Mediaboss Marketing

You dont have to dig too deeply into Every Kingdom, the delicate debut from Ben Howard, to discover what floats this British minstrels boat.

The album cover photograph features the Devonshire-based lad, diving deep into the Mediterranean, near his parents coastal abode on Ibiza.

The gently-plucked album opener Old Pine, he says, is a song about my first surf trip away from home, when I went to France and nearly got killed by a pine tree.

Howard likes the ocean a lot, and Old Pine is one of the few places where his two passions songwriting and short-boarding overlap.

Surfing and music have always been two separate sides of my life. Im quite a fun-loving person most of the time, but I feel like I always get the serious side out when Im playing music, and then I have fun the rest of the time when I get in the sea, says Howard, who plans on hitting California beaches when he plays San Francisco this week.

English surfing, Howard says, is dramatically different: The ice-cold waters always require a wet suit, and the waves are choppier.

When he first discovered the sport at age 11, British surfing was limited to a hard-core group of enthusiasts. Now, there are more than half a million serious U.K. boarders.

So its nowhere near the California dream, he says. Its more like this funny little adventure we all go on, and its usually pissing down rain, and you may get a few waves. But its nice to just swim out and float about, really, he says. The surf scene actually launched this Donovan-influenced neo-folkie.

After playing several seaside concerts overseas, he says, I met Xavier Rudd at a surf festival in England. And he asked me if I wanted to go on tour with him the next time he came to Europe. So thats how it all started.

Soon, Mumford & Sons Ben Lovett had inked him to his new Communion imprint for Every Kingdom.

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Surfing, songs satiate Brit Ben Howard

Yelena Belashova General Manager, Crowne Plaza World Trade Centre Moscow Hotel

Thepresent is getting more andmore influenced byvirtual reality. It could now be almost impossible tofind aperson who knows nothing about thevirtual world. Sharing all kinds ofinformation, starting frompersonal thoughts andending with present location, has become thetrend captivating people's minds andlifestyle with thehelp ofdifferent means ofInternet connection. Another boom is themobile devices that can be used anytime, anywhere. So probably there is no easier way toimmediately share information about thecompany, its products andservices, special offers, news, photos andother entertaining data than online. Andprecisely speaking: various social media.

Once ahotel decides toget involved invirtual social activity, there appears thequestion ofwhere tobe present. As thesocial media world is enormous, there is avital decision ofchoosing. Being everywhere leads tocomplete failure interms ofproviding proper information inproper amounts andkeeping all your audiences entertained, informed andactive. Thesimple anduniversal path forany company is tostart using blogs (e.g. Twitter) andsocial networks (e.g. Facebook, Google+). Choosing precisely these social media means "killing two birds with one stone" as they allow theposting ofall kinds ofinformation including photos, videos andaudio files. Andthey have tremendous possibilities tobuild your online audience.

When Crowne Plaza Moscow faced thequestion ofbeing present insocial media, thepositive answer appeared immediately. Otherwise we would have lost ahuge loyal audience ofour online friends andsubscribers without even gaining it. With this important step ofsharing information, news andspecial offers, communicating with users all over theworld has become theeasiest andmost pleasant thing we have ever done.

Would you ask whether there are benefits todeveloping your online presence? Theanswer is obvious as there are many. Theworld has gone online andmobile. People prefer toget information as quickly as astrike oflightning. Right now, right atthe place where he or she is standing. Andthe help comes fromsocial media. Why? First ofall, communicating with theaudience is easy. Once you get amessage, you answer. But themain point is that all other users will see your feedback andknow that you do take actions. Sharing is also easy. Once you post news, pictures andvideos, agreat number ofpeople take notice immediately. Forexample, Crowne Plaza Moscow always shares photos ofits new dishes created atour Real Food Restaurant.

Moreover we post recipes ofthese dishes with step-by-step instructions with photos starring either our chef or chef confectioner. These are themost popular themes we conduct. Andour online friends are fond ofthem. They share them with their friends, increasing our hotel's audience. This is so as people usually cannot resist peaking atwhat their friends are interested inand get interested as well. I could also hint atcreating contests andcompetitions: another tool toattract more audience. Would you like toget anattractive prize just foranswering aquestion? I bet no one would refuse that, so once again you increase your loyal online audience. Andwhat is thebest with thevirtual world is that there are no costs tobe online: just thetime you will spend oncreating your page, creating your audience andposting content afterward. Creating andraising theaudience fromzero is probably still themost complicated question inthe matter, but it is possible todeal within arather concise time.

If you conduct asmall survey andcheck who ofyour direct competitors already has anonline profile, onFacebook, onTwitter or onsome other popular social sites, you will surprisingly find out: all ofthem.

Thecompetition is tough so straight away go social andkeep up with themodern trends ofliving anddoing business. Create content andcreate interest inyour company. Tell people that you know how tobe up-to-date, meaning you know what your client needs. Andsurprisingly you will see that thevirtual audience has thedesire toturn intoreal buyers.

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Hotel Social Media Marketing. Unlocking Your Online Potential

Social media users in China face tighter controls after the introduction of new rules aimed at preventing the spread of online rumours on Sina Weibo, the country's version of Twitter.

The service, which has 300 million members, has become a platform for Chinese citizens to criticise the government in ways that have never been possible before. But yesterday, the website introduced "user contracts" to curb controversial posts, with the rules thought to have come about amid pressure from Chinese authorities. The norms will strengthen the so-called Great Firewall of China the country's system of internet controls.

Under the system, Sina Weibo users start off with 80 points, which are then deducted when they break the rules by "spreading rumours", encouraging gambling, "insulting the nation" or "calling for illegal protests", according to a posting on the website. If the balance of points falls to zero, users face the cancellation of their accounts.

The new regulations are believed to be the latest attempt by the authorities to contain the impact of the service. Even though micro-blogging in China started less than three years go, it has become enormously popular, with growth quadrupling last year. Nearly half of all Chinese internet users now use micro-blogs.

The government has previously forced Weibo's legions of micro-bloggers to use their own names, not nicknames or avatars. But the rumours and speculation sparked after the removal of the former Chongqing Communist Party boss, Bo Xilai, and the naming of his wife, Gu Kailai, as a suspect in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood appears to have spurred additional action.

The new controls were introduced as the capital was gripped by rumours about the next stage in the purge of Bo Xilai and the progress of the power struggle within the Party's upper echelons. Authorities shut 16 websites and detained six people for "fabricating or disseminating online rumours" about military vehicles entering Beijing, while Weibo and other sites such as Tencent's QQ, were "criticised and punished accordingly", and their comments sections closed.

But despite attempting to exert control, the authorities have been often hamstrung by the ability of micro-bloggers to find ways around the restrictions they impose. For example, as soon as the words "Bo Xilai" are banned, online users start tweeting "BXL". The new rules are aimed at closing these loopholes.

Officially, the measures have been introduced by Weibo. But it is generally thought that Sina, the technology giant that owns Weibo, is trying to show its good corporate credentials to the Chinese government by helping with self-censorship and avoiding possible censure in the future.

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State pressure blamed for new censorship on China's Twitter

The Indian arm of Anonymous is planning what it describes as non-violent protests against Internet censorship in various Indian cities, after some Internet service providers blocked file-sharing sites in the country.

The protests, planned for June 9, follow a court order in March directed at ISPs, meant to prevent a newly released local movie from being offered in a pirated version online. Some ISPs went ahead and blocked some file-sharing sites altogether, rather than the offending URLs.

One such ISP, Reliance Communications, found its service was tinkered with last week, redirecting its users from sites like Facebook and Twitter to a protest page, according to reports from users. The hackers also claimed to have attacked the website and servers of Reliance, and claimed to have got access to a large list of URLs blocked by the company.

Reliance Communications said on Monday it had thoroughly investigated the matter and all its servers and websites are intact. "We have required preventive measures and strongest possible IT security layers in place to tackle any unwarranted intrusions," the company said in a statement. "Despite repeated attempts by hackers, our servers could not be hacked."

The hackers also claimed to have attacked websites of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition party in the country, after having previously launched DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks on various websites including that of the Indian central bank, Reserve Bank of India.

Anonymous was active in India last year, when it attacked the website of the Indian army. It quickly reversed its decision to attack the site and kept a low profile after drawing protests from some of its own members.

Anonymous is asking supporters to download and print cut-outs of the Guy Fawkes mask, used by the hacker group as a logo, to be worn during the anti-censorship street protests.

The group's protests are also directed at India's Information Technology Act, which among other things allows the government to block websites under certain conditions, and also allows the removal of online content by notice to ISPs. The government is in the process of framing rules that will put curbs on freedom on social media, Anonymous said in a recent video, presumably a reference to demands by the government that Internet companies should have a mechanism in place to filter objectionable content, including content that mocks religious figures.

India's Computer Emergency Response Team observed last week that hacker groups are launching DDoS attacks on government and private websites. These attacks may be targeted at different websites of reputed organizations, the agency said in an advisory. The attacks are being launched using popular DDoS tools and can consume bandwidth requiring appropriate proactive action in coordination with service providers, it added.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

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Anonymous India Calls for Non-violent Protests Against Censorship

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