I was thoroughly underwhelmed by Apple’s recently iPad unveil. And, worryingly for the American tech brand, I am not alone. Normally Apple press conferences are met with ‘Analysts predict surge in Apple share prices’ headlines but not this one. Analysts, in fact, were predicting quite the reverse. Whether this was up to Apple itself or the fact that everyone has now bought a tablet of some kind is up for debate.

But this is not the first time I’ve been underwhelmed by an Apple press conference. Admittedly it’s no surprise that this kind of talk is coming from myself, as I’m a bit of a Google man - I’m currently writing this on a Chromebook, with my Samsung Galaxy and Nexus tablet pining to get involved - so even I advise to take what I say with an iPhone 6+-sized pinch of salt. But surely the fact that I don’t even need the five digits on my one hand to count the actual innovations...

And finally we arrive at the last module of Squared Online - ‘The Ongoing Revolution’ - and, in turn, the last ‘Best Bits’. It’s been emotional.

With the module mostly looking at what’s to come in the world of digital, it was touted that the trends we are soon to see are:

The Internet of Things

“The Internet of Things is a term that describes where the Internet is connected to the physical world via multitude of sensors”.

Collaborative economy

Think along the lines of GiffGaff - consumers helping consumers, no middle man in the form of a traditional company. Fingers crossed this prediction is limited to the kind of business model it employs, and not so much the ‘friendly’ zombie apocalypse it illustrated in its adverts a while back.

Content curation

What: ‘The act of discovering, gathering and presenting digital content that surrounds a specific subject matter’
Why...

2,188 words. Now it’s been published for a few weeks now, I think I’m ready to admit that my last ‘Best Bits’ blog post - about Module 3 of Squared Online, ‘Think Like A Brand’ - was a little excessive. Just, I kept on writing and writing and, soon enough, it went from composing a blog post to nurturing one. I’ve had a few people initially say to me that they really enjoyed it, only to go on and say something like “of what I read anyway” (or something to that effect). Apparently I feel quite strongly about subjects like branding?

‘Think Optimised’

Fortunately for both your sanity and mine, the subject of Module 4 - ‘Think Optimised’ - isn’t prone to such subjectivity. But perhaps that’s a point that needs to be addressed in itself? A little forewarning: the next paragraph relies heavily on boring qualities like rationality and level-headedness, so if you’re looking for some big...

Another module of Squared Online done. Another blog detailing the best bits.

If I’m honest with both you, the reader, and myself, the word ‘module’ really ought to be plural. We’ve actually just finished Module 4, ‘Think Optimised’. The reason why I’m only doing this blog post now is a) inevitable, yes, but I’ve been rather busy b) we’re about to start Module 5. Turns out ‘The Fear’ sticks around for a little while after your university days.

Anyway, to business: the ‘best bits’ of Module 3 ‘Think Like A Brand’.

Power to the People

Squared Online is a digital marketing course. We were always going to touch on how digital has changed things. Yes, it’s changed the customer journey. Yes, it’s changed how you buy things. These matters I am not interested in for, in my opinion, they are not nearly half as powerful as the point that succeeded these two: digital has changed how we...

With Module 3 - ‘Think Like a Brand’ - of Squared Online under way, now is a better time than ever to take a look back at the best bits of Module 2, ‘Think Commercial’. Taking a more practical stance compared to the slightly philosophical ‘A Connected World’ Module 1, it was enlightening in a number of different ways. Despite being allured by the idea of entrepreneurial life - something I’d seriously contemplate succumbing to, to the surprise of a Director of a communications agency I’ve recently spoken to, in a later stage of my life (I want to gain valuable experience, he thinks I should just go for it) - due to various choices I’ve made my educational institutions, I’ve never actually been taught even the basics of business or economics (something I’ve got in common with George Osborne, then). As a result I embraced topics like business models and customer journeys like it was the...

With the first module of Squared Online done and dusted, I thought it’d be handy to jot down what I thought were the ‘best bits’, as well as a comment or two; handy not only for myself but also for a) those interested in Squared Online and b) those interested in digital marketing in general.

Mike Berry claimed that we cannot “separate digital life from normal life”. Our dependence on digital perfectly illustrated by the fact that, for many of us, our phone is the first thing we see when we wake up and the last thing we see before we go to sleep.

“Everything follows you everywhere”

Perhaps a little too ‘1984’ for my liking: “Everything follows you everywhere.” Must admit, though, that the potential of this does excite me - it could lead to far more personalised adverts, for example, in which case everyone is a winner.

The ‘culture of immediacy’. We want everything and we want it now...

I’ve been lucky, and I’m hugely grateful for it.

A few months back, where the job hunt was just beginning to tell, Go Think Big (a great scheme for those seeking employment in the media) informed me of a programme ‘powered’ by Google (an opportunity I’d like) or, more specifically, the chance to be awarded a full scholarship for it (an opportunity I might as well go for). The programme in question is Squared Online, an online digital marketing course. My application for the scholarship amounted to not a whole lot more than me gallivanting around the countryside, describing my appropriate skills in locations that were somehow also appropriate (I expressed my sensitive side whilst near a church and such… I know). Expected to be trumped by magic manoeuvres on iMovie and various forms of Photoshop wizardry (it was a digital marketing course, after all), I soon received the happy news that...

As much as I love digital, there’s one cold, hard fact that I cannot escape, that I’m a little embarrassed about: I don’t know digital. See, I love everything that the likes of the Silicon Roundabout produce – I can appreciate the end results (and unashamedly make use of them myself), but I have no idea how the geniuses that often inhabit Google Campus got there (figuratively speaking, of course). This isn’t to say I’m hoping Squared Online will teach me how to code or anything (this isn’t what the course is set out to do, nor do I particularly wish to be taught) but I at least don’t want to feel like such an outsider, like I’m pretending to be part of ‘their’ world without even the slightest bit of know-how to back my passion up.

I like my tech. I make out to journalists (let me finish) that products produced by the likes of Microsoft (who, it is rumoured, are soon to have a shiny new...