Get Digital

On Tuesday the 14th of April we had the last of our mini conferences of the year. That was the Get Digital conference, and like the other four, was held in  The Mahony Hall in The Helix. Unlike the other three conferences however, this one was only a duration of two hours. We had the pleasure of listening to talks from a variety of speakers. These were Mary Malone, Richard Garsthagen, John Massey, and finally, Shay Garvey.

The Get Digital mini conference was held in the Mahony Hall in The Helix on Tuesday 14th April.

First to make their presentation was Mary Malone, who is the Global CEO of CoderDojo. CoderDojo was an Irish movement, and is now operating in 58 countries worldwide. It’s a “global network of free, volunteer-led, independent, community based programming clubs” for kids between the ages of 7 and 17. The program encourages them to be creative with technology and to think outside the box. Mary explained to us that unlike when playing an Xbox or other gaming console, with CoderDojo the child thinks about technology, not just simply consumes it. It’s also a child centric programme, meaning they decide what they want to do. It’s volunteer-led and has almost 6,000 volunteers. Due to this its a free program, and they try to open Dojos in areas where children aren’t getting enough education. I believe this is a brilliant concept, as it means that even kids whose parents wouldn’t be able to afford such a program are given the opportunity to learn and develop important computer skills, and get involved. Mary also told us that the aim of CoderDojo isn’t just produce coders, although many of the children may decide to pursue that pathway in the future. Their aim is to give children some basic computer skills so that they can converse with those in the technology sector. I feel that because their aim isn’t only to perduce amazing coders, it puts the children under less pressure. They know they have the freedom to chose what projects interest them, with no predetermined goals already outlined for them.

The CoderDojo logo.

Here is a picture of one of the many Dojos in operation.

Next up was Richard Garsthagen. He is the EMEA Director for Cloud Business Development at Oracle. He discussed cloud computing, and how it “transforms the way we use technology“. He described how many businesses these days are almost like “museum pieces“. They are stuck in the past and slow to make change. He believes that in a few years the way we do everything will be changed. He also explained how a number of companies have already started to make this change, and this is called digital disruption. These firms “use technology to change how an industry functions“. A prime example of such a company is Netflix. They allow us to stream TV shows and movies anywhere once we have internet connection. This is something that only a few years ago we would have viewed as impossible. It just goes to show that we really don’t know what will be made reality in a few years thanks to advances in technology.

Netflix is a company that changed the way we watch TV shows and movies. They are now available at our fingertips anywhere once we have internet access.

Third to speak was John Massey, EMEA Business Development Lead for SAP. He described to us how SAP is at the center of the technology revolution.  They help organizations “fight the damaging effects of complexity, generate new opportunities for innovation and growth, and stay ahead of the competition.” The company invested a massive 20 million in the last while, purely towards cloud computing. SAP have around 100 sales people in Ireland, and had to re-educate many of these. This was to help their staff with the transition towards cloud computing. For most of their staff it was completely new territory, so “the change didn’t happen overnight”. John also spoke to us how websites such as LinkedIn changed the way they operate. Now they get around 50% of their new staff from LinkedIn. I believe this is an important point. Due to the fact that potential employers are looking at our online profiles, it’s important that we portray ourselves well on social media.

LinkedIn is now a vital recruitment tool used by many businesses.

Last to speak was Shay Garvey. He is both partner and co-founder at Frontline Venture. They are “Europe’s first community focused fund“. Frontline Ventures are based in London and Dublin, although they do make investments all across Europe. They describe themselves as “ a pioneering early-stage venture capital firm, believing in ideas and investing in passion.” As well as discussing Frontline Ventures, Shay also spoke to us about things he believes will happen in the future. He said that “technology is the way forward“, and although this is a good thing, it also puts numerous jobs at risk. He spoke to us of a friend that he has in America who is a surgeon but is currently underemployed due to a new machine that the hospital he works in just purchased. Shay said that “any routine jobs are at risk of being computerised“. This is an amazing but frightening thought. It’s certainly a good thing that we are able to create such advance technology, but if it leaves people underemployed and maybe even at some stage completely unemployed, is it really such a good thing?

Frontline Ventures, “a pioneering early-stage venture capital firm, believing in ideas and investing in passion”.

Like the other three conferences, this final  Get Digital mini conference was both enjoyable and informative, and we were extremely lucky to have the opportunity to hear talks from such successful individuals in the two hours. To conclude, here’s a Flipagram that I made from pictures that I took on the evening, give it a watch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Videos

I took some photos while at the Get Started 2015 mini conference and made a short video using Flipagram. The photos include pictures of the guest speakers while presenting at the conference, and various different slides of their presentations.

I also stumbled across a playlist for the Get Social 2014 mini conference that I attended back in October. Although the conference was a while ago, the videos are definitely worth a watch, especially if you weren’t there on the night.

Here’s another Flipagram that I made. This time it’s from the Get Digital 2015 mini conference. I took all the photos myself on the evening of the speakers and some of the slides in their presentations. Give it a watch, it’s only a couple of seconds long!

Get Started 2015

On Tuesday the 17th of February (Pancake Tuesday for you foodies out there!), we attended the second last of our mini conferences of the year. This time it was the Get Started 2015 mini conference, and was once again it was held in The Mahony Hall of The Helix. We had the pleasure of listening to a wide variety of speakers. These included Niamh Bushnell, David McKernan, Kealan Lennon, Sean Ahern, Paul Kerley and also the DCU innovation panel consisting of Richard Stokes, Ronan Furlong, and Eoghan Stack.

The mini conference was held in the Mahony Hall in The Helix on Tuesday 17th of February. It was a duration of 4 hours.

First to take to the stage was Niamh Bushnell. Previously a part of the World Mercantile Exchange which is an American multinational company located in New York, she moved to Ireland recently as she was appointed Dublin’s first Commissioner for Start-ups. The position has been funded privately through the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurs. It is her job as a Commissioner to ultimately develop a voice, an image and a platform for Dublin as a great start-up city, both nationally and internationally. She spoke to us about how it is vital for start-ups to live in a community that you can engage in, and Dublin has that to offer. It is full of innovation and creativity, and is a perfect place for start-ups. However, with her being from America she has an outside perspective. She said that people outside of Ireland aren’t aware of Dublin and its potential, or even aware of all the great businesses and big multinationals already located here. For example, Mastercard, which is a massive company used worldwide, has one of its headquarters located right here in Dublin. This is a massive win for Ireland as it brings its profits here. The only downside is that a very limited number of people outside of Ireland would know this and be aware of all the Dublin has to offer. This is where Niamhs job kicks in. She plans on making Dublins potential known worldwide, because at the minute it is a “hidden success“.

Here is the logos for some of the big multinational companies that are located in Dublin.

Second to speak on the evening was David McKernan, founder of Java Republic. McKernan founded the company in 1999. He was inspired to start a coffee company by a place that he discovered called Cafe Roma. When he walked into the small cafe he just got a “spark of inspiration“. However, a few years later he returned to his place of inspiration and was extremely disappointed to find that it was exactly the same. They didn’t change a single thing about the place, and due to this it was rundown and couldn’t compete with all the other new modern coffee shops that it was now surrounded by. From this David realized how important innovation is, and that you have to keep moving forward with your business. He decided to redesign the brand to look more modern. He also opened more premises throughout Ireland. He refused to let his company get left behind with the times like Cafe Roma. He described being an entrepreneur as being a tough road, but if you “keep getting kicked down get back up“. I found his talk one of the most inspirational. I believe that he was right, if you don’t modernise your business and move with the times then ultimately it’s going to fail. You have to keep innovating and giving the customer what they want in order for your business to be a success.

Java Republics redesigned labeling.

Next up was DCUs innovation panel. First from this panel to make their presentation was Richard Stokes. He is the Director of Innovation at DCU and is also the CEO of Invent DCU Ltd. Throughout the years he has worked with many multinational and start-up companies, and was co-founder of four start-ups and CEO of two successful companies in the ICT sector. He said that today it is a lot easier to start up a business than it was when he did it. This is down to the various different support networks out there, for example the support available to start-ups at DCU. This support is available from Invent, which was established in 2001. It is located on the DCU campus, as DCU is a leading source of innovation and is known as “the university of enterprise“.

Invent DCU Ltd.

Second to speak from the panel was Ronan Furlong, who is the Executive Director of DCU’s recently launched Innovation Campus. The campus opened May of last year, and is home to a mix of start-ups and multinationals. The campus is all about engaging with DCU research, and adding value to the company through collaboration with the university and having a community “vibe“. I believe that the location of the Innovation Campus is an extremely cleaver one. That means that the stat-ups can avail of all that DCU has to offer. For example they could have some of the students intern for them, and they could even use the technology labs on the campus. Not only that but because it has a mix of both start-ups and multinationals, the start-ups can get some much needed advice and guidelines from the already established global businesses.

A picture of the outside of DCUs Innovation Campus.

Last to speak from the innovation panel was Eoghan Stack, Chief Executive for DCUs Ryan Academy. The Ryan Academy is a non-profit, joint venture between both DCU and The Ryan Family. It aims to be “the leading supporter of entrepreneurs and innovation in Ireland”. They hope to “promote entrepreneurial mindset” throughout Ireland. Stack described the journey for an entrepreneur in a way which everyone could understand. He said it was like “something you would see in Star Wars“. Although I laughed to myself at the idea at first, it actually made sense when he explained his logic behind it. He described to us how you have the hero (the entrepreneur), who meets Yoda and gets some advice (an already established business who offers you advice), then the hero goes through the deep dark forest (the ups and downs of the business), comes out and fights the monster and wins (fights competitors and to establish a place in the market)! Funny as it seems at first, it actually makes sense when you think of it. 

Following the DCU innovation panel was Kealan Lennon, both founder and CEO of Cleverbug. Cleverbug is an app that you install on your phone, which allows you to use photos to make personalized cards to “celebrate holidays and life moments“. It differs from other card companies as it allows you to connect with Facebook. By doing this it can sync your friends birthdays with the app, and send you push notifications and emails a week before a family members birthday. It is the only company in the world to use photo curation and algorithms to help find suggested pictures with meaning for your personalized cards. Although the company only launched around 18 months ago, it’s already a huge success as it has customers from over 200 countries. I believe that its success is because it stands out from the crowd and has something special to offer. Not only does it remind you of birthdays a week in advance so you will never forget them again, but it also offers same day delivery.

The logo of Cleverbug that was launched around 18 months ago.

Second last to take to the stage was Sean Ahern, founder and CEO of ThankFrank. This business is still in the process of being fully developed, and Sean made a comparison of how being an entrepreneur was like going to war, and he is “still in the trenches“. By this I think that he means it is tough going, but you just have to carry on fighting. The idea behind his company is that it’s a website that allows you to put a “like button” onto any webpage. In doing this it allows you to see how many viewers the page received, and how many likes it got. It also allows you to earn credit for every like that you get. I find it to be a clever idea. It’s a good way to know how many viewers your page gets, and an easy way to earn credit by getting people to like it. Lets just hope that Sean can stick out the war and get his company fully up and going!

The ThankFrank website itself isn’t up and running yet, but here’s the logo!

Last but not least was Paul Kerley, who is an entrepreneur and investor. He left home and 16 and dropped out of school. Later in life he decided to go back to education. He spoke to us about his various different successes throughout the years. He explained how it wasn’t easy, at one stage he even had to refinance his house to capitalize one of his businesses. However, he manged to turn even that around. They were making a loss then after the refinance of his house he used that money to help them break-even, and within the following year they were making a profit and he was out of the red. To me Kerley epitomizes what being an entrepreneur is all about. You have to take risks, not knowing whether you will end up worse off than when you started. He could have easily lost everything by taking the chance refinancing his home.

Get Mobile 2014

On Tuesday the 11th of November we had the second of our mini conferences of the year. This was the Get Mobile 2014 mini conference. Like the Get Social one, it too was held in The Mahony Hall of The Helix, and was a duration of 4 hours long. We had numerous of important speakers. Those of which included Dr. Theo Lynn, Dr. Mark Hughes, Dr. Cathal Gurrin, Eoin Cruise, Paul Davey and last but not least, Alex Meisl.

Various different app icons and a smartphone to symbolize “getting mobile“.

Once again, Dr. Theo Lynn had the tough job of opening the conference. Due to the fact that he is both a Senior Lecturer at DCU Business School and the Principal Investigator of the Irish Centre for Cloud Computing and Commerce, this task didn’t phase him in the slightest, and he gave both an interesting and engaging presentation. He discussed the importance of mobile phones, and described them to be our “constant companions“. He also presented us with some amazing facts. For example, according to Dr. Lynn an amazing 96% of Irish people between the ages of 18-25 years old own a smartphone. What I found even more fascinating was the fact that 60% of those own an iPhone. I found this quite easy to believe actually, as I myself own an iPhone, as do that majority of my friends. One thing that Dr. Lynn said during his presentation stuck with me. This was that everyone knows their own mobile phone number, but not their PPS numbers. Therefore mobile numbers are in fact the number one form of identification. I found this funny due to the fact that people change their phones all the time.. but then I guess maybe they don’t change their mobile numbers? Also, when applying for a job you always provide your mobile number on the CV, but never your PPS number unless it is specified to do so. Maybe he is right and phone numbers are the number one identifier in the world?

Dr. Theo Lynn opening the Get Mobile 2014 mini conference in The Helix.

 

 

Next to speak was Mark Hughes, who is the Chief Technical Officer at Digifeye. They focuses on merging computer vision and machine learning technology to convert visual content into shoppable content. They do this by using extremely advanced software and specific algorithms to training computers to recognise where clothes usually are on the body, if a person is male or female, and also if an item of clothes is a coat, dress, trousers and so on. It essentially does this through “supervised learning“, like you would do with a child. This was something that was near to impossible to achieve before, but is a very powerful marketing tool. It enables people to find specific outfits or items of clothing by simply taking a picture and searching it. It is definitely a tool that I would use at home while shopping online!

Mark Hughes from Digifeye discussing their advanced software that could essentially change the way we shop. 

 

 

Dr. Cathal Gurrin was third to take the stage.  Dr Gurrin is a lecturer at DCU and an investigator in the Insight Centre for Data Analytics. Aswell as that, he is also a leading researcher in the field of Lifelogging. These personal lifelogs “create a complete and accurate picture of an individual“. They record everything that an individual sees, says and hears, so they will never forget anything ever again. They have in fact been around since the 1920’s, but only now do we have a commercial version. This is made possible due to advances in technologies such as sensing, storage and search. They are private archives, and no one else can access them. Not only that, but any pictures taken with people in the background their faces are blurred out to protect their privacy too. Although these Lifelogs are designed to be private, what would happen is somebody was able to hack into them? They would hear and see everything that has every happened to you, and this is an extremely frightening thought to know that you would have no secrets from this hacker. From a commercial point of view however, its an unbelievably clever idea. The thought that you would never have to worry about forgetting important information as it would all be conveniently stored for you is an amazing concept.

A picture of Cathal Gurrin during his talk on Lifelogs.

 

 

The fourth speaker at the Get Mobile mini conference was Eoin Cruise, who is now the head of Microsoft Mobile Devices in Ireland. He was with Nokia for the past 10 years prior to the brand becoming a part of Microsoft. He described to us how since the two companies have joined together and become one, they now “have the best platform to change the world“. He justified this statement by the fact that their company can put software onto smartphones that others can’t, such as Microsoft Office and Xbox Live. This gives them a new advantage over their competitors. Eoin was up front about how Nokia weren’t doing very well for the past while, and that’s why ultimately they had to make a drastic change or admit defeat. Through a lot of hard work however, last Christmas (2013), Nokia Lumia managed to gain 11.6% of smartphone sales. Now their focus is on creating an affordable smartphone that can do everything at a good price. They plan mastering this first before “wining in the high end“, and moving onto the more expensive ranges of smartphones. I believe this is a good way to go about things. Although Apple are already dominating the smartphone market, they are doing so at the more luxury price. Therefore they may have an advantage over Apple if they can keep their costs low. Also, the fact that they have software specific to Microsoft that can’t be used on Apple or Android devices, this may also help them in gaining the upper-hand in the market.

Eoin Cruise from Microsoft explaining how they are going to master affordable smartphones first before even attempting to “win in the high end“.

 

 

Second last to make their presentation was Paul Davey, who is the mobile leader for IBM in Ireland. IBM stands for International Business Machines and was founded 103 years ago. They were in fact that inventors of both ATM machines and swipe cards. Not only that, but they created the first ever smartphone. The smartphone cost $900 to buy at this time, and the first ever app cost a further $3000. The company decided to move away from creating products. Instead, they decided to provide the technology behind it. A prime example of this software is  Watson. This is extremely advanced technology, as it processes information almost like a human rather than a machine. It became very highly regarded and was the focal point of the news when it began to aid doctors in making cancer treatment choices. IBM also teamed up with Apple to create enterprise solutions for iOS and to provide AppleCare. This worked extremely well for them as they provided the technology for the Apple devices, and Apple is such a huge international company. They also came together with Twitter. I believe this was a very strategic relationship to set up, as now they are able to analyse data on this fast growing social media site, and develop their technologies even further.

A shot of Paul Davey discussing IBM’s and Twitter’s new “relationship”.

 

The last presenter of the night was Alex Meisl, chairperson of Sponge and WiForia Ltd. Alex co-founded Sponge, which is now the UK’s most successful and longest established mobile agency delivering mobile strategy, sites and applications for massive clients. These clients include huge brands such as Adidas, Coca Cola and McDonalds. As well as that, he also launched WiForia in 2014. This is a company that focuses on in-store WiFi engagement with customers to increase sales and create rewarding shopping experiences. Their aim is reflected in their clever motto, “putting WiFi to work“. He presented us with numerous facts. For example, did you know that more 5 years olds now of days know how to use a smartphone than tie their own shoes? I found this fact amazing, and it just shows that technology is literally taking over. Alex also spoke about how many companies don’t have mobile optimised sites or even apps, and how this is an “inexcusable” thing. Since Argos launched their mobile app in 2010, they have reached an amazing 6 million downloads! Not only that, but mobile devices now account for a huge 16% of their total sales! With this in mind, think of the massive missed opportunity for all of those who don’t have an app or mobile site. They could drastically increase their sales by simply doing this one little thing and making their company “mobile friendly“. He also spoke to us about the importance of mobile advertising, and how they will overtake newspapers in the near future. In my opinion, this is a huge thing because newspapers have been around for so long. It just goes to show the way in which the world is changing, and how more of an emphasis is being placed on technology and modern forms of advertising, as opposed to traditional forms.

Alex Meisl’s slide depicting the importance of advertising on mobile devices, and how mobile ads will overtake newspapers.

 

 

This second conference was extremely enjoyable and informative. I definitely learned a lot of useful information as well as various different facts, and I am really looking forward to the Get Started 2015 mini conference in February.

 

Social Networking Links.

To accompany this blog, I set up some social networking pages. I set up three in total, including a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and an Instagram account.

This is the profile picture that I chose for all three accounts.

Here’s the link to the Facebook account that I set up.

https://www.facebook.com/lauren.mckeown.5686

Here’s the link to the Facebook like page that I set up.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dice201415/1500479063550575

Here’s the link to the Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/StudentDice

And finally, here’s the link to the Instagram account.

http://instagram.com/dicestudent2014

Get Social 2014

Last Tuesday, (the 14th of October 2014) the 5th Get Social Mini Conference took place in The Mahony Hall of The Helix. The conference was a duration of four hours, running from 2pm until 6pm. We were fortunate enough to have a wide variety of speakers present. These included Dr. Theo Lynn, Deirdre Hogan, Jane McDaid, Lucy Campbell, Alan Coleman, Nicolas Cappiello and Eric Weaver.

Various social networking logos to symbolizing “Getting Social”

Dr. Theo Lynn had the job of opening the show. No stranger to DCU as he himself is in fact a lecture at the university, and on top of that is also DCU’s digital marketing programme chairperson. He discussed the importance of social media, and how it can be an extremely powerful tool in the world of marketing. He also approached us with a question, “how do we use social media to solve problems?”. This left me somewhat puzzled. I mean, I had never actually thought of social media as a medium in which we can solve problems? I only viewed it as a means of keeping in contact with friends and family and nothing more. He really opened my eyes to how narrow minded I was being. He explained to us that by accumulating peoples search histories experts can in fact solve problems for businesses by figuring out what people want and predict future fashions and trends.

Depicted above are some of the large posters there were on display at the event.

Following Dr. Theo Lynn was Deirdre Hogan, Senior Research Fellow at DCU. She was there to discuss to us what GAJO is and how it can be useful. The software itself is based on research coming from our very own labs here in DCU. It is used in order to find the correct audience on a social media site. It does this by “cutting through the noise” and using “key word targeting” in order to find the correct people to aim things at. For example, from somebody putting up a tweet or even a Facebook status saying “need a new phone”, the software would match this person up with the correct product or service, which in this case would be websites for mobile phones. Personally, I think this is an unbelievable concept. It means that you will only be presented with adds that are actually relevant to you, and not be bombarded with ones that you have no interest in whatsoever.

Deirdre Hogans on stage during her presentation on GAJO.

Third to present was Jane McDaid. She is the creative thinker for Think House who aim at connecting with 18-35 year olds. Think House have a very good relationship with a wide variety of brands, Some of which include Ben and Jerry’s and Barry’s Tea. She simplified what it takes to have “killer content” in 7 steps. She called these “the seven sins of killer content“. and they were as follows. 1: Comedy. Use this as a key way to catch peoples attention. 2: Epic, or memorable. 3: Emotive. If you can’t make them laugh try to play on their emotions. 4: WTF? Demand attention by thinking outside the box and being somewhat strange and different. In other words don’t just follow the crowd.  5: Zeitgeist. 6: NSFW (not safe for work). And lastly lucky number 7: informative. Give people the vital information, but do so in an interesting and original way. She also stressed to us the point that Dr. Theo Lynn made earlier on in the conference, that social media is an extremely powerful and influential tool, far more powerful that traditional media. I believe this is a very good point, although it’s one that a lot of people may not realize. It’s hard to come across a person in our modern society that doesn’t have at least one active social networking site. Even if you were only to use your Facebook account once a day, think of all the content that you see on it in that period of time. Think of all the status’ on your newsfeed, and not to mention the adds too. It is fair to say that the majority of us log on and check our newsfeed numerous times daily. Therefore it is fair to assume that social medial and social networking sites are hugely influential, as their content reaches millions of people on a daily basis.

According to statistics done by Facebook there was 829 million daily active users on average in June 2014.
According to statistics done by Twitter, there are 271 million monthly active users on Twitter, and 500 million Tweets are sent per day.

Next up was Lucy Campbell, marketing director of RTÉ Digital. She discussed us the importance of RTÉ  staying “current” and innovative. Since 2003, RTÉ has been Irelands number one video on demand player, media site AND news app. They provide people with what they want. This year they launched GAAGO, a site that people can stream live GAA games from anywhere in the world.  This is a great development in the world of GAA and for GAA fanatics ! I feel that is is extremely important to be innovative and provide people with new and exciting services by keeping ahead of competition.

Approximately 80,000 live streams per match.

Love/Hate is one of RTÉ’s greatest success stories, and Irelands most watched TV show to date. A massive 976,000 viewers tuned into the first episode that aired on RTÉ One on 5/10/14, and a further 114,000 viewers later streamed this episode online on the RTÉ player.

Fifth to speak was Alan Coleman, CEO of Wolfgang Digital. He spoke about  various different things. He mentioned the Google blackout 16/8/13 and how global internet searching dropped dramatically during that small period of time, by a massive 40% !   He also informed us that 1.5 million Irish people watch the Late Late Toy Show each year, but 2 million Irish people could be reached every single day using Facebook.  I found this point fascinating, as I definitely thought that the annual Toy Show would reach a winder audience than Facebook. How wrong was I. He also discussed to us the “Google effect”. This is answering questions that people are asking Google in order to reach the correct target audience.

1.5 million people viewed the much anticipated Late Late Toy Show last year, but Facebook manages to get a huge 2 million users on a daily basis !

From Linkedin we had EMEA Sales Director,  Nicolas Cappiello present at the mini conference. He informed us that Linkedin users now of days are now creating six times more content on their profiles than they were only two short years ago! He explained to us how users of the site can present “two different personas“: their social side and their professional side. The content comes from our own peers, inspirational leaders from all over the world, the news, and lastly from companies. Linkedin have even teamed up with 300 people worldwide to share their experiences on their own personal profiles, one of which includes American President Barack Obama. I think this is a good way to go to in order to reach out to people and inspire them, as these influential figures are ones in which a wide majority of people admire, idolize and aspire to be like.

Just 1 of the 300 worldwide leaders that Linkedin have teamed up with.

Eric Weaver had the job of closing the conference, and what a job he did ! He is Chief Social Officer, G-14 Region, for Mediabrands Worldwide and it was actually his 4th time speaking at a Get Social conference, so he was no stranger to Ireland at this stage! Like many of the previous speakers, he talked to us about the importance of social media, and how it is a vital source of “free advertising“. I have to say, him referring to social networking sites as “free advertising” really struck home for me. I mean he was spot on. When you think about it, if you can start up a dialogue and get people talking about your product or brand online, be it through sharing a status or tweeting about it, that is essentially FREE advertising for you. With 2 million users on Facebook alone every single day, it is not only a free source of advertising, but it is also the most effective form available. He demonstrated this point to by using Oreo as an example. To celebrate their 100th birthday they decided to do a daily twist challenge. This was to have a different piece of content every day for 100 days. It was ultimately “100 pieces of content in 100 days“. They used various different social platforms to display their challenge, these included Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. By the end of the 100 days they has increased by an amazing 280% in Facebook likes alone.

From their Oreo daily twist challenge, they managed to increase their Facebook likes by an amazing 280%.

From the conference I not only learned a lot, but I came away a couple of very useful statistics. I am also a lot wiser on the influence that social media has on the world today, and have a new appreciation for the power of advertising on social networking sites.