This week’s highlights
This week I was mainly gawping in awe at the genius of Jeanette Winterson, author of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit (hence the image – a tenuous link I know, but it cheered up a grey October day). I read Winterson at Uni and remember it being one of the curriculum texts that I actually – gasp – enjoyed. So I was curious to read this article from her in the Guardian, which reflects on her development as a writer, and a person. I particularly like her point that as we grow we need to develop some aspects of ourselves and leave others behind, or we “end up being the wrong size for our world”.
38minutes inspires Hungarian spin-off
38minutes, the social network I manage, has inspired a spin-off site for European entrepreneurs.
EU-funded business magazine Creative Growth has run a special feature on the importance of collaboration and networks, with 38minutes featuring as a key success story.
The article reports that 38minutes inspired Jozsef Gonda, MD of marketing business Forensys Communication, to create a network for entrepreneurs. After hearing about the success of 38 in Scotland, Jozsef decided to develop a website with useful information regarding tenders, EU funds, development opportunities, creative sector trends and opportunities for collaboration. “We wanted to emphasize to other entrepreneurs that cooperation brings opportunities,” he says.
38minutes also inspired the EU cinema network Support Your Local Cinema. Rachael Castell modelled the site on 38minutes after a recommendation from GFT’s Jen Davies that 38 was not to be missed. Jen has used the site for everything from marketing and recruitment to inspiration and blogging.
It’s great to hear that our small but ambitious network is attracting international attention!
A new chapter in storytelling
My latest guest blog on independent cinema network Support Your Local Cinema considers the latest evolution in storytelling: interactivity.
Here’s a taster:
Stories have been a part of human culture since prehistoric man first drew pictorial representations on cave walls – signs of “the beginnings of the modern human soul”, as Werner Herzog eloquently expressed it in his acclaimed film Cave of Forgotten Dreams. The earliest stories served less as entertainment and more as instructive tales of faith and morality. Through ancient religious texts, we adopted beliefs, rituals, codes of behaviour, laws and ethics. The great philosopher Plato famously set out his theories about the nature of human existence through a series of allegorical tales, and in medieval times fables provided miniature lessons in morality. In those early days of literary development, our storytelling was bound up in the pictorial and the performative, passed down orally through generations.
Social media for business: new post on SYLC
As a featured blogger on EU cinema network Support Your Local Cinema, I have just penned an article exploring how social networks can be utilised by businesses.
The article draws on the lessons I have learned as editor of Channel 4 social network 38minutes. I have focused on the following opportunities:
- Forging new collaborations
- Accessing industry contacts
- Lobbying for change
- Free advertising
- Real-life connections
I have also included some top tips for managing your social media presence as a business.
Read my full article here.
Image by SPazzø on Flickr under Creative Commons
