#AmericanAirSucks

Given our last case on "United Breaks Guitar," I found this Techcrunch article to be especially relevant to our conversation in class. It goes to show that no matter how sophisticated your social media communication strategy can be, without the customer service infrastructure to back up your Twitter and Facebook, you're still stuck with some unhappy and vocal customers. WOM amplified by the power and scope of social media can be a double-edge sword...

Everyone-a-Changemaker Capitalism

This week, I wrote an opinion piece for the Yale Herald which you can read here. I'll be happy to listen in on any thoughts, comments or ideas you may have in regards to it.

Our very own Michael Jackson

I cam across this amazing video featuring our very own Mircea.  I have not seen moves like this since 1986.

Adblitz!

I enjoyed the Superbowl this year, surprisingly! My intense scrutiny of the ads makes it a lot more fun since becoming a business school student and focusing on marketing. In particular, I thought Marshall Mathers did a fantastic job with the Detroit commercial: http://www.youtube.com/user/adblitz?feature=ticker

This ad and the rest of the sponsor's ads can be found at the link above. Thanks YouTube for collecting the ads this year into the featured "AdBlitz!" Much appreciated.

Social media headlines from the Times of India

Do we see a trend here? A sampling of top headlines coming out of googling 'social media times of india', daterange '11 and daterange '09 looks this:

2010-2011

Social networking becoming a 'necessity' - The Times of India

Social networking leads to sex faster - The Times of India

Social networking going niche - The Times of India

'Facebook breaking marriages' - The Times of India

'Facebook, Twitter making us less human' - The Times of India

'My Total Facebook Views' scam spreads - The Times of India

HDFC, ICICI and American Express the most social media engaging ...

Pope warns against social networking - The Times of India

Twitter, Facebook saviour during Australia floods - The Times of India

2008-2009

Companies log in to social networking sites to push brands - The ...

Google's social networking site in trouble - The Times of India

'Cellphone news, next big thing in media' - The Times of India

Media Coverage in CNBC, India Today, Times of India and Economic Times

Not your father's paper: Times of India Kannada — Apple ...

The Sunday Times of India – Blogging In India

Blogging hits corporate world - The Times of India

Social Media Challenges In India - Diva Marketing Blog - Marketing ...

Sentemental Transumers

If you consider yourself a 'transumer' I just stumbled over something interesting, fascinating and, at least to me, quite peculiar. It's called Sentemental and offers to those averse to ownership a smart way of getting rid of all paper-based mementos that are currently accumulating dust in some long forgotten folder or box.

Through Sentemental, consumers can upload all the kids' drawings, Christmas cards, photographs, personal notes and other mementos they've collected over the years for preservation and sharing online.

Users of Sentemental begin by signing up with the site and uploading whatever materials they want to preserve; any they can't digitize themselves can be sent to Sentemental, which will do it for them. Uploaded materials are then kept safe in a private area of the site that's easily accessible to the user. Materials can also be shared with friends and posted via Facebook and Twitter.

So welcome to a service that only can flourish in an oversharing society like the one we have today. One that is increasingly detached and transfers all possible material and non material goods to "the" cloud. As I said in the beginning: a peculiar thing, especially if you start pondering the implications.

Website: www.sentemental.co.uk

New Social Networking Site Changing The Way Oh, Christ, Forget It

NEW YORK—While millions of young, tech-savvy professionals already use services like Facebook and Twitter to keep in constant touch with friends, a new social networking platform called Foursquare has recently taken the oh, fucking hell, can't some other desperate news outlet cover this crap instead?

Hip city-dwellers nationwide are embracing the new, come to think of it, haven't we used this photo for some other tech piece?
Launched last year, Foursquare is unique in that it not only allows users to broadcast their whereabouts, but also offers a number of built-in incentives, including some innovative new crap The New York Times surely has a throbbing hard-on for.

In fact, why don't we just let them report on this garbage and call it a day?

"Foursquare is a little bit of everything—a friend-finder, a local city guide, an interactive mobile game," said company cofounder Dennis Crowley, as if reading from the same tired script used by every one of these Web 2.0 or whatever-the-fuck-they're-called startups. "But more than that, Foursquare is an [endless string of meaningless buzzwords we just couldn't bring ourselves to transcribe]."

Added Crowley, "[Who gives a shit]."

According to sources we feel really, really sorry for, Foursquare works by allowing users to "check in" from their present location, whether it be a bar, restaurant, nearby magazine stand, or man, this piece would be perfect to hand over to that schmuck Dan Fletcher at Time magazine right about now.

By "checking in," users can earn tangible, real-world rewards. For instance, the Foursquare user with the most points at any given venue earns the designation of "mayor" and can receive discounts, free food, or other prizes that, quite honestly, we're thoroughly disgusted with ourselves for having actually researched.

As you've no doubt guessed from reading a dozen similar articles in The Washington Post, now's the part of our "trend piece" where we quote an industry expert like Leonard Steinberg, a Boston University communications professor and specialist in his field who remarks in a rather defeated tone that Foursquare represents a revolutionary new way for businesses and customers to interact.

"Through its competitive elements like badges and points, Foursquare helps generate brand loyalty," said the Ph.D.-holding individual, whose decades in higher education were basically shit upon by our inane questions about various bits of Foursquare ephemera. "It's a unique and transformative social networking tool."

"Can I go now?" he added.

Although it recently hit the million-user mark, Foursquare has yet to approach the vast subscriber base of Facebook and Twitter. But that all could change as people become increasingly reliant on the…okay, here, here, let me sum up this whole "news" story for you: Aging, scared newspapermen throw themselves at the latest mobile technology trend in a humiliatingly futile attempt to remain relevant.

And now that you're all caught up, take it away, final miserable paragraph:

The current mayor of her local coffee shop and the young woman we've selected to represent young people everywhere, Jen Galanos, 26, has so far earned a free cappuccino and two hours of Wi-Fi. But while she likes the rewards, she said they're only a fringe benefit of an application that, as we suspected, The New York Times has already creamed its jeans and tripped all over itself in a rush to cover.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-social-networking-site-changing-the-way-oh-chr,17465/

Troubles in Traditional Digital Media

It was interesting to read that the 360 layoffs and 25% budget cut at the BBC today specifically targeted its online operations (http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2011/01/24/bbc-online-lay-360-face-25-budget-cut). Though social media continues to proliferate, the troubles the traditional media industry are facing continue to make me wonder what social media's greatest role will ultimately be: curator or creator?

Social Media: Pro or Con

Though it interesting to explore the positive business implications of social media, it is also fascinating to explore the role of social media on individuals. In particular, it is interesting that news reports tend to focus on the negative impacts of oversharing. The article featured today on the Forbes website (http://bit.ly/fMy632) lists rules one should follow when posting information to the internet; it's simple but proven rules seems intuitive to people who grew up online, and who first learned about oversharing in the days of Myspace and Livejournal.

Nonetheless, internet privacy promises to be a hot topic in the years to come, though perhaps in a different format. The LivingSocial Amazon deal mentioned earlier in this blog proved to be a bonanza for both firms, as LivingSocial expanded its brand awareness and Amazon was potentially enabled to track individual users' future LivingSocial purchases, as noted on a tech blog, http://bit.ly/gTYjpN. One cannot help but wonder, however, how comfortable future generations will be sharing the data from all of their online purchases, currently spread across nominally unique vendors, with every firm they purchase from. Though this deal may have been a win-win-win, it will be interesting to see if there is a point at which customers will not feel comfortable sharing their sales data across firms, and if so, what the impact on targeted online marketing will be.

Foursquare: Social Media or Local Commerce?

Despite its claim to have 6 million users, it appears that Foursquare has yet to establish a strong presence among college-age consumers. As I "checked into" my residential college tonight at dinner, I had to yet again explain the geo-location start-up to a group of bewildered friends. I continue to be amazed by how few people actually use the platform, if they even know about it in the first place.

I saw an interesting article from TechCrunch featuring an interview with the founders of Groupon and Foursquare on the topic of "Local Markets." It was definitely very insightful to see how the founders themselves view their business and how it differs from the common perceptions.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/24/dld11-foursquare-and-groupon-ceos-on-cracking-the-local-commerce-nut/

Social Media takes over Sundance!

Having just returned from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, I can tell you that Social Media has taken over the event. To give you one specific example, one of the Sundance events was hosted by "Tweet House" - invitations were only given to members of the Twitter Community. Unfortunately, being a "newbie" I didn't get on the event list but a Twitter companion of mine with more "followers" and more tweeting activity than me, did get this exclusive Twitter invitation!

Sundance was incredible, something I plan to attend in future years. In advance, I'll be sure to follow all of the sponsors on Twitter, who all had free "swag" for the Sundance'rs i.e. L'Oreal, Honda, Brita.... the list goes on for days.

Who owns Facebook?

It was all over the press: “Goldman Sachs invests $450 million in Facebook at $50 billion valuation”. Since it’s foundation in 2004 Facebook is growing seemingly unstoppable. In 2011 the company reached its current peak valuation at $50 billion. This makes Mark Zuckerberg worth approximately $12 billion.

But who are the other investors besides Zuckerberg and Goldman Sachs? There are co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin, some VC funds, and even Bono of U2. However the biggest chunk belongs to the Facebook employees who own around 30% of the company worth $15 billion. Have a look at all investors here:

http://www.businessinsider.com/who-owns-facebook-2011-1

The questions, which remain, are: “Is Facebook the next big bubble and will Zuckerberg and Co. cash in before it bursts?”

Celebrities Duke It Out In Social Forums

Transitioning from substantive social media topics, Jenni "Jwoww" Farley, co-star of the popular TV show Jersey Show, recently attacked Kim Kardashian via Twitter for not owning up to recent speculation over the socialite's plastic surgery. After Ms. Kardashian claimed her pouty lip was a function of flu-like symptoms, Jwoww tweeted, "funny how stars don't man up to their plastic surgery...I did." Adding to the ridiculousness, the most plastic of them all, Heidi Montag (former co-star of The Hills), re-tweeted Jwoww's sentiments later in the day. It seems that most of the veterans of the plastic surgery community stand united in their loyalty and honesty.

Celebrity magazines estimate Ms. Montag has undergone an excess of 10 surgeries to tranform herself and continue to steal the social spotlight from deserving personalities. In fact, in an interview with Life & Style Magazine, Heidi went so far as to discuss the "nose tape" she wears to "secure her nose to her face....so her nose doesn't fall off like Michael Jackson's." Her interview later focused on her decision to downgrade her breast-size from a whopping G-cup to a DD-cup, a decision fueled by new inspiration for a "natural look." In response to her deep commentary, fans and haters had no choice but to tweet Heidi, comparing her to a "silicon factory."

One of these days, people will realize that following such pathetic and value-less personalities via social media further substantiates their presence and success. Only after avoiding these forums (for useless reasons) will the likes of Heidi Montag and Jwoww go away. C'mon people...you've got better things to do...

Cooling the Social Media Hype

5 Signs That Social Media Is The Next Bubble

Ryan C. Fuhrmann, provided by

Monday, January 24, 2011

A recent investment by investment banking firm Goldman Sachs valued Facebook at $50 billion. The company was only founded in 2004, meaning the valuation went from zero to the stratosphere in just six years.

A number of other leading social media firms are also being valued in the billions. These include firms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Zynga and Groupon, the last of which was rumored to be offered $6 billion from Google to fold it into its market-leading online advertising business. Each of these firms is less than 10 years old, so while the rapid increase in values has been impressive and has made early investors rich, signs are emerging that investing in social media is reaching bubble proportions. (To learn more, see 5 Ways To Spot The Next Bubble - And Avoid It.)

IN PICTURES: 7 Forehead-Slapping Stock Blunders

1. Unproven Business Models
   The social media firms have undoubtedly seen success in building a vast community of committed users. Facebook boasts more than 500 million users while Twitter has nearly 200 million "tweeters" and LinkedIn has more than 80 million job professionals using its site for networking. Groupon has about 35 million people signed up to receive a deal-of-the-day email and online gaming site Zynga has millions of committed gamers playing its games.
   
   In general, though, most social media firms are still trying to figure out how to capitalize on their vast user bases. LinkedIn has seen success by charging users for the ability to see, sort, and search for additional information on other users while Groupon gets a cut of each deal that its users buy, but Facebook, Twitter, Zynga and other sites rely on advertising that is more difficult to properly customize on their sites. In the "Social Network" movie, Facebook was said to be wary of killing its cult status early in its development by plastering its sites with advertisements and users on many of these sites could be turned off if the ads become too aggressive or intrusive. (For more, see 5 Private Companies Worth Billions.)
   
   
2. Barriers to Entry Concerns
   It may seem like ages ago given how fast things move in cyberspace, but firms including AOL (NYSE:AOL) and MySpace were at one point internet darlings that were supposed to take over the virtual world. AOL was so richly valued at one point that it was able to use its overvalued stock as a currency to snap up old-media rival Time Warner back in 2000. Just a couple of years later, the newly formed company started writing down the value of AOL and the deterioration in value continued until Time Warner spun off AOL to shareholders in late 2009. AOL now has a market capitalization of under $3 billion or a mere fraction of its value at the apex of its hype.
   
   An even closer comparison in more recent times surrounds News Corps (Nasdaq:NWSA) purchase of MySpace, a social networking site where, according to an article at the time of the acquisition, "users connect to the site for dating, making friends, professional networking and sharing interests."
   
   The purchase price was for just under $600 million, which is peanuts in today's market of billion-dollar valuations. However, News Corp has already written down the value of MySpace (a division of News Corp's Fox Interactive Media division) and is cutting staff as advertising has failed to take off and the site has lost ground to Facebook and newer rivals.
   
   These are just two examples of how online firms can succumb to competitive pressures and suggest investors need to be more careful so as to not get carried away for enthusiasm for business models in cyberspace as they can easily be replaced by new technologies and rivals. (To learn more, see The Biggest Merger And Acquisition Disasters.)

1. Lack of Business Fundamentals
   Little is actually known about the sales and profits of social networking companies. Press releases and discussions in the news speculate as to sales levels. Facebook is estimated to have a couple of billion dollars in annual revenue by now and is said to be profitable while Groupon is said to be seeing sales of $1 billion. Estimates from other firms are even more scant while most are still raising capital to grow. This could mean that they are not successful enough to generate enough internal profits to expand or have grand ambitions that will take time to reach fruition.
   
   The main issue is that the social media firms mentioned already are still private, which means they don't have to issue public financial statements. In other words, it is hard to tell if the billion dollar valuations make any sense, and the fact these companies are young and still growing means even if financial details were known, it is tough to predict how high sales or profits may go.
   
   
2. Illiquid Securities
   The other part of being private is that these social media firms don't trade on public markets. This means there should be sizeable discounts for their lack of liquidity. This would obviously change if and once these firms go public, but the fact that the valuations are so large and the shares don't trade publicly are definitely matters to consider.
   
   
3. Rapid Price Rises
   In his book "The Great Crash: 1929," economist John Kenneth Galbraith's described the "basic and recurrent process" of investment bubbles. He explains that rising prices attract attention, which drives the price even higher until "for reasons that endlessly will be debated, the bubble bursts." In Galbraith's mind, just the fact that social media values have risen rapidly is cause for concern and could mean a bubble has formed. (To learn more, see our .)

The Bottom Line
Any of the above social media firms could turn out to grow fantastically large and profitable and could end up making the current values being placed on them look cheap. Facebook is so large that it could easily earn many billions in profits from its global network of users. However, for the reasons cited above, the entire space could be considered a bubble and most, if not all, could end up bursting and hurting investors that come in at such lofty valuations. (Want to know more about the names behind these companies? Check out Top Social Media Entrepreneurs.)

Social Media Invades Super Bowl!

With Super Bowl just around the corner, Mashable reports that the 2011 event is converging with social media in a way bigger than ever before! Not only are advertisers using the digital medium to promote their controversial spots but also using Facebook pages and apps to boost ad discussions among netizens. Among all, Pepsi seems to have attracted the most attention by deciding to stay away from Super Bowl for the first time in over two decades, and instead launching the $20million social media campaign -- "Pepsi Refresh Project"

Quality or Quantity? Strategies to gain online followers.

Until this afternoon I was completely unaware that you could actually buy Twitter followers or Facebook fans to "like" whatever it is you are touting online. I came across this controversial discussion on this website, and I was truly in awe of the fact that people actually buy friends. I mean, come on. Is this really just some rigged popularity contest?

From one perspective, makes sense. We, as a society, tend to dwell on numbers. And we look to them to help us determine what success looks like, either through a statistic, salary figure, or even a ranking. If you see a company or person's page has a lot of fans or followers, you might imply that "x number of people can't be wrong," and with this stamp of legitimacy to support you, become a fan/follower as well. A safety in numbers kind of thing. But would you have made the same decision if there were only a few fans? Or if you found out that most of the fans were paid for and not actual supporters in their own right?

The question becomes what is the best strategy: go for numbers that will attract more attention? Or go with the slow route and build up true fans over time? There are probably a lot of factors at play when a company decides to pay for supporters, but isn't one of the benefits of doing things online the transparency of it all?

Driving Business Results With Social Media

Our research into midsized companies has found that while many nearly doubled their investments in social media in the last two years, most experienced no return on their investments. How can your business reap a return on investment from its forays into Twitter, Facebook, and the like?

The Corporate Executive Board's Marketing Leadership Roundtable created the Social Media Opportunity Diagnostic survey and administered it to marketers at some 100 midsized companies to help marketers focus their investments in social media activities.

The results showed that only 8 percent of those surveyed said their social media efforts actually drove business results. We call those 8 percent of marketers "social media exemplars." (In case you're curious about how social media is manifesting itself in midsized companies: Twitter topped the list of social media outlets, with 74 percent of companies using the microblogging site, followed by Facebook at 71 percent, Youtube at 53 percent, and various types of company blogs at 36 percent.)

So what separates these social media exemplars from the rest of the pack? The Marketing Leadership Roundtable has identified the three common elements in successful social media approaches. The survey results suggest that companies should do the following three things.

1. Develop social media listening abilities. Listening is the gateway to all other social media activities. It enables a deep understanding of social media dynamics and the needs of target audiences. For example, Southwest Airlines (LUV) monitors Twitter, blogs, and online communities to sense and respond to customer sentiment. Yet diagnostic results on our survey showed that one-third of marketers do not currently monitor social media.

2. Approach social media measurement with the goal of reducing ambiguity via a two-step process:

• Disaggregate sources of social media value into component parts that contribute to desired business outcomes. Social relationship assets spin off a variety of different value streams. For example, social media can add value through efficiency by reducing (or preempting) the cost of delivering an outcome: displacing paid media and traditional consumer research, preempting or displacing service cost, and even preempting negative influence spread.

• Second, apply a combination of relative measurement and return-on-objectives to value these component parts. For example, instead of tracking only the number of Facebook "friends," track Facebook click-throughs by friends in your company's target audience.

3. Widen your gaze. Exemplars treat social media as more than just a marketing or public relations channel. They view it as a way to enhance the brand's competitive position by creating new in-kind value for customers. Best Buy's (BBY) development of twelpforce (twitter-based help-force) leveraged an existing differentiator (a retail staff fluent at helping with consumer electronic questions) to create a category value-proposition shift. By approaching social media as more than just "another communications channel," Best Buy shifted consumer expectations about the electronics experience to a practice competitors can't emulate.

Social media provides a new vehicle for collaborating with your customers. As you enter this channel, listen before you speak. Don't forget your allegiance to commercial outcomes and challenge yourself to explore how social media can change your overall strategy.

Great Paid Resource For SEO (....& Social Media)

Hi Social Media Friends,
If you are interested in getting into SEO, I wanted to post a link to probably the best SEO monthly newsletter out there - searchenginenews.com. Unfortunately, there is a membership fee, BUT it is SO worth it! (hmmm, maybe Yale can chip in)

Planet Ocean's SEO newsletter has been around since 1997 and it is great for both beginners and advanced folks. One of the many articles this month focuses on Social Media being an official ranking factor for Google now.
Go To SearchEngineNews.com!!!

twitter and karma

via espn @ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/news/story?id=6014004

LeBron James sees 'karma' in Cavs rout

LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James certainly is taking to his new villain role well.

During the fourth quarter of his former team's historically poor showing against the Lakers on Tuesday night, James apparently used his Twitter account to send a message to the struggling Cavs.

"Crazy. Karma is a b****. Gets you every time. It's not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!" James wrote while in Los Angeles with the Heat for Wednesday's game against the Clippers. The account is verified by Twitter.

The Cavs lost 112-57 to the Lakers, the fewest points the Cavs have ever scored in a game and the fewest the Lakers have allowed in the shot clock era. It was the Cavs' 11th consecutive loss.

Sunday night after the Heat's ninth straight win in Portland, James encouraged fans to boo him during his 44-point performance. After the game, he said, "I've kind of accepted this villain role everyone has placed on me. I'm OK with it."

James' feelings about his former team have mostly been aimed at owner Dan Gilbert. After James signed with the Heat in July, Gilbert wrote a scathing letter questioning James' character. In a series of interviews since, Gilbert has implied that James quit during the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.

James has taken his own shots at Gilbert. In an interview with GQ over the summer, James said, "I don't think he ever cared about LeBron. My mother always told me: 'You will see the light of people when they hit adversity. You'll get a good sense of their character.' Me and my family have seen the character of that man."

The Cavs, who are an NBA-worst 8-30, have been hammered by injuries during their losing streak. The team learned earlier this week that Anderson Varejao was lost for the season because of a foot injury, and has been without Daniel Gibson and Anthony Parker. On Tuesday, the Cavs' starters combined to score just 23 points.

"It can't be any worse than this. If it is, someone will have to help me because I don't know how much of this I can take," said Antawn Jamison, who had six points. "This by far is rock bottom. It's definitely by far one of the most embarrassing moments that I've been a part of as far as basketball."

The Cavs shot 30 percent, were outscored 52-28 in the paint and committed 19 turnovers in losing for the 21st time in their past 22 games. They fell to 3-18 on the road and 1-5 against the Western Conference.

In a Twitter update posted early Wednesday, Cavs guard Mo Williams tweeted, "I feel like I can't even show my face in Cleve."

The Cavs thought they would have just nine players for Tuesday's game before rookie Christian Eyenga was able to return from an ankle injury. But Eyenga reinjured the ankle later in the game.

The Cavs and Heat have both been in Los Angeles since Sunday night and will remain in town Wednesday. The Cavs changed their standard practice and are not staying at the hotel where most NBA teams, including the Heat presently, stay. Cavs officials said the decision was made months ago.

Interesting Consumer Research Report on Users of Social Media

New study finds that adults with children at home more likely to use social networks, and the younger a child is, the more likely a parent is to be a user of Twitter or Facebook.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008184

Also interesting that these young parents more likely to purchase big-ticket items, although that seems logical given that these parents are likely in life situations requiring these types of purchases (outfitting new house, etc).

Looks like young parents are emerging as a valuable target for social media campaigns. Would be interesting to see average age of this group, demographic, etc, but nonetheless very interesting information that retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart as well as manufacturers such as LG and Samsung could use when determining marketing spend on social media vs other types of media.

"Traditional" Brands Using Social Media

We typically don't think of the more iconic, traditional brands when we think of those flourishing in the social media space. However, Mercedes-Benz has recently created an online presence that outshines many of its more modern competitors.
Enter: The Mercedes-Benz Tweet Race. A Twitter-fueled race giving four two-person teams the chance to drive a pair of exclusive Mercedes-Benz coupes to Dallas for this year's Super Bowl; the team garnering the most tweets and Facebook comments will cross the finish line first, where tickets will be waiting for the big game.
The contest is fully described on Mercedes-Benz's Facebook page and continues on its MBtweetraceHQ Twitter page. Not only does this garner attention from a, seemingly, younger target audience, it ultimately opens up the realm of contests and challenges purely focused within social media outlets.

Social Deals

Did anyone else get in on this living social/amazon.com deal?

NPR had a great interview with livingsocial's founder the other day. Good insight into entrepreneurs and the development of a completely new market.

It will be interesting to see what companies survive this relatively new market with so many new entrants. Are these sites the next tech bubble?

FEMA uses social media to aid disaster response

This was an interesting article! Apparently the head of FEMA is actively promoting the integration of Twitter, CraigsList, Facebook, etc. into disaster response. He notes that in times of crisis, people are still able to text message which might be the only way of communicating. He is also trying to make more federal websites mobile-friendly.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/01/storyboard-fema-craig-fugate/

Feature phones, really?

Last summer I worked at IMDb.com in mobile strategy. We focused on iPhone and Android app development and then a mobile optimized website as a catchall for the remaining manufacturers. Facebook, the top social media platform, developed a feature phone app recently. Click here to read about how they are approaching these phones that we, U.S. smartphone users, would probably call archaic.

Can Social Media Be Used to Generate Buzz Before a Show is Released?

MTV has been successful in generating buzz for a show that hasn't even aired! Here's the link to the full article:

http://cnt.to/njE

Considering all of the other ways in which networks promote their shows before the shows premiere, it makes perfect sense that they would try to generate buzz for new shows through social media. I am curious to see how successful MTV will be, and whether it will be widely copied.

Size of Social Gaming Market

I came across this link over the weekend and was floored by the projected size of the social gaming market.....$1BN in 2011.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/01/emarketer-social-gaming-market-hits-1-billion-in-2011.html

What amazes me most is that while only 6% of social gamers purchase virtual goods, these gamers purchase $653 million of these goods, which is over 60% of the total gaming market size and is over 3x the size of the projected advertising spend on social games in 2012.

This consumer segment is definitely a potential target for brands, like the article says. I just wonder what the purchase behavior is for this 6% and whether they actually care enough about brands to buy their virtual goods vs whatever they're buying now.

Brand Facebook Pages

I was struck by two things while completing the Facebook assignment this weekend. First, many firms seem to have developed quite sophisticated pages in the last couple of months. As I applied to many CPG companies in November and December, I spent a great deal of time looking at their social media savvy and was disappointed by many big brands that did not have a strong engagement with their fans on their pages. That seems to have changed drastically very recently - many pages now have new interactive content and there is clearly a brand manager or intern posting content and monitoring the conversation every day. The second thing that struck me, however, is that companies seem to be focusing, sometimes exclusively, on brands that target a young audience. For instance, among Church & Dwight's brands, Trojan has a very good page, but there is no firm-created content for Arm & Hammer or OxiClean. This is ignoring the fact that Facebook is no longer just a young person's platform, and that their largest growing demographic is people over 40.

How much is Facebook worth?

Oh no.  Looks like Goldman Sachs Capital Partners passed on the Facebook deal.  Is Facebook over-valued?  http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/goldman-unit-passed-on-earlier-facebook-investment/?hp