Last week we mentioned why it can be a good thing to get complaining customers. We came across another useful article, this time by Niall Harbison on Simple Zesty, who talks about dealing with the negative comments you receive online. …as consumers online become more vocal and are empowered by tools that let them shout louder than ever when they feel slighted. It’s part and parcel of the web but for people affected by it for the first time it can be quite disconcerting and terrifying. People now have the tools to shout louder online. No longer are bad comments restricted to one to one conversations at the water cooler. Whether it’s using Facebook, Twitter, a blog or an online review website, people are free to say what they think, and you as a business owner can’t... Similar posts

It seems as though myself and Emily O’Reilly’s office are not seeing eye to eye on this question. Not to say that her staff are anything other than friendly and helpful, they certainly are. We simply appear to be disagreeing on how to read SI133/2007 – the Environmental Information Regulations. As readers of this blog will know, her Office issued a preliminary decision in which NAMA was deemed not to be a public authority for the purposes of those regulations. I will reply to the preliminary decision shortly, after which a binding decision will be made by her office. The stakes are pretty high, and I believe – after speaking to a number of legal people – that I am correct on my reading of the SI, and the Office is fundamentally incorrect (in their... Similar posts

This coming October, we are holding the first ever Pink Auction in Cork City. The auction will bring together many people with two goals —- to promote creative textiles in Ireland and to raise money for Action Breast Cancer, a programme of the Irish Cancer Society. People within the community as well as around the country are participating by making and donating handcrafted creative textile items to be auctioned off. The event will take place at The Imperial Hotel on Sunday, 10th October 2010.  We are on Ravelry, Facebook, Twitter, and have our own blog. The more support we can get the more we can do and the better it is for breast cancer awareness. Our flyer is at the top of this page of our blog: http://pinkcork.blogspot.com/p/media.html   The Pink Auction... Similar posts

If you publish a blog, make videos, engage on Twitter, take part in forums or engage in anyway online there is a very good chance you are going to come across some negative comments directed at you personally or towards your brand or business. It might even be more than a couple of comments as consumers online become more vocal and are empowered by tools that let them shout louder than ever when they feel slighted. It’s part and parcel of the web but for people affected by it for the first time it can be quite disconcerting and terrifying. If you find yourself in the middle of a web storm it can seem all encompassing and as if it is never going to end. Having been slap bang in the middle of plenty of negative online storms both personally and for clients here are some of my tips for... Similar posts

Please note this is not a sponsored review. This is a tool I’ve recently started to use and thought it may be of interest to some of you. I asked Brian to share the vital info on it’s creation and features. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and Brian will be happy to answer them. A potential new client contacts you to inquire about your awesome freelance service. So you set up a meeting, put your game face on, and get down to business. You and your potential client discuss goals, technical requirements, budget, and so forth. Exciting! Another new business lead! But you haven’t landed the gig just yet… Now it’s time to go back, organize all the information you gathered in your meeting, and put together your proposal. Otherwise known as a... Similar posts

I approvingly retweeted this post from the Political World blog yesterday because I thought it corrected a common misperception about who wields power in Ireland. But having read through it again, I must take issue with some of its implications. The Irish Nomenclatura – Crosspollination in Irish Financial and Political Life « Political World One of the striking things about the power apparatus in Ireland is the myriad of cross-pollinating relationships within it. I don’t see “the government” as simply a selection of TDs from a parliamentary majority who form the Cabinet. These people have little or no power. If they had real power, the likes of Mary Coughlan would never become Tanaiste. They represent around 10% of the real power in Ireland. The rest is made up of the influence... Similar posts

I said this morning that the announcement by the Wylie Agency to circumvent publishers and use the Amazon Kindle Store to publish e-books by their leading list of authors and the author estates they represent was highly significant. I said it may be the most important publishing news to happen this year. This evening, I’ll go further. This is a watershed in the publishing world, and we may be about to enter a highly acrimonious and volatile period. I hope it is short and decisive and the shape, structure and future definition of what publishing a book and selling it to the reader really is emerges into a community that is open, focused and stable. But for now, the acrimony, gnashing of teeth and strategic positioning commences. John Sargent is pissed off with Andrew Wylie and it seems... Similar posts

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” – Albert Einstein . At the Subversive Copy Editor blog, Carol Fisher Saller has written a short and solid defence of the long word: I don’t think it’s overstatement to say that all our most important freedoms depend ultimately on clarity in the written word. But “short” does not always equal “clear.” In short, in word choice, as in other things, long can be just right. Before coming to this conclusion, she notes the poor reputation long words have long suffered. Books on writing style love to condemn them, many taking their cue from one another or from the more authoritative of their kind. Take for example the advice presented “roughly in order of merit” on the first page of the Fowler brothers’... Similar posts

As some of the more discerning readers (if there are any left...!) may have noticed, the title of the blog has changed. To gibberish. This isn't really out of choice, but necessity. For you see, I write this blog as a hobby. It's not something I make money out of, though several opportunities have arisen since I started the blog. That's not why I do it. I just like movies, and like writing about them. It's not my job, although it'd be spiffing to be paid to watch movies. So it's something I do for the joy, and the love of movies. But last week, I received a delightful email from the legal arm of one of the major studios, demanding I change the title of the blog, or face legal action. No 'hey, how's it going. Fair dues to you for positively reviewing some of the movies of the studio I... Similar posts

Social media has given rise to a rather ugly term that I use far too often myself – ‘online influencers’. Every social media campaign at some point becomes obsessed with reaching the influencers – those with the most popular blogs, the most followers, the most retweets, the biggest Facebook groups. It’s easy to see how this came about. In lieu of any real accurate measurement techniques, we decided on ‘influence’. Reaching the right people online, those early adopters, those trend setters, that meant your campaign had really made it. It’s ultimately what’s resulted in this race for numbers, because that’s how we found ourselves trying to define influence. And it’s not necessarily the right approach. How do you measure... Similar posts

I make no bones about the fact that I freaking love permission based marketing, which is marketing wanker speak for email newsletters. Dollar for dollar, this is the absolute cheapest form of marketing you can engage in, and even if you’ve never thought of having a newsletter before, chances are that when we work together, you’re having one. There are two reasons I love newsletters. One, anyone who would turn down the opportunity to put their brand in front of hundreds or thousands of people each week or month and generate click-thus for their site for pennies is a moron. Two, because these subscribers have opted in and asked to hear from you, they already have an affinity for your brand, product or service. These are essentially pre-qualified buyers, and if you can get them... Similar posts

Image courtesy of Donna Grayson I came across a few examples of sites and apps the other day that really made me wonder at some of the amazing modern-day solutions to some of life’s most annoying problems! Here’s a selection of some of my favourites, old and new! The Ex Blocker This is a pretty cool plugin that basically blocks your ex from your entire online life! The extension for Firefox and Chrome allows you to put in details like their name, Twitter handle, blog url, Facebook profile and you need never have to worry about seeing your ex again. You can download the ex blocker here. One of the more unusual plugins, but a handy solution for some I’m sure! Language Translator A pretty nifty voice to voice translator app – Jibbigo basically allows you to talk into... Similar posts

I hereby issue a warning to all passing lemons. I am going through a zesting phase and any lemons within range are likely to be relieved of their outer garments sharpish. Zorro-like, I will unsheath my beloved microplane zester, draw razor-sharp blades across their citrusy skins and have my wicked culinary way with the finely shredded results. Other citrus fruit, I might add, are also at risk. No lemon is safe... Ah, yes, it’s true that the zing of a little citrus zest has lifted many a meal lately. I think, however, that my zesting habit started with my first attempt at lemon shortbread bars. There I was, ready for kitchen action, lured by the promise of the most lemony of lemon bars ever. Suffice to say that the author of the recipe should have their license to use superlatives... Similar posts

Belarus Day 5: I'M ON A BOATOh God.Oh Jesus Christ.Oh Clive Mendonca.This hangover is the Godzilla to yesterday's Gandhi.I hear someone scream. One of our interpreters tell me I should probably wash my face. A lengthy and incredibly unstable walk to the bathroom mirror shows my face is now half black. Last night's facepaint has smudged all down my left cheek. Presumably, this is why girls remove makeup before going to bed. I make a note of this in case I ever reincarnate as one. Manfred Maid helps wipe it off my face, which I am grateful for, considering how uncoordinated my hand was at the time. I should have been more considerate and sat down, seeing as the poor dear's legs got mauled by mosquitoes on the first day and had been rendered almost paralysed ever since. Still, she didn't... Similar posts

KLCC, MalaysiaWhen i told others of our plan to go home for good (Insya-Allah), I'll be greeted in any of these few ways:- "That is so nice. Where is your country? Are you looking forward to that?" etc. Obviously this response usually comes from non-malaysian, who does not really know what is the situation back in malaysia.- "Why would you want to go back to Malaysia? Didn't you hear all the crazy things that happens to doctors in Malaysia?"I guess, i don't have any particular tendency or urge to dwell too much on the debate which one is better. I just get on with it, and once i made my decision, let us hope for the best, Insya-Allah. Money is not the ultimate objective for me to stay in ireland. Of course to certain extent, it would help to have an extra income. But there are... Similar posts

Did the Irish Times publish or censor this letter?   The Irish Times publishes press releases written by incinerator promotors - disguised as journalism.   The once respected company seems to have a policy of not publishing informed letters which contest the Big Lies produced by DCC, and the honest truths published by honest law-breaker Covanta.  This places The Irish Times in the Sunday Times/Fox News camp.________________________________ http://www.indymedia.ie/article/97089 Poolbeg anti incinerator campaign still very active Monday June 28, 2010 22:15 by Frances Corr - CRAI I and thousands of my neighbours in Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount have been objecting to the siting of this incinerator in our community for over 10 years.  We... Similar posts

Yesterday i blogged about my trouble with pligg and iwantideas.com and did a bit of detective work to find out why the site was being bombarded with so much spam… The first thing i noticed was that the site had been submitted to a lot of  ’value my site’, ‘traffic estimator’ type sites. Typically, that’s done by owners of sites or SEO’s to establish the strength & reach of a site and get some traffic info / SEO. It was also cropping up on a lot of ‘SEO lists’; http://blog.seoland.co.uk/a-huge-list500-pliggbookmarking-based-on-digg-submission-sites/ http://hubpages.com/hub/Massive-social-bookmark-list-for-seo-and-backlinks http://www.thaiseoboard.com/index.php?action=printpage;topic=102146.0... Similar posts

Well, then the blog is starting to slow down as I’m not too far away from taking holidays…and paternity leave! Thanks for all the kind words over the last while, and the blog will have the bambino info as it happens…sorta! This be the week for action, but more than likely the main event will be next week..or maybe slightly later. So the mind fucking continues, especially on the drive home after the show, where the enormity of the situation hits home time and time again. And by Jaysus does it hit home! On Sunday night, as a million thoughts raced through my head, it felt like Mike Tyson hitting me with a locomotive! But I’m really looking forward to the whole thing and as usual will attempt to put nerves to one side and try and be the best supporting husband and dad I can be!... Similar posts

Via Andrew Gelman's blog, Lane Kenworthy posts a sceptical review of Wilkinson and Pickett's book "The Spirit Level". "It wouldn’t be surprising to find that inequality in the income distribution contributes to inequality in health, education, and so on. And there’s plenty of evidence that it does. Wilkinson and Pickett make a different claim: income inequality worsens the average level of health, education, safety, trust, and other good things" At the heart of the debate is whether the cross-sectional associations between national levels of poor health and income inequality support the contention that more income inequality in society causes poorer health. Kenworthy is not convinced that they have demonstrated this and therefore not convinced that targetting income inequality is... Similar posts