Chris Hadfield aka @Cmdr_Hadfield has been orbiting the earth as Commander of the 35th expedition of the International Space Station for the past five months, he headed back to earth on a Russian Soyuz craft which brought him back to land in Khazakstan. After performing with the Barenaked Ladies, hundreds of Canadian students and many others across the globe his final farewell was a recording of David Bowie's 'A Space Oddity' which passed five million views on YouTube within just forty-eight hours of being uploaded.

But it is not his singing that has made Commander Chris Hadfield such a universally celebrated figure, it is his natural ability to engage with people across the planet and the manner he has used his privileged position to show the rest of us the beauty and majesty of our small planet. His daily pictures of the earth from space have helped him acquire hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, as he puts it “This is your Earth”.

He now has twice as many followers as his employers the Canadian Space Agency. He had a healthy following before leaving on this mission, but the number of people tracking his observations has quadrupled whilst he has been in space, to 900K plus and he looks on course to join an elite group of non-showbiz tweeters with over a million followers. The interest in his work and his mission has been driven by his stunning photography showing how he and his colleagues on board the ISS witness the earth.

Commander Hadfield has had some very handy support back on earth from his son @Evan_Hadfield who has become something of a celebrity himself these past few days and rightful so. Evan Hadfield helps looks after his father’s social media including his  Google+ and Facebook accounts. Astronauts have played music in space before but there has never been one like Chris Hadfield, whose talents are also found on his Soundcloud account here he is singing Danny Boy.

Chris Hadfield is a seasoned space traveller and he has always been in demand as a speaker. However on this return to earth,  he will not be just getting floods of invitations to share his experiences in space, but also on the way he has taken social media from being a global experience to an outer world one. He will have many  things to teach us all and the next ISS crew will have a huge amount a to do, to make the next mission as hotly tracked as this last one has been.

While some have highlighted the fact that Vine’s growing popularity shows no sign of emulating the trajectory of Instagram - which now stands at more than 100 million monthly active users - brands, businesses, charities and individual Twitter users alike are all embracing the platform with an optimism that suggests that Vine could be the app that helps elevate the art of video-sharing to the same level of popularity that photo-sharing has achieved.

Seeing as Easter weekend is just around the corner, we thought we’d shared some of our favourite Easter-themed Vines as found on Twitter…

Cadbury UK have focussed a great deal recently on using social media platforms to engage and interact with their customers. Here, they use Vine to promote their range of Easter products…be warned, this video will make you want to rush to the shop and purchase every item on show!

Cadbury have also been encouraging their customers to share their own homemade videos featuring Cadbury products using Vine. One fan posted a video of a Cadbury Crème being demolished – rather pointless but amusing nonetheless!

BBC charity Children in Need used Vine to send a Happy Easter message on behalf their mascot Pudsey.

And, young persons’ charity Action for Children is using Vine to promote The Lindt Big Egg Hunt, a UK-wide fundraising event that they are involved in over the Easter period.

As things stand, Vine is mainly being used as a tool for individual Twitter users to share random snippets of film captured in every day life. However, as demonstrated by the examples above, more and more brands and organisations are beginning to see the potential for  brand promotion and customer engagement that the platform offers (and all of that in just six seconds!). That is why we expect to see Vine’s popularity as a PR and Communications tool growing rapidly this year.

According to Nielsen’s Mobile Consumer Report half of all of us in the United Kingdom are now accessing video content via our smartphones everyday.

SWEET In Action from mela on Vimeo.

At mela we’re big fans of Vimeo because we like how it looks and we agree with their ethos for sharing and producing great video content. But we can create and share your videos via many channels including YouTube which is now seeing one hour per second of video uploads.

So if you’d like some help with video and audio content on your site just get in touch.

But don’t worry too much if they are running around the house being creative, if it’s not games they are playing, then they may well be putting together a new Lego or plasticine animation using I Can Animate  or with Animate It from Aardman the creators of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep.

Now Twitter has brought ou  a new free-app called Vine which they hope will do for animation what Instagram and Camera+ have done for photos.

At just six seconds in lengths, you have got to be quick with your shooting, but it’s a loads better than those strange gifs that some people use.

Here’s our test #firstpost on Vine – with a very quick run around mela HQ.

Freezing Friday @melacymru – a Vine test #firstpost vine.co/v/b5F39xdmdTJ

— Ashok Ahir (@ashokahir) January 25, 2013

We think this will take off with a number of leading brands such as Urban Outfitters already starting to incorporate it into their marketing.

But most of all we think it’ll work because we already believe that 2013 will be the Year of Animation.

But one of the smallest local authorities in Wales has enlisted the help of The King himself to get across their extremely effective and engaging winter safety message.

Given the great call on grit, salt and sand, the focus of the work is suitably centred “In The Depot”

The video was produced in-house by the council’s communications team and stars local Elvis tribute act, Darren ‘Graceland’ Jones.

Torfaen County Borough Council’s Head of Communications, Neil Jones said: ‘We’re always looking at innovative ways to engage residents with innovative and memorable council messages. We have built a fantastic online community and this is a fun way to show residents our appreciation for their helpful comments during the past few days.”

The video has already “gone viral” as the saying goes, with national and local media coverage but beyond the excellent humour, it gets across many vitally important messages to local residents, in the most prolonged cold snap of the winter and that in itself is a huge achievement for small in-house communications team.

by Martha Holeyman  @MarthaRuth_

The television is a social beacon, however you are now just as likely to see adults and students with a digital tablet or smart device perched on their laps, it’s even becoming a classroom craze.

It is down to the likes of Social TV and VoD, that we have entered an age where we as viewers know exactly what we want, and the TV suppliers are now under pressure to deliver what we call ‘anywhere, anytime viewing’.

The boundaries are beginning to blur regarding how television is being consumed. We no longer have to desperately sift through the channels in the hope of finding something of interest, with VoD available at the click of a button, live linear viewing is unnecessary, a thing of the past.

But, television still forms a central part of our everyday lives – or at least television programmes do – as Head of News and Programmes at ITV Wales Phil Henfrey recent explained in an interview with The Western Mail:

 The death of television is greatly exaggerated. People are watching more TV now than they ever have done. That is because they can record and access content in easier ways. IPTV [television via the internet] is proving to be a good thing.

As far as getting what you want when you want it, this is great news for us as consumers. But what about the impending costs of Pay-TV?

You must be covered by a TV license whether you stream live TV by laptop, tablet or smartphone. A moment of horror arose during my first year at Cardiff University when it became apparent that, despite the communal TV in the living room being covered by a license, my own individual room where I streamed live shows on my laptop had to be covered by a separately paid licence.

‘Thankfully’, the TV Licensing website assured me, ‘it’s easy to buy your own’. I don’t doubt that it is, however, for us students paying £145.50 for an additional license this does mean going a good three weeks without food.

As one of those under-25s targeted by TV bosses, I now feel the constant need to glance over my shoulder even whilst squinting at a YouTube video on my iPhone, lest I get approached to cover my smart device with yet another additional license.

On the flip-side, recent internet-delivered services like Netflix are thought to be encouraging consumers to ‘cut-cords’ with cable and Pay-TV all together, and it certainly has proved popular amongst the younger generation who are counting their pennies.

‘I began streaming on my laptop,’ said a university friend of mine, ‘but the thought of paying a lump sum of £145 was painful, Netflix let me watch unlimited TV programmes and films for £5.99 a month. To me it was a no brainer.’

(Picture Source: methodshop.com/Flickr)

The overall saving is not extortionate, although it does seem that these subscription services have got the student spending psyche sussed.

Those between the ages of 15 to 36 have the highest rate of BBC iplayer usage in accordance with a TV licensing survey. It is roughly 10pm when BBC iplayer requests have known to peak at 235,000 viewers – post-pub viewing?

Television is bending backwards to suit our needs, to fit into our busy schedule. This is when TV turns to social media and technology; after all, there will always be time to Tweet.

Technology in turn has shown that its innovations are able to offer the media industry an all-important extra dimension. The emergence of interactive TV devices such as Apple TV and Google TV, for example, has enabled viewers to engage in a more connected viewing experience.

By creating a brand which allows space for personalisation and social integration, we instantly pay attention. Virgin has recently launched Tivo, designed to allow its customers to socialise and search content, whilst Sky has bought 10% of Zeebox which integrates Facebook and Twitter into its viewing devices.

My parents would roll their eyes at the sound of this ‘over-complicated’ Tivo thing, however for me and my friends whose smart phones are nestled in our laps regardless, any opportunity to combine social networking and viewing is a bonus.

Television compliments social media and vice versa.  Social media creates an illusion of dialogue which works wonders for its television counterpart, this social chatter influencing and enriching the TV experience.

The communal TV experience is not under threat as initially thought, however it will gradually become predominantly virtual if it is to see through its days.

Overnight our generation has been given the ability to post, like and tweet; broadcasting our opinions to the rest of the world. As our voices grow louder through these multimedia platforms, yesterday’s linear viewing must raise the bar to meet us.

]]> http://mela-media.com/does-anyone-watch-tv-anymore/feed 0 http://mela-media.com/welsh-devolution-next-steps http://mela-media.com/welsh-devolution-next-steps#comments Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:03:36 +0000 Mela http://mela-media.com/?p=2087 read more...]]> You may have thought it was it all over but we’ve only reached half-time. After an extremely short break for oranges, today marks the formal start of the second half of the work of the Silk Commission, formally known as the Commission on Devolution in Wales.

(Picture Source: National Assembly for Wales/Flickr)

by Ashok Ahir

Last week the Commission led by Paul Silk, a former Clerk to both the UK Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales, published its report on the first part of its investigation which looked into taxation and borrowing powers for Wales. The Commission’s conclusion - the devolution of tax and borrowing is a way of “strengthening Welsh democracy and the economy”.

(Picture Source: Commission on Devolution for Wales)

Tax & Borrowing

As a starting point it has called for the National Assembly for Wales to take responsibility for taxation related to devolved policy areas; landfill tax, stamp duty land tax, aggregates levy, Air Passenger Duty (for long haul flights) and business rates. In addition, the Welsh Government should be able to borrow money to fund current spending and investment in infrastructure.

Significantly, it also found that responsibility for income tax should be shared between Cardiff Bay and Westminster “with the Welsh Government being able to vary income tax rates paid by Welsh residents within the UK income tax structure”. Though, this should only happen if backed in a referendum.

The issue of whether or not there needs to be a referendum has been debated somewhat and is one I will return but not today.

New Faces

There have been a couple of changes to the formation of the Silk Commission team in readiness for the next tranche of work, examining the current devolution settlement.

The most significant change is the inclusion of the former Education and Environment Minister, Jane Davidson who has come in following the surprise departure of the Welsh Labour nominated representative, her former Welsh Cabinet colleague Sue Essex. Ms Essex  knew more than most about the financing of the National Assembly for Wales, given her many years as Finance Minister. But decided that after fifteen months of work with the Commission she had “had enough”.

(Picture Source: University of Wales Trinity St David’s)

Jane Davidson brings knowledge, commitment and an enthusiasm for the political game that used to get her rave reviews as Education Minister. The other replacements are Helen Molyneux, Chief Executive of New Law Solicitors and Trevor Glyn Jones, former Chair and Chief Executive of Pilkington Optrics.

Further Devolution

The Commission has now issued its  Call for Evidence for the second stage of its work to take stock of “how well the current devolution settlement is working whether it could be improved or whether further powers should be transferred between the UK Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales in either direction”.

In theory, this could even result in fewer policy areas and matters being devolved, if there is a desire to hand back certain powers to Westminster. But more likely is the recommendation that other powers should be transferred and that the means by which further devolution to Wales happens is changed.

The further transfer of powers may include policing and justice matters, including  a separate legal jurisdiction for Wales, which is already developing with a new Welsh Statute Book. Other matters which will certainly be put forward for consideration are energy policy, broadcasting and welfare systems.

What is clear is that the Silk Commission will not be discussing whether there should be an increase to eighty members of the National Assembly for Wales as was recommended in the last major examination of devolution in 2004. Nor will it look at how those AMs should be elected.

In my view, that position becomes an increasingly difficult omission if, as has happened in Part I, the Commission decides on more accountability with responsibilty. More accountability requires greater scrutiny and greater scrutiny surely requires more than sixty members when a fifth of them form the Welsh Government.

(Picture Source: Rosaura Ochoa/Flickr)

by Sarah Thomas

Twitter libel – or ‘Twibel’  - is becoming more and more common because the social networking platform makes it quick and easy for users to pass comment on anything and everything. Twitter relies wholly on its users’ spur-of-the-moment compulsion to say exactly what they think – but this same compulsion has landed several tweeters in some seriously hot legal water.

A number of Twitter users in the UK currently face the prospect of legal action after former Conservative party Treasurer Lord McAlpine indicated that he would sue for libel over “wholly false and seriously defamatory” reports circulated on the social networking site, linking him to the ongoing North Wales child abuse investigation.

Over 3000 Twitter users made reference to Lord McAlpine’s involvement in the incident, following  a feature on the BBC’s Newsnight programme. McAlpine has since agreed a £185,000 settlement with the BBC, however, he has vowed to pursue a course of legal action against the social networkers in question.

Just last week nine people were ordered to pay compensation to footballer Ched Evans’ rape victim after they admitted disclosing her identity on Twitter and Facebook.

A pattern of cases has started to emerge over the last 12 months and we have seen growing use of the Communications Act 2003 which makes it an offence to send “by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”.

As each  these cases gets played out in the press, you would assume, and indeed hope , that Twitter users are becoming increasingly aware of the implications linked to what they say online. It would be dangerous to perceive social media as, as Jeremy Clarkson once put it, “a libel free world out there in the electronosphere“.

Social network users should be aware that, as soon as they hit ‘tweet’ they become a publisher of information and are hence subject to the same laws – libel and other – as publishers, journalists, and other content creators alike. And, in the eyes of the law a re-tweet IS an endorsement.

To the average Twitter user, this may be a daunting prospect – I mean, who could expect Joe Bloggs to understand the ins-and-outs of media law? And, even the most savvy media practitioner would agree that libel law is a notoriously tricky field to circumnavigate.

In the wake of recent events, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), joined by lawyers, academics and representatives from social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter, is to discuss new guidelines for policing social media. However, the complex case classification system that is likely to emerge from these talks seems unlikely to make it any easier for social network users to pinpoint what they legally can and can not do.

To me, education – not regulation – seems the best approach. This is not to say that social media laws should not exist, just that the average Twitter user should apply a rule of common sense when tweeting, rather than get bound up in complex rules and legislation. Basically, if you’re worried that what you are going to tweet will cause offence/upset/controversy – you probably shouldn’t tweet it.

In short – think before you tweet.

(Picture Source: Watt Dabney/Flickr)

by Ashok Ahir

A debate ensued and I put in my tuppence worth  “people suffered so that we could vote today”.

She didn’t quite heed the warning from the UK Home Office that “On the 15th November criminals will hope you do nothing”. But she was not alone in wishing to mark her unhappiness with the whole idea of elected police chiefs – which many see as “the politicisation of policing”.

“Waste of money” “undemocratic” were just a few of the printable words written in big writing across many ballot papers in the elections for Police and Crime Commissioners across England and Wales.

With counting still continuing in some force areas , it is clear that yesterday’s elections will see the lowest ever turnout for any major elections in the United Kingdom.

In Wales the turnout figure is likely to be 15.5% which is way below any previous national election.

The previous lowest national turnout was in the elections to the European Parliament in 1999.

Does it mean that everyone elected as a Police and Crime Commissioner – some with less than eight per cent of the available electorate voting for them – does not have a legitimate mandate?

In some parts of Wales, up to 5% of the actual ballots cast were spoilt, which when considered in the context of such low levels of engagement is very worrying. But Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats chose not to field candidates and some of their traditional supporters opted for the spoiling rather than the not voting option.

It has always been my view that democracy is about who gets the most votes – not necessarily about how many people vote. Our right to vote also gives us a right not to vote – though maybe the time has come to consider compulsory voting, as exists in ten countries across the globe including one of the world’s biggest democracies.

(Picture Source: UK Home Office/Flickr)

Despite the worries of politicisation, the limited electorate who trundled along to polling stations in the November fog have opted for pluraity.

Out of the four Police Commissioners in Wales, two are Independents, Winston Roddick in North Wales and Ian Johnston in Gwent, Labour who dominate at both Assembly and Parliamentary level have only returned one, former Home Office Minister Alun Michael and the new Dyfed Powys Commissioner is Conservative Christopher Salmon.

Plurality and independence have won the day despite the concerns. However, it is clear as the Electoral Reform Society argues “the architects of the localism agenda need to get back to the drawing board.

Traditional media failed to cover these elections effectively (if at all in some cases) and with no household mail-shots most of us were asked to go online to research the candidates, which clearly failed. The Electoral Commission is now saying that they told the UK Government so and will now undertake an urgent review – though many politicians and the public will (and already are) point the finger at them.

In terms of turnout, it can’t possibly ever be this bad.again. Because never again will these election be staged in November on a day when no other major elections are being held.

In the mean time, even before they get on with tackling graffiti, anti-social behaviour and other concerns, the new Commissioners have two pressing tasks; convincing the public of need for their roles and overcoming perceptions of their non-validity.

Sympathetic, intelligent, reliable, informed and always available