Social Media Round-up of the Week – 26 August

Welcome back to our weekly instalment of what’s hot in the world of social media. In case you missed what happened over the past week, here’s a run-down of our top five:

1. For our client, cooker manufacturer Belling, we have created the world’s shortest recipe book (see video below), using recipes crowdsourced over Twitter. The 50 shortlisted recipes have been compiled into a book, complete with illustrations from a variety of artists, which were themselves crowdsourced and voted for on Belling’s Facebook page. All proceeds  from the sale of the book will go to food charity Foodcycle, which collects surplus produce locally and prepares nutritious meals in unused professional kitchen spaces to distribute to those in need. You can buy your copy here.

2. Facebook has denied that it is phasing out the controversial Places feature on its mobile app due to fears over privacy. The social networking giant has announced a swathe of updates to give users tighter controls over who can view their profiles and photos. Places was previously a separate feature on the mobile app that allowed users to publish details of their exact location. This will now disappear, although Facebook told The Drum that it was not because the feature posed a security risk to users.

3. Not everyone gets to stay in the Big Brother house but you can, possibly, stay in an authentic replica of Del and Rodney Trotter’s Nelson Mandela House residence, in promotional celebration of the 30th anniversary of Only Fools & Horses. Those who want a chance of winning need Nelson Mandela House residencto become members of TV channel Gold’s Facebook page and try their luck. A nice campaign and with a stay only costing the 1981 price of £18, we’re sure people will be queueing up to say ‘Rodney, you plonker’

4. Some information about the next venture by Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams have emerged, and although detail is scant, it is very intriguing. Dubbed ‘Lift’ at the moment we hear that it is a prototype relating to how ‘technology can help unlock human potential, especially through the use of positive reinforcement’. At the moment, Lift is asking people to leave their email addresses if they’re interested, but warns ‘we’re a long way from opening the doors’.

5. Channel 4 is inviting web users to take part in what it claims is the world’s first interactive rap beatbox choir on YouTube. The broadcaster commissioned TV production company Fresh One and Leeds digital agency Numiko to create the online app as part of its Street Summer season. Visitors to the YouTube channel will find the track ‘We are the People’, which has been made completely by the human voice and comprises rapping, singing and beatboxing. They are then encouraged to pick one of the song’s 13 parts to learn and record. The best auditions will appear in a final film to be broadcast on Channel 4, thus bringing together the world’s first beatbox choir.