Good morning. The tsunami that hit Japan this morning caused an instant spike in communication on Twitter as Japan’s residents took to the site for communication once the phone lines died. Twitter seems to be the go to communication tool in the heart of natural disasters due to its ease of use, real time information and wide spread popularity. Chrysler found itself in hot water on Twitter earlier this week when one of their agencies employees dropped the F-bomb from the companies account. This happens form time to time as people confuse their own account for the companies account, but Chrysler is not taking his lightly. The agency quickly fired the employee and Chrysler quickly decided not to renew their contract with the agency. The incident also rekindled a long standing issue with Chryslers internal team. Marketing and Communications both want control over the companies accounts primarily because of headcount and budget, but when things go wrong the Communications team is quick to step in and handle the issue despite their marketing team managing the accounts. It’s an interesting dichotomy that many other companies face, but events like these seem to remind us all that customers and fans don’t care who screwed up. Bring a fan of infographics and all things in picture form I wanted to share a great chart highlighting the top social sites and the strengths and weaknesses of each. YouTube is not shy about their growth plans or the long term goals of making the channel more mainstream. The company announced that they are hiring 30% more staff this year to handle their global expansion. Enjoy.
I. Twitter Users React To Massive Quake, Tsunami In Japan, mashable.com, March 11, 2011
II. Chrysler Splits With New Media Strategies Over F-Bomb Tweet, adage.com, March 10, 2011
III. Which Social Sites Are Best for Which Marketing Outcomes?, mashable.com, March 11, 2011
IV. YouTube to Boost Staff by 30% This Year, wsj.com, March 10, 2011
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I. Twitter Users React To Massive Quake, Tsunami In Japan, Mashable.com, March 11, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/03/11/japan-tsunami/
A powerful 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Japan on Friday, causing widespread power outages, fires and a severe tsunami that was reported to be up to 10 meters high in places. It was the seventh most powerful earthquake in recorded history. The reaction on Twitter, quickly becoming the go-to service in emergencies, was immediate and intense. Less than an hour after the quake, with the country’s phone system knocked out, the number of tweets coming from Tokyo were topping 1,200 per minute, according to Tweet-o-Meter.
II. Chrysler Splits With New Media Strategies Over F-Bomb Tweet, adage.com, March 10, 2011
http://adage.com/article/digital/chrysler-splits-media-strategies-f-bomb-tweet/149335/
When an employee of New Media Strategies dropped the f-bomb in a tweet from client Chrysler’s Twitter account March 9, it might have been chalked up to one of those things that can happen to someone on a bad day. Instead, Chrysler decided not to renew its contract with the agency. The dustup began yesterday when one of the agency’s staffers tweeted from the @ChryslerAutos account: “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to fucking drive.”
III. Which Social Sites Are Best for Which Marketing Outcomes?, mashable.com, March 11, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/03/11/social-media-marketing-chart/
Is Flickr good for SEO? Can Tumblr drive traffic? If these questions are part of your day-to-day work, hold onto your hats; here’s an infographic that’s actually useful for a change. If you’re doing any social media marketing, here’s something for your to print out and hang up near your desk as a handy point of reference. CMO.com, together with SEO firm 97th Floor, have created this chart showing which social networks are best for various organizational, CRM and marketing goals.
PDF here: http://www.cmo.com/sites/default/files/CMOcom-SocialMediaLandscape2011.pdf
IV. YouTube to Boost Staff by 30% This Year, wsj.com, March 10, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704399804576193044126399836.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_technology
YouTube plans to increase staffing by more than 30% this year as the Google Inc. video-sharing service rapidly expands around the world.
In a blog post, YouTube said the hiring plans are the biggest in its six-year history. YouTube said it is looking for “top talent from around the world,”
Good morning. Facebook is taking a stand against bullying with some new tools aimed at reporting and blocking offensive content on their site. These measures are nice to see with all the reports of bullying leading to much more severe issues for teens. Political campaigns harnessing the power of social media is nothing new, but it’s becoming more mainstream in today’s world according to Karl Rove. According to the Pew Research Center, in the last presidential race 26% of voters received their information via the web while 28% still relied on print media. The percentages are looking to flip as early as 2012 with the growing trend of digital media consumption. Charlie Sheen may not be able to keep his day job, but he’s been very busy on the social media front. His latest gig came in the form of an intern stunt he pulled for the website interns.com. While the intern thing is funny it represents a much more interesting shift in advertising. The use of popular celebs to promote a startup via a social channel in hopes of garnering interest seemed to work for interns.com. Within hours of the announcement that he’s looking for an intern the term #TigerBloodIntern was a trending topic globally, and 74k applications were submitted from 181 countries for the job. Enjoy.
I. Facebook’s New Anti-Bullying Tools Create a “Culture of Respect”, mashable.com, March 10, 2011
II. Political Campaigns Go Viral, wsj.com, March 10, 2011
III. Results: Charlie Sheen Pulls in 400,000 Clicks for Ad.ly Tweet Sponsorship, fastcompany.com, March 9, 2011
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I. Facebook’s New Anti-Bullying Tools Create a “Culture of Respect”, mashable.com, March 10, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/03/10/facebook-anti-bullying/
At today’s White House Conference for Bullying Prevention in Washington, D.C., Facebook is announcing a new suite of tools to protect users from bullying, foster a stronger sense of community in the social network, and “create a culture of respect” among Facebook users.
Facebook’s changes boil down to two main aspects: an improved safety center with more multimedia resources, and better, more social tools for reporting offensive or bullying content.
II. Political Campaigns Go Viral, wsj.com, March 10, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576190472697049288.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLTopStories
Since 1952—when New York ad man Rosser Reeves convinced GOP presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower to run television ads with a snappy jingle, “You like Ike, I like Ike, Everybody likes Ike”—campaigns have spent most of their budgets on TV and radio. But in the year ahead, smart campaigns will devote a good deal less money to running 30- second TV ads and a good deal more to using the Internet to organize, persuade, motivate and raise funds.
III. Results: Charlie Sheen Pulls in 400,000 Clicks for Ad.ly Tweet Sponsorship, fastcompany.com, March 9, 2011
http://adage.com/article/news/kraft-treats-tweets-mac-cheese/149298/
Vatican assassin Charlie Sheen may not be pulling in millions for long as an employed sitcom star, but online, this highly evolved warlock may just have some #tigerblood left yet. Earlier this week, Sheen signed on with Los Angeles-based startup Ad.ly, which helps pair social media celebs with major brand endorsements. Sheen’s first sponsorship? Internship website Internships.com.
Can Sheen’s social media prowess break this startup into the major leagues? Or is his buzz just a fad that will wither like the wrinkly backsides of so many trolls?
Good morning. Who needs to run to the store to rent a movie when you’ll soon be able to rent directly from Facebook? Warner Brothers is teaming up with Facebook to make movies available for rent on the social networking site. Facebook is swiftly becoming the go to destination for entertainment and commerce. For those of you who urn for Mayorships, Foursquare 3.0 was released yesterday with a slew of new features and a whole new UX. On top of the new user features the new merchant features include options like swarm promos, friend specials, flash deals and more. Tweets and mac and cheese seem to go together, and I’m not really sure why. Kraft, however didn’t seem to care why when they took advantage of the trending topic on Twitter by wrapping a really fun promotion around it. Whether Kraft paid for the trending topic is a mystery, but the ability to play a game of digital Jinx with other folks tweeting about mac and cheese is pretty cool. Ever thought about going back to school to learn about social media? Well big brands are partnering with universities to tap into the younger, more connected demographic. The classes are doing everything from blogging, tweeting and generating content around launches or products. The students gain the experience, the universities receive funding and products, and the brands get real time, gen y content. Enjoy.
I. Warner Bros. To Offer Movie Rentals On Facebook, cbsatlanta.com, March 8, 2011
II. Foursquare 3.0 Has Arrived: Here’s What’s New, mashable.com, March 8, 2011
III. Kraft Treats for Tweets About Mac & Cheese, adage.com, March 8, 2011
IV. Here, Tweeting Is a Class Requirement, wsj.com, March 9, 2011
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I. Warner Bros. To Offer Movie Rentals On Facebook, cbsatlanta.com, March 8, 2011
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/entertainment/27119680/detail.html
Movie rentals are coming to Facebook. Warner Bros. says it is testing a service that will offer select movies for purchase or rental through the public pages of these movies on the world’s largest online social network.
Starting Tuesday, Facebook users who visit the official page of “Batman: The Dark Knight” can click a “watch” icon and pay 30 Facebook credits, or $3, to watch the movie. The movie is streamed through a Facebook application.
II. Foursquare 3.0 Has Arrived: Here’s What’s New, mashable.com, March 8, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/03/08/foursquare-3/
Foursquare, the location-based mobile game startup that pioneered the checkin, will introduce version 3.0 Tuesday evening. The new release turns on the power of every checkin accumulated over the course of its two-year history and transforms that data into recommendations. “Our theme internally has always been that every checkin counts,” says co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley, who speaks of version 3.0 as the materialization of that philosophy.
III. Kraft Treats for Tweets About Mac & Cheese, adage.com, March 8, 2011
http://adage.com/article/news/kraft-treats-tweets-mac-cheese/149298/
How bout some cheese with that tweet? Apparently quite a few people on Twitter are talking about mac and cheese, so much so that the favored dish has become a trending topic. (Why might be the question.) But Kraft Foods, ever the opportunist, has seized on the conversation to push its Macaroni & Cheese brand by getting fans to play an ole fashioned game of jinx.
The promotion works like this, according to a statement to Ad Age by the food giant: “When two people Tweet about mac & cheese, we send both of them a link calling their Mac & Jinx and provide a link. The first one to call “Jinx” by clicking the link and giving us their address wins free product from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. The package arrives to the winner’s home within 7-10 days, and when they open it they’re in for another treat: an official Mac & Jinx T-shirt.”
IV. Here, Tweeting Is a Class Requirement, wsj.com, March 9, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476604576158643370380186.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth
Big consumer-products companies are going back to school. Businesses including Sprint Nextel Corp., Levi Strauss & Co. and Mattel Inc. are sponsoring college classes and graduate-level research to get help with their online marketing from the young and hyperconnected. Sprint, for example, supplies a class at Boston’s Emerson College with smartphones and unlimited service in exchange for students working gratis on the company’s local Internet push. Universities, in some cases, receive funding or proprietary consumer data from companies for their research. Students get experience they can display on their résumés, and add lively classes to the usual mix of lectures and written exams.
Good afternoon. American Express is partnering up with Foursquare to give users an added benefit for checking into partnering businesses. American Express hopes the partnership will generate buzz among younger, more tech savvy consumers and Foursquare looks to gain legitimacy with the larger partners like Amex. A doctor was able to diagnose a boys leukemia on Facebook after his father took a picture and posted it up looking for opinions. The ability to share and crowd source info about symptoms is somewhat scary and interesting. Viral video stars are making a play at the big screen. The latest videos have been a collaboration of viral stars with the hopes of generating funding so they can shoot a video for the big screen. Facebook is moving its corporate office from Palo Alto to Belle Haven, and they are looking to integrate the local community with their new offices. Facebook is sourcing local design architects, urban planners and artists to help them build their new offices. Enjoy.
I. AmEx Teams Up With Foursquare, wsj.com, March 4, 2011
II. Doctor diagnoses boy’s leukemia on Facebook, cnn.com, March 7, 2011
III. Viral video stars unite for ‘The Chronicles of Rick Roll’, cnn.com, March 7, 2011
IV. VI. Hoping to Win Over a Town, Facebook Wants to Scrap Its Fortress Vibe, fastcompany.com, March 8, 2011
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I. AmEx Teams Up With Foursquare, wsj.com, March 4, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704076804576180841727743146.html
American Express Co. has struck a deal to offer discounts to shoppers via Foursquare Labs Inc., the two-year-old start-up that lets users win prizes and meet people by using their mobile phones to “check in” at their favorite bars, restaurants and stores. The move reflects the credit card company’s drive to win over younger consumers and gives Foursquare a heavyweight partner as Google Inc., AT&T Inc. and others jump into the mobile-commerce game. “You go where your customers are and they are on places like Foursquare,” says Edward Gilligan, vice chairman for AmEx.
II. Doctor diagnoses boy’s leukemia on Facebook, cnn.com, March 7, 2011
http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2011/03/07/6212533-doctor-diagnoses-boys-leukemia-on-facebook
Four-year-old Ted Rice was fast asleep the night before he had an appointment to see his family’s doctor, when he developed a rash his parents felt could not wait, reports the U.K. Daily Mail.
Ted’s parents made the appointment because of Ted’s recent lack of energy, but hoped their boy’s malaise, along with some bruises and nosebleeds, was connected to a string of birthday parties. But when the purple speckles appeared around Ted’s eyes, his father Philip, an anesthetic assistant, snapped a picture on his cell phone and posted it on Facebook to get immediate advice from a doctor friend. It wasn’t good.
III. Viral video stars unite for ‘The Chronicles of Rick Roll’, cnn.com, March 7, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/03/07/viral.video.feature.film/index.html
They’ve already conquered YouTube. Now, a dream team of viral video superstars is hoping to hit the big screen.
On Monday, the masterminds behind “The Chronicles of Rick Roll” released a four-minute trailer they hope will help them finish bankrolling a feature-length film.
The video, an update of a shorter, more cryptic teaser trailer that has been circulating online for a few weeks, features Antoine “Bed Intruder” Dodson, Bear “Double Rainbow” Vasquez and Gary “Numa Numa” Brolsma among others.
IV. Hoping to Win Over a Town, Facebook Wants to Scrap Its Fortress Vibe, fastcompany.com, March 8, 2011
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663372/gearing-up-for-its-big-move-facebook-mounts-a-rollicking-urban-planning-hackathon
Facebook is moving from tony Palo Alto to blue-collar Belle Haven, and they want to woo residents with community-oriented design.
Some social networks still function better in the flesh, and so, on Saturday, Facebook played host to a massive “design charrette” that brought four busloads of architects, designers, and urban planners together for an all-day cram session devoted to re-imagining Menlo Park’s Belle Haven community, soon-to-be home of the company’s global headquarters.
Good morning. Twitter is benefiting from the same trading madness as it’s big brother Facebook. The frenzy to own shares in the company have driven it’s price to $7.7 billion. That’s nearly double what the company was valued at in January of this year. Facebook is spreading it’s reach even further by offering up a comment stream application for 3rd party sites. Sites with a sloppy user experience will be able to use the Facebook comment stream to replace their current system. Once sites add the feature, users are able to log in via Yahoo or Facebook and comment. It’s a win for Facebook because they are able to extend their market share to new sites, and the new sites win by cleaning up their current streams and tapping into the Facebook members for content. A cool infographic about QR codes shows us who’s using them, what devices are the most popular, and the growth in the marketplace since July, 2010. Enjoy.
I. Private Trading Raises Twitter Valuation to $7.7 Billion, mashable.com, March 8, 2011
II. Singel-Minded: Facebook Comments Are Another ‘Good News, Bad News’ Proposition, wired.com, March 4, 2011
III. Who’s Really Scanning All Those QR Codes?, mashable.com, March 5, 2011
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I. Private Trading Raises Twitter Valuation to $7.7 Billion, mashable.com, March 8, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/03/07/twitter-valuation-7-7-billion/
The latest auction of Twitter shares on Sharespost valued the company at $7.7 billion, which is almost twice as high than Twitter’s valuation after a round of funding in January this year. According to Sharespost, a secondary market that lets investors trade with otherwise illiquid assets, investors have agreed to buy 35,000 shares of Twitter’s Series B preferred stock at $34.50 per share. Multiplying that figure with the 223.7 million fully diluted Twitter shares listed by Sharespost one gets a staggering $7.718 billion.
II. Singel-Minded: Facebook Comments Are Another ‘Good News, Bad News’ Proposition, wired.com, March 4, 2011
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/singel-facebook-empire/
Facebook unleashed a new commenting system this week that promises to help online publications clean up their commenting cesspools, while simultaneously extending Facebook’s tentacles further into the web outside its walls. Unfortunately for those with visions of a non-Facebook dominated web, this initiative has the potential to dramatically expand the ginormous social network’s already imperial reach. The new system lets website owners replace their current commenting system with Facebook’s simply by dropping in a few lines of Javascript. Then, commenters have to sign in using either their Facebook or Yahoo IDs, an attempt to ensure a commenter is a real person. Commenters can opt to have their comment posted as an update, along with a link to the original story, which spreads the story link inside Facebook’s walls.
III. Who’s Really Scanning All Those QR Codes?, mashable.com, March 5, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/03/04/qr-codes-infographic/
QR codes are everywhere these days — in fine art exhibits, some cities’ building permits, wrapping paper and every imaginable kind of marketing campaign. QR code-focused startup JumpScan was kind enough to send along a graphically organized representation of some data they’ve gathered about QR codes — who’s scanning them, what kinds of devices they’re using and what brands are running QR code campaigns.
In a world with a lot of digital noise, more companies are looking for a way to filter, communicate, monitor and scale with the growth of social media sites. The ability to speak when spoken to, interact, and escalate when necessary gets tougher with growth. Of course we all want to grow our communities into healthy places where our fans, customers and even critics can interact. With the goal of growth comes the issue of scale.
The question of scale is often answered by technology. In a world of Klout scores (http://klout.com/) and social media monitoring systems everyone seems to have it under control, right? Maybe, but I’m of the opinion that we’re at a huge cross road in the social space right now. I hear more and more people saying, “We use social ranking scores when we triage our interaction.” This works well if your target audience and customer base are comprised of social influencer’s, bloggers, or techy people. However, this wonderful technology can throw you off the mark if you’re core business revolves around anything other than people with larger social influence in the space.
At The Home Depot our avid DIY enthusiast and brand evangelist may have a Klout score of 10, never blogged a day in their life and have 25 followers on Twitter. If we used the social ranking triage system we know we’ll miss these people in large numbers. Of course, that’s not an option. This same issue is true for so many other businesses. The same thing can be said for the business traveler who stays in hotels 75% of the year, the outdoor enthusiast who doesn’t own a smart phone and rides mountain bikes that cost more than most peoples cars or the chef who has more invested in a kitchen than most people have in their entire homes.
Technology can make life easier when it comes to scale and engagement, but if you loose site of your core demographic and let the hype of social influence move you off the mark then what’s the point? With all the hype, noise and new doomaflotchies it’s easy to get caught up in the glits and glam, but we have to remind ourselves that our customers are just as important to the business despite their social reach.
Good morning. Facebook seems to be an anomaly of sorts in the sense that it increases in value by the billions for no apparent reason. The latest evaluation seems to put the company’s value at $65 billion and for no other reason than traders really want the stock. It must be nice to be Mark Z. A great article on social media etiquette reminds us that the social space, all be it fun is still a place to conduct yourself in a professional manner. More business professionals, C-level executives and celebs are getting negative attention due to inappropriate comments and posts on social sites. This stuff lasts forever and the whole world can see it, but we forget that at times. The folks at OMMA recently tried to put a value on a Facebook fan, and while they didn’t come up with a hard number the statistics that were shared were really compelling. With his crazy tweets, #tigerblood, and #winning hasttags, Charlie Sheen has propelled himself into the Guinness book of Records for the faster person to reach 1 million fans. The actor seems smitten with twitter since he opened his account a few days ago and he was able to reach the 1 million followers milestone in just over a day. Enjoy.
I. Now Facebook Is Worth $65 Billion, businessinsider.com, March 4, 2011
II. Social Media Engagement: The Old Rules of Business Still Apply, socialmediatoday.com, March 3, 2011
III. OMMA Global – What Is the Worth of a Facebook Fan?, socialmediatoday.com, March 2, 2011
IV. Charlie Sheen sets new Guinness World Record for Twitter, cnn.com, March 3, 2011
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I. Now Facebook Is Worth $65 Billion, businessinsider.com, March 4, 2011
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-65-billion-2011-3
An investment by General Atlantic, a big fund, values Facebook at $65 billion, CNBC reports.
This is not a financing round for Facebook but a secondary sale. General Atlantic is buying 0.1%, or $65 million, which isn’t a big deal for a $17 billion fund. The deal is still subject to approval by Facebook, who has a right of first refusal on secondary sales.
There’s clearly a trend among fund managers that they want to be able to brag that they have Facebook stock. This seems to be what this is about.
II. Social Media Engagement: The Old Rules of Business Still Apply, socialmediatoday.com, March 3, 2011
http://om.ly/BOOAa
Interesting topic of discussion came up last night whilst having dinner with a fantastic, wise, savvy business contact. That of business, business rules, new media, and social media engagement – and how they all interact and relate to each other. It’s a tricky one. Recently on Facebook, for example, we both noted a number of highly-public spats on businesspeoples’ Profile Walls, some of which had become very personal, very negative, and on one occasion, very slanderous
III. OMMA Global – What Is the Worth of a Facebook Fan?, socialmediatoday.com, March 2, 2011
http://om.ly/BONqm
Interesting panel at MediaPost’s OMMA Global yesterday, which sought to answer the question many marketers have been grappling with — what is the actual meaning and value of online fans? Very timely topic given many global brands now command fan bases as high as 20 million and are expected to double their investment in advertising on Facebook this year to over four billion. And as Justin Kistner from Webtrends highlighted in his preceding presentation, 35% of consumers buy more after becoming a fan of a brand on Facebook, and ads aimed at fans enjoy an average click through rate (CTR) is 35% compared to 7% in regular online ads. With stats this high, it’s no wonder brands need to start taking Facebook fans more seriously.
IV. Charlie Sheen sets new Guinness World Record for Twitter, cnn.com, March 3, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/03/03/charlie.sheen.twitter/index.html
Charlie Sheen may or may not be “winning,” in life, but he has won a rare honor: the “Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers” Guinness World Record.
Guinness community manager Dan Barrett says the agency “just researched and approved” the record this morning. According to Barrett, Sheen reached that milestone in 25 hours and 17 minutes.
As of this writing, Sheen’s Twitter account, @CharlieSheen, has more than 1.3 million followers.
Guinness did not have a previous record for that category, Barrett says. Sheen also set a Guinness record for “Highest Paid TV Actor Per Episode — Current” at $1.25 million.
Good morning. Unlike many newer tech companies Groupon thinks the personal touch with customer service will take them further than a self service model. Facebook and Google have invested heavily in self service tools, but companies like Zappos have gone the completely opposite route by providing real people to assist customers at their every whim. While that makes sense for Zappos because they are an online retailer, it’s a bold move for Groupon. Traditionally tech companies aren’t so hands on with customers, and it will be interesting to see if this allows them to amass a client base faster than rival social coupon sites. They may just set a new standard for social tech companies everywhere. Millionaires are being born from YouTube’s new partnership program where producers agree to split ad revenue with YouTube in return for allowing the ads on their videos. YouTube’s partner program is still fairly new, so expect this to grow in the coming years as the site gains more users and better content. Groupon may set the new standard for customer service, but their Super Bowl ads landed them in the hot seat a few weeks back. Not only did they have to pull the ads, but they apologized publicly for offending viewers. As if that weren’t enough the Nielsen ratings came in and the spot only increased traffic to their site by 3%. The follies from a young, ambitious digital company are always interesting to watch, but this was just painful. In some lighter news, Charlie Sheen joined Twitter last night and he’s amassed quite a following in less than 24 hours. His bio reads, Born Small… Now Huge… Winning… Bring it..! (unemployed winner…). If you have a second today and need a laugh look him up at @CharlieSheen. Enjoy.
I. Groupon Primes Itself to Become Next Zappos, adage.com, March 1, 2011
II. Making millions off of YouTube Videos, cnnmoney.com, March 1, 2011
III. Fumble: Groupon’s Super Bowl Spots Boost Traffic a Paltry 3%, fastcompany.com, March 1, 2011
IV. Charlie Sheen enters the Twittersphere with a bang, cnn.com, March 1, 2011
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I. Groupon Primes Itself to Become Next Zappos, adage.com, March 1, 2011
http://adage.com/article/digital/groupon-primes-zappos/149141/
Two years ago, Joe Harrow’s most impressive management experience was a job as camp director for two summers. Today, he leads Groupon’s 300-person customer-service department and is responsible for disseminating the Groupon gospel to 700 additional customer-service employees across the world. “My closest thing to customer-service experience was working at a coffee shop in college,” he told me. But 29-year-old Mr. Harrow has been with Groupon from the beginning. He knew the product well and when customers started calling, he picked up the phone. When there were too many calls for him to answer alone, he started hiring.
II. Making millions off of YouTube Videos, cnnmoney.com, March 1, 2011
Video here: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/03/01/n_youtube_millionaires.cnnmoney/
III. Fumble: Groupon’s Super Bowl Spots Boost Traffic a Paltry 3%, fastcompany.com, March 1, 2011
http://www.fastcompany.com/1733259/why-groupon-lost-big-on-super-bowl-ads-traffic-rose-only-3
Daily discount service Groupon spent millions of dollars on a couple controversial Super Bowl spots–before almost immediately apologizing for the commercials and pulling them from the airwaves.
But if CEO Andrew Mason’s candid response–“We hate that we offended people, and we’re sorry that we did it”–wasn’t evidence enough that these ads were poorly executed, a new report from Nielsen leaves nothing to the imagination.
IV. Charlie Sheen enters the Twittersphere with a bang, cnn.com, March 1, 2011
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/01/charlie-sheen-enters-the-twittersphere-with-a-bang/?hpt=T2
It’s official: Charlie Sheen has entered the Twittersphere, and people want to hear what he has to say. The actor turned “unemployed winner” had amassed more than 150,000 followers (and counting) on Twitter before he posted his first tweet Tuesday night, less than two hours after joining. Check out this chart on “The Atlantic” to get an idea of what that kind of growth looks like.
Good morning. AT&T rolled out a new service yesterday that allows businesses to push you offers once you walk into a “digital fence” around a retail location. Think “Paint Sale” messaging as soon as you walk through the doors of The Home Depot. You have to download the app prior to being hit with any offers, and currently it’s only offered in a few major markets. With all the advancements in digital data aggregation we’re all asking ourselves how comfortable we feel about having that much information floating around the internet. Well, at least I am. There are companies willing to brokerage your personal details online and companies that will pay you on a per use basis for your personal information. The tracking industry remains lightly regulated, and entrepreneurs are looking to capitalize with new services offering more privacy protection and techniques aimed at throwing tracking software off. Forrester just released a study that shows E-Commerce to reach nearly $300 billion in the US by 2015. The projections rely heavily on the growing popularity of smartphones and social group buying sites like Groupon and Living Social. Enjoy.
I. AT&T Rolls Out Location-Based Ad Messages, mashable.com, February 28, 2011
II. Web’s Hot New Commodity: Privacy, wsj.com, February 28, 2011
III. Forrester: E-Commerce To Reach Nearly $300 Billion in U.S. by 2015 [STATS], mashable.com, February 28, 2011
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I. AT&T Rolls Out Location-Based Ad Messages, mashable.com, February 28, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/02/28/att-location-based-ads/
AT&T launched a new service Monday that shoots you special offers over your mobile phone when you’re near a participating store or brand. The service, called ShopAlert, is launching with the backing of Hewlett-Packard, Kmart, JetBlue, SC Johnson, Kibbles ‘n Bits and others. AT&T claims this is the first time a major operator in the U.S. is introducing such a program on a large scale. ShopAlert, developed with Placecast, is currently available in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. To get the service, consumers are directed to sign up at a dedicated site.
II. Web’s Hot New Commodity: Privacy, wsj.com, February 28, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703529004576160764037920274.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_RightMostPopular
As the surreptitious tracking of Internet users becomes more aggressive and widespread, tiny start-ups and technology giants alike are pushing a new product: privacy. Companies including Microsoft Corp., McAfee Inc.—and even some online-tracking companies themselves—are rolling out new ways to protect users from having their movements monitored online. Some are going further and starting to pay people a commission every time their personal details are used by marketing companies. “Data is a new form of currency,” says Shane Green, chief executive of a Washington start-up, Personal Inc. , which has raised $7.6 million for a business that aims to help people profit from providing their personal information to advertisers.
III. Forrester: E-Commerce To Reach Nearly $300 Billion in U.S. by 2015 [STATS], mashable.com, February 28, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/02/28/forrester-e-commerce/
After a healthy 12.6% increase to $176.2 billion in 2010, U.S. online retail sales are expected to reach $278.9 billion in 2015. Online shopping will continue to cannibalize in-store shopping as consumers become more familiar and begin, in many cases, to prefer the convenience of online shopping, Forrester says. Increased Internet connectivity via devices like smartphones, tablets and game consoles will also drive growth, as well as new e-commerce models like flash sales (i.e. Gilt Groupe, Neiman Marcus Mid-Day Dash), daily deals (Groupon, LivingSocial) and digital downloads of media (Netflix, iTunes), all of which have enjoyed rapid adoption in recent years.
Good morning. Sharing seems to be overrated these days on Facebook. The social networking site is removing the share buttons from the page, and incorporating a lot of the share functionality into the like button. This is great news for brands because content will be shared more often within wall streams, and it eliminates the extra step people have to go through to push information out. Ever wondered what was in that teachers edition text book when you were sitting in class. Me too, and I’m still not sure, but I can tell you it’s nothing relevant to digital or social media. Teachers are falling behind in the technology field while students are spending more and more time getting familiar with advancements in communication. As the technology gap widens teachers are finding ways to learn from students and incorporate more social/digital learning’s into the classroom. Twitter’s IPO is getting some interest from investment firm JPMorgan to the tune of $450 million. With social sites expanding globally and the markets struggling we’ll have to see if the social boom looks anything like the .com boom we’ve all seen. Enjoy.
I. Facebook Like Button Takes Over Share Button Functionality, mashable.com, February 27, 2011
II. Classroom Tech: What to Do When Students Know More Than Teachers?, fox.com, February 27, 2011
III. JPMorgan fund eyes 10% stake in Twitter, ft.com, February 27, 2011
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I. Facebook Like Button Takes Over Share Button Functionality, mashable.com, February 27, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/02/27/facebook-like-button-takes-over-share-button-functionality/
Say goodbye to the Share button because the Like button is taking over. After months of updates to its Like button, Facebook has released an update that fundamentally changes the button’s functionality to that of a Share button. Now after hitting the Like button, a full story with a headline, blurb and thumbnail will be posted to your profile wall. You’ll also be given an option to comment on the story link. Previously, only a link to the story would appear in the recent activity, often going unnoticed by users.
Though users may now think twice about hitting the button, given how prominently it will appear on their walls and in their networks’ newsfeeds, it should ultimately increase traffic to publishers’ websites.
II. Classroom Tech: What to Do When Students Know More Than Teachers?, fox.com, February 27, 2011
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/27/classroom-tech-students-know-teachers/
In a day and age where students know more than their teachers about different forms of technology — whether it be iPhones, computers or video games – schools are making every effort to get their teachers talking tech.
But that’s easier said than done for most. Walden University in Minneapolis conducted a survey of more than 1,000 K-12 educators and found that 60 percent consider themselves either sporadic or infrequent users of technology, while only 22 percent considered themselves frequent users.
III. JPMorgan fund eyes 10% stake in Twitter, ft.com, February 27, 2011
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/618e0bb4-42a9-11e0-8b34-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1FGEnhpLJ
A JPMorgan fund is in talks to acquire a substantial stake in Twitter, one of the fastest-growing social networking sites. The fund hopes to acquire 10 per cent of the online messaging service for $450m, valuing Twitter at $4.5bn, according to people familiar with the plans. It is not clear if the JPMorgan fund will make a direct investment or buy out existing investors and shareholders with Twitter’s approval. But the fund does not intend to buy shares on the secondary market, the people said. The deal has not closed. JPMorgan’s Digital Growth Fund was established this month to give rich clients exposure to fast-growing private tech companies, and follows a similar effort by Goldman Sachs to invest in Facebook.
Boats, Bacon, Beaches & Life 