So,  after our first round of research showed that there was quite some work for the various parties and their leaders to do to win over the undecided voting public, we decided to ask who came out on top after the first UK televised election debate.

As the post debate polls suggested, it seems that Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg had the most success in swaying the undecided. Unsurprising I thought as he seemingly did everything out of the guide to public speaking – looking directly down the camera, remembering the names of those who asked a question and by separating himself from the other main parties, he gave the public a reason to remember him by.

Back to the results.  Looking at the research we ran on the 13^th of April, the Liberal Democrats have increased their popularity among potential voters by  10.2%.  On the other hand,  Labour’s popularity has decreased 3.35% (I thought that it would have been much higher) with the popularity of the Conservatives decreasing by 4.83%.

However, it would seem that neither leader did quite enough to sway the majority of the voters as the undecided only dropped by a measly 1.8%.

So, there’s still work to be done as the next round of televised debating approaches.  Stay tuned to find out who will win the battle of ‘the undecided’.

Alex

The decision by the Italian courts to convict Google employees (both past and present) of privacy violation is truly baffling and somewhat concerning.

The case in question concerns a video made by a group of Italian students, which shows them being physically and verbally abusive to a fellow classmate who suffers from Downs’ Syndrome.

In the eyes of the Italian courts “Google broke Italian privacy law by not seeking the consent of all the parties involved before allowing it to go online.”

By pressing ahead with this conviction, is the Italian justice system suggesting that each piece of video content published to the internet, by both individuals and service providers, be pre-screened before publication?  This is surely an impossible task which would seriously alter the web as we know it.

What’s more, to suggest that the publisher, rather than the producers (the true criminals) can hardly be viewed as justice.  The old adage “don’t shoot the messenger” springs to mind.

Lest we not forget that the actual perpetrators of the crime were suspended from their school and sentenced to community service based on the information Google was able to supply the Italian authorities.

Richard Thomas, the UK’s former information commissioner hit it on the head when he said “It is like prosecuting the post office for hate mail that is sent in the post.”

The concerning issue is the wider ramifications which this ruling brings.  The suggestion being made by the Italian authorities is that service providers (such as us) can be held accountable for content published by their users.

So, are the Italian authorities (not renowned for their own credibility some might say) trying to send a message out to the online world?  Should Google have reacted more quickly (it was apparently the most watch clip at one point and resided on the site for two months). What will be the wider ramifications for video/content sharing on the World Wide Web.  Answers to this post below please*.

Emma

*by submitting a comment to this blog, you hereby absolve us of any legal responsibly for your content!

The UK is now formally, if not convincingly, out of recession. But does modest growth at the end of 2009 bode well for the immediate and long-term future? Perhaps more importantly, as the man or woman in the street plays such a key role in translating any feel-good factor into parting with cold hard cash – or credit – how optimistic do they feel? Using GlideInsight, we asked 1018 respondents from a range of ages, incomes and geographical areas across the UK to find out.

Analysts can’t agree on whether the UK economy is due to take another nose dive before it picks up again (the so-called ‘double dip’). Are our panel equally undecided? Well, no.

Overwhelmingly, the mood is pessimistic with nearly three-quarters predicting a further downturn ahead of any improvement. Most optimistic in outlook are the Midlands and Wales, with Scotland and the South and North of England taking a far more cautious line. Annual income appears to play little part in overall perception, with around 75% of all income groupings up to £80,000 per year predicting a double dip.

So far, so potentially depressing. But looking longer-term, where do our panel of respondents see the UK economy by the end of 2010? Continuing the trend, little more than one in ten see the country’s finances ending the year in a position of strong growth, though interestingly only 16% predict a descent back into recession in the next 11 months. The remaining 72% forecast weaker growth, which may be as optimistic as can be hoped in the present climate.

By region, respondents in Scotland and the North of England are nearly three times as likely to predict further recession rather than strong growth.

The Midlands, Wales and the South of England display more polarised tendencies with roughly equal numbers of respondents forecasting either strong growth or further recession in each geographical area. The 16 to 34 year old age group is split between cautious optimism and outright pessimism, with older respondents adopting a progressively gloomier stance.

Regardless of perceptions, it is clear that the political parties need to do more to engage large sections of the populace in the general dialogue.

One in four of the 16 to 34 age group is planning not to vote in the forthcoming General Election. Panel members from the Midlands and Wales display similar levels of apathy. And with more respondents across the board falling into the ‘Don’t Know’ category than expressing an allegiance to any one political party, expect the landscape to change frequently in the run up to Election Day. It’s still all to play for.

Jamie

A bit of background on Glide

In January 2010 Glide will be seven years old. It’s been quite a journey since the days when three of us were squashed into a small office in Ladbroke Grove.  We’re now a team of 30+ happily settled in our Shoreditch office.

Back when we started in 2003, my job was pretty evangelical. Talking about online media centres and PR software wasn’t exactly top of most Comms Directors’ agendas and I spent a lot of time selling the need as well as our nascent product.

Today of course things are very different. It’s rare to meet a PR now who doesn’t acknowledge the importance of online content creation, effective targeting and precision analytics.  Blogs and social media have also changed the media landscape for good and the most exciting thing is that there is a lot more change to come.

Innovation is part of our ethos so this year we’ve launched a range of Glide features, including social media share tools, streaming video, B-Roll hosting and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) best practice tools. We’ve also just launched GlideInsight, our real-time market research tool.

2010 will also see us bring some pretty special tools to the market – but more about that another time!

On to the blog

We wanted our blog to be something everyone in the company owned, so you’ll notice posts from a number of contributors from all corners of the business, ranging from serious to conversational.

If you’re thinking of working for Glide or hiring us, you should be able to get a feel for what kind of people we are, which, in my opinion is vital for either decision.

Enjoy the blog and come back soon.

Sam