Things are starting to happen

Today is a bit of a milestone for Podcastmatters and Design Matters. As you are probably all aware, we are merging the businesses and launching the new company and new name on the 17th June so, why is today important?  Today we received our stationery from the printer (who is sworn to secrecy) which is the first time we have seen the new name in print and we are all delighted with the result.

Seeing the name in print somehow makes it all a bit more real; up until now we have talked about it, we've created the branding, we've even started work on the web site but, actually holding a printed version in your hand seems to move everything on to a new level.

When we first announced the name change we put a countdown clock on the network site with 72 days to go and that seemed like lots of time to get everything done; now it's at 23 days, 20 hours and 12 minutes to go and the "To Do" list seems to be getting longer.  The invitations have gone out and plans are well underway (or so I'm told) for the launch event at No.29, if everything goes to plan that will be a great night.

The whole experience of changing the name has been great.  Over the past 24 years we've helped many organisations with their branding from start-up businesses to companies wishing to rebrand but strangely we've never actually been involved in quite such a radical change as this.  After the 17th June we will probably share more about this whole experience in the blog and on the Social Media Podcast and, if you are changing your name, we'll be happy to share our experience in detail with you.

Please keep following the blog for more updates as the 17th draws closer, it's exciting times for us and we would like to share them with you.

Social Media Podcast goes Top 10

Delighted to see that the Social Media Podcast has gone to No.6 in the Audio Podcasting category of iTunes and, No.7 in the combined Audio and Video Podcasting category.  It started the day at No.39 & No.63 respectively.

If you want to know why, you should be coming the the New Media Breakfast at the Tower Restaurant in Edinburgh on Thursday this week - all will be revealed!

Full details and booking info for the Breakfast are here

Download or subscribe to the Social Media Podcast here.

Social Media Podcast No.18 - The Digital Economy Act

The Digital Economy Act went through parliament under the "was up" procedure - in this episode we speak to Valerie Surgenor, IT Lawyer with Macroberts who explains the "wash up" procedure and some of the key aspects of the Digital Economy Act. Valerie explains where she forsees issues with the act and explains a little about the procedure for making future amendments.
Listen to the podcast
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The iPad - Two weeks on...

We've been using the iPad for two weeks now and, if you listened to the Social Media Podcast review, you'll know that we concluded that it was a very cool and beautifully designed toy.  We have shown it to many people now and most feel the same way - whether it's useful or not people still want one.

Well that was then.  We used the iPad in a client meeting on Wednesday and suddenly we realised it is the most remarkable tool for presentations, especially if it's a web based topic you're talking about.  The ability to pass the iPad to the client, the ability to find a web site and flip it over to show the client and, the speed at which it works makes it a truly fantastic meeting room device.  No need to get the laptop screen at the right angle for someone else to view and no need to huddle round the screen, it was a genuine eye opener.

Battery life is amazing and it makes you wonder why the iPhone is so bad.  After a one hour meeting and constant use the battery was still 92%.   The iPad doesn't seem to heat up either, maybe someone can explain why that is?

We weren't looking to justify the purchase price but, it's nice when suddenly something you were happy to own as a gadget becomes a truly useful and impressive work tool.

Social Media Podcast goes to No.1 on iTunes

We are delighted that the Social Media Podcast No.17 has gone to No.1 in the podcasting category for Audio and combined Audio & Video charts on iTunes in less than 24 hours.

The panel consists of Valerie Surgenor, IT Lawyer with MacRoberts, Shona Lyttel, PR & Marketing Manager with Connectedfm, our resident gadget man Iain Murray, CEO with Connectedfm, Alex Dobbie, Designer in Residence, Glasgow School of Art, Kyle Murdoch and Gordon White from Podcastmatters.

We also chat with John McGlynn of the Airlink Group who was kind enough to bring the iPad from New York for us and he tells as a bit about the experience in the queue and some of the people he met.

We also talk briefly about the proposed name change at Podcastmatters Ltd which will happen on the 17th June 2010 and more detail about the reasons for that will be outlined in a future podcast very soon.

Finally we catch up with Colin Gilchrist to talk about the Edinburgh Coffee Mornings and the Edinburgh New Media Breakfast.

Subscribe to the podcast here and it will download

My new iPad

This is the first blog post made from my new iPad and what a lovely thing it is. We are doing a review of the iPad in our next Social Media Podcast to be recorded on Tuesday afternoon and we are looking for one more member of our review panel for the recording. If you would like to take part, please email me to say you are interested.

The podcast will probably be recorded late afternoon or early evening.

That's all for now, I'm off to explore what else it can do.

New Social Media Podcast - Edition 14

On the latest Social Media Podcast we have Scott Allison talking about his trip to Las Vegas to visit the headquarters of Zappos who are renowned for their customer service mainly delivered through the use of Twitter.  Scot tells us how the trip came about and provides a first hand insight about how Zappos operate the company around 10 core values.  It's always useful to look at what successful companies do and even more so when you can hear it from someone who has actually been there and met the people involved.

We were also joined by Iain Murray and Shona Lyttel from Chardfm who talked about Social Media access in the workplace and the forthcoming New Media Breakfast about Social Media on the move.  Iain Murray, MD of Chardfm will present on this subject and on the podcast he told us about some of the tools we will be looking at.

Other topics on Edition 14 include our new iPhone App, our favourite applications, who should you put in charge of you social media activity and the forthcoming interview with Paul Levinson, professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York and author of the book, New New Media.

Download Social Media Podcast No.14

Paul Levinson, author of New New Media

Paul Levinson took time out to talk to us about his book New New Media in a very entertaining and informative interview which will be available soon on the Social Media Podcast.  Paul is professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in New York and author of 16 books, some fictional and some non-fictional.

Paul talks about his book, social media in politics, blocking social media access, television, China and much more.

Subscribe to the Social Media Podcast to be sure you get this great interview.

Podcastmatters App now listed on iTunes

The podcastmatters iPhone App is now fully listed in the iTunes Store. The App allows you to download and listen to the latest Social Media Podcast from Podcastmatters and displays show notes for each episode. You can link to our pp page on iTunes here

We've got our own iPhone App!

Podcastmatters now has an iPhone App called "Podcastmatters" (lots of thought went into that). with the App installed you can access the Social Media Podcast directly from your iPhone.  You can also read the show notes for each podcast and share an episode with your Facebook friends.

I created the App in iSites which is a new site that allows you to create you App for $25; you create all the graphics and links and they take care of the iTunes submission for you - it's all very simple.

The company has been inundated with applications, so much so that they sent me an email yesterday saying they intended to batch all the orders and submit 75-100 Apps each day to iTunes.  They also said they have stopped taking payments until they clear the current backlog. I thought I might have to wait a while for the App but this morning I noticed two mentions of our new App on a Google Alert for Podcastmatters - I clicked the link and there it was.

It works extremely well and, not that we've got it listed, we can start to tweek it and improve it.   I have already noticed that the iTunes Store graphic is too small so I've changed it and uploaded a new graphic - it will be interesting to see how long that takes to filter through.

Social Media Podcast No.13 - We are currently at No.2 on iTunes

We released Edition No.13 of the Social Media Podcast on Thursday and it's now at No.2 in the Audio Podcasting section in the Podcast Category. Download it to find out what we did in a car park in Inverurie and what happened to Evan Ratliff...you could just help us to that No.1 spot AGAIN!

Download the podcast on iTunes Click Here

Forget No.5 we're No.1 now!

Thank you to everyone that downloaded or subscribed to the Social Media Podcast, We're No.1 in the Podcasting Section for Audio Podcasts this morning and, No.4 in the combined Audio and Video Podcasting Charts.

Gary Dixon, Spectrum Personnel asked me this morning why the podcast was doing so well; I said to him that, whilst word-of-mouth plays large part in these things, it is the extent and reach of our social media footprint that gets the word out there in the first place. When we released this podcast we promoted it on several platforms some of which are listed below:

• Podcastmatters Blog
• Podcastmatters Social Network
• Podcastmatters Twitter
• Gordon White's personal Twitter
• Design Matters Twitter
• Kyle Murdoch's Twitter
• New Media Breakfast Twitter
• Facebook
• Social Media Group on Spectrum Social Network
• New Media Update Group on Engage (Entrepreneurial Exchange's online network)
• Social Media Podcast Group on Podcastmatters Network
• Linked-In

These were the main outlets however, there are other networks that our updates post to via Ping.fm and FriendFeed

This highlights the benefits of a good social media presence. It is also worth noting that we didn't create this presence yesterday - it has taken a long time and we will continue to develop our community and take advantage of all new opportunities. New Year is traditionally a time to reflect on where you are and plan for the future, you should be looking at how you can create your on-line community during 2010, believe me, it's worth it.

If you want to download or subscribe to the Social Media Podcast please click here

Social Media Podcast Top 5 positions on iTunes

We are delighted with the progress we're making with the Social Media Podcast - today it rose from No.57 to No.5 in the Podcasting category.

The most recent podcast No.11 is a round-up of the year and some discussion about recent news stories like Telstra's commitment to Social Media and Pepsi's decision to put their $20 million Superbowl advertising budget into a Social Media campaign meaning they will not launch a new advert during the ball game for the first time in 23 years.

We round off the year with a look back at 2009 and a look forward to 2010 when we will continue the New Media Breakfast series as well as launching a new event in Inverness.

You can download all episodes of the podcast or subscribe here

Social Media Podcast Edition 8 - Alastair Campbell

Former Head of Communications for the Labour Party, Alastair Campbell gives us his thoughts on using Social Media in politics and, his opinion of how prepared the current political parties in the U.K are for running a effective social media campaign. A huge thanks again to Alistair for taking the time out to record this interview. We also talk about the range of companies attending the New Media Breakfast in Glasgow. We are now also holding this event in Edinburgh.

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