There is an unavoidable growing synergy between television and social media in the UK. On demand and catch up services are searchable on YouTube and are so well integrated, it is difficult for users to define if they are watching a YouTube or streamed service. Television shows and even commercials are using social media to involve viewers and create a buzz around story lines.
The business advisory firm Deloitte claim that there is a limit to just how effective the merging of social media and television is. Deloitte’s findings affirm that it is young enthusiasts who fuel the success of these campaigns.

The recent BT advert featuring the Adam and Jane saga came to an end with an online campaign for the public to decide what happens next via Facebook. Over 1.6 million Facebook users voted. Although hailed a success, the question still remains, is that a big enough slice of the UK’s 24.2 million Facebook pie?

Sometimes solutions to computer issues can be more simple than you think.
I recently received a call from a client about one of their users not being able to open attachments properly when using their webmail portal to access email. Each time the user clicked on an email attachment they were met with unreadable computer language – indecipherable squares and ±!@£$%?|:”}{?(*&^.

Following a Skype call with the user where their screen was shared, I found that each time he opened a PDF attachment, the computer attempted to open it up in Microsoft Word displaying obscure text and symbols! First thing we checked was whether he had the ability to read PDF files i.e. did he have Adobe Reader installed on his computer? It turned out as his computer was new, he did not have it installed. I directed him to download Adobe Reader 9 from Adobe’s site. Since installing Adobe Reader, he can now open all emails and attachments with no problems. This is often overlooked, but the program is not usually installed on new computers as standard.

Something to keep in mind when investigating issues, sometimes the solution is not as hard as you think!

If you are having similar issues, please don’t hesitate in contacting us, the solution may be more simple than you think!

I have been on Twitter daily for years now, and by now I have really grown fond of some twitter-ers. Here is my list…..please feel free to add your own at the bottom:

Kingsley2

The original social media hacker! His social media firehose is an absolute must for me.

shortfilmfest

Many of the Susumu team are keen short film producers, @shortfilmfest keeps us in touch with some of the most interesting and award winning short films.

JamieTheakston

The original boy next door.

rustyrockets

The twisted brother of the boy next door!

LondonCourses

Some great local courses aimed at working adults.

TechCrunch

One of my top profiles to follow to keep in the loop about new developments in technology which may affect social media platforms.

BillGates

Although I am a Mac addict, I have to keep up with Microsoft founder and charity supporter Bill.

KevinSpacey

Globally recognised actor and theatre owner.

Schwarzenegger

The terminator appears to put a lot of time and effort into his miroblogging presence, he certainly managed to engage an audience.

blueflameit

Phil Taylor, the well known Joomla expert.

MediaFunnel

A great social media tool and twitter resources.

shitmydadsays

When I find myself feeling wound up and stressed out, I take advice from an explicit 74 year old who tells it how it is. Classic.

Who do you like to follow and why?

There has been a receipt spate of attacks on the WordPress platform. The attacks appeared to be a campaign to spread malware through thousands of legitimate sites. The attacks appear to redirect users to malicious sites known as scareware sites which claim to have identified an infection.
If you are using WordPress, here are some hand hints and tips for securing your site.

Create a Strong Password

This may seem like an obvious piece of advice, but investigations into the WordPress attacks by WPSecurityLock found that..

“…99 percent of the sites that we have seen and fixed had very weak passwords to both their FTP and their hosting accounts” [Regina Smola, co-founder of WPSecurityLock]

Avoid Using “admin” as a Username

This is the default user that is created when WordPress is first installed. There have been several methods of exploiting this user that have been developed over time. A new  username and password should be created with all the administrative privileges. The admin username should be deleted straight after.

Create Custom Login Links

Anyone who has used WordPress before knows the default login address of www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin.php, especially hackers. Malicious bots can also gain access to your files with this default information. Custom logins addresses can be created to prevent unauthorised people from gaining access to the login screen.

Limiting Login Attempts

A login limiter prevents hackers and scripts from guessing your password through trying several possible variations. With login limiters, you can set how many attempts to login are allowed before ‘locking out’ an IP address.

Limiting IP Address Access

If you always login into your WordPress administration panel from a single location like your office, then it is wise to limit the IP access. This basically means only your office computer (and the others you choose) can access the administration panel. This will deny you access should you try to gain access unsung another computer.

WordPress Virus Protection and Firewalls

There are plugins that can be activated to protect against malicious code such as bot injections and other malicious exploits. Many of the good options provide email alerts with information on suspicious activity.

Update to the Latest WordPress Version

This is a must for anyone who uses WordPress! After each version update, WordPress publishes the weaknesses and bugs that were found in the previous version.

If you would like more information on WordPress and protecting your WordPress site, please feel free to contact us today for a no-obligation chat.

If you can not answer this question, then you have a website that is not being tracked. This can mean you are missing out on valuable data such as how people are finding your website, where in the world visitors are coming from and how they are using your site. This is crucial information needed for monitoring how well your business is performing online.
The tool we set all our clients up with here at Susumu is Google Analytics. This is an industry standard monitoring tool which is completely free to use. It can be used to monitor multiple sites and in a number of ways. It can be used on sites built in any platform.

Google Analytics will track the pages that contain the Google Analytics tracking code. The tracking code is a piece of Javascript that is added to each page of your site. This is usually done manually, but there are a number of plugins and tools (built for specific platforms) that can be used to propagate the code through the site.
Google Analytics is set up with every website we design and for every client we give market services to. Here are just a few reasons why:

The Google Analytics Dashboard

The dashboard gives an overall picture of the popular statistics including how many visitors you have had to your site, the traffic sources and visitors by geographic location. This reports displayed on this page can be changed by simply dragging and dropping into a relevant format.

More in-depth and comprehensive reporting is also available for each section.

Visits and Site usage

The number of daily page visits are displayed graphically at the top of the dashboard. This has a feature to compare two different date ranges on the chart and in the site usage section.
Amongst the useful statistics given , the bounce rate is a very important aspect. The bounce rate tells you how many visitors entered your site, but left without going any further. In other words, how many people ‘bounced’ straight back out of your website.

Geographic Data

Google Analytics generates deep geographic data so you can track not only where vistors are located, but also geographic performance. You can see the time on site and bounce rate based on locations.

The site overlay is particularly useful for monitoring how people are using your navigation. This feature opens your site up with statistical information on all the links for that particular page. You can then navigate around your site using site overlay to find links analytics on other pages.

Keyword Source

This lists the keywords visitors have typed into search engines to reach your site. This is important if you are optimizing your site for organic search engine results and to keep up with related trends.

Filters

Filters help to generate data which is as accurate as possible as internal traffic can be excluded. Visits made by yourself, your web developer and your staff can skew the data.

Would you like to have Google Analytics set up for an existing website?
Do you already have Google Analytics and would like to learn more?
Please contact us for more information.

Are there other feature of Google Analytics you love? Please feel free to add them as comments below.

Without a website, you risk potential clients not finding you and existing clients wondering if you are still operating. If a website is designed and developed well, it can streamline your work flow and give you valuable insight into how people are responding to your online presence.

Take some time to decide what the purpose of your Website  will actually be.

• Do you want a ‘brochure’ site to just display information professionally?

• Do you want your site to attract new clients?

• Do you want your site to be an online market place?

What Sort of Websites Do You Like?
It is worthwhile exploring what your competitors and unrelated organisations alike are doing online. From this you can build a picture of what you do and don’t like, what you think may work for you and what sort of results you would like it to bring about.

How Will Your Website Fit into Your Business?
A website should be a business investment, not an arbitrary expense. Your website should integrate with your activities such as customer relations, sales and dissemination of information.

Talk to You Web Developer!
By now you may have an idea of what you want out of your website, but it is important to keep an open mind when talking to your web developer. You may like the look of an unusual font or layout style, but this may be impractical and may hinder usability for you visitors.

Branding is an essential part of any business strategy and is vital for setting your company apart from the competition. There are some simple points of consideration that can help you create a strong company image that potential clients can relate to and recognise.

1. Research other organisations within your industry to get a feel of what is already out there.
2. The name is usually the first branding decision. Aside from being memorable, the name should be short and easy to spell. Many people prefer to check if an associated domain name is available before settling on a final name.
3. Your online presence should also be part of your client communication strategy.
4. What social media platforms do you want to target?

• How will you facilitate client feedback, complaints and issues?
• How will you deal with negative comments directed towards your company?
• Do you want to maintain a company blog?

At each of these points communicating your USP (unique selling point) should be at the forefront of your mind.

For more information and advise on building a company brand, please do not hesitate to contact us for a friendly chat.

As the Internet is becoming more essential to our everyday lives, criminals are also using this medium to try and scam people. I often receive the ‘Nigerian Scam Letter’ in one form or another. My Gmail accept often sends these letters straight to my spam box, but every so often a couple will work their way through to my Hotmail inbox.

The most recent of the scam letters had the subject: “THIS MESSAGE IS NOT A SPAM OR VIRUS (STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL)?”

There was an urgent short message and attached was the JPEG below.

My reply to this was “as a good will gesture could you please send me a cheque for £5000 and then I will proceed”, to which they never replied. Big surprise!

I would love to hear of any similar scams and any good responses to send back to them if any!

It was not a question of if, but when. Sony Pictures has released the trailer of ‘The Social Network’, which is the story of the birth and growth of Facebook. The Radiohead song “Creep” playing in the trailer, it appears the film will not simply be a rags to riches tale, but something that may even question the issues and controversy surrounding the most popular social networking site to date.

Here is the trailer, let us know what you make of it.

It is relatively easy for an unknown brand to build a community on Twitter, but without communicating with them effectively, there is little that can be gained from this platform. Here is a simple guide to help you to understand the communication value of Twitter.

If you are using Twitter as an advertising tool, take steps to ensure you are not flooding people’s timeline with annoying advert like status updates and links to your website. While mentioning your services is perfectly acceptable within reason, it should not be all that you have to say over Twitter.

Using Twitter as a communication tool to converse with your community is a highly recommended strategy. It not only allows you to be involved in what people are saying about your brand, but you can also provide a better customer experience by responding to queries or problems directly.

If you would like to develop your brand strategy for Twitter, please do not hesitate to contact us.