British photojournalist Jonathan Mitchell and friend of Industry Creative was detained in Nepal in March after being charged with possessing an invalid press visa, despite having been issued one by the authorities in May 2005.

Mitchell was presented with a fine equivalent to £8,000, or face 10 years behind bars. He was detained in an immigration jail, and news rapidly spread to England.

The news rapidly spread over social networking sites, with a Facebook group being set up in a bid to raise the required money to free Mitchell. The group caught the attention of people from all over the world, who were stunned into action to help the photjournalist.

Donations flew in by the minute, and the campaign soon made its way onto Twitter. With concern growing over Mitchell’s welfare, his plight was soon flagged up by high profile Members of Parliament, and also in various newspapers across the UK.

A host of celebrities added their name to the internet campaign in the hope of urgently freeing Mitchell. With his health deteriorating with acute typhoid, there were great fears that Mitchell might not survive much longer in such poor conditions.

Thanks to the power of social networking, the £8,000 was raised within a couple of weeks though, and Mitchell was allowed free by the Nepalese authorities.

After a slight flight delay due to the Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud, Mitchell has now been reunited with his friends and family in his native United Kingdom…

Laura is supporting currently supporting Peter Andre on a nationwide UK tour early 2010 and is releasing her debut album this spring

Laura White

Industry Creative have launched and co-ordinated the festivals official website and extended web presence, engaging fans on numerous platforms including  Twitter, Facebook – and supporting a national launch campaign alongside radio stations including BRMB.

According to Stone, their main criticism was that the service wasn’t useful; their response: “Neither is ice cream.”

Stone took listeners through the year, describing Twitter users as “a flock of birds in flight,” and discussing its breakthroughs at SXSW, in Iran, and even with an American abroad who used Twitter to get “himself out of prison.”

“The whole ethos behind these new Social Booms is to provide regular gatherings where like-minded creative people can get together, network, share, collaborate and potentially win new business. Other than that, it’d just be nice to meet new people. See you on the 28th!”

The Innovation Award, the brainchild of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and PR agency Weber Shandwick, is being spearheaded by Dr. Moneeb Awan, President of the Greater Manchester Chamber and himself an award-winning entrepreneur with a passion for thinking outside the box and embracing new technologies to help deliver business growth.

Said Moneeb, “This award is not dependent on business size, turnover or a track record of previous award wins – it’s open to all whether you’re a multi-national or a one-man band – we simply want to hear from businesses with a great story to tell that have innovative thinking at the root of their success. The innovation could be a service, product or business process – the key is that it really stands out and delivers a demonstrable return on investment.”

Andy Poole, digital strategist at Weber Shandwick continued, “Digital technologies and communications are reshaping business propositions and the way companies take these to market.  This is creating numerous opportunities, which, with the right thinking and application, can keep companies at the top of their game.  The award will celebrate and share business innovation from across Greater Manchester to make the region even more competitive.”

The award is open to all businesses across Greater Manchester that can show how they have innovated and how this has benefitted their company. Award entries can be submitted now and at anytime until Friday 28^th May 2010, by logging ontowww.gmchamber.co.uk/innovation.  Application forms take less than 15 minutes to complete.

The lucky winner of the Innovation Award will receive digital consultancy from Weber Shandwick worth £5,000.  In addition, they’ll also receive a high speed printer, courtesy of leading printer manufacturer Brother UK.

The award is being delivered by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Weber Shandwick, and supported by Brother UK and Manchester: Knowledge Capital.

Are you having trouble tweeting? Or is your competitiors Google ranking giving you sleepless nights?

Next month sees the start of the Staffordshire Social Media Meetup – a small weekly group you can drop in on free of charge and get help or share ideas on social media.

Email us and let us know if you’d be interested in attending – and what day would be convenient (we’re thinking one evening 5.30 – 6.00pm), and we’ll let you know more once we have an idea of numbers.