Bloodsuckers and Bloggers

Time to ditch the blood-sucking social media gurus - Telegraph: "On the outskirts of a regional city in Britain - Bristol, perhaps - two hundred people gather to discuss 'radical engagement strategies'. They are oddballs: a mixture of chippy girls with unruly fringes and sweaty, overweight blokes with bits of burger stuck in their beards. They fire cheap jibes at the Microsoft event they're sharing a building with, and from which they've nicked a few chairs - a fact they crow about on Twitter as if it were some sort of victory over the 'evil' corporation. These are the social media gurus, a rag-tag crew of blood-sucking hucksters who are infesting companies of all sizes, on both sides of the Atlantic, blagging their way into consultancy roles and siphoning off valuable recession-era marketing spend to feed their comic book addictions. They claim to be able to improve your relationships with your customers by 'executing 360 degree reignition programs...

Spain to rescue its banks - Telegraph: "Forty out of a total of 45 Spanish cajas will merge or form operating alliances with each other as the authorities look to prevent fears over the banking system from morphing into a wider market run on the country as a whole. Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Spain's deputy prime minister, said: 'The government is preparing a plan, the aim of which is to increase the solvency and the credibility of the savings banks.' It is hoped that private investors can be found to put money into the cajas. However, Spain's Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring could take stakes in those that are unable to attract outside investment. Spain's main IBEX index of leading shares closed up nearly 2pc on the back of the news, which helped calm fears of a banking crisis brewing in the country. Shares in Spain's two largest banks, Banco Santander and BBVA, led the rebound, each rising more than 3pc."