I just found this post which I guarantee will be of interest to anyone who crafts words for a living. So that’s pretty much anyone in the communications industry. And if you’re reading this, that includes YOU!

Simplicity sells!

Here’s an interesting story about how a huge global organization was brought down to earth (and nearly to its knees) by a humble blogger. And how it decided that instead of fighting against the tide, it would learn to swim with it.

For the full story, click here.

Do you ever visualize the internet? Do you ever imagine an incomprehensibly vast nodal network with an unknowable number of connections binding everything to something?

Well, I do. And sometimes it scares me. I just want someone to come up with a simple information graphic that explains it all.

Recently, while researching our blogging seminar, I learnt that upwards of 40 exabytes of unique new information will be generated this year alone. That is more than in the previous 5,000 years combined.

I am not alone in finding this all a bit daunting. People have long sought to manage information. Information is power and all that.

One of the most famous graphical representations of information is Charles Joseph Minard’s two-dimensional rendering of Napoleon’s disastrous Russian campaign of 1812 (displayed below).

Minard’s genius was in his simplicity. The lighter band shows the army’s march to Moscow and the dark-coloured band the retreat. There and back. Along the way, he ties in statistical information on temperature, casualties and so on. It’s heartbreaking to see the dwindling size of the army as the campaign faltered, halted, and retreated. After setting off with over 400,000 men, Napoleon returned with fewer than 10,000.

The graphic is now seen as a masterpiece of its kind. Why? Because it works so effectively, and it speaks so powerfully to our need to visualize and comprehend information.

Recently, I have become more and more preoccupied with the sheer denseness of the amount of information on the net. I want to map it - much as Minard mapped the military debacle of 1812. In short, I want to know my way round because plotting a path to value through this labyrinth can, at times, feel little short of impossible.

One of the key features of the current explosion in social media is the apparently unstoppable urge to connect. To me, this is a simple human need, not only to forge relationships, but to graphically overlay the sprawl of information that lies beneath.

When we add one another to our social networks - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pownce, MySpace, Flickr etc, or when we join online communities or virtual worlds, there is always the underlying need to navigate.

In my mind, our online contacts are our buoys on the great expanse of information - helpful signposts on the endless plain.

When we connect, we embark on a series of conversations, are pointed along other useful pathways where we meet other buoys, other signposts. Eventually, we start to orient ourselves. The overlay takes shape. In essence, we are making our own map. With a lot of help from our friends!

In the course of writing this post, I’ve tried to find articles and diagrams that might back up my thoughts. The best example I want to share with you is this article from the Technology Review. 

While the purpose of the study discussed in the article was to better understand the role played by computer networks and ISPs in determining a topological landscape for the net, I think their basic finding - that peer-to-peer communication is making the flow of information more transparent - is similar to my assertion that personal networks are helping us better understand the net.

And finally, an aside. Have a peek at the 2007 Web Trends map from the folks at Information Architects.

Showing the internet’s 200 most popular sites, the map is based on the Tokyo underground map and, as such, subtly references associations and in-jokes that only Japanese commuters will understand.

Despite that, it’s still a fascinating pictorial representation of the web’s biggest movers and shakers.

In a recent WordSpin article, we gave a number of tips on using formatting and graphics to make your text easier to read. One of our suggestions was to use a dark font on a light background - because it’s easier for readers to make out the letters. It’s nice to see that DSB has decided to use this technique on its S-tog maps.

Next time you’re on the train, check it out for yourself. The new S-tog map is crisper than the ‘old white writing on dark blue background’. Nice one DSB.

Aaron would like me to point out that this post wasn’t written by him - it was actually written by me (Dan).

In my last post I touched on recruitment, arguing that companies hoping to recruit the brightest and best needed to move with the times and embrace the world of social media.

I was a bit pressed for time and didn’t add in much in the way of references so I thought I’d try and make amends by pointing you in the direction of this post from Silicon  Valley PR professional, Brian Solis.

The premise of his argument?

‘We’re witnessing the shift from B2B and B2C to P2P (peer to peer) marketing - or better described as conversations between people, and not companies doing their best impression of adults in the Peanuts cartoons as they talk to audiences in a monotone, robotic, insincere voice. . .’

Have a read of his post, Conversational Marketing Versus Market Conversations.

Recruitment . . . it’s needless to say that this is a vitally important issue for many companies.

But I guess I just said it anyway, so what does that tell us? Maybe that it’s so important that one has to resort to repetition to ram home the point. Who knows? Perhaps.

Moving swiftly on . . . recently I’ve been holding seminars with customers to discuss the potential business value of social media.

Denmark - and for that matter Europe in general - is really lagging behind the States in this area.

There, many companies are busy experimenting and finding real value with some or all of the many social media tools - blogging, video, micro-blogging, wikis, forums, networking sites etc.

As with many trends that originate across the Atlantic, the trickle-down effect is slow. But this one is rapidly gaining momentum.

Have you noticed the creep of articles about blogging in your newspapers? Berlingske recently launched an impressive network of 10 blogs, while more and more companies are dipping their toes into the blogging waters.

What has all this got to do with recruitment, I hear you bellow.

Well, my point is simple. The generation graduating from university live in a networked world. They are smart enough to see through glossy corporate spin. In fact they are bored of it. And it is from within this generation that you must recruit your future workforce.

These people pull the messages they want and reject anything too forcefully pushed at them.  

Marketing guru Seth Godin explains the impact of this particularly well:

“The new reality of the marketplace is that consumers have a choice. They can ignore you. They can ignore your ads, your letters, you web banners, and your salespeople. As a result, you and every other marketer face a choice: You can make something worth talking about or you can become invisible.”

For marketing and communications professionals, this means it is no longer possible to control your brand in the way you are used to.

If a new flavour of Coke is particularly terrible, that message will spread through the blogosphere, across YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, via SMSs, and instant messaging quicker than you can imagine.

This is how this generation communicate. It’s where they go for ‘buzz’ about the latest tech products, TV shows, music and pretty much everything else you can imagine.

And this generation - switched-on, in demand, web-savvy - will be researching your company, way before you can research them.

So what will they think when they look at your homepage and they see a company that is not blogging, that is not engaging with its customers in any kind of two-way conversation, that is not using video to showcase its offices and employees?

They will think that that company has not moved with the times and they will take their hard-won expertise and their first-hand knowledge of the new marketplace to a rival.

Pure and simple.

Along with almost everyone else in Copenhagen it seems, the Eye for Image team took part in the DHL Relay in Fælledparken this week.

Special mention to David, Nathalie, Andrew, Mandy and Matt for actually running while the rest of us huddled in the tent drinking beers!

Would-be Steven Spielberg Dan has put together a great video of the night, which you can see over at YouTube.

In the meantime, take a look at the gang in action below…

I had an interesting email last week from someone pointing me in the direction of a report showing that few ‘IT decision-makers’ placed much value in blogging as a company marketing tool.

The report notes that, without a sound business case, many Web 2.0 tools - podcasting, RSS, wikis, blogging etc - are being passed over by CIOs who don’t see the ROI materialising any time soon.

But, to me, perhaps the most revealing observation in the report comes from the firm which carried out the research, Forrester.

Their analyst G. Oliver Young notes: “Many business users still associate blogs with personal diaries, and some firms use blogs simply as a way to surface existing content, muting the effect.”

I think this indicates a telling disconnect between marketers, who are increasingly aware of the need to utilise these powerful new tools, and CIOs whose first thought is bottom line, bottom line, bottom line.

The CIOs are firefighters in this respect, the marketers are trying to build fire-proof buildings.

Moving forward, I’ll be blogging more on this, as, together with my colleagues, we hone some new media product offerings that we’ll be rolling out over time.

For now, this Wikipedia entry on corporate blogs details some of the potential benefits to companies in a really concise way.

And for those who doubt the potential of the humble blog to reinvigorate a flagging brand, here’s an interesting quote from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer who was asked what blogging had done for the so-called ‘Evil Empire’:

“I think it’s been a great way for us to communicate to our customers – and, more importantly, for our customers to communicate with us. We trust our people to represent our company. That’s what they are paid to do. If they didn’t want to be here, they wouldn’t be here. So in a sense you don’t run any more risk letting someone express themselves on a blog than you do letting them go out and see a customer on their own. It just touches more people. Hey, if people need to be trained, we can do that, but I find that blogging is just a great way to have customer communications.”

As I mentioned in a previous post, I took part in a seminar recently where, together with our design partners at Spoiled Milk, we spelt out why we think companies should embrace blogging.

Well, this morning I was delighted to see an email in my inbox from one of the attendees, Andreas Zecher from Swedish software development company Fantasy Interactive, pointing me in the direction of his company’s blog.

Andreas had written a great summary of mine and Russell’s key points and included some great pics as well.

This is a great example of the blogosphere in action… information and experiences are shared in instant, interactive ways. It’s such a powerful tool and it’s only going to get bigger.

You can read Andreas’ post here.

We had a presentation from Red Barnet today.

A couple of their staff dropped by the Eye for Image office and talked to us in a warm and friendly way about their work.

One of them gave a quick PowerPoint presentation detailing some of their current projects and some facts and figures, including the rather alarming statistic that Denmark currently has more than 90,000 children living below the poverty line.

But for the most part, it was more of a discussion, touching on charity work in general, the best ways to communicate their message, and fundraising techniques.

I told them that having sat with them, and gotten a feel for their passion and enthusiasm, I was about 100 times more likely to start donating than if I had merely received an e-mail or a leaflet through my door.

It’s a simple equation really - people respond to people.

What message is there here for companies?

Well, I guess it’s that the best marketing tools are your people. Find a way to put them front and centre and have them engage with your potential customers and you’ll reap the rewards.

I think what struck me most today was the way I responded to the sheer enthusiasm of our guests. When one gave an anecdote about a recent camp she had attended with work, her face lit up and her obvious joy at what she does shone through. That is real communication.

I know, I know, this is not exactly revolutionary thinking, but for me personally it was an interesting experience to have this simple lesson confirmed in such a positive way.