Five things on Friday #103

Things of note for the week ending Friday December 19th, 2014.

Things of note for the week ending Friday December 19th, 2014.

Five Things

1. A clock made of Tweets
I don’t know why but I really, really like this idea.

tweets

It’s called ‘all the minutes’ and, by plugging into the Twitter firehose and pulling in every tweet that happens to have the exact time therein, it creates a crowd-sourced clock that is awesome, strangely compelling, and yet oddly alluring. I love that a) there’s enough tweets in the world to make this happen b) there is so much weird/anthropological insight to be gained. It’s like when Big Brother used to have a 24hr channel, but better. Honest.

Bonus item: here’s another clock based on colour: ‘What Colour is it?

What colour is it?

2. How to craft an information diet…
…that actually works. This piece is from the always-useful, Life Hacker website has some really good tips on how to consume information through the filter of what it is you’re about to do. It uses a couple of neat metaphors that actually work and, it’s quite funny, it reminded me a lot of an ongoing information diet conversation that I have with my friend Kai. We consume information quite differently, he and I, and the way Life Hacker puts it, I’m kinda coming around to his way of thinking. Check it out –

Vegetables may make you feel light, whereas a heavy beef roast may put you into a food coma. A cup of coffee may wake you up. A glass of wine may relax you. Much like food and drink, the information and media we consume affects the way that we feel after we consume it.
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For example, if you want to get excited about your afternoon’s work, it may be more helpful to listen to an inspiring talk or an interview with one of your heroes rather than catch up on the news. If you’re about to go to bed and want to minimise the amount of time you spend tossing and turning, make sure the media you’re consuming relaxes you.
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Similar to how coffee can wake one person up and put another to sleep, the same information can have different effects on different people. Although one person may find comedies very relaxing, someone else may find them exciting and stimulating. Observe how you feel after consuming certain media, and sequence it appropriately for the activity. For example, if you’re at work and feeling drowsy, try switching from the podcast to upbeat, exciting, music.

Ask yourself what you want out of this information.

If, like me, you’re an information/news nut – you might want to read the whole piece.

3. Daft Punk Lego
This literally needs no introduction whatsoever.

daftpunk

Amazing.

4. The Mariana Trench is an incredible thing
I have a general rule about not putting stuff into this collection of things that you could have possibly already seen. However with this one, I’m willing to make an exception. Discovering new life on this, this bright blue beautiful rock we fly through the universe on, is nothing short of staggering. And that’s exactly what’s just happened.

Amazing.

An Ainternational team aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor set a new record for the deepest fish ever recorded at 8143m in the Mariana Trench. The fish is a completely unknown variety of snailfish with a translucent body, broad wing-like fins and an eel-like tail.

And it’s beautiful.

5. Social Media Trends for 2015

trends

Last year, the Managing Director for Social@Ogilvy EAME, Mr Marshall Manson, asked me if I’d fancy co-writing a future-gazing piece with him about social media trends for 2014. I said yes, of course but then a few things happened.

First off, I found out how awesome it was/is to work with Marshall (our brains just jive, and when that kinda stuff happens then all kinds of magic can follow). Second, the document we wrote went down exceptionally well (which was nice). Third and finally, a good year later, Marshall and I decided we’d make it an annual thing.

Which leads me quite nicely to item five: key trends in social media for 2015. A handy little slideshare that not only reviews the ideas from before but also outlines our trends and predictions for the year ahead (actual trends, not idiotic made up ones). If you have a passing interest in all things social, this presentation might be of interest.

I’d love to hear your feedback too, btw…

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One bonus this week:

  • There are many films coming out in 2015 that I’m getting quite excited about. American Sniper is up near the top of that list. The second trailer for Clint Eastwood’s latest dropped today and it may’ve moved up just that little bit more. Watch it.

See you next week!

hamster

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Author: James Whatley

Chief Strategy Officer in adland. I got ❤️ for writing, gaming, and figuring stuff out. I'm @whatleydude pretty much everywhere that matters. Nice to meet you x

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