To create the videos STA Travel Australia sent 3 guys, Rick Mereki, Andrew Lees and Tim White on an amazing journey around the world. From a six-week journey of a lifetime, they have created three one minute videos based on three themes – move, eat, learn. Anyone who has gone backpacking around the world will be able to identify with these three themes. My favourite one is Move, I also like the original music by Kelsey James. Watch the series below and let me know which one is your favourite?

Move

Eat

Learn

What’s interesting is how the allocated social media resource is made up of different departments across the organisation ranging including corporate comms, marketing, customer service, interactive and eComm. This shows that where many companies spend time debating who should look after social, airlines have been comparatively quick to adapt to a business model that responds to the very nature of social media, touching all parts of the business that at some level interact with its customers.

What is mp3HD?
It’s a lossless music format that preserves all the detail of a music recording, yet lets you enjoy the benefits of digital music (portability, fundability, reduced size). Each audio track encoded with mp3HD is digitally perfect – a true sound souvenir .

The campaign
Ten muso types and influencers across social media networks in the UK, USA, Germany, Spain and France were approached and asked ‘If you had to choose your top ten tracks of all time to save what would they be?’. Their tracks were then compiled into the mp3HD music chart, Sound Souvenirs. With your help we’re going to compile an all time favourite top 10, over the next few weeks the campaign microsite will allow you to vote for your favourite track.

How can you help preserve the music?
Visit the Sound Souvenirs 100 chart and show your support – by clicking the Support button or by tweeting your track.

With each piece of support you’ll help promote the track up the chart and at the end of our campaign we’ll announce our top 10 after July 21st. The ambassador with the highest rated tracks will be crowned our Sound Souvenirs champion.

I am currently reviewing industry veteran, Virginie Berger’s selection of tracks after reading about her involvement in saving the music over the last ten years. If there is one thing for sure, all of the musos approached share the same passion and dedication to saving music.

For the full chart and to cast your vote go here.

While the two battle it out, our social media intern @JamiePither, who scored his job via @LBiLondon’s ‘Tweet of the Week’ contest, has been busy comparing their presences over social media during April 2011. This marks the period when Kate Middleton was married and should give insight as to who is going to own the space in social media. Thanks for the inspiration @tuttmala!

As the battle of the Kates begin, who do you think will steal the show over social media?

Designed by Rikard Andresen, the infographic allows us to get a snapshot into how social media usage differs per market. It does this by segmenting users of social media in each market into three behaviour types: Messagers, Groupers and Content Sharers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Just to recap, at LBi we hosted eight of the 100 events that were carried out as part of Social Media Week London. These included social surgeries, openshows and the closing party as well as a Tweet of the Week competition to win one of two internships at our offices. Meet the Bloggers was one of my favourite events, hosted by Eva Keogan LBi’s head of social media and leading lifestyle and UK mummy blogger, folks in the audience had the chance to meet and ask questions to a panel of amazing social evangelists.  In less than two hours a flurry of 60 questions were asked and answered coming in from Eva, the audience and our @LBiLondon Twitter feed. Below I have summarised their thoughts on the biggest development in social media in 2011.

But first, what is the significance of bloggers?

“Bloggers are influential independent individuals with highly engaged and strong digital followings who are able to change and mould not just opinions but the habits and lifestyles of their followings, whether they be in niche or mainstream audiences.  They are not journalists, most of them have day jobs, a lot of them have families but what they all have is a passion for what they post about and as their blogs have evolved, they’ve got pretty techy too and learned the ins and outs of digital marketing in this new social space.  This knowledge is something that many people crave and these bloggers have spent hours honing their skills and learning how to produce digital content.” Eva Keogan

Key developments in social media in 2011

Krista Madden from blogging agency @handpickedmedia and top lifesytle and beauty blog @beautyanddirt

This year the industry will be a lot more targeted in their approach to bloggers. Blogging agencies will add value to this as they help to show greater transparency. When doing blogger outreach it’s difficult to gauge how a blogger is doing, so a very effective way is through a blogging agency like Handpickedmedia – it provides an objective review of the blog and provides solid metric and stats on blogs.

@scform – blogger at Skincareformen, a leading lifestyle blog for men on everyday life questions men want to know

The best blogggers realise that a product that doesn’t work for me may work for others so they will always share a balanced perspective while giving their own opinion.

Take lessons from the US , they are more advanced. Brands will continue to take blogging more seriously, there will be a movement away from blanket coverage.

@scaredcrows – tweeter, early adopter, editorial consultant and innovation stategist at Handpicked Media and writer at Beautyandthedirt

It’s easy to forget that because things are online there is a certain aspect of remoteness yet it is important to have offline contact.

Events are key – moving the online relationship offline too. Bloggers generally want to help things work, they like to meet other bloggers as it creates a greater sense of community.

Bloggers will get braver with content, they will go cross platform and use more rich media.

@lizscarff – multimedia journalist and digital media consultant from Debate your Plate – a food and environment blog, giving food the grassroots treatment

Brands will make it easier for their audiences to connect with their stories. Hoping to see more bloggers taking the initiative to get involved, look at Egypt as an example of how this event has been shared online.

@mummytips – CyberMummy founder and blogger spealising in nursery products whose blog took off when she moved away from reviews and started blogging about life

Over the last 6-8 months brands and PR agencies are starting to get things right, they have stopped sending so many press releases. Brands that are successful are starting to work with a smaller and more selected number of bloggers and form close relationships.

Bloggers aren’t journalists, journalists look at things differently and more professionally.

For the mummy community, Cyber Mummy is going to be huge in 2011 with 450 bloggers and Sarah Brown as key note speaker.

@jhowze, Formerly the Times’s Alpha Mummy blogger, CyberMummy founder, freelance writer and British Mummy Bloggers partner

We see Bloggers getting more involved in cross platforms, we are seeing more video, bloggers are getting more creative and having fun. It’s quite interesting the idea of an individual’s own network with their influence being built up. We’ll see more brands, agencies etc. seeing the value in tighter networks.

Blogging has become more mainstream, people starting blogs now are already thinking about their approach – personal vs. working with brands. Three years ago, people used to start to ask themselves this questions only after they got followers.

@AModernMother – Founder of CyberMummy Conferences and the British Mummy Bloggers social network

Bloggers are quite social people, they like to meet each other and appreciate community.

Three years ago people were finding their feet, now they have found their voice, we’ve had the chance to learn from the US and their lessons such as disclosure. The new bloggers have a different learning curve these days. New interest groups are also forming.

Treat bloggers and journalists differently, especially mummy bloggers – their time is precious, they may have only six hours in the day to themselves, time revolves around the kids and school run. When thinking about holding events consider the bloggers’ schedule.

Twitter parties such as #secretbreads trended in the UK, mums got online and shared great ideas on how to get secret goodness into your kids. This conversation sponsored by Kingsmill, raised a dialogue that was branded and meaningful.

Video is on the rise as well as photography – there will be a whole new rise of bloggers as video emerges, we’ll see movement away from YouTube, going to other platforms.

Brands will formalise partnerships with bloggers and work out how to work with them.

So there you have it, some of the thoughts on the direction of social media in 2011. Please drop me a comment if you have anything to add to this, what do you see as some of the major developments for social media in 2011?

Negative PR in social media, is this more damaging than negative PR over traditional media?

@katyhowell: Fires can be lit in social media, but at the same time she has seen little bonfires  lit and put out – would tend not to generalise

@petegoold: those brands that react swiftly with a human approach can do well out of it. Apply the same rules as you would as though it was a media relations, that is ensuring messaging is consistent, channeled through the same person.

@joodoo9: Go through a process of defining a framework and identifying a methodology – identify the type of issue, look at the reach of the person – evaluate the potential damage, then looking at how it is faring across search. Do this along side defining negativity.

Is all negativity the same?

@katyhowell: as she referenced this morning, not all negativity is the same. At the moment who owns which bit of this is somewhat more problematic e.g. in big corps crisis comms has typically fallen under PR whereas customer complaints has fallen under customer service but actually these areas of ownership overlap and should be shared

Crisis comms escalation process?

@petegoold: rules have not radically changed they have just up’ed the stakes

@joodoo9: three key platforms you can respond on and response timeframes 1) Twitter – 3 mins, 2) forums – 2 hours 3) blogs – 1 day.

@katyhowell: responding doesn’t mean you have to come back with a full answer during this time, just acknowledging it initially is key.

What are the barriers to responding?

@katyhowell: speed, resource, working hours. Brands and agencies are not geared up for this and there are all sorts of ways that businesses are dealing with this.

@Petegoold: Stimulating coversation vs moderation conversation – there needs to be a clear distinction

Good examples of companies that have dealt with crisis comms

@katyhowell: BA – did a series of videos mentioning that they had four Twitter feeds dealing with responding to queries. They could have had someone responding to YouTube queries but overall a great job.

@petegoold: A negative example – A US fashion label that capitalises on the #egpyt hashtag

@Katyhowell: sometimes it’s not just about saying sorry, it’s about addressing the way we communicate and interact with our audiences, this might often mean addressing fundamental communication practices through to board level.

@joodoo9: Adidas turned a negative commentor around by flying them to the factory to show them the way they ran business and this person actually turned into an advocate.

What are the consequences on ignoring negative PR in social media and do you have one last piece of advice for the audience?

@joodoo9: HSBC student bank charges – this issue was ignored online which mushroomed resulting in negative reputation

@petegoold: there is no substitute to learning from others whether from a postive or negative case study. Everything is evolving so quickly, brands are experimenting. The best piece of advice is to be humble, front up to mistakes and apologise and have correct messaging

@katyhowell: many companies do respond quickly but not correctly. Brands need to understand it is not just responding quickly but with a human touch. Run a group simulation exercise whereby you will need to respond to crisis comms, it’s only then you will truely feel the pressure that crisis comms puts organisations over.

Do you have anything to add? Did I miss anything?

09.30: Welcome and intro from @lbrynleyjones #socialpr

 09.40 @mikenutley on what is social PR?

 10.05 @katyhowell on what does social PR mean for brands?

 10.30 @joodoo9 sharing a case study: monitoring the gaming industry

11.00 tea and biscuits

11.30: @benpadley & @petegoold sharing: Sony Ericsson Case Study: From 300k to 3 million Facebook Fans in Just 9 months

 12.05: @webmetricsguru on how to identify social media influencers

 12.30: Panel discussion: how to deal w/ negative PR in social media w/ @vikkichowney (Chair), @petegoold & @katyhowell

13.00 break for lunch

14.00: @kdpaine on defining success metrics

14.40 @KerrynDinsdale & @rossbreadmore: Making Social Media Work for Barclaycard PR

15.05: Celebrity blogger, @thebestofwho on how to approach bloggers

15.30 Break for afternoon nap, tea & biscuits

15.55: @ceo_cipr & @sheldrake provide views on social – threat or opportunity for PR professionals?

 16.20 @sheldrake on how to plan and execute real-time PR that delivers

 16.45 Panel discussion: The Future of Social PR w/ @lbrynleyjones, @ceo_cipr & @robingrant

Don’t forget to come and say hello or @ me a question at @SelenaChanLive