1) Online Information 2009 - I missed this last year and was gutted! And it had Clay Shirky! Definitely one for the diary I’d say. It’s from 1st to 3rd December, in the slightly less than intimate Olympia Grand Hall, but if you ignore the stand of people flogging you things and head straight for the sesions I’m sure all will be well.

2) The Mashup Social Media Mixer – Mashup events are known for drawing a good cross section of all marketing and creative practitioners that touch ‘social media’ in some way with their work. A guest speaker will be announced soon. It’s on Weds Dec 2nd and costs £10.

3) Twinterval! London’s biggest Tweetup will be back in December, but I’ve not got a date yet. Their stream goes live again in two weeks, so stay tuned.

4) Heroes of the Mobile Screen - and what would a social media roundup be without a consideration of the third screen? As regular phones get smarter and Android becomes as prominent as Google (my personal prediction), knowing what amazing things are already being done on mobile is a must. Especially if you want to get some tips on where the next million quid might be hiding! It’s in association with Mobile Monday London and costs less than your average visionary event at £99.

For those of you that aren’t on the Facebook M&S webcast, here’s a lunchtime treat for you. A fantastic follow up to the famous ’Shift Happens’ video. Amazing work, XPLANE!

Thinking of blagging a discount at M&S in time for Christmas? Now’s your chance! Admittedly as a cycnical flack, I initially wondered whether people would be *that* engaged with the M&S brand to attend, but then I swiftly uncovered a similar campaign they did with their Head of Sustainable Business that was very successful indeed. Worth a look!

Well, I only got to enjoy a few moments of Stephen’s insightful comments about the emotional reactions referred to as ’Tweetmobs’ (essentially an emotionally charged lynch-mob on Twitter, caused by commenters that were understandably incensed by the comments of Jan Moir, and also issues like the Trafigura scandal)  as well as on thoughts about why Biz isn’t as yet focussing demographics of of his social network, before I had to jump onto a conference call.

Luckily, you’ll all get to see it here when the recording is finished. Phew!

Creative commons: non-commercial re-use

This is why I think Gary Vaynerchuk is a genius. As the world gets more connected through social technologies, brands will increasingly be beholden to the rules of the small town.  If you have lived in a small town (as I have) you’ll know what this means. Have you considered doing something outrageous but held back, for fear of what everyone at the local pub might say about you? Well that is ‘small down rules’ in action.  It’s essentially a case of ‘on the Internet, EVERYBODY knows you’re a dog’.

When I saw his video it reminded me of a few caveats:

a) Broadband accessibility -  the digital divide still persists, and it’s worth noting that (as per this Ofcom study) that the Internet is main source of local news for only 4% of UK people, and this goes up 6% for national news (see P4) I’d imaghine this is largely defined by broadband access, either due to geographical or monetary reasons. Are you likely to appeal to the ‘white van man’ with, say, a custom developed Ronseal iPhone app? Probably not.

b) Smartphone adoption -  to reach those who spend more time interfacing with their mobile device than the internet on a PC, there’s the consideration of whether location-based apps or mobile social media could prove a solution. In terms of engaging harder to reach consumers/prosumers. Worth remembering that smartphones, while popular, are yet to ‘cross the chasm’ on a global perspective (most of the BRIC and Asia-Pac are on featurephones).

c) Web 2.0b sophistication of most PC users -  regardless of accessibility, the vast majority of people are *just* getting into Twitter (after a good few years of hype!). Apps for more ‘advanced’ (or at least enthusiastic) social media users such as Google Sidewiki may have struck some brand owners as a bit of a worry, but this depends on how many people use these tools in the first place. Definitely a consideration for the longer term though!

d) Fickleness – aka the ‘social notworking’ phenomenon – how many of you joined Friendster? Faceparty? There’s one thing measuring your brand footprint on a  network, especially one as explosive as Twitter, but what about the long view? Will brand equity and investment matter if the site only get adopted by influencers or the mass consumer market for two years, especially in the age of ‘built to flip’ networks? Personally I say Yes in terms of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, too early to tell for Bebo and Ning.

What’s the difference, you might ask? I believe that the bad policies and lack of regulatory rigour is the symptom of the attitudinal flaws that were endemic in the boom times across Europe and also in the US; so therefore changing the predominant mindsets in business to those of responsibility, accountability, holism and social consciousness is what is needed (and is in some cases already happening) that shall bring about a critical mass of  market choices that changes the face of business. I especially liked the view expressed by one of the pannellists that they are merely a ‘custodian’ of their company, and this is a mindset that they ensure is proliferated throughout the organisation in terms of helping people take the long view over making quick and easy cash at the expense of people and the environment.

I attended the morning session on corporate responsibility where there was a conversation thread that referred to the change from a “tell me” culture to a “show me” culture in terms of how stakeholders interrelate with multinational corporations. I know that for me the increasing accessibility of company information on social networks has been a catalyst of the “show me” trend.

The session also brought to light the comms challenge that multinationals face when they do go out with some CSR news in terms of responses from stakeholders and the general public: 1) The assumption of a white or greenwash being at play 2) If the company passes the ‘washing’ test, then there’s the issue of whether they’re doing enough, and then 3) The pointing out of other places in the business where CSR should be applied immediately. Now while those responses are valid, if you’re a CEO, you may not want to deal with these questions in quick succession, due to the amount of change and resources that resolving them demands. And that assumes that you know those questions are being asked by your stakeholders in the first place. It is a well-worn story that many businesses still avoid social media for fear of what they might find. At the risk of being extremely biased here as a digital PR consultant, it’s equally well worn to say that it’s the unknown unknowns that tend to cause the biggest issues in the longer term.

a) I’m really glad that LinkedIn has Twitter parsing now -  ace. Great news for those that want to grow their connectivity on LinkedIn, using their closest Tweeps. I’m convinced this will revolutionise social media networking. I’ll write more on this when I get a moment.

b) Out of personal interest as well as for work reasons, I’m currently working on getting a better sense of whether the Google Android OS really is going to be a major iPhone contender. The growth suggests it’s possible, although Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch reckons Android needs a desktop presence to be in with a chance.  Don’t you reckon that the operators’ agressive marketing of the platform will be enough? Verizon’s ‘iDont’ ad is to  me a sign that operators see an understandable money spinner in upskilling consumers and encouraging to use multitasking apps and social media personalisation tools -  after all, who gets the revenue from greater data usage? As someone who spent years helping to tell the ‘value story’ behind mobile internet usage for one UK operator,  I won’t at all be suprised if we see the same adoption curve for ‘mobile 2.0′ as we did for ‘mobile 1.0′…

Here’s the Verizon video, for those who haven’t seen it…

c) I wasn’t able to go to the LEWIS PR social media sumit, but I’ve just come across it on their YouTube channel. Worth a peek!

I’ve been thinking for a while about whether to write something more in-depth about corporate consciousness, as I am still convinced it will soon become the juncture at which business evolution and corporate responsbility meet. I’d personally go so far as to say that we will likely see a future where the term ‘CSR’ becomes outmoded and CSR-like initiatives become a normal part of how the company operates, in some cases it may be out of necessity (such as stakeholder pressure to impact positively on climate change issues) rather than choice.

As for the #ELF09 I’ll be liveblogging and tweeting all the latest goings on tomorrow. The action starts at 7:45am. Sign up for the webcast if you can’t get there yourself.

I’ve spent the past two days talking to the Symbian loving media community at this place; I work with Sony Ericsson so I was with the rest of the team here talking up the shiny new Satio handset which has recently hit the shops, to attract apps submissions from developers. On the plus side we came out alongside the Symbian Foundation with the launch of Symbian Horizon, a directory that aims to address fragmentation in the marketplace for Symbian applications. I also got to speak to the Allaboutsymbian team, Wired UK, Pocketgamer.biz amongst others, on the not so plus side I have an issue to deal with after arranging a meet with the Last100 blog. It was somewhat quieter in  terms of footfall (I’ve been told) than in recent years but nevertheless full of enthusiasm. Did anyone else go?