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November 5, 2009

Amazon Integrates Twitter with Affiliate Program. Is it Spam?

Amazon has introduced a feature on its Associates affiliate scheme which allows its members to tweet links with ease directly from its site. When browsing products, affiliates can now post links to Twitter by simply clicking a toolbar button at the top every page, similar to the way in which they might share an article via a "share this" button.

Of course, the same result was already possible by entering an affiliate link into a url shortener and posting it to Twitter, but the two-click functionality now makes that process easier and quicker.

Whether or not this is a good thing for Twitter users is another question entirely. The micro-blogging and networking service already experiences problems with spam accounts and unwanted marketing messages, so the introduction of similar functionality across other affiliate programs could well contribute to the growing amount of content many users consider spam.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 3, 2009

Most Brutal Sponsorship Ever

Though they're more prone to drinking beer and Jagermeister, a sneak preview of the return of the members of the world's most brutal metal band, Dethklok, has been brought to us by Coke Zero.

In fact, in addition to "Metalocalypse," which features the animated exploits of Dethklok, the non-caloric soda brand is sponsoring a host of previews of upcoming shows on Cartoon Network's adult-aimed programming block Adult Swim. The main goal appears to be promoting the "Facial Profiler," an application available at CocaColaZero.com that purports to match photos of people with similar facial features.

At this stage, Coke is in the building stage, looking for people to submit their photos to the database by connecting to the app through Facebook.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 16, 2009

FTC Responds to IAB Letter on Blogger Guidelines

Yesterday the Interactive Advertising Bureau took a jab at the Federal Trade Commission's revised guidelines on online endorsements. Put simply, the guidelines call for online reviewers to disclose payment or affiliation with marketing campaigns or advertisers.

The way the IAB sees it, the FTC is unfairly favoring traditional media over digital media. In a letter sent to the FTC chairman, IAB prez Randy Rothenberg contended the FTC's call for disclosure of "material connections" between advertisers and endorsers in social media platforms will "shackle online media while exempting our offline cousins and competitors from equivalent constraint."

"I don't think that there is any favoritism based on the type of media," Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC's division of advertising practices told ClickZ News this morning. "The core here is do consumers understand the relationship that exists between the speaker and the seller." "Offline, if those lines are blurred, then there's a problem," he continued. "These are not new issues."

As iterated throughout his lengthy letter, Rothenberg and others fear that the FTC will now be on the hunt for bloggers reviewing and endorsing products, which he argues will squelch social media.

"In terms of bloggers and other endorsers...I don't think that there is any reason for concern," said Cleland, stressing, "We have explained on a number of occasions that we do not have civil penalty authority." In other words, he told me, the FTC is not planning an enforcement sweep against bloggers. Also, he confirmed, the FTC has no authority to fine anybody (despite countless erroneous reports to the contrary).

The IAB also suggested that the FTC guidelines are "perverse" and "constitutionally dubious," stating they imply "individuals writing in social media bear greater liability than do those writing for offline, one-way media."

"It's not clear what exactly the IAB thinks the constitutional issue is here," Cleland said. "The guidelines are in fact just guidelines and to the extent that they focus on [misleading] commercial activity and practices that are essentially promoting products in exchange for payments or free merchandise...we don't think that there's a constitutional issue."

As for the public hearing the IAB wants the FTC to hold to hash out the concerns, Cleland said, "We haven't made any determination on that.... We've already taken comments on this issue." Still, he added, "We don't want to preclude that we might do something in addition to [the comment period]."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 1, 2009

Twitter Lists Present Cool Possibilities for Brands

If you haven't seen it already, Twitter has announced it's testing "Twitter Lists," essentially lists of users that can be categorized according to who they are or what they write about. According to a Twitter blog post yesterday, "The idea is to allow people to curate lists of Twitter accounts."

In non-pretentious language, that means eventually anyone will be able to assemble a group of Twitterers, allowing people to easily follow all those accounts.

So, I've been thinking about what this could mean for brand marketers. Well, if anything, it should mean that marketers will have a number of options when it comes to creating their own lists. For CRM or customer service, they can readily compile all their brand-related Twitter accounts into one. Think @ford/teamtwitter. Or whatever.

I also see a ready opportunity for cause marketing. Let's say a brand really wants to connect with charity activity around breast cancer, or wants to establish itself as a leader in the movement towards clean energy. If I understand Twitter's offering here, a brand could assemble a list of Twitter accounts associated with individuals or organizations it believes are influential in that particular category and promote the list on their own sites and through their own Twitter accounts. Think @google/netneutrality.

Of course, this could work for non-cause stuff, too. Say a brand wants to get noticed among running enthusiasts or among fans of Asian cinema. It could put together a list of Twitterers who post about those topics. How about @Asicsamerica/running?

This is akin to what Microsoft has already done in conjunction with Federated Media and Twitter in its ExecTweets site.

Then there's politics. The parties can compile lists of people or party organizations aligned with their side. Or a candidate could assemble a list of thought leaders he'd like to draw attention to (or he'd like to draw attention to him). Think @lpnational/thoughtleaders.

Though I think this offering alone presents some good opportunities to brands, it ultimately could become a good source of revenue for Twitter. A brand could sponsor an official Twitter List, for example.

So, now, before Twitter actually launches this feature, brands ought to start thinking about how they might want to use it.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

September 21, 2009

Brands Show Off Their Social Side at IAB's MIXX

The Bank of America has turned to Twitter as a channel for customer care.

Betty Crocker's marketing team worked with CafeMom.com, a social network for moms and moms-to-be, to help moms plan birthday parties for children ages 3 to 12.

And Cheetos and its creative agency, Goodby Silverstein & Partners collaborated with Federated Media to develop a sponsorship program called Cheetos Boredom Busters.

The initiatives of Bank of America, General Mills' Betty Crocker, and Frito-Lay's Cheetos were highlighted during the first day of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's MIXX conference on Monday during Advertising Week.

Stephanie Charlesbois, senior communications strategist at Goodby, Silverstein, said publishers in Federated Media's network were tasked to come up with video and other content for their audiences. "We made it clear to brand teams (at Frito-Lay) it was essential that we have to give up creative control. This is a scary thing for the clients," she said.

A 10-month Betty Crocker campaign on CafeMom had several goals including provide moms with cake ideas and inspirations for party themes while establishing Betty Crocker as a source of "holistic birthday solutions," said Laura Fortner, SVP, marketing and insights at CafeMom. Three groups of 50 moms were asked to use Betty Crocker party themes and share their photos and insights on CafeMom.

And Jennifer McDonald, BofA digital marketing executive, discussed the evolution of the bank's social media strategy. Its first initiative back in 2006 amounted to a product promotion on Facebook. Next, the bank sought to build upon its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team, encouraging people to create a cheer and promote it on social network.

"We continued to challenge ourselves to become more relevant in our core day-to-day business," said McDonald.

Its first initiative back in 2006 amounted to a product promotion on Facebook. Next, the bank sought to build upon its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team, encouraging people to create a cheer and posting it on a social network.

But Bank of America re-evaluated its social media play again this year. "We continued to challenge ourselves to become more relevant in our core day-to-day business," McDonald said.

So, the Bank of America examined what customers were saying about the brand on social networks. It subsequently set up a Twitter account, @BofA_help, to help customers resolve issues they were having with their checking accounts and other services. The account, manned by David Knapp, now serves 50 to 100 customers a week.

So how did the bank get buy in for the Twitter account from its legal department and other teams? "It's an extension of our customer service team...This is a service channel for us," McDonald said.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 17, 2009

Facebook Party: An Off-the-Record Event

Journalists planning to attend the Facebook GeneratioNext Wrap Party during next week's Advertising Week just got this advisory: It's going to be an off-the-record event.

Does that mean we're going to have to leave our camera phones at the door? That doesn't seem very social.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 16, 2009

Facebook Declares Profitability, Reaches 300 Million Users

Facebook has reached profitability quicker than it expected, according to the social network's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Writing on the firm's blog yesterday, Zuckerberg said, "Earlier this year, we said we expected to be cash flow positive sometime in 2010, and I'm pleased to share that we achieved this milestone last quarter."

Facebook has struggled to monetize its platform as easily as it may have hoped, owing in part to reluctance from brands to advertise alongside user generated content, and also to privacy concerns from some users over the way in which their data is being used to target commercial messages.

Regardless, Zuckerberg says the firm is now in a position to sustain itself financially, and "sets Facebook up to be a strong independent service for the long term." In addition, he claims the service now serves 300 million people globally.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

August 31, 2009

Marriage Proposal As "Social Media Enagement Success Story"

My husband and I eloped and didn't tell anyone before we did it, so I guess I'm naturally skeptical of people who want to make spectacles of their marriage proposals and weddings. Today the cynic in me surfaced again when I caught wind of the "Dalila, will you marry me?" campaign launched by a guy named Fred, evidently a staffer at digital agency Deep Focus.

Fred included video and social media-enabled banner ads on women-aimed site SheKnows, where he posted a list of 10 reasons his girlfriend Dalila should say, "Yes." It didn't take long for a large banner unit featuring a dynamic Twitter feed to flood with posts related to his campaign.

It also didn't take long for her to agree to get hitched. It must have been reason number 9, Dalila's hair: "Her hair is what I first noticed when I met her, and to this day is still a major part of my most fond memories of her."

Um....OK....

I can't help but wonder if the campaign served a dual purpose as a way for Deep Focus to promote its social ad prowess, but then again, there's the cynic rearing her head. The agency's CEO, Ian Schafer's Twitter post congratulating Fred: "Delila said YES! Congrats, Fred!!! http://bit.ly/u82e2 #SayYesD A social media engagement success story :)"

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oreo Takes Big Budget Baby Step in Social Media

Oreo has tapped star power to promote its new Golden Double Stuf cookie.

In a homepage video ad that appears today on YouTube, Donald Trump challenges Eli and Peyton Manning to participate in a "lick race" competition to buy the so-called DSRL or the Double Stuf Racing League.

The YouTube video includes a promotion pointing Oreo fans to follow the brand on Facebook and Twitter and visit a YouTube channel or microsite for the Double Stuf Racing League. The campaign also includes a sweepstakes to meet the Mannings in Florida.

Will using celebrities like Trump and the Manning brothers help a social media campaign? Perhaps. To me, though, it feels like Oreo -- which has a huge following on Facebook -- is trying a little too hard to stuff its brand into social media channels.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

August 13, 2009

Social Media Policy: 'Just Be Smart'

IBM has its Social Computing Guidelines. Dave Evans, ClickZ's social media columnist, points to IBM as a good example for other companies to consider.

A quick search for "social media policies" turns up these guidelines from Intel. Best part, they are written in plain English.

Considers this example:

"Did you screw up? If you make a mistake, admit it. Be upfront and be quick with your correction. If you're posting to a blog, you may choose to modify an earlier post -- just make it clear that you have done so."

Then there's Zappos. More than 400 of its 700-employees participate on Twitter.

Brian Kalma, head of user experience and Web strategy, Zappos, said the online retailer doesn't have a policy for its employees, other than "just be smart." (He made his remarks while speaking on the panel I moderated, "Managing Conversations and Reputations When the User Is In Control," at Search Engine Strategies San Jose.)

It's worth noting, Twitter offers training to its employees, giving its team the opportunity to get even smarter about this stuff.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 12, 2009

Zappos, Cisco to Chat Up Social Media at SES San Jose

Cisco Systems sells network equipment (e.g., routers and switches) and Zappos sells shoes. Each will be telling its social media story during panels hosted by ClickZ and Online Marketing Summit at Search Engine Strategies San Jose today.

We're also expecting a lively session about white hat/black hat in social media.

Not able to attend? Follow the conversation on Twitter by tracking #sessj.

Here's the complete lineup of the ClickZ/OMS panels:

Igniting viral campaigns: Brian Ellefritz, senior manger, social media marketing at Cisco Systems; Matthew Liu, product manager at YouTube sponsored videos; 10e20's Greg Finn; WebMama's Barbara Coll; and Apogee Search's Bill Leake. That panel will be moderated by Aaron Kahlow, chairman of the Online Marketing Summit.

Managing conversations and reputations: Brian Kalma, head of user experience and Web strategy, Zappos; Digital Voodoo's Dave Evans; Serengeti Communications' Liana Evans; and HubSpot's Mike Volpe. It will be moderated by yours truly.

White hat vs. black hat in social media: Harte Communications' Beth Harte; TopRank Online Marketing's Lee Odden; Search & Social's Dave Synder; and 97th Floor's Chris Bennett. Dave Evans will moderate.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 2:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 11, 2009

In Social Media, Motives Are Not Always the Same

People who write comments, share photos, upload videos, and contribute to blogs have different motives for participating online, sometimes surprising their audiences.

And don't assume those motives are all the same, warned Clay Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everybody" and keynote speaker at Search Engine Strategies San Jose, on Tuesday. He analyzed the technology and behavioral trends that are changing the way that people connect with each other -- and attempted to dispel assumptions about what motivates people to participate.

Take, for instance, the blogger who posted exclusive reports and photos about a coup in Thailand. "She's not a journalist, but she commits an act of journalism," Shirky said, adding that those reports earned her a following.

But when the same blogger wrote about her wish for a pink Hello Kitty mobile phone, some followers complained that she was going off topic.

How did the blogger respond to her critics? "She did something that most traditional journalists would not do. "She told those readers to buzz off," Shirky said, making the case that people who participate in social channels are not always motivated by the same reasons. "She's doing this because she's operating from intrinsic motivations."

Bottom line: "Amateurs are not sloppy professionals. They do things in different ways," he said.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 7, 2009

Is Twitter Testing Ads?

UPDATED: It seems Twitter is not testing a new ad format. Details below.

Twitter appears to be experimenting with a range of new features today, including what appears to be third-party sponsored text links on user profile pages.

A box located directly beneath a user's follower numbers is promoting products and services on some accounts, and offers the options to "tweet now" or to "learn more," the latter linking to a third-party site. One ad apparently links to a site related to a movie called "Taking Woodstock."

The changes aren't currently visible from my account (@jackmarshall), but a user I follow, @anjali28, was kind enough to send me the following screen grabs of the changes she noticed this afternoon. Apparently another ad reads, "Thirst In Select Theatres 7/31. A priest becomes a vampire. Tweet if you want to see the movie! Tweet now or learn more."

However, none of the ads mentioned are for brands or products I immediately recognize. We are currently waiting for Twitter itself to verify the nature of the ads, and indeed if the images are even real.

UPDATE: It seems Twitter is not testing new ad formats after all. Rather, it appears the user that pointed this out to me may have forgotten she had installed the ad-supported browser application, Power Twitter.

Before posting, I questioned the nature of the ads with the user herself, who said in an e-mail, "just to clarify, I haven't installed Power Twitter." I've been unable to reach her since to double-check this, and we're still waiting for a response on the matter from Twitter itself.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 19, 2009

Facebook Fans Addicted to Oreo Cookies

What happens if you scrape the white cream filling from 36 Double Stuf Oreo cookies and stack the sugary goo in between two chocolate wafers?

Just ask Web designer and developer Jason E. Beaird, who initially posted the photo on his blog, Jasongraphix.

You've got a savory photo for Oreo junkies to ogle on Facebook. In fact, 246 Oreo fans on Facebook commented on the photo when it was published on the social networking site. Some people posted sexually suggestive remarks, others marveled over the mini-engineering feat, and others proclaimed their love for the snack.

Oreo fans first came to my attention during the Interactive Advertising Bureau's social media conference this week. The cookie brand, part of Kraft Foods' Nabisco World snacks, has more than 1.3 million fans on one unofficial fan page alone. What's more, there are at least three other Oreo fan pages with several hundred thousand fans each.

While Andrew Markowitz, director, digital marketing, at Kraft Foods, acknowledged the brand's popularity during a panel discussion at the IAB conference, he didn't specify how the company interacts with its Facebook fans.

So I followed up with him and his team. Here are replies, via e-mail, courtesy of Stephen Chriss, director of consumer and customer engagement, U.S. snacks business, at Kraft Foods.

ClickZ: How is Kraft or the Oreo brand team interacting with fans on Facebook?
Stephen Chriss: We're thrilled with the number of fans and followers of Oreo on Facebook. We currently don't formally interact with fans on the site. However, we do keep an eye on the content, conversation and number of fans. Right now, we're reviewing the brand's digital strategies, including our approach to interacting with Facebook fans.

ClickZ: Do they participate in conversations in non-branded pages?
SC: Not currently. However, as I mentioned, we're reviewing plans to possibly do so.

ClickZ: And, is there an official Oreo fan page?
SC: No.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

May 5, 2009

IAB Hopes Industry Stands Behind New Social Media Metrics

What are the best metrics to gauge social media campaign results? It's been a subject of debate in recent years. There's little doubt The Interactive Advertising Bureau's just-released social media definitions and metrics will spur further debate.

"This document defines these supplemental metrics in more detail in an effort to
stimulate growth by making the reporting of metrics for agencies and advertisers across
multiple media partners more consistent," writes the IAB in its "Social Media Ad Metrics
Definitions" document (download the .pdf).

The doc defines Social Media Sites, Blogs, and Widgets & Social Media Applications, and provides a set of metrics that should apply to all three including unique visitors, cost per unique visitor, interaction rate, video installs, and measures of other actions such as games played, invites sent, or re-posts. It goes on to lay out metrics specific to social sites, blogs, and widgets.

"The IAB hopes that all players in the Social Media space will coalesce around these metrics to encourage growth through consistency," continues the doc.

Will it?

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 30, 2009

Mzinga Layoffs, Part 2

Like piranhas that sense blood, Mzinga's rivals and others are circling the wounded social network software vendor that laid off 40 earlier this month.

Sparta Social Networks, Lithium, and consultancies have apparently bid on the keyword, "mzinga," so they show up as a sponsored link when someone searches for "mzinga" on Google.

As seen on Google this morning:

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 29, 2009

Mzinga Layoffs Hit the Social Grapevine

Tweeple are a twitter over layoffs at social media software vendor Mzinga this month.

A bostonglobe.com column, "Social downsizing," published Sunday follows the online and offline drama over the March 19 layoffs of 40 employees - or about 18 percent of the vendor's workforce.

"This was a layoff for our Twittery new times," writes Scott Kirsner, a Globe columnist. "Though layoffs are always painful, there's something new going on here -- especially in the way these laid-off employees weren't silent, and in the way their network of friends and contacts leaped in to help them."

Ashley Quincy, a laid-off Mzinga worker, reached out to the Twitter network with this tweet, below. In a follow up note to me on Facebook, she wrote: "I have been fortunate where many recruiters and companies have reached out to me because of that particular tweet. It just reinforces how powerful social media can be and how it can be leveraged for job searches."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 24, 2009

Twitter Accepts Its First Ad Payment, Will 'Suggest' ExecTweets

In what may technically be its first ad deal, Twitter is accepting payment from Microsoft and John Battelle's Federated Media Publishing to promote ExecTweets, a service that aggregates tweets from top business executives.

According to FM Publishing, ExecTweets is "a real-time tool that helps you to find, follow and engage with the world's most prolific and successful business executives on Twitter."

While FM says ExecTweets does not represent an important revenue model for the service, Twitter's leadership has given the ad seller its blessing. In a post to the company's blog, founder Biz Stone wrote, "if you're a major brand and you want to sponsor a topic-focused social media experience with Twitter, we suggest Federated Media -- they'll fix you up right."

On a first glance, the interface would appear to have been rolled out a bit prematurely. For instance, the media and advertising category -- where FM should be well-equipped to generate rapid value -- is slim pickings for anyone not exclusively interested in Web publishing. Featured here is a who's who of overexposed digerati: Joi Ito, Guy Kawasaki, Tim O'Reilly, and Pete Blackshaw.

Whatever its flaws, ExecTweets is notable for one big reason. It appears to be the first time any brand has worked with Twitter on a paid basis. While its not clear how much Twitter received from Microsoft for supporting and promoting the tool, Battelle wrote in a blog post that "Federated Media felt that Twitter should share some of the revenue associated with ExecTweets since this project is made possible using their open platform."

A noble sentiment to be sure. However FM stands to benefit greatly -- arguably more than Twitter -- by being the first to engage the thunderously popular service in a paid relationship of any kind. That is a huge selling point for any ad seller.

For its part, Twitter must tread carefully. Having agreed to promote ExecTweets on its homepage and "suggested users" page, the company must now give careful thought to disclosure to avoid provoking user skepticism every time it recommends a product or Twitter user.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 14, 2009

Quote of the Day: Joe from Bradenton, FL

"AT&T just sent me a text message advertisement about American Idol. Evil. The economic downturn definitely means a spam upswing."

-Florida resident Joe Brockmeier, Twittering about an unsolicited SMS he received from AT&T. AT&T sent the mass text message to promote the latest season of the show, which it sponsors, according to a New York Times report.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BK's 'Whopper Sacrifice' Burned on the Altar of Privacy

Burger King has disabled its hit "Whopper Sacrifice" app after Facebook asked the company to alter it in the interest of user privacy.

The application offered a free Whopper to any Facebook user who removed 10 of his or her friends. (Tagline: "You like your friends. But you love the Whopper.") The problem, from Facebook's point of view, was that anyone rubbed out for a tenth of a Whopper was told about the act, violating the company's carefully cultivated relationship of trust with users.

"We have reached out to the developer with suggested solutions," Facebook said in a comment to the Inside Facebook Blog. "In the meantime, we are taking the necessary steps to assure the trust users have established on Facebook is maintained."

The problem with Whopper Sacrifice is not limited to preserving trust. As I expressed in a post last week, the application could also be abused in the hands of facebook users bully pulpit-sized networks. That's because the removal of any friend by Whopper Sacrifice was broadcast to the news feed of the person doing the removing, and hence be read by any of his or her friends. Many of these will also be familiar with the victim. So it could be a means of ostracization.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

January 9, 2009

BK's Whopper Sacrifice: Clever But Flawed

In the circle I run in, throwing one's associates through the front window of a public establishment would be considered uncouth. That's doubly true if the supposed gain from such an act is a sandwich. Triply so if said sandwich is "quick-serve," in the new parlance.

However I've gradually come to accept that my circle is rarified and a whole lot more couth than the general population, and so I'll agree with all the people saying Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice app on Facebook is very smart. The concept is simple. Creatives at Crispin Porter + Bogusky working on the BK account were remarking on the sheer number of distant acquaintances and in some cases complete strangers who had found their way onto their friend lists. They decided they could provide a service, and maybe a laugh or two, by giving Facebook users a way to cut the fat, so to speak. So they created an app that facilitated the removal of those fake friends, and then promised to pack the fat back on, in the form of a free Whopper offer for anyone who savages 10 of their so-called friends. The app's tagline: "You like your friends. But you love the Whopper."

As clever as I think this is, I see some problems with Whopper Sacrifice. First, when you off someone on your friend list, that person is told about it, as is your whole group of frineds. ("Jchn sacrificed John Whitmore for a free Whopper"). That's not true if you simply remove them the normal way. I know from many conversations that a lot of Facebook users live in fear that any fake friends removed from their friends list will somehow be told of the action. When I tell people that's not actually the case, they're always visibly relieved. If you tell the victim they've been deleted, as the BK app does, then you're creating a disincentive for decent-hearted people to delete them. However early use of the app suggests it'll be a hit. As of this writing, Whopper Sacrifice has been installed over 30,000 times, and 53,080 friends have been sacrificed. That's somewhere north of 5,000 free Whoppers.

Second, and this is the flip side of the "notice" coin, it strikes me there's potential for bullying here. The removal of any friend by Whopper Sacrifice will be broadcast to the news feed of the user doing the removing, and hence be read by any of his or her friends. Many of these will also be familiar with the victim. In other words, in the hands of mean-spirited social networkers (read: high schoolers) it could be a mechanism for cruetly and ostracization.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

January 5, 2009

Twitter Accounts Hacked: Obama, Britney and Fox News Affected

A number of big name Twitter accounts were hacked this morning, a day after Twitter users were targeted in a large-scale phishing attack.

In all, 33 accounts were briefly commandeered by a person or persons who got their hands on editing tools used by Twitter's support team. Among the victims were some of the best-known Twitterers, including Barack Obama, CNN's Rick Sanchez and Britney Spears. The Obama hijackers, who had control of the Prez-Elect's account for just a few minutes, took the opportunity to post an affiliate link to a page with a survey and promotion. With several others, the hackers' intent was merely malicious. I've borrowed the below screen grabs from Brent Csutoras.

According to Twitter the hacked accounts were unrelated to a phishing attack that happened over the weekend. That incident was a straightforward scam that used e-mails presenting themselves as Twitter direct messages to get users to divulge password information.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 12, 2008

Social Media Marketing Webinar: 1,500 and Counting

Come join us for the Webinar, "Conversational Marketing: Developing a Successful Social Media Strategy," on Monday at 3 PM ET / noon PT.

Dave Evans, author of "Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day," and a ClickZ Experts contributor will present and my colleague, Zach Rodgers, will moderate.

As of this afternoon, more than 1,500 people had registered, ensuring this will be a social event!

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 1, 2008

Media6degrees Launches, Fusing Behavioral and Social Marketing

When someone claims a digital network of 400 "friends," undoubtedly including everyone from middle school girlfriends to office acquaintances, it's not easy to tell who the real buddies are.

With this in mind, the founders of Media6degrees two years ago set out to build an ad platform that could trace an individual's real circle of friends. It did so by engineering a combination of cookies and ad server logs to pinpoint a person's interests and generate anonymous profiles of his or her real friends. The resulting ad network, which entered trial-mode back in May, has now been commercially released.

According to the company, any individual connected to an advertiser's existing customer respond to ads two to thirty times more often than consumers targeted with simple demographic and geographic targeting.

Media6degrees chalks up the propensity of these individuals to buy similar products to the psychographic likenesses that naturally exist between friends. While that may be so, I'm more inclined to credit simple word of mouth. Whatever. If the company's internal research is to be trusted, it would appear Media6degrees offers a compelling fusion of behavioral targeting and social marketing.

As CEO Joe Doran, an ex-Microsoftie, put it to me last spring, "The most important thing is not to look at the content but to look at the interactions between individuals. I'm defined not by my interactions on MySpace or on Facebook. I'm defined by my interactions with my friends."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 24, 2008

LinkedIn on the Road to $100M; Xing Gets New CEO

Published reports have put LinkedIn's annual revenue at between $75 million and $100 million -- compared to only $10 million in 2006. When CEO Dan Nye was asked by the San Francisco Chronicle staff if those estimates are reasonably accurate, he replied: "I'm not denying it."

Advertising is one of five ways the social network generates revenue, though Nye didn't disclose how much money comes from ads. LinkedIn advertisers include Bank of America, Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Radisson Inn, Southwest Airlines, Porsche, BMW, Nissan, and Mazda, according to the interview.

Over at Xing, a social network based in Hamburg, Germany, Lars Hinrichs announced he will resign as CEO of the company he founded. He will continue to serve on Xing's supervisory board.

Stefan Gross-Selbeck, general manager at eBay Germany, has been named Xing's CEO effective January 15. He will be charged will growing the social network aimed at business professionals.

Last month, Xing reported revenue of 25.1 million euros, or $32 million for the first nine months of 2008, up from 13.1 million euros during the same period in 2007. That represents an increase of 91 percent.

Xing's revenue comes from membership fees, advertising, and e-commerce.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 30, 2008

LinkedIn, Amazon Hook Up

LinkedIn's getting more connected.

The business networking site is making a dozen or so applications available to LinkedIn members.

Of potential interest to marketers: the Amazon Reading List. It opens the door for other brands to develop a utility that LinkedIn members might find relevant.

Then there's CompanyBuzz. I tried to give the test drive this afternoon, but the application wasn't working. Stay tuned.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

September 23, 2008

Social Media, Social Causes

Social causes will get an enhanced profile in social media under an initiative launched today by interactive agency Deep Focus and the Advertising Council.

The goal: to help social causes develop social media strategies.

The Advertising Council develops public service advertisements (PSAs) that have typically appeared in magazines, television, and other offline media.

Participants in the project called the Exponential Action Network will be able to select from an online list of causes identified by the Ad Council. When a person selects a cause, a widget will be generated that can be displayed on a social networking profile, blog, wiki, and a personal home page. Each widget will track and display the size of the network in real-time.

Campaigns participating in the initiative include: Autism Awareness (Autism Speaks); Financial Literacy (U.S. Department of Treasury); Mentoring (Big Brothers Big Sisters of America); and Online Sexual Exploitation (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and U.S. Department of Justice).

Exponential Action Network was developed pro bono by Deep Focus, which is headed up by Ian Schafer. Clearspring’s technology is being used to distribute the widgets, while MySpace, Facebook, and other social media sites will donate ad impressions.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

June 9, 2008

Monster to Shutter Tickle, Social Net and Quiz Aggregator; Layoffs Planned

Monster will lay off an undisclosed number of staffers as it moves to shut down Tickle, the quiz aggregator and social net it acquired in 2004 for about $90 million. By way of explanation it said it wants to focus on core strengths, of which Tickle's focus on social networking was apparently not one. The recruiting giant has also begun to decommission Tickle's subsidiary brands Love Happens, a dating site, and Ringo, a photo and video sharing service.

Monster hinted Tickle's capabilities would live on in some form. "Online tests and quizzes are an engaging format for online self-discovery and will continue to be leveraged across Monster sites," said the company's statement.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 5, 2008

Glam Aims to Dominate Social Hip Hop...Maybe

"We really don't want to enter markets unless we can be dominant."

That's what Glam Media CEO and Chairman Samir Arora said during this week's EconAds conference here in New York. It seemed pretty bold, and I thought about it when I read this morning about how Glam is partnering with Global Grind, a social network for hip-hop fans. Global Grind is using Glam's Managed Vertical Network platform for a new "hip-hop based vertical network" that's now part of Glam's Entertainment Channel. Evidently, Russell Simmons is a financial backer of Global Grind.

"Global Grind will recruit the best sites and blogs to the co-branded publisher network, while the Digital Primetime brand ads will be managed by Glam Media," notes the press release.

Digital Primetime is Glam's targeting technology.

"Prime time" seems to be part of Arora's regular lexicon. At the conference he commented that compared to TV advertising, "The Internet is really backwards…. [I don't understand why] most companies have been really focused on remnant inventory rather than focus on what the prime time inventory is." The goal of Glam, he said, is to "completely and totally focus on brand advertisers."

He continued saying his firm never moves into a vertical without having an "anchor" site, meaning a Glam-owned property, to ensure the company understands the vertical they're entering.

It's all starting to come together, sort of. According to the press release, the new hip-hop network will be "anchored by Global Grind."

(OK, there's no affiliation to MTV's old hip hop dance show "The Grind," but I couldn't resist throwing in an image).

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

June 3, 2008

Quote of the Day: Digital Voodoo's Dave Evans

"I asked a lady next to me in Wal-Mart if she Twittered or Plurked. She almost killed me. Security told me not to come back. Luddites."

--Dave Evans, co-founder of Digital Voodoo and ClickZ columnist, on Twitter.com

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 2, 2008

Swiffer, Social Media's Cinderella

At the Interactive Advertising Bureau's forum on social media, speakers tossed out examples of good social network applications. One example: a Fedex virtual gift where someone can build a package, seal it, "fling" it to a friend, who can then open it.

But finding a social application for some brands, especially consumer-packaged good companies, is tougher.

Take Swiffer, a sweeper.

"Swisher…Swiffer. I wouldn't put that on my [Facebook] profile," said Tim Kendall, Facebook's director of monetization.

Don't tell that to a dozen or Facebook groups devoted to Swiffer, although these groups are sparsely populated. "Ive Discovered The Joys of Swiffer and I Can't Stop..." has 55 members. "I love my swiffer duster!!!" has five members who made this appeal: "Cleaning nerds that love there swiffers should join this group...because we f*ing rule!!"

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Social Network CPMs: A Penny Arcade

Run-of-network ads on social communities fetch a measly 5 cents per CPM, while those associated with a social application command 70 to 80 cents, says Seth Goldstein, chief executive of SocialMedia.

"We have to march beyond $1 CPM and move to $2 to $3 to $4," he said, speaking today at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's forum on user-generated content and social media.

Keep in mind that Goldstein has a vested interest in the success of social media applications. After all, he's building a business to help advertisers use social media.

When asked how social applications differ from widgets, Goldstein said applications are more engaging than widgets. "This is one man's view. Widgets are from '06 or '07. They tend to be more one-way," he said. "You cannot have an application for one."

Pointing to an example of an engaging application, he pointed to one developed for BMW's 1-Series that let Facebook users design their own car and invite friends for a virtual road trip.

Asked an application's lifespan, Goldstein said: "An application is like a song. You rarely have a song that's popular forever. Bands are popular, singers are popular."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 1, 2008

'Sex and the City' and Facebook

It was the girls' night out at the movies and Facebook this weekend with the release of "Sex and the City."

Offline, women organized cosmo parties before heading out to see the movie.

Online, more 80,000 people signed up as a "Sex and the City" fan on Facebook as of early Sunday, many writing enthusiastic reviews. "OMG-This is the Girls at their absolute best!," wrote one fan.

(Who's counting, but fans of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," released more than a week ago, totaled 72,000 as of today.)

And, Pogostick.com developed a Facebook quiz, "Which Sex and the City Character Are You?" that has nearly 4,000 fans. Complete it to learn whether you're sexy like Samantha or correct like Charlotte.

How about you?

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 12, 2008

Social Data Portability: Will It Affect Advertising?

Suddenly all the social networking majors are racing to see who can break down their own walls the fastest -- and in the case of Google, to make the switch from sheet rock to plumbing, if you'll forgive an overstretched metaphor.

Shortly after News Corp. announced its data portability initiative last week, Facebook chimed in with its own proposal to give users control over their identities. Called Facebook Connect, the initiative will launch in the next few weeks and allow Facebook users to carry their basic profile information, friends and privacy settings around with them. "We believe the next evolution of data portability is about much more than data," the company stated in a blog post Friday. "It's about giving users the ability to take their identity and friends with them around the Web, while being able to trust that their information is always up to date and always protected by their privacy settings."

Google meanwhile announced Friend Connect, a project to help any site owner add social capabilities. According to Google, visitors to any site using the service "will be able to see, invite, and interact with new friends, or, using secure authorization APIs, with existing friends from social sites on the web, including Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and more." MySpace was not mentioned in the announcement, which is odd given it's part of Google's Open Social platform geared toward third party app developers.

What do these data portability initiatives mean for advertising? That may depend on who wins the right to host and manage large numbers of consumer profiles. If it's a private entity such as Google, MySpace or Facebook, profile portability will lead to new forms of contextual and behavioral targeting. For instance, imagine Facebook's Beacon and Social Ads programs reinvented to offer alerts and ads that take into account your interactions on thousands of sites. On the other hand, if a non-profit such as the Mozilla Foundation wins the right to manage your data in this fashion, such an outcome would seem less likely.

On another level, marketers who want to add more interactivity and social features on their Web sites may be able to work with Friend Connect to achieve that. Ning and MyBlogLog offer different services along similar lines. The former is a white label social networking platform. The latter is a system for tracking and publishing profiles of your site visitors, and allowing them to interact with each other.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 6, 2008

Cisco Sponsors Forbes Q&A Tool for Biz Pros

Forbes.com has paired with Cisco in the launch of a social network geared towards business professionals. The AnswerNetwork, launched in beta, is "Forbes.com’s first online social network designed for the person-to-person exchange of knowledge and expertise among business executives, friends and relatives seeking to share and obtain specific knowledge," according to a press release. Also, users will get credits for responding to questions.

A spokesperson told me Cisco, in addition to sponsoring, is providing the networking technology for the customer service and peer to peer features for the new service. Banners for Cisco's video technologies can be seen alongside the AnswerNetwork interface.

Users can pose and answer questions, and check out previously answered questions organized into browse-able categories including Markets, Entrepreneurs, Leadership, and Technology. Still, unless I'm doing something wrong (definitely bound to happen), there are no questions or answers stored in that section yet.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 30, 2008

Twitter, Tiny but Tweeting Away

This in from Hitwise: Twitter, a social network/micro-blog, has seen traffic climb 60 percent over the past month.

Hitwise puts Twitter's size into perspective. Even with all its growth and buzz, Twitter's still tiny. Hitwise stats show Twitter is No. 439 among all social networks and forums, and No. 4309 among all categories of Web sites.

Still, Twitter's potential impact on brands should not be overlooked as Pete Blackshaw points out in his ClickZ column, "Customer Service Meets 'Lord of the Twitters' ".

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 3, 2008

Facebook Group Created to Build McCain Facebook Group

Talk about meta. Can one Facebook group be created for the sole purpose of fueling friends on another group? Republican Web strategist Patrick Ruffini set up his "John McCain Facebook Challenge" group just for that. "The point of this group is pretty simple: Get every Republican on Facebook to go to John McCain's Facebook page (facebook.com/JohnMcCain) and become a supporter."

The group even offers supporter rankings (kinda like Bush deemed top fundraisers "Rangers" after his beloved Texas baseball team):

** State / Region / School Chair: Invite as many friends as you can from your personal network.
** Co-Founder - 200 invites.
** Founder - 500 invites.

Not surprising, there's a very specific strategy suggested, involving posting the challenge group to your profile, getting added as a supporter on John McCain's page, and sharing "McCain's page with your friends (you can message 20 at a time or post to your profile) This keeps the movement growing by making it more likely to appear in your friends' newsfeeds."

I realize social networking sites have moved way beyond their original organic approach. It's all about quantity rather than quality when it comes to the size of a group or number of friends. And I recognize that organizations and candidates want to use every means possible to get their message out and drive people to their sites to volunteer or donate.

Still, it all seems so contrived. I wonder what the actual measurable value of having more friends than Hillary Clinton's Facebook group really is. Does it really drive more donations or signups or is it just another empty number?

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 1, 2008

Ncludr: All You Never Knew You Didn't Need in a Social Network

Ok, I don't go in for most April Fool's pranks, but all-inclusive social platform nclüdr deserves your lunch break attention. Plus it has the best LowerMyBills.com parody ad ever. (Register to view animated version.)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 31, 2008

Hello Awareness, Goodby Brand Equity

You know it's a lucky day when you wind up sharing your lunch table with Ted McConnell, Procter & Gamble's hypersmart manager of interactive marketing and innovation.

What's been on Ted's mind recently? Brands that advertise on social networks. He believe these marketers are looking at short-term metrics to their longer-term detriment. Awareness is spiking for these advertisers, but at the expense of brand equity down the road. Users overwhelmingly regard social network ads as unnecessary and intrusive.

Short term wins. Long term problems. When someone of Ted's stature raises this as an issue, Facebook, MySpace and their ilk would do well to prick up their ears.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 24, 2008

Chrysler Sits Brand Fans in Passenger Seat

Chrysler is using Passenger's brand community platform for its online Customer Advisory Board, a new program for studying consumer insights on the car brand and its products. Passenger powers private Web communities for brands including Nestle, Coca-Cola, ABC Television and Sara Lee, JC Penney, American Express and Fidelity. The new Chrysler relationship was facilitated by the automaker's interactive agency, Organic.

The Passenger system will be used for social-networking, community-building, customer collaboration and advocacy building among Chrysler fans. Those interested in joining the community can signup now, and the firm will begin introducing the program to participants late this month.

According to a press release:

Once introduced, Chrysler will begin the ongoing initial dialogue with the Customer Advisory Board members by engaging the community with live, facilitated sessions where they may view media, respond to polls and engage with other members. There will also be discussion sections that allow members to discuss a variety of topics on their own time during a four-week period. Examples of topics may include environmental, safety, quality or technology. Other features include activities to stimulate member creativity and polls for quick feedback on topics. In addition, members may create their own profile and connect with each other through the message center.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 12, 2008

The Facebook Factor: Declining CPMs

Social networks have flooded the market with inventory, pushing down ad rates based on CPM, according to one Microsoft executive.

Dean Carignan, Microsoft's director of ad business strategy in the entertainment and device division, made that disclosure during a panel discussion today at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York City.

"In most environments, the ads showing up have no context. People talking to people [isn't] relevant to one product category," he said.

After the panel discussion, "Advertising Next: Social Networks, User Generated Video….", I approached Carignan and asked him to elaborate.

He said the pricing decline doesn't apply to specific verticals, such as automotive, financial services, and news.

However, he acknowledged that social networks (Facebook included) have increased online inventory by about 15 percent this year.

He and other mentioned growing interest in "cul de sacs" on social networks focus on special interests such as consumer electronics or travel.

It wasn't lost on anyone in the crowd that Microsoft made a $240 million equity stake in social network Facebook late last year.

When asked about Facebook, he offered a quick: "No comment."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 10, 2008

Murdoch: News Corp. Won't Fight Microsoft for Yahoo

Speaking at the Bear Stearns Media Conference in Florida today, News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch put to bed rumors of a possible tie-up with Yahoo, stating, "We're not going to get into a fight with Microsoft, they have a lot more money than us."

He went on to say that Yahoo had "missed out" in the search arena by failing to invest in Overture quickly enough after acquiring it in 2003. He added "We're very happy to be in the Google camp; they sell our search advertising and pay us well for it."

Speaking further on social networks, Murdoch said that existing sites should attempt to introduce social aspects to their offerings. He suggested that News Corp. may attempt something along the social network lines with its Wall Street Journal site, and that users would be "interested to talk to each other about their investments."

When asked about future deals, Murdoch said he was not looking for big acquisitions, but may be tempted into some smaller ones. He added that he was cautious of the high price tags assigned to online properties at present, and that it would be "very easy to throw away a lot of money on Internet sites."

Regarding the current financial climate, News Corp. is apparently in "good shape" to face a weakened economy, having reduced its dependency on advertising from 41 percent to 23 percent of revenue.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Live By the Crowd, Die By the Crowd

The SXSW conference has been all about bottom-up media; individuals and crowds creating, selecting and elevating content above and beyond whats doled out to them by traditional media outlets and corporations.

Sure, Business Week journalist Sarah Lacy's keynote interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg yesterday was a trainwreck, an abortion, went down in flames and every other metaphor for disaster. Why? Because Sarah was all about Sarah, all the time (except when she was dissing her audience). The media took her to task for it. So did the blogosphere and the Twittersphere (to which her "screw all you guys" response bears special mention).

In real time.

Her self-justification in this YouTube interview only makes something bad something much worse indeed.

Ironically, Sarah has, in unifying thousands of conference attendees against her (and providing the burning topic for conversation at last night's parties) become the most valuable object lesson in what's so endlessly discussed here in Austin. The word made flesh.

If you doubt the pundits, experts, panelists and pontificators, the Story of Sarah proves them right. In a highly weird way, it's almost the best thing that could have happened here. Except, of course, for Sarah herself.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 7, 2008

CBSSports.com Goes Social with Facebook for March Madness

College basketball is ramping up for next month's NCAA March Madness tournament, and CBSSports.com is getting ready for the action too with a deal with social networking site Facebook.

CBS Sports and its CBSSports.com Web site hasn't been shy about experimenting with online and interactive components when it comes to promoting sports events like the March Madness tournaments. Next month it will run much of its coverage online for the sixth year in a row, but this year it will also host an NCAA March Madness Brackets application on Facebook. The application will allow Facebook members to make predictions on winners for each round and share them with friends, and will also link to tournament coverage from CBS Sports, CSTV, CBSSports.com and NCAA.com, according to the company. CBS will also offer a mobile component that will include a "Smack Talk Wall" and team rankings.

Considering how rabid some fans can be about March Madness, I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of Facebook friends linking to this new application and then being brought over to CBSSports.com's coverage for some additional online advertising page views.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WPP's GroupM Acquires Majority Stake in Social Media Agency

WPP's GroupM announced today that it has acquired 75 percent of the share capital of LaCommunidad, the Dutch interactive agency behind imaginatively named viral tracking technology, ViralTracker.

LaCommunidad specializes in viral and social media campaigns, and has worked with big name European brands including ebay, Ford, and Dutch Airline KLM. According to a release today, the investment "continues WPP's strategy of strengthening its capabilities in digital media."

WPP recently acquired a minority stake in U.S.-based Integrated Media Measurement Inc., the developer of an end-to-end media measurement system that links media exposure to consumer action.

However, rumors of a more significant ad-related investment have been circulating since last September. One possible target is rumored to be SpotRunner, an Internet agency offering localized Web and TV ads for small businesses, in which WPP already owns a small stake.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 30, 2008

SeenThis? It's NBCU, CNet and WSJ on Facebook.

Loomia managed an impressive trifecta of content providers that signed on with the launch of its SeenThis? application today. The Wall Street Journal Online, NBC Universal, and CNET Networks have all agreed to provide links to their content that will allow viewers to then share it with friends over "a leading social network" i.e. Facebook.

Using SeenThis?, Wall Street Journal online readers can opt-in to the application and let their friends know what they've been reading at the site. CNet is doing the same with its BNET, ZDNet, and TechRepublic sites, while NBC Universal will allow provide links to videos and shows.

Facebook ran into problems when it tried to launch a similar system for sharing ads called Beacon, which it then retreated from after a good deal of blowback about the lack of clear opt-out procedure and privacy concerns. SeenThis? will probably avoid such concerns considering it's stressing the opt-in component necessary to use the application, and lets face it, how often have you found yourself sending friends a link to an article or video with the caption "you've got to see this!" Loomia is apparently trying to save readers some extra steps.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 15, 2008

If MySpace Really Wanted to Protect the Kids...

MySpace is now working with Attorneys General on a plan to verify ages and protect its youngest users. That's well and good. But if the site is really serious about guarding teens from all forms of exploitation it should consider changing its advertising policies to disallow ad sales to shady mobile subscription services.

The number of MySpace users taken in by offers for free (but not free) wireless content is vastly greater than the number who come into contact with predators. Yes, the latter makes better headlines, and for good reason. And sure, the harm inflicted by misleading mobile offers may only consist of a surprise $40 charge on a 14-year-old's cell phone bill. But it's harm nonetheless.

For a primer on how one questionable mobile content firm has bought a huge volume of advertising on MySpace and other sites, click here.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 3, 2008

PETA Challenges Developers to Get Social for Animals

Combating animal abuse should be a social media crusade, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The organization is challenging Web developers to create a shareable widget as part of its Application for Animals Contest that will promote PETA's aims.

The group is eager to make use of the open application systems on Facebook and Google. The goal is to use the application on PETA's MySpace and Facebook profiles, and it's offering a $500 Apple gift card as a prize for the winning developer. Programs are due by January 25, 2008.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 17, 2007

Closed Brand Community Firm Passenger Calls Amex, JC Penney, MySpace Clients

When I last wrote about brand community platform Passenger in February, the firm was squarely focused on the consumer-aimed uses of its system. Clients like Nestle, Coca-Cola, ABC Television and Sara Lee were using Passenger to enable private brand communities to conduct product or ad research with brand fans.

Passenger has shifted its client base to include companies using its system for internal purposes. Think Intranet meets work wiki meets social network. Apple and BP are among clients using the platform to share ideas, innovate, improve efficiencies, etc. "It's a lot easier for [clients] to embrace that," said Passenger Marketing Officer Justin Cooper of the new internal business use of the platform.

There are some interesting new clients utilizing Passenger to harness insights of consumers, though. MySpace, for instance, is a customer; although Cooper wouldn't share a lot about how his firm works with the social site, he did hint. In Q1, the two companies expect to make some sort of announcement. There's a chance it could involve the ability for brand community members to add widgets to their profile pages to gather comments about brands and products from their MySpace networks of friends.

Among the latest consumer-aimed clients are JC Penney, American Express and Fidelity. JC Penney has recently created an online community for its Ambrielle lingerie brand.

According to Cooper, companies can qualify audiences participating in private brand communities, making sure they're diversified appropriately. Also, community members can be invited to participate in certain discussions according to age and geography, for instance.

Passenger also weighs the value of a member's comments and opinions according to its "Influence Predictability Rating" algorithm and uses filters to surface certain issues discussed among brand community members.

Cooper agreed with me that brand aficionados often are the harshest critics. In light of that, he noted use of the platform allows companies to learn about a brand community's concerns behind closed doors, rather than throwing an idea to the public Web wolves. "It's an opportunity to treat those people as a new conquest," he said.

UPDATE: To be clear, Passenger is still working with Nestle, Coca-Cola, ABC Television and Sara Lee.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 13, 2007

Cellware Socializes Mobile

There's been talk about the mobile platform being perfect for social networking. Among the newer mobile social communities out there is Cellware, which launched earlier this week. Through Web and mobile, users can upload and modify audio, video, photos, and other content and applications, then share it with others. The media can then be used to personalize a handset with ringtones, wallpapers. And of course, discovery is a big part of the experience, as well as having access to videos and a social network when you have time to spare.

The site boasts "We're putting the free back in free!" And Cellware means it. There is no cost for use of the site, it's ad supported. And active users who generate hits, recommend new friends, and create content, will get a piece if the revenues. Cellware has banners on the Web and mobile WAP site, and plans to insert ads in SMS messages in the future. The company's CEO John Ferber was a founding member of Advertising.com, and brought in a handful of his previous company's alums to key positions including Jason Ellin, CFO, and Jason Strauss, CRO.

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 5, 2007

Zuckerberg Offers Apology, Global Opt-Out for Beacon

Facebook users now have the ability to opt out of its controversial data sharing and behavior tracking initiative completely.

Mark Zuckerberg announced the new control, which can be found here, as part of a lengthy post on the Facebook blog in which he apologizes for the way the Beacon program was conceived and rolled out to users. Salient quotes:

We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them. We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it...

The problem with our initial approach of making it an opt-out system instead of opt-in was that if someone forgot to decline to share something, Beacon still went ahead and shared it with their friends. It took us too long after people started contacting us to change the product so that users had to explicitly approve what they wanted to share.

The whole Beacon episode -- from radical product launch to privacy outcry to sober apology -- has been remarkably similar to the progression of events that accompanied Facebook's introduction of the News Feed last year. Indeed, the combination of reckless product launch and considered response appears to be a Facebook trademark. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

As Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer put it to me last week, "What they learned was that if you put something out there, people complain about it, you fix it and then people embrace it," he said. "You listen to your audience. If you solve or address their issues, people will know you're listening."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 3, 2007

Was Ad Shyness a Factor in Six Apart Sale of LiveJournal?

Six Apart has sold blogging and community platform LiveJournal to SUP, a Russian concern that already runs LiveJournal's Russian version and has several online ad-related businesses, including an agency and an ad network.

Let's hope for SUP's sake the company's comfort with digital marketing won't alienate LJ's largely anti-advertising user base.

Six Apart acquired LiveJournal in 2005, only to discover many of its users don't really dig on the whole monetization thing. Partly to cope with that reality, the company tried making its marketing incursions more oblique, offering ad-free paid accounts and sponsored communities. Its first such effort promoted the Michel Gondry flick Science of Sleep.

The official line from Six Apart is that it wants to focus on its in-house products, including MovableType, TypePad and Vox, and that may well be the case. But I wouldn't be surprised if the ad sensitivity of those millions of users was a factor as well. SUP opened a San Francisco presence to run its new U.S.-based holding, and announced it will set up a user advisory board "to oversee the community’s interests." So the company appears well aware of the touchiness of its new blogging constituents and eager to put anxious minds at ease.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Few Advertisers Distance Themselves From Beacon. Why?

Facebook has taken steps to ease privacy concerns about its Beacon consumer data sharing initiative, but many of the social net's own partners are wary of the program.

Overstock.com was among the first of Facebook's early partners to back out, but as the Times' Bits blog reports, Coke has also begged off for the moment. My guess is both companies will return to Beacon after assessing the new changes, which require users to explicitly approve the broadcast of off-Facebook behavioral and purchase data to their social networks.

If you happen to be a Facebook partner, whether you're skittish about Beacon will depend a lot on your product or service. Overstock.com probably blinked because of the holiday-heartbreaker come-on in MoveOn's pitch ("Matt in New York already knows what his girlfriend got him for Christmas...") Also, analyst Charlene Li singled out the company in her blogged complaint about the program.

However I also spoke with a Fandango rep Friday who said the company remains enthusiastic about the Beacon program. After all, he noted, Fandango doesn't sell tickets to skin flicks, and who's secretive about their movie-going habits?

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 28, 2007

MoveOn's Facebook Privacy Campaign: Pot, Kettle, Black?

Judging by the astounding rate at which MoveOn's Facebook group 'Petition: Facebook, stop invading my privacy!' is gaining members, it's clear that there is a great deal of public concern surrounding the way in which the site is using user data.

One of the key privacy issues for MoveOn, according to the petition group page, is the fact that Facebook's new 'Beacon' ad format automatically shares information about a user's activity gathered on third-party sites.

The text in the group description, presumably written by MoveOn, states, "Facebook says its users can 'opt out' of having their private purchases reported to all their friends. But that option is easily missed."

It continues; "The obvious solution is to switch to an 'opt in' policy, like most other applications on Facebook."

I couldn't agree more! However, an interesting comment on the group wall was pointed out to me yesterday. A member has posted the following:

"Well, I tried to write this yesterday but it looks like it was removed. I'd love to sign a petition, but I am not going to sign something that will automatically subscribe me to moveon.com emails. Sorry."

I took a look at the petition on the MoveOn.org site earlier today. The privacy policy is outlined at the bottom of the page and reads; "MoveOn will send you updates on this and other important campaigns by email. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from our email list, you may do so."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this reads very much like an 'opt-out' policy to me. Admittedly, if someone is interested enough to sign an online petition, the assumption is that he or she will want to be updated on its progress. However, I'm not sure that sending e-mail updates on campaigns that MoveOn deem to be "important" really passes as an acceptable use of user data.

To avoid hypocrisy therefore, perhaps MoveOn should take some of its own advice. To quote their Facebook group description once again, maybe "the obvious solution is to switch to an 'opt in' policy" for future e-mail correspondence.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November 26, 2007

Anti-Facebook Petition Gains Momentum -- on Facebook!

Fellow reporter Zach Rodgers posted last week on the Facebook privacy petition from MoveOn.org.

In August I kept a close eye on the U.K. National Union of Students' Facebook campaign against overdraft charges titled "Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-off". I was astonished by the rate at which new members were joining, but that proved nothing in comparison to the way users are signing up to the "Facebook: stop invading my privacy!" group.

When Zach blogged on the group on November 21st, it had approximately 6,200 members. When I took a look at the group on November 23rd the group had almost doubled in size to around 11,000 members. Three days later the group has amassed in excess of 23,000 members! Even since I began writing this post, over 100 new members have joined the group.

Online campaigns such as these clearly demonstrate the potential influence of networks such as Facebook in a wider social context. I bet Facebook weren't counting on being on the receiving end of that influence though!

Posted by Jack Marshall at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 21, 2007

MoveOn Campaign Takes on Facebook... on Facebook

Of the ad-related feature enhancements Facebook rolled out earlier this month, its Beacon project to share customer transaction data with Web site partners was obviously top contender for the "most likely to piss off users" award. And now the backlash has commenced with a new Facebook-based ad campaign and petition from MoveOn.org.

MoveOn has placed ads which drive traffic to a group it's created with the name "facebook: stop invading my privacy!" On the group page are links to a demo of Beacon in action and an online petition entreating the company to make the feature opt-in rather than opt out. Indeed, the main point of contention for MoveOn is the unwieldy requirements for begging off the service. MoveOn does a decent job of articulating what's actually a very complicated offering. This from the Facebook Group:

Matt in New York already knows what his girlfriend got him for Christmas...

Why? Because a new Facebook feature automatically shares books, movies, or gifts you buy online with everyone you know on Facebook. Without your consent, it pops up in your News Feed--a huge invasion of privacy. (See demo below.)

The missive continues, but that's the gist of it. Approximately 6,200 Facebook users had joined the group at the time of this posting.

Facebook knew this was coming. At its first press conference announcing Beacon and its related ad platform, numerous reporters asked about the privacy implications of the feature. CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded only by saying it was always open to user feedback. MoveOn and many Facebook's own users appear determined to test that pledge.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 5, 2007

Buzzlogic Applies Social Media Monitoring to Ad Targeting

Social media have been considered places for brands to monitor what consumers think about them, informing search keyword buying or helping design media plans. A new Buzzlogic tool goes a step further by applying that information for text and display ad targeting.

A new beta system generates lists of sites where brands are discussed, and sites linking to them. The platform works directly with the Google AdSense API, automatically choosing those sites for AdSense campaigns.

"You're getting ads on the influencer sites as well as that participating audience that's coming in," said Rob Crumpler, president and CEO of BuzzLogic.

The platform has been tested by classifieds site Oodle, Lending Club, Publicis Consultants and Wharton Executive Education.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 1, 2007

What's Google's OpenSocial Project Mean for Marketers?

Very little, at least not for a long while. The effort will create a set of APIs designed to let application developers work with data and technology from multiple social networking services. Except the ones that won't play of course -- namely Facebook. Some have characterized the move as an attempt to undermine Facebook through an alliance with various second and third tier social nets (update: top social net MySpace is officially in as well) and some application developers (i.e. "ganging up"), a few bloggers have argued it will fail owing to Google's vested interest in the market and the low audience share of OpenSocial's early partners.

Should the project succeed, marketers will be able to maintain branded applications on various social networking platforms without employing armies of developers. For now, the vast majority of brands maintaining apps are only concerned with Facebook, and perhaps a little with MySpace. If the much anticipated ascent of vertical social networks materializes, and if those sites join the Open Social effort, then a long tail of social networking could necessitate such a centralized application management system. But in that case marketers would likely create different widgets and applications for each platform/vertical anyway.

So, near-term implication? Don't worry your pretty little heads about it.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 31, 2007

Google Gets Social

Google is handing out a Halloween treat to Web developers today by making its OpenSocial common API available. With OpenSocial, developers will be able to write one application that can be distributed in multiple Web sites and social networks, if they go along with it of course.

Social networking firms including LinkedIn, Hi5, iLike, Ling, Slide and Google's own Orkut network have signed on as part of the launch of OpenSocial, but distinctly missing are the big names of social networking…Facebook and mySpace.

Facebook made big news and developed a lot of momentum by opening its platform last May, but still holds the reins over its more proprietary APIs. It's worth noting that both iLike and Slide have been major Facebook developers. As more advertisers try to get in on the social networking marketing bandwagon, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Google may bring more partners to its OpenSocial system and Facebook and mySpace will be obligated to provide access to their networks via OpenSocial APIs.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 17, 2007

Sony gets Chummy with MySpace, while Skype Places the Call

Musical artists from local garage bands to chart-topping megastars have long ago figured out how to use MySpace profiles to promote their acts, and now Sony BMG Music is making things more official. The music label is partnering directly with MySpace to provide streaming music videos, as well as select audio material and other content, on the social network site, directly from its artists' MySpace profile pages.

The two companies have agreed to split sponsorship and advertising revenue from the content, and MySpace has agreed to help promote Sony BMG's artists throughout the site. Of course, social network sites like MySpace have been doing their best to dodge lawsuits from content owners when their users started sharing the odd song or image, but this seems to be more of a "if you can't beat them, join 'em!" move on Sony's part.

In a separate announcement, MySpace also partnered with eBay's Skype service to provide the free Internet phone call technology directly from the social network users' profile pages. Users with a Skype account will be able to click a single button in their MySpace profile to call the computer or telephone of another member, even if they're not online at the time. Again, the two companies have agreed to share revenues as part of the partnership, as the basic Skype service is free, but premium features like voice mail and a personal phone number cost extra.

The combined Skype and MySpace service does have some potential concerns, according to security experts who claim that the combination of the corporate "time-waster" social network along with the Skype system which opens up firewall ports to network traffic can play havoc with a corporate network. Personally, I'm more concerned that once all the teenagers using MySpace also figure out how to use the free phone system and all start making calls, it will bring the entire Internet to a screeching halt.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 16, 2007

I Network, Therefore I Shop

Hardcore social networkers are more likely to visit retail Web sites for music, luxury goods, consumer electrics, and apparel, a study reports.
comScore, which measures Internet usage, said Monday more than 95 percent of "heavy" social networkers visited retail sites in August, compared to 80 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience. comScore defines heavy networkers as the top 20 percent of visitors, based on time spent on social networking sites.
Of 61.2 million unique visitors to apparel sites, 24.8 percent were considered big-time social networkers. Apparel and fashion sites that cater to young adults, such as Alloy and Abercrombie & Fitch, attracted a strong share of these networkers, comScore reported.
Thus, says comScore Chairman Chairman Gian Fulgoni: “Apparel retailers -- especially those geared towards younger consumers -- can benefit by considering the use of social networking sites as a marketing channel.”
The study, however, didn't address whether hardcore social networkers are more likely to make online purchases than Internet wallflowers.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Al Gore's TV Network Plays up the Internet

Current TV, a television network that sets out to encourage "citizen journalism," has overhauled its Web site to encourage more audience collaboration.

The television network, co-founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, is supported by advertising, including viewer created ads.

Current.com will likely follow a similar model that includes sponsorships, said Joshua Katz, president, marketing at Current. However, he emphasized that the business model will evolve, based on audience feedback.

Katz, in an interview Monday, characterized the television network's initial Web site, current.tv, as serving the producer community. There, participants could submit pods, or short-form video, and vote on the videos they wanted to see televised.

The updated Web site, he said, is designed as a social news network. There, participants can take assignments to produce video as well as add links and comments to other content, among other activities online. "What makes this different [from other television networks] is that there's real collaboration between us and our audience," Katz said.

"This is intended to be a two-way conversation -- interactive TV influencing the Web, with the Web influencing TV. The cycle continues between the two, creating a new form of citizen journalism."

In September 2006, Current struck a partnership with Yahoo to launch several ad-supported video channels on Yahoo Video. When asked about that partnership, Katz said it no longer exists. "It wasn't a partnership we found beneficial," he said. Current continues to work with Google, which provides reports on the top clicked news headlines.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 11, 2007

eBay Joins Social Network Caravan

What do coffee lovers have in common with jewelry shoppers?

They were among the most active eBay members participating in the online commerce site's neighborhoods, a feature rolled out this week that takes a chapter from Facebook and other social networks.

eBay members must join a neighborhood before they are permitted to start a discussion or blog, post comments or photos, and invite a friend to participate.

eBay established several hundred online neighborhoods, according to an announcement posted this week by Nathan Sacco, eBay's senior manager, buyer engagement. The neighborhoods, he wrote, are based on popular items and searches.

Neighborhoods encompass broad categories such as Italian fashion and specific brand names like Versace or Manolo Blahnik.

In discussions, members tend to exchange information or debate a product's merits. On the blog posts, many entries appear to promote eBay members' stores and product offerings.

Close to 200 eBay members joined the jewelry neighborhood, which included advice to someone who asked for information on the best places to find jewelry to resell on eBay.

In contrast, the coffee lover neighborhood reported over 400 members, many of whom are passionate and/or addicted to roasted beans.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 25, 2007

Microsoft's Facebook Friendship

Microsoft is wearing its social media heart on its sleeve this week.

The software company is in talks to acquire a stake of up to 5 percent in Facebook, the social networking site, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

On Tuesday, Matthew Carr, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solution display product marketing, appeared on a MIXX panel on convergence and politely skirted a question posed by Steven Levy, Newsweek chief technology writer and the panel's moderator.
"We have a great relationship [with Facebook] already and we expect for that to continue," Carr said.

A look at Microsoft's booth at the MIXX conference and expo this week at the Crowne Plaza Times Square shows how much the company is flirting with social networking.

Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions' booth prominently promotes two vehicles for brand advertisers: social media and MSN video. In a hand out, Microsoft also points out that its Windows Live, in addition to Facebook and Digg, another networking site, help over 67 million people stay in touch.

"It's about time they [Microsoft] did something. Look at everything they missed out on buying," said one wag at MIXX.

Attending an Advertising Week reception, sponsored by Microsoft and Universal McCann, were digital advertising solutions team members who work with Facebook. They, of course, were mum on any potential deal with Facebook.

In August 2006, Facebook and Microsoft struck a deal to use Microsoft's advertising technology. Microsoft was also designated the exclusive provider of banner advertising and sponsored links on Facebook. At that time, Facebook had 9 million registered users compared to 42 million today.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 13, 2007

Borrowers Bare Fangs with Facebook Group, and a Bank Relents

HSBC felt the wrath of online WOM recently. The firm said late last month that it was scrapping plans to charge interest on its U.K. graduate accounts in response to pressure from an online Facebook campaign.

That pressure came in the form of a Facebook group launched by the National Union of Students (NUS) and titled "Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-off!!!" The group has amassed almost 7,000 members since its creation in mid-July, and its founder, NUS Vice President for Education Wes Streeting, credited the collective online protest with forcing HSBC to back down.

“There can be no doubt that using Facebook made the world of difference to our campaign,” he said in a statement.

Back story: Previously, as with many U.K. banks, opening a student account with HSBC would entitle the holder to an interest-free overdraft not only throughout their years of study, but also for three years following their graduation. When the bank moved to renege on the promise, the collective outrage of Britain's post-grad population spurred the Facebook group, and the mea culpa. “Like any service orientated business we are not too big to listen to the needs of our customers," HSBC’s head of product development Andy Ripley said in a statement.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 13, 2007

Facebook Adjacency Crisis: U.K. Advertisers Can Now Opt Out of 'Groups' Placement

Facebook made a move late last week to appease several advertisers that recently yanked campaigns (and others who might) from Facebook due to ad adjacency with the right-wing British National Party's group on the site.

It's giving U.K. advertisers the right to opt out of placements alongside any of its Groups, which is certainly the easiest -- and maybe the only feasible -- way it could address the most current crisis.

To clarify one point not made obvious in the FT.com coverage of this last week, advertisers are not able to choose specific groups to be excluded from or included in their ad buys. Rather, they can opt out of appearing next to Facebook Groups in general. From the company's statement on the move:

"For those U.K. advertisers who don’t want ads displayed alongside content that they find objectionable, we are working with them to find alternatives. UK advertisers now can choose whether or not to run their banner ads alongside group pages on Facebook. We are continuing to look into ways to apply our technology to give advertisers even more options in the future.”

For now, this is a U.K.-only concession, so as always with media and site ad exclusion, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 10, 2007

Wal-Mart's Turnaround on Back-to-School Campaign

Wal-Mart's campaign using social networking site Facebook has gotten kudos from industry folks including Forrester's Charline Li, who posted her experiences with the campaign on her blog Groundswell. Wal-Mart lets students take a roommate-style matching quiz to identify the best products from the store to outfit a dorm room. Then, Wal-Mart makes the leap to actually allow participants to post the results on their Facebook page, and send to friends.

The campaign is full circle from last year when the retailer constructed its own static, so called social networking site called "The Hub." The Hub was taken down early due to industry backlash for trying to emulate popular social networking sites while reigning it in with corporate governance.

Other back-to-school campaigns this season include AOL Shopping, which is being promoted within the AOL family of sites.

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 11, 2007

Social Networks Get Geeked

Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the creator of the "Magic: the Gathering" card game and publishers of other fantasy role-playing and adventure games like Dungeons and Dragons and Dreamblade, wanted to find a way to become more sticky for its users, but also attract the next generation of geek-inspired gaming. Enter Gleemax, a social networking environment where Wizard fans can meet others, play games, and build out their personas. The term gleemax is referenced on this Wikipedia page as an inside joke among both Wizards R&D and Magic: the Gathering players. "The infamous alien brain is said to secretly manipulate the Magic R&D division."

Since the WotC uses its Web site to promote its stores, games and products, Gleemax is currently under the same umbrella of support for the brand. However there is likely to be free- and premium-content on the site. WotC may also implement advertising in the future, where it works on the site.

The advantage of Gleemax over other social networking sites is the niche audience. "The demographic is geeky. Other communities are populated with the 'jerks' from high school you don't want to hang out with," said Randy Buehler, VP of digital gaming at Wizards of the Coast.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 17, 2007

Microsoft's Second Second Life Presence

Millions of Us, a virtual worlds/social media agency, recently launched Microsoft Virtual Studio in Second Life. They're also touting the success of the adjacent Microsoft property Coders' Cove island.

The community-building effort challenged coders to find hidden "eggs" and solve puzzles in order to win access to a mysterious blimp hovering above the area. Winners were accorded 900 square meters of virtual land (their lease is up in November, though).

Which reminds me -- this coming Monday, May 21, ClickZ is sponsoring the first-ever conference wholly devoted to Advertising in Social Media. We're going to be discussing projects in Second Life, social networks, syndication, and much, much more.

Check out the agenda, and if you're in New York, please make every effort to join us. We have an amazing line-up of speakers and one very cool, topical topic.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 4, 2007

News Flash! Mandy Moore Breaks Ankle... Mashed Up with Photobucket

The buzz around the teen news sites today followed singer and actress Mandy Moore's recent mishap where she broke her ankle on a photoshoot in Mexico (and we hope she gets better), but perhaps the bright side is her ordeal will help get photo sharing Web site Photobucket some more attention as well.

While it might seem like an unlikely combination at first glance, Mandy Moore has partnered with Photobucket and teen social networking site MyYearBook.com to hold a contest with the ultimate prize being Moore singing at the winner's high school graduation. The idea being that Moore has placed her latest single “Extraordinary,” along with several pictures and other media, on the Photobucket site that her fans can then put together in a "mash-up" with their own content, and submit it through MyYearBook.com. Moore will then pick the winning entry at the end of the month.

Not being a Moore fan myself, or a teen for that matter, I was more intrigued with how Photobucket continues to position itself as a back end partner for social networking sites without betting on a single horse, is making specific efforts to reach out to the hard to target market of teens who use its service voraciously, and has begun making deals with content producers directly to promote its own capabilities.

"It's really getting the users the power and ability to spread things that they are passionate about," Photobucket CEO and co-founder Alex Welch told me. "And for the brand it's allowing the user to get involved and touch and do thing with their provided content. In Mandy's case it's being able to add your own photos and content to her music."

In addition to Moore, Photobucket has also recently inked deals with Yari Film Group to promote the ‘Kickin It Old Skool’ movie, and has done deals with Disney around Peter Pan and others. Welch told me that by getting more professional content, along with Photobucket's regular content, flowing through his service he hopes to provide a means for advertisers to reach out to the teen demographic.

"We look at the demographic and how do we get brand as and advertisers in front of the users not just in a banner format but in interesting ways," he said. "It's really about getting the users the power and ability to spread things that they are passionate about. For the brands and agencies are much more affective than the :30 spot."

I guess we can only hope that Moore will be up and about to sing at someone's June graduation.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 16, 2007

Second Life Jumps Shark?

First the currency, then the virtual agencies and any number of corporate outposts.

And now this, from my alma mater:

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 7, 2007

Five Big Brands Advertise on Social Net for Grown-Ups

Gather.com has signed ad deals with a number of large advertisers, including Charles Schwab, Expedia, Starbucks, Amtrak, AARP and Universal Music Classical/Decca Label Group. The "social network for adults," which shares ad revenue with contributors, will help advertisers foster engagement with its community through user-contributed "content, conversations and connections." One such engagement mechanism, for AARP, can be found at aarp.gather.com.

The site claims 200,000 or so members and 1 million monthly uniques. That should provide enough ad impressions to make the deal worthwhile for the mentioned blue chip marketers -- just barely.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 11, 2007

Voting on the Next Big Book

If you ever wrote a novel that is currently sitting unpublished on a shelf somewhere, it may be time to pull it out and dust it off. Social network Web site Gather.com and publisher Simon & Schuster's Touchstone division are running a contest to allow visitors to vote on the most promising first three chapters of some lucky author's unpublished work.

The contest, called First Chapters, was touted in a NYT article as a means of finding new authors with a built in audience. Of course, any book that gets as many votes as will be needed to win will have to generate an audience.

The contest allows writers to submit their novel until March 15th, and then voting will continue through the First Chapters Group on Gather.com, before a final judging panel of Simon & Schuster, Gather and Borders executives picks the winner. Over time, voters will select the winning pool of finalists based on their first chapters, and then winnow the field based on the second and third chapters of the books.

The final winner will not only win the publishing contract, but $5,000 from Gather, and promotion and distribution by Borders.

Of course, I'm certain that my book about rampaging ninjas raiding Silicon Valley laboratories for preserved dinosaur pee would be a shoe in.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 3, 2007

Disney.com Re-Launch, Hyped

Next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Disney's Bob Iger will offer details on the redesigned Disney.com in a keynote address. Disney declined to offer any sort of pre-briefing prior to the convention, but a pretty extensive outline of the new platform was reported yesterday in The Wall Street Journal.

The site is expected to showcase Disney content from other properties like movies, TV and music. It will also incorporate a social networking functionality to capitalize on the popularity of competitors like Club Penguin, Neopets and MySpace. If Disney succeeds, it could garner more time spent on the platform and become more attractive to advertising partners. One handicap noted in the WSJ story is a limitation to Disney assets for members building their profiles and other areas of personalization. The site is due to launch later in January.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 20, 2006

400 of My Most Intimate Friends

Over on the SEW blog, Greg posts about how a small newspaper in Scotland set up a MySpace page and in short order had 400 online "friends."

He quotes a staffer at the paper who says, "It's a totally untapped market for local papers, and it opens up new lines of communication," especially among younger readers."

Not so fast.

The Fife Herald's friends are young alright (or so their photos depict them). But I'm not seeing much effort on the paper's part -- beyond the fact that the page is there -- to engage, attract, or involve these friends in anything. The blog is only sporadically updated and also doesn't seem to be about much of anything, really, other than media coverage centered around the fact the paper has a MySpace page.

Big whoop.

And you kind of have to notice the irony in the fact the paper's profile specifies "I don't want kids."

Perfect example of no-strategy, follow-the-herd marketing.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November 13, 2006

Microsoft Adds to Tech Industry Social Space

Microsoft is no stranger to fostering communities around its products. Now the firm has launched a social networking and collaboration site for IT pros called Aggreg8. The service lets tech folks set up working groups, post info and files, reply, tag and rate postings, and receive info through RSS feeds.

The world of IT is becoming more and more networked as sites catering to this niche bolster their social media offerings. Check out my recent ClickZ News feature on this very topic.

A study just released by Universal McCann and KnowledgeStorm has some data touching on the use of social networks by B2B tech buyers. According to the survey, participants said social networks are best used in a business environment for collaboration and knowledge sharing.

A few more points:

- 45.3 percent of respondents have a profile on a social networking site.
- Over half of them have a profile on LinkedIn.
- Other social networking sites popular with tech pros are MySpace, Orkut and Ryze.

- 68.8 percent of participants use social networking sites for biz networking or development.
- 58.6 use them for personal reasons, 33.5 percent for job search and 13.8 percent for sales leads.

It's interesting to note the most popular sites with this crowd are the more general social networking sites rather than the social sites/tools provided by tech-focused publishers (CNET's TechRepublic, ITtoolbox.com, TechTarget, IDG's Infoworld.com and others). I'd venture to guess even though they may use the more generalized social sites, when they're on them, they're probably not really in a work frame-of-mind.

The more tech/work specific sites and their social areas, I'd venture to guess, are the better places for advertisers to reach tech decision makers.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 3, 2006

Ad Spending on Social Networks: $2 Billion by 2010?

Social networks are all the rage, but there have been precious few indicators of marketers' involvement with them. A recent eMarketer report helps to change that, predicting advertising spending on them will increase to $2 billion in four years time.

That figure includes an upward revision of the spending estimate for the current year, report author Debra Aho Williamson told me. "Four months ago I had predicted that my U.S. 2006 figure was $280 million for social online ad spending," she said. "But the new figure is $350 million in U.S. social network ad spending. My impression is that the growth has become much more accelerated in the past few months.”

She told me a “keeping up with the Joneses” kind of effect is taking off, where companies are going to have to meet their competitors on social networks and compete for the viral buzz, if they can figure it out. She also said international expansion is going to drive a lot of the buzz around sites like Myspace, Bibo, and Piczo.

I touched base with some media buyers and found the $2 billion number didn’t surprise them, but there’s still a lot of “tires that need to be kicked.”

“Can it grow that large? Sure, cause the money is there. Advertisers know that if something works it’ll be funded,” says Richard Katz, director business development at Did-It. “If this is actually going to provide the scale, then it’s going to happen. The challenge is to get legitimate clean page views.”

My questions to you are these: What's been your experience buying media from social networks? What's your plan going forward? Your answers will help craft ClickZ's future coverage. Send me a note here.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 19, 2006

Dispatch from the Long Tail of Social Networking

Sneakerplay is not a monster site, but it's positioned perfectly in the growing niche of sneaker fetishism. (I should know: Once a month, Asian teens line up 30-deep at the Stackhouse sneaker store next to ClickZ's offices on Lafayette, where they'll wait two and three days to buy up-to-the-moment sneaker prototypes. It's no small task weaving past them to get lunch.) Anyway, Nike advertised on Sneakerplay last week, and Three Minds has the details.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 17, 2006

WPP-LiveWorld Communities Venture Names CEO

WPP named Alex Norman to lead its joint venture with social media outsourcer LiveWorld, announced back in July. Norman's background at WPP includes stints with Ogilvy and Young & Rubicam, in a variety of interactive and traditional roles. He'll be based in New York.

LiveWorld's white label social networking and community management platform has racked up a list of clients that includes Campbell Soup, AOL, A&E, Coca-Cola, HBO, Intel and Kraft. WPP and LiveWorld previously worked together building communities around Dove's Real Beauty campaign.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 5, 2006

MySpace Populated by Elderly and Infirm: comScore

ComeScore reports this afternoon that MySpace users are suddenly a bunch of codgers. The audience researcher says more than 40 percent of the site's unique visitors are between 35 and 54, and eleven percent are 55-plus. That means the site records roughly the same number of near-retirees as it does kids 12 to 17 (11.9 percent). Other social networking sites profiled include Xanga, Facebook and Friendster, and most reflect similar incursions of the elderly and infirm among their user bases. As you might expect, Facebook draws the largest share of its uniques (34 percent) from the 18-to-24 demo (but almost as many -- 33.5 percent -- come from that persistent 35- to 54-year-old set.)

Now that just sounds wrong to me, so I called ComScore for an explanation, and was given the following hypotheses: It could be that (a) people are following links to MySpace blogs from other Web sites, or (b) the popularity of MySpace for video has led a number of people to view MySpace videos off-site. These are then recorded as a visit to the network.

Or -- my own preferred theory -- it could be that forty million boomers all visited the site exactly once to eavesdrop on their kids and maybe see what all the hoopla is about, clicked about aimlessly for a few minutes, unable to discover or understand a thing, then closed the browser in frustration and vowed never to return.

Whatever the case may be, the only lesson I can draw from this research is that unique visitor counts often don't tell the real story of a site's character and usage at all.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 19, 2006

Nick's Social Net for Parents

Yesterday, Nickelodeon formally launched its social networking service for parents. A New York Times story positions the launch as a move to recapture Nickelodeon viewers from the station's heyday in the 1970's, who have since grown up and now have kids of their own. If that were true, why not use the brand name? In any case, ParentsConnect launches in public beta with Nissan North America as a sponsor. An online ad capaign is in the works to promote the site. In Q4 and beyond, it will launch broadband video and local discussion boards, which I happen to think is key to the success of any parenting focused network. First and foremost, most moms and dads want to kvetch about the neighborhood: the restaurants, the babysitters, the pediatricians and other local services. Child rearing is a profoundly local phenomenon.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 5, 2006

Google's Orkut to Cough Up User Data

They wouldn't do it in their homeland, but Google's coughin' up the goods on users accused of wrongdoings to a Brazilian court. The firm risked a fine of $23,000 per day if it didn't provide the court with data on users of its social networking site Orkut who are "accused of taking part in online communities that encourage racism, pedophilia and homophobia," according to a Washington Post report (by way of Search Engine Journal). Apparently the judge wants IP addresses with date and time stamps that could be matched with registration info like names and e-mail addresses.

Google claims it's OK with divulging the data because the request is far more specified compared to an earlier U.S. request for a broad swath of search engine data. Still, the fact that Orkut is pretty much off the radar of most U.S. consumers certainly makes it easier for the company to comply without raising much dander here (besides from watchdog groups like The Electronic Frontier Foundation and search industry insiders).

One question not answered by the article: what country's citizens are under suspicion? Are we just talking Brazilian citizens, or people from other places? The Wash Post story notes that Brazilian users make up 75 percent of Orkut's 17 million users.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 17, 2006

Social Networks: Music to Brit Marketers' Ears

This whole social networking thing isn't going away anytime soon, is it? My breakfast copy of the FT is brimming with British social network news.

With A-level results set to be announced today, Univillage.com hopes to go head-to-head with MySpace, Facebook, and the leading British site, Bebo. It's following a Facebook model: only UK students with a university address can register. Their marketing program's sucess remains to be seen, but it's laser-targeted. They're mailing all the students who took the A-levels, using the university admission body's e-mail list. Red Bull is the first advertiser on the network which has signed deals with major labels to add music and "secret gigs" to the mix.

The adjacent FT column reports the U.K.'s recording industry trade organization, the BPI, is haiing social networks for the resurgance in British music. British debut albums have captured their biggest share of the charts for over 10 years, thanks to MySpace, Bebo, Faceparty and digital downloads. Seems like just yesterday downloading was going to obliterate the music industry. Remember?

What's the headline here, anyway? "Youth Likes Pop Music" just doesn't seem to cut it. "Recording Industry Embraces Web" is catchier, no?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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