Tablet, e-reader and smart-phone sales are booming, so if you haven’t already got one, you may be hoping the bearded one will drop one in your stocking this Christmas… I personally, have been using smart-phones since 2003 and have never been without one since.

So as you settle down to watch another repeat of The Muppets or some schmaltzy Christmas movie, you might be tempted to surreptitiously glance down at your shiny new gadget and go for a browse. We all have our favourite websites, but what after you’ve exhausted your usual web destinations, Twitter, Facebook, e-mails and apps?

Well, here are some suggestions to keep you second-screening over the Christmas and New year break:

1. Never Seconds goes global

The blog of a nine year old school girl from Scotland gets my top billing for 2012. Martha Payne (nickname Veg) came to prominence when her school dinners blog, Never Seconds, was banned from rating the quality of her primary school lunches. The ban provoked an instant social media reaction, celebrity backing from the likes of Jamie Oliver, and was swiftly retracted due to public pressure. Today Martha’s blog is a delightful tour de force, with fascinating contributions from children and parents all over the world. Martha has so far travelled to help school children in Malawi, raised over £120,000 for the Mary’s Meals charity and published a book about her exploits over the last year. Every copy sold provides 25 school dinners for children in Malawi through a donation to Mary’s Meals.

2. The Internet Archive

An enormous and extraordinary archive of the Internet itself with over two petabytes of data. The Archive is an electronic library that has been saving material that would otherwise have disappeared into the ether long ago – entire caches of websites, podcasts, electronic documents and links to dozens of smaller specialist archives around the world. For example I recently found a cached version of the HM Treasury website dating back to 1996, when I worked there. Back then the Treasury site was named one of the top three websites in the UK Web Awards. I also found nearly 100 past episodes of one of my favourite music podcasts – Texas Blues Cafe – a hundred hours of music all downloadable for free. Like any huge library, it takes a bit of digging to find your way around the Archive, but there are some real gems there waiting to be discovered.

3. Urban Dictionary

4. Net Lingo

Don’t have a clue what your teenage kids are saying to you any more? If your M8s are ROFL because you don’t know your LOLZ from your LOLA, and you feel like you’ve had a hipsterectomy, or you just need a few synergasms to impress your work colleagues, Urban Dictionary and Netlingo might save you. Just be careful you don’t typerventilate with your new found knowledge!

5. NASA Visible Earth and Earth Observatory

A collection of extraordinary images of the planet we live on – beautiful, thought provoking, unique. Best viewed on a big screen. Most of the photographs are free to download. They make great wallpapers too.

6. Twisted Sifter

With a background in photo-journalism and film-making, I still love looking at photographs. Twisted Sifter presents a never-ending series of stunning images taken by photographers around the world with links through to their websites. Give your eyes a treat and have a look. Best viewed on a big screen.

7. Attack of the Cute

For all those ‘aaaah’ moments… Attack of the cute is simply a collection of cute animal photographs. They’re not all cat and dog pictures and there are some genuinely good photographs, funny ones too. Animal lovers will love this website – especially kids.

8. Big Think

Something a bit more cerebral now… the Big Think is a website that showcases interesting ideas and articles from a huge range of contributors. It has an American bias, but the articles are interesting nevertheless – and in this shrinking world, many of the issues and themes discussed are just as relevant this side of the pond.

9. Science Base

10. Bad Science

Science Base is the blog of science writer David Bradley – well written, and on a hugely diverse range of subjects – always with a scientific slant. Bradley explores everything from Hyperemesis Gravidarum to novel ways to manufacture the new wonder material graphene using microbes. Bad Science is a blog written by Dr Ben Goldacre who, as he describes himself: ‘specialises in unpicking dodgy scientific claims from drug companies, newspapers, government reports, PR people and quacks’.

11. 99U

A great web magazine with a huge variety of topics of use to businesses and employees, especially those who work in the creative industries or as entrepreneurs. Definitely worth a browse.

12. Business Balls

This website’s design is about as basic and old-school as possible. I suspect the design hasn’t been updated since it launched in 1999. However, don’t let that put you off. Business Balls gives managers and employees an excellent suite of resources – everything from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to Kolb’s Learning Styles, to free quiz questions and answers for office parties and motivational quotes. Get past the terrible design and you’ll be rewarded.

13. Life Hack

Tips and tricks to make your life easier…. learn stuff you never even thought might come in useful to you, but will be. Another great web magazine with lots of browsable stuff.

14. This is Why I’m Broke

Gadget fans go goggle… This Is Why I’m Broke is an American website so the prices are in Dollars, but the site lists some of the most outlandish, odd-ball gadgets and gifts available today. The mind truly boggles at the concept of a Water Fountain Toothbrush (why?), Pizza Hut perfume (yuk), a light-up hoodie (police forces rejoice) or bluetooth mobile phone gloves so you really can ‘just talk to the hand’.

15. Culture 24

All dressed up and no place to go? How about checking out what’s on at your local museums, art galleries, heritage sites and libraries. Culture24 has listings for upcoming events, reviews, news items and links to help you keep up to date. Useful stuff, and a well designed website too.

16. Order-Order

The Guido Fawkes blog is an acerbic, irreverent, sometimes cynical look at all things Westminster and related to Parliament and politics. If you enjoy the cut and thrust of British politics you should find stuff of interest here…

17. Londonist

A website all about London – useful for those who live in it, work in it and visit it. Well designed and with great content, it’s a rival to the Evening Standard and Metro. There’s also a regular podcast which makes interesting listening. You can subscribe via iTunes or download it directly from the Londonist website.

18. Fan Fiction

This is where EL James began her unexpected rise to literary stardom with her novel Fifty Shades of Grey. Originally published as fan fiction, the book caught the eye of major publishers who rushed to buy the rights to publish and cash in on its popularity. If Fifty Shades of Grey turns you sixty shades of red, there are other genres on the site too. Or you can start writing your own novel and begin your own journey to stardom. Fiction Press also offers budding authors a place to showcase their work.

19. Project Gutenberg

20. Free E Books

Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Txtr Beagle – new brands and new technology revolutionising the traditional print and publishing industries. A bendable flexible e-reader, the Wexler Flex One is expected in 2013, and Amazon is rumoured to be working on a colour e-ink reader due shortly. Colour e-readers will be a further game changer for newspapers, magazines and illustrated books. In addition to titles to buy, there are thousands of free e-books available. Free E Books and Project Gutenberg are two of the best, although Amazon, Google, iTunes, WH Smith and other retailers also offer free downloads. And finally, the aforementioned Internet Archive has over one million free e-books for download.

I interviewed Muhammad Ali as a young local newspaper reporter in 1983, a year before he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. It was quite something to spend five minutes chatting to one of my all-time boyhood heroes. He was down to earth, articulate, funny, mischievous and great to interview. I expected him to be arrogant, dismissive, difficult, but he wasn’t at all. In the days before hordes of press officers, PR agents and celebrity cling-ons, Ali was as smart and naturally gifted as any media trained politician or Hollywood celebrity. He did have two bodyguards with him though, who were even bigger than he was!

The youngest Olympic competitor at the London 2012 Games is likely to be either Team GB gymnast Rebecca Tunney or Team USA swimmer Katie Ledecky. Both are just 15 years old, born in 1997, long after Muhammad Ali had retired. Many younger athletes and spectators watching the Opening Ceremony this evening may never truly understand why Muhammad Ali made such an impact on the world. I hope Danny Boyle and Stephen Daldry will use video footage alongside the procession of sporting legends to remind us just how brilliant they were in their heyday.

It will also be interesting to see the cast list of global sporting icons that walk out into the stadium. Messrs Boyle and Daldry have quite a cast list to choose from if they intend to represent sporting legends in all sports and all countries. Someone is bound to feel left out.

Ali has much to teach today’s sports men and women. In an age of Twitter, Facebook, blogs and constant media attention, being media savvy is as much a part of being a top athlete as competing. Muhammad Ali’s ability to court controversy while at the same time endearing himself to millions around the world offers modern athletes a superb case study on the ‘do’s and ‘don’ts of managing one’s personal media profile.

Imagine what it would have been like to follow Muhammad Ali on Twitter or Facebook during his boxing days. It is good to see the old master has embraced new media and is as media savvy as ever. You can see his website here and follow him on Twitter @AliDailyQuote

You can see our film on the first social media Olympics below:

The vast majority of athletes – able bodied and disabled – competing in the unmentionable sporting event, will do so for the love of their sport and the thrill of competing on a world stage. The dedication and sacrifices made by these athletes is extraordinary. To motivate oneself to train relentlessly for years in order to achieve physical and sporting perfection is admirable.  Disabled athletes are even more extraordinary, overcoming their disabilities to compete as fiercely as their able-bodied peers. And while athletes in the UK and other developed countries have access to great facilities, some competitors arrive from the poorest nations on earth. Marathon runners who train barefoot because they cannot afford a pair of trainers. Athletes who, without any sponsorship or professional coaching, succeed in getting to the unmentionable sporting event because of sheer raw talent and determination. A tiny minority of those who take part, those at the very top of their sport and those who win medals, may get lucrative sponsorship deals and advertising contracts. The most successful will also need photogenic looks and media-friendly personalities that support the advertising stereotype of what a top athlete should be like.

It is interesting that athletes who compete in the unmentionable sporting event do not get any prize money. The international body that governs the unmentionable sporting event maintains that winning one of their prestigious medals is reward in itself. Yet the Londinium MMXII event is about as commercial and money-oriented as it can be. The build up to the unmentionable sporting event this summer has been dominated by stories of how big global brands have tried to buy up and ring fence the event for their own marketing and commercial purposes.  Stories abound of the unmentionable sporting event’s  ‘brand police’ aggressively telling bakers they cannot sell interlocking-ring-shaped doughnuts, or florists being told to dismantle ringed flower arrangements.

This is short-sighted and has the potential to backfire hugely on those companies that have sponsored the unmentionable sporting event and the international body that governs it.  Of course brands that have paid millions to have their name associated with the unmentionable sporting event will want to gain maximum advantage from their marketing spend. However, a small florist or a local baker is not going to threaten their brand supremacy. Their rivals, other big global brands, have simply hired clever marketing companies and advertising agencies to find their way around the legislation.

Ultimately the unmentionable sporting event must belong to the athletes and the public of many nations who support them. It’s history and heritage belongs to the Greeks. The modern words for  ‘Londinium’, ‘Aurum’ and other banned words associated with the unmentionable sporting event (see here) are in the English dictionary and have been in common parlance for centuries. No matter how much the big global brands try to own and corral the event for their own commercial gain, the unmentionable sporting event cannot succeed without the dedication of thousands of amateur athletes and the people who follow them.

While official partners and sponsor companies may indeed have contributed many millions to have their logos and brand names associated with the event, £9 billion of the cost of funding Londinium MMXII has come from the public – UK taxpayers and businesses. It is therefore perfectly reasonable to say that every UK taxpayer has a small shareholding in the unmentionable sporting event. And although every individual and business owner does not have the right to have their name or logo sited next to the logo of interlocking rings, we should be allowed to talk about the unmentionable sporting event, get enthused about the competition about to take place, chat about our favourite sports and favourite athletes and make this an event for the athletes and sports fans around the world. It is that engagement, enthusiasm and energy that is likely to bring the sponsors and partners of the unmentionable sporting event the greatest dividend from their association with the unmentionable brand.

If legislation like this is enacted for other world events in order to satisfy big brand sponsors, entire chunks of the English dictionary will fall foul of branding restrictions every year, including the year itself and the name of each host city or country.  Will we now see special legislation to protect the words ‘World’ and ‘Championships’, ‘World’ and ‘Cup’, ‘Tour’, ‘de’ and ‘France’, ‘The’ and ‘Open’?  Will bakers be banned from making ‘Cup’ cakes during the World Cup for fear of breaking the law?  Will organisers of cycling ‘tours’ in ‘France’ be banned from advertising for a month every summer?

I hope, in a few weeks time, when the unmentionable sporting event is over, Londinium MMXII will be remembered for all the right reasons: the sporting achievements of the athletes, world records, amazing feats of sporting prowess, and the world coming together to watch and be inspired.

NB. The writer of this blog has no association whatsoever with the unmentionable sporting event. The content of this blog is freely available and is not for commercial gain. Banerji Associates has no association whatsoever with the unmentionable sporting event and is not associated with any marketing effort surrounding the unmentionable sporting event, either itself, or on behalf of any clients. Written articles, audio and video packages posted to the Blog section of this website are produced for the purpose of information, comment and analysis. All information given is researched to the best of our ability, and all comment and analysis is made without intent to defame, libel, slander or denigrate any specific individual or organisation. In the event of any factual inaccuracy in blog posts please contact us using the contact form and we will correct entries that can be demonstrated to be factually inaccurate. A full list of the official sponsors of the unmentionable sporting event can be found here.

Mr Kravitz tweeted for Phonedog under the title @Phonedog_Noah, building up a sizeable following. According to reports, Phonedog is now seeking damages from Mr Kravitz of $2.50 (£1.60) per user per month, roughly $370,000 in total. Phonedog alleges it invested a considerable amount in building up this Twitter following and Mr Kravitz was wrong to take the 17,000 followers with him when he left the company. Mr Kravitz alleges Phonedog allowed him to keep his account personal as long as he tweeted on their behalf from time to time.

The move by Phonedog sets an interesting precedent in placing a specific financial value on each Twitter follower. It is unclear how they arrived at the $2.50 per user figure. The calculation is likely to be challenged should the case actually come to court rather than be settled privately between the two parties. There will be many employees like Mr Kravitz who use a single Twitter feed to mix content and comment about their personal and professional lives to a range of followers. Indeed, it is this combination of getting to know people as individuals and getting a flavour of their private lives and thoughts mixed with their professional work that makes these Twitter feeds so attractive. The personal touch adds a degree of personality, colour and authenticity to what might otherwise be a very boring corporate narrative.

Certainly companies need to be clearer about the boundaries between personal and corporate Twitter feeds. Most organisations already make it clear that employees using corporate e-mail accounts should only use them for company business. The same boundaries should apply to corporate Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn accounts. In the wake of the Phonedog furore, organisations may be tempted to swing from one end of the pendulum to the other, going from a laissez-fair attitude towards social media usage by staff to a far more regimented approach.

However, updates written by committee will not succeed in building significant followings on social media networks. Twitter and Facebook posts in particular, are most effective when they are informal, spontaneous and give followers something interesting, useful or humorous to read and interact with. A following of thousands could easily melt away to zero unless the person tweeting maintains audience interest via the content of what they say. The Phonedog incident has amply illustrated the value of employees who – because of their tweeting style and online personality – are able to build up large numbers of followers. Employees who can demonstrate their ability to do so may command higher premiums in the jobs marketplace in future. Good news for them.

Organisations wishing to use Twitter and other social media feeds need a clear strategy – a way of allowing their employees to be spontaneous, to Tweet interesting, entertaining and humorous content without having to get every update cleared by the CEO. Senior managers will need to place their trust in selected employees who are allowed to be the organisation’s official tweeters. Those employees should know they have the permission of their seniors to Tweet about the company’s activities within clearly defined parameters. Organisations have an obligation to their employees to define and explain what those boundaries are.

These days it is quite common for people to build their own individual brands online, and amassing followers on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin is part of that personal profile building. Using HootSuite and TweetDeck to manage multiple social media feeds could make it easier for individual employees to differentiate between personal and professional content. However, in a world where our personal identity and self worth is often defined by our careers, companies cannot stop employees from discussing their professional interests via their personal Tweets or Facebook updates. Banning employees from doing so, unless they breach commercial confidentialities or contractual obligations, could backfire on companies that seem unnecessarily censorial in their approach. Neither can companies stop the public following employees via their personal feeds if that is what they choose to do.

However, employees themselves should consider how much information they include in their personal Twitter and Facebook feeds about their employer companies – in particular, mention of brand names and branded products. Building a following that is largely as a result of content based on the activities of their employer’s brand rather than their personal interests may prove problematic in the long run.

As more and more companies begin to recognise the financial value of amassing large numbers of friends and followers via social media channels, both employees and employers need to become more sophisticated in how they use these communications channels. For employees and company bosses having a candid discussion about the boundaries between corporate and personal content may be a good starting point.

Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO) eventually raised £16bn, making the great Zuckerberg sell-off even more lucrative than Google’s initial share offering in 2004. It is easy to get starry eyed over Facebook’s big numbers – 900 million monthly users, 2.7 billion likes and comments a day and 425m mobile users. All very impressive. Facebook’s IPO submission contained a letter from Mark Zuckerberg, outlining the company’s ethos and values. He said: ‘Facebook was not originally founded to be a company. We’ve always cared primarily about our social mission, the services we’re building and the people who use them. This is a different approach for a public company to take….’.

All very laudable, however, I am not sure that the mission he sets out for Facebook will necessarily convince hard-nosed investors looking for short-term profit or long-term dividends. Zuckerberg plans to retain personal “control [over] all matters submitted to stockholders for vote, as well as the overall management and direction of our company.” In essence, investors – shareholders – will have little say in the running of the company.

Tucked away on page 95 there is a list of all directors and executive officers of the company. At age 27, Zuckerberg is by far the youngest of the team and his letter to prospective shareholders belies some of the naïveté one might expect from someone so young. It will be interesting to see how Zuckerberg and his (older) executive team deal with pressure from investors if and when the share price falls or dividends do not quite match shareholder expectations.

Ultimately Facebook is trying to make money from people giving away their personal information. Despite various controversies over privacy settings, people have so far been happy to share intimate details of their lives on Facebook. In spite of its size, Facebook retained the perception that it was a harmless not-for-profit college project started in someone’s dorm room. It was a community of friends, rather than a company trying to make money (even though Facebook’s revenues are already very lucrative).

Predictive vs reactive

So far, Google has been the most successful in securing advertising revenues. Google’s model is predictive rather than reactive. For example, someone who types in ‘Lexus GS450 review’ may well be in the market for a Lexus, or another luxury car brand, or a hybrid. It would be a fairly safe bet to predict that someone searching for that item may respond to advertising that offers the best price for that product or an alternative brand.

Facebook’s model is completely different. If someone posts holiday photos on their wall, would they be immediately in the market for another holiday? Probably not. Advertising on Facebook will always be reactive to the content that people post. So advertisers only benefit if Facebook, over a period of months and years, analyses the information people share with their friends. Data about users’ activities, likes and other information is split by gender, age, geographical location and other differentials. Advertisers use this data to place promotions in front of Facebookers who fit their customer profiles. However, this is still not as effective as individually targeted predictive advertising.

Will people be happy to let Facebook – like Big Brother – watch and analyse their every move in order to target advertising towards them individually? Will predictive advertising on Facebook mean that, for example, users receive a stream of advertisements to buy birthday cards timed to coincide with each of their friends birthdays? Will this in turn create social pressure on them to buy e-cards and presents online, via Facebook, in order to avoid the perception that they are mean or uncaring if they do not conform?

No matter how much Zuckerberg tries to stick to his ‘social mission’ (and I do not doubt his personal integrity), the reality of Facebook being a public company is bound to change the dynamics of how it operates. In order to satisfy its shareholders Facebook will need to generate increasing profits year on year from advertising. Advertisers will want proof that the advertising dollars they direct towards Facebook are indeed generating greater sales. They may demand that the discreet advertisements that currently appear on Facebook get bigger, that video ads play automatically and cannot be skipped, and that they appear more prominently on the page, maybe even as pop-ups.

Certainly Facebook offers a great platform through which brands can engage with existing or potential customers. It allows companies to build customer loyalty and encourage peer-to-peer product recommendations. But ultimately, Facebook’s success will depend on whether its users tolerate having their personal data analysed and contextualised for the benefit of advertisers. There are plenty of challengers to Facebook’s crown. Google Plus is the most high profile, but there are others around the world – Qzone (450m Chinese users), MySpace, Orkut, Bebo, Habbo and hi5 to name a few. Other platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin, Digg and Foursquare would also like a bigger slice of the advertising pie if they can get it.

So Facebook has a dilemma. As a brand, it relies on the long-term loyalty and trust of its users who use it to chat with friends. This could be in jeopardy if people feel that their personal lives are being minutely scrutinised by hungry advertisers simply waiting to target them with product promotions. However, Zuckerberg will only please his shareholders and advertisers by doing precisely that. It will be interesting to see if Facebook manages to reconcile its social mission with the expectations and demands of its new shareholders and global markets.

Three days before Christmas last year I was contacted by Lesley McLeod, Director of Communications at the British Bankers’ Association and invited to lead all marketing and communications to help set up the new Business Growth Fund. The BGF is an independent equity investment company, funded by five of the UK’s largest banks Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered. It’s mission is to support rapidly growing smaller and medium sized UK companies.

When I walked into the BGF’s temporary offices in HSBC’s St James’s Park HQ for the first time, I realised the scale of the challenge that lay before a small set up team of around 20 people. The new company was due to be launched in 100 days (including weekends and bank holidays), and we were starting from a completely blank sheet of paper. There was no logo, no strapline, no website, no bgf.co.uk e-mail address, indeed the Business Growth Fund did not even exist as a registered company.

Led by founding CEO James Chew from HSBC, work to set up the BGF progressed at an incredible pace. I was able to bring a number of my associates on board to lend their expertise to the project – Andy Keast-Marriott as my no:2, followed by publications and design specialist Dave King, events supremo Amanda Rayner and Hanif Khan on video production. Under my leadership this small in-house comms team worked with external suppliers to develop the look and feel of the new organisation – from the logo and branding, to website design and content, a new promotional brochure, new Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube channels, early media coverage and stakeholder engagement, branded stationery, business cards, office graphics, and everything needed to start up a new organisation from scratch.

The formal launch of the BGF in May comprised three consecutive high profile events in Edinburgh, Birmingham and London over 24 hours. The media launch in Birmingham attracted over 120 senior business leaders, bank executives and business advisors who were addressed by Business Secretary Dr Vince Cable and the Chairman of the BGF, Sir Nigel Rudd. The event was chaired by BGF CEO Stephen Welton.

I finally finished my engagement with the BGF in September, and although sad to leave colleagues there, have been able to concentrate on new projects and devote more time to other clients.

I wanted to learn more about the future of integrated TV and internet services from someone who is at the leading edge of developing these new technologies.

Andrew Burke is CEO of technology company Amino, based in Cambridge, UK. Before joining Amino, Andrew was CEO of BT Entertainment where he devised and ran the company’s TV-over-broadband initiative, BT Vision. He was the founder and CEO of LineOne, the Internet service provider now known as Tiscali UK, and also established News International’s initial internet presence back in 1994.  If you want to learn more about IPTV – TV over the internet – you can follow Andrew’s blog here.

If you find this video interesting, feel free to forward the link to this page to colleagues or friends, or share via your favourite social networking sites.

With an interface that can be controlled by a TV remote without the need for a keyboard, Leanback will play a stream of videos from YouTube one after the other. The idea is that you set your preferences when you log in, or choose from pre-set categories such as ‘comedy’, ‘entertainment’, ‘news’ and ‘non-profit’ and YouTube will do the rest. You can also link Leanback to your Facebook, Orkut or Twitter account allowing you to view videos recommended by your friends. They in turn will be able to check out content that you think they might like to see. Leanback is up and running now and you can see how it works by going to http://www.youtube.com/leanback . There is also an explanatory video of how the system works here

There are already a number of television sets with web browsers built in that can connect to the internet via a cable or wifi. A while ago Google announced plans for a new internet-focused TV in partnership with Sony and Intel. The new Sony televisions are due to be launched this Autumn. The TVs will use Google’s Android platform and Chrome browser to allow viewers to browse any website as they might on a computer screen. It may also be possible to download a number of Android apps allowing additional functionality.

Computer manufacturers too are launching ultra-small PCs that can sit in your living room TV cabinet, display via the TV, and offer full internet browsing capability via a bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse. The Dell Inspiron Zino HD is a particularly neat example. And if you don’t like black, it comes in lots of different colours too! Apple TV offers something similar, although it is tied exclusively to iTunes.

Now, I’m not being paid to promote Google, YouTube or any of its products. In fact, given Google’s dominance in the marketplace and the amount of search and other data it holds, the concept of a personalised video channel raises a whole bunch of other issues. How long will it be before we start to see targeted ads running alongside our personalised video feeds, drawing on information gathered from our online searching habits, G-Mail e-mails and other information? Do we care about that? Should we? What if our friends on Facebook get an inkling of our innermost thoughts when they suddenly get to see the same dieting video that we have been watching, or maybe a video on divorce, abortion, sexual diseases or some other embarrassing topic. Will Google be mindful of protecting viewers’ privacy despite the temptation to make billions by exploiting their personal login data, browsing and viewing habits?

These issues aside, it is worth keeping an eye on Leanback simply because Google’s sheer size and influence means that millions of people world-wide will get to hear about the new service and try it, giving it greater chance of traction. YouTube is also in a position to offer sweeteners to attract more people to use the new service. For example, it has just announced that it will carry 400 full-length feature films (some new) that people can watch free. It is also offering full versions of TV shows following a deal with a number of broadcasters including the BBC, CBS, Discovery Channel, MGM, National Geographic and others. A video rental service for the UK is on its way.

Leanback should also be of interest to any organisation producing videos for their websites – private, voluntary and public sector. The YouTube model has so far relied on people browsing videos at random, or searching for material using specific search terms to ‘pull’ videos off their servers. In contrast, Leanback will ‘push’ one video after another to the viewer without prompting, based on their personal preferences and browsing history. It therefore increases the chance of a video – if properly tagged and titled – appearing in front of somebody who has expressed a preference for that type of content. People’s living room television viewing experiences are therefore likely to become a mixture of professionally produced (movies, TV, corporate, advertising) and amateur content. As ever, the most interesting content will win the day regardless of whether it has been produced by a professional film-maker or talented amateur.

A single two minute video may generate millions of hits. However, by itself it is unlikley to build a significant audience following in the long term. The most successful internet broadcasters produce a steady stream of new content, like any terrestrial broadcaster needs to do. Most importantly, the content needs to be interesting, fresh and creative to really engage audiences. Organisations and individuals who want to exploit what the new internet broadcasting landscape can offer will need to think like broadcasters and offer a stream of well-thought-out content over many months and years.

The rewards from developing a proper internet broadcasting strategy could be considerable. One only has to look at terrestrial television to see what can be achieved. A 2009 YouGov study of over 2000 people found that news readers were highly trusted as a group. Odd, considering that most people have no idea of their personal views, politics, family and career background or off-camera personalities. Presenters, news readers and regular contributors become household names because they appear on our screens day after day. As a result they are recognised, trusted and respected by millions. The migration of the internet from desktop to living room offers the same opportunities to those who can build successful profiles online. Web video will, increasingly, be a key factor in achieving that.

Lean back? Not for a second. Lean forward people and begin your storyboard to stardom!

As a survivor of numerous Government reorganisations, mergers and cutbacks, I speak with the benefit of ample hindsight. It is not uncommon for those losing their jobs to receive redundancy letters on Christmas Eve. Some are transferred into new organisations without knowing whether they have a continuing job or not. Others are shoe-horned into roles that are completely unsuitable for their skills and experience. Where mergers and reorganisations are managed particularly badly it can take years for organisations to return to some sense of normality, and regain previous productivity and efficiency levels.

Certainly, life is tough for those who are made redundant. Yet, it is also tough for those who stay behind. Many end up taking on two or three different jobs as, one by one, departing colleagues are not replaced. Yet, job titles and pay and grading levels remain the same, leading to resentment. Managers – too busy working out what and who they can cut next – fail to nurture the staff who remain. Workloads and working atmospheres can become unbearable. Those who are able to, often leave as soon as they can.

The scale and pace of change being proposed by the Liberal-Conservative coalition is enormous. Billions are to be cut from public spending programmes. Every area faces cuts and significant change. Even the NHS, the sacred NHS, is to be turned on its head. All ten Strategic Health Authorities and 150 Primary Care Trusts will be phased out. These are huge changes. The cuts may well be necessary, given the scale of public debt. Yet, if these reorganisations take place without proper leadership, management and planning, public services around the country will suffer for years to come. Ultimately, public services at national and local level are delivered by people. Local and central government departments are not in the business of producing widgets. Saving money in the public sector is not simply a matter of automation, or switching operations to India, Taiwan or China. Public services at all levels rely on people applying human minds to complex problems. If those minds are psychologically distressed, focused on internal or personal problems, we cannot expect them to perform at their best, in the public interest.

If the Liberal-Conservative Government is to succeed in its mission to cut public spending, restructure and continue delivering essential services, leading, planning and managing change successfully is the most important skill public sector managers need at this point in time. When the next General Election is called, in five years time, Liberal and Conservative politicians will be judged on how well they have managed those changes. Yet, their future electoral success depends on civil service managers being able to manage change and restructuring on a scale that has not been seen for many decades; by managers who are not strong on change management; who often do not have the people motivation, leadership and communication skills required to get the best out of staff in difficult times.

The term ‘invest to save’ is often used in a financial context. In this case, Ministers need to invest in a significant programme of internal change management training and support in order to save their jobs at the next election. This needs to happen at all levels of Government – central and local – across all public services. The massive changes being proposed by the new Government will simply not happen without public sector managers significantly raising their game – and quickly. Inspired leadership and change management relies on a clear vision, regular engagement and communication with staff, and transparent, meticulous planning.

Politicians can plan for anything they like, but if their civil servants and public sector managers do not have the right skills to deliver, it will be Ministers, MPs, and councillors who will be seen by the public to have failed in their mission. Bold rhetoric and political consensus alone will not be enough to make change happen and happen successfully.

About the author:

Robin Banerji has advised Government ministers, senior civil servants, British military chiefs, chairs and chief executives on some of the most controversial issues to hit the headlines over the last 17 years. As a senior Government communications professional he has provided strategic and operational media, public relations and internal communications advice on a huge range of complex, high profile issues – including restructuring, mergers and job cuts.

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