As we all know, for some time now, media-savvy companies have been taking full advantage of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, for a combination of brand-building, direct sales, customer service and PR. This has left us all wondering what will be the next big ‘thing’.

Could it be the controversial Chatroulette? For those of you that have had your head in the sand for the past few months, this is a video dating/exhibitionism site, started at the end of last year, which randomly connects users from around the world, enabling them to communicate using webcam, text and images. On closer inspection, users share webcam footage with each other and much of it is of a rather dubious nature – and that’s putting it mildly!

Despite what its critics say, the site is growing massively by the day and according to comScore, Chatroulette drew 960,000 U.S. visitors in February, up from 109,000 in January.

So, how can brands benefit from such a strange, sometimes obscene, phenomenon?

With the general user-base being made up of people who want to expose themselves, people looking for nudity, and curious/new users, there aren’t a lot of brands that would knowingly market themselves to digital exhibitionists, but its growing attention does present an opportunity for brands. In light of this, surely brands should ask themselves a question before trying out any new medium — especially one with a shady reputation. What do they hope to get out of it?

One brand has bitten the marketing bullet and dipped its toes in the murky waters of Chatroulette. French Connection is currently using the site to run a competition where men are being asked to set up a real date with a girl on the site. The bloke not only gets a date but also £250 worth of French Connection vouchers. The competition is part of French Connection’s The Man, The Woman campaign launched in February, which aims to draw more attention to its men’s range of clothing.

Personally, I’m not entirely convinced. Is this merely a case of social media bandwagon hopping? Brands who want to be perceived as edgy simply jumping on to the hot new thing in social media? And do we really want to see the naked truth?

Times they are a changin’, or so it seems. The powerhouse of the internet that is Google has a pretender to its crown. Facebook has managed to gain a level of momentum that could well see it take over as the most influential company on the web.

It is the strength of the relationship that Facebook has with its 450 million plus users that puts it in such a strong position. Add to that the announcements from its f8 developer conference and the writing could well be on the wall for a number of the most promising businesses currently laying claim to their own piece of our web based life.

In a way that seems contrary to the normal scheme of things, the greater Facebook’s success the more it has continued to attract new users. It is now a platform that circles the world and brings together groups of friends in a way that no other site has managed.

Adding new features and functions, such as “Presence”, could well make it the largest provider of these services at the click of a mouse. Location based services are just one possibility. Foursquare has a great proposition and has gathered a significant number of users and momentum of its own. But, and it really is a huge but for the guys at Foursquare, a Facebook location update service will automatically have millions of users an catapult it to number one in a second.

Another example of how Facebook is capturing more of our online time is its instant messenger service. With more of my friends on the site more often, I have found myself using this over more established services such as Microsoft’s Live Messenger, it is right there, quick and easy. Another significant move is Facebook connect. This service shows how Facebook is working closer and closer with other sites. The technology enables web sites to remove the need for their own registration process by giving access to services and information through a users’ Facebook login.

The really clever thing about all this is that with Facebook, registration and creation of an account is accepted absolutely by users. This automatically provides a huge, already accepting, market for any new services it bolts on. Google on the other hand, came from the opposite point of view. It was created as an open, free to all, search engine and as a result has struggled to change its proposition to a registration based model. Just look at the slow uptake of Buzz.

Having some issues with a new service we’d just subscribed to, I was frustrated to find that I’d have to wait nine hours to call a helpline based in the US. Turning to Twitter, I found @jivesupport and pinged them a tweet asking for a support number in the UK. I received an almost instant reply from their social media manager apologising for the problem, which was followed shortly by a reply from their support team who quickly helped me resolve the issue.

Not only did @jivesupport help me solve the problem in less than an hour, but they’ve also now created a brand advocate for their customer service. It got me thinking about customer service on Twitter in general and how the natural immediacy we’ve become used to on the micro-blogging platform is translating into the way companies are using it for CRM.

There are countless stories of bad customer service that have exploded across Twitter and Facebook resulting in a PR nightmare for brands who decided to dip their feet in the social media pool only to find that they weren’t quite ready to swim in it. I wonder whether a fear of the potential negative repercussions is driving the increasing number of companies using Twitter successfully for customer service.

Used correctly, Twitter is clearly a great way to satisfy your customers, who will then spread a visible appreciation for your brand to their followers. However, as with any communication plan, it should always be treated with caution and a clear strategy for dealing with the consequences. At the very least, consider the following:

• Do you have the right monitoring tools? Set up alerts such as Tweetbeep so that you’re aware and ready to respond to what’s been said about your brand.
• Who is taking responsibility for your social media platforms? If it’s an agency, make sure they are fully briefed on what to look out for and how to reply to direct questions
• Buy yourself time with an acknowledgment. Reasonable customers won’t expect instant answers to complicated problems but will appreciate an @reply that lets them know you’re looking into it.

My positive experience this week will certainly inform the way I contact other companies with issues in the future and I’ll be watching Twitter closely for more good and bad examples. It’s fascinating to observe the ways in which social media is changing the way we do business and it is vital that brands consider its relevance for their services and customers.

This ash cloud has been quite a strain, my wife and baby are still stuck in Dubai five days after they were due to fly home. The good thing is that they are staying with friends and have a great support network.

What it has shown me is how great the internet really is. Searching for information on Twitter, airline websites with the latest information (sometimes), news sites with real time video and Skype to stay in touch and more has provided real peace of mind.

Let’s talk specifically about use of social media platforms to help deal with the crisis. Twitter has become the web user’s right hand. The way the platform is set up allows a number of really useful things. You can choose to follow everything from airports to sports personalities, each wrestling with the problem of the lack of air travel in their own way. I have put together a targeted list of some of my key sources for keeping up to date. It just takes a little time to search on the site.

With a mix of journalists and news sites as well as the likes of Jake Humhprey and the Formula1 teams struggling to get home from last weekend’s race in China, there is a lot of information out there to wade through. It gives real world insight into what might work for getting the family home and is building camaraderie online.

The next key feature of Twitter is the hash tag, a really useful way to gather conversations on the same topic together. You just need to make sure that you include the right one. It is also proving a great platform for people to help each other out. The #getmehome tag has been widely used and is enabling people to share rides across Europe. I have even seen organisations and companies – one is a car share organisation called Roadshare – that are using these tags to communicate out their services to people with a specific problem; clever.

What will be interesting is to see if there is any direct increase in Twitter users as a result of this. I wouldn’t be surprised if Twitter does see a European surge on the back of Iceland’s latest contribution to the global economy – I know, an act of God.

Hopefully you follow a few of the members of the immediate future team who have their own personal Twitter feeds, but for the first time we’ve set up an official company presence:

http://twitter.com/iftweeter

If you’re on Twitter, wander over and check it out.

What can you expect from the feed? News and views on the latest in the worlds of technology, social media communications. Plenty of opinion. Possibly some tweets about the cakes we occasionally get delivered.

Hmmm. Cake.

Everyone knows what press trips are about right? A chance to jet off to some sun-kissed location, get drunk with your journalist mates and generally avoid doing work for a few days. It’s all a big laugh. Well, no actually. Not always, anyway.

Especially not when the trip has eco-conscious thinking at its heart, as when I visited Sony’s Technology Centre in Stuttgart recently. We were there to get a closer look at the different ways a global technology manufacturer is ensuring that its activities display a real commitment to being eco conscious. It sounds dull, but it really wasn’t.

I spent the day at the Technology Centre, looking after a few of our contacts (Hi Cate, Maxim and Bonnie!) and also getting a chance to see firsthand some of the products and initiatives that we’ve been promoting on Sony’s behalf recently. One of the highlights of the day was definitely the semi-anechoic chambers where the teams of scientists check Sony products such as  BRAVIA TVs  to see what kind of emissions they make which could interfere with your neighbour’s radio. No interference in or out. No mobile signal. Lots of insulation. Very cool.

Not only that, but I also had some eye-opening experiences. Did you know, for example, that any product produced by a third party that includes Sony branding is pulled apart and tested for any potentially hazardous materials?

Obviously, it was a client trip so you know I’m not going to say anything negative, but it genuinely was extremely eye-opening, especially if you’re a bit of a geek like me. Dr Joachim and his team explained everything in layman’s terms that were easy to understand, even though this was only the second time they’ve opened their doors to journalists.

Goes to show that companies sometimes don’t know which of their assets could actually be a rich vein to tapped for PR purposes.

Check out some of the coverage from the attendees here:

Treehugger – http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/03/sony-bravia-3d.php

Gizmodo – http://www.gizmodo.de/2010/03/23/video-hinter-den-kulissen-sonys-forschungsabteilung.html

This week I enjoyed ‘An Evening with Rufus Wainwright’ at Sadlers Wells in London. Watching the very unusual first half of the performance, I was mulling over the power of the performer, the generosity of the audience, the nature of being an expert and relationships. I know. High faluting stuff. It was that kind of show.

Why are these musings making it onto immediate future’s blog? The star, the performance and the audience illustrate perfectly a dynamic of the consultant/client relationship.

At the risk of quoting that yeast extract related cliché, Rufus Wainwright doesn’t appeal to everyone. But I think what is less contentious is his talent – he is often referred to as a ‘musical polymath’. Rufus is an expert; his fans know this. He regularly releases new material, stamped with his very particular style but still with the ability to surprise. He knows his stuff. He is consistently excellent, performing at a high level.

Sadlers Wells is a magnificent setting; we walked into the theatre ready to suspend our disbelief. As we sat down, an official appeared on stage. He read out a message to tell us the first act would be a ‘song cycle’ and that we were not to clap. The audience looked around at its companions to comment/laugh. Then we all obeyed!

There was total silence throughout the set. On came Rufus Wainwright, commanding the audience to just listen, and we did. It was just him, a piano and an extremely complicated set of lyrics and music. He took centre stage for a brave performance. We willed him to be successful. The trust circle was complete.

The interesting thing though is, that he fluffed it a couple of times. A couple of times in the first act and then maybe three times in the second act. As he tackled a particularly complex and pacey section of song with difficult key changes, he got it wrong and had to catch up with himself.

We had all paid our money and taken time out of our lives to travel across London to listen to this artist, who’d got it wrong. Yet nobody considered it a bad performance. The opposite in fact. People were commenting during the interval that ‘it made him human’, it ‘made the performance even better for not being absolutely perfect’.

What parallels do I draw from this? Firstly that clients are willing to take a leap of faith and trust us do a good job.

Secondly, if we deliver an excellent service, we will demonstrate that we are worthy of that faith.

And finally, if we are expert at our job and perform consistently at that high level, the occasional error will be tolerated. (Although I’m not sure a client would prize the fact it makes us human).

Essential to all of this of course is the real dedication to excellence. Anything less can quickly degenerate into complacency. Rufus doesn’t hold back from his performance and that commitment to being great is the life blood of a strong client/consultancy relationship.

The latest volcanic eruption in Iceland has had a dramatic effect on many more millions of people than could have been imagined. As one person commented on Twitter this morning, interesting to see the hand of God can still command such control over us mere humans – or something like that.

It is a time like this that social media can really help stranded passengers and relatives waiting on news. Yet the airlines seem to be avoiding the channels there right in front of them. British Airways are Tweeting about the state of play and interestingly Heathrow Airport’s Twitter stream is also a good source of what little information there is right now.

How this plays out when there is no actual solution for people who are supposed to be in the air right now or have flights planned for the next few days is going to be interesting. Airlines, probably led by the aviation authorities, need to start managing customer expectations now. They have no control and have to wait on the National Air Traffic Service to open the skies again. Realistically there are unlikely to be flights into the UK in the next 48 hours and then how do the airlines manage the thousands of calls for people trying to get on flights? As I learnt in a previous life, news that there is no news and that the airline is doing all it can to solve passenger problems is better than no news at all.

The Twitter expert probably has a bit of an advantage, staying in touch with things through a series of feeds, managing both their own and their families’ expectations as to when they will be able to fly. Some suggested feeds are:

1. The Met Office – tracking the plume of ash and will provide NATS with the information it uses to decide to open UK airspace again
2. Heathrow Airport – for latest on the status on the ground at the airport
3. Aberdeen Airport – this airport should reopen before any other UK airports, so worth keeping an eye on its feed

Good luck to those trying to fly today and thoughts go out to the Icelanders feeling the full force of the eruption, no casualties reported, which is good news. As always better safe than sorry.

Sitting through a number of presentations from social media monitoring companies recently, I was struck by how these tools all look very similar. I am sure there is a significant difference in what goes on under the hood, specifically in the algorithms and search spiders that each have, but when it comes to the output from these tools they all seem to provide much the same.

This is kinda scary and only adds to the current confusion. How do these guys manage to differentiate to their prospects? Are they milking ignorance? Well yes and no. For sure there are some very clever products out there and a huge range in cost, but none will be worth a bean if they are set up badly and the person interpreting the information the system delivers is not up to the job.

Also presenting on the same day was Nathan Gilliatt, one of the world’s leading experts on social media analysis. He set out how important it is to invest in the person, or people, interpreting the information generated by your chosen monitoring tool. Absolutely!

So, how do you know that you have the right consultant? I suggest there are five must haves:

1. An understanding of your business
2. A broad knowledge of your market
3. Insight into the target customer
4. Experience in a wide variety of social media platforms
5. Experience in using the monitoring tools themselves

So it seems the clue is in the name, social media monitoring tools are just that, applications or platforms that provide raw data. Interpreting that information is a skill that demands a broad range of insights and a clear understanding of a business’ expectations as well as the demands from its social media programme.

Only with this breadth of knowledge will an ongoing social media campaign continue to gain the interaction it needs. This will lead to an audience that will continue to positively influence perceptions of the company or product; easy to say, not so easy to do. There are a huge number of dots to join here and we must remember that monitoring is just part of the picture. It is reassuring to find that the human element is as essential as it always has been.

Since the news broke that Bebo is in terminal decline, opinion formers have been asking: why did it fail?

Some, like The Times, have pointed towards a lack of monetisation through advertising. If we hold up the Facebook smart advertising model as the best commercial blueprint, this conclusion would make sense.

However, with recent results showing Facebook only just about breaking even, this news puts the spotlight on the premise that basic advertising can support social networks.

LinkedIn would argue against pinning revenue hopes on one channel, as it emulates the FT model of premium subscriptions.  While this may sound like a more robust approach, the numbers still point to a deeper concern. If no one, apart from Amazon (which you can probably call a social network) and Facebook, has made a profit what does the future hold for the social media space?

Well, invariably the future holds a much stripped down and some would say cleaner universe of social media platforms. Sure, there will always be newer players like foursquare, Ning and Xing – but how will the ‘big three’: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube change over the next few years?

It seems as if Google will drive YouTube down the premium content route, as the recent deal with the IPL suggests, while Facebook is using targeted ads. So where does that leave Twitter?

Recently, Twitter hinted at an impending advertising platform. Whichever way it goes, pundits anticipate a revenue sharing model to motivate power users to ‘endorse’ a brand message. If Twitter goes down this path it will be interesting to see how it mitigates accusations of encouraging astroturfing.

In any event, Twitter doesn’t need to make a decision quickly. Last year it was reported that a Twitter funding round raised $100 million from VCs valuing the company at $1 billion. Although, with Bebo bought for $850 million by AOL two years ago, there is bound to be an increasing mood of caution in the Twitter investor meetings happening around San Francisco.