When Chevrolet entered the British Touring Car Championship there was naturally a need to keep their fans up to date with the latest action and results. And the new BTCC site doesn't disappoint - Graymatter have created a site that reflects the excitement of the sport and through social media integration allows fans to keep in touch with the action as it happens! But don't take our word for it - with the first race under way on 4 April check out the site for yourself at chevroletbtcc.co.uk

Not that we are boasting. Much. In fact our client, the NHS is struggling to cope with demand following the launch of our Facebook led campaign.



So Facebook said that the average take up for a homepage ad is about 0.1%. We are hitting about 0.3% takeup - one of the most succesful homepage ad campaigns they’ve ever run.

We can’t pretend that we are not just a little excited by that nice little endorsement from Facebook, and our friends in the NHS. Oh, and be sure to check out local newspapers for press releases...

Want to know more? Call Jus on 07510 304721 or email jus@graymatter.co.uk

I must admit that over the last few days I was one of the many men wondering why a large collection of women on my Facebook news feed had statuses which referenced various colours. After finding out is a method to create awareness for Breast Cancer I was really impressed by the whole idea.

The basic idea was a Facebook message was sent to various women and with a request to pass the message on to fellow female friends in a chain mail style. This alone is nothing more than e-mail spam we receive everyday however the message also had a social media spin to it, firstly woman were encouraged to write the colour of their bra as a Facebook status and only the colour, which tied into the second part which was keep the idea secret from men.

It's not that it's a massive life changing idea, but it is a clever way to get people involved with a campaign. It used social devices such as getting people involved with something and that something being a worthwhile charity and using the old battle of the sexes to help keep the idea alive. Combining that with social media where the idea can be adapted so quickly and people can disclose in real time what they are wearing right that second again showed the potential of social media.

It has yet been disclosed where the idea started from and if it had anything to do with people at the charity however it would be interesting to see statistics if web site traffic or donations increased this week for Breast Cancer causes.  Sadly I imagine all we will see is a few months of 'me-too' style statuses for every brand under the sun.

If you ever wondered how powerful social media can be then the proof may be in the (Christmas) pudding if Rage against the Machine can make it to the UK Christmas number one spot on Sunday.

It was reported that the X-Factor final was watched by 19 million people last weekend, with the eventual winner Joe McElderry taking 60% of the 10 million public votes cast. So with such a massive following how is a Facebook group with 750,000 members giving him and his song 'The Climb' such a challenge for the Christmas Number One?

The major factor which social media and X Factor share is the need of people to be parts of something, to be able contribute. Last weekend people could show the support of X Factor by picking up the phone and voting for their favourite performer. However that was last week, proven further by the fact that by the midweek chart update Joe had only sold 110,000 copies of his winners song, a far cry from the 6 million people votes he received which was in fact 50p more expensive that buying his single on iTunes.

Social media opens up a whole new audience who you can also communicate - in this case 750,000 people on the Facebook group. So now Mr Average in the street can start advertising a topic on social media which can attract people and they can be a part of it.

Furthermore to this, social media like X Factor can attract large media interest to snow ball public interest. So far the Facebook group owner has been on TV, Radio, Newspaper and online. Whilst Joe McElderry has to go down the old press trail of turning up to chat shows to promote his track, social media is helping itself; Twitter is generating tweets from various walks of life across the county, keeping the topic alive. Just Giving website has a charity donation page which has already generated over £40,000 for the Shelter homeless charity (I imagine it is no surprise that the charity which was selected is often closely related with caring at Christmas) is attempting to make it feel like a less commercial activity and now people are creating their own spoof videos on youTube. Everything people are doing is simple to setup, have large audience potential and keep the ball rolling on the subject. Whenever before was this power at your finger tips, without selling your sole to a red top newspaper?