360DigitalInfluence

As citizens are increasingly discussing and sharing content online, we decided to take a look with the European Centre for Public Affairs at digital discussion and debate in the weeks leading up to the European elections. Covering English, French, German, Greek and Polish language, we asked the following questions: Was there an EU debate or were conversations limited to national politics? What were the most popular themes and how did the rankings compare? Did online “buzz” translate into votes at the ballot box? We also examined the digital footprint of an MEP using social networks to see how effectively he communicated with voters. And we purposely chose an online seminar format to do share the results with a wider group. continue reading

We observed a very interesting trend in social media in Europe : there’s a deeper integration between online identities and “real life” identities. This is the consequence of the convergence of at least 2 parameters: growing technologic concern for open IDs and data availability : when you’re online, you need more and more social tools in order to share, discuss, work with your peers and your communities of interests.

Because of this new usage, you need to remain connected as a hub for the various people trying to reach you. It’s more and more complicated to manage 3 or 4 anonymous accounts, all simply because it’d be too time-demanding cultural habits : it becomes now more and more normal to send a request for a Facebook / MySpace friendship to people you’ve met in your private or professional life. This new border of what privacy means explains why the public online space is now inhabited by “real” people with real names and real interactions. continue reading