Conscientious Marketing and PR Blog

As most of you know Paradise Hotel is a reality television program. In the show, a group of single people live in a luxurious hotel resort, competing to see who can stay in the hotel the longest. Periodically, someone is removed from the show, and others are brought in to replace them. Each week couples pair off and must share a hotel room together. One person is left over, and he or she has to leave. To sum it up the show is about sex, party and intrigues.

Paradise Hotel have become a phenomena, it in the media, it is on every ones lips as well as in the social network channels. I am personally watching the Norwegian edition and in addition to this I am “a fan of Paradise Hotel Norway” on Facebook. In this Facebook group people can discuss the show and outer their opinions about the people on it. My opinion is that the people applying for a show like this have to be very psychically fit, because people watching gets very engaged. There are several hate groups for Paradise Hotel participants on Facebook, so it is hard to see the ethics in it.

During the in-flight newser to Cameroon for his first African trip, pope Benedict XVI responded to six questions, one regarding the urgent issue of AIDS in Africa.

“One cannot overcome the problem with the distribution of condoms.

On the contrary, they increase the problem,”

Benedict XV, 2009

The Pope argued that distribution of condoms aggravated the problem, rather than helping to contain the virus. The Vatican is currently working hard at damage-limitation following Pope Benedict’s claim that condoms can make the problem of Aids worse. The pope’s comments were recorded by reporters, and the recording has the pope saying that the distribution of condoms “even aggravates the problems”.

The first half of the pope’s statement is clearly right. Condoms alone won’t stop the spread of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. Campaigns to reduce the number of sexual partners, safer-sex practices and other programs are needed to bring the disease to heel. But the second half of his statement is grievously wrong. There is no evidence that condom use is aggravating the epidemic and considerable evidence that condoms, though no panacea, can be helpful in many circumstances. The continent of Africa is home to two thirds of all people living with HIV/AIDS and buries a third of all AIDS victims each year.

About a dozen Facebook groups have sprang up, mostly from European countries, criticizing the pontiff. A Facebook campaign (with multiple groups) is now raging in response to what the  Pope said. “Condoms for the Pope” or “Send the Pope Condoms” are two of them. Thousands have pledged to send the Vatican millions of condoms to protest the pope’s controversial comment. The pope and the Catholic church is old fashion, should they change their view and make it more up to date?

Rumor has it that Jennifer Aniston has ended her relationship with musician boyfriend John Mayer because his obsession with Twitter.

Are the social networks now ruining our real relationships and lives? Are we too busy updating our profiles, that we miss out on our own life? Are we getting lacy and turning in to people just sending each other a birthday cake on Facebook?

I got very scared reading this. How much did John Mayer acctually Tweet? How much is to much? Wops, I got up with all these questions and no answers, because I do not have any answers. We are all new players in this game.

I really can not live without my PC and access to social networks, E-mail, Internet bank, Phone via Skype, maps via Google, read newspapers etc. It helps me and defines me, many people wonder what we did before the mobile phones, but I wonder even more on what we did before the computers with Internet access. A day on my PC looks much like this:

Facebook

Several times a day. Updating my own profile and watch other profiles, photos, groups, events, and all the other shit that just appers.

Twitter

Updates it several times a day, strange I do not put my alarm clock on when I am sleeping to update it.

MSN- Messenger

My Messenger is always on, when the PC is on. Even though I appear as of line once in a while I am there:)(maybe I should not have told this part?)

Skype

Since I am an International student I use it every day, to keep in touch with the people back home.

E- mail

I have two E-mail addresses, that I check every day.

Online Newspapers

I check VG, Dagbladet, Aftenposten and The Independent every day, often several times

Online Bank

Use the Internet for money transactions and to pay bills

I also use the Internet to, order flight tickets, orientate my selves by Google map, be oriented on X-stream via the schools homepage, blogging, do researh to my dissertation, order cinema tickets, order food delivery etc. I can not live without it, period.

My uncle as well use the Internet to promote his business, when I wonder where something is or what the different companies have to offer I Google them, and the companies without good website is the new age loosers.

It happens on the 11th of March

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced a redesign of Facebook to make the social-networking site more like Twitter. Facebook profiles will change, and the updates will be faster than before. The most visible change will occur when users log into their profile. The new homepage will let you see everything that’s shared by your friends and connections as it happens, not like the “old Facebook” that only updates every ten minute. The new design will give users the ability to easily feed the news stream by friend type and network, and users can more easily post/share links, photos and videos.

Last time Facebook did a redesign, people was protesting via a dozen groups on Facebook, will people react the same way now? Or are we more OK with further product development?

Skittles launches an amazing social media campaign. Skittles have turned their homepage as a social media site. Yes, paste Skittles.com into your web browser and, after you fill in your birthday, then a Facebook or Twitter page shows. Skittles is also linked to You tube, you can share your thoughts and meaning about the product via chat rooms or just using Facebook.

All PR is good PR? It is new thinking and is an incredible big move for Skittles, they are making history within marketing and PR. It was Econsultancy that started the combination of social networks together with their web page, Skittles just did it better. The Econsultancy started it with everybody that displayed the word “Econsultanct” on their tweets.

Skittles commercial

Is this the next big thing? The firms that already did it have got huge publisity, but they do not have control over their own homepage anymore, and this could be a problem for them regarding bad publisity. Are they digging their own grave? This could result in a huge PR problem.

Facebook has had an enormous growth since they started in 2004, and became open for anyone with an e- mail address back in September 2007.

It had to happen; I got a friend request on Facebook from my mum the other day. I gave her limited access. It is not that I put things there that I do not want her to see, it is more about what others post about me and of me. I have noticed as an active Facebook user that many users are extremely simple- mined about their use in social network pages like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc. Many Facebook users happily give up pictures and movies of others and themselves, their date of birth, phone numbers, work place, statements of where they are when etc. where is the privacy limit? I want to control what kind of pictures that is out there of me, I want to approve them. The world is full of sick people, I know this, but does my six year old cousin know this? It is scary how people can follow up on what you are doing when. What If your friends are not who they say they are. These social networks are also hiding places for sex offenders and criminals with hidden personality.

We have to think consequences of what we are doing.