It was only last week that Google released “First Click Free,” a service that blocks avid users from taking advantage of Google to avoid pay walls. The move sought to strengthen Google’s historically tenuous relationship with the publishers. In another attempt to reconcile its relationship with mainstream media publishers, Google launched theLiving Stories experiment . Google has partnered with The Washington Post and the New York Times to create Living Stories — a content aggregator specific to the publisher and topic.
Living Stories is a Google Lab experiment that ties together all major stories based on topic and publisher. Living Stories then organizes the topics in a timeline based on the most recently updated. For instance, “Washington Tackles Health Care Reform” is the topic presented by the Washington Post and was most recently updated an 31 minutes ago. Below it is the New York Times topic, “The Politics of Global Warming,” updated one hour ago.
When you click into a topic, you are directed to a co-branded page (Google and the publisher) that examines to topic even further. The top of the page summarizes the story and links in the sidebar outline common themes that you might want to explore. For instance, “Washington Tackles Health Care Reform” is divided into key events, people, images, etc. Furthermore, a timeline is assembled at below the summary — giving you highlights of the story.
One of the most exciting elements of this new lab is the updates. Google will close article summaries based on your viewing history. If you read “Senate rejects amendment on abortion,” only a headline will appear next time your visit. Moreover, if there is a development in the story, when you revisit the site it will be prominently displayed. This feature is inline with our Web Intelligence Trend — basically stating that the information we view on the web will become tailored to our browsing history.
This new feature is one of many attempts by newspapers and other...
The emergence of location-based apps, the rise in smartphones, successful competitors… why shouldn’t FourSquare succeed? Mashable’s Jennifer Van Grove recentlywrote a glowing review of the location-based mobile app — examining key trends that should catapult FourSquare to a Twitter-like status. “Everyone is making their predictions about whether Foursquare is the next Twitter, including me,”writes social media blogger Jason Keath.
FourSquare is a mobile location-based application for smartphones like the iPhone, Android and soon, the Blackberry. Users “check in” when they arrive at say a local cafe, book store, park or even a friends house. As more of your friends sign up, you’ll get a better understanding of their favorite hang out spots. Based on your “check ins,” FourSquare can suggest new places for you to explore. And as you discover new places and frequent your favorite spots, you’ll get points and work your way up to “Mayorship” of a local cafe or restaurant or movie theater — wherever you visit the most.
The location-based app is not alone, however. Brightkite and Google Latitude have developed similar platforms that utilize GPS enabled smart phones to connect users. And location-based apps are also getting attention from investors.Gowalla recently announced it received $8.4 million in series B investing. Grove asks, can a location-based app like FourSquare be the next Twitter? We’ll explore FourSquare’s potential as “the next Twitter” and the challenges they will face as they try to grow their user-base.
How FourSquare can Succeed
Media adoption — Ultimately it was the media that catapulted Twitter from an esoteric geek app to a revolutionary media reporting platform. Can FourSquare follow a similar path? The GPS enabled app could add a multi-dimensional experience to reporting. For instance, you notice an accident on the thruway and FourSquare could connect you with a journalist that can give you the story via GPS.
The Narrowing Gap Between Technology and Our Personal Lives – While Twitter was criticized for being an inane life-casting platform (”I’m brushing my teeth” or “Going for a walk…”), FourSquare enables users to bring the world even closer to their personal lives — via GPS. FourSquare turns exploring your surroundings into a game, through the “checking in” feature. Each location you check into, you’re rewarded points.
It’s smart mobile — Smartphones are on a steep incline. With the iPhone growing 245% and RIM (maker of the Blackberry) 96.7% in 2008, smart phones are definitely making a big splash. FourSquare leverages smart phones apps (now available in Apple’s App Store and soon to come for the Blackberry) to “check in” and “check out” of locations. Dennis told Mashable, “80% of users are using the iPhone app.” While Twitter apps allowed users to essentially send text messages to the world, could FourSquare’s location based app add another dimension to smart phones?
Challenges FourSquare Will Face
People are not ready for a location-based app — FourSquare, like Google Latitude, Gowalla and BrightKite, are location-based. While there is not a clear leader in location-based apps, is there even an opportunity? If people are not ready for a location based app, then FourSquare, like...
In June 2008, China was still grappling with transparency in reporting from the earthquake in May, the SEC was deciding how to demystify credit default swaps, Barack Obama was on the campaign trail and more than willing to divulge details about campaign contributions, and there was public outcry for government to support, then regulate the sinking real estate market. We were exiting an era of shady back-door dealings that led to the global recession. On a social, economic and political scale, transparency was in a high public demand.
Social media was also a part of this transparency trend. In June 2008, Facebook surpassed MySpace in total number of unique monthly users — 59.7 to 59.5 million users. How did Facebook ride this transparency trend to surpass its social networking rival, MySpace? Let’s take a look at each social networking site and the key elements that speak to transparency:
Users — Facebook’s framework is based on real people. When Facebook first launched in February 2004, only users with a .edu account could join. This meant only students with a verified college e-mail account could be apart of the Facebook community whereas MySpace allowed anybody and everybody to join, use a pseudonym and maintain multiple accounts.
User Profiles — Facebook was not the place to be overly creative. User profiles were not customizable, whereas MySpace allowed for HTML and CSS so users could let their creative spirit soar. Flashy pink, neon green layouts were juxtaposed with dim, gray profiles. There was absolutely no consistency on MySpace while Facebook had a coherent flow from one page to the next.
Advertising — In June 2008, MySpace had enormous, flashy banner ads that spoke to traditional digital advertising — yell as loud as you can to compete for users’ attention. Meanwhile, Facebook had subtle advertising in the right sidebar. Nothing flashy or in-your-face about it, just a picture and a couple lines of text. It was a blend of Google Ad Words simplicity and visual appeal of banner ads.
Design — When users landed on Facebook.com, there might be a dozen links build into a simple design (with a blue and white color palette). Compared to Facebook.com, MySpace.com was...
Driving across the country is enough to remind anyone not only how geographically expansive the US is, but also just how disparate a culture we are “under one nation”. Besides surprise at how much of the country really is corn fields, one is also forced to recognize that American culture is not just that of its individual metropolitan centers. On the contrary, much of American culture is characterized by the ethos of the people in its heartlands and beyond. An examination of the top American brands shows their ability to appeal to and unite disparate American groups, appealing to the American story at large.
So what then are the red threads that connect us as American people? Sparxoo has identified the trends that mark the culture today in itsState of the Union report. But, with every trend there are countertrends. With support, comes opposition. A closer look at the struggles and successes of the following American brands, serves to further shed light on the milieu of America today and provides “American” marketing lessons.
1. Nike: Performance- Before Obama’s “yes we can”, there was Nike’s “just do it”. Both slogans are quintessentially American for what they represent: hope. America was founded on the hope of a better future and Nike similarly encourages and motivates its consumers to believe they can do “it” and perform to their personal best… whatever that may be. Allowing each individual to uniquely interpret their goals and strive to achieve them is what makes Nike compelling and is a familiar story that resonates with the American people. Of course, the journey is not without struggles both for Americans and for Nike. Nike faced a lot of controversy over their corporate practices but has managed to swell the countercurrent by emphasizing another American trait: humility and transparency. Not admitting to perfection is honorable and also something that the working American people can empathize with. Nike’s brand successfully represents the aspirational reality to be your individual best.
2. Apple: Innovation- America can identify with the “other”, the “underdog”, the struggle for recognition—it is something deep in its colonial history. Besides the product offering itself, the ingenious resourcefulness of Apple to stand on its own unapologetically against its monolithic opposition—Microsoft—also resonates with the American story. This relentless determination, confidence, entrepreneurialism, and its formidable goals resonates with the American people. Furthermore, if Italy has their fashion and England has their tea, America can be characterized by their innovation. Apple is known for inspiring creativity and design. Here to, Apple’s innovative brand represents America.
3. Walmart: Access- American culture is often identified as one of excess and consumption. As has been argued against America at large, Wal-Mart has been said to offer cheap products that have been made for disposable consumption- without deference to the people or the...
Though Twitter has captured much of the social media attention in the past year, LinkedIn continues to pick up steam. While the professional-focused social network recently reach the50 million user mark, we set out to discover how the site could accelerate its growth. We used Quantcast to analyze LinkedIn and other top-tier social networks to identify the best practices to cross the chasm from early adopters to early majority . Through our analysis we have come to several strategies for LinkedIn to accelerate audience growth and expand their product offering.
First, let’s take a lesson from Facebook and MySpace. The lifestyle social networks have a very strong core user-base — of which 12-18% are addicts. LinkedIn has a mere 2% addicts. So how can LinkedIn increase their % addicts? If we look at Facebook and MySpace, users have a strong personal connection with each other. Both social networks focus on personal relationships (think photo sharing, comments). Though LinkedIn needs to maintain a professional environment, what about making the connection between personal and professional networks?
Integrate Facebook Connect into the LinkedIn social network to bridge the gap between personal and professional networks. Moreover, sixty-seven percent of Facebook users are under 34, while LinkedIn has 24%. By adding Facebook Connect, LinkedIn could cultivate younger audiences – thus increasing the opportunity tap into one of the largest online demographics.
Opening the doors to a broader demographic is what ultimately grew Facebook from a niche, college network, to the largest social network in the world. Since Facebook lifted the .edu restriction in 2006, the social network has grown exponentially — recently reaching 350 million users. While the percent of college students on Facebook in 2006 would have neared 100% (the site opened registration to large companies and high schools in 2005), only 42% of their audience is a college graduate today. If LinkedIn were to open their doors to the personal network, the company could experience similar growth while maintaining a professional environment.
LinkedIn could also capture a larger female audience. That said, while other social sites have a female majority, LinkedIn has a mere 45%. To grow its female audience, LinkedIn could take a page from the Twitter playbook and develop an API that could then be re-purposed on...
Earlier this year, we conducted a survey of emerging leaders and presented the results in our America State of the Union 2009 report. We covered the ideal traits of America, including opportunity, innovation, diversity, and generosity. Since that time, Brand America was ranked #1 in FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index and President Barack Obama has been characterized by some as thenew Brand Manager for Brand America . While it appears that we are on the right track, there are significant challenges to strengthening Brand America. We interviewed branding expert Ed Burghard of The Burghard Group to gain new perspective on the challenges and best practices for place branding.
Q: Hi Edward. Please tell us briefly about your current initiatives in place branding.
A: There is an opportunity to elevate the branding efforts in the public sector by transferring knowledge from private sector branding experts to help economic development professionals. Branding can play a strategic role in helping local leaders make better choices about where to focus their product development efforts. To help address that need, I have createdthe Strengthening Brand America Project. It is a community of practice for economic development professionals.
Q: In your current work, what do you see as the opportunity for branding among communities and states?
A: It’s imperative that economic development professionals recognize that branding is about a lot more than a logo and a tagline. With a strategically defined branding platform, you can focus on a clear vision for the medium to long-term. That enables you to make better product development decisions specifically as it relates to public policy, infrastructure renewal, and asset creation. You can also optimize your investment decisions and do more to build and manage a diverse set of initiatives that all point to the same goal.
Q: Why is community branding important?
A: In my work, the goal is to create a productive business climate that attracts growing companies, and to enable those companies to be successful on a global basis. I believe that community branding is very important from an economic and business perspective. DCI did study in 2008 that concluded 71% of capital investment deals did not involve an initial contact with any development organization until a short list of potential location options for investment had been created. That means that 71% of the time, community image is the way to get you on a shortlist.
Q: What are some of the challenges to place branding in US communities?
A: Our political system is led by politicians who have an administration term focus. That means that they are interested in what they can accomplish while in office. In a 4 year term there are typically 2 strong years of productive progress (years 2 and 3) surrounded by an up-front orientation and immersion process (year 1) and campaign period for re-election (year 4). This is a tough dynamic for successful branding because it is difficult to get continuity on initiatives that often take longer to come to fruition.
Q: What are some examples of successful place branding?
A: Dubai is a great case study. At one point, Dubai was nothing but desert. This gave the advantage of a clean slate for a pre-planned development. Leaders established a vision, determined what assets they needed to create, and coalesced an active community into an amazing success. Northern Ireland is also a great example. In this case, they didn’t have clean slate, so they looked into the future, developed their ideal identity, and reverse engineered what needed to be...
Coca-Cola is the leading brand on Facebook with over 3.7 million fans. More and more brands are creating fan pages to capture the hundreds of millions of Facebook users across the world. Facebook can be a powerful tool to generate website referrals, engage existing and acquire new customers. It’s about creating meaning in your digital space that people want to be a part of. We’ll discuss how to brand your page, build relationships and engage and empower your fans on Facebook.
1. Brand Your Page
When you arrive on the Coca-Cola Facebook page, it is clearly branded. The landing page is almost a mini-Coca-Cola site where fans can “celebrate” their love for the soft drink company and become a member of the Coca-cola community. This pseudo Facebook splash page introduces users to the brand in a way different that the typical landing page. From the start, Facebook users understand the Coca-Cola page not just to be another Facebook page, but a platform to discuss, interact and promote the brand.
2. Inform Your Network
Send personal messages to those in your network that might be interested in your page. Blasting requests to join your page might not be the best approach–as it might alienate some of your network. Consider how you can make your page more than just a self-promotional tool. Maybe your Facebook page is where you raise money for a social cause… If so, it is a great introduction between your friends and your business–making the page less about you and more about your positive impact.
3. Be a Catalyst
There are many tools to engage your audience on Facebook. Consider the hundreds of Facebook apps, from SlideShare to Mafia Wars. Select those apps that are both relevant to your business and your fans. Some businesses have even developed Facebook Apps. San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsom offers an application that serves as a badge of support and a fundraising tool. Or, consider contests and voting. Target was able to engage their audiences by asking their fans to allocate their donation dollars.
4. Offer Rewards
Why would someone want to return to your Facebook page? Consider how...
As we find more and more ways to connect online, the trend of crowdsourcing only seems like a natural progression to solve problems, collaborate, and join in discussion with people from around the world. Crowdsourcing’s scope – from social networks to intellectual capital and microfinancing – covers nearly every industry imaginable, and continues to be adopted by new ones every day.
The New York Times is branching out and experimenting with the latest area of crowdsourcing – crowdfunding. Similar to crowdsourcing, the idea of crowdfunding asks people to donate small amounts of money to support a larger cause. In this case, users on the siteSpot.Us raised funds to help reporter Lindsey Hoshaw travel to a remote part of the Pacific Ocean in order to report on an environmental story. It was the Times’ first crowdfunded story – and will most likely not be its last.
In a way, the move to crowdfunding shows that the Times is not only supporting citizen and freelance journalism, but also makes the media company appear fresh, almost like a fresh startup venture. As a business model, crowdfunding is sustainable, and easy to use as both a person seeking donations and someone looking to donate money to others. Using PayPal or a secure online transaction, one can help further efforts with just a few clicks. Running a crowdfunded story is usually free or at a low cost to the news outlet running the story – a major plus when revenues and ad sales continue to decline.
By utilizing the crowd as a source for news, newspapers can show support for these journalists, while demonstrating commitment and community involvement. For small startups looking to take advantage of crowdfunding, they have a dedicated community of others looking to help, right at their fingertips.
The reach and influence of crowdsourcing and funding is abundant in online communities. In some instances, a simple idea can become supported by thousands of strangers, and the idea can become reality. Creativity is king among crowdsourcing, and there seems to be no limit to what people can use it for. Here are just a few ways that new and established leaders are putting the crowd theory to good use.
Product Innovation
On the crowdsourcing front, Dell and Starbucks have used an innovative platform encouraging feedback from customers to help shape the future of their companies. Dell’s IdeaStorm, which has been around since 2007, asks customers to share frustrations or ideas on how to improve upon Dell products and services. Even years after its launch, ideas continue to pour in. Dell has a section devoted to ideas that have been implemented – signaling to customers that they really are being heard.
Starbucks’ My Starbucks Idea operates on a similar idea, but is less tech-focused. Ideas of late include how to stop wasting food, redesign of cups, and ideas for new products. To date, they’ve have more than 79,000 ideas and suggestions. These systems not only show the ideas customers have, but also show how much people are willing to contribute when given the opportunity to do so.
Design
For entrepreneurs and freelancers, crowd-based resources are definitely a welcome opportunity, and they’re available in almost every industry you can think of. In the arts industry, 99designs provides a way for graphic designers to get the creative juices flowing for a chance to “win” a prize – their payment for having the best design. Companies in need submit design briefs, and individual designers work to...
With the availability of devices like Tivo, DVR, and online video streaming platforms, we have access to nearly every show on television, whenever we want it.Our growing media consumption – whether it’s through TV, YouTube, iTunes, or streaming video – is no doubt growing each year, and expanding beyond the television set itself to ever more popular on-demand streaming platforms.
Online video streaming will get even easier on December 7th when the emerging digital platform Boxee launches its public beta version to the masses. Boxee enables easier video streaming and organization for home computers, and even for the TV itself. Leading up to its launch, the venture-capital backed company has announced partnerships with other online video sites Crunchyroll and Crackle, along with Sony Pictures, to feature a large library of TV shows, movies, and original content.
Boxee is a free, downloadable, open source software that essentially gathers streams from online platforms to deliver them right to your computer, without the need for individual searches on multiple platforms and Web sites. Compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux, Boxee has been available for some time on Apple TV as well, delivering and all-in-one package for the most avid television viewers.
Extending beyond the video realm, Boxee offers users the option to connect with popular sites and applications like Last.fm and iTunes, and social networking sites Facebook and Twitter – all in one place. Boxee organizes files, folders and data to be easily accessible, and essentially having no need to exit out of the application. Additionally, Boxee is designed and readily capable for TV hookup through an HDMI cable, without a separate box or media player. Tech and media gurus everywhere have long sought after capabilities like these, and Boxee is the first to deliver such options from a single platform like this.
Boxee is also continually being created and improved by independent developers using its open source platform. The creators of Boxee encourage people to get...
All of the clicks for online ads are derived from a mere 16% of internet users, according to a recent study by comScore. That means, you’re optimizing your ad for that 16% of users — a very small audience to capture. As consumers become more digitally savvy, they are less inclined to click on advertisements. What happens for those business owners that do not have audiences in that 16% of users?
Across the board, people are simply not clicking on banner ads as much as they were two years ago. The number of people who click on display ads in a month has fallen from 32% of Internet users in July 2007 to only 16% in March 2009. “Heavy clickers” fell from 6% to 4%, “moderate clickers” fell from 10% to 4% and “light clickers” fell 16% to 8%. comScore VP, Linda Anderson suggests that these dwindling numbers on click-through ads do not give us the big picture. Ads should also be evaluated on “view-throughs.”
Just as traditional forms of media elevated brand positions in consumer minds, so too do online banner ads. Consider the correlation between “lift” (or impressions that resonate with users so they are more inclined to search for advertised brands) in trademark search and banner advertising in the automotive sector. While the average “lift” is 46%, the automotive sector ranks #1 with 114% “lift.” John Lowell, Starcom USA SVP/Director, Research & Analytics, notes that “a click earns no revenue and creates no brand equity… online advertising (is) certainly not to generate clicks… (but) to visit website, seek more information, purchase a product, become a lead, keep brand top of mind… ”
comScore’s emphasizes on advertising impressions takes into account only paid sponsorship. In a network economy, we are moving away from “paid” sponsorships and towards “social” sponsorships — where brand influence is measured by the value of connections and relationships in the online community, not ad placement. More and more people are flooding social networks — eager to meet new people and make connections. Ultimately, brand value is derived from consumers. Engaging consumers through social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. creates a buzz and gets people excited about your brand — whereas an ad is a “necessary evil.”
Consider Charity: Water’s Twestivals. Charity: Water was able to mobilize a large Twitter community to fundraise for the organization. Not only was the organization able to raise money, but the community action created buzz in the news and on other social networks. Charity: water was able to think outside of the box and engaged their audiences in new and innovative ways. The organization didn’t need to run paid search advertisements to raise awareness — they relied on their tight network of supporters instead.
For those brands that cannot capture those 16% of clicking consumers, create value through meaningful relationships in the online community. Instead of paying for search advertising, consider the importance of page rank. While 16% of internet users might click on paid links, 100% click on...
