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Talk to Frank, the Government drug advice service, has launched a campaign on teen social media site Habbo as part of its anti-cannabis activity.
The Habbo campaign features a branded room designed to be a virtual manifestation of a cannabis user's brain, and aims to reflect the effects of cannabis on Simon, the main character from the TV campaign.
The COI chose Habbo to target the younger teens that are thinking of getting into what is perceived as a harmless drug.
The Habbo room also hosts Frank Advisors who can offer real time advice to users throughout the campaign - which runs until the end of March.
Other activity includes competitions and a branded social networking group where users can leave comments and interact with the forum.
Bebo has just released a new social media tool, Social Inbox, which collects and organises feeds from Twitter, Flickr, Del.icio.us, together with other online services such as Gmail, Yahoo!, AOL Mail, and YouTube.
Bebo wants this new platform to solve the problem facing consumers online, namely, a cluttered and fragmented social networking experience that makes keeping up-to-date with others increasingly difficult.
Social Inbox pools updates and information from other sites into one place, based on technology from newly acquired company Social Thing. Social feeds can be organised in chronological order and grouped by person, and also include a localised RSS feed reader for global news. The site also provides one-click access to email servers, Gmail, Yahoo! and AOL, where users can preview their email without having to go from site to site.
A media favourites section also lists what friends are watching and listening to, pulling content from Bebo's extensive online media collection, with programming from over 500 media companies including MTV, ESPN, CBS and BBC.
According to recent research, the UK lags behind other European countries in recruitment-based social networking. The 'Aquent Orange Book 2008-2009' found that as a tool for talent acquisition, social media has yet to be fully tested or quantified in the UK with only 2% to 7% of UK candidates and employers using social networking websites for recruitment purposes.
However, 39% of German candidates, 34% of French candidates, 30% of Polish candidates and 23% of candidates from the Netherlands rated social networking sites as a preferred method of job seeking, as did 13% to 18% of employers in these regions.
The perceived risk is that candidates can expose themselves to potential discrimination and can also damage their employment prospects because their online footprint may not come across very favourably. For employers, it remains hugely labour-intensive, can be frustrating, and poses very real risks of brand damage and internal misuse.
But despite its flaws, social media is worth exploration and investment, especially as avenues like job boards and print media are becoming less effective and more expensive.
The survey also found that the demand for skilled digital specialists across London continues to increase, reportedly leading to high rates of staff turnover and short lengths of employment. The average length of service was found to be two years for staff in corporate sectors and digital agencies.
Meanwhile, staff turnover rates of 20% and greater were recorded for a quarter of digital and marketing staff in digital agencies. These high rates of employee churn have an obvious raw cost to the business, but at a deeper level they harm the competitiveness of many agencies at a time when securing market share is increasingly critical.
Web 2.0 is quite simply a term describing the trend in the use of technology and design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.
These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and services, such as social networking sites, wikis, and blogs.
It does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the way we develop for the Web and how end-users use it. It is an architecture of participation where users can contribute content creating network effects.
The idea of Web 2.0 also relates to a transition of websites from isolated information silos to interlinked platforms, and also includes a social element where users generate and distribute content, often with freedom to share and re-use. It's as simple as that.
Are social and business networking going to become one and the same thing? I’m not sure. Yes brands are flocking to Facebook, and the likes of LinkedIn has started to loosen up the business focus, while business directories are starting to allow interaction and comment.
Social networking has a certain stigma. Fun, frolics and photos you really would rather your boss never saw. Business networking is a rather dry, soulless experience. You connect with friends, you expand, but it still feels like a job search facility. But networking has to be the most important activity of any business, right?.
So dies linking all networking activity, business and pleasure, make more sense? When we all get tired of being a number and start being ourselves, will things get much more interesting?
Linking yourself to the company you work for, and making it more than just about an individual has its risks, but this is the new world we live in. Companies will have to learn to manage their PR online, and the individuals will have to learn that there are limits.
Not bad lessons either way, and in my opinion, this is where we are all going. The next phase of the online revolution will be about longevity, trust, openness and confidence.
Talk to Frank, the Government drug advice service, has launched a campaign on teen social media site Habbo as part of its anti-cannabis activity.
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