Socialholic

Mr Bumble Bee, originally uploaded by jamesmb.

I love bumble bees. They’re crazy shaped and they can fly and they can make honey. What’s not to like?

Last year, there were great concerns about how few bees there were – those fears are still there but my personal experience is that I’ve seen loads more bees. And for that, I say a big hurrah!

This chap was photographed in central Exeter.

After having confessed to not really understanding the Influence Project (yes, a split infinitive – I know, let it go!), I think I now do!

The idea put forward by FastCompany is to use your influence to measure your influence. Or to put it another way, is your tribe of followers full of passive, sausage-roll sucking, remote control hoggers or are they a glamorous, intellectual powerful, lean, mean fighting machine?

If they’re all gorgeous and clever and witty, getting them to click your link will be no problem at all. Indeed, some of them will even have the foresight to share your link – http://bit.ly/blzQpw – on their social networks or even click the link and sign up themselves. This will show (I didn’t use the word ‘prove’ there on purpose) that you are engaged with your tribe and they with you and that you help each other out.

Anyway, that’s the theory.

So, to those of you who have clicked the link, thank you! For those who haven’t, what are you waiting for? And for those of you who are intrigued as to where you stand in the interconnectedness of the web, click this and sign up. Now I’ve thought about it, it is actually quite clever – what better way to measure influence than to attempt to influence the result?

I should warn you, the site is a tad slow (something to consider next year, please organisers!) but it is an interesting experiement and one worth taking part in.

And, if you do sign up, don’t forget to post below and we can get a bit of mutual support going! Click on here to support me!

Brown Sauce – it’s just for northerners and the Welsh, isn’t it?

Discuss.

The Influence Project by Fast Company aims to identify the most influential people online.  It is at least partially accurate as my link shows that I’m not that influential!  However, does this actually measure influence or something else?  I’m unsure but can’t work out why!

Discuss below and help me work out what it is actually measuring – if anything!  Feel free to post your own linky too!

Capitalism isn’t working, originally uploaded by jamesmb.

This banner was on the Peace Camp at Parliament Square that has just been closed down – www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-10659518

The end of the Peace Camp on Parliament Square, originally uploaded by jamesmb.

I went to London recently and had a chat with Brian Haw – his picture is elsewhere on my photostream.

He was scathing about the ‘peace camp’ that had spring up around him. It was a distraction and a mess and nothing to do with him. Today, the ‘peace camp’ lost the latest round of its eviction battle. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-10659518

To be honest, it was a mess and badly kept and, if it was meant to be making a point, it wasn’t doing it very well.