RIP Australian net neutrality.

All Australians are free, within the bounds of the law, to say or write what they think about Australian governments or about any other subject or social issue as long as they do not endanger people, make false allegations or obstruct the free speech of others. The same applies to Australian newspapers, radio and television and other forms of media. Australians are free to protest the actions of government and to campaign to change laws.

- an excerpt from Life in Australia

When I migrated to Australia a few months back, Immigration provided me with Life in Australia, a 46 page booklet outlining the core values (including the one listed above) that ensure that Australia maintains its high standard of living as a free, democratic country; I was required to promise to abide by these values. As such, I was all the more shocked by yesterday’s announcement that the Australian government will move ahead with its ill-advised (and highly protested) plan to instill mandatory Internet filtering.

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Murdoch's Anti-Google Ploy or how to Play Nice Online

Media Baron Rupert Murdoch informed media last week that his News Corp news resources which owns huge news and information websites including The Australian, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post would be cutting a deal with Microsoft to block Google and give exclusive search results to Bing in an attempt to drive clicks away from Google's dominant search engine. Murdoch inferred that Google were stealing content stating they were "Content Kleptomaniacs" saying that they need to start paying for it.

Murdoch does have a point, however, that the NEWS services we receive today are based on a capitalist controlled consumer driven system that requires funding. Writers, services, cost and other aspects of the company need to be paid for some how. They are not a free service like abc.net.au. However I think blocking Google is a bit drastic!

On top of this online Advertising has not returned as much as first thought meaning the information services we receive for free today may change to subscription, blocking content to payed subscribers only.

A flip side to Murdoch's intention could be that if News Corp does block Google and people don't swap to Bing, then people would simply read their News from alternative free sources, especially in these hard economic times. This could give independant resources and channels a chance to win new readers and have a broader reach. Alternatively Google and News Corp could play nicely and come to some happy middle ground. Either way the changes that are happening will not stop the new generation of free information be it through search engines or the ever increasing social networking channels such as Twitter, where content providers work hard to earn their followers and advocates.

How these changes play out could severely effect the future of digital strategy and in a sense we are influencing these changes by supporting them or not. I've always said that the digital is an unpredictable medium which can't be controlled and this is a prime example.

Via: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/25/cashmore.news.corp.google/index.html

It seems Google and News Corp are friends now... here is Google CEO Eric Schmidt's response
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107104574569570797550520.html

Social Media Use by Australia's Best Brands 2009

It's pretty clear that brands are getting into social media. This report published by Burson-Marsteller looked to identify how top Australian companies are using key social media platforms to communicate and engage directly with stakeholders, in particular via Twitter, Facebook and Blogging. This is a good look at what's being done in the social media arena by 20 companies as chosen by Interbrand in its 'Australia's Best Brands Report' for 2009. I think most notable is that these companies are favoring Twitter and Facebook over blogging as their preferred channels.

Be Smart and Earn Your Respect

Every day there are new opportunities to slip in a cute smart idea. Here is one I found today on a blog I frequent, I Believe in Advertising. The campaign attempts to demystify the idea that Malaysia Airlines are expensive.

Smart ideas earn respect for your brand which translates to a good product. Brands who go the extra mile and appreciate peoples desire to think for them selves and not be force fed will goa long way... that and being able to tickle ones funny-bone! :)

Link: http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/2008/11/golden-holidays-diving-rock-climbing-snowboarding/
Via: http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/