European Bank (EBRD) ventures into blogging
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has launched a blog which is described by the bank’s Communications Director Reijo Kemppinen as an opportunity “to build dialogue, share knowledge and exchange lessons learnt in an informal forum.”
The first article, by Chief economist Erik Berglöf, describes how the global financial crisis has changed the bank’s operations, and sets the tone for analysis and future articles to come. Four bloggers are currently signed-up to contribute to the blog, and others are planned to follow, to ensure a constant flow of articles.
The blog was created for the bank by digital consultancy Blogminster Media, which is also advising EBRD on its digital strategy. Danny Dagan, Director at Blogminster Media said: “to succeed, a corporate blog not only has to look good and work well, it also needs to have something interesting to say. The illuminating point about the European Bank launching a blog now is that it obviously sees a need to communicate more openly with its stakeholders at a time when financial markets and their players have such high visibility.”
Internet Forums More Like Slander than Libel, Says High Court Judge Eady
The ground is moving under Community libel legislation, one ruling at a time. The latest is a judgement from Justice Eady that Defamation on internet bulletin boards is more like slander than libel. Justice Eady said that bulletin board discussions are characterised by "give and take" and should be considered in that context.
In English law, a victim of libel can win damages even if he has not suffered financial loss as a result of the statement. A person who has been slandered must prove that actual damage has been suffered.
Read the full write-up by Out-Law here, but note that they have confused chat with bulletin boards, and that there is a statement at the end from Justice Eady that confuses things further, because it relates to blogs, not discussion boards or chat:
Out-Law: "Internet chat more likely slander than libel, says High Court".
Update: following my note to the editor of Out-Law, the title of this article has now changed to read "Bulletin board postings more likely slander than libel, says High Court". As the Editor quite rightly told me, they can't really do much about Justice Eady's reference to blogs.
How Do I Embed Google Lively 3D Rooms into My Site or Facebook?
UPDATE: Google Lively has announced that it is shutting down its service on 31 December 2008. More details here.
How to embed Google Lively 3d Rooms into your site or Facebook - I'm getting a lot of questions about this since I posted my article about the launch of Google Lively.
Embedding is really simple, so it should only take a few minutes.
Embedding Google Lively into your website
- 1. Go to Google Lively, register for the service (easy) and create a room.
2. When you go to your Google Lively room, you will see the embedding code just below the room display:
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3. Copy this code, pop it into your website's HTML and that's it!
4. You can control the room screenshot that is displayed by this code by going into your room, finding a pleasing angle to view it, then clicking on "New Room/Room Properties", then "Edit Current Room", and then under the “Webpages” tab, click "Save Thumbnail".
Embedding Google Lively into your Facebook profile
- 1. Go to Google Lively, register for the service (easy) and create a room.
2. When in Google Lively room, the address in your browser should be something like http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-7101804801955543956 (this one is for the UK media room). Copy it.
3. Now log in to Facebook and go to http://www.facebook.com/posted.php (my posted items). In the "Post a Link" box on the right hand side post your Room link (the one you copied in stage 3).
4. Enter comments if you like and then Post the new link.
5. Unfortunately this does not allow you to show your specific room screenshot and is only displayed as a shared link for the moment, but I'm sure there will be a Google Lively Facebook application popping out of the oven any minute now - which will enable you to properly embed your Google Lively 3D chatroom.
Good luck!
BBC shuts Today Programme discussion boards – Moderation on media sites
Not so surprising news that the BBC has decided to close down its Today Programme discussion boards, in a similar way to how the Daily Mail closed their news and Sports forums (some now re-opened), and The Mirror closed their Maddie forum.
I still recall how the online editor of a tabloid newspaper rang me up when I was working for a rival and said: 'we are banging our heads against a brick wall here. We don't know what to do about moderation.' It was unheard of for a rival to call and ask a question like that, but it highlighted the severity of the problem.
The truth is that you either do it properly, or you don't. The key is threefold:
1. You have to define very clear moderation guidelines, so that staff who are moderating have a crystal clear understanding of the parameters they are working to.
2. Your senior stakeholders need to understand what your parameters are, and that to maintain integrity it is best if senior staff do not change those parameters when it suits them, otherwise your credibility is in doubt.
3. You have to make a commitment to properly resource moderation.
The problem is that good moderation costs time, commitment and money, and many media websites stick to what their lawyers think they can get away with, rather than trying to build a quality discussion outlet.
The first test for a UK media provider is usually the BNP (British National Party) tirade that appears in almost any news-related discussion board. Although their right-wing hate infused detestable views are unpalatable for many, they are still a legal party in the UK, and so forum owners are unsure what to do with their postings. What makes it even more difficult for those same media websites is that the BNP has a very organised political-spam operation, whose sole purpose is to promote its message by any means necessary.
A good community professional will tell you that this sort of thing can be resolved through clear policies, and some clever community management, but then there are few with that sort of experience in the market, and media owners are often tight with their money when it comes to the resource required to manage communities properly.
I have a friend and ex-colleague who has been managing abuse on community sites for years. When I met her recently she told me it has now become a pattern in her working life: she joins a company that has no clue how to manage their user generated content and abuse, she puts the right sort of processes into place, and suddenly the community thrives and traffic increases.
Mark Fothergill, another very experienced ex colleague, commented that the BBC had 'too much [user generated] content and no idea what to do with it.'
I think they're both right, and either one of them could have sorted the Beeb out. Perhaps times call for a new discipline?