Earlier this year at the place I was working at the time, somebody asked what we (as a company) were doing to get in to Facebook and Second Life. My initial reaction was “why would we be doing anything?” - kept to myself, of course.  Whenever a social trend emerges, it seems businesses want to jump on board - and those that don’t are perceived as having been left behind or “not keeping up”.

I’m not suggesting that there is no benefit in involving yourselves in these trends, far from it - such an action (especially when adopted at the right time) can really add value to a company’s profile. But blindly having a presence - in any way, shape or form - just to participate can often have a negative effect.

Setting up a Facebook group to promote a new product and encourage viral interest is one strategy that could certainly benefit, but a general “this is our Company, we’re on Facebook as we’re down with the kids” group with no valuable content will just leave visitors uninterested. An unpopular group, or one filled with people mocking the group’s existence is surely worse than no group at all…

The main thing to remember, in my ever so humble opinion, is that the web is a communication tool and not a parallel universe. You wouldn’t commission an advertising campaign without a focus and clear purpose - the same applies on the web.

Chris pointed me towards an interesting set of tips for making your start-up a success. I like it when posters have a sense of humour:

So even though he’s French, his advice, when given, is worth listening to.

The company I work for is looking for another Junior Web Developer. I can recommend the working environment and the company as a whole - get in touch via the details below if you think you fit the bill (but remember to say I sent you!)

The Role
We’re looking for someone to work on the Microsoft account using a variety of online tools. Based in Bristol or Reading, but starting off with training on-site at Microsoft in Reading, you’ll work on a variety of tasks and projects, including their corporate CMS, building websites, writing documentation, creating Silverlight apps plus involvement with any advances in online technologies. Being proficient in all windows products is a must, plus you’ll have skills including: HTML, Css, JavaScript, Photoshop and ASP, and if you’ve got knowledge of Visual Studio, xml and C# then even better! To be considered for the role you’ll need at least 1-2 year’s commercial web development experience, preferably within an agency environment. Oh, and if that wasn’t much to ask, you’ll also need to be professional, personable and a friendly team player with strong communications skills.

The Agency
Mason Zimbler is a full service, integrated creative marketing communications agency that specialises in the technology sector. With offices in Bristol and Reading, we provide a range of marketing services from strategic planning and brand building, to advertising, direct marketing, design and interactive.

We work in a vibrant, creative environment where everyone gives 100% to our clients and to each other. We encourage people to think individually and ensure you have enough freedom to make the most of your capabilities.

Interested and want to know more? Contact Nicola Greaves (ngreaves [at] mzl.com or 0117 311 2000.)

Next Thursday (22nd November) I’ll be playing for the Microsoft Team in the Microsoft Charity Cup at Wembley. It’s all in aid of a charity called Wooden Spoon, who help disadvantaged children and young people.

Kick-off is at 6pm and anyone can purchase tickets to come along and support the charity, watch the games and have a laugh. Ticket prices are as follows:

Adult £10
Child - £5
Family (x 2 adults and x 2 children) - £20

At the moment the only way to purchase tickets is by requesting them through a contact at work, so if you’d like to come along get in touch and I’ll get hold of them for you.

Ever heard anyone moaning about the long hours they work and how they’re at work so long they’re earning minimum wage? I have, so decided to work out how long each of these people must be working to come to that conclusion (as you do).

As we all know, there are 365 days in a year. Of these, 104 are Saturdays or Sundays and in our line of work, those days are non-working days - which leaves us 261 weekdays. Every employee of a British company not engaged in essential services (i.e. Healthcare workers, Police Officers, Firefighters, etc.) is entitled to a day off on each of the 8 public holidays observed in the UK, which leaves us with 253 workable days in the average year.

In all likelihood, this figure will actually become around 229 days worked, due to holiday allowance - but this allowance is paid leave, so we won’t remove these days.

To the best of my knowledge, the minimum wage amount set out by the Government is a pre-tax figure. For anyone over the age of 22, this figure currently stands at £5.52 p/h. So what we want to know is how many hours someone would need to work in order to reach this figure from an annual salary at a level suitable for the position this sort of person is in.

I’m not in a position to say how much the employee in question earns in a year, but I know for a fact that it’s a fair bit more than I do. So let’s add a lump sum on to mine so that we don’t start disclosing what I make (identity theft is a terrible thing, kids) and do some sums.

£30000 / 253 = £118.58 per working day
£118.58 / £5.52 = 21.5 (approx.) hours
Now I’m no medical expert, but I’m pretty sure anyone who worked 21.5 hours of every 24 during the week would look a lot more tired than the person who inspired this little “investigation”. I’ve come to the conclusion that they were what we call in the business “exaggerating”.