Internet Psychologist
A stunning decision by one of Britain’s top publishing companies provides a perfect example of how not to use the Internet. The Hearst Digital Network is closing down several web sites of magazines published by the National Magazine Company. The magazines that are to lose their own web sites include …
The News in Portsmouth just interviewed me for an article on how to improve email usage.
Many businesses are put off social networking sites. They feel that such sites distract staff from getting on with work. They think that social networking sites, like Facebook or MySpace are some kind of security risk for their business. Or they just think these sites are for bored teenagers and …
Spent most of today in a studio in London doing a round of local radio interviews for broadcast tomorrow on the subject of fear of the Internet amongst the over 50s.
Last night’s Oscar ceremony with all its glitz and glamour may well be the last of the Hollywood award nights we see on our TV. Indeed, many people won’t have watched the Academy’s show on TV at all; significant numbers would have watched without having access to a TV. They …
It’s been a busy media week for me…! Three magazines have interviewed me, as well as a couple of student journalists. I’m doing several radio interviews and I’ve also been asked to record a slot for a BBC TV show later this month.
Facebook is in trouble; or so it might seem from stories in the specialist press, such as New Media Age and subsequent mainstream follow-up coverage. It seems that in the UK, Facebook has started to lose users; it is down by around 400,000 over a month. That might seem a …
Many Internet marketers would like to have us believe that success online is all down to various bits of technology. They tell us you need this kind of ecommerce software, or that kind of autoresponder, or a specific piece of unblockable pop-up advertising service. But none of these are really …
People often ask me if their business could operate online. Many business people fear that their service or product would not translate well to the online world. But I tell them that I can’t think of anything that is impossible to sell online. After all, if just a few years …
The other day I was at a meeting sitting near a family doctor. Up on the stage popped another doctor (and it wasn’t a medical meeting…!) who said he intended to make as many people as possible happy. Why? Because, he told us, that in his experience as a general …
Trust is an important issue in all our lives. If we trust the person telling us something we tend to believe them. The same is true online; if we trust the web site we are looking at, we believe what it says. If someone you meet recommends a product or …
So, the British Government is suggesting that people who download things illegally should have their Internet access cut. Whoopee doo, let’s deal with those naughty people. Cracked it. Er…not. Firstly, people can easily hide their illegal downloads. Even if ISPs could ban people from using their systems, they’d have to …
Retail therapy is often “prescribed” for people who are in a bit of a fix. Someone who is worried or anxious often finds solace in shopping. Now new research shows us why and it has important implications for online retailers. It seems that people who are “self focused” are prepared …
Woolworths have big red faces over an entry in their Big Red Book. This is their catalogue shopping service that also features online. The problem is that no-one at Woolies realised that the word “Lolita” had sexual connotations when they started selling a bed with that name. Worse still, the …
Today sees the start of the British Government’s “Scam Awareness Month”. Councils across the UK are backing the Office of Fair Trading’s campaign to make us all aware of “scams” that cost us dear. Shame the OFT doesn’t know about it – or at least doesn’t appear to. According to …