Posted by Renegade Saw on Thu, Apr 12, 2012 @ 01:07 PM
Everyone has their guilty pleasures. One of my many is watching singing competitions on TV. American Idol is in its 11th season, and there are only so many ways Ryan Seacrest can suspensefully inform a singer of his or her fate. So I was beyond giddy when I heard about The Voice for two reasons: 1) Christina Aguilera 2) social media. Let's just get Xtina out of the way — I love her, she’s my favorite singer ever. I could gush on and on, but let’s focus on what really makes this show stand out: its social media integration.
Ok, moving on for real now...
WHY IS SOCIAL TV SO IMPORTANT?
According to B&T, 27% of people polled watched a TV show based on a recommendation from a friend via a social networking site. On top of that, 26% of people polled also reported being made aware of the existence of a TV show by seeing a post about it on a social media platform (I first heard about The Voice on Twitter). Furthermore, Nielsen, the holy grail of TV ratings, recently released a study that reports 45% of tablet owners, and 41% of smartphone owners, use their device while watching television. So why not just steer the viewer’s online conversation? The Voice has done just that by strategically placing #TheVoice on the screen when they think people are most likely to tweet about the show.
The powers that be think we should feel compelled to tweet about Adam's sultry stare.
Producers at The Voice attribute their high ratings to use of this hashtag. As many as 70% the show’s tweets during the first live episode included the hashtag “#TheVoice,” which is about twice the industry average. Upwards of 3,000 tweets per minute are hitting the web during its airtime — and that doesn't account for the thousands of tweets during the other 21-22 hours of the day. The Voice has successfully become a 24-hour social media conversation.
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE VOICE?
What separates The Voice from other TV shows is that it doesn’t use social media only as a marketing tool — social media is the core of the show and its integration is organic. One of the first things contestants are given when they land in LA is a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, and training in blogging and social media use. The Voice has a room dedicated to social media, and contestants interact with fans on the air when they're not singing. Several times during the show contestants answer Tweeter’s questions live. Leading the social conversation on air is The Voice’s Social Media Correspondent. Last season, Alison Haslip held down the fort, and since The Voice was considered so successful in the realm of social media, I am unsure why she was replaced by singer Christina Milian for the second season.
The V Room is where the social media magic happens!
STARTING A TREND
According to Bluefin's rankings, The Voice has one of the highest levels of social-media engagement among all shows. During its first season, it held the #1 ranking among all episodic TV shows. This is in part because the official twitter account for the show, @NBCTheVoice, keeps time with the West coast broadcast. Now that The Voice is in its second season, the competition with American Idol is really heating up.
American Idol is copying many of the social media techniques utilized by The Voice, but not well. AI contestants' Twitter handles (quite obviously created by some higher-ups, with no respect for individuality) are now being pushed onto the audience regularly. The show has started showing screenshots of Twitter conversations between the contestants and the artists whose songs they've been covering. There have been rumors that AI judges (unlike the "coaches" on The Voice) have been asked not to use the phrase, “the voice,” when providing feedback to singers. But The Voice definitively knocked any competition between the two by the wayside when Kelly Clarkson, arguably the most popular American Idol winner, tweeted she was cheating on American Idol by watching The Voice. Then in season two, Kelly was brought on The Voice as a guest mentor.
I have to admit, while I love the concept behind the blind auditions and coaches in The Voice, American Idol still has better singers. My interest in the expanding world of social media, and love for Christina Aguilera, however, are what keep me tuning into The Voice each week. I have a feeling we are going to continue to see crossover elements in both shows, and I hope the competition to stay atop the ratings benefits the viewers, and continues to pave the way towards more social television shows.
Do you think the social media integration found in The Voice is the future of television?
- Allison Rossi
Posted by Allison Rossi on Mon, Feb 27, 2012 @ 10:46 AM
Think back to the days when you used to actually write on paper. I’m talking about school papers, journal entries, and letters to your pen pals. Okay, are you back there, before the days where everything started as a Word document, a blog post, or an e-mail? Just how often did your paper wind up looking like this?
I know, in my life at least, doodling has overtaken many a sheet of paper as I search for an idea... or admittedly just procrastinate. Therefore, it should be no surprise that this blog post starts with the modern-day equivalent.
How often do you find yourself staring at the Google homepage poised for greatness, if only the right inspiration would come? There I was just a few days ago. The “I’m Feeling Lucky” button was particularly grating my nerves, as I was feeling quite the opposite. So I clicked. With that single click of the mouse (okay, tap of the touchpad) I opened the treasure box that is the Google doodles archives.
Most of us are familiar with Google doodles, even if we don’t know they have a specific name. A doodle is the way Google modifies their logo to celebrate a special date or person. This practice started back in 1998. Google explains it best:
“In 1998, before the company was even incorporated, the concept of the doodle was born when Google founders Larry and Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. They placed a stick figure drawing behind the 2nd "o" in the word Google, and the revised logo was intended as a comical message to Google users that the founders were "out of office." While the first doodle was relatively simple, the idea of decorating the company logo to celebrate notable events was born.”
Google has come a long way since the days of the Burning Man doodle. Gone are the days where it looks, well, like an actual doodle, as we are now living in the world of HTML5, JavaScript, and Flash.
Some doodles are more memorable than others. Some are reminisced about long after their 24 hour featured life-span, while others fade into oblivion. Some doodles made a big cultural impact. There are many doodles you may have never seen, because some are specific to a country other than your own. Personally, I wonder what the Google doodle will evolve into next, but for now, one thing is for sure… everyone has a favorite. Without further ado, here are my top 5:
5) 30th Anniversary of PAC-MAN
In my experience, this is by far the most talked-about Google doodle. In fact, Google keeps a playable version here. According to Mashable, the PAC-MAN doodle consumed 4.8 million hours of time, which was broken down to cost $120,483,800 in productivity. Truthfully, I don’t want to admit to how many hours I contributed to that total, but I am happy to say I didn’t factor into the monetary productivity hit, since I was still a student.
4) Scientists Unveil Fossil of Darwinius Masillae
Find a kindergartener and ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” You are likely to hear answers such as “doctor”, “teacher”, and “police officer.” I was the strange five-year-old that replied, “paleontologist,” and often had to explain to the questioning adult what that word even meant. (For those of you who don’t know, a child-like explanation is a person who digs up dinosaur bones.) For many of my younger years, I put a lot of effort into learning about dinosaurs and trying to become an actual paleontologist. Although I have since set aside this goal, paleontology still sparks a glimmer in my eye.
3) First Day of Spring 2009 - Design by Eric Carle
I am very thankful that a love of reading was instilled in me during my impressionable childhood years. I don’t know exactly who to thank, but I’m sure my bookishness can be attributed to my family and first grade teacher. Anyway, one of my favorite books was Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I loved the format, and style of the book. This doodle conjures up fond memories of an easier time. As an aside, I recently bought a finger puppet version of this book as the “perfect” first birthday present for my friend’s son. Terrified doesn’t even begin to describe how he felt about the caterpillar puppet. Needless to say, I don’t think this will be on his list of favorite doodles when he’s older.
2) SOPA / PIPA
This one might only make the list because it’s fresh on my mind. That being said, there is no denying the impact this doodle had. Users who clicked on this doodle were directed to a petition to tell congress not to censor the web, and over 7 million people signed it. I probably particularly like this censored Google image because I love books such as Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World and 1984 in which the government CONTROLS and CENSORS. And while I enjoy works of fiction dealing with these themes, I have no desire to live in a world of censorship.
1) Alexander Calder's 113th Birthday
I’m an artsy person (notice I didn’t say artist!) and if forced to choose, I would pick Alexander Calder as my favorite artist. I’ve written a couple of reports on him as a matter of fact. I love whimsical, I love bright colors, and I LOVE 3D design. What makes this doodle really noteworthy is the fact that it was Google’s first doodle made entirely with HTML5, so it was the first doodle that really did something. I happily recall my excitement that day as I made the doodle mobile bob serenely. So, the fact that this commemorates my favorite artist, coupled with the game-changing nature for Google doodles, makes this the number one doodle in my book.
Have you been inspired to create a doodle? While there is already a team of illustrators and engineers (called doodlers!) in place at Google specifically for this purpose, Google accepts submissions for future doodles at proposals@google.com. Also, they run an annual contest, Doodle 4 Google, with the winning doodle being featured on the homepage. Unfortunately, I certainly stand no chance of winning a Doodle 4 Google contest in the modern era of doodle animation, so instead I’ll continue to enjoy the doodles of others in times of procrastination need.
What are your favorite Google doodles? Did you know you can buy customized items with your favorite Google doodle?
-- Allison Rossi
Posted by Renegade Saw on Wed, Feb 15, 2012 @ 10:30 AM
Last week, we learned that Facebook is introducing a new form of advertising — marketers can pay to turn what you read, listen to or watch into social ads, or Sponsored Stories, in your news feed, thereby tailoring ads specifically to your unique online behavior.
Facebook is currently testing this strategy with only a limited list of marketers. TechCrunch calls this a "win trifecta — more relevant ads for users, better conversion rates for advertisers, and more money for Facebook and its future investors."
The public may beg to differ. Since the news broke, references to Big Brother or those personalized ads in Minority Report ("John Anderton, you could use a Guinness right about now!") have already been made by Facebook users; it would be fair to say that this story inspires among many a feeling of being creeped out.
But let's not forget how Facebook has been used very effectively to humanize companies. It gives them a "face"...after all, isn't that what Facebook is all about? Using body parts as metaphors (hey, it's the middle of the week), here are some ways businesses are using the popular social media site to appear less like cyborgs in suits and more like your favorite drinking buddy John:
Mouth
Companies are able to develop a voice on Facebook to connect with people. Aflac uses its mascot, the Aflac Duck, to great effect on its Facebook page, engaging users with irreverent humor. Social media can act as a Turing test to separate the androids from the humans (or aquatic birds).
Facebook's wall is also a great place to respond to customer service inquiries. Did that 3D printer you just bought get jammed while you were printing cupcakes? Bob will take care of that for you.
Ears
Businesses are now privy to all that hushed water cooler banter. Being able to monitor what Facebook users are saying enables companies to generate interesting conversations about their business and customize their content according to what people want to see.
Brain
Encouraging creative ideas is an excellent way to engage users. Lenovo, known historically for its clunky business laptops, celebrates forward-thinking design with its gallery of flashy modded hardware.
Heart
Corporations care! And they definitely want Facebook users to know. Diet Coke's page links to its Live Positively site, where users can learn about recycling, healthy lifestyles and school scholarships, and can even pitch in to save a few polar bears.
How do you feel about Facebook marketing? Does it make companies seem more human to you?
— Julia Z. Zhou
(She posts tech- and design-related stuff here)
Posted by Renegade Saw on Mon, Jan 09, 2012 @ 12:38 PM
Despite full acceptance of my
social media addiction and narcissism, I have fought hard against my demographic’s title of "Generation Me."
Generation Me is characterized by our supposed egotism and lack of professionalism and drive - all of which may be demonstrated by our delight in sharing through social media. Although I do not agree with the stereotypes of laziness and lack of motivation, egotism and narcissism are pretty apt themes. So, as a reluctant part of Generation Me, I stand here to declare my absolute love for
Facebook Timeline and the infinite possibilities it presents for personal ego inflation…and business growth.
After Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Timeline at the F8 Developer Conference last September, I sat in eager anticipation with my pointer trigger finger ready to click as soon as testing opened. A few hours of poking and prodding at my profile later, I was full on head over heels for Timeline (not that it was a hard sell).
At the F8 Conference Zuckerberg said, "We're more than what we did recently." With that in mind, Facebook Timeline expands social sharing to what users did in the past -- last week, last year, their first Facebook post, or even their birth. Imagine the possibilities!!! I get giddy at the idea that the next time I go home to visit my parents I can rummage through a dusty box of pictures and then later upload to my Timeline photos of when I lost my first baby tooth or crammed my toddler face full of birthday cake.
Not only does Facebook Timeline indulge my social sharing (that may sometimes border on over-sharing), it's also pretty. While the old profiles weren't poorly designed, Timeline features a profile picture and a cover photo that gives profiles more visual customization without them getting circus-like (see
MySpace profiles of late). Links to my Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram are now all featured more prominently, and those feeds are shared automatically on my Timeline, making it easy for Facebook to be the hub for social media. As with previous Facebook makeovers, there have been a fair amount of complaints from users, but in time, Timeline won't seem so foreign and users will forget that they were angry.
Currently, there are no Facebook Timelines for brand and company pages; however, given Facebook's commitment to continuity, I think we can look forward to those soon. Timeline for business will provide all the perks of the revamped, visual-heavy design (and
more visible Facebook ads) but also present some challenges like an even
shorter window of opportunity to catch users' attention.
So, I may not be fond of the term "Generation Me," but I accept that I am a part of it and gladly embrace media like Facebook Timeline that speaks to all my self-centered sensibilities. After flirting with social media and courting different platforms, I think Facebook Timeline just may steal my heart.
How do you feel about Timeline? Have you made the switch yet? Tell me below in the comments!
-
Kristi Murphy
Posted by Renegade Saw on Wed, Dec 14, 2011 @ 03:34 PM
Maybe it’s leftover from my days as teacher’s pet or my short stint as a Girl Scout, or perhaps it’s just a human need for positive reinforcement, but social media badges thrill me. I checked into a coffee shop on Foursquare on my way to work this morning and my phone dinged to tell me something new and exciting happened. A well designed, merit badge-type icon appeared, “Look at you, Juan Valdez! That’s an impressive 30 cups of coffee. Now that you’ve had your caffeine fix, get out there and conquer the day – one twitchy step at a time.” With witty text and the satisfaction of having earned something, I felt rewarded for getting my morning coffee. Foursquare, a social media check-in app and website, has gained popularity by “game-ifying” everyday activities. Foursquare also has started to partner with brands like Starbucks so that when a customer checks in they are rewarded with a badge and occasionally other perks like free items or discounts for their loyalty. While offering coupons or discounts to repeat customers may seem predictable, badges are changing how people connect with brands and products while attracting consumer attention and engagement in a saturated advertising environment.
Do you remember when you were given stickers or prizes for reading in grade school? Well, Google News has taken its cue from this old teacher trick and made reading news interactive and even competitive. Google users can earn badges (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Ultimate) based on how many articles they read on a specific topic and then display them on their Google+ profile. The badges add a competitive edge to an otherwise typical daily activity and encourage readers to puff out their intellectual chests and declare, “Look how well-read I am! See – I have an award to prove it!” Readers vying for virtual bragging rights may then visit Google News more frequently and continue to share what they read on the site.
Speaking of school, education is also getting a bit of a facelift from social media badges. A young start-up called Skillshare empowers people to teach classes on topics on which they are knowledgeable and take classes from others. Classes range from fun (“How to Make Scones”) to more serious (“Learn Microsoft Excel”). Recently, Skillshare revamped its site to include badges that highlight users’ expertise and learning interests. All users' profiles are adorned with the badges and then enhanced with the details of their class attendance or hours taught. By browsing profiles you can easily see who may be a cooking master or a novice from the number of hours they have from teaching or attending culinary classes. Or you can sniff out who is just a Skillshare lurker, with no hours in classes in any capacity.
As an unabashed narcissist, social media badges indulge my desire for reward and praise while also letting me flaunt my achievements and brag about them with status updates and new tweets. Businesses should take a page from these social media badge forerunners because badges give you the best of the social media world - starting conversations and connecting with otherwise elusive groups while driving the conversation back to you.
What else could social media badges do for us? How do you think social media could take advantage of competition and vanity for innovation?
- Kristi Murphy
Posted by Renegade Saw on Fri, Dec 09, 2011 @ 12:48 PM
Over the last five years, I have grown accustomed to watching others use and abuse technology in an unaffected way. The artless bind that has fused the modern man/woman’s dominant hand with his/her smart phone is no longer a disheartening image to my conditioned eyes. The prevalence of the girl who can’t take her eyes off her newsfeed or the guy with the Bluetooth/poor voice barometer combo had suggested that technology and social media were leading us toward a future defined by proof of digital prowess rather than proof of compassion. But in the grand scheme of things, these technological triumphs are merely simple advancements. Exciting, (a cool new thing to do with your phone or a senseless cat video), but not eternal. Viral, but not virtuous. But what has recently accompanied this somewhat gloomy image, and is trumping the asininity of cat videos, is the everlasting good that truly has emerged from technology and the social media craze.
As 2011 wanes, I can’t help but notice that social media actually has had a really righteous year. Not “Siri” righteous, but “promoting-independence/reporting-social-injustice/generating-calls-to-action” righteous. Last week on Mashable, Intel social media strategist Ekaterina Walker proclaimed that 2011 ultimately will be defined by social democracy. The mere hashtag metrics may not conclusively prove this, but in terms of eternal good, and the greater historical significance of the success of the events that social media facilitated, democracy truly has found a new voice.
January 25, 2011. After 30 years of social strife, Egyptians took the streets in the name of democracy. What was spectacular was not simply the “Day of Rage,” but rather how the occurrence pervaded social media. People across the world identified and sympathized with those on the streets, and as the oppressive government attempted to quell the crowds by disabling cell towers and blocking Twitter, their social media following came to the rescue. Local households and businesses opened their Wi-Fi networks and the voices of the protestors flooded the world in a stream of retweets, images, and hashtags (both #egypt and #jan25 were in the top 8 hashtags of the year). The protest itself was significant, but arguably more so was the inspiration that snowballed from it, a result of the medium it was traveling. What commenced as the Arab Spring reverberated across the digital landscape, fueling revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, a civil war in Libya, and civil uprisings in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen.
September 17, 2011. In opposition to corporate greed and irresponsibility a few thousand people gathered in NYC’s Zuccotti Park. They not only started a groundbreaking movement, but recognized and utilized the viral potential of social media to facilitate what became known as the #Occupy movement, which organized, mobilized and communicated primarily through Twitter and Facebook. Within a couple of weeks, the Occupy movement had spawned countless similar movements across the country and world, allowing disheartened individuals to share their sentiments and unite under a common hashtag regardless of their location. They also shared messages and media through the "We Are the 99 Percent" Tumblr, another burgeoning social media outlet.
November 18, 2011. When UC-Davis students were pepper sprayed during a peaceful #Occupy protest, the cruelty was published and disseminated instantly through social media. Images and conversations were occurring before those students had even left the quad. Students glued to their cell phones weren’t merely using them to check on a college party for that night, they were using them to reveal social injustice to the world in real time.
Sure, social media has initiated and supported positive movements this year, but we also have had to put up with the debauchery of the Charlie Sheen and the #tigerblood movement (the number 2 hashtag of the year), the viral music video of YouTube sensation Rebecca Black (the top musician tweeted in 2011), and other mind-numbing nonsense. But Internet researcher guru Ethan Zuckerman (recently named director of the MIT Center for Civic Media) argues that we must simply take the bad with the good, because they actually work in chorus with each other. According to the “Cute Cat Theory,” when people use (or misuse) the Internet to look at cute cats (or cute dogs, see below), they inadvertently secure space for activists and others spreading a message that may provoke government censorship. Low-brow posts with viral viewing rates maintain the outlet by making the medium more popular and, thus, harder for governments to censor. Zuckerman argues, “Cute cats are collateral damage when governments block sites. And even those who could care less about presidential shenanigans are made aware that their government fears online speech so much that they're willing to censor the millions of banal videos on DailyMotion to block a few political ones.” The consequences of “killing the cats” for a government, even a prohibitive one, include drawing the scrutiny of other countries as well as stoking the ire of its own people and encouraging them to develop sophisticated tactics to circumvent Internet censors. (You can hear him talk more here: Arab Democracy & Social Media with Ethan Zuckerman)
Lastly, social media has demonstrated the ability to generate an overwhelming global response to countries in crisis. In Japan’s time of need following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March, social media outlets reached out and facilitated the success of various aid initiatives, many using the (5th most popular) #japan hashtag. Social game maker Zynga even implemented a mechanism in many of their games where your actions in the game made donations on behalf of Japan.) Makes you wonder how social media could have affected Hurricane Katrina aid had it been as prevalent as it is today.
Here at Renegade, we are practicing charitable social media during the weeks leading up to the holidays. Our social media mascot, Pinky the French Bulldog (@PinkysContest), is getting in the giving spirit as he hosts a holiday photo contest. Through our Facebook page, we will be curating photos of “Festive Frenchies” and donating $0.10 for every ‘Like’ our page receives to the French Bulldog Rescue Network. We’re not fighting tyranny here, but in our own small way we’re using social media to help out a few four-legged friends in need. Take part in Pinky's Festive Frenchie Foto Contest here!
Has social media impacted your life in a positive way in the last year? We’d love to hear about it!
- Scott Anthony Procops
He tweets here @TheS_P500
Posted by Renegade Saw on Thu, Dec 01, 2011 @ 09:16 AM
If you are one of the 91 million people who seeks refuge in the familiar feeling of letting Google answer your everyday queries, then you are beginning to see changes beyond the daily theme that drapes their iconic logo. They are trickling in incrementally (they introduced author information results over the holiday), however these small changes have the potential to ultimately accumulate in a force that could not only alter SEO, but also drastically change the way you use technology to satisfy both your simple and complex informational needs. Many people have already ditched Google, preferring Siri's knowledge and soothing medium to the often arduous task of mining through Google search results. There appears to be an upcoming battle between Google, Apple, Facebook or wherever else you get information from, and whoever can integrate the most is likely to prevail.
Launched in June of 2011, initially in a field test/invite only phase, Google+ is still yet to seriously challenge the holy trinity of social networking that is Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It currently has around 40 million active users, a far cry from the 800 million people that maintain a Facebook profile. As it becomes increasingly popular, the question emerges: will slow and steady win the race? If Google+ integrates, can it become a dominant force in social media or is it merely the movie sequel that you wished you hadn’t wasted 10 bucks on?
Less than a month ago, Google+ made a great leap when it released its Business Pages feature. Like Facebook’s “Fan Pages,” Google's version allows companies and brands to foster trust, identification, sense of community, and direct communication with its customers/users; but Google+’s version has the potential to have a far greater impact on the social networking landscape.
The key word here is integration. While many scoff at Google+ as it crawls through its infantile stages, Google has big plans for “Plus.” First, as more companies create pages, it offers a quick, efficient and reliable way to locate small businesses. Rather than spending 3 minutes squinting at a flower shop’s poorly curated website in search of an address or phone number, the user can merely type “Flowers4Her+” into Google and its basic information will be immediately available; plus the number will be linked for easy calling. Additionally, as these pages are “in house” results, they will appear more frequently when a user searches for “Flowers near Union Square.” Page admins are able to use segmentation to target a specific demographic of their customers, and improve their customer service by chatting face-to-face. The future integration is expected to include, but not be limited to, the Apps for Business Productivity suite, word processing, document sharing, Calendars, Gmail, E-Commerce, Google Adwords and Analytics services, and Maps and location based tie-ins. If all Google utility is integrated, Google+ could become a one-stop shop for social networkers. And if a user is already using Google+ to find flowers for his girlfriend, paying with Google+'s E-Commerce feature, putting a reminder in his Google+ calendar, and finding a restaurant for dinner, it is likely that he will also connect with an old college buddy while he’s there. For his sake, let's just hope he doesn't consider an an e-card and opts for the real thing.
So what could this mean for the future? Attempts to answer that question can only lead to speculation and yep...more questions. Nonetheless, you can almost feel the techtonic plates shifting under your feet. November has been the most active month for IPOs since July with 13, including technologies Yelp and Groupon (which has plummeted 42% in price in its last 5 days of trading). Will Yelp’s popularity be short lived when customers can get the same utility elsewhere? Or in an easier format? As new technologies emerge, they bear great uncertainty. But ultimately, accesibility, utility, and usability will decide this fight. Furthermore, with the impressive aptitude of Siri, iPhone users were opened to a world in which the consumer could circumvent mobile tools like the Google search bar, and third party apps like Yelp and Urban Spoon. (Plus, they didn't even need to look at the screen, let alone type and decipher the results) The iPhone 5 is rumored to release this coming spring, and all signs point to a reinvented body type and an improved version of everyone’s favorite digital companion. We can expect that by then Google+ will have made the necessary integrations to make finding information easier. Plus, who knows what the new Facebook phone, (codename Buffy) is going to bring to the table. (Mark Zuckerberg has publicly expressed reluctance to an IPO for months, but recently is becoming more open to the idea even as early as this Spring) This technology slugfest could have greater implications than Ali-Frazier!
So what do we know now? People are currently using, and loving Siri; but how much of that use is due to the “cool” factor of a fresh piece of software? Siri consolidates your answer sources, generating results from a growing multitude of partners including OpenTable, Yelp, Yahoo, StubHub, Movie Tickets, Rotten Tomatoes and Wolfram Alpha (to name a few); allowing you to get all your information in one place. If Siri 2 combs out some glitches, and more and more people join the iPhone family, how it affects Google’s utility and what Google+ looks like down the road could truly reshape the social information landscape. Both Google+ and Siri have the potential to be disruptive technologies, with the power, resources, and reach to replace competitors in the information world. It is hard to predict now, but as a social networker and technology addict, I am beginning to wonder who will be telling the future me where to find the nearest pumpkin latte this time next year.
In the meantime, connect with Renegade's Google+ page here and like us on Facebook!
-Scott Anthony Procops
He tweets here: @TheS_P500
Posted by Renegade Saw on Tue, Nov 29, 2011 @ 03:19 PM
Last month, a co-worker sent along a link to Craftsman’s unique social media campaign, “Screw*d.” She summed up the campaign well by describing it as a “live feed of a guy building a cabin who accepts questions and suggestions via Facebook and Twitter.” The guy building the cabin is 29 year-old, Alan, who, complete with glasses, nasally voice, and suspect coordination, represents those of us who thought Craftsman had more to do with paper mache and glue sticks than power tools. Despite being about as handy as Paris Hilton, Alan is dropped off at remote locations and forced to complete tasks to survive. Of course, these tasks require home improvement skills, which he clearly doesn’t have. So, to build a raft to escape the bayou or repair a dune buggy and drive out of the desert, Alan calls upon the social media world for help, with viewers providing hints or instructions through tweets and Facebook posts. Now, he’s out in the cold, finishing up the cabin he built for shelter. I was a little disappointed, because I wanted to help the poor guy, but the last thing he had to do was install a doorbell. Not sure why. Although he didn’t need any help building the cabin, he did ask for suggestions on what to name it. Without a frame to assemble or a door to hinge, at least I could help him with this.
Eager to engage, I tweet the first thing that pops into my head, “Isosceles.” Hey, the triangle frame of the cabin had two equal sides; I thought it was clever. Ok…that justification doesn’t make me sound any less nerdy. Still, I watch in anticipation, hoping my suggestion will somehow resonate with the geeky “handyman.” Less than a minute after the tweet, I’m acknowledged. “Okay, this cabin still needs a name. Peter Saulitis says, 'Isosceles.'” He pauses, probably confirming that the triangle is indeed an isosceles and the name fits the dwelling nicely. “That’s not a good name.” Whoa! My suggestion may have been rash and nerdy, but that bad?! As if he had seen my eyebrows snap up and my fingers drop to the keyboard to launch a response, he says, “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Thinking that the suggested name sounded a lot like my own last name he continues, “that just sounds…promotional.” He didn’t hurt my feelings, well…maybe temporarily, but he actually made me laugh.
Though shut down, I just experienced and affected a real-time, interactive social media campaign, and I was thrilled. You may be thinking, so what? A guy online made fun of you, who cares? I do. I felt the same way I had after asking Knicks’ basketball star David Lee for his shorts during a game, and laughing with him as he pretended to untie his waistband. The joke provided a brief, but real human interaction; one you can’t get from an autograph or celebrity retweet. It’s the same type of social interaction I had with Alan, who treated my comment the same way I would expect one of my close friends to. Using social media, companies have been able to spark conversation between its customers, but not generate the same type of social interaction between company and consumer achieved by Craftsman’s “reality series.” For the first time, an ad campaign actually “spoke to me.” Alan had humorously responded to me and the story had changed, elevating me from consumer to co-writer. Advertising normally tells the story, but these social interactions constantly altered the script’s dynamic. Together, company and consumer told the story.
By the way, Alan ended up naming the cabin "Bear Bunker." And I got made fun of? Maybe I am still bitter.
- Peter Saulitis
Posted by Melissa Komadina on Tue, Nov 15, 2011 @ 04:56 PM
By now you probably had heard of the term "crowdsourcing" (more fun than outsourcing, less fun than crowdsurfing), but did you see this mindblowing article from Cracked on examples of things crowds do better than experts? I had to reevaluate my opinion of all the dudes who spent most of their time playing "Halo" in their dorm rooms freshman year.
Ok, so we as social marketers may not be fighting pirates or carrying out life-changing scientific research, but there are plenty of ways we, too, can use crowdsourcing to achieve far more than we could on our own. Here are a few examples of crowdsourcing at work in the social media realm.
1) Disguising the usual boring call-to-action within an interactive game can drive increased participation and generate invaluable social exposure for causes and charities. To aid fundraising efforts following the March 2011 tsunami disaster in Japan, game guru Zynga partnered with non-profit Save the Children and integrated user donations into their game interfaces. Were social gamers on board? Well, in approximately 36 hours of launching the donation game features Zynga had raised a cool $1 million. The Zynga campaign even grabbed the attention of Lady Gaga, who personally contributed $1.5 million. Now that's social media for social good.
2) Developing win-win partnerships enables companies and/or individuals to combine their strengths for often a fraction of cost and with many symbiotic benefits. Scenario: You need a creative video that really steps outside what your brand has done before, and you need it in under 2 months and on a tight budget. Answer: have your pick from dozens of entries through PopTent, which hosts your project's assignment and gathers submissions from videographers, animators, and other filmmakers. It's a win-win situation where companies have their selection from truly creative work, and creators can build their portfolios through a focused project while having a shot at getting chosen and - also important - getting paid.
3) Crowdsourcing across multiple platforms boosts your campaign's reach and overall engagement. Upping the ante from inviting fans to create their next donut, Dunkin' Donuts utilized Facebook and Pandora to promote their icy Coolatta drinks. The campaign integrated two popular social media channels by inviting their fans to use Facebook to contribute their favorite summer jam to a Coolatta summer music station featured on Pandora. Dunkin' Donuts' message of "mixology" came through loud and clear on both platforms and held consumer attention by generating conversation about music, summer, and kicking back with a cool drink on a hot day.
As you can see, the most skillful social marketing taps the collective power and creativity of its followers by appealing to our natural tendencies to play, be creative, and communicate about things we enjoy. The most successful campaigns take this strategy one step further by integrating social sharing into the very framework of the campaign. If it's engagement we're after, crowdsourcing can be surefire way to get folks in on the conversation.
Please feel free to share any other cool uses of crowdsourcing in the comments. And if you'll excuse me, I'll be getting back to FrontierVille.
- Melissa Komadina
Posted by Renegade Saw on Thu, Nov 03, 2011 @ 03:45 PM
For all the Tech nerds out there, here is an article on incredible apps that you should bookmark to make your life easier. These apps will help you do everything from modify un-editable PDFs to share music, edit photos and design you dream home.
It is sometimes overwhelming how many apps and sites are mentioned to us daily. It is even more overwhelming how many of them are completely useless, and just takes up time in our busy day and slowly invades our computer. But with a push on the right direction and a little research there are apps out there that make our lives if not easier, a bit more fun.
There is an app that especially caught my attention. Everyone knows what a pain it is to find an apartment in the right place, with the right feel and the right price. PadMapper is an app that will literally map all the apartments on craigslist on Google maps and when scrolling over each apartment you get the complete info. You can even pick a list to ad to your favorites to then contact the owners and make a selection.
In short if you like music, cooking, design, news, or just plain being organized you should definitely check out the list and see which app fits with your lifestyle.