Filed under: Feature | Tags: Facebook, Jeep, Physical Media, Social media
Last week, I returned from 10 days on the east coast to the note above on my car asking if I’d like to sell. As it happens, that’s exactly what I want to do. I hadn’t had the chance yet to post the car on the obligatory online sites or social networks. I simply had one note from a stranger asking if I wanted to sell. So, of course, I turned to social media next posting the note on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for my social networks to revel in the amazing timing and coincidence. As it turns out, another friend who saw the note on Facebook was also interested in buying my Jeep for his teenage son.
That afternoon, Kevin came by to test drive the car and offered to buy it immediately. Who knew selling a car would be this easy? The ease to purchase got me thinking about interplay between social media and physical media. In this case, the physical media left on my car, in the form of a note, posted to social media networks generated two potential buyers. Fascinating.
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At SXSW this March, I will be speaking on a panel entitled, “Are We Killing Social With Social?” taking a hard look at the ways in which social media can affect our physical relationships. Think back to a moment when a friend ignored your conversation to check in on Foursquare or post a picture on Instagram. While we fuel our social networks with content like programming a television network, we sometimes forget that physical interaction can solve the challenges before us.
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In my case of selling my car, the combination of physical and social led to the sale. Without the note on my car, I would have never posted on my social networks and my Facebook friend wouldn’t have taken interest in the Jeep. The note itself turned out to be an intrigue-driver demonstrating that the car was in good shape. A stranger had passed by and stopped to show interest, writing a note which served as a physical word-of-mouth review more powerful than a Facebook like.
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Of course, Kevin’s lack of punctuation and general affection for capitalization brought him to task on my Facebook page, but that aside, Kevin’s note helped sell my car. In short, physical media should not be sacrificed by the bedside of social media. Social media should serve as a springboard to empower our daily lives. I only fear that for some, the empowerment has turned to addiction and physical media and interaction are being ignored. Let’s face it — Without the note, would a link to the online posting of the car sale be as effective? Perhaps, but physical media sure helped in this case.
Filed under: COOL SHT, Feature | Tags: Angelino, Apple, Beauty, ESPN, Facebook, Foursquare, Glamour, iPad 3, Jeremy Lin, LA, Linsanity, Mountain Lion, New York City, NY Knicks, NYC, Pop-Up, Twitter, Whitney Houston, WhitneyHoustonRIPocolypse, Winter
THIS WEEK: HOUSTON, WE HAVE LINSANITY
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Stan Honda / AFP / Getty Images / February 18, 2012
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Whitney Houston’s funeral Saturday drew more star power than the Grammys the weekend before including Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keyes, R Kelley, Bobby Brown, and Aretha Franklin. Wait, those last two weren’t there. Bobby Brown left because of a “seating incident” and Aretha Franklin had leg issues even though she performed in concert that very night. [raised eyebrows] I thought Kevin Costner’s words concerning his work with the star on the Bodyguard were intriguing. Not only were they clearly heartfelt but they demonstrated the challenges of being a worldwide star. Incidentally, both the Grammys and Whitney Houston’s funeral both clocked in at 3.5 hrs.
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After being in NYC for 10 days, I attempted to mimic that city’s RIPocolypse love. From snow storms to Whitney’s death, everything on Foursquare is a RIPocolypse in New York City. I also wanted to see if a location of this nature would trend in Los Angeles like it trends in NYC. One problem. It never showed up in search results. I contacted one of the co-founders of Foursquare who told me the search results take a bit to update. 3 days later. Same issue. I know we’re on the opposite coast and a little bit farther south than where digital hearts show their affection, but damn it, we Angelinos are digital nerds too. Where is the love?!
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Apart from the digital snafu, I also noticed how polarizing Whitney Houston was when I asked friends to check-in to my newly dubbed WhitneyHoustonRIPocolypse. Some were eager to jump on and some simply flat out said no, not because they didn’t want to break out Foursquare, but because they didn’t “feel the love” for Ms. Houston. I do find it intriguing that certain folks feel so negative towards the pop singer because of her demons with drug abuse. I certainly don’t condone it. That said, entertainers, while making a ridiculous amount of cash, are owned by their audience, incapable of living away from prying eyes. Entertainers have the ability to inspire so many but they are human beings like all of us. Let’s be honest, we all have our demons. So, with that, I will continue to want to dance with somebody and yes, my love is your love.
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Along with the pop star’s farewell, the din of Linsanity, an homage to the popular NY Knicks player Jeremy Lin, has been reaching fever pitch. Unfortunately, ESPN made the mistake of running a racially fueled headline on Friday bringing Lin fans to punches. Thankfully for the fans, the Harvard alumnus finally joined the social network and took the dive into his first public Facebook page.
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In other news, a warmer winter has slowed sales of typical winter purchases, gossip surrounding the coming iPad 3 announcement on March 7th has erupted, and Twitter gets yet another boost from Apple, this time with the release of the Mac operating system Mountain Lion. Take that, Facebook overlords.
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Some more Cool Sh-t:
Beauty on the Go: Pop-Up Shopping Wall
Filed under: COOL SHT, Feature | Tags: Apple, Brian Stelter, CBS, Clive Davis, CNN, Death, Gabrielle Giffords, Google, Grammys, Huffington Post, Inamo St James, Jennifer Hudson, London, NPR, NY Times, Piers Morgan, Pinterest, Providence, PSFK, Redbox, Reuters, RI, Shira Lazar, TechCrunch, Tommy Jordan, Twitter, Valentine's Day, Verizon, What's Trending, Whitney Houston
THIS WEEK: DELAY TO GRAMMY & SPEED TO TWEET
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First thing’s first, Happy almost Valentine’s Day with a little love from Google and some geeky Valentine’s Day cards.
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By now, you’re well versed in the loss of Whitney Houston Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton directly before a pre-Grammy event being thrown by the man who discovered her: Clive Davis. I recommend reading the rest of this post with the following background track. Whitney Houston’s voice has been making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end since I was a little girl. She also convinced me, incorrectly I might add, that pink eye shadow was a fantastic decision for a 7-year old. May she rest in peace.
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Last night, Jennifer Hudson paid tribute to the talented Houston belting out “I Will Always Love You” in a truly sweet and very simple performance. For all of the producers of the Grammys, please take notice of what happened in your show last night. The sad passing of Ms. Houston brought emotion back to your show. Music is the fabric which connects us together and recognizing this stitching is what transforms a show from meh to great.
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Unfortunately, CBS didn’t get the memo about the connecting powers of music. While the east coast was watching the Grammys live as it was happening in LA, the west coast had to wait 3 hours to watch a show which was happening, for some, in their own zip code. So, let me address CBS directly. Delaying your broadcast of the Grammys on the west coast is one of the most ridiculous, vile things a broadcaster could possibly do. Here are some tweets from Piers Morgan of CNN, Brian Stelter of the NY Times, & Shira Lazar of What’s Trending (formerly on CBS) outlining the failure.
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If you want to know why the entertainment business is stumbling, here is one of the best examples. While we were all tweeting away about the Grammys on the east coast, our digital counterparts on the west coast were sitting and watching the events unfold in 140 characters of text rather than in video. By the time the west coast was ‘allowed’ to watch, many social media enthusiasts had already ‘watched’ the show. The reason live events, like this one, are so powerful is based heavily on the connection we feel to family, friends, and strangers alike in different time zones taped together by the social networks. Facebook and Twitter sit us all down on our community couch, and like in Coolio’s ‘Fantastic Voyage’, we somehow all fit. Last night CBS, you disconnected us. You put us in competition with each other. You delayed a show on the west coast which was happening live IN THAT MARKET. You ran tweets on your own live feed which literally ruined the biggest moments of your own show for that audience. Please don’t cry to me about the legal ramifications continuing to persist an antiquated model. Fix it.
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Back to Miss Whitney. What you may not know about her death is that it was reported 27 minutes before major news outlets on Twitter. This, along with stories like it, represents a significant shift in the reporting of news, one that has rested in the hands of professionals with journalism degrees and now has shifted to anyone with a smart phone and a Twitter account. But slow down Gossip Girl. It’s not that simple. Twitter urges us to believe that speed should always be prioritized. Speed is pretty tasty especially when Keanu Reaves is starring. That said, there are several examples of Twitter setting the stage for misinformation.
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One such example is evident in the reporting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ “death” beginning with a tweet from NPR. Of course, Ms Giffords was shot but not in fact killed. NPR’s tweet created a cavalcade of tweets from other major media organizations including the Huffington Post and Reuters. What this represents is the classic antagonism between speed and quality. Major news organizations like the New York Times and others have to weight the information in front of them and double-check the sources before they can officially report on anything. Citizens on the street don’t have to double-check their sources and therefore speed to tweet before asking any questions whatsoever.
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So, which is better? Should the NY Times run a Twitter feed of a news story in progress on their site even before that news is verified? I try to play anthropologist on my own behavior when I’m trying to track a story of this nature. I immediately access my own Twitter feed with the anchor text of whatever I want more information about, in this case “Whitney Houston.” The sources I find there are partially verified by the fact that I follow them, increasing their accuracy at least in certain respects. I have become an editor of my Twitter feed, attempting to verify accuracy on my own, rather than waiting for the NY Times to do it. Why? We all want to be the first one to ‘break’ a story to our friends, confirming that we are in-the-know and on top of events like this one. I found out about Whitney Houston’s death in Providence, RI while visiting my mother. She had gone into a bathroom in the restaurant we were eating at and came out armed with information that another woman had told her after reading a text on her phone. While in the car on the way back home, I verified the news on my social networks, again, playing editor to the information supplied.
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In other news, Pinterest experiences the slap of the hockey stick to 10MM users drawing substantial growth from the middle of the US, one dad teaches his teenager a lesson with a 45 and her laptop. Apple rises to the top, and Redbox reverse engineers to add a streaming service.
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Some more Cool Sh-t:
Giving Your Order with the Click of a Table
Filed under: Feature | Tags: Acura, Bid Light, Camry, Eli Manning, Facebook, Ferris Beuller, Grammys, Hanon McKendry, Honda, IPO, Jay Leno, Kia, Matthew Brodrick, New England Patriots, NY Giants, Old Spice, Pinterest, Planned Parentgood, Seinfeld, Shazam, Sketchers, Superbowl, Susan B Komen, Tom Brady, Toyota, VW, Weego
THIS WEEK: SUPERBOWL RECAP & PINTEREST WEARS THE BIG KID PANTS
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Good morning Giants fans. Go ahead. Lord your supremacy over us Patriots fans. I’m originally from Rhode Island and so became a full-blooded Patriots fan last night at a bar in Saratoga Springs, NY. What to do when surrounded by Giants fans? Become the #1 annoying fan and learn to avoid thrown glasses.
Being that I’m in the ad industry, my main interest in the Superbowl is the commercials and according to a study by Hanon McKendry , 54% of Superbowl watchers are just like me. For $3MM for 30 seconds, let’s give these ads their due respekt. Thus spawns, the Marauder Top 5. Unlike the USA Today Ad Meter which employs ratings from its web site or Facebook to determine a winner, I’m using a much simpler and valuable rating system: YouTube video views combined with my own opinion. To qualify those views, I am also listing out the upload date as most of these commercials were uploaded a week out from the Superbowl itself. Below my top 5, you will find the commercials I was not a fan of but listed as they pulled considerable weight in video views.
Daily Marauder Top 5: Superbowl 2012 Commercials
VW “The Dog Strikes Back”
5 MM views
Upload Date: 1/30
Kia “A Dream Car. For Real Life.”
4 MM views
Upload Date: 1/31
Chevy Sonic “Stunt Anthem”
743K views
Upload Date: 1/27
Sketchers “Go Run”
450K views
Upload Date: 1/26
Bud Light “Rescue Dog”
150K views
Upload Date: 2/3
Notable Mentions: Superbowl 2012 Commercials
Acura “Transactions”
Almost a winner until I saw the appearance of Jay Leno. Instant fail.
15 MM views
Upload Date: 1/30
Honda CR-V “Matthew’s Day Off”
Here’s the thing. “Ferris” just looks old and bloated. I felt depressed after watching it.
12MM views
Upload Date: 1/26
That said, while likability is fun to assess, it matters less in translating to brand sales. Many brands attempted to take their Superbowl ad buy one step further by creating a digital link using Shazam for TV. While many think of Shazam as a mobile app to identify what song is playing, the company recently updated to allow users to Shazam TV as well creating a digital extension both from TV episodes and commercials alike. This affords the TV commercial some digital legs allowing an easier transition from TV to digital. The best example from a brand last night came during the Toyota Camry commercial. Users could Shazam the commercial for a chance to win 2 Toyota Camrys during the game.
In other news, Facebook prepares for its IPO, Path doubles its user count to 2MM having re-launched 2 months ago, the Susan B. Komen Foundation reverses its decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood , Pinterest wears the big kid pants in the social media family, and the Grammys piles on some interesting digital extensions to their coming broadcast.
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Commercial Crashers: The Old Spice Guy
Filed under: COOL SHT, Feature | Tags: #twitterblackout, ACTA, Anonymous, Apple, Car Window, Facebook, Forbes, GM, iPhone, Mitt Romney, Pinterest, President Obama, Republican, Ruby Zhang, State of the Union, Superbowl, Twitter, USC Annenberg School, Weibo
THIS WEEK: BETWEEN POLITICS & CENSORSHIP, THE TWITTER PAGES
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
While the Republican candidates continue to crucify each other in debates and public speaking engagements, Twitter has become a critical tool for candidates to engage their audiences. With 10 times more users on Twitter than during the 2008 election and the sites’ ability to break news faster than major news outlets, Twitter is certainly flexing its muscles in the political campaign space.
While Twitter fist pumps in politics, the site felt some public backlash over the weekend. Forbes claimed that Twitter had committed “social suicide” when they released news that they would be withholding tweets in particular countries (i.e. China, etc) Twitter users like Anonymous planned an online revolt on Saturday January 28th claiming they would not tweet in protest of Twitter’s action (#twitterblackout).
This move by Twitter was certainly not motivated by their desire to censor but more importantly to try and infiltrate China, a market which had 485 million online users at the end of June, more than any other country in the world. Twitter is banned in China, based entirely on the fact that the company, up until now, has refused to allow the government to censor tweets. Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, has allowed open access to the government. The site is used by 250 million users. On Friday, I sat down with Ruby Zhang who moved from China to Los Angeles to study at USC’s Annenberg School. She walked me through Weibo and explained the advantages to Twitter:
- Mainly, her friends from home all use the site and therefore the clear advantage in China is simply that it has mass scale. Twitter will have a difficult time infiltrating given this fact.
- Images in line on Weibo.com’s home page. Many Twitter folk don’t visit the online site but instead connect through Twitter clients like Tweetdeck and others. Visuals are processed by the brain far faster than text. Twitter has made inroads to add visuals in-line but they certainly have room to grow.
- Easier list and categorization features. When’s the last time you used a Twitter list? Fantastic feature but it has been de-emphasized in design updates.
In other news last week, President Obama’s State of the Union got a snazzy interactive update showing side-by-side graphics while the President spoke. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) may be even more insidious than the more well-known SOPA/PIPA, USA Today’s Superbowl Ad Meter will finally include Facebook ratings, Apple delivers blow out earnings proving that more iPhones are sold per day than babies born in the world, Pinterest is showing serious strength in pushing consumers to retail and Facebook plans to file their IPO next week.
Some more Cool Sh-t:
Re-Imagine: What’s Outside Your Car Window
Filed under: Feature | Tags: 49ers, Blablablalab, Downton Abbey, Fred Wilson, Giants, HBO, iTunes, Jeff Zucker, Joe Paterno, Napster, New England Patriots, PIPA, Rhode Ilsnad, Ross Katz, SOPA, Star Wars, Superbowl, Taking Chance, The Bark Side, VW
THIS WEEK: COUNTDOWN TO THE SUPERBOWL & SOPA
Barton Silverman/The New York Times
It looks like you Giants fans have something to celebrate this morning with the Giants win last night over the San Francisco 49ers. This will bring the NY Giants to face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. Being that I’m from Rhode Island, I just might care about this one. Usually, apart from the Thanksgiving holiday, I’m content to ignore the blatant football around me, instead busying myself with perfecting my latte art skills or hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains. This time, with Facebook before me, it was a bit difficult to ignore the game and the overtime field goal which caused celebrations in the east.
Speaking of the Superbowl, last week Volkswagen promoted their Superbowl with what else, an ad. This one featured adorable pooches howling out the Star Wars theme song in an ad dubbed “The Bark Side.” The ad already has over 7MM views on YouTube which is fairly incredible if you consider that this is simply a teaser for…a Superbowl ad. For an explanation of how it was produced, click here. If you remember from last year’s Superbowl, the VW spot featured a young Darth Vader practicing his force and won big as one of the top-rated ads from the game.
In other news, last week saw the internet retaliate at the legislation on the docket dubbed SOPA or PIPA. Rather than an homage to British royalty, these two insidious pieces of legislation threaten to change the infrastructure of the internet and threaten freedom of speech globally under the auspices of copyright law. As someone who worked for an entertainment company (HBO) for 4 years, I am well aware of the value of content. I have been on multiple sets, I am friends with executive producers, I have welled up while listening to Ross Katz discuss his creative process while filming Taking Chance; I am someone who understands the cost and undertaking devoted to creating quality content. That said, the idea that control will fix the problems ailing the content industry is misguided and frankly a sign that consumers’ needs have lapped Hollywood’s delivery of content. I recently read VC Fred Wilson’s plea to Hollywood entitled ‘Scarcity is a Shitty Business Model.’ This has been shown time and time again to be undoubtedly true.
Consider Napster. When Napster was shut down in 2001 and iTunes came raging onto the scene in 2003, many argued that consumers would not buy music for $.99. However, the slick user interface and sheer online availability of music settled that debate quickly proving that consumers would in fact pay if given an easy process for transacting and lots of content. Back to Hollywood. The window structure is simply killing the industry. The window models were created based on an infrastructure that not only no longer exists but will trend farther from its origins over the next few years.
I’ve been recently watching the British series Downton Abbey. In one episode, the wealthy Crowley family updates their lavish home with innovative light bulbs replacing their dimmer cousins, the candles. The grandmother, Dowager Countess of Grantham, expertly acted by Maggie Smith, expresses her discord that the new bulbs are burning her eyes and far too bright. Change is always uncomfortable but inevitable nonetheless. To ignore it and try to squeeze and manipulate the inevitability will always fail. In other words, SOPA/PIPA won’t do justice to their objective, protecting the content and its creators. Furthermore, by censoring the internet under the guidelines that it poses, the legislature threatens to impede innovation across the internet simply because the entertainment industry refuses to innovate.
So here’s my plea to the studios. Innovate the business models, with a considerable shift in availability to speak to consumers’ needs. Eradicate the window structure. Yes, I know the drill. So many companies are involved here that eradication is made difficult. The solution to the problem is never easy but it stands just the same. Allow viewers to watch content on any platform they wish all at the same time, but create a revenue model for each. Think long. Don’t think short. The iPod was a gateway drug for Apple to the success they thrive on today. Consider that the revenues won’t immediately signal success when considered back-to-back (I’m looking at you Jeff Zucker and your digital dimes analogy). Become a misfit and make a revolutionary change. Make some waves, shock the other studios, and consumers will follow you to the bank.
Finally, the Super Bowl gets a social media command center and former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno dies at 85 re-igniting the debate of his misconduct in ignoring the abuse of his subordinates.
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Be Your Own Souvenir: The Ultimate in Memorabilia
Filed under: Feature | Tags: Android, CES, Facebook, GAMING, Golden Globes, Harvey Weinstein, iPhone 4S, Mashable, MG Seigler, Soul!, Spotify, TechCrunch, TED, The Artist, Turntable, Ultrabook
THIS WEEK: THE ARTIST DIGESTED & CES ROUND-UP
Happy Martin Luther King Day!
Last night, the Golden Globes descended upon Hollywood. The critics’ acclaim and 3 Golden Globes for the silent film, The Artist, got me thinking about a general trend in our culture at large, something I spoke about last week as well. If you’ve seen The Artist, then I’m sure you were also struck by the sheer simplicity of the film. Make no mistake about it, I’m not saying I liked it, just that it filters to a true simplicity not seen with most other films. Love, greed, empathy, pain, these were the simple messages evoked in the movie. While watching the film, my friend commented that perhaps she was not intellectual enough to understand the acclaim driving reviews. I don’t think that’s it at all. I think the passion around this film is simply that we are overwhelmed with entertainment and messaging.
Recently, I watched a variety show from the 70’s called Soul! and was struck by the sheer number of lengthy pauses in which the silence was deafening to my modern ears. In my former 5 years as a radio DJ, I would periodically have nightmares in which I was sitting in front of a blinking sound board paralyzed with dead air blaring from the studio speakers. In the modern era, sometimes watching Gossip Girl can literally make me feel like I’m in a dance club with a strobe light. The transition between scenes is on warp speed as our collective attention span has constricted. In some ways, we’ve acclimated to become faster human engines of efficiency. In other ways, we’ve become unaccustomed to the phrase, “stopping to smell the roses.” Back to The Artist. I think the insight into this film is not that it is good or well-acted in fact. I think Harvey Weinstein, the man who purchased the first silent film in over 70 years, is simply an innovator, one who sees what we all want before we want it. We all have been yearning for the simpler life, but without someone to bring this to us in entertainment form, we did not realize it. So Harvey Weinstein, I say well done. I didn’t like The Artist, but I understand it’s inherent value and for that the Golden Globe wins seem warranted. I can’t say the same for George Clooney I’m afraid.
On to the digitalverse. This week, the largest consumer electronics show wrapped up in Vegas. As I said last week, I am not a fan as usually the show produces a compendium of crap rather than one true innovation. This assumption was proved correct. Can’t say I told sold…oh wait, I can. That said, here’s a bit of a round-up from Mashable and a note on how the word ‘ultra-book’ is nothing more than a marketing campaign from Intel. The one highlight for me is really the focus on creating ecosystems rather than attempting to force consumers to purchase new gadgets that they don’t need. In other news, the iPhone 4S helped close Apple’s gap on the Android, especially interesting to note given the number of devices running Android. On the heels of that data, a very interesting post from MG Seigler (formerly of Techcrunch) emerged on why the writer despises Android. You’ll take note of the fact that it has less to due with Apple’s user interface and more on Google’s broken promise to make the consumers’ needs most important.
In other news, Facebook launched a “Listen With” feature which the community at large immediately compared to Turntable. To contradict that theory, I think Facebook discovered a more interesting insight which is that the mass audience does not want to do the work of playing DJ all day on Turntable. They simply just want to know what their friends are listening to. Hey Facebook, I’m still not turning on my listening data in Spotify. A girl has her secrets and you’re not getting all of mine. Nice try though… In bigger Facebook news, Facebook’s IPO is rumored to be hitting late May. And finally, TED returns to Long Beach, CA at the end of February.
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From Gaming to Escape our Real Lives to Gamifying Reality
