Did you know that one person is diagnosed with diabetes every three minutes? And that three people die from diabetes every hour in the UK? We have helped Diabetes UK run a campaign on the seriousness of this disease.

The Get Serious campaign prompted over 18,000 users to donate their Facebook status to Diabetes UK over the course of 30 days. Facebook users have on average 130 friends, giving a potential campaign reach of 2,340,000 people.

If you’re a charity interested in running similar campaigns, get in touch to see how we can help.

Anna the intern

Over the summer, we’ve had a couple of really great interns. Our current intern Anna has had her last day today… so we’re looking for more! Below, Anna has written a bit about her stay here, and Guillaume, our intern before her, has also written a few words. If you’re interested in an internship, email us now!

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I started working at iPlatform 5weeks ago, and am (sadly) leaving today to get back down to studying; however I thought I would take this opportunity to let everyone know how incredible it has been working as an intern at iPlatform.

I was introduced to iPlatform through a friend and learnt that they needed an intern to help over the summer.  Soon after being introduced, I found myself sat in a funky burger bar in Covent Garden with Josh and Dan. They were asking me what my 5 negative traits are…  At this point I thought I certainly wouldn’t be invited back!  Yet, thankfully, I was given the opportunity to work as their intern for the remainder of the summer.  Josh told me I was going to be “the wild card” in the office.  Seeing as I had barely heard of the term ‘social media’ let alone conquered the world of Twitter, I was amazed and flattered to be given the chance; but I’m glad to say they did give me a chance and I took it!

As an intern at iPlatform I’ve experienced so much more than I could have ever dreamed of.  It has given me a real insight into the huge commercial opportunities within social networking; made me aware of how crucial social media presence is for brands and how the likes of Facebook can really work for PR & Marketing.

I have loved all aspects from meeting the clients, attending the Facebook Developers Garage, making presentations and gaining basic knowledge of blog posts and press releases.  All of this combined has given me a real look into the world of social media and for me has been a huge learning curve, which I have loved.

The days are packed with meetings and deadlines but the atmosphere within the office is really relaxed and fun, quite a change from the hustle and bustle of London life.

Being an intern for Josh and Dan has been first hand experience of how a successful start-up should operate.  Social media is expanding by the day and iPlatform are at the forefront of this, finding new ways of advancing this technology every single day.  It has been a real inspiration.

This has been such an incredible experience for me, and I can’t wait to start looking for my placement for next year.  Working with the team at iPlatform has given me so much knowledge and a real perspective on an expanding company at the forefront of today’s technology.

Thanks for the opportunity.  I hope that I have been of assistance during the last few weeks.  I really have loved every second!

Anna Stringer

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During my studies I had the opportunity to work for the iPlatform during a 2 months internship. I was in charge of market studies on Facebook for multiple clients. Being specialized in Sports Marketing, the iPlatform gave me the opportunity to enhance my knowledge of this industry. Moreover, working in a technologic, fast paced environment such as Facebook was exciting. Thinking back about it, I can honestly say that it was my best internship so far. It gave me the opportunity to work with great guys such as Dan and Josh and to meet some great people during meetings. The atmosphere was both cool and professional at the same time. These guys were always looking forward to help me and to make me feel as an important part of the team. When your job becomes a passion and that you feel happy about it, it is one of the best feeling ever and I really think that it is what working at iPlatform is all about.

Guillaume Louis

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As you can see – interning here is a lot of fun. You’ll get to meet lots of interesting people, learn about new social technologies, and we even buy lunch (and cover reasonable travel expenses). Get in touch now.

Facebook have released a new feature in their advertising platform allowing you to targets users connected to your fan pages, applications, groups or events. This potentially could be powerful as a way of promoting new content to users, maintaining interest, and cross selling. Although we always recommend seeding content, applications and features directly to your fan pages and groups, it’s never advisable to keep spamming your fans – this offers a low nuisance way of maintaining communication, on a performance (pay-per-click) basis.

For targeting new users, this will also allow you to purposefully not target current users, ensuring maximum user acquisition.

Check out Facebook’s note on the new features for more information.

Alexander Ljung, founder & CEO of Soundclound, says:

It’s great to see forward-thinking companies such as iPlatform working with SoundCloud to build innovative music apps. The result here is a really cool example of a high profile artist taking a new approach to reach their audience.

The application has now been added to our white-label product stable – it’s available to license now. Get in touch to find out more

If you’re interested in finding out about our competitions technology, please get in touch.

Hed Kandi, a Ministry of Sound music brand, have launched a new competition in Facebook giving the chance for aspiring disc jockeys to become full-time Hed Kandi DJs, with all the pay and perks. Using the iPlatform Competitions Platform to power the contest, entrants submit photos, YouTube videos and text on why they want to win, and then get a unique entry page they can post to their Facebook fan page or profile, and share with their friends. If they get enough votes to be in the top ten by the end of the competition they’ll be invited to a ‘DJ-off’ in a live venue for Hed Kandi to choose the winner.

As well as turning every DJ entrant into a viral advocate with a strong incentive to share the competition with their friends and fans, there is a separate sweepstakes to win a pair of high quality DJ Decks for everyone who votes. With no media spend, the application has reached almost 100,000 users in its first month, with a conversion rate (generating email address leads from sweepstakes entrants) of 50%.

The app was a great success – and by the results, obviously worked! (although we don’t claim to take all the credit)

You can find out more here.

Do your part - donate your status to Comic Relief

This Friday it’s Red Nose day 2009, in support of Comic Relief, a charity campaign which, in over 20 years, has raised over £500m to support projects across the globe, from helping disadvantaged young people in the UK, to supporting those in dire poverty or suffering from HIV and AIDs in third world countries.

They teamed up with iPlatform to allow Facebook users to donate their status’s to help spread the word about Red Nose Day this week – the app has launched today. Click here to go to the app and donate your status!

We’ve been lucky enough to work with Brave New Talent throughout their development, helping with their social network strategy, and integrating the whole of their site with the iPlatform – allowing users to access all functionality within their social networks.

The site’s in alpha at the moment, but you can sign up here, and of course on the Facebook application here.

The iPlatform has saved BraveNewTalent.com time and money.  The simple solution integrates our technology to the major social networks on the web.  This means we can focus on building a larger user base internationally by tapping into the world’s largest communities.  It has been a pleasure to work with Josh and Dan as well as the rest of the iPlatform team.  These guys are true social media evangelists.  I would highly recommend using their solution to make your business more social.

Lucian Tarnowski, Founder and CEO BraveNewTalent.com

Brave New Talent inside Facebook, through the iPlatform