I was watching an ad on TV from one of these companies that pays you to recycle your phone, so I decided to check how much my Nexus 1 would fetch. Envirophone offered me around £125, but digging further, I found called called TopDollarMobile that offered me over £150. I didn’t realise what a vast range of companies there were out there that offer this service.

So, what’s the best way to get a good price? Well, there’s a comparison site called SellMyMobile that lets you get more money for your mobile by pitting the different companies together and providing a comparison of the cash or equivalent value of points that you could get for your phone. Here’s what they offered for my phone:

There’s a £50 difference between the top and bottom cash offers, so I could save that much just by picking the right company to use to recycle my phone.

So, why has this market proved to be so successful? Well, there are multiple reasons why people choose to recycle their phone. First of all most people have an emotional attachment to their phone. They’ve spent money on it, carried it around in the pocket for a couple of years; and find it hard to just throw away something like that away. Recycling it means that someone else can use it, or that it can be used for parts. Then there’s the environmental reason. Sending your phone to a landfill is the worst option for the environment. There are chemicals that can leak and it’s hardly biodegradable. I suppose there’s always the selfish reason; being offered cash for something you’re going to discard is hardly a proposition that many people will turn down.

Have you even recycled a phone?

I’ve decided to organise a quick lunch for my Social Media friends and opted to go and visit a new establishment on the Isle of Man who are using Social Media to promote their business. The restaurant in question in 14North and you can find them on Twitter and on Facebook.  Their menu looks great so we’re off to try them out!

So, come and meet us at 13:00 for a quick lunch. I’m looking forward to sampling their coffee and flatbreads (not quite sure what that is, but I’m assuming it’s flat )

Oh, and if you’re coming, if you Friend them on Facebook, you also get a free coffee!

So .. who’s coming?

Last week, my mate Frank tried something different for his Follow Friday, so I thought I’d try to innovate on his idea and put together a video Follow Friday. So, without any further ado (feel free to blow it up to full screen):

So, who were my picks this week. Well, as always, it was a pretty hard choice and I had to omit a number of people, but there was no way I could get everyone I wanted in. So I picked some of the tweets I enjoyed most this week, and my #ffs were the relevant tweeters. These were:

• @alyssa_milano
• @amadeus_iom
• @chrisbrogan
• @harbourcreek
• @masticatingmanx
• @mbageekdotcom
• @philgatt
• @problogger
• @scobleizer
• @sherrilynne
• @swoopiom
• @techburgh

Check them out, and if you like their tweets, make sure your follow them!

photo credit: Stéfan

It’s the Third Thursday of August this week, and you all know what that means! Right, we’re meeting at Paparazzi to have a bite and a chat about the latest and greatest things happening in the Social Media sphere. It’s a lunch time spot that’s open to everyone interested in New Media; whether you’re a veteran on Facebook, or trying out Locaccino for the first time, come and join us.

Topics around the table tend to be varied, but you be sure that if you have a question about social networking there will be someone who can answer it for you. It’s a great way to put a face to your online buddies, to learn the latest news and tips and to share what you have learned in the last month.

So, come join us at Paparazzi in Douglas on the 19th August at 12:30. Everyone is welcome!

We popped to the Isle of Man Royal Agricultural Show today and had a whale of a time. It must be one of the more popular events on the Isle of Man, as I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen so many people congregated in one place!

We saw loads of animals, got entertained in more ways than one and even tasted some really nice icecream. Here are some photos from the day out:

Will certainly go again next year!