Always worth starting the year with a few guesses at what 2009 might bring. Cheezhead has done a pretty good job with their 2009 predictions. Usual suspect of mobile making it big is on the list. Will iPhone actually deliver the promise?
Showing posts with label World in general. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World in general. Show all posts
Monday, 26 January 2009
Monday, 11 August 2008
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Digital media carbon offset programme
Nice idea and a way to calculate it....
http://www.imc2.com/csr/ClearSkyMediaTool.aspx
http://www.imc2.com/csr/ClearSkyMediaTool.aspx
Monday, 12 May 2008
Who got done on social media?
Pinched from Web Strategy by Jeremiah
A list of companies that were blind-sided by the internet, they didn’t understand the impacts of the power shift to the participants, or how fast information would spread, or were just plain ignorant.
Criteria of “Punk’d” includes a situation where the story would have not been told if social media was not available, or if social media enhanced the situation.
This doesn’t include fake blogs, companies who deliberately tried to cheat the system get their own honorable mention.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008
Burger King exec trash talks using daughter’s email
Not sure why he didn’t just create a new email address, that would have been a lot safer. Submitted by Hilker.
Johnson and Johnson to bloggers: Hurry up and get dis-invited
Sounds like a mis-coordination, bad timing, and not a well thought through process that ended up getting scobleized, and Maryamized.
2007
Target’s Rounders program “This is our secret game”
Target encouraged it’s premier members in the rounders program to pump up it’s brand in a Facebook group, sadly, the covert operation ended up on blogs and then mainstream media
HD DVD Decoded by Digg, unDugg, then Dugg again
Digg users publish HD code, industry freaks out, Digg maintains stance.
Wholefoods CEO caught being a troll
Whole Foods CEO, was anonymously trashing competitors and pumping company up on Yahoo finance boards.
Apple’s dirty little secret plastered over NYC
Apparently, 18 months is all the iPod will run before you’ll need to buy a new one, says this video, where street teams went around defacing ads. Submitted by David Churbuck (I got his name right this time)
Delta holds customers hostage
What’s worse than being held prisoner on Delta’s dirty plane? (Video), watching the crew getting off da plane. Oh, and no food, crying babies, but one talented videographer.
2006
Data storage blogger posts industry price lists, sales reps cry f#ck!
Robin Harris, one of the most well known of the data storage blogosphere posts price lists that were received from various customers.
Dell Laptop Explodes, news at 11 –on YouTube
More bad news for Dell, as laptops explode in Japan, all can see online.
Comcast suffers from Narcolepsy
Sleepy Techician caught on YouTube, then fired. Also see Comcast must die blog, submitted by Jeff Jarvis.
Hitachi Hell gets the finger
Angry customer gets bad service, writes long experience, and flips off HQ in picture, he’s also an influencer in the gaming community
The naked NOKA chocolate uncovered
A premium chocolatier (Noka) had a tremendous markup ($309- $2,080 per pound) of their secretly re-packaged chocolate, was exposed as a fraud and spread on blogs. And their google results is really painful. Submitted by Whitney.
AOL gets canceled –how to get get on my nerves
This guy really bothers me, I can see why Vincent Ferrari was miffed. It’s clear, he was dealing with the customer retention department. Nothing worse than the feeling of being held hostage. Submitted by David Alston.
Airplane fiasco’s spread online: JetBlue
There are so many examples, such as a YouTube testimonial about JetBlue’s 8+ hours stranded in terminal. Related: JetBlue’s CEO responds after flights are cut months later due to storm.
2005
Why we Dwell on Dell Hell
Jeff Jarvis launches blog post that sends a flurry of PR negativty at Dell’s poor service, it’s since been improved.
2004
Kryptonite unlocked
Locks were disabled using a simple bic pen cap, spread on forums and blogs, one of the earliest examples that got mainstream attention.
2003
The Barbera Streisand Effect
Singer star tries to remove content from internet, it all goes downhill from there. I actually learned about this from reading my colleagues Groundswell book
A list of companies that were blind-sided by the internet, they didn’t understand the impacts of the power shift to the participants, or how fast information would spread, or were just plain ignorant.
Criteria of “Punk’d” includes a situation where the story would have not been told if social media was not available, or if social media enhanced the situation.
This doesn’t include fake blogs, companies who deliberately tried to cheat the system get their own honorable mention.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008
Burger King exec trash talks using daughter’s email
Not sure why he didn’t just create a new email address, that would have been a lot safer. Submitted by Hilker.
Johnson and Johnson to bloggers: Hurry up and get dis-invited
Sounds like a mis-coordination, bad timing, and not a well thought through process that ended up getting scobleized, and Maryamized.
2007
Target’s Rounders program “This is our secret game”
Target encouraged it’s premier members in the rounders program to pump up it’s brand in a Facebook group, sadly, the covert operation ended up on blogs and then mainstream media
HD DVD Decoded by Digg, unDugg, then Dugg again
Digg users publish HD code, industry freaks out, Digg maintains stance.
Wholefoods CEO caught being a troll
Whole Foods CEO, was anonymously trashing competitors and pumping company up on Yahoo finance boards.
Apple’s dirty little secret plastered over NYC
Apparently, 18 months is all the iPod will run before you’ll need to buy a new one, says this video, where street teams went around defacing ads. Submitted by David Churbuck (I got his name right this time)
Delta holds customers hostage
What’s worse than being held prisoner on Delta’s dirty plane? (Video), watching the crew getting off da plane. Oh, and no food, crying babies, but one talented videographer.
2006
Data storage blogger posts industry price lists, sales reps cry f#ck!
Robin Harris, one of the most well known of the data storage blogosphere posts price lists that were received from various customers.
Dell Laptop Explodes, news at 11 –on YouTube
More bad news for Dell, as laptops explode in Japan, all can see online.
Comcast suffers from Narcolepsy
Sleepy Techician caught on YouTube, then fired. Also see Comcast must die blog, submitted by Jeff Jarvis.
Hitachi Hell gets the finger
Angry customer gets bad service, writes long experience, and flips off HQ in picture, he’s also an influencer in the gaming community
The naked NOKA chocolate uncovered
A premium chocolatier (Noka) had a tremendous markup ($309- $2,080 per pound) of their secretly re-packaged chocolate, was exposed as a fraud and spread on blogs. And their google results is really painful. Submitted by Whitney.
AOL gets canceled –how to get get on my nerves
This guy really bothers me, I can see why Vincent Ferrari was miffed. It’s clear, he was dealing with the customer retention department. Nothing worse than the feeling of being held hostage. Submitted by David Alston.
Airplane fiasco’s spread online: JetBlue
There are so many examples, such as a YouTube testimonial about JetBlue’s 8+ hours stranded in terminal. Related: JetBlue’s CEO responds after flights are cut months later due to storm.
2005
Why we Dwell on Dell Hell
Jeff Jarvis launches blog post that sends a flurry of PR negativty at Dell’s poor service, it’s since been improved.
2004
Kryptonite unlocked
Locks were disabled using a simple bic pen cap, spread on forums and blogs, one of the earliest examples that got mainstream attention.
2003
The Barbera Streisand Effect
Singer star tries to remove content from internet, it all goes downhill from there. I actually learned about this from reading my colleagues Groundswell book
Friday, 28 March 2008
Friday, 29 February 2008
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Web Playgrounds of the Very Young
The future of virual worlds is kids....
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/business/31virtual.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/business/31virtual.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
In game advertising
In-Game Advertising Built Momentum in '07
By Enid Burns, The ClickZ Network, Dec 28, 2007
While Microsoft's "Halo," the most anticipated video game to hit store shelves in 2007 was off limits to advertisers, the sector gained momentum both in games and around games.
Among the hot titles packed with advertising was Activision's "Guitar Hero III."
"The biggest thing this year is the momentum, the acceptance of the medium, the increase in size in the advertising buys, and increased acceptance in the publisher community," Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Microsoft's Massive unit told ClickZ News.
In addition to advertisers and publishers, developers became more receptive to the appearance of brands into games. According to Van Arsdale, developers continue to obsess about the storyline, however they are considering advertisers in the process "They're increasingly thinking about[ad] inventory quality and how that might work."
Publishers are beginning to prioritize how and where ad insertion happens in a game. "There's only so much room in a game. When we look at priority, it's dynamic," said Shelby Cox, senior director of ad sales at Electronic Arts, the publisher of the "Madden" and "Need for Speed" series among other franchises. "The stuff we typically sold will now have dynamic tags on it."
Dynamic placements are able to be updated with new brand campaigns while static insertions are hard-coded into a game and remain with the same creative throughout.
"I think you'll see blurring of the lines between dynamic and static," said Van Arsdale. "Static ads that are in the game stay, they are shipped with the title, they never change, and you can't measure exposure. If you make those dynamic you can actually track that."
Earlier this year Double Fusion began offering dynamic product integration on its network. Massive has the ability to do the same, and expects to tag static items in games to provide metrics on gamer exposure and interaction. Without tags, a brand will know how many copies of a game are sold, but not how many gamers interacted with the brand.
Previously, marketers with large-scale integration bought additional dynamic ads to provide metrics, though the metrics didn't necessarily correlate with interaction with the brand in the game.
Momentum grew in in-game advertising in a year when the video game industry took part in a more businesslike Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Media buyers were privy to more meetings and invites than in previous years. "E3 of the past was a great place for [agencies and brands] to come get a snapshot [of the industry]," said Cox. "Some of the folks we talked with [this year] found it to be disappointing, but we did get a lot of business done meeting with the agencies that actually did come."
Many agencies, brands, and even in-game ad networks decided not to attend. Massive's Van Arsdale has only attended E3 in past years as a spectator. Though from a business standpoint, he said the emphasis for Microsoft is on the Game Developer Conference, Cannes, and Microsoft's Strategic Accounts Summits held throughout the year.
The next hurdle for in-game and around game advertising is to establish standards and metrics. "You have IGA Worldwide with one definition of an impression, and Double Fusion and Massive with another," said Cox. Massive counts a cumulative :10 exposure as an impression.
The onus is not entirely on the networks, but a general industry understanding. "We need to set standards and metrics buyers understand, and to come up with a vernacular," Cox said. "The research is there, but as an industry we need to do a better job making it easier for buyers to buy."
The Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB) committee on advertising in video and Web-based games released its first findings. The document was primarily definitions and a baseline of information.
"I think [the IAB] is going to have an increasing impact going forward," said Chris Houtzer, senior director of new media and games at RealNetworks. "Having the IAB recognize in-game advertising as a significant media for advertisers and the games industry in general is really important."
The IAB's goal to establish standards and terms is agreed to be a worthy objective. "Hopefully it will keep my competition from obfuscating the definitions of things, because I think that's not helping the medium," Van Arsdale said.
Van Arsdale wants to see a designation between different media. "People will call it in-game when it's not in-game, it's around-game or a Web site," he said. This includes banners and interstitials in Web-based games, and sponsorship of tournaments and contests. While these are viable options for advertisers who want to reach a particular audience, or be associated with a specific game, there is a distinction. "People really need to understand the medium, and that's what this year's been about," he said.
Momentum built in casual and Web-based games in much the same way as console and PC games. "Instead of this being an experimental year, we've seen the transition in 2007 from experimental to a must have for advertisers," Houtzer said.
Casual games paralleled console titles in terms of advertising. "In general across the industry we saw a lot of adoption of advertising as a significant way to monetize games," said Houtzer. "Developers made a great leap in supporting advertising, instead of 2006 questioning the legitimacy. What's really helped them do that this year is initiatives that Real has, as well as others, the aspect of sharing revenues."
Casual game sites including RealNetworks and Microsoft began offering developers a share of ad revenues. Many publishers earned stronger revenues from advertising than sales.
In the coming year new opportunities for casual games will emerge. EA is bringing the casual game experience of its property Pogo.com to the console. "We are focusing on different types of products on the console that are much more suited for advertising," said Cox. "Like our Pogo model, there's going to be products out there where advertising is the root business model."
The console manufacturers have already realized the value of such products. An IDC report identified additional revenue streams the current generation of consoles bring in. "The installed base growth and connectivity growth helped," Cox said.
By Enid Burns, The ClickZ Network, Dec 28, 2007
While Microsoft's "Halo," the most anticipated video game to hit store shelves in 2007 was off limits to advertisers, the sector gained momentum both in games and around games.
Among the hot titles packed with advertising was Activision's "Guitar Hero III."
"The biggest thing this year is the momentum, the acceptance of the medium, the increase in size in the advertising buys, and increased acceptance in the publisher community," Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Microsoft's Massive unit told ClickZ News.
In addition to advertisers and publishers, developers became more receptive to the appearance of brands into games. According to Van Arsdale, developers continue to obsess about the storyline, however they are considering advertisers in the process "They're increasingly thinking about[ad] inventory quality and how that might work."
Publishers are beginning to prioritize how and where ad insertion happens in a game. "There's only so much room in a game. When we look at priority, it's dynamic," said Shelby Cox, senior director of ad sales at Electronic Arts, the publisher of the "Madden" and "Need for Speed" series among other franchises. "The stuff we typically sold will now have dynamic tags on it."
Dynamic placements are able to be updated with new brand campaigns while static insertions are hard-coded into a game and remain with the same creative throughout.
"I think you'll see blurring of the lines between dynamic and static," said Van Arsdale. "Static ads that are in the game stay, they are shipped with the title, they never change, and you can't measure exposure. If you make those dynamic you can actually track that."
Earlier this year Double Fusion began offering dynamic product integration on its network. Massive has the ability to do the same, and expects to tag static items in games to provide metrics on gamer exposure and interaction. Without tags, a brand will know how many copies of a game are sold, but not how many gamers interacted with the brand.
Previously, marketers with large-scale integration bought additional dynamic ads to provide metrics, though the metrics didn't necessarily correlate with interaction with the brand in the game.
Momentum grew in in-game advertising in a year when the video game industry took part in a more businesslike Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Media buyers were privy to more meetings and invites than in previous years. "E3 of the past was a great place for [agencies and brands] to come get a snapshot [of the industry]," said Cox. "Some of the folks we talked with [this year] found it to be disappointing, but we did get a lot of business done meeting with the agencies that actually did come."
Many agencies, brands, and even in-game ad networks decided not to attend. Massive's Van Arsdale has only attended E3 in past years as a spectator. Though from a business standpoint, he said the emphasis for Microsoft is on the Game Developer Conference, Cannes, and Microsoft's Strategic Accounts Summits held throughout the year.
The next hurdle for in-game and around game advertising is to establish standards and metrics. "You have IGA Worldwide with one definition of an impression, and Double Fusion and Massive with another," said Cox. Massive counts a cumulative :10 exposure as an impression.
The onus is not entirely on the networks, but a general industry understanding. "We need to set standards and metrics buyers understand, and to come up with a vernacular," Cox said. "The research is there, but as an industry we need to do a better job making it easier for buyers to buy."
The Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB) committee on advertising in video and Web-based games released its first findings. The document was primarily definitions and a baseline of information.
"I think [the IAB] is going to have an increasing impact going forward," said Chris Houtzer, senior director of new media and games at RealNetworks. "Having the IAB recognize in-game advertising as a significant media for advertisers and the games industry in general is really important."
The IAB's goal to establish standards and terms is agreed to be a worthy objective. "Hopefully it will keep my competition from obfuscating the definitions of things, because I think that's not helping the medium," Van Arsdale said.
Van Arsdale wants to see a designation between different media. "People will call it in-game when it's not in-game, it's around-game or a Web site," he said. This includes banners and interstitials in Web-based games, and sponsorship of tournaments and contests. While these are viable options for advertisers who want to reach a particular audience, or be associated with a specific game, there is a distinction. "People really need to understand the medium, and that's what this year's been about," he said.
Momentum built in casual and Web-based games in much the same way as console and PC games. "Instead of this being an experimental year, we've seen the transition in 2007 from experimental to a must have for advertisers," Houtzer said.
Casual games paralleled console titles in terms of advertising. "In general across the industry we saw a lot of adoption of advertising as a significant way to monetize games," said Houtzer. "Developers made a great leap in supporting advertising, instead of 2006 questioning the legitimacy. What's really helped them do that this year is initiatives that Real has, as well as others, the aspect of sharing revenues."
Casual game sites including RealNetworks and Microsoft began offering developers a share of ad revenues. Many publishers earned stronger revenues from advertising than sales.
In the coming year new opportunities for casual games will emerge. EA is bringing the casual game experience of its property Pogo.com to the console. "We are focusing on different types of products on the console that are much more suited for advertising," said Cox. "Like our Pogo model, there's going to be products out there where advertising is the root business model."
The console manufacturers have already realized the value of such products. An IDC report identified additional revenue streams the current generation of consoles bring in. "The installed base growth and connectivity growth helped," Cox said.
TV ads online
Consumers Who Watch TV Online More Engaged Than TV-Set Watchers, Simmons Finds
by Mark Walsh, Monday, Dec 24, 2007
CONSUMERS ARE 47% MORE ENGAGED in ads that run with television programs that they view online than those watched on a TV set, according to new research findings.
A cross-media study by Simmons, a unit of Experian Research Services, also found that viewers are 25% more engaged in the content of TV shows that they watch online than on a TV.
The study defines "engagement" according to six characteristics that respondents identify with media: "inspirational," "trustworthy," "life-enhancing," "social interaction," "personal time-out" and ad receptivity.
Survey participants were asked, for instance, to rate TV shows, magazines and Web sites based on how "inspiring" they were or how much they provided fodder for conversation. Ad "receptivity" was gauged on how willing people were to view or read advertising in a given medium because of its relevance.
John Fetto, product manager for Experian Research Services, said that the research suggests that TV ads online are especially effective at reaching consumers.
"Web sites that are extensions of properties that exist in other media channels have great potential to funnel audiences that are highly engaged in the first place," he said.
TV aside, the study found that people are 18% more engaged in ads online, as opposed to print versions, of magazines--and that they are also 15% more engaged in magazine articles online than in print.
In demographic terms, women and younger consumers were shown to have higher levels of engagement online than men and older users. However, the differences were not huge. For instance, based on a 100- to 500-point scoring system, women on average were only slightly more receptive to online ads than men on average, at 236 to 228, respectively.
Also, those between the ages of 35 and 54 rated the Internet as being almost as trustworthy a source of information as did 18- to-34-year-olds (307 for the older demographic, 316 for the younger one).
Other findings:
• People are more receptive to ads on sites that they visit often. Those who visited sites two to six times per week or more are more likely to be responsive to ads than less frequent visitors.
• Among media overall, print rated higher in engagement than TV or the Internet. Does that mean rumors of print being dead are highly exaggerated? Not necessarily. Fetto said that the study showed that among those who read magazines, it's the most engaging medium--but overall, the audience for print media is declining.
The Simmons study was based on 74,996 interviews with U.S. adults about the TV programs, magazines and Web sites that they watch, read and visit. The survey was conducted online and
by Mark Walsh, Monday, Dec 24, 2007
CONSUMERS ARE 47% MORE ENGAGED in ads that run with television programs that they view online than those watched on a TV set, according to new research findings.
A cross-media study by Simmons, a unit of Experian Research Services, also found that viewers are 25% more engaged in the content of TV shows that they watch online than on a TV.
The study defines "engagement" according to six characteristics that respondents identify with media: "inspirational," "trustworthy," "life-enhancing," "social interaction," "personal time-out" and ad receptivity.
Survey participants were asked, for instance, to rate TV shows, magazines and Web sites based on how "inspiring" they were or how much they provided fodder for conversation. Ad "receptivity" was gauged on how willing people were to view or read advertising in a given medium because of its relevance.
John Fetto, product manager for Experian Research Services, said that the research suggests that TV ads online are especially effective at reaching consumers.
"Web sites that are extensions of properties that exist in other media channels have great potential to funnel audiences that are highly engaged in the first place," he said.
TV aside, the study found that people are 18% more engaged in ads online, as opposed to print versions, of magazines--and that they are also 15% more engaged in magazine articles online than in print.
In demographic terms, women and younger consumers were shown to have higher levels of engagement online than men and older users. However, the differences were not huge. For instance, based on a 100- to 500-point scoring system, women on average were only slightly more receptive to online ads than men on average, at 236 to 228, respectively.
Also, those between the ages of 35 and 54 rated the Internet as being almost as trustworthy a source of information as did 18- to-34-year-olds (307 for the older demographic, 316 for the younger one).
Other findings:
• People are more receptive to ads on sites that they visit often. Those who visited sites two to six times per week or more are more likely to be responsive to ads than less frequent visitors.
• Among media overall, print rated higher in engagement than TV or the Internet. Does that mean rumors of print being dead are highly exaggerated? Not necessarily. Fetto said that the study showed that among those who read magazines, it's the most engaging medium--but overall, the audience for print media is declining.
The Simmons study was based on 74,996 interviews with U.S. adults about the TV programs, magazines and Web sites that they watch, read and visit. The survey was conducted online and
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
About time - Dove
Dove viral has drawn heat from critics. To be honest, I'm glad.
The double standard of this campaign is pretty clear. How can one beauty product take a moral high ground against other beauty products when they still advertise in the same places, and are owned by the same company as those they are critising?
November 26, 2007
http://adage.com/article?article_id=122185
See the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaH4y6ZjSfE
The double standard of this campaign is pretty clear. How can one beauty product take a moral high ground against other beauty products when they still advertise in the same places, and are owned by the same company as those they are critising?
November 26, 2007
http://adage.com/article?article_id=122185
See the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaH4y6ZjSfE
Thursday, 22 November 2007
Who's Really Participating in Web 2.0
taken from time.com
We're very taken with the idea of consumers creating content for the Internet. With the advent of blogs, tagging, personal profiles, garage band music and amateur web videos, instant notoriety is just an "upload" click away. The sheer volume of user content is staggering. Wikipedia's user-created entries have surpassed the 5 million mark. In 2006 YouTube announced that it had served over 100 million video clips per day. With such vast libraries of lip-synched videos and episodes of LonelyGirl15, the numbers seem to indicate that this phenomenon has gone mainstream.
One of the exciting concepts of the next generation of sites is the democratization of the Internet. By enabling each of us to create and publish our own material, the power of deciding what we read and watch has spread from a handful of media companies to anyone with an Internet connection and a cheap webcam.
But the latest data on Internet participation reveals that only a very small percentage of Internet activity is related to users creating and publishing content. The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, states that 80% of all consequences stem from 20% of the causes. If true, the rule would then suggest that 80% of this new form of content is created by 20% of the users.
The rule, subject of countless business books, has no application when it comes to consumer-generated content. Far less than 1% of visits to most sites that thrive on user-created materials are attributable as participatory, the remaining 99% are passive visits.
According to Hitwise, only 0.2% of visits to YouTube are users uploading a video, 0.05% visits to Google Video include uploaded videos and 0.16% of Flickr visits are people posting photos. Only the social encyclopedia Wikipedia shows a significant amount of participation, with 4.56% of visits to the site resulting in content editing.
Not only is the percentage of participation very small online, there are some very strong skews as to who is participating. Visitors to Wikipedia are almost equally split 50/50 men and women, yet edits to Wikipedia entries are 60% male. The gender gap is even greater for YouTube, a site whose visitors are equally male and female, but whose uploaders are over 76% male.
With age comes experience, as well as the desire to disseminate knowledge. There is a clear age difference between visitors to Wikipedia and editors of its content. Over 45% of visitors to the site are under the age of 35, while 82% of those making edits to the site are 35 years old or older.
Web 2.0 has been successful in significantly broadening the amount material available to us, but reviewing the latest data reveals that we're still in the very early stages. Watching videos of Charlie the Unicorn or the latest interpretation of Star Wars Cantina music feels as though we're in the awkward and uncomfortable position of being one of the first guests to arrive at what promises to be a very cool party.
Bill Tancer is general manager of global research at Hitwise.
We're very taken with the idea of consumers creating content for the Internet. With the advent of blogs, tagging, personal profiles, garage band music and amateur web videos, instant notoriety is just an "upload" click away. The sheer volume of user content is staggering. Wikipedia's user-created entries have surpassed the 5 million mark. In 2006 YouTube announced that it had served over 100 million video clips per day. With such vast libraries of lip-synched videos and episodes of LonelyGirl15, the numbers seem to indicate that this phenomenon has gone mainstream.
One of the exciting concepts of the next generation of sites is the democratization of the Internet. By enabling each of us to create and publish our own material, the power of deciding what we read and watch has spread from a handful of media companies to anyone with an Internet connection and a cheap webcam.
But the latest data on Internet participation reveals that only a very small percentage of Internet activity is related to users creating and publishing content. The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, states that 80% of all consequences stem from 20% of the causes. If true, the rule would then suggest that 80% of this new form of content is created by 20% of the users.
The rule, subject of countless business books, has no application when it comes to consumer-generated content. Far less than 1% of visits to most sites that thrive on user-created materials are attributable as participatory, the remaining 99% are passive visits.
According to Hitwise, only 0.2% of visits to YouTube are users uploading a video, 0.05% visits to Google Video include uploaded videos and 0.16% of Flickr visits are people posting photos. Only the social encyclopedia Wikipedia shows a significant amount of participation, with 4.56% of visits to the site resulting in content editing.
Not only is the percentage of participation very small online, there are some very strong skews as to who is participating. Visitors to Wikipedia are almost equally split 50/50 men and women, yet edits to Wikipedia entries are 60% male. The gender gap is even greater for YouTube, a site whose visitors are equally male and female, but whose uploaders are over 76% male.
With age comes experience, as well as the desire to disseminate knowledge. There is a clear age difference between visitors to Wikipedia and editors of its content. Over 45% of visitors to the site are under the age of 35, while 82% of those making edits to the site are 35 years old or older.
Web 2.0 has been successful in significantly broadening the amount material available to us, but reviewing the latest data reveals that we're still in the very early stages. Watching videos of Charlie the Unicorn or the latest interpretation of Star Wars Cantina music feels as though we're in the awkward and uncomfortable position of being one of the first guests to arrive at what promises to be a very cool party.
Bill Tancer is general manager of global research at Hitwise.
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Guiness Ads
Guinness hides new ad on Internet The drink’s new website will go live soon
Guinness has a track record of delivering award-winning iconic adverts such a ‘Surfers’ and ‘Hands’ so it seems bizarre that they would want to hide their latest work.
But that’s exactly what they have done.The latest ad is not to be launched on TV but has been hidden online for a Guinness fan to find and then launch to the world.
To be the first to find the new ad internet users are being asked by the drink’s ad agency AMV BBDO to solve a series of clues, codes and puzzles and piece together the new film.“Don’t expect it to be easy,” they warn. “As you know, it just wouldn’t be Guinness if the reward didn’t involve a little waiting.”The drink’s new website will go live soon, but in advance they have launched a teaser on You Tube.
It stars Juan Ramon, the mayor of ‘the village’ and contains some clues to get the search started.
Guinness has a track record of delivering award-winning iconic adverts such a ‘Surfers’ and ‘Hands’ so it seems bizarre that they would want to hide their latest work.
But that’s exactly what they have done.The latest ad is not to be launched on TV but has been hidden online for a Guinness fan to find and then launch to the world.
To be the first to find the new ad internet users are being asked by the drink’s ad agency AMV BBDO to solve a series of clues, codes and puzzles and piece together the new film.“Don’t expect it to be easy,” they warn. “As you know, it just wouldn’t be Guinness if the reward didn’t involve a little waiting.”The drink’s new website will go live soon, but in advance they have launched a teaser on You Tube.
It stars Juan Ramon, the mayor of ‘the village’ and contains some clues to get the search started.
SMOG
How to measure the goobledegook!
http://www.harrymclaughlin.com/SMOG.htm
This will tell you how many years of education needed to understand what you have written.
http://www.harrymclaughlin.com/SMOG.htm
This will tell you how many years of education needed to understand what you have written.
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Analyst: Social networking faces uncertain future
By Natasha Lomas Special to CNET News.com
Published: October 19, 2007, 10:02 AM PDT
Social-networking sites will enlist 230 million active members by the end of the year and will keep attracting new users until at least 2009, according to an analyst report. But investors are still wary--and for good reason, as long-term growth is by no means certain.
A report by U.K.-based Datamonitor, titled "The future of social networking: Understanding market strategic and technological developments," predicts that growth in the number of people signing up to be a part of the cultural phenomenon, which has put the likes of Facebook on the map, will peak by 2009 and plateau by 2012.
It also suggests revenues from social-networking services will hit $965 million this year, swelling to $2.4 billion by 2012.
Growth in the membership of social-networking sites varies dramatically by region, according to the analyst, which predicts Asia Pacific will account for 35 percent of global social networking users by the end of this year, followed by EMEA (28 percent), North America (25 percent), and the Caribbean and Latin America (12 percent).
However, while Datamonitor likens the current hype and excitement around social networking to the heady days of the dot-com boom, it said there is anxiety as well, and warns that investors are pulled in two directions. They do not want to miss out on the "next Google or Yahoo" but are cautious of being overconfident about a Web phenomenon that is not proven over the long term.
It is for this reason that most social-networking sites would be wise to postpone an IPO, said the analyst.
Speaking at a Web 2.0 conference in the US recently, Mark Zuckerberg, this year's top Agenda Setter award winner and founder and chief executive of Facebook--very much the social network of the moment--said his company is "years" away from any such flotation.
Ri Pierce-Grove Technology, analyst at Datamonitor and author of the report, said in a statement: "The extraordinary proliferation of online social networks is fueled by real innovation and is substantially changing the way we communicate. However, the hothouse atmosphere of easy capital, media attention and user curiosity which stimulates creativity will not be sustained indefinitely."
The analyst added that players must develop a "two-pronged strategy in order to survive the extremes of heat and eventual chill which this market will undergo."
Datamonitor said the current growth in social networking offers opportunities for businesses to get involved in supporting the infrastructure needed to run such sites, and it advises technology providers to look for ways to support social-networking services in the areas of scalability and availability.
The analyst also takes the view that consolidation in the marketplace is likely as it becomes more crowded, but said this does not necessarily mean individual sites will be swallowed up. For instance, it predicts special interest social-network sites will continue to play a role.
Published: October 19, 2007, 10:02 AM PDT
Social-networking sites will enlist 230 million active members by the end of the year and will keep attracting new users until at least 2009, according to an analyst report. But investors are still wary--and for good reason, as long-term growth is by no means certain.
A report by U.K.-based Datamonitor, titled "The future of social networking: Understanding market strategic and technological developments," predicts that growth in the number of people signing up to be a part of the cultural phenomenon, which has put the likes of Facebook on the map, will peak by 2009 and plateau by 2012.
It also suggests revenues from social-networking services will hit $965 million this year, swelling to $2.4 billion by 2012.
Growth in the membership of social-networking sites varies dramatically by region, according to the analyst, which predicts Asia Pacific will account for 35 percent of global social networking users by the end of this year, followed by EMEA (28 percent), North America (25 percent), and the Caribbean and Latin America (12 percent).
However, while Datamonitor likens the current hype and excitement around social networking to the heady days of the dot-com boom, it said there is anxiety as well, and warns that investors are pulled in two directions. They do not want to miss out on the "next Google or Yahoo" but are cautious of being overconfident about a Web phenomenon that is not proven over the long term.
It is for this reason that most social-networking sites would be wise to postpone an IPO, said the analyst.
Speaking at a Web 2.0 conference in the US recently, Mark Zuckerberg, this year's top Agenda Setter award winner and founder and chief executive of Facebook--very much the social network of the moment--said his company is "years" away from any such flotation.
Ri Pierce-Grove Technology, analyst at Datamonitor and author of the report, said in a statement: "The extraordinary proliferation of online social networks is fueled by real innovation and is substantially changing the way we communicate. However, the hothouse atmosphere of easy capital, media attention and user curiosity which stimulates creativity will not be sustained indefinitely."
The analyst added that players must develop a "two-pronged strategy in order to survive the extremes of heat and eventual chill which this market will undergo."
Datamonitor said the current growth in social networking offers opportunities for businesses to get involved in supporting the infrastructure needed to run such sites, and it advises technology providers to look for ways to support social-networking services in the areas of scalability and availability.
The analyst also takes the view that consolidation in the marketplace is likely as it becomes more crowded, but said this does not necessarily mean individual sites will be swallowed up. For instance, it predicts special interest social-network sites will continue to play a role.
Need a presentation fast?
Slide Share is a really good slide sharing site. Loads of different stuff:
http://www.slideshare.net/
http://www.slideshare.net/
Monday, 22 October 2007
Why do clients dump agencies?
Study reveals reasons for client / agency splits - taken from Precision Marketing. 22.10.2007
Breakdowns in client and agency relationships are due to failures from both parties to listen to each other and quality of personnel, a study from the AAR reveals.
A survey conducted by the intermediary shows that failure to listen to each other, quality of personnel and inflexibility are sited by agencies and clients as the most common reasons why relationships breakdown. However, 81 per cent of clients and 75 per cent of agencies believe setting clear expectations and clearly defining roles are the best preventative measures.
Over 80 per cent of clients said growing dissatisfaction with their agency’s service output was a key early warning sign to problems ahead. Over 40 per cent of clients are dissatisfied with agencies because of their lack of delivery, 34 per cent are dissatisfied with agencies who don’t meet briefs, and 33 per cent of clients are left unhappy because of declining agency work.
In contrast, only 41 per cent of agencies focused on clients’ dissatisfaction with output or service. Over half of respondents said their dissatisfaction with clients was due to people and relationship changes, while 21 per cent of agencies were left disgruntled because clients were not happy with their staff.
Kerry Glazer, chief executive at AAR, comments: “There needs to be a more concerted effort upfront to establish how the client and agency are going to work together. Our research indicated that a break up could be avoided if working practices were agreed and formalised in writing and practice at the start of the relationship, but the reality is that the focus is on establishing commercial arrangements. This type of forward planning could make for more enduring and successful relationships for both parties.”
Breakdowns in client and agency relationships are due to failures from both parties to listen to each other and quality of personnel, a study from the AAR reveals.
A survey conducted by the intermediary shows that failure to listen to each other, quality of personnel and inflexibility are sited by agencies and clients as the most common reasons why relationships breakdown. However, 81 per cent of clients and 75 per cent of agencies believe setting clear expectations and clearly defining roles are the best preventative measures.
Over 80 per cent of clients said growing dissatisfaction with their agency’s service output was a key early warning sign to problems ahead. Over 40 per cent of clients are dissatisfied with agencies because of their lack of delivery, 34 per cent are dissatisfied with agencies who don’t meet briefs, and 33 per cent of clients are left unhappy because of declining agency work.
In contrast, only 41 per cent of agencies focused on clients’ dissatisfaction with output or service. Over half of respondents said their dissatisfaction with clients was due to people and relationship changes, while 21 per cent of agencies were left disgruntled because clients were not happy with their staff.
Kerry Glazer, chief executive at AAR, comments: “There needs to be a more concerted effort upfront to establish how the client and agency are going to work together. Our research indicated that a break up could be avoided if working practices were agreed and formalised in writing and practice at the start of the relationship, but the reality is that the focus is on establishing commercial arrangements. This type of forward planning could make for more enduring and successful relationships for both parties.”
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Personality test
Really good personality test from Myers-Briggs
http://www.mypersonality.info/personality-types/
I am a ENTJ - The "Chief"
ENTJs are strategic, organized and possess natural leadership qualities. They are master coordinators that can effectively give direction to groups. They are able to understand complicated organizational situations and quick to develop intelligent solutions. ENTJs are outspoken and will not hesitate to speak of their plans for improvement. They are decisive and value knowledge, efficiency and competence.
http://www.mypersonality.info/personality-types/
I am a ENTJ - The "Chief"
ENTJs are strategic, organized and possess natural leadership qualities. They are master coordinators that can effectively give direction to groups. They are able to understand complicated organizational situations and quick to develop intelligent solutions. ENTJs are outspoken and will not hesitate to speak of their plans for improvement. They are decisive and value knowledge, efficiency and competence.
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
How to get CEOs to buy into WOM
Extract from Lois Kelly.
#1. Make meaning, not buzz
"Talk" marketing isn't about superficial buzz that sizzles fast and fades fast. The goal is to help people make sense of information through conversations. The more meaningful the conversations, the faster people are able to connect to your organization, product, or service. This shortens sales cycles and helps employees buy into change more quickly. For companies selling a considered product or service -- which includes most business-to-business companies, professional service firms, and pharmaceutical, health care, and educational organizations -- the goal is making meaning, not making buzz.
#2. Listening leads to innovation
Conversations are at least 50% listening -- and perhaps much more. Marketing's purpose today isn't just pushing out information and producing things; it's listening and bringing ideas back into a company. Ideas that can spark innovation, influence product development, and pinpoint ways to get access to and attention from decision makers. Listening is a new strategy, and it happens through conversations, whether those conversations are face-to-face or in online communities and social networks.
#3. Points of view are more interesting than your products
Unless you're Steve Jobs talking about the iPhone, people don't want to talk about your products or capabilities; they can look that up on the web. What they do want to talk about are your points of view about the industry or category. What common mistakes do you see? What are one or two emerging trends you believe may upset business as usual? In what area are most people wasting money and don't even realize it? What "best practice" do you think is a waste of time? Points of view jumpstart meaningful conversations and distinguish your organization on more than products. And every CEO has those points of view to share with their organization, with customers, with media, and with employees. So share those interesting views. They'll get talked about.
#4. Nothing to talk about is why people don't talk
The reason everyone in a company is often telling a different story -- or not saying much at all -- is that they don't have anything interesting to talk about. Elevator statements, product messages, and mission statements are -- let's face it -- pretty boring and not something that makes you want to get together with a prospect or an analyst. Nor are they something employees want to talk about when they get together with company partners and agencies. Take your points of view and set them free. Share them with everyone in the company and encourage everyone to talk about the ideas, as well as what they hear from the resulting conversations. People will remember and will talk about fresh point of views that get people to say, "Gee, that's interesting. Tell me more." But they're not going to talk about messages and value propositions.
#5. Measure involvement vs. awareness
The new measure of marketing effectiveness is involvement. The more involved people become with your ideas or your sales reps, the more vested they become in those ideas and people. More importantly, involvement is the prerequisite to action, whether that action is changing your mind, asking for an RFP, or making a decision to buy. The objective is to engage people in conversations that get them involved with you and you with them.
One last point that resonated at that skeptical CEO meeting: I played the new Paul McCartney song,"Fine Line," which includes the lyrics, "There's a fine line between recklessness and courage." Not embracing conversational marketing and letting go of some control is reckless because it puts a barrier up between you and your customers, I reminded the execs. Change that makes a big difference, however, requires just a small bit of courage.
And what CEO wants to be seen as lacking courage?
________________________________________________
Lois Kelly is author of "Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing" and a partner in WOMMA member company Foghound. She also blogs at http://blog.foghound.com/.
#1. Make meaning, not buzz
"Talk" marketing isn't about superficial buzz that sizzles fast and fades fast. The goal is to help people make sense of information through conversations. The more meaningful the conversations, the faster people are able to connect to your organization, product, or service. This shortens sales cycles and helps employees buy into change more quickly. For companies selling a considered product or service -- which includes most business-to-business companies, professional service firms, and pharmaceutical, health care, and educational organizations -- the goal is making meaning, not making buzz.
#2. Listening leads to innovation
Conversations are at least 50% listening -- and perhaps much more. Marketing's purpose today isn't just pushing out information and producing things; it's listening and bringing ideas back into a company. Ideas that can spark innovation, influence product development, and pinpoint ways to get access to and attention from decision makers. Listening is a new strategy, and it happens through conversations, whether those conversations are face-to-face or in online communities and social networks.
#3. Points of view are more interesting than your products
Unless you're Steve Jobs talking about the iPhone, people don't want to talk about your products or capabilities; they can look that up on the web. What they do want to talk about are your points of view about the industry or category. What common mistakes do you see? What are one or two emerging trends you believe may upset business as usual? In what area are most people wasting money and don't even realize it? What "best practice" do you think is a waste of time? Points of view jumpstart meaningful conversations and distinguish your organization on more than products. And every CEO has those points of view to share with their organization, with customers, with media, and with employees. So share those interesting views. They'll get talked about.
#4. Nothing to talk about is why people don't talk
The reason everyone in a company is often telling a different story -- or not saying much at all -- is that they don't have anything interesting to talk about. Elevator statements, product messages, and mission statements are -- let's face it -- pretty boring and not something that makes you want to get together with a prospect or an analyst. Nor are they something employees want to talk about when they get together with company partners and agencies. Take your points of view and set them free. Share them with everyone in the company and encourage everyone to talk about the ideas, as well as what they hear from the resulting conversations. People will remember and will talk about fresh point of views that get people to say, "Gee, that's interesting. Tell me more." But they're not going to talk about messages and value propositions.
#5. Measure involvement vs. awareness
The new measure of marketing effectiveness is involvement. The more involved people become with your ideas or your sales reps, the more vested they become in those ideas and people. More importantly, involvement is the prerequisite to action, whether that action is changing your mind, asking for an RFP, or making a decision to buy. The objective is to engage people in conversations that get them involved with you and you with them.
One last point that resonated at that skeptical CEO meeting: I played the new Paul McCartney song,"Fine Line," which includes the lyrics, "There's a fine line between recklessness and courage." Not embracing conversational marketing and letting go of some control is reckless because it puts a barrier up between you and your customers, I reminded the execs. Change that makes a big difference, however, requires just a small bit of courage.
And what CEO wants to be seen as lacking courage?
________________________________________________
Lois Kelly is author of "Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing" and a partner in WOMMA member company Foghound. She also blogs at http://blog.foghound.com/.
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