readings in social media and pr for August 14th 2011

Finding my way around my new home in Louisville, Kentucky!

Here is what I am reading today:

• social media ban for rioters

“British Prime Minister David Cameron thinks he’s found some culprits to blame in the recent riots that have rocked London and other cities — Facebook and Twitter. Saying the “free flow of information” can sometimes be a problem, Cameron’s government has summoned those two social-networking sites, as well as Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry, for a meeting to discuss their roles during the violent outbreaks.”

• social media’s future in mobile technology

“To say that the future of social media belongs to the mobile will come as no surprise to most. But it is unusual to find such a significant area of opportunity gift-wrapped in inevitability; after all, there is no retro in mobile communications – the upgrade cycle is built into pay monthly contracts. OFCOM’s Communications Market Overview report last year announced that 74% of handsets sold as part of pay monthly contracts were smartphones and, each time we get to the end of our contract, we inevitably move up to the next generation of handset. This endless sequence of upgrades is driving the increased use of the mobile internet too – at the end of last year, nVision Research told us that 27% of the UK population were using the mobile web at least once a month. By 2015 this will increase to 53% and will top 70% among the under-35s.”

• the URBAN dash ap!

“A campaign in the UK recently challenged consumers to find virtual cars. Now, New Balance is running a similar effort in New York asking runners to find virtual batons.

The augmented reality campaign, explained in the video above, requires a download of the “Urban Dash” iPhone app, which is expected to go live this week. Once that’s done, consumers will be asked to find virtual batons around the city. In an athletic twist, other players can grab your baton if they get close enough to you and vice versa.”

• who is tweeting whom?

“Looking for an easy way to identify some of your content’s biggest evangelists? Or perhaps you just want to know how well your content is spreading. Well we have the perfect tool just for you! In preparation for our upcoming webinar, “The Science of Social Media” (don’t forget to reserve your spot!), HubSpot has just released its newest free tool, created by Social Media Scientist Dan Zarrella.”

• have your angry bird cake and eat it too!

“An employee displays the newly launched ‘Angry Birds’ mooncakes, a popular Chinese baked pastry made from lotus seed paste and salted egg yolks available this time of the year, during the Hong Kong Food Expo on August 14. The pastries are named after the popular mobile game.”