5 Google Image Searches of Separation

August 31st, 2011
Search google with this image

With all the hype around Google+ it’s easy to forget the company built its fortune on becoming the world’s most popular search engine.

Google hasn’t.

It has recently rolled out ‘search by image’ functionality and we’re impressed, and thought we’d learn a little bit more by experimenting.

Starting with my own side-on profile I thought I’d see just how many Brad Pitts are returned in the SERPs, not much luck; just 50-something balding men, anyway as an interesting way to test out the new feature I thought I’d try 5 google searches of separation and try to get as far away as possible from the initial image. I’d like to invite you all give it a go and first prize goes to anyone who gets a Bradley Cooper or a Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in their ‘visually similar’ results

The aim is to get as far away as possible from the your original image as possible.

1) Enable search by google image

2) Right click your image on the internet somewhere select ‘search google with this image’

3) Select ‘visually similar images’ and find whichever image you believe is furthest from the original

4) Repeat four more times to get a funny image (if possible)

My best effort using my Team page image led me, via a number of surprising results that are either understandable or utterly unfathomable, to this ‘similar’ image.

Interestingly the results pages tended to display the same results time and time again (I know it’s ‘visually similar’ so you might expect to see this but i’m choosing the extreme cases every time). It appears to be very rudimentary but could prove to be useful if your chasing a copyright free image to use on your website, or simply if you have some time on your hands and fancy a vanity face search!

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Democracy Loves Manchester

August 26th, 2011
Manchester

We have had a honking day at Democracy PR today!

It has been Love MCR Day , and our good friends at Stiff Rowlands decided to set up ‘Honk if you Love Manchester’ right outside our office!

Who would’ve thought that a simple board and two comedy horns would bring so much joy, but the lovely folk of Chorlton have certainly got into the spirit of things and have been honking our horns happily all day.

The riots created by a small and dysfunctional section of our community have driven the people of Manchester to shout loud and proud… I LOVE MANCHESTER (or in our case, honk it!)

Pride in Manchester and a feeling of community spirit is here in abundance … All in all, it has made me smile… a lot.

So, have a look at the video that was beautifully created by Stiff Rowlands and JMG Media and see if you can spot us getting into the spirit of Love MCR Day!

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Social SnapTags – what are they all about?

August 22nd, 2011
FacebookTagRihanna

Last week I spotted a Tweet announcing that marketing tech company SpyderLynk have launched Social SnapTags exclusively in US Glamour magazine’s ‘Friends issue’.

Like QR codes, now routinely integrated into PR and marketing campaigns, Social SnapTags look set to become a useful way for brands to instantly interact with their market.

After a little research, it seems that what sets the tags apart from the QR code is that they link exclusively with a social media platform, in this case, Glamour’s Facebook page.

According to Glamour, user incentives include: ‘access to huge shopping discounts, scoop on the stars you love and insider advice from your favourite experts.’ It also allows readers of the magazine to shape the content they receive and control the conversation – accelerating an increasingly important trend for two way engagement between brand and consumer.

For Glamour, and the brands within its pages, the SnapTag is a valuable tool directing consumers to exactly where the brand wants them to be, giving brands the ability to use social media channels to their fullest potential.

Furthermore, as content is already on social media sites, it is much more likely that users will share it with their friends, and for it to become viral.

The SnapTag has a much wider appeal than the QR code – they can be ‘unlocked’ both by downloading an app onto a Smartphone, and, by sending a photo taken on a camera phone to a designated short code. This instantly brings a more mainstream element to the SnapTag and increases the number of people able to use them; meaning that SnapTags are more likely to be picked up, or at least trialled by more brands.

For me though, the main draw is that the tag, a neat circle with a logo inside, is much more aesthetically appealing than a QR code. The familiarity of the logo evokes a sense of trust and is explicit about the tags purpose, so hopefully the user will be more inclined to use it.  In choosing Glamour’s female audience to trial the codes rather than a technologically focused publication – Spyderlynk was easily able to highlight the wide appeal of the SnapTag.

I can’t wait to get snapping!

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The secret life of Vogue – or is it?

August 12th, 2011
blog

‘The Devil Wears Prada’ gave us an ‘unofficial’ hint as to what it would be like to work in the glossy fashion mecca that is Vogue, depicting scenes of backstabbing, designer clothes, bitching and beautiful people – Conde Nast may have thought that with the movie done and dusted, the public’s curiosity into the famously cut throat world of fashion had wained…. Then, along came @condeelevator!

The tweets claimed to be accounts of conversations overheard~ in the lift of Vogue’s HQ in New York sent out jus 36 tweets but managed to amass 68,485  followers (to date), all looking for an insight into the everyday life of the ridiculously stylish.

The tweets were hilariously entertaining, and whether they were real (which appears to be the case as they have stopped – before the fashion police could catch them!) or fabricated, in my movie-tinged mind, that is exactly how Vogue US is. “Woman #1 to Woman #2, holding an omelet: “What’s the occasion?” Woman #2: “…huh?” Woman #1: “I would need an occasion to eat that.”

A Conde Nast spokeswoman said in an statement to ABCNews.com ”We have no idea if this is real or made up and don’t know who is behind it but it certainly suggests that many people care a great deal about what happens at Conde Nast.”

Vogue’s reputation has survived untarnished by the 2006 movie, and the 2009 September issue documentary that depicted Anna Wintour as a bit of an ice queen (I love you Anna!), so I hardly think that this twitter insight would do them any harm, but nonetheless, @Condeelevator account has died a twitter death, with the last tweet stating “Girl or Guy #1 [in elevator alone]: This got really crazy. Love my job. Better stop. #sorry”

Hopefully that’s not the end… what I’d do to be a fashionable fly on that  elevator wall!

 

 

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Social media: for good or evil?

August 9th, 2011
Picture 14

The riots on the streets of London over the past few nights have chilled us – how can our fellow citizens wreak havoc on their community? Where has morality gone? What fresh horror will tonight bring?

Yesterday, the police blamed social media – highlighting how Facebook, twitter and BlackBerry Messenger have all been used to help organise attacks and keep rioters ahead of the police.

This 21st century equivalent of shooting the messenger, the police statement ignores the reasons behind why people are rioting and highlights how much the police needs to get a grip on how the way people are communicating has had a significant impact on society.

Today, we’ve been cheered by the communities set up to encourage people to take to the streets and reclaim the pavements, roads and buildings as they clean up and start the rebuilding process. We’ve just watched an interview on BBC News with a man from Birmingham explaining he set up his clean up action group because he felt this was his town too.

So is social media a force of good or evil? The answer … well neither. Social media simply is a way of communicating. It’s what’s being said that makes the difference.

Brands have been quicker to realise that they need to understand what’s being said and to act or react accordingly – now is the time for the police to stop making vague statements and listen, learn, and act.

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