What is your brand? Or what is brand? Google Doodle
Google unleashed a phenomenal interactive Doodle to celebrate birthday the 96th birthday of Les Paul, the American maker of the solid body electric guitar.
Google’s interactive homepage enabled user to play the strings with their mouse pointer, record, play back, and when finished recording, provided a link to your saved recording.
Pressing innovation in user engagement and in the meaning of “brand”, Google hosted the Les Paul Doodle up for two days.
Stand Alone Site
A real traffic driver? You betcha! The Les Paul Doodle drove enough interest it logged over 5,350,789 hours on launch day, Thursday. This does not include its Friday presence usage.
What is your brand?
Your brand. Is it the image you want people to see? Or is it the experience itself you can provide over and over again? Think Coca Cola, Maxwell House, Nike, Campbell’s Soup or Volkswagen. The images these brands left are self-experiential: where were you when you had your first coke? How do Campbell soups make you feel? Which coffee really is “good to the last drop”? What does a pleasurable driving experience feel like?
Google takes driving internet traffic and branding to a new state-of-the-art form, when a brand can focus its “image” as the engaging experience itself Be it entertainment or other, the point is to be authentically engaging.
The Sheen on Sheen: Charlie dumps mainstream media for social media… and is #winning.
He was fired from the hit show Two and a Half Men, but he is definitely #winning in the online social media.
Pwnd
“The @charliesheen [Twitter] account has highlighted the ability of the Twitter platform to enable individuals to build an owned audience, in real-time, in scale, with a narrative that does not need to pass through the traditional media gatekeepers,”
-Lou Kerner, Internet & social media analyst for Wedbush.
Yes he said owned.
Mystic, Worlock or Social Media Maven
Yes, Charlie Sheen is winning. There is no doubt about that. His public tirades and rants are a turn off and may even be a call for professional help. But regardless of what we think of this man’s tired raving appearances, Charlie Sheen is not missing the social media boat, and in fact, intends to own it.
I really don’t think America only knows what hit them the day after Sheen’s UStream webcast. Dubbed, Sheen’s Korner, the live broadcast showed the notorious celeb along with his posse of confidants promoting Charlie’s case, or cause, to the world; and he did it with record-breaking panache. If you don’t think he is motivating millions, keep watching the dial.
Breaking Records: Winning
After CBS fired Sheen, the star fired back. Sheen launched his social media torpedoes on Twitter and Ustream, and in #winning back his own website name. Charlie then took his case to his public. On March 6 his live broadcast peaked with over 118,000 simultaneous viewers and netted over 1.2 million viewers.
Did Sheen miss the boat in not setting up his own broadcast network? Has he failed to leverage his massive television audience and Twitter followers? He may yet marshal his star power to produce his own network shows. A couple unscripted shows is one thing, broadcast network programming with ready-made audience is another.
No, Charlie Sheen hasn’t missed the boat. He’s sailing a wave of newfound social media fame.
In fact, ala Conan O’Brien, Sheen took his show on the road, and recently announced a short film role in “Warlocks.” Hardly a ladder climber. Though, how and where the film is released, how many sequels, video game rights, all have yet to be realized in Vatican Assassin Warlock style.
Eye on the Tiger: The Sheen of Sheen
Charlie Sheen appears to have that glow. That Hollywood stardom lustre that says I’m on top: “winning.”
Though whether you believe he’s got #TigerBlood or think that his social media program is #winning, keep a close eye on how this modern-day P.T. Barnum cum Hunter S. Thompson turns social media into his own Trump empire.
“There are still many brands who haven’t figured out why they’re in social media. We still talk to brands that are trying to determine if they should be in social media. The data suggests the two most important subsets in social are user reviews and category blogs, rather than sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.”
- Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search
A recent study shows how search and social amplfy consumer’s purchasing decisions.
Key findings linking social and search together:
- 86% see search engines important in buying decisions
- 30% use social media to create a shopping short-list
- 28% say social media has a valuable impact in creating awareness for brands and products
Overall, the reports finds the onus of increasing purchasing decision through social and search lies with companies better understanding the role of social media for the cultures they serve and their role with and within it.
What are the limits of the press, of freedom of speech, and our rights to privacy? 60 Minutes presses Assange in this exclusive interview over the fine line of what is journalism vs. espionage.
The Wikilieaks model is different.
It prefers to take raw data, make it available
and let others decide the meaning… It beats close to the heart of the internet
and the younger generation…
The internet and social media disruption to former “traditional media” formats became ever more distinct as Rupert Murdoch announced his iPad Newspaper.
Rupert Murdoch is currently leading the charge to build The Daily, an iPad-centered newspaper. Yep, that’s iPad centric; to include all forms of tablet computers for its future news presentation and distribution.
Today more than 65 percent of Fortune 500 companies
are deploying or piloting the iPad. -Apple Inc.
Seems Murdoch is advancing what will soon become more commonplace in both enterprise and consumer trends.
iPad: An Enterprise and Social Game Changer
Calling Apple’s iPad “an exception” and “more than just the latest consumer gadget,” Gartner Research recently sent a clarion call world wide to CEOs and business enterprises. Gartner called for CEOs to get directly involved in specific technology device decisions with their CIOs based on the iPad’s disruptive potential for business. Recent news posts cite that change is happening, and fast.
[T]he iPad is not a notebook replacement for most users,
but a valuable companion device. As it is much less
intrusive in face-to-face environments than conventional
notebooks, it is well suited to a sales or information-sharing
environment. It also makes electronic media consumption
effortless and casual, thereby increasing consumption
Media is changing the face of mass media and business, and mediating the rate at which we will mediate all media. And the iPad is the message.
Read more on Murdoch’s iPad newspaper revolution here.
RockMelt - the new web browser built ground up “for the way people live and work today.” According to its founders, RockMelt was built to “address people’s three top browsing behaviors: interacting with friends, consume news and information, and searching.” Well, that is if you are a Facebookaholic or believe that Facebook will be the operating system of the future.
While RockMelt is definitely a plus, it more or less offers a browser interface that lays over your Facebook experience, allowing you to more easily mix your web browsing content into your Facebook news stream and share directly with friends. A small enhancement on both the Chromium open source browser and Facebook.
RockMelt works by drawing your data from Facebook and then posits it into the cloud. You log into RockMelt via a Facebook sign-on button from no matter where you are. Then RockMelt delivers your friend data, layout, updates, bookmarks, settings and browsing data from the cloud each time you login.
Visually it pulls your friends out of the browser and keeps them in view on the left side of the browser while you pursue the web. RockMelt puts your apps, Facebook news feed and profile, Twitter feed and RSS feeds on the right side of the browser, somewhat ala Yoono.
RockMelt sidebars makes key objects visible and edgy.
RockMelt brings your social experience topside with 2 sidebar columns (see top pic).
The left sidebar is your “Friends Edge,” displaying your Facebook friends. It can sort by Alpha , Who’s Online, Favorited or Show All Friends. It shows their online status in green (online), yellow (busy) or gray (offline). Selecting a friend open a smaller window displaying their updates, a chat tab, and a Wall link to write on their wall.
The right sidebar is the “App Edge.” Here it displays your Facebook Profile, pages, Twitter and RSS feeds, or recent pages visited for easily drop in to your social networks.
It also shows more of the news stories, so you can get more of a preview without opening another tab or clicking over to the page.
RockMelt Downers
Choice and lack of privacy. Users must first “Accept” to let RockMelt share information with Facebook in order to download the browser and can only activate RockMelt browser by signing in to Facebook. So now, RockMelt will be gathering even more of your personal information at Facebook like your complete search and browsing habits, RSS feeds and extensions used. While this may make RockMelt a “killer” acquisition target for Facebook with the exclusive Facebook integration, it limits user choice to exercise options over what information they want to “share” or make accessible to anyone online.
RockMelt purportedly does not disclose information about data collection. According to its founders, RockMelt will “provide a new, highly social browsing experience in line with the web habits of today’s computer users.”
However, users’ web habits are their own. That’s why we have a privacy policies to protect both web service companies and users, right?
If it wants to build a credible user base, RockMelt should adopt a policy of transparency and disclose what it collects and to whom it provides access to (third parties) in the cloud. Especially since it has close links to Facebook. RockMelt is partly funded by Marc Andreessen, the browser titan of both Mosaic and Netscape. He sits on Facebook’s Board and his venture group Andreessen Horowitz is a major backer of RockMelt. With the recent privacy lawsuits against Facebook, it might be good for RockMelt to fully disclose upfront.
There are other places for improvement. The browser is built for laptop/desktop screen use and not for mobile, but that is sure to come later. The News Feed doesn’t allow you to select who you want to follow, it instead uses the Facebook algorithm which chooses for you whose news you get. And RockMelt doesn’t yet support real-time Twitter updates.
While Flock was the first and formerly only social network browser, RockMelt can make browsing and using Facebook so much easier and fluid. A big plus for hardcore Facebookers and for this new entry into the browser market.
But is RockMelt really an evolution of the web browser? Will it be the giant killer to take down Google Chrome, IE or Firefox? Meh. Though it is an improvement anyway.
“It’s inevitable that e-commerce and Facebook
will overlap or collide.”
- Scott Wingo, Chief Executive of ChannelAdvisor Corp.
Are retailers ready to capitalize on Facebook‘s 500 million users?
Some analyst think so.
Companies are rapidly evolving to embrace social media’s e-commerce potential. Of the 69% of online shoppers who say they use social media sites, 56% choose to proactively interact with companies on social sites. But, are companies responding fast enough to this growing consumer need?
Social media is a viable marketing strategy
when we understand what our customers want
and know which social media platforms they frequent.
- ForSee Results
Some companies are trying to merge real-life experience with real-time internet user content. Think The Old Spice Guy. This tactic engages online users and customers, referring to their online content. A real-life version of this is 60 Minutes using user’s YouTube video feedback or KMart putting customer reviews on the store shelves of select video games.
But selling directly thru a Facebook Page or Storefront will be the holy grail for business. Just see the above image how Delta’s Facebook Page enables direct ticket purchases.
Not Buying the F-Word
Not everyone is on the Facebook e-commerce bandwagon. Cautioning against rampant “f-commerce” or Facebook commerce marketing, Paul Marsden sagely advises on Social Commerce Today that marketers use Facebook as an “e-commerce sandbox for experimenting with innovative live, event and social shopping solutions – like group buy, private buying clubs, VIP stores, and tryvertising stores at low cost, and low risk.”
Though evolution has a tricky way of creating a slippery slope when leaders of the pack make bold new moves, causing others in the herd to quickly emulate this strange behaviour else risk perishing in the jaws of inertia.
What do you think?
Are you employing e-commerce strategies on Facebook?
Let us hear from you. Comment here.
60 Minutes Goes Social on YouTube;
Solicits viewer video feedback on program stories.
“Ask 60 Minutes”
Looking to “start a conversation,” broadcast media program “60 Minutes” makes its move to embrace social media and user-generated content via a new YouTube Channel and partnership called “Ask ’60 Minutes’”. The new channel opens up the news giant to user feedback where you can engage directly with “60 minutes” correspondents. If lucky enough, they will post your video on their show.
Surely may not be as ground breaking as Rocketboom, but will user-generated content change the way broadcast news generates and produces newsworthy content? And more importantly, in our desire to consume it?
.jpg "Julian Assange (Norway, March 2010)")
