marketing

A little over three years ago, preparations for the very first Digital Mission to New York were just starting. A lot's happened since then, so what better time to reflect on the past, and ponder the future?

In this post (sorry it's quite long), we're reflecting on the story so far, looking at the future, how the missions are funded and the work to make them sustainable in the long-term, our plans for the next Digital Missions and three exciting new initiatives, plus how to get involved.

Read on, and do comment, we'd love your feedback.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced plans to dramatically increase the amount of domain suffixes allowed for websites in one of the biggest ever changes to the Internet's Domain Name System.

Here at Chinwag, we like a tasty infographic and this one is a doozy. Built from data collected around the time of the national census, our friend Simon Sanders from Lansons recently published it on their blog.

That's equivalent to the UK's entire working population (~29.3m in 2009 - is this rising/falling - discuss) using social media with a few more people to spare.

The PanelPicker entry process for the 2012 SXSW Festivals and Conferences has officially opened, proposals will be accepted until the end of the day on Friday 15th July (11:59pm CST // 5:55am UK time).

The SXSW PanelPicker was developed to offer the community a chance to get involved in SXSW - not only by submitting panel, workshop and presentation ideas but also by reviewing, commenting and voting for the ideas they'd like to see become part of the SXSW festival.

Entering a solo presentation, workshop or panel to the PanelPicker is the best way to share your ideas, make sure your expertise are included and help shape SXSW 2012.

Update: Cookiepocalypse is over (possibly). The ICO have updated their advice, suggesting implied consent is sufficient for users. Read more

This one is going to run and run. I'm predicting that anyone in digital is going to be an expert in cookies by the end of the Summer. And not the nice baked versions either, sadly.

Imagine a 90% drop in website visitors that are willing to accept a cookie from your website. be tracked through your analytics tool? Or your advertising targeting? Or your third party shopping basket? Ouch.

That's what happened with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) implemented the new law with existing technology, over 90% of site visitors declined to accept a Google Analytics cookie, thereby disappearing from their analytics.

Whilst the powers-that-be have allowed a year for industry to figure out a way to implement the new 'daft by European standards' cookie law, its impact is dramatic, as illustrated by the graphs obtained by leading web analytics expert, Vicky Brock (@brockyvick), under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

UPDATE: Vicky has kindly shared the raw data from the FOI request if anyone fancies a spot of number-crunching.

This is a Guest Blog by Frank Rose, Contributing Editor of Wired US, who's recently written and released "The Art of Immersion".

Everywhere I go this year, I seem to run into a branded content discussion.

From DIY Days in New York, to the “Brisk: Machete” panel I did with Robert Rodriguez and Dann Trejo at SXSW interactive, to the Branded Content Salon I spoke at at LBi London, to Morgan Spurlock’s POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold at Hot Docs and Sheffield, the idea that brands can commission entertainment instead of merely advertising in it keeps popping up.