Welcome to this week’s edition of Five for Friday, everyone! For those of you who followed the world of Social Media these past few days, news of Instagram’s acquisition by Facebook was hard to miss. Whether or not the popular mobile app will be “ruined” in the process remains to be seen. For now, we’ve chalked it up to another smart move by everyone’s favorite Social Network and predict that more will follow. But we digress… followed are a some of the other stories that caught our eye:
In an effort to improve functionality, the engineers at Google+ have treated the growing service to a significant redesign. Unveiled via Google’s blog, this latest revamp was designed to make the tool easier to use. Among the changes, a tweaked navigation menu that lets users move or hide apps, conversation cards that allow users to highlight important discussions, a dedicated hub for Hangouts and an Explore page for finding trends within a one’s Network… (Source: Google | Official Blog).
A new Nielsen report has found that online consumers place the most amount of trust in earned media (92%) and the least in ads served via mobile devices (29%). Opinions posted online were also found to be popular (70%), outpacing traditional forms like editorial content in newspapers (58%) or branded websites (58%)… (Source: Nielsen).
Hot on the heels of that blockbuster purchase we mentioned above, Facebook’s board members are being grilled about their next targets for acquisition. According to insiders at SF Gate, the Network is said to be sitting on at least $4 billion, with a few more on the way, money they could easily spend on additional 3rd party apps and services… (Source: SF Gate).
A few weeks back, Tumblr made headlines when they released some rather impressive statistics: according to their data, the platform now hosts more than 20 billion posts and 50 million blogs. Many of these, says the Company, belong to brands and publishers who use the channel as a hub for Social content. This week, they upped their game by announcing a partnership with music service Spotify… (Source: Ad Age).
Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson hit the wires this week, for reasons other than those you might imagine. In an attempt to reinvent himself, the one-time pugilist has turned to Social Media where he’s managed to attract some 4 million followers on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. He even posts photos onto Instagram and is among the growing number of athletes to embrace Social Games. Ha, who knew… (Source: Mashable).
So what stories hit your radar this week? Leave us a comment and let’s discuss!
Back in February I shared my thoughts on how Pinterest became a game-changer as the next major social media platform embraced by brands and consumers alike. Since then, Pinterest has continued to inspire, becoming the No. 3 social media network in the US, but now individual brands are taking a page from Pinterest’s bookmarking smarts, creating their own unique platforms for consumers to categorize their favorite products and trends.
Don’t get me wrong, we certainly aren’t questioning Pinterest’s staying power. In fact, USA Today reported Pinterest hit ten million monthly unique visitors faster than any other website. While the number of consumers signing up for Pinterest has slowed slightly, brands are exploring the digital bookmarking space in their own ways. Here are a few examples of those that have taken the power of the bookmark and applied it to their own networks.
- Stylecaster’s Homepage of Style: Previously, if you typed www.stylecaster.com into your web browser, their traditional homepage, complete with the hottest trend stories would pop up for readers. Now, readers are presented with inspiration boards where they have the option to hit the “love” button on various articles and products that resonate with them. Readers are encouraged to sign up on the website so they can join in on the “loving” of their favorite things.
- Polyvore’s Picture Clipper: Already an established shopping destination/aspirational bookmarking site for fashionistas, Polyvore now allows its users to pull in pictures of its must-have beauty products. Birchbox’s blog and WWD revealed details around the “Polyvore Clipper,” which allows you to crop images from external sites and paste them into collages that help to easily organize your beauty wish lists. Users are also just one click away from purchasing their must-have items.
- My Gloss’ Conversation Cloud Homepage: My Gloss’ upgraded homepage now features a conversation cloud of the website’s trending topics ranging from “accessories” and “bargains” to “shopping” and “women’s health.” By clicking on the topic of your choice you’re directed to a Pinterest-like screen where featured stories are teased and can be clicked on to retrieve the full article.
So, which way will digital bookmarking go? Will brands continue to build Pinterest inspiration boards or develop their own versions for their social media platforms? Either way, it’s clear that the hype surrounding digital inspiration boards won’t be dying down anytime soon.
On Monday, March 26th, MMC was pleased to learn that we, along with our client, Head & Shoulders, were awarded a 2012 Holmes Report Sabre Award for our “Get Legendary Hair” campaign. Recognized for excellence in the viral video category, Head & Shoulders bested four finalists to secure the accolade which stands for superior achievement in branding and reputation.
Itchy scalp and dandruff: lots of us have it, none of us wants to talk about it. Recognizing this as our biggest challenge, Head & Shoulders and MMC created a campaign that would drive brand awareness and build engagement around the brand’s partnership with the National Football League (NFL) and All-Pro Safety Troy Polamalu.
Right from the start, we knew our program had to be legendary: from a consumer perspective, success would mean reaching the brands’ target – the guy’s guy – in his world, on his terms; for media, we needed to build on the “Million Dollar Insurance Policy” that made the brand and athlete/spokesperson Troy Polamalu pop culture icons. The campaign we developed was designed to get fans talking during the relative quiet that preceded the NFL season. At the center of our program were three videos that starred the Steelers’ Safety in a variety of highly-shareable scenarios, one of which featured his fellow teammates, Brett (“The Beard”) Keisel and Hines (“Dancing with the Stars”) Ward. Talk about epic football hero wattage!
Supported by online advertising and a variety of PR tactics that included satellite media tours and leveraging the Social Graphs of the stars involved, the clips were featured on Head & Shoulders’ YouTube channel where they quickly captured the attention of consumers and top-tier media. Conversations initiated on brand-owned channels like Facebook and Twitter added to the buzz that was amplified by earned placements on top sites like The Huffington Post, USA Today and NBC Sports. To date, the videos have garnered more than 3.2 million views on YouTube alone, 40% of which can be attributed to female audiences whose passion for the game, the brand and its spokespeople rivals that of their male counterparts. By marrying this insight – that women actually enjoy football – to the combined Social Media star-power of Troy, Hines and Brett, we able to secure an additional 3.5 million media impressions fans on behalf of the brand.
Born of the efforts of MMC, the Head & Shoulders brand team and our integrated agency partners, this win is truly a testament to power of nimble collaboration. It’s also an example of how a brand can be transformed through the power of Social Media. We couldn’t be more pleased to receive this accolade and look forward to celebrating on May 8th when the awards ceremony takes place in our fair city.
Related links:
Troy Polamalu Gets His Million Dollar Hair Buzzed Off By A Teammate!
Troy Polamalu at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum
Head & Shoulders – Troy and Brett Dancin’ with the Hines
Welcome to Five for Friday, everyone – hope you all had an amazing week! Our RSS feeds were practically bursting at the seams with interesting stories this time around – followed are a handful that grabbed our attention:
According to a recent report from Pew Internet & American Life Project, the number of Social Media users in the US has doubled from 2008 to 2010. No longer a “guy’s game,” the population of male users has dropped by 3%, a finding that may present a threat to Facebook’s impending IPO. Related data from Pew has shown that women make up 58% of the Network’s 850 million users… (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project).
In a bid to increase adoption of its Android operating system, Google is said to be readying plans to get into the tablet business. Hoping to steal share from Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle, the Search giant would likely offer an array of devices, each co-branded, from a range of manufacturers. Companies like Motorola, Samsung and Asus are thought to be among the possible partners… (Source: The Wall Street Journal).
While CPG companies have long embraced tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as new channels to engage customers, financial institutions have been reluctant. A new survey on the Social Media activities of 50 leading private banks found that most had developed “amateurish” strategies, were “hibernating” on Facebook and displaying “tokenism attitudes” to Twitter and YouTube… (Source: The New York Times).
As Pinterest and Instagram continue to burn up the buzz meter, another platform – Tumblr – continues to grow at a remarkable pace. According to the social sharing service, they just hit 20 billion posts, doubling in size in just 6 months. Tumblr’s main audience comes from the US (249 million), followed by Brazil (49 million) and the UK (34 million)… (Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171356/tumblr-continues-rapid-growth.html#ixzz1qd1u1Az6)
Reaction across the Social Web over the murder of Trayvon Martin shows overwhelming support for the slain youth’s family and outrage over his killing, according to a new report. The study also shows that news on cable networks and talk radio displayed equal suspicion over Trayvon and killer, George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman who fatally shot 17-year-old on February 26th in what he says was self-defense. Sad… (Source: Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism).
And that about does it for this week’s installment. Have a headline to share? Leave us a comment and let’s discuss!
Until next time – have a great weekend!
Happy (almost) weekend everyone, and welcome to Five for Friday! As usual, we tracked lots of chatter in our digital world this week, from conversations about gadgets to discussions about interesting new start-ups and everywhere in between! While narrowing down headlines to just a handful is always a challenge, we tried our best to ID a few that we thought you might enjoy. Followed are this week’s picks:
A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that 18% of teens send and receive more than 200 texts on an average day. 12% text between 101 and 200 times a day. The average number of texts sent or received each day grew 20% from 50 in 2009 to 60 in 2011, when the survey was conducted, with a large portion of the increase attributed to teen girls. Other demographics increasing their usage of texting include boys of all ages (from 30 texts per day in 2009 to 50 in 2011), African American teens (from 60 to 80 per day) and Hispanic teens who, as heavy users, were found to send and receive an average of 100 texts per day… (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project).
Finnish multinational Nokia has applied for a patent on tattoos that would vibrate when your phone rings or your battery runs low. Made using ore-infused inks, the tattoos would detect magnetic fields and “sense” when your phone was ringing. To dismiss the alert – which the company says would feel like a “tingling sensation” – the user would simply have to scratch their arm. According to Nokia’s patent the tattoo would be inserted under the skin, meaning users would need to have a “minor surgical procedure” if the technology was upgraded. Hmmm, I’ll pass… (Source: InformationWeek).
The results of a new MocoSpace survey suggest that the term “mobile gaming” may be a bit of a misnomer. According to the report, it turns out that quite a lot of us are more than happy to game when we’re not on the go: 96% of the consumers polled were found to play mobile games at home at least once a day; among those, 53% in bed. More than 52% admitted to playing for more than an hour a day; 32% more than three. In related news, Rovio’s latest installment of the Angry Birds franchise – Angry Birds Space – was just released. There goes my weekend… (Source: MocoSpace).
According to several sources, the launch of Apple’s newest iPad contributed to the Company’s biggest sales weekend. In all, an estimated 3 million units were sold in just three days. Continued fervor around the device has led the Street to reconsider its predictions for the device’s market share growth: one firm is forecasting as many as 66 million units sold in 2012. By 2015, they expect that number to reach 176 million… (Source: Various).
In their efforts to better screen candidates for employment, some companies are taking more than a simple glance at the Social profiles of applicants and asking them to supply usernames and passwords for a closer look. Companies that aren’t after such details have taken other steps – like asking hopefuls to friend their human resource managers or to log in via a company computer during an interview. Reacting to the legality of the practice, a former federal prosecutor called the very idea “an egregious violation of privacy.” What do you think? (Source: CBS | MoneyWatch).
So what did we miss? Leave us a comment and let’s discuss!
Photo Credit: Twitter
Today Twitter celebrates its sixth birthday. In those six years, Twitter has grown to over 500 million users and facilitated 140-character conversations big and small. Whether announcing breaking news, relaying the everyday musings of celebrities or mobilizing thousands of people as it did in the Arab Spring uprisings, Twitter is changing the way people all over the world communicate. To celebrate the occasion, we asked MMCers why Twitter is important to them. Here are their responses:
Twitter is my go-to source for news whether it’s hard news (it’s where I first heard about the earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami in Japan), the latest sports information or celebrity gossip. @alexacoughlin
Twitter is one of the fastest outlets to deliver easy-to-digest news bits. @__ying
Twitter gives me the opportunity to build deeper relationships with important online media by allowing me to connect in real time on a personal level. @samarafinn
Twitter is the fastest and easiest way to interact with brands when you’re looking for a quick response. @debragaynor
Twitter is one of the quickest and most effective ways to recruit: it also demonstrates how social media savvy a potential candidate is! @JuliaMConway & @katelizdee
Twitter is real people, sharing news the instant it happens. @sarahatwork
I log on to Twitter for beauty news first thing every morning so I can update my team and/or client on the latest trends, industry events, etc. @ktully26
Twitter is a great tool for that inside scoop to the lives of our influencers, team members and clients. We get to know their personalities in a way that you never could before! @liss0224
Twitter is a constant source of education about social media. @kristandietz
Reading a Twitter feed is like being a fly on the wall for the world’s conversation. Whether watching award shows or gathering breaking news details, I can always turn to Twitter for the latest, unfiltered commentary. @ErikaZayas
Twitter is solely responsible for my first EVER internship, and for that I’m forever grateful! @JennaGlynn
Happy Friday, everyone, and welcome to this week’s better-late-than-never edition of Five for Friday! On this, the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, we recognize that we’re probably standing in the way of your celebrating, so we’ll cut right to the chase with our picks for stories worth sharing:
This morning, Apple-addicts around the globe gathered to brave long lines in hopes of securing a new and highly-coveted iPad to call their own. The device, described as “more evolutionary than revolutionary,” boasts a number of improved specs including a larger screen, Retina display, a 5-megapixel camera, faster processor, iTunes/iCloud integration, support for nearly 600,000 apps and optional connectivity to 4G LTE networks… (Source: Various).
In an attempt to streamline the look of their profile pages, Pinterest has just undergone a significant makeover. The redesign – which Social-types had anticipated for some time now – is meant to help users better connect with each other and content more freely. The new layout bears more than a passing resemblance to Facebook’s new profile pages – coincidence? Hmm… (Source: Various).
According to BlogHer’s Women and Social Media in 2012 report, the influence blogs have on a woman’s purchase decisions is likely related to the amount of trust she places in the information and advice she encounters. Among those polled, 98% we found to trust the information they received from blogs, even ahead of Facebook (86%), Twitter (85%) and Pinterest (85%)… (Source: BlogHer).
CNN is reportedly in talks to buy Social Media news site – and personal favorite – Mashable. For those unfamiliar, Mashable tracks a wide range of topics related to the digital and emerging media space, covering companies that range from start-ups to key players… (Source: Various).
Findings from a new study suggest that sharing too much information via profiles on Facebook and Twitter is the number one way Social Media can cause stress in a relationship. The runner-up? Tagging your “ex” in a photo… (Source: FOX News).
So what headlines grabbed your attention this week? Leave us a comment and let’s discuss! In the meantime, Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!
