Drew B's take on tech PR

Three new social sites for you to try: Lift, Medium and Branch #quantifiedself #socialmedia #foundersoftwitter

In the last few weeks the people behind certain social network called Twitter have been busy. Obvious Corp, the people behind Twitter, have launched three new social networks. Very few people are using them so far, as they seem all to be invite-only or in beta mode. But this much innovation rarely comes so fast from one organisation, so I thought I'd do a little review of what's going on. 

Lift

What's it like? Like Foursquare for habits.

This is an app for your smart phone. You browse things you want to do, like run, clear your inbox, take vitamins or eat fruit. You then add it to your list, and check off that item each time you do it. Sounds simple, but it's fiendishly addictive. It gives you a similar kind of motivation as having a training buddy or peer pressure. Each 'habit' is social, so you can see what other people are doing. And checking it off is really simple - just a big TICK and a graph showing you how you've done. 

I'm really liking Lift already. It's quantified self meets Foursquare to-do list. 

Branch

What's it like? Like Google Plus Circles meets permission-based forum threads meets Quora. 

I'm not yet fully into this one. But structurally, the way Branch works, is that threads or circles as we know them are called branches. You can freely subscribe to or share a branch, but you have to ask to be invited. It adds a different dimension to online discussion, with its use of public content but protected list of participants. 

Medium

What's it like? Like a blogging platform, like Tumblr meets Wordpress.

The newest of the bunch, Medium was only revealed last night. The Next Web says that Obvious Cor decided to take on the construction of Medium because “we believe publishing—and media, more broadly—is important. So, we’re re-imagining publishing in an attempt to make an evolutionary leap, based on everything we’ve learned in the last 13 years and the needs of today’s world.” Sounds very nice! Waiting for my beta version to come through for this one :)

Hopefully you get a chance to try these things out soon too. 

Some UK digital health blogs to follow

I have a new blog, it's very much a work in progress, but it is inspired by the fact that I have at least two colleagues who are also blogging about the same topic, digital health, Quantified Self, self-tracking, body data, and whatever else it gets called. 

My new blog is at BodyData.co.uk

My colleague Stephen Davies is at Bionic.ly

And my colleague David Clare is at OneMoreLifeHack.com

If there are any more out there, I'd love to see them. Let me know in the comments. 

# Update

Thanks Sam Lynas from Kifit who pointed me in the direction of the KiLife blog

Fostering innovation in PR, side projects and early social

I've just had an article published in the Huffington Post titled: How innovation inside starts outside. It's a bit of a story of my last 5yrs at work, my approach to innovation and side projects, and I thought I'd share it here too in case you don't read the Huffington Post already. 

Here's an excerpt: 

Five years ago I joined the company whose UK operation I now run, with a special mission. To take the side project that I had been cultivating and bring it front and centre. The PR agency Hotwire thought I could bring some benefit to the company, our clients and people, by innovating from the inside - by setting up a startup within an established international company...

Thanks for reading!