TyneTwestival will be hosted on the 25th March 2010

On Thursday 25 March 2010, people in hundreds of cities around the world, including Newcastle will come together offline to rally around the important cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness.  Twestival™ (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good.

All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all ticket sales and donations go direct to projects. Follow @tynetwestival on Twitter or visit http://newcastle.twestival.com for updates.

About Concern Worldwide.

Concern Worldwide was founded in 1968 to meet the needs of people living in extreme poverty, for whom every day is a fight for survival. Concern is a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of poverty. Their mission is to help people living in extreme poverty achieve major improvements in their lives – improvements they can sustain without ongoing support. Concern meets the needs of these people in a caring and personalized manner, respecting their human and cultural dignity. They are committed to reaching the most vulnerable, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Concern’s work is informed by a vision for change and their education programs target the poorest people in the poorest countries in the world, with particular emphasis on reaching out-of-school children such as girls, orphans, street children, working children, children affected by conflict, children affected by HIV and AIDS, and children with disabilities. Concern’s education programs currently reach over 700,000 people in 25 countries across the regions of Africa,  Asia, and the Caribbean.  Please follow @concern on Twitter to get a glimpse of their staff tweeting from around the world; including their efforts on the ground in Haiti. (more…)

Better are proud to be supporting the Entrepreneurs Forum’s Change to Change event which will take place in the North East at the Civic Centre, Newcastle on 22nd February.

The Change to Change event is your Chance to Change your life. An inspirational and informative conference, funded by One North East, for those looking to escape the world of employment and create their own job or venture – whether through necessity or choice.

Lots of the best things that happen in life, happen by chance. But you’ve got to embrace opportunities as they come along and make the most of them. So if you can find a way to increase the likelihood of the chance encounters that could make a real difference to you, then why wouldn’t you jump at it.

Chance to Change is the perfect opportunity to think about what makes you tick and where your passions, ambitions and opportunities lie. Chance to take stock.

Chance to make the most of your skills
Change the way you think about your career.

Chance to speak to people who’ve already done it
Change your thoughts on what you’re capable of.

Chance to do something you’ve always wanted to
Change your life to fit you and your priorities.

Chance to work through the barriers
Change your view on what it takes to start a business.

Chance to make the right connections
Change the rules – make your own.

For more information please visit the Chance to Change website.

+ View All Latest Client Projects +

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I read a piece recently by Clay Shirky, who in a blog post entitled ‘Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable,’ reflected on the nature of revolutions. Periods of time when old ‘stuff’ was no longer relevant to us and new ‘stuff’ couldn’t come along fast enough to replace it. That feels like now doesn’t it?

The edges of our media space are expanding faster than our ability to make sense of them, of new technologies, of how people use them and of the shake out, that will mean some old media will fall by the wayside.

But this is an unravelling story seen from two very different perspectives. The user, swept along by the rush of the crowd to try new media, to make that media fit their lifestyle and the marketer, trying to position a brand where its’ target customer is. (more…)

In response to Sun Tech Mission 2009: it’s (still) grim up North

I find the article very disappointing. In the past 10 years that I have been involved in the digital industry and networking across the North East, things have changed dramatically. There’s a tangible buzz across both the public and private sectors about what’s going on here. Its difficult to know where to start.

We have seen organisations driven by the public sector such as Digital City, IDI, Codeworks, and Software City gather momentum and profile on a local, national and international stage helping to turn around such perceptions of the North East.

These organisations are helping to promote digital innovation and playing a key role in supporting enterprise and entrepreneurship. They are encouraging great ideas to become great businesses, while supporting existing digital companies, from animation to web technologies, to expand their networks, develop their skills and access new markets.

We’ve also seen the growth of groups such as Refresh Teesside, Super Mondays, and Thursday Fizz which  are proving successful at developing new communities and generating genuinely exciting conversations. These groups, spread across the region, are driven by passionate private sector businesses and individuals to create new industry networks, meet contacts (which often in the North East become friends), share ideas, and promote collaboration.

Other organisations such as the Entrepreneurs Forum with its IfWeCanYouCan Campaign (which i understand is unique to the North East), and the members involved in them, are fully committed to harnessing the buzz by supporting businesses and signposting them to the best advice, mentoring, investment networks and resources. To be honest from what we’ve seen, the results of this have been absolutely unquestionable.

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Apr 7 2009 by Jez Davison, Evening Gazette – view article online.

MARK Easby had to face his mum’s cancer and a confidence crisis before becoming Tees Valley’s king of communications. JEZ DAVISON discovers how the Big ‘C’ transformed his life

THE year is 2000 and a young Teessider is caught in a crisis. Former college drop-out Mark Easby had just scraped through university with a third class honours degree before being crushed by the death of his mother Gwyneth from leukaemia.

With confidence and motivation at rock bottom, he decided the only way was up and embarked on a post-graduate qualification “as much for my mum as for myself”. (more…)

Growing your Digital Footprint

We find ourselves drawing this diagram all the time for clients when we’re talking about social media so we thought we’d reproduce it here and get some feedback.

Conversations tend to go something like, “Why social media?”.

After introducing them to the idea that engaging with audiences, listening and harvesting feedback, gaining insights into audience thinking and breaking down corporate barriers is the most rewarding business change event they’ll ever implement it’s much much simpler to draw it.

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TECH NOTES by Declan Metcalfe. Featured in the The Newcastle Journal and nebusiness.co.uk (view article online)

WHAT’S all the buzz around social media?

The explosion that is social media came about due to the convergence of three forces: people, technology and economics. People wanted to talk, and technology caught up to the extent that it became possible to connect to friends in real time using a multitude of devices. These are made affordable because the infrastructure is now in place making it easily accessible to the vast majority.

The easiest way to think of social media, I believe, is as a conversation that millions of people are having, one that’s growing louder as more and more voices join in. And guess what the topics are: they are talking about you, your brand, your product and your services.
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A FAILED management buy-out has led to the creation of a new brand agency in Stokesley, Tees Valley.

Mark Easby, Declan Metcalfe and Peter Jones established Better Brand Agency after the trio’s bid to buy out their former employer, Middlesbrough agency Calm Asylum, foundered.

The new company, which launched in September specialising in brand, marketing and digital services, is now looking to employ extra staff with a view to achieving revenues of around £500,000 in two years.

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“WHAT IS THINKING DIGITAL?” film now live at http://www.thinkingdigital.co.uk/blog/?p=84

A little more about Thinking Digital:

Thinking Digital is an annual conference where the world´s greatest thinkers and innovators gather to inspire, to entertain, and to discuss the latest ideas and technologies.

Defining exactly what to expect at Thinking Digital isn’t easy. The conference prides itself on the eclectic nature of the schedule. One moment you’ll be experiencing a first UK appearance of Live Mesh (as attendees where treated to at Thinking Digital 2008) and the next you’ll be hearing about the science behind love from the world’s leading expert.

For all the latest updates please visit http://www.thinkingdigital.co.uk or follow ThinkingDigital (http://twitter.com/ThinkingDigital) on Twitter.