It wasn't that close to midnight but something was certainly lurking in Victoria Square this Saturday as 300 people re-enacted a scene from one of the world's most iconic music videos. 

Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' was the topic of this elaborate flashmob, organised by Birmingham Hippodrome in conjunction with Thriller in the City.

After a week of intensive workshops and hours stood in bedrooms practicing to a video tutorial, Saturday saw over 300 people descend upon Victoria Square as part of an elaborate Flashmob, showing what a little organisation and the power of word of mouth can really do.

I think what really surpirsed me about the Flashmob was the sense of cohesion and community amongst those taking part. A lot of the mob had come with friends and family, but once the dance had finished there seemed to be a great sense of achievement between the 'mobbers'. When the final note played, the entire group seemed to jump and scream as one, hugging and kissing random strangers.

What a fantastic idea the flashmob was though. A huge amount of risk was poured into this project. So many things could have gone wrong. What happens if no-one attends the workshops? What happens if it rains? What if people don't learn the moves? All of these facotrs were thrown out of the window on the day though, with the 3 minute performance being a phenominal success.

A huge congratulations to the organisers for bringing such a fantastic event to the city and showcasing Birmingham has a hub for international dance. 

5 years. My how the time has flown by. Who could have predicted that a social networking platform could have grown so much in such a short space of time?

If you’re not sure what I’m on about, this week saw Twitter celebrate its 5^th birthday, a momentous occasion for any form of technology in this day and age.

Most platforms and new technology seem to have a very short shelf life in today’s society, with new innovations being released on a weekly basis. If you last a year, you’re doing well but if you can last 5 years you’re well on your way to success and an untold number of opportunities.

5 years ago this week, twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted his first tweet “just setting up my twttr”. Since that day more than 30 billion tweets have been sent in 140 characters or less.

Now it hasn’t been a smooth ride for the micro-blogging site. In the beginning it received heavy criticism from the press who said it to be ‘mundane and trivial’. A whole host of viral parodies have come to fruition over the years, each one exploring faults with tweeting your life story. A great list can be found on Mashable.

Despite this, thousands of businesses have realised the potential of doing business through the medium of Twitter, whether it be through pushing their goods and services or using it as a way to manage customer relations. Estimates have placed revenue for 2011 at a staggering $150million as more and more businesses make use of its advertising platform, not to mention the hundreds of apps out there which integrate directly with both the website and other platforms.

At present it doesn’t seem that Twitter can do much wrong, as it grows from strength to strength. But how long can this last? Will the product evolve and ruin its 140 character USP or will it stay firm and not encroach on other social media platforms territories? Will someone like Google perhaps take it over? Who knows.

What are your thoughts though? Will Twitter continue to grow or has it reached its peek?

The news has been packed to the brim recently with arguments for and against the governments ‘Big Society’ policy, but what exactly is it? Every story on BBC News seems to be linked to this policy and as a result the country is going down the pot hole because of it (or so they say). What does it mean though and more importantly what does it mean to me?

Well, the aim of the policy is “to create a climate that empowers local people and communities, building a big society that will ‘take power away from politicians and give it to people’”. Surely this is a good thing though? Apparently not. The reason why the Big Society is in the news so much is because of all the cuts that are taking place across the country. These cuts are proving detrimental to community projects, schemes and institutes throughout the UK. There are so many organisations which are being affected by this, however I’m going to pick on two which I feel particularly strong about; local libraries and KIC.FM, a community radio station in Wolverhampton.

So, libraries first. In all fairness I haven’t visited a library since my university days where many an hour was spent with my head down in a dusty text book about the complexities of contract law. I buy all my own books from Waterstones, and the majority of those are fantasy novels not found in your local library. My eyes were opened this week though when I saw that libraries perform a much greater role than just lending books; many centres provide a hub for community activities such as workshops, social groups and even day care facilities. The argument of “Everything is going digital” isn’t particularly true though, at least not in my opinion. Yes, books are now digital but not everyone can afford a Kindle or even a computer at home. I’m not afraid to stay my ground and stand up for the future of digital, but sometimes digital just doesn’t fit the need and the conversion often causes more problems than it solves

Next on my list is KIC.FM. For those of you who know me, you’ll be aware I spent five years at this community station and it is actually the key reason why I got into PR. Since moving to Birmingham I’ve had very little contact with them until last week when I discovered that they have had their funding cut and will therefore seize to exist as of the 31^st March.

KIC.FM helped me in so many ways such as presentation skills, problem solving and forward planning. It’s one of the sections that really stands out on my CV and helps differ me from all the other applicants, something which is becoming increasingly difficult in today’s job market.  Since launching back in 2001, the station has helped over 500 young people through the V Inspired Scheme, many of whom have gone onto fantastic jobs.  Is pulling funding from projects such as KIC.FM really going to help sort out the economy or will it infact reduce the skills young people develop outside of school and college? Will this then inturn affect how they perform in the working world?

At the start of the blog, many of you would have wondered how the Big Society will affect you. Well those are my two ways in which it has affected me, what are yours?