Disqus - Latest Comments for benbland

Re: Roof Top Tents Vs Campers: The Pros and Cons

Ben Bland — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 09:49:14 -0000

Just to say: this is the best of many such reviews I've read, thank you! We are trying to decide on an RTT or camper and you have really helped.

Re: How To Record Google Hangouts On A Mac

Ben Bland — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 12:03:51 -0000

Just a cursory thank you for pointing out a problem I needed to fix: thank you!

FI: I just recorded an interview on Google Hangouts and there was a horrible echo. It's just the additional audio track which I can remove easily. Lifesaver!

Re: Anatomy of Design #003: Giving Voice to Ideas with Mike Reed

Ben Bland — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 12:39:05 -0000

Shame, I would love to attend this but it's our 25k Awards that night. Hope it goes well.

Re: This Is What Happens When Publishers Invest In Long Stories

Ben Bland — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:39:07 -0000

This is so refreshing, we've been discussing the opportunity for slow journalism / dynamic reporting / etc. for a while.

Quick thought: maybe this isn't just about long articles being valuable – it's also about being able to update content over time so the story remains fresh and useful. This was never possible on paper. It puts the whole concept of "news" into a new context.

Re: Mobile Is Where The Growth Is

Ben Bland — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 03:12:32 -0000

Yahoo!?

Re: Belfast’s Creative Camp 2012

Ben Bland — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:02:44 -0000

Attending, hosting (on behalf of MediaZoo Studios), speaking (briefly!), facilitating, and maybe making the tea.

Speaking-wise: a short primer on the day's theme, to establish a context and get the juices flowing.

Happy to answer any questions. Can't wait to meet you there.

Some shots of the studio below.

Re: Social media agency is acquired. Disclaimer…it’s us.

Ben Bland — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:38:19 -0000

Well done everyone. No doubt see more of you in Belfast, with UTV here.

Re: T is for Toilet : The ABCs of Death : Drafthouse Films

Ben Bland — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:03:39 -0000

My day is suddenly full of happiness.

Re: 2p

Ben Bland — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 04:29:45 -0000

Really neat little package of a film, lovely.

Re: Happy 5th Birthday, TED Talks: 5 All-Time Favorite Talks

Ben Bland — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:35:54 -0000

Ditto on your feelings for TED, it's brought so much to my outlook on the world, especially the future. Here's to it!

My own favourites list is here: http://unblanked.com/a-few-...

But I'm looking forward to going through yours...

Re: New Social Media Research: This Week in Social Media

Ben Bland — Fri, 27 May 2011 08:36:15 -0000

Very rare that I subscribe by email to a regular feed.

*subscribes

Looking forward to it.

Re: Can bad news be good publicity?

Ben Bland — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:08:49 -0000

Hayes Thompson - you're right ahead of me.

The same issues apply to old-school PR in the new media world but the tactics, the effects, the channels - it's all changed. Honesty still seems to be a winning formula.

Re: Inside some of the most popular forums on the net with Huddler

Ben Bland — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 06:46:27 -0000

Great overview on where forums are going, where Google's going, and how to be a community manager at the level of forum ownership.

And yeh, you do kinda look (a bit) like Tim Ferriss.

Re: James Reviews Yony Leyser’s William S. Burroughs: A Man Within [DVD Review]

Ben Bland — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:59:50 -0000

Great stuff - will keep an eye out for this.

We've just launched a new transmedia production that, although it's going to have several different final incarnations, is all founded on the ethos of the Beats. It's difficult creating something contemporary that honours the raw, countercultural honesty of their output. So feedback from Beat lovers now would be a huge benefit. The campaign to launch the production has just launched on Facebook (http://on.fb.me) and there's more details in the news release (http://bit.ly/FTblogTB1).

Re: The Impact of Social Media

Ben Bland — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 09:33:28 -0000

I'm slightly disappointed after coming to the title of "The Impact of Social Media" as I hoped it would answer the big question of how effective social media have been and will be in the near future, as business, marketing, socialising and campaigning channels.

The report tells the same story that has been around for a couple of years, that it's all about making meaningful relationships, through conversation; and that not enough businesses are doing it in a committed way. Nevertheless it's good to have the situation confirmed and updated by a reputable institution such as HBR. Perhaps in the next survey you can address social media's impact on the world, or some view on the best tools and methods?

Re: El Guincho: Bombay

Ben Bland — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 10:51:40 -0000

That was a lovely five minutes. Great all-round cinematography, imagery, music, you name it.

Re: Firefox Home Brings Bookmarks and Tabs from Firefox to Your iPhone

Ben Bland — Thu, 27 May 2010 05:30:10 -0000

As a Firefox lover this Is nice to hear. But bookmarks hbr never been an issue because I swear by social bookmarking services, mainly Delicious, they make so much more sense to me than in-browser bookmarks.

Re: Can 99-cent Donations Create Social Change?

Ben Bland — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:05:41 -0000

This is immensely exciting, I just hope you can make it work and further prove the case for crowdsourced project development.

it's hard to guess his early on but for the 99c model to work, I imagine a few issues:

- minimising the complexity of contributing.

- supporting the projects in marketing them to your community.

- keeping the community interested after the initial excitement/generosity.

One thing that doesn't seem to be obvious is what, if anything the contributors get back. Would they profit from successful investments or just feel good for helping? Surely the projects could incentivise top contributors too.

Good luck anyway, vive la revolution!

Re: The Social Media Bubble

Ben Bland — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 04:43:20 -0000

Glad to see this debate and I agree with the sentiment but it's not a universal problem. Give any new medium or tool to the public and most will use it to obtain power, money or entertainment. TV is the same. Some will use it intelligently and with good meaning, an they will gain.

My first forays into social media brought me into low-level "relationships" !with people who shared my interests, then by meeting them in person facilitate deep friendships. It's all about how and why you use the media.

Re: Firefox Account Manager Aims to Make Your Social Life Easier

Ben Bland — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:58:30 -0000

This is very exciting. The best I can do currently is use iGoogle to bring as many data feeds from my social media accounts onto one screen. But if a browser like Firefox can integrate this kind of functionality, and make it simple and highly customisable, that will be groundbreaking. They should aim to enable everyone to be an efficient manager or his or her own communities.

Re: Online Identity Concept Series

Ben Bland — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:55:44 -0000

This is really encouraging to read. If a browser like Firefox can double-up as an interface for managing one's online life, that's the Holy Grail of social media found. I think a lot of it will come to down to making the incoming data feeds (eg. Twitter), and the outgoing publications (eg. status updates), easy to review and edit swiftly.

Good luck

Re: Porn & Beauty: MIKE DOWSON Apropos of my previous post… Mike...

Ben Bland — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:26:37 -0000

Some good stuff there but it's hard to see any consistency in style. I'm not sure what I'm seeing.

Re: It%26%23039%3Bs+Time+To+Start+Thinking+Of+Twitter+As+A+Search%26nbsp%3BEngine

Ben Bland — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:30:39 -0000

I can't help thinking that Twitter is just one of the first triumphs of microblogging/lifestreaming and it's opened our eyes to a new way of interaction.

However, it's still very simple, essentially just loads of text streams. Unlike Facebook, which houses all our photos, events, etc., there doesn't seem to be much holding Twitter down that couldn't be outdone by something bigger, with more sticky content and more tools.

I don't think they will get away with just being a load of conversations with some added search functionality for too long.