Unless you haven’t seen a news site, checked your Facebook or been cornered by the resident IT geek, you would have heard about Apple’s new iPad which was launched today. In essence, it is an enlarged iPod touch with full book reading, Kindle killing features. And I admit, I am a little excited.

But the excitement didn’t start today. The internet has been buzzing with rumours of an Apple ‘tablet’ device for years. Apple enthusiasts have created hundreds of unofficial mockups and predictions which address features, design, functionality and even what Steve Jobs will wear when unveiling. The Apple community created a huge amount of noise in anticipation for today.

But with all this noise comes expectation. And for many, they were let down. From Twitter:

“Quite disappointed with the iPad. (AT&T = terrible, no multitasking, not widescreen, no flash plug-in, no camera, no GPS, can’t write on it)” AlexWorkman

“Not sure whether to be excited/disappointed about ipad at the moment…expected a bit more from Apple” VilleLee

“Very disappointed by Apple’s iPad. So locked down, so proprietary, so limited. We wanted a Mac tablet, we got a giant iPhone.” suprememoocow

“a bit disappointed in apple for the ipad..not as ground-breaking as i hoped…its decent..but nothing i would go out of my way to buy…” smisa

So far, there are 177,000 Google results for iPad and variations of “disappoint”. Just like the spawn of Andre Agassi and Stefi Graf, the iPad was always going to struggle to live up to the expectations that had been set for it.

But here’s the funny part: Apple did not create or fuel this expectation in any way. The production of all Apple products is top secret. Apple never confirmed they were working on a tablet device let alone hinted at the features it may have. In fact, Apple don’t even have a blog, Facebook or Twitter site. They embrace closed communication.

Yet because Apple have such a huge fan base, there was no prompting required. The community set the expectation level for Apple. It is up to Apple to rise to this level. Regardless of whether it sells one or one million, the next couple of months will be full of conversations about whether it hit this mark or not. And so far, it’s not looking good.

What do you think? Could Apple have levelled the expectations of the community by engaging them prior to launch? Or is this irrelevant? Does the existence of such an anticipating, involved community mean that it doesn’t matter what is said, the fans will buy the product anyway?

Nathan Bush is an Interactive Strategist at BCM

New Year’s Resolutions 2010

1. Improve fitness. I should be Trevor Hendy by now as it has been #1 for the last 10 years.
2. Save, plan and commit to one overseas holiday this year. NZ does not count.
3. Finally watch The Terminator, Indiana Jones and Star Wars. Am I the only male in the world who hasn’t seen these?
4. Spend more time BEING rather than posting, tweeting, rating and poking.

Isn’t it frightening? We’ve created a monster which we are now trying to control. After going on Christmas holidays and having as little online interaction as possible, it has been really hard to get back into. And I’m not alone. I have spoken to a number of people coming back to the real world who have vowed to spend less time living their lives online and living their lives… well, normally.

It really hit home when I read this from a friend:

“I’ve literally been on a two week digital detox while enjoying the festive season in true Australian style at the beach. Its been relaxing to say the least, and the break from the usual digital demands (email, twitter, blog, facebook et al) has been a well-timed requirement to allow my brain to de-frag and detox from the information influx I usually face on a day-to-day basis.”

Just like global warming, skinny jeans and Warwick Capper, we have brought this pain upon ourselves. What started as fun, harmless and social has turned into obsession, clutter and inefficiency.

So, instead of sharing everything I do this year, I’m going to spend more time doing.

I’m not going to check my email midway through a movie. I won’t tweet the score when I’m at the football. I’m not going review a restaurant on Foursquare before I finish the meal. I won’t post my concert photos to Facebook when I’m still in the crowd. I won’t write blog posts when I could be doing work… oh, bugger.

Nathan Bush is an Interactive Strategist at BCM

Google is a company that has a mission to make the world’s information as universally accessible as possible. And, in their Code of Conduct they state their philosphy is “Don’t be evil.” Both of these seem at odds with how the company operates in China.

In 2006 Google entered the world’s fast-growing internet market by agreeing to censor its search services in China. Everything from sites like Facebook, Twitter and a blog with photos of puppies called Cute Overload as well as key words like ‘human  rights’ and ‘Tiananmen Square’ are all fair game to be blocked (see this wonderful infographic of some of the words and URLs that China has on their restricted access list).

But after some highly sophisticated and targeted attacks originating from China that involved trying to breach the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, Google is about to enter a self-imposed China exile.

Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, wrote in a post on the company blog.

We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

Seems like a big decision considering China’s number of internet users is now 384 million. But with only around 25-30% of the search market, Google has never had the same success in China that it has had in Australia, the US or other countries. Local search services like Baidu, and Sina.com provide a product more attuned to local consumers’ needs and the Chinese population being very nationalistic were always somewhat wary of the American search giant.

While Google’s position is certainly commendable from an advocacy of open information and human rights perspective, it is a little late for Google to grow a conscience now by taking a moral position four years too late. Obviously they are concerned about attacks against their users, technology infrastructure and intellectual property but I see this as mostly a business decision by Google to exit a costly restricted market.

I recently discussed the Google/China stand off during my segment with Kelly-Higgins Devine on ABC 612 Brisbane.

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Have a listen by clicking the play button above and tell me if you think Google has made the right decision and if you think it was made on moral or business grounds.

Anthony Dever is an Interactive Strategist at BCM

Q. Can we talk a little first about your cell phone.
A. It’s broken.

Q. Do you blame your cell phone for your recent troubles?
A. What do you think? I send a simple SMS to (name deleted for privacy reasons), the wife reads it and I get smashed in the mouth with a 2 iron. Or it might have been a putter.

Q. Do you feel violated?
A. Well I wasn’t feeling anything for a while. But then about 60 million copies of a tricked up photo of me with my face all bashed up and a golf ball sticking out of my ear went viral. I mean epic viral.

Q. Do you have any advice for others out there wanting to keep a dozen or so mistresses?
A. Yes. Don’t have a cell phone and especially watch out for the ones with a GPS that tells people where you are. Don’t have a car with a GPS that records where you have been. Don’t have a MySpace page with anything on it. Don’t have a Twitter page and certainly don’t tweet. Don’t go to London, they have a CCTV camera for every 14 people. Careful what you search for on Google, they keep all your searches on file. Don’t choose mistresses with gmail accounts, gmail bots scan all email content and file it. Avoid tracking apps like Foursquare. Don’t buy your mistresses gifts online, e-commerce sites have long memories. Stay away from people with cameras/phones or you’ll soon hit the web in all sorts of compromising positions. If possible choose mistresses who have never been porn stars or nude models.

Q. Any advice on clothing?
A. Yes, get a range of ski masks in different colours and seasonal weights.

Q. Anything else?
A. Is this off the record? It won’t appear on some blog will it?

Q. Of course not.

Bill Bristow is a Partner at BCM

2009 was a tough year on the career front for many Australians. Redundancies were widespread as companies endeavoured to cope with an uncertain economic climate.
 
The employer marketing and recruitment advertising sectors were highly sensitive to the economic slowdown, with reduced marketing budgets calling for smarter thinking, greater ROI and diversification across the board. The job market had taken a big hit, shifting the dynamic for HR professionals who had previously been dealing with skills shortages and a candidate short market. Inevitably, print media suffered a free-fall in advertising revenue.

From our own agency experiences with employer marketing, the job market appeared to be in recovery late last year – hopefully a barometer of an improving economy – even prompting expert comments of forthcoming skills shortages in some sectors. The credible medium of print, still preferable for sourcing the elusive ‘passive’ candidates, should continue to perform when targeting the baby boomer and senior executive markets but for the rest, the migration to online looks set to continue.

Companies and recruiters alike are continuing to use popular job boards such as SEEK, CareerOne and MyCareer to advertise vacancies, as well as many other niche and industry specific boards.

Mirroring a shift in B2B and B2C communications, we are also seeing social media assist recruiters in candidate vetting and appraisal (so watch those privacy settings on Facebook!). Equally, job seekers are using networks such as LinkedIn – where it really is in their interests to publish (rather than hide) as much relevant information as possible – all to improve employment prospects.

A recent innovation, Brazen Careerist, allows the modern professional to not only showcase their CV but also share ideas and engage with peers in their field, giving them control in a social network that they are happy to share information with.

Another interesting site is KODA, the imaginatively titled “opportunity community”, where employers can take a closer look at young professionals with talents beyond posting a CV in Word format.

This brings me to the latest example: Hire me, HeadBlade (which unsurprisingly led to the sequel, HeadBlade Hired Me!).

This recent success story in how to score your dream job in the new economy is further proof that people can create their own cut-through in competitive fields if they treat job seeking like an industry project or campaign. The bottom line: identify what it is you want to do and where you belong, and go the extra mile.

With innovation and increased usage of social media channels by job seekers, so too increases the need for businesses (as employers) to understand and be actively using these channels to their benefit to source the best available candidates. As the economy improves and, if as predicted, skills shortages make their presence felt, so the spotlight will turn back on employers as they strive to position themselves ahead of the competition. We might then see increased traffic to employer review sites such as JobVent, Glassdoor.com or Vault – and a return to larger budget employer marketing websites and campaign microsites as employers work harder to attract the right candidates.

As every employer would be aware, their human capital is the most important asset they have.

Steve Jennings is an Account Manager at BCM Brisbane

If you are a regular Facebook user you may be wondering what is going on with all your gal friends.

Status updates stating a particular colour are currently the rage but if you are part of that 50% of the population that have the Y chromosome, you are probably clueless as to what is going on.

Here is what it’s all about….

We’re not really sure where it started. One theory is that it’s very clever marketing from one of the hundreds of Breast Cancer organisations across the globe (really??).

The fact is that this game of Chinese Whispers has massive potential for commercial use.

The precedent has been set with Twitterer Kim Kardashian being reportedly paid $10,000 US to Tweet brands to her 2.8 million followers.

Could this be the way to embrace Facebook as a channel and spread brand loyalty?

What do you think?

Sarah Ferguson is an Account Director at BCM Brisbane