The neuroscience of Storytelling

Working in social media since 2005, I’ve long tried to understand the human motivations behind why and how we share what we do, the end goal being for me to better understand how our own work can be more impactful when storytelling.

But it was only when I was fortunate enough to hear Beau Lotto of UCL speak at the Future of Storytelling Summit in New York this Fall did I come to understand that much of the basis for our social behaviors are genetic and grounded in our past experiences. Understanding the science behind this should be a huge advantage in understanding how we work more effectively and how people then react to our work. So I’ve attempted to distil down a fascinating subject into a few key points from which we might all learn something as we build more impactful work. I may well have utterly bastardized Lotto’s work, but I hope I have done it some justice! Continue reading “The neuroscience of Storytelling”

The first Influencer acquihire: beware the consequences

The acquisition of Beme by CNN, the company owned by mega influencer Casey Neistat is a fascinating evolution for both CNN AND Neistat. As someone who ploughs a small fortune into people like Neistat, I can’t help feeling that the space is massively overpopulated, frequently overpriced itself (and under-delivers), lacks accountability and is ripe for change. Mass or mainstream broadcast may be the tip of the iceberg (although this exit may just add further fuel to the fire!) Continue reading “The first Influencer acquihire: beware the consequences”

Mental Health Awareness Week…an 11-year old confession

This is a really odd piece for me to write, not least because it’s something I’ve only ever talked about to my closest friends. But I do so in the hope that if nothing else, just one more post on this most important of subjects in this most important of weeks might get cut-through and provide a piece of assurance, some ‘pixels of hope’ if you will, to just one person who feels that they simply cannot cope. Continue reading “Mental Health Awareness Week…an 11-year old confession”

Twitter finally begins to take ownership of ‘Live’

It’s easy to hate on Twitter (as I’ve often said before), but I think the recent NFL and Twitter deal is a massive opportunity for the platform and hopefully the start of things to come for the platform. But also, open up new dialogues with content/IP partners and subsequently brands.

Twitter seemed to have run out of steam with the ‘live’ thing. No live events = no live and meaningful activity on Twitter. And unstructured to say the least. That said, there was a sound logic to providing an independent platform on which ‘live’ could be discussed by anyone. Continue reading “Twitter finally begins to take ownership of ‘Live’”

Why we need Twitter to survive

I hate bullies and bullying. I despise taking pleasure from others’ misfortune, which is why I have moved from sadness to anger about some of the headlines around Twitter. Do we really want to see Twitter die?

I find it incredibly ironic how businesses whose flawed and outdated business models force them to spew out such ridiculous link bait articles (and I do use the term ‘articles’ loosely) such as ‘Twitter is down for some people’ and lauding the decline of something that has been so critical to our evolution as a society.

Why do I say that? In my 11 years working in social, whenever I’ve been in doubt about a campaign approach or a piece of messaging, I always ask myself ‘how would I introduce myself or this ‘thing’ to a physical room full of real strangers?’ It’s a stark but useful sense check of what I would have to say to not be rejected or ridiculed face to face. Continue reading “Why we need Twitter to survive”

Timing is everything

Sometimes the timing is just not right. Sometimes you feel like someone else has found what you knew to be your winning lottery ticket! Wrapify are my lost lottery ticket!

Whilst it’s kinda gut-wrenching to see an old idea come to fruition (let me be clear, I lay no claim to anything Wrapify are doing), it’s actually quite comforting to see that the market conditions for this type of initiative are right. Continue reading “Timing is everything”