Anyone who’s picked up an iPhone 4s will know that the voice recognition software Siri is part of the phone. Now if you get it in the UK, it comes with a man’s voice, in other countries you get the male or female voice.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out why Apple has limited the voices for now – you can bet extra voices will come, just like they have for Sat Navs and Tom Toms (like this Scottish Sat Nav voice by Whyte & Mackay Master Blender Richard Paterson), and some will be charged for.

But in the meantime that means there’s going to be a lot of angry men with their iPhone 4s…
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Scotland sees new alcohol sales rules coming into place this weekend with the aim or curbing cheap multi-buy discounts being one of the primary goals.

But, as The Drum and The Law Society of Scotland point out, there are always unintneded consquences. In this case, it’s to do with the part of the law that states you cannot advertise alcohol within 200m of the actual alcohol.

That’s going to hit social media, especially the use of mobile…
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There’s been a few instances recently (including one where I was giving a quick Twitter masterclass to some police at 2am but that’s a story for another day) where it’s been clear that for many in the Scottish emergency services – regardless of it being the police, ambulance service, coastguard or fire and rescue services – social media is still something that’s viewed with a range of emotions from suspicion to hostility or ignorance. Recent events down south have done nothing to help get rid of that viewpoint either.

Now I believe social media could be a fantastic tool for the 999 services – from building grassroots community relations to helping prevent crime and get results on crime – and I’d like to do my bit to help.

I’m willing to offer free one-day training course/presentation on social media which will be backed up by the courses being made available as podcasts – video and audio – for others in the forces to view/listen to at their leisure.

The courses will cover:

• Why people use social media
• How the service could use social media/ideas for engagement
• A look at the most popular platforms – Twitter, Facebook, blogging, LinkedIn, GeoLocation services, online video, podcasts
• What costs are involved – financial and time and how to minimise them
• IT and HR issues around social media and how to overcome them
• How to engage
• Crowdsourcing
• How to measure effectiveness

As stated above, there’s no charge for the course (though travelling expenses may be incurred depending on location). If anyone is interested all they have do is get in touch via the email address or phone number at the top right of the page.

I am utterly delighted to be announcing ex-Digital Editor of the Daily Record and STV Local Editor Iain Hepburn has joined Contently Managed as the country’s first Director of Brand Journalism allowing us to add to our social media package to businesses in Scotland.

This, as they say, is exciting times folks…

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Tesco Scotland had a little IT hitch (though it may have been a PR stunt, you never know) with the result being that you were able to buy three cases of beer for £11.

But how did word spread so quickly to cause the police needing to be called in to certain stores? Quite simple – social media and mobile phones, in particular SMS. But there was one other element to this: the messages on Twitter, Facebook and blogs as well as the mobile text messages all came from people that the receiver knew – in other words a trusted network.

And that’s what made the difference. If the message ‘Tesco giving away beer at £11′ had been from strangers or companies, then it would have been treated sceptically or as spam (and ignored). But because it came from people that the end receiver (in this case, you and I) had previous, trusted relationships with, we knew it was legit. And many people jumped in the car.

The next time someone asks what’s the power of digital communications, get them to call their local Tesco and ask how much beer they had on their shelves left at end of business on June 1 2010.

Why you want to be part of or create a trusted network

If people trust you, they will believe you and have a deeper relationship with you. If you are a company or brand, that makes them more likely to want to spend time and money with you. If you’re part of a trusted network you have credibility.

How to become part of a trusted network

Engage with people on their terms and platforms, don’t sell to them all the time online. Be helpful, be conversational. Talk with them, not to them. And always remember the 7:2:1 rule of engagement – only one in every ten of your posts should be a blatant product sell.

Now this is what I call digital democracy. There’s tons that could be said about the Scottish Elections last week (or you can read this post, this post, this post and listen to this Audioboo and that pretty much covers it) but here’s something that’s popped up that gives all online types a chance to be involved (even if just a wee bit)…

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The BBC seems to be in a bit of a muddle regarding social media use for staff, according to politics site Guido Fawkes. Business Editor Robert Peston cracked a sexual joke about the Royal Wedding and was asked to remove the joke, which he did (you can see what the gag was here). And it’s not the first time the BBC has had problems with Twitter.

Now you can read Guido’s article as BBC bashing but it does have a fair point – are the feeds the staff post on personal or private? Apparently, they are private. In which case, does the BBC have a right to censor it?

What’s the lesson here for businesses in Scotland and elsewhere thinking of social media?

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Ever-talented Jon Clements has written a good piece over on the PR Media Blog about banks and social media that’s well worth a read given the recent fury over banking bonuses but it got me thinking too – should banks use social media? (Niall Harbison has also written a good piece along the same lines here.)

Now, there’s a case for it – and we’ll come to that – but overall? Oh hell no, as Will Smith would say (or your bank manager if you’re asking for a loan).

Why? Because most bankers don’t think they’ve done anything wrong.
(Don’t have time to read this? Get this social media blog delivered as audio via iTunes or RSS)

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The Sunday Herald in Scotland revamped at the weekend and for the most part was very, very good – some nice articles, good insight but one thing struck me as incredibly odd when looking through the arts section: book and film reviews were there, some pages on fashion and music.

Nothing on computer games.
(Don’t have time to read this? Get this social media blog delivered as audio via iTunes or RSS)

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Last December, we did the obligatory predictions for 2010 in social media and PR – but how did we do?

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