Good and bad news, depending on where you stand - our last debate until the autumn, Chinwag Live: Micro Media Maze this coming Tuesday evening 20th May, is nearly sold out.

If you want to be in on the debate, we'd strongly advise you book now.

In the meantime, here's a recap on the panel line-up, and a list of companies booked to attend so far. Bookings can be made here http://live.chinwag.com/micromediamaze

SPEAKERS:

Mitch McAlister - Product Director (Europe), MySpace
Miles Lewis - SVP, European Advertising Sales, LastFM
Neil McIntosh - Head of Editorial Development, Guardian Unlimited
Umair Haque - Director, Havas Media Lab / Bubblegeneration
Gerd Leonhard - Media Futurist, Author, Entrepreneur
Chair: Steve Bowbrick

DELEGATES:

Eyewonder
Guardian Unlimited
Guardian News and Media
Shazam
Ceros
360dgm
Denton Wilde Spate
TBC
WCRS
DFJ Esprit
Financial Times
Google
Taptu - mobile search
Tradedoubler
Theory of Games
Mint Digital
iknowhow
Space & Time Media
uSwitch.com
The Guild
Royal Mail
Illumina Digital
Justgiving
Caffeinehit Ltd
Time Out
Vexed
Archibald Ingall Stretton...
Webjam
Future Perfect
Five-Eight (Frukt)
Journalism.co.uk
ITV.com
nixonmcinnes
ZDNet.co.uk
Radar Maker
LCC
The Up Group
phunQube
Spectrum Strategy Consutling
Folknology
DJ Alchemi
London Met University
WORKSsitebuilder
Frame of Reference Ltd
Nokia
Shine Communications
MusicTank
Conchango
Immediate future
d-marketing
Stuffed Animals Media
COI
Media Darling Ltd
Liberation Entertainment
INVESTIS
Roadrunner Records
lastminute.com
Barkers
Dot31 Ltd
Record of the Day
BBC
Hunza Consulting
Advent Venture Partners
Hyperlaunch New Media
coull
Audio Network
Cass Business School
NMK
MusicTank
DoubleClick
UKTI
Chinwag

The Chinwag Live 'on tour' session at Internet World provided another chance to dip into the debate that's emerging around measuring social media.

The subject has moved on since the first Chinwag Live session in February with a merry band of social media analysts meeting at regular MeasurementCamp sessions - check out the MeasurementCamp Wiki for more info and some handy reference links.

Here's the podcast from the session, listen out for some agency-related questions on justifying client expenditure for social media metrics and lots more, in three flavours:

• Apple iTunes
• Orange-flavoured RSS
• or old-skool MP3: part 1 and part 2

For handy bite-sized notes on the session, there's also David Jenning's blog post.

And of course, there's the pictorial evidence. And yes, it was a good deal hotter and sweatier in there than it looks in the pics.

www.flickr.com

 

Thanks to our sponsors Huddle and Nedstat for their generous support in running this Chinwag Live session.

Mobisodes, music widgets, news via RSS. It seems companies are clambouring over each other to turn once new online services into the latest micro equivalent. What can we expect from all these rapid developments and what’s the next thing to turn “micro”?

On May 20th Chinwag will be hosting the Micro Media Maze event and the panel tackling these questions has now been finalised.

Neil McIntosh, the Head of Editorial Development for Guardian Unlimited will be joining the debate. Whilst at The Guardian, he has overseen the introduction and development of blogs, video and other innovative services. He’ll be joined by Gerd Leonhard, Media Futurist, author and entrepenuer. From the intersection of music, entertainment and technology Gerd’s been championing a user centred approach to music marketing for some time. His books The Future of Music and Music 2.0 have established him as a much sought after advisor and influencer in the music media space.

Myspace’s Mitch McAlister will bring the social network perspective to proceedings. In his current role, Mitch defines and leads European product strategy and architecture for Myspace. With over 8 years experience in the internet industry, his focus has been on product and marketing, specifically on the social media side of things. Previous roles included a stint at Universal Music Enterprises. He’s also an avid podcaster in his spare time, hosting Notes from the Underground.

Director of Havas Media Lab Umair Haque will be lending his expertise. Dedicated to next generation business strategy, his strategy lab Bubblegeneration studies the impact of new technologies, management and shifting consumer preferences on the businesses of tomorrow and the markets of today. Haque also contributed to Chris Anderson’s work on The Long Tail, is a discussion leader on Harvard Business School Online and is known for introducing many new ideas to the sphere of media business analysis including micromedia.

With daily hits punching above the 10 million mark Last fm have headlined the social music revolution and represent the successful face of widgetised content. Through file sharing, users wth similar music tastes are connected, can make personalised recommendations and create customised radio streams. Miles Lewis, their VP of Advertising Sales will put their view at Chinwag Live. In February this year the Guardian reported the massive extent to which Last FM is a disaggregated, widgetised service: “Last.fm has around 21 million users on the site every month, but estimates that a further 19 million people use its services indirectly through applications and widgets on third-party sites.”

Chairing will be Steve Bowbrick who’s a veteran of dot.com with thirteen years experience in web design, online marketing, technology strategy and capital raising. He currently consults for both large media companies (Channel 4) through to brands (King Of Shaves) and start-ups (Rememble).

With so many rapid developments happening in the race to go micro what better time to come along and take advantage of the expertise on offer. Bookings are now open so come and join us on the night!

As you can tell, we're getting excited about the prospect of bumping IQs with some of the big thinkers in the digital space. It's not often you get to hear Ray Kurzweil, Aubrey deGrey or Dan Lyons do their thang in person.

Chinwag has secured an exclusive deal with the groovy people at Thinking Digital (May 21-23 2008, Newcastle) to get a whopping 25% off the ticket price, down to only £450 per ticket.

To take advantage of this offer, use the code CWAG when buying a ticket online.

And if you're thinking Newcastle is a big ole schlep up from the South-East, bear in mind it's only 3 hours on the train and the East Coast line has passable wifi, so you need never be off-the-grid.

There's already a few Chinwaggers making the trip, so hope to see some more of you up there. Leave a comment if you're planning to head up.

Update:
Looking for accommodation? Codeworks have sorted out discount rates with lots of hotels local to the conference venue (prices from £80), visit their website for more information.

On May 21st Thinking Digital is coming to Newcastle and we here at Chinwag will be jumping on the train and heading “up nawf” to see what this anti-conference is made of and, of course, fitting in some opportune mingling, (and a few beers).

The two day event brings together an ecclectic mix of technology-based subjects that effect the way we live, work and play. From social media whizzes to cutting edge genetecists speaking you’ll sure to come away with a completely different perspective.

Tara Hunt is a social media pioneer who looks at how businesses can adapt to social media. Tara is co-founder of Citizen Agency, an internet consultancy firm that applies community centered strategies to product research, design, development and marketing.

Steve Clayton, CTO of Microsoft’s UK Partner Group is working with technology that could change the way we interact with the digital world. His last project was a software/hardware combo that lets the user/users manipulate digital content with hand gestures and body movements. To find out more info about Steve and his work pay a visit to his blog, Geek in Disguise.

For more controversial figures look no further than Dan Lyons, senior editor of Forbes Inc and the man behind internet sensation, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. With his usual sartirical wit he’ll be debating how the tech industry has changed how we live our lives on every level.

Could 80 be the new 18? According to pioneering biogenerentologist, Aubrey de Grey, it could just be. De Grey will be speaking about his pioneering research which goes against our most fundamental beliefs about ageing.

With some of the world’s brightest strategists and alternative thinkers this event is definately one to mark in the diary.

The full programme is available at: http://www.thinkingdigital.co.uk/programme/

[Plus if you quote 'CWAG' when you book you can get your ticket for the reduced price of £450 - that's a 25% discount, Bonus!]

The best part of Chinwag Live is when the audience starts asking the difficult questions and there were plenty from the audience at last week's event, Real World Usability.

The discussion roamed across a broad spectrum of usability and user centered design issues including practical tips on how to work with personas and different ways to integrate user testing into production environments.

For those that couldn't make it along and those whose 'networking' afterwards has rendered their memory less than effective, the session was recorded and is now available in three delicious flavours:

• Apple iTunes
• Orange-flavoured RSS
• or old-skool MP3: part 1, part 2 and part 3

For some different takes on the evening, these write ups from Tamlyn Rhodes, Martin Belam and Jim Calendar caught our eye.

Hope to see you at the next Chinwag Live: Micro Media Maze on 20th May in London, looking at the changes in the media landscape as content gets disaggregated into ever-smaller pieces.

Update:

The pictorial evidence of the event's user experience now up on flickr... 

www.flickr.com

What's for you won't go by you, as my granny used to say and so here it is, Internet World has rolled around again.

On the 29th of April, Internet World comes to London’s Earls Court and Chinwag will be there hosting the Measuring Social Media panel debate on Wednesday the 30th, at 3.30pm in the Web 2.0 Experience Theatre.

The largest and most attended event of its kind, it has over 200 hours of seminars and tutorials with essential strategies for optimizing your company’s web presence.

Seminar topics range from Web 2.0 to IPTV, from mobile marketing to content management, as well as affiliate marketing, analytics and much more.

With the high calibre of keynote speakers, the two-day event brings together an inclusive educational programme on the digital market. Senior VP of Myspace, Travis Katz, will be speaking on the future of the social web, while how we deal with identity on and off line with be tackled by Head of Futureal, Tamar Kasriel. James Galloway, Head of Digital Media for the Central Office of Information, will also be covering how the government approaches the web and social media.

If these little hors d’oeuvres don’t whet your appetite you can check out the Internet World website for the running order and the full speakers list: http://www.internetworld.co.uk/

With over 300 companies attending (Microsoft, Channel 4, NSPCC and Eurostar amongst others) you’re sure to come away with some inspiration and insight to carry your company forward into the digital future.

Plus there’s the chance to meet up with fellow Chinwag readers afterwards for some drinks and friendly banter:
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/495331/.

To see Chinwag in action at Internet World, all you have to do is register (it's free). To secure your place, go to:

http://www.exporeg.co.uk/tiger/reg/ithaca/internetworld/iw08/visitor/en/....

Exhausted, but exhilirated the Chinwag gang wended their weary way back from Chinwag Live: User Centered Advertising in Manchester last week.

The event was organised with the help of Manchester Digital - thanks, Shaun & Co - who helped fill up the CUBE gallery with over 60 of Manchester's digerati.

With a full-house and plenty of opinions, the podcast should make an interesting listen for those that couldn't make it along.

Grab the podcast in:

• iTunes flavour
• Orange-flavoured RSS
• or old-skool MP3

For photographic evidence and yet further proof that I have a face for radio, here's some snaps from our Flickr stream.

www.flickr.com

Thanks to generous support from our sponsors AOL and Aquent, without whom we wouldn't have been able to run the event.

Thanks to Manchester Digital, NW Startups, North West Vision and Media, MDDA, CIDS and everyone else who helped make it a great evening.

We really enjoyed ourselves and we're hoping to be up again in Manchester with a Chinwag Live session before the end of the year.

If anyone's interested in taking part or sponsoring, do let us know.

The Sector Skills Council for creative Media are to launch their most comprehensive survey of the digital skills sector in 3 years and they’re looking for your input.

At a time when the BBC are still at logger heads with internet service providers over who has to foot the bill for their streaming of programmes to the web, it seems that technology has become a mere speck on the horizon in the digital race with some companies left squinting into the sun.

The Skillset survey will cover a broad spectrum of the country’s audio and visual industries. Throughout April and May a series of questions will be posed to employees and freelancers working in the TV, Radio, Film and Interactive Media to try and quantify any deficits in the digital sector.

Once gathered the info will be invaluable for identifying skills deficits in digital as well as outlining a broad career development plan. At the same time it’ll allow a career prospects comparison across demographic groups with, so the theory goes, industry solutions tailored to follow suit.

It was at the end of 2007 that we here at Chinwag sent our own survey out into the world of digital to find out what the industry really felt.

Amongst other things it was clear that the small number of up-to-date, digital marketing degrees out there are negligibly shaping how the digital industries operate. MA courses in Digital Marketing are only now starting to make their mark in the business faculties of the country’s top universities (London School of Business and Finance for one) even though digital marketing is pretty much essential for all business.

When media and digital are so reliant on technological developments, training and job roles must diversify to stay cutting edge. In the race to be the most innovative it’s often the basics that fall by the wayside. When there’s such accelerated growth in both sectors Skillset’s attempts to gauge employee satisfaction and define training shortfalls can only be a good thing.

If you or your company fancy getting your hands on the Skillset Survey you can by visiting their website: www.skillset.org/research. On the other hand paper copies can be obtained from Karen Muir on 0113 244 6795. The closing date for the questionnaire is Friday 30th of May 2008.

Companies these days accept the need to improve the usability of their websites, intranets and software designs.

At our next event, Real World Usability on April 22nd, the panel will be getting to grips with the burning issues facing usability. In light of an approaching financial down turn can usability find a way to weather the current economic storm?

The discussion will cover a wide range of pressing topics from the problem of rich applications and their effects on the industry to remote usability, privacy, mobile and whether the death of the webpage interface is nigh.

Is user testing becoming commodified? And how will testing firms ride out this tide of change? All these questions and much more will be up for discussion in an event that’s set to bring forward some innovative insights into a newly emerging development.

If all that floats your boat do come along and take part in some great conversation downstairs at The Slug and Lettuce in Wardour Street, deepest Soho. Doors open at 6pm so you’ve plenty of time to grab a seat and get some nibbles before discussion starts at 6.30pm sharp.

As usual there will be informal networking after the event, and the option of staying on for a drink or two if you so fancy. We look forward to seeing you there!

Bookings close at 1pm today. You can book your ticket here: http://www.chinwag.com/events/2008/04/chinwag-live-real-world-usability

The internet was meant to be the thing that liberated us from place. Anyone could design a website or run a company from their bedroom or a remote eerie. All you needed was a computer and an ISDN connection, right?

But some habits die hard. Basing your web business in London seems to be one of those things. Despite this, there's a thriving scene around Britain, and we're keen to give as many people and places as possible access to our services.

So we're gearing up with some excitement for our first panel discussion event outside of the big smoke - especially as it's in Manchester, the bustling hub of so much creativity and success in the digital north.

If you fancy joining us for some discussion and debate on the topic of 'User Centred Advertising', you can book now and get the early bird rate of just £20+VAT (£40+VAT thereafter).

For that you get some complimentary drinks and snacks, and a chance to quiz the panel, featuring:

Hugo Drayton - CEO, Phorm (UK)
Dan McDevitt - Director, w00t!media
Priya Prakash - Head of Product, Flirtomatic
Charles Reid - Director, MediaVest
CHAIR: David Bird - Senior Lecturer, MSc Digital Marketing & Communications, Manchester Metropolitan Uni

It all kicks off at 6pm, next Tuesday 15th April at the CUBE, 113-115 Portland Street, Manchester M1 6DW. You can book here.

[Note: if you're a member of Manchester Digital there's a **special discount rate** available for tickets from them - contact Shaun Fensom on shaun(AT)manchesterdigital(DOT)com]

Too early to say? Despite the doom and gloom being espoused by the traditional media, there's few signs (yet, thankfully) of the digital sector catching the jitters. From informal chats, it appears that watch and wait is the order of the day.

Handily, for a little more scientific rigour, we now have Chinwag's Digital Pulse sponsored by Gabriele Skelton to put a specific number on the general confidence within the industry. Our number-cruncher, Amy, will be working her magic over the next few days and the results will be out mid-month.

Taking part couldn't be easier, there's a very short survey, which takes about 20 seconds to fill out, honest. For each completed response, we'll make a donation to charity - we're just working out which one at the moment. The results will be published as soon after the end of each month as the data's been whipped into shape.

April's Digital Pulse is now open, so why not give it a whirl now?

Chinwag Live sessions are designed to get a conversation going between the panel and the audience. As you'd expect, some subjects generate more chat than others. And some grow a life of their own.

Following on from Chinwag Live: Measuring Social Media in Feb, there seems to have been a general consensus that we're collectively at the start of a journey in understanding how to effectively measure social media.

One of the panellists, Will McInnes, suggested a breakout group for those of a metrics-geek bent, which he's dubbed MeasurementCamp and put up a Wiki to start collecting wisdom.

Chinwag's lent a hand on the logistical side of things and sorted out a room above the Coach & Horses on Greek Street (map) for an initial gathering - also home to the Tuttle Club.

N.B. To get to the upstairs room, you'll need to walk through the bar i.e. past the bar staff and up the stairs. They're a friendly bunch, so don't be shy!

UPDATE: Kindly pointed out by several Twitter folks, I complete missed the date - it's Monday 8th April, 10am-12pm (although you can stay on in the bar if you're really chatty).

To get a flavour of the post-event bloggage and to get you in the mood for talking social media metrics, here's a few links:

• Broadstuff's Alan Patrick (despite not being at the event himself!)
• Daljit Bhurji (illustrated with a great pic)
• Will McInnes (comments from a panellist)
• Wolfstar's Stuart Bruce
• Chris Hambly
• Brendan Cooper
  

[Pic courtesy of: Mark Dodds]

Oh, and if you missed the original panel, Chinwag Live: Measuring Social Media will be 'on tour' i.e. appearing at Internet World on 30th May @ 3.30pm.

 

We're delighted to confirm that Phorm's CEO, Hugo Drayton (he of Electronic Telegraph fame) is joining the panel when Chinwag Live hits Manchester.

In our first event outside of London, Chinwag's joining forces with the folks at Manchester Digital for a panel looking at User Centered Advertising on Tuesday 15th April at Cube on Portland Street, Manchester.

The recent controversy surrounding Phorm's techniques is sure to feature as the panel examines how the future of online advertising is being shaped by technological advances and the way social media is changing usage.

Also on the panel is Priya Prakash from Flirtomatic who brings a different perspective. Priya's work on the BBC's iPlayer and more recently, the development of Sugarscape for Hachette Filipacchi give her an insight into how publishers are tackling the changing media landscape.

A limited number of early bird tickets are available at £20 + VAT, including drinks and snacks. A bunch of Chinwaggers will be in Manchester, hope to see you there.

Sorry to all those who missed out on tickets for Chinwag Live next week, Tomorrow's Ad Formats, the event sold out in record time.

The good news is that we'll be running another event on the same topic in Manchester on Tuesday 15th April, in partnership with the crew at Manchester Digital.

If you're in/around Manchester on that date, or fancy a trip to that fine city, keep the date free. The Chinwag posse will be heading up for an evening of lively chatter.

Our next panel, Chinwag Live: Tomorrow's Ad Formats on Tuesday 18th March is shaping up to be an interesting evening...

Latest additions to the line-up include a PR company - Porter Novelli. Think that's odd? Well other people are noticing how PR is encroaching on to advertising's territory - and is doing very well in the social media space - so it's not just us going off at a tangent (as if we would).

Also in the mix is the publisher perspective in the shape of (the Elle, Elle Decoration, Red, Psychologies and Sugar/Sugarscape magazine stable) Hachette Fillipaccci's Creative Director for Digital.

Full panel run-down so far:

Steven Hess - Managing Partner, weapon7
Mat Morrison - Digital Planning Director, Porter Novelli
Priya Prakash - Creative Director, Hachette Fillipacchi UK
Rhys Williams - Co-founder, agenda21
CHAIR: Guy Phillipson - CEO, Internet Advertising Bureau

The early bird rate (£25+VAT) expires 12th March, and it's £40+VAT after that, so best book early if you're interested in debating trends and innovation in the online ad space with a friendly crowd in deepest Soho.

Bookings & More Info:
http://live.chinwag.com/adformats

Yup, the podcast version of Chinwag Live: Measuring Social Media is now available for download. It's been processed, buffed and chopped into three bite-sized pieces, then released into the wilds of the Internet.

There's 3 easy-to-use methods for getting hold of the audio:

1. Subscribe to the podcast feed through iTunes
2. Subscribe to the podcast feed using good old-fashioned RSS
3. Download the audio directly to your PC: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The event was recorded on Mon, 18th Feb in London and features: Alex Burmaster (Nielsen Online), Robin Grant (1000heads), Will McInnes (Nixon McInnes), Ankur Shah (Techlightenment) and was chaired by Jim Sterne (Web Analytics Association).

Thanks to our sponsors Emetrics Marketing Optimization Summit and Nedstat for making the event and this podcast possible.

Booking is now open for the next Chinwag Live, Tomorrow's Ad Formats on Tue 18th Mar. Tickets are going quickly, so it's best to book early.

For our next Chinwag Live event, the spotlight will be sharply focused on the future of advertising.

We fondly remember the days of conferences back in the 1990s titled, "Beyond the Banner", but despite predictions of the banner's demise, it's still clinging on, albeit with a few different shapes and lots of multimedia capabilities.

But, where next? What are the implications of a massive over-supply of inventory? Will targeting or even hyper-targeting help?

And what of the variety of new formats such as in-game, mobile and RSS ads? Combine the move online of the traditional media goliaths with a plethora of ad-funded new-comers and it's a puzzle that needs figuring out.

So, why not join us on Tue 18th March to debate the issues? Booking is open now.

N.B. This event was originally scheduled for the Wed, but due to a venue snafu it had to be moved.

This means it is clashing with NMK's Beer & Innovations event looking at VRM (sorry, Ian). Annoying, as we'd hoped to go along to what promises to be an interesting evening. Maybe the NMK gang will come over to The Slug afterwards so we can compare notes.

We try to avoid scheduling clashes when planning Chinwag Live. Do let us know, if there are any clashes we've missed.

[Photo: n0nick]

Hot off the press memory card, here is the photographic evidence of Monday night's Chinwag Live session, Measuring Social Media. The event has prompted heaps of interesting conversations about quantifying social media. We'll gather them up and put them in an easy-to-digest post as soon as possible. Measuring them might be trickier though

The podcast for the event will be ready in a few days, announced here or if you prefer the RSS or iTunes flavours, you can subscribe to the feeds to get it as soon as it's ready. In the meantime, the pictures say a thousand words. Some of them flattering. Some of them, well, you decide.

www.flickr.com

Thanks to the inimitable Thayer Driver for wielding her camera so deftly throughout the evening. Got any pics to add, why not add them to our flickR pool.

Don't miss out on the chance to have your say in the marketing strategy that UKTI are developing. This is a great opportunity to have your say in how this government agency will promote the UK's digital business abroad, and attract inward investment.

And don't let the chance to win an iPod Touch 8Gb sway you in any way, just a teeny incentive for filling out the survey. It only takes a few minutes, but don't delay we're going to have to close it very shortly.

Why not, start the survey now?

UK Trade & Invest, the government agency responsible for attracting investment to the UK and marketing business overseas, is putting together a marketing strategy to promote the digital industry abroad. And they need your help!

It can be tough to get heard at a government level, so this is a great opportunity to participate in the process and have a say in the process. We've worked with UKTI to put together a survey and there's a prize draw for all completed entries, with an iPod Touch up for grabs. If you've got any comments or suggestions about the survey, drop us a line.

The survey closes on Monday morning, so why not start the survey now?

After lots of conversations with candidates and employers using Chinwag Jobs during 2007, it appeared that a dearth of high calibre candidates was causing headaches to many companies across the digital media sector. To get a fuller picture of the situation, the Chinwag Jobs Digital Skills Survey 2007 was undertaken in December 2007 and with over 200 respondents, a clearer view emerged.

Today, the full results of the survey are published on the Chinwag.com website and as a PDF (registration required, but it's free):

• Web version (handy for copying and pasting) - click here
• PDF version 2.5Mb (for downloading and easy printing) - click here

Some slightly ominous snippets to whet the appetite:

"97% of respondents found it either difficult or impossible to attract suitably qualified digital staff for their businesses, with three quarters (76%) reporting problems persuading staff to stick around once employed.

The most worrying finding, however, was that the dearth of candidates is hindering growth in 2008. Over half (57%) of respondents reported that the digital skills shortage had impeded the growth of their business in 2007, with 85% of companies expressing concern that the shortage would continue to have a negative impact on their business’ growth this year.

When it comes to remuneration, the research uncovered a climate ripe for ‘wage inflation’, as the law of supply and demand forces companies to pay for people with pedigree. Three quarters of businesses revealed plans to increase the salaries of digital staff in 2008, although the companies having the most difficulty attracting staff were also the least likely to raise wages."

 

The full details are available online. If you have comments, feel free to add them here, or over on the Chinwag Jobs blog. If you have any other enquiries, contact:

Sam Michel - sam-at-chinwag.com
Tel: +44 (0)870 730 7313.

Ah, the New Year. Dreary weather, snow (although not in Soho), lack of daylight and the tricksy return to work. It's no surprise that it's the hottest time of year for the recruitment business. Chinwag Jobs has seen over 100 new vacancies posted in the last 48 hours alone, and there's no sign of the pace slowing.

The staff shortages across most digital business are unlikely to get any better, even with this surge in recruitment. If you're hiring, you're probably already braced for the January merry-go-round of staff changes. This is just one of the things we'll be discussing at Chinwag Live: Skills Emergency on 29th Jan.

In addition to our expert panel, we've also invited guest contributors to contribute to the discussion. It's a bit of an experiment for Chinwag Live, but we couldn't help but get a little excited by asking for contributions from:

• Mandy Berry - Director, Zero-One
• Thayer Driver- Co-founder, Chinwag Jobs
• Robin Gurney - Owner, Altex Marketing & Founder, Angloestonian
• Steve Hutson - European Manager for New Media, Aquent
• Laura Jordan-Bambach - Head of Art, Glue & Co-founder, SheSays

Tickets are being snapped up and I'm really looking forward to delving into how we improve the skills in the digital biz. If you haven't already grabbed yours, probably best not to leave it too long.

We've just put out a survey on Chinwag Jobs to guage what's happening in the recruitment sector. It'll be interesting to get feedback on the problems (or perhaps not) of recruiting and retaining digital people over the last year.

And more importantly, now we're reaching the end of 2007, what does 2008 hold? The survey only takes a couple of mins to fill out and we'll be sharing the results as soon as the numbers have been crunched. Why not fill it in over a nice cup of coffee?

What does 2012 hold? Apart from the Olympic blame game (a mutual game of blamestorm over the late delivery of transport/venues/etc) that is.

It's hard enough looking ahead to the next couple of months let alone peering five years into the future. Will advertising still exist? Will the mobile web finally have come to fruition? Will anyone still be talking about social media, life streams, digital lifestyle aggregators or any of the other terms that make such juicy buzzword bingo?

As 2007 draws to a close, it seemed like a good a time as any to delve into this and try and make some predictions. Verily, the next "Chinwag Live: Xmas Futures, Crystal Balls?" was born. It's taking place on the 5th Dec, downstairs at The Slug and Lettuce on Wardour Street in London and there's a top deal on tickets if you book early.

Full details of the event, booking information and the panel are available at Chinwag Live. Why not join the debate and we'll see if we can figure this out? We'd love to see you there.

Much attention in the office is being focused on the shiny new Xbox 360, complete with extra control pad and games that's sitting in the corner of the office. Sadly for the Chinwag crew, it's destined for a lucky entrant to a Chinwag Jobs prize draw.

Just enter the prize draw, which'll register you for the Chinwag Jobs newsletter, packed full of handy recruitment info, jobs and other assorted wisdom and you'll be in with a shot of winning. Why not give it a whirl?

Yup, 10% off conference tickets, and free EXPO entry with the promo code CHINWAG.

We've hooked up with the folks at Carson Systems to sort out a special discount rate on tickets for FOWA EXPO 2007. Listen to the developers, designers and founders from sites such as digg, Facebook, Flickr, Pownce, Twitter, as well as heavyweights from Adobe, AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo! and more.

You can get a free Expo pass by using the promo code CHINWAG when you register.

Find out more info about FOWA in our events section.

Getting anything done when you work "on the web" is pretty tricky these days. Well, apologies in advance for adding to the virtual social whirl that so many of the Chinwag massive inhabit.

To add to the melee, we've just set up a Chinwag group on LinkedIn. To become a member of the group just follow these instructions.

As a member of the group, you'll be able to proudly display the Chinwag logo and see a little more info on other people in the group. Any feedback is always welcome.

N.B. The group is invite only, so bear with us if it takes a little time for your join request to be approved. We'll whip through 'em as quick as we can.

The generous folks at NMK who are sponsoring the uk-netmarketing and uk-design email discussion lists have managed to snaffle 4 tickets (worth £55 each) for Chinwag subscribers.

All you need to do is email idesignforlife@gmail.com with your name, email address and phone number to get entered into the draw.

iDesign: Design for Life is on Tue 18th Sept at London's South Bank. There's more info in Chinwag's industry events section. If you can't wait to see if you've won, tickets can be bought from the South Bank's website.

Obligatory T&Cs:

• Competition closes on Sept 13th
• Winners will be notified on Sept 14th
• Competition is run by NMK and their decision is final

Ever since Facebook announced that they're opening up basic profile information to non-Facebookers including the all-pervasive search engines, the media has been clamouring to cover the story.

Sam (Chinwag's MD) has been out and about ruminating on the subject on Simon Mayo's BBC Radio 5 show and The Sunday Surgery on BBC Radio 1. All over in a flash, but interesting to see the different takes on the subject: Radio 5 - why are Facebook taking this move? What's in it for them? Radio 1 - privacy and online protection.

If you're getting tired of the Facebook furore, you'll see from the Alexa graph below (usual whopping margin of error allowing), why everyone's talking about it...

Facebook.com vs Myspace.com - Alexa Graph - Sep 2007: undefined

Expect to hear lots more about this over the coming months. When he gets the chance, he'll write up my notes properly on his new Chinwag blog - http://www.chinwag.com/blogs/sam-michel.