So, the #digitalgokarting 2 event happened last night. At a different track, and with a different race format… which lead to, uh, mixed results. Still, fun was had by all, even those of us who crashed! There was a nice mix of new faces and people who came to the first #digitalgokarting over at 3 Sisters. This time we were racing at Daytona in Manchester, on their 450 meter track, and we were racing in a Grand Prix format instead of a team endurance.

14 people raced in all, with best lap times in the 28 – 33 second range. Best lap time goes to Rob Hayward, who came second over all, losing out to Alan Williams (A full results table will be live soon). So congrats to those two! But, you know, it’s the taking part that counts… (we would say that; our best position was 5^th!)

We’ll get stuck into organising the next #digitalgokarting soon. We’ve taken on board peoples’ comments about both races so far, and will be scouting out a new track and having a bit of a think about race formats and so on. Keep on talking to us about it; there’s a lot of chat on Twitter, just look for #digitalgokarting. We’ll keep you posted about the next race… hopefully this time we’ll manage to rig it properly so we win!

Thursday’s torrential rain also made for a wet track at Three Sisters, but it dried out as the race continued. There were a few spin-outs, but luckily nothing more exciting than that. Everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun during the race – it’s hard to tell when everyone’s got a helmet on – and there was definitely some good chat going on in the pub afterwards.

Although we had to cut the race a bit short because of traffic on the way, there was still time for a good 44 minutes and 52 seconds of racing. 13 teams competed – 26 people in all – with Joe Critchley and his partner finishing the endurance race as the fastest team. But it’s the taking part that counts, isn’t it? Mike from Fudge (he’s @13twelve on Twitter) has put together a results table, so you can see exactly who came where.

We’re already talking about organising the next one, so watch this space (and Twitter – #digitalgokarting). We think the next one will probably be indoors, and we’re not sure if we’ll stick with the endurance race / team set-up or go for something different – let us know what you think. On a more general note, if anyone fancies organising some digital paintballing (sorry, #digitalpaintballing) we’d definitely be up for it!

Race-day is going to be Thursday the 12^th of August. We’ve set up an eventbrite page for it, but the order form is at the bottom of this blog as well (because we know what a lazy lot you are). The race will be taking place at Three Sisters in Wigan; check out their website – looks pretty good, doesn’t it?

As well as a chance to zip about in a 70mph twin-160cc-engine Go-Kart, it’ll also be a good opportunity to catch up with some other marketing and design types. We’ve already had confirmations from people from a number of other agencies around here, so you’ll be in good company.

Fancy it? You know you do. We’ll do a follow-up blog afterwards – with pictures, if someone remembers a camera – so the winners will get the recognition they deserve. And we’re talking about it on Twitter, as you’d imagine. All the tweets are being tagged #digitalgokarting. Have a look, join the chat on Twitter, and come down for a race.

As the Guardian blog is quick to point out, there are big differences between searching on Twitter and searching via Google or other search providers. Twitter indexes very differently from Google’s Caffeine or the indexing algorithms used by other search providers.

So, Twitter and Google will deliver very different results. The helpful example given in the Guardian blog explains further:

“If I want to find out what people are saying about the World Cup right now, I might search Twitter… But if I want to find fixture lists, stadia capacity and previous tournament winners, I’m going to Google.”

So, Google, for example, will offer a much more sophisticated field of search results, whereas Twitter allows up-to-the-minute monitoring of conversations occurring across the social web (turning up Tweets containing links to posts on Posterous, Facebook pages, photographs on Tumblr, etc.)

Twitter’s Biz Stone, quoted in the Guardian article, is aware of this difference:

“Searching the web – …is about I, me, I’m asking the search engine to give me something – and when you are on Twitter, you are open to information that’s coming to you.”

That’s an important point of the argument; what search services deliver defines how people use them. People are increasingly search savvy. With Google integrating real-time results on to SERPs, would it be worthwhile for Twitter to try and offer a more sophisticated search? Answers in the comments please…

We’re really excited about it, and not just because it promises to be a bit of a party. The 2010 Big Chip awards are the first awards that we’ve ever entered, and to make it on to the shortlist is pretty good going. At Moo we’ve just begun a very exciting stage in our growth as a company, and we’re looking at our shortlisting for Big Chip 2010 as a sign that we’re heading in the right direction.

There’s already a lot of chat happening on Twitter about the Big Chips; people are using the tag #BigChip2010. It’s more than likely that the tweeting is going to go on all night, so have a look if you want to find out the results as they’re announced, or read tipsy nonsense as the night progresses.

We’ll post another blog tomorrow to let you know what happened – fingers crossed! – but until then we’ve got some work to do. Good luck again to everyone else who made the shortlist. We’ll see you at the Palace.

We spent a lot of time with the Fudge gang, mostly discussing robots, occasionally touching on the morals of training a monkey to clean your flat, and once or twice actually talking about work. It was also grand to get a chance to talk to Jake Smith. A director at JP74, he was doing a good job of convincing our very own Duncan Green to have a bash at some skateboarding. Sounds like trouble.

As with all events of this nature, the variety of the people who attended was an excellent reminder of how diverse and vibrant the online creative / marketing industry is, especially around Manchester. Schedule permitting we’ll be at the next Northern Digitals meet, and should be attending a few more of the Future Everything events as well.  Come and say Hi to us if you happen to be at any of the same events; keep an eye on our twitter (@moomarketing) to see what we’ll be attending and when.

Twitter have put the first of their dedicated business-user features – rumoured since last year and following the launch of paid ads last month – into beta testing. A few lucky souls have been invited to trial the Business centre; one of them has decided to share some screenshots with mashable.com.

The features that will be available to Twitter Business Centre users are intended to improve Twitter’s usability as a customer relations and PR platform; Business Centre users will be able to receive direct messages from Twitterers they don’t follow, and will also be able to add multiple users to one account.

These tweaks should make Business Centre Twitter profiles more flexible tools for dealing with customer enquiries, and increase the reaction-speed of damage-limitation public relations. Twitter is increasingly a tool for consumer campaigning; these Business Centre features indicate that Twitter fully understands the needs of their commercial users, and what they use their social media profiles for; speedy communication and flexible reaction.

There is, however, no word as yet on the access to “stats” that, according to statements made by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone last year, will eventually be made available to business users. Being a measurement-focussed agency, we’re more than a little bit interested in what these stats will include, especially seeing as Biz Stone has expressed the desire to provide users with “some of the analytics” related to their Twitter accounts.

The Mozzies also played a social game against Wolverhampton Wolves. And a very social day it was for all involved; there was a good turn-out, and everyone enjoyed Burnage Rugby Club’s excellent facilities. For the players and those of us who weren’t running around like lunatics on the pitch, there was a BBQ and a post-match Raffle to enjoy. Oh, and a well stocked bar…

Aussie rules is an excellent spectator sport, and the Mozzies made us very welcome. We’re hoping that their winning streak carries on, and we’re definitely looking forward to their next match.

The Mosquitoes’ next home game is on the 12^th of June – two days after the Big Chip awards – and we’d like to extend an invitation to anyone who fancies watching some full contact sport and having a (hopefully not full contact) chat. For those who’ll be attending the Big Chip awards, there should be enough time to recover between events.

We’ll be posting blogs and tweeting (tweets will be tagged #ManchesterMozzies) with more information about the next Manchester Mosquitoes game closer to the date. Until then, another big congratulations to the Mozzies, and a big thank-you to everyone who was there on the day.

We enjoy a chance to network as much as the next marketing agency, so we’ll be attending the Mozzies’ first game with the intention of making friends (and having a pint or two). If you fancy coming down for a chat – and to watch the Manchester Mosquitoes get stuck in – follow this link to RSVP online.

There’ll be beer, BBQ, Aussie Rules Football, and us. What’s not to love? We’ll be tweeting about it (we’re @moomarketing) and we’re tagging our tweets #ManchesterMozzies and #mooBBQ. You’re more than welcome to join in the conversation.

Burnage Rugby Club is within walking distance of Parrs Wood Entertainment Centre in Didsbury, Manchester:

Fancy it? Register on the Eventbrite page so we’ve got an idea of how many people are coming. It should be a great day, and we look forward to seeing you there.

PS: come on the Mozzies!