Damien Mulley

Hello from London, here for another few hours then back to Dublin, then over to Galway, back to Dublin and then Cork for a little bit of work and a long bit of rest. 2009 has been a cracker and a killer of a year. More on that in later posts.

So anyways, London. I was here for another MeasurementCamp which is an event with some of the brightest minds coming together and sharing information and insights around social media. Real social media done by real genuine people. We should have one of those in Ireland … oh wait.

There were three speakers this time and all three made me consider how people do social media but two in particular fueled an epiphany (or two) for me. Two Johns, John Griffith and John Willshire talked about social media but from different angles yet both were honing in on the idea that it’s not just ROI and it’s not just about quick hits and moving on. John Willshire talked about social media being a bonfire when advertising is fireworks. It’s not about hashtags in Twitter so you can spam your client’s name to as wide an audience as possible and who’ll forget you a few day later. It’s hard to boil down John Griffith’s talk. It covered a lot in a short time but the way he views social media is how I’d love to see it in the future. We are not clones of each other and when a company realises this, everything can improve. He talked about delivering a marketing message to your granny and how what you tell her is not important but what she says to her friend in her version of the story is the important bit. Social media almost becoming spiritual.

Saw Stephen Malkmus in Camden on Wednesday night. Great gig. Photo:

Was in the Tate Modern on Thursday. Saw the Big Black Box installation. Great idea, giant art is always fun.

There was also this exhibition called: No Ghost, just a Shell, the blurb of which is:

No Ghost Just a Shell project, which was initiated when French artists and frequent collaborators Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno purchased the copyright for Annlee, an animated figure originally designed a Manga agency in Tokyo. No Ghost Just a Shell proposes scenarios in which Annlee is liberated from ownership and allowed the chance to resolve the ambiguities of her fate.

Photo of one of the works:

Bought Charles Saatchi’s book on himself. I am Charles Saatchi and … which is excellent. Well worth a quick read. Used this quote before but if only every company had this printed out:

By and large, talent is in such short supply that mediocrity can be taken for brilliance rather more than genius can go undiscovered

Oh yes, got some media calls about the new Facebook Privacy settings. On Facebook and miffed? Get over it, public or not, you already upload all your personal data to the computers of a foreign company.

Oh yes and lastly, I normally use the Apple Store in Regent Street to check emails with my phone and upload pics to Flickr etc. And this time I logged into Foursquare and mapped my travels too. But St Pancras Station now has free WiFi and it’s worth a visit too after getting a beautiful makeover. Pic: