Collaboration with bloggers is becoming increasingly attractive for companies – on the one hand in the social media version of corporate publishing through specially designed themed blogs under the patronage of the brand and on the other through ‘blogger engagement’ through classical PR. Bloggers are influencers: if the author of a blog manages to arouse enthusiasm for a particular product, the effect is reflected in his/her fan community. The benefits are clear: the image transfer of the blog to the brand and (even with young brands) an increase in recognition within the target group.

So what does the blogger get out of this collaboration? Here it is all about gaining readers. One’s own credibility within the established community is more important than fleeting monetary success and being ‘bought’ content-wise is a no-go. Companies need to bear this in mind when planning blogger engagement. Julia Basagic, a renowned Austrian fashion blogger known as “Fanfarella”, also operates in this domain: “If I want to write about something, I have just 2 criteria, whether it is paid or unpaid: does it interest me and could it interest my readers?”

Paid blog articles are controversial. Approximately 13%* of users questioned completely reject ‘advertorials’. 70% expect commissioned content to be clearly labelled as such. This reflects the legal specifications which affect the classic journalistic media. “I think it is entirely legitimate to label contributions as adverts in this way and ensure that readers do not feel like they are being treated like idiots,” says Julia Basagic openly. “Bloggers need to decide themselves what kind of advertising they want to impose on their readers. The most important currency in a blog is trust”.

A successful collaboration requires companies to accept the independence of bloggers. Bloggers value their freedom – a motivation for running a blog. Even in cases of commissioned articles such as product reviews, bloggers should write whatever they consider to be correct. Personal input is a key element of this format. The approach of ‘paying buys you what you want’ does not work here. If bloggers begin to feel degraded to PR machines by money, the readers will soon sense this by the change in tone.

And it is all about these readers. When cooperating with companies, it is important to Julia Basagic that she is left scope in terms of time and content. “I want to be taken seriously and favour polite, respectful and straightforward collaboration”. The best articles are always those written with the full force of conviction and with direct experience such as attendance of an event or product testing. “I always find it interesting to take a look behind the scenes, engage in personal discussions with exciting decision-makers who are relevant to my blog and interact with other blogging colleagues”.

* Survey via Twittpoll, n = 54

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Technology and media companies focus on future forecasts and unleash their visions onto the world for PR purposes. Microsoft has attracted a great deal of attention with a video. Exciting ideas – but don’t we already know from past experiences that it usually turns out quite differently?

Michell Zappa (@envisioningtech), an expert in social communications, visualises the status of various fields of research on the website “Envisioning the future of technology” based on interactive graphics. As part of this project, he speculates as to when specific technologies will be ready for the mass market.

Microsoft has been thinking about this issue for many years and invests in appropriate PR work for its future research. This is reflected in visionary videos developed in conjunction with the Microsoft Office lab which demonstrate how we will live ‘digitally’ over the next few years:

the author of Microsoft’s ‘Office Casual’ video series, Dough Thomas (@dougthomas), analysiert in einem „Behind the scenes“-Video , analyses the various links between the technology of today and the visions of tomorrow in a ‘Behind the scenes’ video. He focuses in particular on the graphical presentation of the ever-increasing quantities of data. Personalised QR codes and tags are also taken into consideration and convey information to media users in a more targeted manner. Open spaces enable spontaneous collaboration and the interlinking of social networks and communities. Thomas also sketches a virtual workplace where people work together on content, even if they are not based in the same place.

We often talk about social values on the internet – but in what context? The value-index of the Trendbüro in Hamburg explores these issues. Over 150,000 published user opinions on blogs, forums and communities form the basis for these analyses. The value index was compiled for the first time in 2009.

The Managing Director of the Trendbüro, Birgit Gebhardt, devised realistic images about the world of the future in her book ‘2037 – Unser Alltag in der Zukunft’ (2037 – our everyday life in the future). Nobody can predict for certain how the future will develop in a global context but accurate observations of the present open up perspectives which allow for plausible predictions to be made. “The fundamental issues will not change radically by 2037. But there will be new impulses in our way of life: network technology expands our possibilities and optimises our everyday life”.

Numerous companies are experimenting through individual campaigns to acquire a feel for new technologies. One impressive example is Disney who are focusing on augmented reality. Passers-by can now interact with popular Disney figures such as Mickey Mouse on an oversized billboard in Times Square.

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To mark the last Mobile Monday of the year, the ‘App Circus’ pitched its tents in Vienna. On 21 November, 10 pre-selected mobile applications were presented and discussed at the Natural History Museum.

Mobile Monday has created a global community of mobile visionaries in over 150 cities across the world and has been represented in Austria since 2009. The innovative network meets once a quarter to exchange knowledge and experience with like-minded people.

The apps selected for the App Circus included the Silhouette iMirror developed by Netural which was presented at the event by mobile expert Eva-Maria Michelcic (photo).
This iPhone/ iPad app transforms the screen into an electronic mirror where augmented reality allows users to try on optical eyewear and sunglasses like in real life. The app uses face-tracking to identify the position of the eyewear and adapts this to movement in real time. For more information and a film report about Mobile Monday #13, see www.mobilemonday.at.

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The W-JAX in Munich offers annual presentations and workshops relating to Java, Cloud Computing and agile software development and architecture. This year, numerous top quality sessions were held on the subject by some of Europe’s leading experts. Several special days were dedicated to key themes such as architecture, performance, mobile app development and rich internet applications. The event kicked off with the Agile Day which addressed the issue of agile software development with an intensive all-day session. The mix of practical examples and theoretical backgrounds and models introduced some exciting new ideas to the setting.
The remaining days looked at technical issues and sessions. Java champion Adam Bien introduced participants to the art of ‘simple development’ whereas Kevlin Henney presented anecdotes from his book ‘97 things every programmer should know’. The broad scope of the themes covered at W-JAX was reflected in the depth and range of the presentations: one Performance Day presentation looked at performance analysis and the increase in Hibernate applications, the Rich Internet Application Days looked at the brand new JavaFX2 and issues such as application performance monitoring, big data and DevOps were presented as part of the sessions.
It was not just the actual talks which were worth exploring; the supporting programme at W-JAX was worthwhile too: the programme featured evening panels of experts who gathered every day to tackle questions from conference participants as well as relaxing evenings with a wheat beer and pretzels and a chance to get to know other exhibitors and conference participants in a relaxed atmosphere, exchanging experiences and exploring certain issues in more detail.

Jürgen Etzlstorfer

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