2.0, Obama has been an ambassador of social media, contactable like no other potential president thanks to the many channels his team used.

Twinfluence has flagged him as the most influential person on micro-blogging site twitter, with 144,000 following his tweets.

The official inauguration website featured a blog updated throughout the day and live webcast of the ceremony. The site encouraged everyone to send pictures of inauguration day parties from around the world to be included in a photobook.

This interactive photo feature more than any of the others reveals the key to Obama’s popularity: he is approachable.

The public feels it can communicate directly with him through his online profiles and more importantly they feel like he wants them to.

The message is clear: Obama cares as much about you watching the occasion from your sofa as he does about the Washington glitterati that he’ll be partying through the night with.

By understanding that online communication between brand (for that is surely what Obama is), and consumer, must be two way, the incoming President has been able to truly tap in to the benefits that a successful online persona can bring.

Winning 66% of the votes of the under 30s Obama demonstrated that it’s not enough for your website to feature a few YouTube clips of yourself if you want to win people over (take heed David Cameron) – giving the audience a chance to speak back is key.

The next few months will be an interesting time as President Obama faces the next challenge – can he sustain his social role in a demanding online democracy.

by and tagged , , ,
Posted in Democracy | No Comments »