Thoughts on the mobile-fiction genre

‘Detective Saunders?’ the woman asks as you answer the phone.

‘It’s my sister, Meryl. She’s gone missing. I need your help.’

After stumbling across Zombies, Run, the running-slash-fiction app, a few week’s ago, I’ve been giving some thought to the mobile-fiction genre. It's got me all excitable.

Zombies, Run offered you an interactive experience. And it was brilliant; you ran, the story progressed. Since then, I’ve been ruminating on where the genre can go next; what other fiction experiences can you offer with just a phone, a GPS signal and a bucket load of cash?

And this is what I’ve come up with. Any notes are in brackets.

The app puts you in the shoes of Detectie Saunders, a hard-boiled investigator. You haven’t had a case for weeks. And then the phone rings.

(The Heist, a simple iPhone app, offers the same sort of feature. During the game, you ‘get a call’ from a thief named Sophia. It’s automated, but adds a nice experience to a fairly standard puzzle game).

The woman on the phone offers you a case. Her sister, a fairly prominent socialite, has gone missing. You, Detective Saunders, must find her.

The sister was last seen in a museum. As you walk towards the museum to hunt for clues, your phone rings. It’s an old partner of yours. He has a new case for you.

(Detectives always have two cases on)

You put it out of your mind. Enter the museum. Pull out your phone and inform the client that you have arrived.

(via a Foursquare check in)

The game informs you that you have found a clue; a box of matches on the floor with an address of a bar, close to the museum, scrawled on the side. You check into the bar, redeem the 50% off cocktails voucher exclusive to the app, and receive another clue and another location. Meet a contact in the park by 3pm.

(Of course, you wouldn't actually be meeting anyone, although I like the idea of a time-sensitive user action)

‘I had no idea what I was getting myself into,’ gruffly narrates Saunders as you walk to the next location.

The case is on.

And that’s about all I’ve got. Again, I’m just throwing ideas to the wall and seeing what sticks, so I haven’t considered the technical and practical implications. On reflection, it's probably a bit too complicated for your average user. Still, it's always fun imagining what could be.

And really, I just want someone to build this so I can pretend to own a detective agency.

Zombies, Run! iPhone app - you've got red on you

I run. At best, it’s a chore. At worst, a bore; a necessary and thankless task which gets in the way of much more entertaining pursuits. Like cake. Still, Much Smarter People have explained that exercise is good for me and I’ve been advised that a regular jog will help stave off heart disease, obesity and that rattling sound which starts up in my chest after a few flights of stairs.

Previously, I’ve used the Nike+ app to keep track of my meager progress; a swish, if slightly soulless programme which charts your run via GPS. It’s efficient, intuitive and, if you’re a serious runner, a comprehensive bit of kit. But it’s no fun. Or, at least, not as much fun as being chased down the street by a mob of shambling zombies.

Zombies, Run! is an app for the iPhone which provides a more interactive experience while you run; a piece of software which offers an innovative blend of exercise and storytelling.

It’s the end of the world. Zombies have run riot and humanity hangs on a thread. You’re no longer running for your health or well-being. You’re running because it’s your job to keep people alive.

The app sees you play the part of Runner Five, a member of a small colony clinging onto existence by its fingertips. Like other apps on the market, you load Zombies, Run! as soon as you take your first steps out into the cold. That’s pretty much where the similarities with other running apps end.

Each bout of exercise takes the form of a ‘mission’, a story which plays out while you jog. The tale progresses via dialogue from the various characters in this dystopian world; a nervous radio operator in the settlement, fellow runners and other survivors you find along the way. There’s a clip from one of the earlier missions embedded below.

Each episode sets you up with a premise (collect supplies, rescue a stranded child, lead away a pack of zombies) and clips progressing the narrative slip in between your traditional running playlist. Each mission last around 20 minutes and, occasionally, you’ll be asked to pick up the pace as a zombie stumbles into your path. As a motivational tool, running for your virtual life is without par.

But, in order to progress the narrative you'll have to go out running again. And you’ll want to. Unlike other apps, Zombies, Run! gives you a tangible reward for your lap of the block; the story progresses, characters reveal their motives, a shady conspiracy is revealed. It’s a unique way to get you back into your running trainers.

Of course, it’s not the only app on the market to dish out rewards for a successful burst of speed. The aforementioned Nike+ is a solid piece of work which has some nice social media integration (including Path) and also includes motivational audio clips from the likes of Lance Armstrong and Paula Radcliffe. Get Running and the British Military Fitness App also provide the same feature, albeit without the celebrity cameos.

Still, what makes Zombies, Run! interesting is that it rewards you in a different way. Rather than just giving you a pat on the back at the end of a jog, the app provides you a real incentive to get back onto the streets. It’s a testament to the strength of the story and the textured characters that you’ll want to continue exercising just to hear the next chapter in the tale.

They're coming to get you Barbara.

Twitter: What is it good for?

Facebook is for friends, LinkedIn is for business connections and Flickr is for photographs. But what’s Twitter for?

It’s something that every new Twitter user struggles with and if I had a penny for every time I’ve heard, ‘but my life just isn’t that interesting’ or, ‘why would anyone want to know what I had for breakfast’, I’d have quite a nice car by now. And the money to pay for the lessons which would allow me to legally drive the thing.

Twitter’s trouble is that it’s purpose is too vague; there’s no clear USP for new users. It’s not just for friends (because anyone can follow you). It’s not for pictures (because you can’t upload them directly onto the website). It’s not for work (You can’t write that much about yourself in the profile box). New users have no idea what the point is and, more importantly, how to use the thing properly.

Facebook lays out the rules straight off the bat. “Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life,” proclaims its homepage. LinkedIn does a similar job. “Use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities,” states the landing page of the professional network.

In one sentence, users are presented with a road map for their time on each of these sites. They understand what each site does and the purpose is serves.

When it comes to Twitter, new users struggle to understand this purpose. The earliest Twitter strapline, presented under the logo, offered little clues as to the point of it all. ‘What are you doing?’ it asked.

‘Why should anyone care what I’m doing?’ we replied.

And this position, this open-ended question, has haunted Twitter ever since.

Despite a new strapline, defining the purpose of the site (Share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world - 2009), new users found it difficult to get their heads around this concept; the idea of random people being interested in the mundane. The idea of random people across the globe being interested in the mundane was even more difficult to imagine. To some, it was an intimidating prospect.

In 2011, Twitter attempted to reposition its appeal yet again with a new motto, ‘Follow your interests’. Better.

But there’s more work to be done in order for users to fully understand the purpose of the social network. You still see ill-informed talking heads dismiss Twitter based on the stereotype of egotistical users narrating their existence via 140 characters (Although the removal of top tweets on the homepage helped stem this somewhat). You still hear users asking ‘why would anyone want to know what I had for breakfast?’

Of course, Twitter isn’t about that. It’s about sharing knowledge, news and information. Getting involved in subjects you feel passionate about and contributing to a wider conversation.

The versatility of the platform, the number of different ways you can use it - which has been the site’s trump card to date - is also the reason why more users haven’t signed up for an account. The company just hasn't made it clear what users are meant to do once they're in the club.

And this is why the stereotype exists.

Where was I?

It’s been a while.

Since my last post, near enough five months ago, the world has moved on. Quora came and went, the iPad 2 was released, I moved house. If a week is a long time in politics, five months must be a decade or two in the digital world.

And if your blog has been on hiatus for an extended period of time (leaving only a pair of chiseled pectorals on the homepage), it’s incredibly difficult to jump back into the pool. Naturally, you have concerns:

• Will I have to reestablish myself as a ‘blogger’?
  
• Will I be able to commit to posting regularly again?
  
• Am I a hypocrite?
  

In the end, and if you’re just blogging for the pure pleasure of blogging, I don’t think any of that matters.

It’s incredibly easy to waggle your finger and proclaim that a blog needs to be updated on a regular basis; a personal attempt to rival the word count of Mashable or The Next Web. It’s another matter entirely trying to stick to it. (Although there are more than a few admirable copywriters who attempt to match it). Sometimes, things just get in the way. And, in general, people understand that. It’s no big deal.

Still, one of the wonderful things about the digital industry (and I suppose blogging in general) is that there’s never a shortage of things to talk about. Today, we’ve seen the beginning of a potential PR armageddon for Sony, a deal which will see movies available for rent on YouTube and the launch of the latest version of Tweetdeck on the iPhone. There’s never a shortage of things to talk about.

So, if you do neglect your blog for an extended period of time, it’s never too difficult to pick up from where you left off.

See you all in August.

The 2010 Manchester SEO Awards

Limit your acceptance speeches to thirty seconds please.

Best use of pectorals in social media

Old Spice



The Mashable award for useful social media news

The Next Web

Honourable mention: Mashable

Best use of impromptu audience clapping

St. John's Ambulance



The Robbie Savage award for social media buffoonery

Dr. Pepper

Best use of comedy hashtag award on Twitter

#ashtag

The most-annoying member of the Spotify advertising team award

Roberta.

The Ann Summers award for comedy sponsored links
Ann Summers

The three-days worth of research for a Manchester SEO blog award

Psycholinguistics and SEO

The least-read blog on Manchester SEO award

Psycholinguistics and SEO

The wish I hadn't sold my Xbox advert campaign award



Most popular search query for Manchester SEO referrals award

Farmville user female statistics

Most creepiest search query for Manchester SEO referrals award

Asda chicken licker

Honourable mention: Farmville user female statistics

The 'If I see this link posted on Twitter one more time...' award

XKCD's map of online communities

The bit-rubbish-but-quite-charming technology advert of the year award

Google



The Zooey Deschanel award for the prettiest website in 2010

Monet 2010

The geekiest thing I saw in 2010 award



Most tenuous metaphor used to describe social media in a blog

Social media: A campfire at a music festival

Honourable mentions Social media: A doctor's waiting room

The Doc Brown award for coolest iPhone app downloaded in 2010

Audioboo

The thanks for reading this blog in 2010 award

You lot.

@twittername
helped us reach
2,000 followers.

News on Twitter: What I learned from the Topshop protest

Yesterday, 30 or so protesters flash-mobbed the Topshop store in the Arndale centre to demonstrate against alleged tax avoidance by the company.

The protest happened to descend on the shop as I was walking past. This isn't an event which normally happens everyday, so naturally, I snapped a picture and posted it on Twitter. Blame my brief tenure in the magazine industry for that.

Within three hours, the photograph had been viewed over 1,000 times. The Twitter update which included the picture had been retweeted over 40 times (most significantly by the Granada Reports and Channel 4 News Twitter feeds) and the photograph had been published alongside the news story on the Manchester Evening News and, later, the BBC website.

The incident (while hyperlocal and incredibly small-scale; this wasn't Watergate being broken on Twitter) did provide an interesting insight into how the social network is being used as a news channel. It also highlighted a few disturbing things about the site which I hadn't considered before. As ever, please drop a comment below if you feel the desire to...

Twitter as a news-sourcing channel

I'm told that journalists aren't using Twitter in the correct way. In this instance, I will disagree.

The BBC were ridiculously quick to get in touch and their Have Your Say account had @ mentioned me 30 minutes after posting the photograph (their Twitter feed suggests a similar level of efficiency for other breaking stories on the site)

Ten minutes after their @ mention, I was talking to a researcher from BBC News.

Ten minutes after that, I was giving a quote to a staff writer for a news article.

So, within 50 minutes, the organisation had obtained all the material they needed for the story. That's impressive work. Furthermore, after the story was posted, the same account sent me a DM which included a link to the report and a thank you. That's good customer service.

A similar hat tip goes to the Manchester Evening News (although they didn't get in touch), which had posted the photograph within an hour of the protest. Someone must have been paying attention.

Would a bit of context kill you?

But, why was I in the Arndale Centre when the flash mob descended?

I was Christmas shopping. I had met up with a few mates for lunch and, while they went into Selfridges, I nipped into the Arndale Centre to have a look for a present for a friend.

Of course, no one knew any of this when I posted the photograph. All they knew was that I was taking photographs of a demonstration. For all anyone knew, I could have been a protester myself.

As many of the photographs and videos from the recent student demonstrations in London were taken by their attendees, it wouldn't have been a massive leap to assume that I was there for the demonstration itself.

And this lack of context causes problems.

Say you were one of the people outside my social circles who saw that tweet. All you know about me is my Twitter username and that I posted a photograph of a demonstration.

It's easy to jump to conclusions, so now I'm an activist (I'm not), I have an issue with Topshop (I don't), I associate myself with the four people who got arrested after this particular demonstration (I don't) and, even worse, I have anarchist tendencies (I don't).

Extreme examples? Probably, but you can see my point. What you post online affects how people perceive you. I upload a photograph of a demonstration and all of a sudden, I'm the 'kind of person who protests' (I'm not).

Without context, we fill in the blanks. Blanks become opinions. And opinions can affect your employability, your friends and your future.

Extreme examples? Of course. But tell that to the five self-proclaimed activists who started following me yesterday on Twitter. They think I'm one of them.

Subjectivity

We all use language differently and we each have variety of ways to express feelings and situations. In face-to-face conversation, this gap in lexical emphasis isn't usually a problem. However, when people read something online, they apply their own semantic guidelines.

Take my tweet on Saturday. Of course, Topshop wasn't getting 'trashed' in the conventional sense; that suggest people damaging the store and its stock. I was using a colloquialism.

But, because there wasn't the space on the tweet to elaborate, that's what people assumed. So much so, that the Manchester Evening News initially reported the store as 'being trashed', which distorts the truth of the incident.

As people are unlikely to revisit a news story for clarifications or amendments, readers come away thinking certain things. 'Trashed' suggests that the protesters were vandals. 'Trashed' suggests that Topshop must have done something terribly wrong to deserve such actions.

Language shapes opinions and Twitter doesn't offer the opportunity for detail.

Relevance

The incident served as a reminder that Twitter is a service which is fuelled by interest. Despite the increased coverage of my account through the channel, the number of additional followers gained was minimal.

Many of my tweets are SEO or social media based. And many of the people who retweeted my photograph just weren't that interested in social media or SEO news and views. More fool them.

Users follow accounts which post relevant content to them. Regardless of how many retweets a message get, it doesn't automatically mean a drastic increase of new followers if the content as a whole isn't aimed towards a specific audience. It's not just about metrics...

Factual accuracy

The photograph was taken from a good few feet away from the protest. I didn't have a particularly good view and occasionally my line of sight was blocked by the crowd in front of me. I was, to all intents and purposes, an unreliable narrator.

Still, because I highlighted the story on Twitter, I was considered the leading source of information. I'm sure there were those better placed in the crowd to explain what had happened, but they weren't posting the information on a social network.

And I think this is a major problem. When I spoke to the researcher at the BBC, I was very careful to say what I saw, rather than what I thought I saw. But, I'll go out on a limb and say that some people might not have the same approach in a newsworthy situation.

I'd imagine that these eye-witness reports shape how news is reported; who is the victim and who is the villain. If you're more than liberal with the facts, it's kind of worrying.

Advice for graduates: Using social media to job hunt

On Wednesday, I was invited to speak at the University of Manchester, talking to a group of students about how they could best use social media to increase their chances of getting a job in after their graduation.

While the recollections of my own student years have gradually disappeared down the memory hole, I was interested to return to university to share my own experiences and thoughts on how someone could develop an online CV which spans several websites.

One stat which I keep reeling out during talks on employability and social media comes from a survey from CareerBuilder.co.uk; that 43 per cent of employers search t'internet when they receive a CV from a potential candidate. And by 'search the internet', we're talking about name searches on Google, Bing, Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter.

Out of those employers searching for candidates, 35 per cent found something online which caused them not to hire the candidate.

But don't turn off the lights on your blog or Facebook account just yet. The fact that just under half of employers are searching the web for potential candidates actually offers a massive opportunity for those postgraduates looking to move into a full-time job.

And here's why.

Because out of the employers that looked up an applicant, a large proportion found something online that impressed them about that candidate. So, what did they find?

A blog

I'd argue that blogging is one of the most important assets a graduate looking for a job can have. In my estimation, employers are looking for a candidate to have (among other things) an interest; a sign that a person isn't just applying for a job because of a desire to pay the rent, but rather because they have a genuine passion for the industry they're looking to move into.

And a blog is one of the best ways to demonstrate this. A relevant blog, I hasten to add.

• If you want to work in advertising, write a blog about the campaigns you like.
  
• If you want to work in copywriting, start a blog about copy which caught your imagination.
  
• If you want to work in social media marketing, start a blog about social media campaigns. There are plenty of them to study.
  

You get the idea. Two posts a month, every month. Repeat as necessary. It's not a huge drain on time or resources when you consider the outcome. Because I guarantee that a person who blogs about what they want to do for a living is a lot more attractive to an employer than someone who doesn't blog at all.

Plus, you'll get the chance to learn more about the industry you want to work in.

A Twitter account

Students should tweet more. If you want to work in the digital industry, it's the singular most powerful tool you have in your arsenal. And here's why:

Twitter gives you a direct line to the people who hire people.

And here's what you can use it for:

• Display a passion and an interest for your chosen career path. Link to content which interests you. Link to your blogs. Let people know about your interests.
  
• Learn from people already working in the industry. (What are the hot topics in the industry? What do they link to? What is their job really like?)
  
• Find job opportunities (yes, they're posted on Twitter)
  
• Demonstrate your knowledge about an industry
  
• Create relationships with people. For while they may not have a vacancy for your dream job, but they may know someone who does)
  

Use lists to find these people (many of these are organised by profession), but don't harass people for a job as soon as you find them.

Engage, acknowledge, share.

Also, try not to take your phone out drinking with you. Remember, don't post anything you wouldn't want your mother to see; you can lock the profile down so only friends see your updates, but that's not really the point of Twitter.

As an aside, a number of the students who attended the talks on Wednesday have recently signed up to (or already use) to Twitter. If you want to give them a bit of friendly advice (or keep an eye out for them for a potential position), they are (to the best of my knowledge):

http://twitter.com/k_boneva
http://twitter.com/Hannah_ODonnell
http://twitter.com/beniciooo
http://twitter.com/cj_goodwin
http://twitter.com/Christina_CCG
http://twitter.com/yasminhall123

Facebook:

Lock it. All the way down.

Watch out for profile pictures. I believe that the default setting of Facebook is to normally leave them all viewable regardless of whether you're a friend or not. The option to make them inaccessible to the public is separate from the other settings and can be found under the traditional privacy options via a link called 'edit album privacy'.

Rich media

If you want to move into a creative role, rich media is a godsend. Display your photos on Posterous, Tumblr or Flickr. 'Don't hide your work in a draw,' is an old writer's saying. The saying is true for most things.

LinkedIn

Have a LinkedIn profile. It's like an online CV anyone can read. Make sure you fill out all the informational boxes: your experience, honours etc.

If you feel inclined, take part in some group discussions. I'd advise keeping to the local groups, just because it's less crowded; it's more relevant to the relationships and connections you're trying to create.

And the rest

Social media gives you the opportunity to advertise yourself in an entirely new way. Job hunting doesn't just have to be limited to sending out a CV and waiting for the phone to ring. These online channels give graduates the opportunity to demonstrate what they can offer a company; a passion, an interest and an inventive way to advertise their services.

And don't just stick to this advice. Be inventive. Be creative. Have fun.

But, trust me on the sunscreen.

And finally, here's some decent resources if you're interested (with a healthy marketing and social media bias):

Mashable - Leading social media resource for news and advice.
Guardian Technology - The major technology stories from The Guardian.
The Next Web - Another great resource for web and social media news.
How Do - North West news site focused on creative, marketing and business news in the North West.
How to get your first job in SEO - Some nice online advice, regardless of the career you're after.