Brand Republic reports: Fox News has launched a social networking site for US conservatives dubbed Fox Nation where viewers can interact with the channel's stars including Bill O'Reilly. Fox News' Fox Nation will act as an interactive media portal for viewers, but also offer a chance for debate and discussion surrounding US and global issues.
Grover Norquist, president of the anti-tax lobby group Americans for Tax Reform and Fox Nation contributor, said: "I believe that Fox Nation has the potential to do to the internet what Fox News did to cable television.
"That is, be a disruptive, transformative -- but also profoundly constructive -- media force. "Just as Fox News brought a new vision and voice to the media landscape in the 90s -- fair and balanced reporting, plus strong debate and commentary -- so Fox Nation will bring still more vision and voice in the decade to come."
Wow - I can virtually interact with Bill O'Reilly.
The real power here is that (finally) Republican and Conservative candidates could have the greatest one-stop shop internet platform if Fox Nation is as successful as Fox News Channel - and there is really no reason to think that it won't be. To have a velvet rope social networking site dedicated to the conservative movement would be a game changer.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
20 Things I Learned @ OMMA Conference
- Ps & Qs = pints and quarts = old sailor term used by bartenders as a debit system for the amount of beer due a sailor
- KPIs = Key Performance Indicators = how do you measure? prove? analyze?
- What are your KPIs? Are you reporting on the wrong/right things?
- Things that happened in the past are not as good as predictive measures = "your boss wants to know what is going to happen in the future" = measure accordingly
- Provide context to better illustrate your point(s)
- Provide interpretation + analysis = numbers don't always tell the whole story
- Net Promoter Economics
- What is your Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
- NPS is based on the fundamental perspective that every company's customers can be divided into three categories: Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. By asking one simple question — How likely is it that you would you recommend [Company X] to a friend or colleague? — you can track these groups and get a clear measure of your company's performance through its customers' eyes.
- Calculate your NPS - http://www.netpromoter.com/np/calculate.jsp
- Measurement = Think About Outcomes
- What is your homepage? It is not your homepage but your google search result page
- "Search as Interface"
- When you google - what suggestions appear in the box? Who controls these suggestions?
- Are your searhc results Corporate or Conversation?
- Salesforce adding twitter feeds - still think Twitter is silly?
- Growth in conversation media - what people say and how the say it is the new media
- Platforms + Services that allow for conversation essential for success
- How to be a part of a community: 1) Find conversations you want to join/start 2) Find the leaders 3) Add value to the conversations/content/community 4) Make media 5) Transparency 6) Iteration - Measure - Prove
- Conversation Economy is the New Economy
Monday, March 30, 2009
Team Obama using campaign techniques to shape/impact budget
A mark of the scale of Organizing for America's drive for pledges in support of Obama's budget- Politico received a copy of a pledge form from Senator Tom Harkin, whom volunteers signed up at outside a DSCC event in San Francisco last night.
How Chris Hughes Helped Launch Facebook and the Barack Obama Campaign
FastCompany: "Boy Wonder: How Chris Hughes Helped Launch Facebook and the Barack Obama Campaign"The untold story of how Chris Hughes, today only 25 years old, helped create two of the most successful startups in modern history, Facebook and the Barack Obama campaign.
Friday, March 27, 2009
8 hours a day looking at screens
NYT reoports Eight Hours a Day Spent on Screens: In a world with grocery store television screens, digitally delivered movie libraries and cellphone video clips, the average American is exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions a day. In fact, adults are exposed to screens -- TVs, cellphones, even GPS devices -- for about 8.5 hours on any given day.
Obama's grassroots backers on the stump
BG's blog Political Intelligence reports: President Obama's grassroots army that he built during his historic campaign continues to pay dividends.
Now in the form of Organizing for America and housed within the Democratic National Committee, it announced today that Saturday's door-to-door effort trying to build support for Obama's budget collected more than 100,000 pledges.
More than 10,000 volunteers participated in about 1,200 events in all 50 states, said the group, which is based on 14 million e-mail addresses compiled during the campaign. "We're very encouraged by the strong showing we saw from canvassers and volunteers in neighborhoods across the country on Saturday," Mitch Stewart, the group's director, said in a statement. "The message they delivered came through loud and clear - Americans are just as committed to helping enact the change President Obama campaigned for as they were to sending him to the White House. They understand that to get our economy moving again, make healthcare more affordable, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and improve education, the President needs our help - and with 100,000 pledges and counting, Americans are doing just that."
UPDATE: Today, Organizing for America sent supporters an email with phone numbers of their members of Congress, urging them to call with their backing for the budget. It also asks supporters to log online what kind of response they received -- another way for the White House to count potential votes.
"Last week, thousands canvassed their communities to talk with neighbors about the need for a new direction. Now, it's time to take that message to Washington," Stewart wrote in the email. "We can't afford to ignore the long-term threats to our prosperity. Now is the time to build the foundation for a recovery that lasts."
Now in the form of Organizing for America and housed within the Democratic National Committee, it announced today that Saturday's door-to-door effort trying to build support for Obama's budget collected more than 100,000 pledges.
More than 10,000 volunteers participated in about 1,200 events in all 50 states, said the group, which is based on 14 million e-mail addresses compiled during the campaign. "We're very encouraged by the strong showing we saw from canvassers and volunteers in neighborhoods across the country on Saturday," Mitch Stewart, the group's director, said in a statement. "The message they delivered came through loud and clear - Americans are just as committed to helping enact the change President Obama campaigned for as they were to sending him to the White House. They understand that to get our economy moving again, make healthcare more affordable, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and improve education, the President needs our help - and with 100,000 pledges and counting, Americans are doing just that."
UPDATE: Today, Organizing for America sent supporters an email with phone numbers of their members of Congress, urging them to call with their backing for the budget. It also asks supporters to log online what kind of response they received -- another way for the White House to count potential votes.
"Last week, thousands canvassed their communities to talk with neighbors about the need for a new direction. Now, it's time to take that message to Washington," Stewart wrote in the email. "We can't afford to ignore the long-term threats to our prosperity. Now is the time to build the foundation for a recovery that lasts."
Obama adds online town hall to communications plan
Netgov reports: President Obama added a wrinkle to his communications strategy today -- a town hall meeting mixing online and in-person questions -- that gave him another soapbox for pushing his budget proposal.
The White House boasted that 92,925 people had submitted 104,127 questions and cast 3.6 million votes on those questions, all by visiting the whitehouse.gov Web site. Obama answered seven of those questions and called on six people in the East Room. The president broke little new ground, treading familiar territory on education, housing, health care, college loans and assistance for small businesses.
The only surprise question was one Obama brought up on his own, noting with some amazement that many Americans wanted it answered. "I have to say there was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation." With a laugh, he said he wasn't sure "what this says about the online audience." But he said, "We wanted to make sure it was answered. The answer is no. I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy."
The event, the first of its kind in the White House, capped an unusually busy time in the bully pulpit for the president. In recent days he has mixed tried-and-true events such as a prime-time news conference and private meetings with lawmakers with some not-so-usual moves, including an appearance on "The Tonight Show," an interview on "60 Minutes" and a hands-on filling out of his NCAA basketball tournament bracket that aired on ESPN.
The White House boasted that 92,925 people had submitted 104,127 questions and cast 3.6 million votes on those questions, all by visiting the whitehouse.gov Web site. Obama answered seven of those questions and called on six people in the East Room. The president broke little new ground, treading familiar territory on education, housing, health care, college loans and assistance for small businesses.
The only surprise question was one Obama brought up on his own, noting with some amazement that many Americans wanted it answered. "I have to say there was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation." With a laugh, he said he wasn't sure "what this says about the online audience." But he said, "We wanted to make sure it was answered. The answer is no. I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy."
The event, the first of its kind in the White House, capped an unusually busy time in the bully pulpit for the president. In recent days he has mixed tried-and-true events such as a prime-time news conference and private meetings with lawmakers with some not-so-usual moves, including an appearance on "The Tonight Show," an interview on "60 Minutes" and a hands-on filling out of his NCAA basketball tournament bracket that aired on ESPN.
Why Aren't Local Governments Using Twitter And Facebook?
InfoWeek reports: Local governments deal with people one at a time. The face of local government is the face of your neighborhood cop, your kids' schoolteacher, and the firefighter who comes when you smell smoke. Social media like Twitter and Facebook are great for helping organizations deal with people one-on-one. So why aren't more local governments on Facebook and Twitter?
Bill Schreier, CTO and Director of the Department of Info Tech for the City of Seattle, asks that question and concludes that Twitter and Facebook aren't ready for Government 2.0.
Local governments are the governments most visible and directly involved in the daily lives of most people (although you certainly wouldn't know that by looking at newspaper headlines, the evening TV news and the blogosphere where the fedgov gets a lot more square inches of newspaper or computer monitor space).
Local governments take care of streets and parks, provide water and dispose of solid waste/wastewater. When you call 911 your local police or fire department responds, not the FBI or the Army. Local governments are very much connected to neighborhoods and individual communities. Almost everyone can walk into their county courthouse or city hall and ask for help or complain about a service. People can actually attend City Council meetings and make comments, or even - most cases - talk directly to the officials they've elected to run their city/county government.
Schreier rattles off a litany of services that social networking tools should provide for the community: Facebook could be used for organizing neighborhood watch programs. Social networks could be used to propagate information and dispel rumors during disasters (this is already happening). Twitter might be used for communicating about potholes and other areas of municipalities requiring government attention and repair.
And social media could be used to get input on the legislative process. He cited President Obama's use of Google Moderator to allow people to post ideas and vote on them.
Schreier concludes: "I hereby challenge the Facebooks and Googles and Twitters of the world to make those improvements happen."
Bill Schreier, CTO and Director of the Department of Info Tech for the City of Seattle, asks that question and concludes that Twitter and Facebook aren't ready for Government 2.0.
Local governments are the governments most visible and directly involved in the daily lives of most people (although you certainly wouldn't know that by looking at newspaper headlines, the evening TV news and the blogosphere where the fedgov gets a lot more square inches of newspaper or computer monitor space).
Local governments take care of streets and parks, provide water and dispose of solid waste/wastewater. When you call 911 your local police or fire department responds, not the FBI or the Army. Local governments are very much connected to neighborhoods and individual communities. Almost everyone can walk into their county courthouse or city hall and ask for help or complain about a service. People can actually attend City Council meetings and make comments, or even - most cases - talk directly to the officials they've elected to run their city/county government.
Schreier rattles off a litany of services that social networking tools should provide for the community: Facebook could be used for organizing neighborhood watch programs. Social networks could be used to propagate information and dispel rumors during disasters (this is already happening). Twitter might be used for communicating about potholes and other areas of municipalities requiring government attention and repair.
And social media could be used to get input on the legislative process. He cited President Obama's use of Google Moderator to allow people to post ideas and vote on them.
Schreier concludes: "I hereby challenge the Facebooks and Googles and Twitters of the world to make those improvements happen."
Non Profits Lack Social Media Strategy
The 2009 Massachusetts Non-Profit Social Media Report polled non-profits in Massachusetts with budgets ranging from under $1m to over $100m annually. Most (69%) operated on budgets under $1m and 28% operated on budgets ranging from $1m to $5m.
Here’s what the survey showed:
Non-profits know about social media
Most respondents are using social media as a networking tool but are not yet leveraging it as a tool to engage with donors
55% are already using social media
25% are planning to use social media
80% are unfamiliar with microblogging tools such as Twitter
Only 7% are currently using a microblogging service
Strategy is the missing element. More than 75% did not have a marketing plan
In another study, the Community Philanthropy 2.0 survey , there is a tremendous opportunity for nonprofits to participate as trusted providers of credible information and ultimately cultivate the next generation of major donors through the social web.
Here’s what the survey showed:
Non-profits know about social media
Most respondents are using social media as a networking tool but are not yet leveraging it as a tool to engage with donors
55% are already using social media
25% are planning to use social media
80% are unfamiliar with microblogging tools such as Twitter
Only 7% are currently using a microblogging service
Strategy is the missing element. More than 75% did not have a marketing plan
In another study, the Community Philanthropy 2.0 survey , there is a tremendous opportunity for nonprofits to participate as trusted providers of credible information and ultimately cultivate the next generation of major donors through the social web.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Twitter Tomorrow or Next Thursday
FutureTweets.com is a free service that lets you schedule your Twitter messages - you can send messages at a specific time in the future or send a reoccuring Tweet daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.
http://futuretweets.com/
http://futuretweets.com/
Monitter = twitter application
Monitter is a twitter monitor, it lets you "monitter" the twitter world for a set of keywords and watch what people are saying.
Simple to use - you can select three subjects and set a location range - 10km, 20km, 100km - t0 see what is being said.
http://monitter.com/
Simple to use - you can select three subjects and set a location range - 10km, 20km, 100km - t0 see what is being said.
http://monitter.com/
Getting serious about your meeting problem
Seth Godin blog post: Do you have one? Some folks are going to eight hours of meeting a day. At Ford, they used to have meetings to prepare for meetings, just to be sure everyone had their story straight.
If you're serious about solving your meeting problem, getting things done and saving time, try this for one week. If it doesn't work, I'll be happy to give you a full refund.
Understand that all problems are not the same. So why are your meetings? Does every issue deserve an hour? Why is there a default length?
Schedule meetings in increments of five minutes. Require that the meeting organizer have a truly great reason to need more than four increments of realtime face time.
Require preparation. Give people things to read or do before the meeting, and if they don't, kick them out.
Remove all the chairs from the conference room. I'm serious.
If someone is more than two minutes later than the last person to the meeting, they have to pay a fine of $10 to the coffee fund.
Bring an egg timer to the meeting. When it goes off, you're done. Not your fault, it's the timer's.
The organizer of the meeting is required to send a short email summary, with action items, to every attendee within ten minutes of the end of the meeting.
Create a public space (either a big piece of poster board or a simple online page) that allows attendees to rate meetings and their organizers on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of usefulness. Just a simple box where everyone can write a number. Watch what happens.
If you're not adding value to a meeting, leave. You can always read the summary later.
This is all marketing. It's a show, one that lets your team know you're treating meetings differently now.
If you're serious about solving your meeting problem, getting things done and saving time, try this for one week. If it doesn't work, I'll be happy to give you a full refund.
Understand that all problems are not the same. So why are your meetings? Does every issue deserve an hour? Why is there a default length?
Schedule meetings in increments of five minutes. Require that the meeting organizer have a truly great reason to need more than four increments of realtime face time.
Require preparation. Give people things to read or do before the meeting, and if they don't, kick them out.
Remove all the chairs from the conference room. I'm serious.
If someone is more than two minutes later than the last person to the meeting, they have to pay a fine of $10 to the coffee fund.
Bring an egg timer to the meeting. When it goes off, you're done. Not your fault, it's the timer's.
The organizer of the meeting is required to send a short email summary, with action items, to every attendee within ten minutes of the end of the meeting.
Create a public space (either a big piece of poster board or a simple online page) that allows attendees to rate meetings and their organizers on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of usefulness. Just a simple box where everyone can write a number. Watch what happens.
If you're not adding value to a meeting, leave. You can always read the summary later.
This is all marketing. It's a show, one that lets your team know you're treating meetings differently now.
Team Obama launches TV ad
Politico reports: The Obama rising-sun logo is back. Organizing for America, the DNC project that grew out of the president's grassroots campaign organization, takes its first ad today, 'highlighting the strong showing we saw at our canvasses this weekend and urging voters to call their Members of Congress in support of President Obama's budget. ... [T]he ad will run on national and DC cable - primarily MSNBC and CNN.' From the ad, 'Door to Door,' which shows the logo in a shot of materials a canvasser is holding: 'Thousands are going door to door as part of Organizing for America - gathering support for President Obama's plan to invest in America's future. You can help, too.'
Study shows in-game advertising more effective than TV
BR Staff reports: In-game advertising is found to be more effective than TV marketing, delivering a 500% increase in consumer brand awareness, according to a new study.
Whoa!
Whoa!
WH Online Townhall Data
From ABC's Jake Tapper: 92,927 people submitted 104,128 questions and cast 3,606,826 votes.
WH says 64K ppl watching town hall online at whitehouse.gov.
WH says 64K ppl watching town hall online at whitehouse.gov.
Future of News Reporters
Genius = Charlie LeDuff 0f the Detroit News has a unique online, video supported reporting style.
Here is his LeDuff's Detroit: Tackling a political Riddle: Has the outspoken adviser met his match in the FBI? http://bit.ly/14jHl
Just like other careers - it will be essential for people to bring multiple communication tools/knowledge with them to do their job in this new conversation economy.
Here is his LeDuff's Detroit: Tackling a political Riddle: Has the outspoken adviser met his match in the FBI? http://bit.ly/14jHl
Just like other careers - it will be essential for people to bring multiple communication tools/knowledge with them to do their job in this new conversation economy.
Beyond advertising: Choosing a strategic path to the digital consumer
IBM report on the evolution of advertising models - here is the executive summary: Today, the distinctions between advertising and marketing have blurred, as new forms of communication combine the ROI-characteristics of direct marketing with the brand characteristics of traditional advertising. With digital consumers increasingly in control of their media experience and advertisers shifting their spend to more interactive, measurable formats, companies must move beyond traditional advertising to combine granularity of targeting and measurement with cross-platform integration. To adapt and succeed – especially in the current economic environment – content owners, media distributors and agencies need to build a new set of capabilities now: cross-platform innovation, greater insights, open collaboration and digital processes.
Mother Jones Boosts Community in Site Revamp
MediaShift reports: As digital technology wreaks havoc on the business models of legacy media such as newspapers and magazines, they are now turning more often to the non-profit model. Can they raise donations, micropayments, or get grants? They might want to check out a magazine that's been a pioneer with the non-profit model, and first went online in 1993: Mother Jones. The progressive magazine has combined grants, donations and advertising to publish their print magazine and website, and recently updated their site with an emphasis on blogs and community comments.
In fact, the new commenting system allows readers to vote up or down comments, and to tag comments as a "solution" (when they have a solution to a problem) or a "result" (when they take action and get results). That way, other readers can see what their peers are doing, and MoJo reporters can follow the actions of readers. The new Comments Central section of the site is still a work in progress, as the editors are still gauging how the community would like to interact online. Plus, the site was built in open source Drupal, and Mother Jones hopes that its readers might help it do data mash-ups and other projects it might not be able to afford on its own.
In fact, the new commenting system allows readers to vote up or down comments, and to tag comments as a "solution" (when they have a solution to a problem) or a "result" (when they take action and get results). That way, other readers can see what their peers are doing, and MoJo reporters can follow the actions of readers. The new Comments Central section of the site is still a work in progress, as the editors are still gauging how the community would like to interact online. Plus, the site was built in open source Drupal, and Mother Jones hopes that its readers might help it do data mash-ups and other projects it might not be able to afford on its own.
Lobbying Lawmakers Directly via Twitter
NatJournal reports: the advocacy industry is increasingly using social networking tools to promote their issue of the day.
The Sunlight Foundation is using Twitter to directly lobby senators to co-sponsor the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act that we blogged about yesterday. Sunlight courted bill supporters to lobby senators' blackberrys directly via a 'Tweet Lobby'.
"[We] believe this will be the first organized direct lobbying of members of Congress over Twitter," Sunlight Communication's Director Gabriela Schneider told National Journal. Two senators, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., tweeted about their support of the bill. Both of these lawmakers supported the bill in previous sessions of Congress so their position is not necessarily a reflection of the Twitter lobby.
It will be interesting and telling if the Twitter lobby generates a response from a greater portion of the 17 senators on Twitter, especially those who haven't voiced support of the bill in the past. We'll be paying attention.
The Sunlight Foundation is using Twitter to directly lobby senators to co-sponsor the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act that we blogged about yesterday. Sunlight courted bill supporters to lobby senators' blackberrys directly via a 'Tweet Lobby'.
"[We] believe this will be the first organized direct lobbying of members of Congress over Twitter," Sunlight Communication's Director Gabriela Schneider told National Journal. Two senators, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., tweeted about their support of the bill. Both of these lawmakers supported the bill in previous sessions of Congress so their position is not necessarily a reflection of the Twitter lobby.
It will be interesting and telling if the Twitter lobby generates a response from a greater portion of the 17 senators on Twitter, especially those who haven't voiced support of the bill in the past. We'll be paying attention.
Dems create biz group to promote Team Obama
NatJournal reports: Buzz around town is building as Business Forward readies its launch with the goal of promoting President Obama's economic competitiveness agenda.
The organization is trying to woo big high-tech firms like Cisco Systems, Google, IBM, and Microsoft to join as members, a source involved in the effort said Tuesday. "There are very few platforms for the administration and Congress to engage the business community," he said. So far, founding member companies of the group include AT&T, Pfizer and Time Warner, a source said.
Rather than lobbying, Business Forward's initial aim will be hosting events around the country to focus on maximizing funds in the $787 billion economic stimulus package. It will be led by political operative Jim Doyle; former Viacom lobbyist David Sutphen, whose sister is Obama's deputy chief of staff; former Obama media consultant Erik Smith; former Obama campaign staffer Julie Andreeff Jensen; and Hilary Rosen, former head of the Recording Industry Association of America.
Business Forward's founding members will pay up to $75,000 per year for a membership, while smaller firms will pay $1,500 in annual dues. One organizer rejected the notion that the group is the Democrats' answer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. It won't compete with progressive think tanks like the Center for American Progress or MoveOn.org, the organizer said.
"You know what you get with all the existing organizations around town," the organizer said. "They all have a role to play. This isn't an 'either-or' endeavor. It's an 'and.' "
The organization is trying to woo big high-tech firms like Cisco Systems, Google, IBM, and Microsoft to join as members, a source involved in the effort said Tuesday. "There are very few platforms for the administration and Congress to engage the business community," he said. So far, founding member companies of the group include AT&T, Pfizer and Time Warner, a source said.
Rather than lobbying, Business Forward's initial aim will be hosting events around the country to focus on maximizing funds in the $787 billion economic stimulus package. It will be led by political operative Jim Doyle; former Viacom lobbyist David Sutphen, whose sister is Obama's deputy chief of staff; former Obama media consultant Erik Smith; former Obama campaign staffer Julie Andreeff Jensen; and Hilary Rosen, former head of the Recording Industry Association of America.
Business Forward's founding members will pay up to $75,000 per year for a membership, while smaller firms will pay $1,500 in annual dues. One organizer rejected the notion that the group is the Democrats' answer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. It won't compete with progressive think tanks like the Center for American Progress or MoveOn.org, the organizer said.
"You know what you get with all the existing organizations around town," the organizer said. "They all have a role to play. This isn't an 'either-or' endeavor. It's an 'and.' "
Team Obama’s Grassroots Support Aims Fire at Congress
NYT reports: In late January, some Democrats on Capitol Hill grew concerned that President Obama was planning to use his powerful new political organization – Organizing for America – to pressure even friendly lawmakers into falling in line behind his agenda.
But David Plouffe, a top Obama adviser (the former campaign manager) overseeing the start of the new effort, went out of his way to say that this was not going to be the case. “This is not a political campaign,” Mr. Plouffe said in an article for The New York Times in January about the new organization. ”This is not a ‘call or e-mail your member of Congress’ organization,” Mr. Plouffe added.
Well, in one of its early emails, sent out today, Organizing for America is directly asking its supporters to call upon their congressional representatives to support Mr. Obama’s budget priorities.
In a letter to those on the 13-million-strong email list that Mr. Obama’s aides compiled during the campaign, Mitch Stewart, the group’s director, writes: “What you do now will decide what kind of debate they have — one that’s dominated by special interests and partisan voices intent on keeping the status quo, or one that reflects the priorities of citizens like you.”
But David Plouffe, a top Obama adviser (the former campaign manager) overseeing the start of the new effort, went out of his way to say that this was not going to be the case. “This is not a political campaign,” Mr. Plouffe said in an article for The New York Times in January about the new organization. ”This is not a ‘call or e-mail your member of Congress’ organization,” Mr. Plouffe added.
Well, in one of its early emails, sent out today, Organizing for America is directly asking its supporters to call upon their congressional representatives to support Mr. Obama’s budget priorities.
In a letter to those on the 13-million-strong email list that Mr. Obama’s aides compiled during the campaign, Mitch Stewart, the group’s director, writes: “What you do now will decide what kind of debate they have — one that’s dominated by special interests and partisan voices intent on keeping the status quo, or one that reflects the priorities of citizens like you.”
Disaster experts are taking Twitter seriously
TechPresident reports: Dr. Jeannette Sutton of the University of Colorado at Boulder's National Hazards Center spoke yesterday about the role of the micro-content communications network on a conference call that also featured participants from the Red Cross, FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, and Twitter itself.
Sutton discussed preliminary research that she plans to publish this summer, focused on how people used Twitter during the recent Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash spill. What was most noteworthy, said Sutton, was how Twitter hosted conversations about the spill, despite the fact that mainstream press attention was almost entirely absent. "These tools are creating tremendous opportunities that we know are going to lead to safer communities," said Sutton.
Sutton discussed preliminary research that she plans to publish this summer, focused on how people used Twitter during the recent Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash spill. What was most noteworthy, said Sutton, was how Twitter hosted conversations about the spill, despite the fact that mainstream press attention was almost entirely absent. "These tools are creating tremendous opportunities that we know are going to lead to safer communities," said Sutton.
Announcing a campaign on Twitter - first time
Politico reports: Here’s another milestone for Twitter: The first congressional candidate has announced his campaign through the trendy social networking site. Adriel Hampton, an investigator for the San Francisco city attorney’s office, announced Monday on Twitter that he was running for California Democratic Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher’s soon-to-be vacant House seat.
His tweet? “I’m running for the House Representatives.” Hampton, a former political editor for the San Francisco Examiner, is also the first candidate to jump into the special election to replace Tauscher in California’s 10th District. Tauscher was nominated last week by the Obama administration to serve as undersecretary of state for arms control. A special election date has not yet been set.
“President Obama showed us what loose networks of concerned citizens can do, becoming the first ‘social media’ candidate,” Hampton said in a statement on his website.
His tweet? “I’m running for the House Representatives.” Hampton, a former political editor for the San Francisco Examiner, is also the first candidate to jump into the special election to replace Tauscher in California’s 10th District. Tauscher was nominated last week by the Obama administration to serve as undersecretary of state for arms control. A special election date has not yet been set.
“President Obama showed us what loose networks of concerned citizens can do, becoming the first ‘social media’ candidate,” Hampton said in a statement on his website.
A Bailout for Newspapers?
CQ Politics reports: "Some lawmakers say they need to step in because the situation has become so dire, and they are being pressed by groups in their districts to do something to save local papers, which have been hit hard by a steep drop in advertising revenue, circulation losses and migration of readers to the Internet."
Long Live the Queen
Valleywag reports: a proposed overhaul of British elementary schools, commissioned by the government, would make mandatory education in blogging, podcasting, Wikipedia and Twitter.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
When will we see PoliTweets?!?
Microsoft and its Federated Media ad network/platform/agency, is sponsoring a page that collects Tweets from various executives - http://www.exectweets.com/.
Twitter will get an undisclosed payment for giving the site its stamp of approval and for promoting the site on Twitter itself. Federated says it plans on launching similar programs on Twitter with other clients.
Who from inside the beltway tech tribe will launch a similar platform for DC insiders - imagine a platform for lobbyists, activists, electeds, bureaucrats and journos - how cool would a CSPAN tweet platform be - the Tracy Flicks of the world would be most appreciative.
Twitter will get an undisclosed payment for giving the site its stamp of approval and for promoting the site on Twitter itself. Federated says it plans on launching similar programs on Twitter with other clients.
Who from inside the beltway tech tribe will launch a similar platform for DC insiders - imagine a platform for lobbyists, activists, electeds, bureaucrats and journos - how cool would a CSPAN tweet platform be - the Tracy Flicks of the world would be most appreciative.
PMQs Team Obama Style
WhiteHouse.gov just opened for questions for a “community-moderated online town hall,” setting up for a Web appearance by President Barack Obama on Thursday.
According to the site, anyone can: “Submit your own question about the economy and vote on submissions from others. We also encourage you to include a link to a video of yourself asking your question, but text submissions are all you need. Come back on Thursday to watch the President answer some of the most popular submissions live at WhiteHouse.gov.”
The site has held similar online events twice in the transition period, but questions were then answered by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and not Obama.
This time, it will be the President, taking questions picked from those voted most popular.
According to the site, anyone can: “Submit your own question about the economy and vote on submissions from others. We also encourage you to include a link to a video of yourself asking your question, but text submissions are all you need. Come back on Thursday to watch the President answer some of the most popular submissions live at WhiteHouse.gov.”
The site has held similar online events twice in the transition period, but questions were then answered by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and not Obama.
This time, it will be the President, taking questions picked from those voted most popular.
Department of State is Social
AP reports how Clinton makes State social - U.S. foreign policy under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is taking a markedly social turn. Clinton's travels are posted on an interactive map, a special column solicits questions and the official blog Dipnote is enjoying record traffic.
I have been on record several times about the good work Team Clinton is doing at State to take diplomacy online and to a new level.
I have been on record several times about the good work Team Clinton is doing at State to take diplomacy online and to a new level.
Twitter = I have no idea where to start
Twitter isn’t just a cute way for keeping in instant touch with friends on mobile phones anymore. It has ramped up quickly to be the search engine of choice for some with its human driven results.
Applications galore allow you to find friends all over the world with similar interests and keep up with them in real time.
Businesses can form instant direct relationships with their customer bases simply by signing up and using the service regularly, and according to the models Twitter is trying out, they will soon be able to advertise to the Twitter community as well. It has grown into a behemoth that is hard to get your hands around, which is why we’ve put this article together for you.
Webdesigner Depot has compiled an alphabetized glossary so that you can just scan down the list and find the term that you are looking for, as well as a list of popular Twitter applications and instructions for incorporating Twitter into your website and blogs.
Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter
Applications galore allow you to find friends all over the world with similar interests and keep up with them in real time.
Businesses can form instant direct relationships with their customer bases simply by signing up and using the service regularly, and according to the models Twitter is trying out, they will soon be able to advertise to the Twitter community as well. It has grown into a behemoth that is hard to get your hands around, which is why we’ve put this article together for you.
Webdesigner Depot has compiled an alphabetized glossary so that you can just scan down the list and find the term that you are looking for, as well as a list of popular Twitter applications and instructions for incorporating Twitter into your website and blogs.
Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter
Speech/Presentation
I am speaking about social media + social marketing at UNC's Executive Alumni Series on April 18 - here is the link for more information - http://public.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/emba/eas/
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Former MSN Exec Named RNC New Media Director
TC reports: Todd Herman, former Microsoft and MSNBC.com employee and streaming media expert, has been named the Director of New Media for the Republican National Committee. Herman founded and ran SpinSpotter, a startup that provides tools to detect spin in news stories.
Mail = Fundraising vs Persuassion
Simple ideas to implement when launching a direct mail effort to persuade or raise funds for a campaign or non-profit entity:
Fundraising Mail
Heavy on text - information, information, information with ask
End user - recipient is engaged in subject, topic, election
Use a carrier envelope to ease the delivery of money
Provide extra info - three to four pages is acceptable
Use white space
Status of race and timing of the year critical
Audience - who receiving this?
Use third parties to validate and expand reach
Ask for money - Ask for contributions - Ask for help
Stand out
Be sticky
Persuasive Mail
Easy on text - less is more - headline, subheads, quotes
Pictures = 1,000 words
No white space
Be sticky
Stand out
Use humor
End user - typically swing or uncommitted voter
No Envelope - deliver message out front
Limit info and get to the point
What is the election calender? Primary – General – Ballot
Aimed - can be micro-targeted to small or large audiences
Use third parties to validate and expand reach
Ask for support, commitment, volunteer, help - call to action
Remember mail is:
Active
Aggressive
Antagonistic
Agile
Aimed
Alert
Remember mail is:
A hot medium with low backlash due to niches of specific audiences and is cheap to produce.
Fundraising Mail
Heavy on text - information, information, information with ask
End user - recipient is engaged in subject, topic, election
Use a carrier envelope to ease the delivery of money
Provide extra info - three to four pages is acceptable
Use white space
Status of race and timing of the year critical
Audience - who receiving this?
Use third parties to validate and expand reach
Ask for money - Ask for contributions - Ask for help
Stand out
Be sticky
Persuasive Mail
Easy on text - less is more - headline, subheads, quotes
Pictures = 1,000 words
No white space
Be sticky
Stand out
Use humor
End user - typically swing or uncommitted voter
No Envelope - deliver message out front
Limit info and get to the point
What is the election calender? Primary – General – Ballot
Aimed - can be micro-targeted to small or large audiences
Use third parties to validate and expand reach
Ask for support, commitment, volunteer, help - call to action
Remember mail is:
Active
Aggressive
Antagonistic
Agile
Aimed
Alert
Remember mail is:
A hot medium with low backlash due to niches of specific audiences and is cheap to produce.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Book Report: Strategy is Destiny – How Strategy-Making Shapes a Company’s Future
Strategy is Destiny – How Strategy-Making Shapes a Company’s Future
Robert A. Burgelman
The Free Press © 2002
“I say unto you: one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a new dancing star.” – Nietzche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Strategy is Destiny is a powerful book that is over 400 pages long. That may seem like a tall order to tackle amidst your hectic and demanding schedule, but I assure you it is worth the time and effort to read this thought provoking book.
Not only does this book force you to think about how to become a better manager, but it clearly allows you to comprehend what it takes to lead a vibrant and ambidextrous organization that is filled with highly skilled and creative people. In addition, this book brings to the forefront other vital tools and ideas that are necessary for a successful global executive all at once. By allowing the reader to examine and think about management and motivation at the same time, you will come away from this book with a better understanding of what it takes to succeed over decades - namely how to think and lead strategically in a highly competitive environment and marketplace.
Strategy is Destiny is unique in that the author was allowed unprecedented access over a twelve-year period to study and interact with senior executives of Intel. During this period, the author was able to capture the key developments of Intel’s history as the management faced strategic challenges and instituted changes that allowed Intel to move from mere survival to becoming one of the leading companies on the planet.
The author had unfettered contact with such management powerhouses as Gordon Moore, Andy Grove and Craig Barret. Additionally, the author was allowed to spend time in meetings, review memos and speak candidly with subordinates who were tasked with making the decisions of the CEOs into reality. Just having this level of access to such talented and highly educated managers should be enough for any business author or student, but the real impact of this book it that the employees hold nothing back and clearly lay out how they were successful and what they did to overcome obstacles.
There are numerous insights that will be gained by reading this book, but I have captured for you some of the keen insights that are outlined in Chapter Six on strategic leadership and formulating a winning strategy:
The role of strategic management is to identify a business in which the company can be a winner.
The role of strategic management is to understand the sources of a company’s good and bad luck, and to use this insight to formulate a winning strategy.
The role of strategic management is to place key positions with managers who are enthusiastic about implementing the strategy and remove managers who are not.
The role of strategic management is to create a strategic planning process that maximizes the company’s chances to continue to find the truth regarding the strategic situation.
The role of strategic management is to create selection mechanisms that give rise to confident managers who make crisp, actionable decisions rather than hedge.
The role of strategic management is to tightly link metrics of performance and rewards for performance to strategy execution.
The CEO’s efforts to get the organization to execute on the corporate strategy are significantly helped by the availability of strong, market-based incentives.
Strategic leadership efforts that vectorize the strategy making process and achieve strong positive results in the external environment create a positive feedback loop that further strengthens the induced strategy process.
The author closes the book by stating, “It is a world in which one stays ahead or falls behind – there is no safe haven to wait out the storm. Leaders who want to be effective must learn to work in this network and accept its interdependencies and ambiguities. This book proposes that strategy is understood as the intelligent appreciation and manipulation of the forces that affect destiny helps leaders gain and maintain control of their own destiny while contributing to that if their company. As leaders face the perpetual tension between order and chaos, Strategy is Destiny may help them resolve it at a high level of integration rather than as choice or compromise.”
Strategy is Destiny is essential reading for anyone seeking to play a greater and more effective role in management. The book will make you realize that you need to embrace strategy as a means to control your destiny. Not only is this an important concept for an organization, but for individuals. I hope you will have a chance to read this book. Maybe not this year or next year, but hopefully soon, as I know you will benefit and enjoy the learning experience immediately.
OMMA Global-Hollywood Conference
I am attending the OMMA Global-Hollywood conference tomorrow at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel. It looks to be a good event for all things in the digital economy - mobile, metrics, social, gaming and content.
I will post my thoughts on Advocacy 2.0 over the coming days.
Please let me know if you will be there as well.
I will post my thoughts on Advocacy 2.0 over the coming days.
Please let me know if you will be there as well.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Lobbyists Working for Team Obama
The National Journal found that of 267 top Obama administration nominees and appointees at least 30 -- or about 11% -- have been registered lobbyists at some point during the past five years -- despite Obama's campaign pledge not to employ lobbyists in his administration.
Obama Annouces Lobbyist Requirement
MSNBC reports: Talking to state legislators from around the country who are meeting in DC, President Obama announced today that lobbyists who meet with the administration to discuss projects connected with the recently passed stimulus will have to submit their conversations in writing, so they can be posted on the internet.
"If any member of my administration does meet with a lobbyist about a Recovery Act project, every American will be able to go online and see what that meeting was all about," Obama said.
"These are unprecedented restrictions that will help ensure that lobbyists do stand in the way of our recovery."
Is this a good thing? Who is going to read these postings besides other lobbyists looking for future business.
"If any member of my administration does meet with a lobbyist about a Recovery Act project, every American will be able to go online and see what that meeting was all about," Obama said.
"These are unprecedented restrictions that will help ensure that lobbyists do stand in the way of our recovery."
Is this a good thing? Who is going to read these postings besides other lobbyists looking for future business.
Team Obama = How Offline Drives Online and Online Drives Offline
Below is a blog post from Liberal Orange County fresh from Obama's visit to GOP heavy Orange County, CA. The post provides an excellent example of how to reinforce, call to act and engage supporters from a third party supporter:
OK, so we saw President Obama here in OC this week. Now what?
Well, how about making sure all this positive energy is translated into a budget that’s passed?
And making sure the President & Congress can soon approach solutions to our problems in climate, energy, and education?
Obama for America has now become Organizing for America, and the Obama Campaign in Orange County has now become Organizing for America-Orange County (or OFA-OC). Stay tuned here for future updates on OFA locally. But in the mean time, why not join them in a weekend canvass? You’ll actually get to meet your neighbors, get your exercise, AND build support for a new progressive agenda for America all in less than 24 hours!
Call to action, excitement and engagement all reinforced by Obama's visit - good stuff.
OK, so we saw President Obama here in OC this week. Now what?
Well, how about making sure all this positive energy is translated into a budget that’s passed?
And making sure the President & Congress can soon approach solutions to our problems in climate, energy, and education?
Obama for America has now become Organizing for America, and the Obama Campaign in Orange County has now become Organizing for America-Orange County (or OFA-OC). Stay tuned here for future updates on OFA locally. But in the mean time, why not join them in a weekend canvass? You’ll actually get to meet your neighbors, get your exercise, AND build support for a new progressive agenda for America all in less than 24 hours!
Call to action, excitement and engagement all reinforced by Obama's visit - good stuff.
DNC Launches Major Campaign To Pass Budget
The Atlantic reports: The Democratic National Committee's 50-state canvass this weekend in support of President Obama's budget proposals marks the beginning of a months-long election-style campaign and includes several elements not previously disclosed, including automated telephone calls.
The calls, from DNC chairman Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia, ask recipients to call their members of Congress and press them to support Obama's health care, education and energy agenda.
Obama's political team hopes to use the budget process to pass hundreds of billions of dollars worth of downpayments on his two signature domestic policy priorities.
"What we're really saying," said a Democratic strategist involved in the campaign, "is that this is a budget here, but all of these pieces...they're so central to function the economy, and this budget
is a downpayment on any substantive reform that the president seeks on those - in those areas.
If President Obama doesn't get a significant placeholder for health care reform, what are the prospects that you're going to get that going forward?"
The same is true, the strategist said, of Obama's energy and education reform proposals.
Republicans and Moderate Democrats in Congress are balking at using budget rules to rush through significant changes to current policy.
But Brad Woodhouse, the DNC's communications director, said that the DNC's effort, operated by its Organizing for America arm, is not targeted at particular members of Congress. "We have a list of millions of people in all 50 states, and in many ways, if we can move enough calls, contacts, door knocks, canvasses, and pledge sign-ups into every Congressional office, that's better than us being involved in individual targeting campaigns."
The calls, from DNC chairman Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia, ask recipients to call their members of Congress and press them to support Obama's health care, education and energy agenda.
Obama's political team hopes to use the budget process to pass hundreds of billions of dollars worth of downpayments on his two signature domestic policy priorities.
"What we're really saying," said a Democratic strategist involved in the campaign, "is that this is a budget here, but all of these pieces...they're so central to function the economy, and this budget
is a downpayment on any substantive reform that the president seeks on those - in those areas.
If President Obama doesn't get a significant placeholder for health care reform, what are the prospects that you're going to get that going forward?"
The same is true, the strategist said, of Obama's energy and education reform proposals.
Republicans and Moderate Democrats in Congress are balking at using budget rules to rush through significant changes to current policy.
But Brad Woodhouse, the DNC's communications director, said that the DNC's effort, operated by its Organizing for America arm, is not targeted at particular members of Congress. "We have a list of millions of people in all 50 states, and in many ways, if we can move enough calls, contacts, door knocks, canvasses, and pledge sign-ups into every Congressional office, that's better than us being involved in individual targeting campaigns."
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
2.0 being measured using old data points
BR reports: Marketers' budgets for online and web 2.0 initiatives in 2009 are almost 50% higher than their budgets for traditional media, but the majority of these marketers are continuing to use old online performance measures, according to research.
The research by the CMO Council audited more than 650 marketers and found that just over 9% rate their e-metrics and measurement capabilities as excellent.
This is despite the majority of marketers continuing with old online measures like page views and registrations (64.6%), site traffic and volume (58.4%) and search prominence (45.2%).
The CMO Council said just a small number are measuring customer engagements, such as translating online traction to the acquisition of new customers, tracking content consumption transactions or subscriptions, or measuring word-of-mouth advocacy.
Kevin Akeroyd, chief operating officer of the Jigsaw business community, said: "This year's survey demonstrates that marketers are continuing to struggle with applying business metrics to online media and digital marketing, with such limited measures as page views and site traffic sources dominating the mix."
To sharpen their expertise in digital marketing competencies, the majority of marketers (63%) are opting to train existing staff rather than recruit new talent (28.6%).
The research by the CMO Council audited more than 650 marketers and found that just over 9% rate their e-metrics and measurement capabilities as excellent.
This is despite the majority of marketers continuing with old online measures like page views and registrations (64.6%), site traffic and volume (58.4%) and search prominence (45.2%).
The CMO Council said just a small number are measuring customer engagements, such as translating online traction to the acquisition of new customers, tracking content consumption transactions or subscriptions, or measuring word-of-mouth advocacy.
Kevin Akeroyd, chief operating officer of the Jigsaw business community, said: "This year's survey demonstrates that marketers are continuing to struggle with applying business metrics to online media and digital marketing, with such limited measures as page views and site traffic sources dominating the mix."
To sharpen their expertise in digital marketing competencies, the majority of marketers (63%) are opting to train existing staff rather than recruit new talent (28.6%).
SPI - Ends Print - Goes Digital
Hearst Corporation will today print the final copy of its Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper and confirmed plans to turn into an online-only newspaper.
Growth in spend on social media forecast
BR reports: Over half of global marketers will increase their social media marketing spend in spite of the global recession, according to new research.
A study by Forrester Research found that while half of marketers said they would boost budgets, social media spend remains very small in proportion to other media -- 75% of respondents who knew their budgets said they were planning to spend $100,000 or less over the next 12 months.
A study by Forrester Research found that while half of marketers said they would boost budgets, social media spend remains very small in proportion to other media -- 75% of respondents who knew their budgets said they were planning to spend $100,000 or less over the next 12 months.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Unveiling the "Sixth Sense," game-changing wearable tech
Demo from Pattie Maes of MIT's Media Lab spearheaded by her student Pranav Mistry - a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment on any surface.
Any Surface - Any Data - Powerful
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
marketing - advertising - public relations - branding
The differences between marketing, advertising, public relations and branding are now blurred with the adoption of social media.
How Twitter Could Bring Search Up to Speed
TechReview reports: Some say thatWhen Twitter was introduced in late 2006, asking users to post a 140-word answer to the question "What are you doing?," many criticized the results as nothing more than a collection of trivial thoughts and inane ramblings. Fast-forward three years, and the number of Twitter users has grown to millions, while the content of the many posts--better known as "tweets"--has shifted from banal to informative.
Twitter users now cover breaking news, posting links to reports, blog posts, and images. Twitter's search box also reveals what people think of the latest new gadget or movie, letting visitors eavesdrop on often spirited conversations and some insightful opinions.
Earlier this week, on The Charlie Rose Show, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, was asked directly whether Google might be interested in acquiring Twitter. He responded, somewhat coyly, that his company was "unlikely to buy anything right now."
Nonetheless, as Twitter grows in size and substance, it's becoming clear that it offers a unique feed of real-time conversation and sentiment. Danny Sullivan, editor of the blog Search Engine Land, compares this to the unique real-time feed of new video content offered by YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006, and says that Twitter could help improve real-time search. Notably, says Sullivan, this is something that Google isn't particularly good at. Even by scouring news sites, Google simply can't match the speed and relevancy of social sites like Digg and Twitter, he says.
Twitter's ability to capture the latest fad is evident from its "trends" feature, which reveals the most talked about topics among Twitterers. At the time this article was written, Twitter users were discussing topics including National Napping Day, DST (daylight savings time), and the new movie Watchmen. A quick search also reveals that five people within the past half hour have posted tweets about last weekend's Saturday Night Live skit called "The Rock Obama." The most recent tweet includes a link to the video and was posted just three minutes ago. Twitter may be as important to real-time search as YouTube is to video.
Bruce Croft, a professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says that Twitter search could perhaps help make news alerts more relevant. "If you could search or track large numbers of conversations, then there would be the possibility of developing alerts when something starts happening," he says. "And, of course, it's yet another opportunity to do massive data mining on people's activities to learn even more about what they are doing and when they are doing it."
Twitter users now cover breaking news, posting links to reports, blog posts, and images. Twitter's search box also reveals what people think of the latest new gadget or movie, letting visitors eavesdrop on often spirited conversations and some insightful opinions.
Earlier this week, on The Charlie Rose Show, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, was asked directly whether Google might be interested in acquiring Twitter. He responded, somewhat coyly, that his company was "unlikely to buy anything right now."
Nonetheless, as Twitter grows in size and substance, it's becoming clear that it offers a unique feed of real-time conversation and sentiment. Danny Sullivan, editor of the blog Search Engine Land, compares this to the unique real-time feed of new video content offered by YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006, and says that Twitter could help improve real-time search. Notably, says Sullivan, this is something that Google isn't particularly good at. Even by scouring news sites, Google simply can't match the speed and relevancy of social sites like Digg and Twitter, he says.
Twitter's ability to capture the latest fad is evident from its "trends" feature, which reveals the most talked about topics among Twitterers. At the time this article was written, Twitter users were discussing topics including National Napping Day, DST (daylight savings time), and the new movie Watchmen. A quick search also reveals that five people within the past half hour have posted tweets about last weekend's Saturday Night Live skit called "The Rock Obama." The most recent tweet includes a link to the video and was posted just three minutes ago. Twitter may be as important to real-time search as YouTube is to video.
Bruce Croft, a professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says that Twitter search could perhaps help make news alerts more relevant. "If you could search or track large numbers of conversations, then there would be the possibility of developing alerts when something starts happening," he says. "And, of course, it's yet another opportunity to do massive data mining on people's activities to learn even more about what they are doing and when they are doing it."
Advertisers Get a Trove of Clues in Smartphones
NYT reports: The millions of people who use their cellphones daily to play games, download applications and browse the Web may not realize that they have an unseen companion: advertisers that can track their interests, their habits and even their location.
Smartphones, like the iPhone and BlackBerry Curve, are the latest and potentially most extensive way for advertisers to aim ads at certain consumers. Advertisers already tailor ads for small groups of consumers on the Web based on personal information. But cellphones have a much higher potential for personalized advertising, especially when they use applications like Yelp or Urbanspoon with GPS to identify a person’s location, right down to the street corner where they are standing.
Advertisers will pay high rates for the ability to show, for example, ads for a nearby restaurant to someone leaving a Broadway show, especially when coupled with information about the gender, age, finances and interests of the consumer.
Eswar Priyadarshan, the chief technology officer of Quattro Wireless, which places advertising for clients like Sony on mobile sites, says he typically has 20 pieces of information about a customer who has visited a site or played with an application in his network. “The basic idea is, you go through all these channels, and you get as much data as possible,” he said.
Smartphones, like the iPhone and BlackBerry Curve, are the latest and potentially most extensive way for advertisers to aim ads at certain consumers. Advertisers already tailor ads for small groups of consumers on the Web based on personal information. But cellphones have a much higher potential for personalized advertising, especially when they use applications like Yelp or Urbanspoon with GPS to identify a person’s location, right down to the street corner where they are standing.
Advertisers will pay high rates for the ability to show, for example, ads for a nearby restaurant to someone leaving a Broadway show, especially when coupled with information about the gender, age, finances and interests of the consumer.
Eswar Priyadarshan, the chief technology officer of Quattro Wireless, which places advertising for clients like Sony on mobile sites, says he typically has 20 pieces of information about a customer who has visited a site or played with an application in his network. “The basic idea is, you go through all these channels, and you get as much data as possible,” he said.
Google to Offer Ads Based on Interests
NYT reports: Google will begin showing ads on Wednesday to people based on their previous online activities in a form of advertising known as behavioral targeting, which has been embraced by most of its competitors but has drawn criticism from privacy advocates and some members of Congress.
Perhaps to forestall objections to its approach, Google said it planned to offer new ways for users to protect their privacy. Most notably, Google will be the first major company to give users the ability to see and edit the information that it has compiled about their interests for the purposes of behavioral targeting. Like rivals such as Yahoo, it also will give users the choice to opt out from what it calls “interest-based advertising.”
Google’s foray into behavioral targeting may represent the most visible result so far of the company’s integration of DoubleClick, an advertising technology company that it acquired a year ago. Google bought DoubleClick, which is used by advertisers and publishers to manage their ad campaigns, to extend its advertising empire into display ads, which it sees as the next best hope to reignite its growth.
Google will use a cookie, a small piece of text that resides inside a Web browser, to track users as they visit one of the hundreds of thousands of sites that show ads through its AdSense program. Google will assign those users to categories based on the content of the pages they visit. For example, a user may be pegged as a potential car buyer, sports enthusiast or expectant mother.
Google will then use that information to show people ads that are relevant to their interests, regardless of what sites they are visiting. An expectant mother may see an ad about baby products not only on a parenting site but also, for example, on a sports or fashion site that uses AdSense or on YouTube, which is owned by Google.
Perhaps to forestall objections to its approach, Google said it planned to offer new ways for users to protect their privacy. Most notably, Google will be the first major company to give users the ability to see and edit the information that it has compiled about their interests for the purposes of behavioral targeting. Like rivals such as Yahoo, it also will give users the choice to opt out from what it calls “interest-based advertising.”
Google’s foray into behavioral targeting may represent the most visible result so far of the company’s integration of DoubleClick, an advertising technology company that it acquired a year ago. Google bought DoubleClick, which is used by advertisers and publishers to manage their ad campaigns, to extend its advertising empire into display ads, which it sees as the next best hope to reignite its growth.
Google will use a cookie, a small piece of text that resides inside a Web browser, to track users as they visit one of the hundreds of thousands of sites that show ads through its AdSense program. Google will assign those users to categories based on the content of the pages they visit. For example, a user may be pegged as a potential car buyer, sports enthusiast or expectant mother.
Google will then use that information to show people ads that are relevant to their interests, regardless of what sites they are visiting. An expectant mother may see an ad about baby products not only on a parenting site but also, for example, on a sports or fashion site that uses AdSense or on YouTube, which is owned by Google.
Web ads popping up in bold new ways
LAT reports: They’re bigger, they’re bolder, and soon they’ll be covering up large swaths of some of your favorite Web pages.
The Online Publishers Assn. on Tuesday released several new in-your-face advertising formats designed to be both more obtrusive and interactive.
Twenty-seven top Internet publishers – including the New York Times, CNN, CBS Interactive, ESPN and the Wall Street Journal – say they’ll try the supersize ads in an attempt to get the attention of Web surfers who have learned to ignore banners.
The websites, which collectively reach two-thirds of the U.S. Internet audience, must walk a fine line so they don’t bug visitors so much that they stop returning.
“Studies show we ignore banner ads,” said Jose Castillo, a new media consultant in Johnson City, Tenn. “Making them bigger and more intrusive won’t work. We will tune those out as well.”
The new formats represent an effort to boost an ad market that has grown dramatically in recent years but is suffering in the slumping economy.
Research firm EMarketer Inc. predicts that the Internet is the only advertising segment that will grow in 2009. But most of that growth will be in Web search, while spending on so-called display ads is expected to fall.
EMarketer said in November that U.S. online ad spending would reach $23.6 billion in 2008 and $25.7 billion this year, but senior analyst David Hallerman said those figures would be revised downward soon.
To some extent, the inherent nature of advertising is to annoy people enough so that they pay attention. “Advertising rarely doesn’t irritate,” Hallerman said.
The Online Publishers Assn. on Tuesday released several new in-your-face advertising formats designed to be both more obtrusive and interactive.
Twenty-seven top Internet publishers – including the New York Times, CNN, CBS Interactive, ESPN and the Wall Street Journal – say they’ll try the supersize ads in an attempt to get the attention of Web surfers who have learned to ignore banners.
The websites, which collectively reach two-thirds of the U.S. Internet audience, must walk a fine line so they don’t bug visitors so much that they stop returning.
“Studies show we ignore banner ads,” said Jose Castillo, a new media consultant in Johnson City, Tenn. “Making them bigger and more intrusive won’t work. We will tune those out as well.”
The new formats represent an effort to boost an ad market that has grown dramatically in recent years but is suffering in the slumping economy.
Research firm EMarketer Inc. predicts that the Internet is the only advertising segment that will grow in 2009. But most of that growth will be in Web search, while spending on so-called display ads is expected to fall.
EMarketer said in November that U.S. online ad spending would reach $23.6 billion in 2008 and $25.7 billion this year, but senior analyst David Hallerman said those figures would be revised downward soon.
To some extent, the inherent nature of advertising is to annoy people enough so that they pay attention. “Advertising rarely doesn’t irritate,” Hallerman said.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Charlie Rose + Marissa Mayer = Broadcast
Super Executive Summary:
1. Search is in its infancy - she has only been there for a decade and was employ #20
2. Need to be better at answering vs. providing results = answer vs. result
3. Use of graphs, videos, texts, voices and images to provide answers to a search
4. How people will search will change - phone, web, mobile
5. Ideas come from: engineers, users, executives and strategic analysis
6. Process: Ideas + Prototype + Execution + Design
7. Iteration is essential = constant feedback on use of tools and make changes as needed
8. "Bird Walking" - step by step to better technology
9. Launch Early and Launch Often
10. Google success because: small teams, empowerment, agile, avoid meetings, keep team in same office space
11. Vision + Voice next big areas for search
12. Voice = speech to text search = next 5-10 years
13. Vision = image search = next 10-15 years
14. Google Ads = Attention + Focus by users allows for immediate ads = users tell Google what they are thinking and needing at the point of search
15. Startup development = technology foundation with a choice to grow sales or marketing
17. Independent Yahoo! best for web and consumers
18. 1 trillion urls are presently in existence
19. First mover advantage is big in social media
20. "Dog Fooding" - eat your own dog food = internal beta testing is essential
21. Google's goal = make a penny a search = 20 a day or 100 a week or 400 a month or 4,800 a year at $0.01 = $48.00 a year per user. So, if they charged only $20.00 a user they would be leaving $28.00 on the table that advertisers otherwise are willing to pay = hence enjoy those ads
Charlie Rose + Eric Schmidt = Tonight
Charlie Rose speaks with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, this evening.
Check with your local PBS affiliate to see when Charlie Rose airs in your city
Check with your local PBS affiliate to see when Charlie Rose airs in your city
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Ford wants you to social media for a ride
AdRants reports: Undercurrent is working with Ford on a program called Fiesta Movement. The automaker plans to give away 100 Ford Fiestas for six months complete with free gas, insurance, parking and a concierge service. The lucky 100 will be sent on "cool monthly missions" not unlike AT&T's Lost in America.
And oh yes, they must document their travels for public consumption. After all, it's the social media thing to do, right? And, yes, there will be tweets.
And oh yes, they must document their travels for public consumption. After all, it's the social media thing to do, right? And, yes, there will be tweets.
Smart Marketers Advertise During A Recession. You Should Too
AdRants reports: You know that tired old mantra as to why it's smart to advertise during a recession? Ever wonder why it's regurgitated ad naseum every time the economy tanks? Because it's true! Yes, advertising during a recession is the right thing to and there's research top back that up.
A McGraw-Hill study of 600 businesses found businesses that maintained or increased their ad spend saw higher sales growth during a recession and in the years following. In fact, the study found those who maintained or increased their ad budgets experienced a 256 percent increase in sales compared to those who cut their budgets.
A McGraw-Hill study of 600 businesses found businesses that maintained or increased their ad spend saw higher sales growth during a recession and in the years following. In fact, the study found those who maintained or increased their ad budgets experienced a 256 percent increase in sales compared to those who cut their budgets.
Before and After Logos
From BrandNew: The winners of the 2009 ReBrand 100 Global Awards have been announced, with lovely before/after images of those in the Best Of and Distinction tiers. A great collection of redesigns.
The "softening" power of social media
Chris Brogan asks: What if, "social media is just the softening agent" that can humanize a brand, while traditional advertisements in print or on television make the final sale?
Brogan's analysis gets to the heart of why the return-on-investment often is so hard to calculate for social media campaigns: The best efforts social media campaigns are one part of a larger marketing mix centered on a single message.
Brogan's analysis gets to the heart of why the return-on-investment often is so hard to calculate for social media campaigns: The best efforts social media campaigns are one part of a larger marketing mix centered on a single message.
Citizens Are Conversations
Mark Drapeau writes @ MarkDrapeau.com: The old style of government communications (much like older forms of corporate PR) portrayed citizens as vessels waiting to read press releases, while governing in the social media age is focused on participation. "Generally, you want to find people talking about your topic of interest, listen to what they're saying, participate in the conversation, and then start new topics of conversation."
CMO Survey: Traditional Branding is 'Broken'
MV reports: An overwhelming majority (87%) of US CMOs and marketing managers believe branding initiatives need to be more flexible today than in the past.
63% think traditional brand positioning and advertising are losing their effectiveness and are "broken," according to a survey from the Verse Group and Jupiter Research
The research found that marketers believe the current economic crisis is accelerating their need to innovate to find new ways to position brands across delivery platforms, at a time when marketing ROI receives increased scrutiny from company management.
Key survey findings:
62% of marketers say traditional advertising efforts are no longer as effective as they once were in attracting new customers.
62% are seeking breakthrough methods that are more effective than brand positioning.
89% say that marketing is under greater scrutiny than ever before.
63% think traditional brand positioning and advertising are losing their effectiveness and are "broken," according to a survey from the Verse Group and Jupiter Research
The research found that marketers believe the current economic crisis is accelerating their need to innovate to find new ways to position brands across delivery platforms, at a time when marketing ROI receives increased scrutiny from company management.
Key survey findings:
62% of marketers say traditional advertising efforts are no longer as effective as they once were in attracting new customers.
62% are seeking breakthrough methods that are more effective than brand positioning.
89% say that marketing is under greater scrutiny than ever before.
Twitter Marketing Successes
Tessa Wegert comments: It goes without saying that buyers are no longer just buyers, but beacons of new interactive opportunities. Twitter (listed by Compete.com as the third largest social networking site behind Facebook and MySpace) is unquestionably one of those opportunities. We've watched as advertisers work their magic on the tool's resources to create Twitter pages that not only reflect the essence of their brands but act as a direct line of contact with product advocates and potential customers. Much the same way that they use Facebook Pages as another facet of their marketing and communications efforts, they use Twitter to connect with savvy consumers in a more informal fashion.
Countless brands are doing great things with Twitter, but most fall into one of two categories with their approach. I'll call them "organic" and "deliberate." Both can work wonderfully well, depending on your overall marketing strategy and where Twitter fits into it. Here are two companies, each with a fiercely loyal customer base, that take a vastly different approach to using Twitter to promote their brands: @Zappos and @WholeFoods.
Continue reading - click here.
Countless brands are doing great things with Twitter, but most fall into one of two categories with their approach. I'll call them "organic" and "deliberate." Both can work wonderfully well, depending on your overall marketing strategy and where Twitter fits into it. Here are two companies, each with a fiercely loyal customer base, that take a vastly different approach to using Twitter to promote their brands: @Zappos and @WholeFoods.
Continue reading - click here.
Charlie Rose + Marissa Mayer = Tonight
Charlie Rose speaks with Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Product @ Google this evening.
Check with your local PBS affiliate to see when Charlie Rose airs in your city.
Check with your local PBS affiliate to see when Charlie Rose airs in your city.
SlideShare.net Highlights a (my) Presentation
I just received a great email message (pasted below) from SlideShare.net regarding a presentation that I created and uploaded earlier this week.
You are a Presentation SuperStar on SlideShare!
Your presentation is currently being featured on the SlideShare homepage by our editorial team.
http://www.slideshare.net/
We thank you for this terrific presentation, that has been chosen from amongst the thousands that are uploaded to SlideShare everyday.
I hope you will get a chance to view the slide deck – it would be great to get your feedback.
Thanks for being a part of Advocacy 2.0 - Marc
You are a Presentation SuperStar on SlideShare!
Your presentation is currently being featured on the SlideShare homepage by our editorial team.
http://www.slideshare.net/
We thank you for this terrific presentation, that has been chosen from amongst the thousands that are uploaded to SlideShare everyday.
I hope you will get a chance to view the slide deck – it would be great to get your feedback.
Thanks for being a part of Advocacy 2.0 - Marc
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Buying and Selling Among Friends
WSJ reports: Gone are the days when giving away your old stuff involved getting in the car and hauling bags to the local Salvation Army. Now, with a little Web know-how, you can find a number of ways to turn your trash into someone else's treasure -- from companies that send you prepaid shipping materials to people who will pick up the items from your house.
But even though you can use these services without leaving home, many of them still require you to go to a specific Web site -- one you wouldn't necessarily visit regularly. Sites like Gazelle.com and Venjuvo.com that pay cash for old electronics (or just recycle them) aren't exactly online destinations.
Now one of those ways to unload your stuff involves a Web site you might visit many times a day. A site that has considerable sway in the social-networking world, where over 175 million active users go to share personal stories, photos and videos with hundreds of "friends."
That's right, I'm talking about Facebook. Tuesday, the social-networking giant announced its new Facebook Marketplace, Facebook.com/marketplace, an integrated application powered by Oodle, known for its work with online classified ads. Marketplace uses colorful icons to represent four actions you can take in its app: Sell It; Sell for a Cause; Give it Away; and Ask for It.
But even though you can use these services without leaving home, many of them still require you to go to a specific Web site -- one you wouldn't necessarily visit regularly. Sites like Gazelle.com and Venjuvo.com that pay cash for old electronics (or just recycle them) aren't exactly online destinations.
Now one of those ways to unload your stuff involves a Web site you might visit many times a day. A site that has considerable sway in the social-networking world, where over 175 million active users go to share personal stories, photos and videos with hundreds of "friends."
That's right, I'm talking about Facebook. Tuesday, the social-networking giant announced its new Facebook Marketplace, Facebook.com/marketplace, an integrated application powered by Oodle, known for its work with online classified ads. Marketplace uses colorful icons to represent four actions you can take in its app: Sell It; Sell for a Cause; Give it Away; and Ask for It.
Cable Companies Target Commercials to Audience
NYT reports:The advertiser’s dream of sending a particular commercial to a specific consumer is one step closer to reality as Cablevision Systems plans to announce the largest project yet using targeted advertising on television.
Beginning with 500,000 homes in Brooklyn, the Bronx and some New Jersey areas, Cablevision will use its targeting technology to route ads to specific households based on data about income, ethnicity, gender or whether the homeowner has children or pets.
The technology requires no hardware or installation in a subscriber’s home, so viewers may not realize they are seeing ads different from a neighbor’s. But during the same show, a 50-something male may see an ad for, say, high-end speakers from Best Buy, while his neighbors with children may see one for a Best Buy video game.
“We have, as an industry, been talking about this since the beginning of time,” said Matt Seiler, the global chief executive of the media firm Universal McCann, a part of the Interpublic Group. “Now we’ve got it in 500,000 households. This is real.”
The potential of customized ads worries some privacy advocates, despite the assurance of cable companies that they maintain anonymity about the households.
“We don’t have an objection to advertising that is targeted to demographics,” said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil liberties group in Washington. But, he said, there is a need to show “that they can’t be reverse-engineered to find the names of individuals that were watching particular shows.”
Cablevision says it segments its subscribers only by demographics, so that an advertiser can divide ads among various groups: General Motors, for example, could send an ad for a Cadillac Escalade to high-income houses, a Chevrolet to low-income houses, and one in Spanish to Hispanic consumers.
Cablevision matches households to demographic data to divide its customers, using the data-collection company Experian.
Experian has data on individuals that it collects through public records, registries and other sources. It matches the name and address of the subscriber to what it knows about them, and assigns demographic characteristics to households. (The match is a blind one: advertisers do not know what name and address they are advertising to, Cablevision executives said.)
Advertisers can also give their existing customer lists to Experian, and Experian can make matches — so G.M., for example, could direct an ad based on who already owns a G.M. car.
Advertisers are willing to pay premiums for ads that go only to audiences they have selected.
Cablevision tested the technology by promoting its own services with targeted and untargeted ads. In the eight-month test, the targeted ads brought in new subscriptions at a significantly higher rate than untargeted ads.
“The revenue opportunity for the various constituents within television is enormous,” said Irwin Gotlieb, the global chief executive of GroupM, the media division of WPP Group. (WPP is an investor in the targeting companies Visible World and the Invidi Technologies Corporation.)
Beginning with 500,000 homes in Brooklyn, the Bronx and some New Jersey areas, Cablevision will use its targeting technology to route ads to specific households based on data about income, ethnicity, gender or whether the homeowner has children or pets.
The technology requires no hardware or installation in a subscriber’s home, so viewers may not realize they are seeing ads different from a neighbor’s. But during the same show, a 50-something male may see an ad for, say, high-end speakers from Best Buy, while his neighbors with children may see one for a Best Buy video game.
“We have, as an industry, been talking about this since the beginning of time,” said Matt Seiler, the global chief executive of the media firm Universal McCann, a part of the Interpublic Group. “Now we’ve got it in 500,000 households. This is real.”
The potential of customized ads worries some privacy advocates, despite the assurance of cable companies that they maintain anonymity about the households.
“We don’t have an objection to advertising that is targeted to demographics,” said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil liberties group in Washington. But, he said, there is a need to show “that they can’t be reverse-engineered to find the names of individuals that were watching particular shows.”
Cablevision says it segments its subscribers only by demographics, so that an advertiser can divide ads among various groups: General Motors, for example, could send an ad for a Cadillac Escalade to high-income houses, a Chevrolet to low-income houses, and one in Spanish to Hispanic consumers.
Cablevision matches households to demographic data to divide its customers, using the data-collection company Experian.
Experian has data on individuals that it collects through public records, registries and other sources. It matches the name and address of the subscriber to what it knows about them, and assigns demographic characteristics to households. (The match is a blind one: advertisers do not know what name and address they are advertising to, Cablevision executives said.)
Advertisers can also give their existing customer lists to Experian, and Experian can make matches — so G.M., for example, could direct an ad based on who already owns a G.M. car.
Advertisers are willing to pay premiums for ads that go only to audiences they have selected.
Cablevision tested the technology by promoting its own services with targeted and untargeted ads. In the eight-month test, the targeted ads brought in new subscriptions at a significantly higher rate than untargeted ads.
“The revenue opportunity for the various constituents within television is enormous,” said Irwin Gotlieb, the global chief executive of GroupM, the media division of WPP Group. (WPP is an investor in the targeting companies Visible World and the Invidi Technologies Corporation.)
Charlie Rose + Reid Hoffman = Tonight
Charlie Rose speaks with Reid Hoffman of Linkedin.com tonight.
Check with your local PBS affiliate to see when Charlie Rose airs in your city.
Check with your local PBS affiliate to see when Charlie Rose airs in your city.
How Obama Inspired Israeli Politicians' Online Campaigns
MediaShift reports: Just as television changed the way political campaigns were run in the 1960s, the Internet has changed the way political campaigns are run in the 2000s. Upwards of 70 million people watched the more aesthetically-pleasing JFK debating the more radio-suited Nixon on the tube in 1960. Nearly 50 years later, the YouTube debates of 2008 allowed people to ask their own questions to the candidates, or watch the debates online -- on demand -- on any Internet-equipped device. While television transformed political campaigns simply by making candidates viewable, the Internet's social media functions are changing modern political campaigns all over the world in ways previously thought unimaginable.
The potential of social media in political campaigns has quickly been realized in Israel, where candidates took note of online media's big impact on the recent U.S. election. Internet connectivity in the solitary Middle Eastern democracy is higher than any country in the region, and is on par with much of Europe. More than half of Israel's 7 million people have Internet access, either at home or at work.
The recently held Israeli parliamentary election was a hotly contested race, between leading candidates Tzipi Livni of the Kadima Party and Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party. According to pollsters, 30 percent of Israelis were undecided just a few weeks before the election. Each candidate knew the importance of the Internet in winning the hearts and minds of Israeli voters.
The potential of social media in political campaigns has quickly been realized in Israel, where candidates took note of online media's big impact on the recent U.S. election. Internet connectivity in the solitary Middle Eastern democracy is higher than any country in the region, and is on par with much of Europe. More than half of Israel's 7 million people have Internet access, either at home or at work.
The recently held Israeli parliamentary election was a hotly contested race, between leading candidates Tzipi Livni of the Kadima Party and Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party. According to pollsters, 30 percent of Israelis were undecided just a few weeks before the election. Each candidate knew the importance of the Internet in winning the hearts and minds of Israeli voters.
Online Campaign Tactics Retooled For Advocacy
Search engine advertising -- paying to place small ads alongside Google's search results -- isn't new, but advocacy groups are using it in increasingly sophisticated ways, as NationalJournal.com's Amy Harder details in a new story.
A new ad campaign by conservative group FreedomWorks, which targets Blue Dog Democrats who voted for the stimulus bill, demonstrates how advertisers are taking a page from the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain, both of whom used search engine advertising to cheaply and effectively reach voters during the race.
A new ad campaign by conservative group FreedomWorks, which targets Blue Dog Democrats who voted for the stimulus bill, demonstrates how advertisers are taking a page from the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain, both of whom used search engine advertising to cheaply and effectively reach voters during the race.
sobees – your social desktop aggregator
sobees integrates with a large number of Internet services. sobees automatically pulls information from friends on different social networks together with news, photos, videos, and other data from the Web.
I just downloaded this service and have started to kick the tires. I have really enjoyed TweetDeck, but this services appears to do much more, connects with more social media sites simultaneously and is customizable to suit your needs.
Here is a video/demo of how sobees works:
I just downloaded this service and have started to kick the tires. I have really enjoyed TweetDeck, but this services appears to do much more, connects with more social media sites simultaneously and is customizable to suit your needs.
Here is a video/demo of how sobees works:
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Personalized Campaigning
MIT TR reports: Fattened voter databases will be among the 2008 presidential race's most enduring legacies.
If you're a Democrat (although Republicans will have similar experiences), don't be surprised if a canvasser knocks on your door in 2012 and, glancing at his iPhone, says, "Ms. Smith, thanks for your $50 donation four years ago--and for attending the Joneses' party on the environment. Care to call voters in Ohio to help reëlect President Obama? Oh, and your neighbor Mrs. Jensen couldn't get to the polls in 2008. Think you could give her a lift on Election Day?"
As you answer his questions, the canvasser will stroke his iPhone, and a campaign server will squirrel away your answers. Minutes later, you'll get an e-mail from the campaign: "Thanks, Ms. Smith, for promising to make calls in Ohio." If you click the link, up will pop a list of 10 Ohio voters whose answers to phone-bank callers in 2008 suggest that they wavered between McCain and Obama and were concerned about the environment. You might call them and--following a provided script--explain Obama's environmental record, ask for their views on several issues and candidates, and record their answers with mouse clicks on a Web interface.
If you're a Democrat (although Republicans will have similar experiences), don't be surprised if a canvasser knocks on your door in 2012 and, glancing at his iPhone, says, "Ms. Smith, thanks for your $50 donation four years ago--and for attending the Joneses' party on the environment. Care to call voters in Ohio to help reëlect President Obama? Oh, and your neighbor Mrs. Jensen couldn't get to the polls in 2008. Think you could give her a lift on Election Day?"
As you answer his questions, the canvasser will stroke his iPhone, and a campaign server will squirrel away your answers. Minutes later, you'll get an e-mail from the campaign: "Thanks, Ms. Smith, for promising to make calls in Ohio." If you click the link, up will pop a list of 10 Ohio voters whose answers to phone-bank callers in 2008 suggest that they wavered between McCain and Obama and were concerned about the environment. You might call them and--following a provided script--explain Obama's environmental record, ask for their views on several issues and candidates, and record their answers with mouse clicks on a Web interface.
Average American Visits 115 Domains/Month
The average online American went online 62 times, visited 115 domains, viewed 2,580 web pages and spent nearly 75 hours online in January 2009, according to (pdf) data from Nielsen Online, which released basic statistics about monthly internet use.
Skittles Cozies Up to Social Media
WSJ reports: Mars Snackfood, maker of the chewy, multicolored candies, launched a new homepage at Skittles.com on Thursday that may represent the closest embrace of social media yet by a mainstream marketer. Instead of a typical product site that highlights information about or videos and games related to a product, Skittles.com features content created by consumers -- most of it gleaned from other Web sites.
Posted on the site last week was the Skittles article from Wikipedia, the user-created Web encyclopedia. On Monday, Skittles.com featured postings from the social-messaging site Twitter that include the word "skittles."
Mars Snackfood says it redesigned the site to better connect with its core teenage audience, which spends a lot of time using social media. "The teen audience relies heavily on their peers for advice on products. This is a unique, unexpected way to engage and to be a part of the conversation," says spokesman Ryan Bowling.
"It is a very bold campaign in the sense that they are letting consumers speak on behalf of the brand," says Chad Stoller, executive director of emerging platforms at Organic, a digital-marketing firm owned by Omnicom Group, whose digital-ad shop Agency.com created the site.
Posted on the site last week was the Skittles article from Wikipedia, the user-created Web encyclopedia. On Monday, Skittles.com featured postings from the social-messaging site Twitter that include the word "skittles."
Mars Snackfood says it redesigned the site to better connect with its core teenage audience, which spends a lot of time using social media. "The teen audience relies heavily on their peers for advice on products. This is a unique, unexpected way to engage and to be a part of the conversation," says spokesman Ryan Bowling.
"It is a very bold campaign in the sense that they are letting consumers speak on behalf of the brand," says Chad Stoller, executive director of emerging platforms at Organic, a digital-marketing firm owned by Omnicom Group, whose digital-ad shop Agency.com created the site.
Grass-Roots Uprising Against River Dam Challenges Tokyo
NYT reports: First, the farmers objected to an ambitious dam project proposed by the government, saying they did not need irrigation water from the reservoir. Then the commercial fishermen complained that fish would disappear if the Kawabe River’s twisting torrents were blocked. Environmentalists worried about losing the river’s scenic gorges. Soon, half of this city’s 34,000 residents had signed a petition opposing the $3.6 billion project.
In September, this rare grassroots uprising scored an even rarer victory when the governor of Kumamoto prefecture, a mountainous area of southern Japan, formally asked Tokyo to suspend construction. The Construction Ministry agreed, temporarily halting an undertaking that had already relocated a half-dozen small villages, though work on the dam itself had not started.
The suspension grabbed national headlines as one of the first times a local governor had succeeded in blocking a megaproject being built by the central government. It also turned the governor, Ikuo Kabashima, into a new emblem of a broader rethinking of Japan’s highly centralized style of government, in which Tokyo’s powerful ministries have held a tight grip on decision making all the way down to local levels.
“We can’t cower before the central government,” said Mr. Kabashima, a former politics professor.
In September, this rare grassroots uprising scored an even rarer victory when the governor of Kumamoto prefecture, a mountainous area of southern Japan, formally asked Tokyo to suspend construction. The Construction Ministry agreed, temporarily halting an undertaking that had already relocated a half-dozen small villages, though work on the dam itself had not started.
The suspension grabbed national headlines as one of the first times a local governor had succeeded in blocking a megaproject being built by the central government. It also turned the governor, Ikuo Kabashima, into a new emblem of a broader rethinking of Japan’s highly centralized style of government, in which Tokyo’s powerful ministries have held a tight grip on decision making all the way down to local levels.
“We can’t cower before the central government,” said Mr. Kabashima, a former politics professor.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Learning from Obama’s Online Outreach: How To Find and Build Support on the Internet
e.politics' part three of their six-part series on Team Obama and Electi0n 2008.
With their team in place and technology under development, the Obama campaign wasted no time in building their most important resource: the list of volunteers who would work to elect the Illinois senator president. And just as the campaign would use new media tools to encourage voter turnout and other action in the real world, they employed real-world events to build their list of online activists:
Field teams used various tactics, including collecting addresses at events, via online advertising and by offering incentives such as a free bumper sticker in exchange for contact information. Often, after collecting addresses, follow-up emails steered people to MyBarackObama.com, where they could find information on how to host events themselves.
“Obama’s Road To White House Was Paved With Emails,” David Goetzl, Online Media Daily, December 9, 2008
With their team in place and technology under development, the Obama campaign wasted no time in building their most important resource: the list of volunteers who would work to elect the Illinois senator president. And just as the campaign would use new media tools to encourage voter turnout and other action in the real world, they employed real-world events to build their list of online activists:
Field teams used various tactics, including collecting addresses at events, via online advertising and by offering incentives such as a free bumper sticker in exchange for contact information. Often, after collecting addresses, follow-up emails steered people to MyBarackObama.com, where they could find information on how to host events themselves.
“Obama’s Road To White House Was Paved With Emails,” David Goetzl, Online Media Daily, December 9, 2008
Labour 2.0: campaigning for the net generation
This weekend the Labour 2.0 conference was held in London. According to the website, the conference was organized to harness the power of the web to shape the outcomes of elections:
While the real analysis of the reasons for Obama’s victory has yet to be completed, it is obvious that e-campaigning played a major role and that its importance will continue to increase. As the main political parties gear up for the next general election, the focus on internet campaigning will intensify.
To what extent has the Labour party understood the potential of this new campaigning medium?How can the centre-left use it to mobilise ordinary voters to campaign for progressive causes? And what steps need to be taken to pull the party into the ‘net generation’?We hope to find answers to these questions and more at this special one day conference, which will bring together over 100 members of the left blogosphere, net-savvy Labour parliamentarians, councillors, organisers and others from the Labour movement who have an interest in e-campaigning and using the net to build a better democracy.
Nick Anstead was a presenter at the gathering - here is a link to his presentation on Communicating and Campaigning in the Digital Era.
While the real analysis of the reasons for Obama’s victory has yet to be completed, it is obvious that e-campaigning played a major role and that its importance will continue to increase. As the main political parties gear up for the next general election, the focus on internet campaigning will intensify.
To what extent has the Labour party understood the potential of this new campaigning medium?How can the centre-left use it to mobilise ordinary voters to campaign for progressive causes? And what steps need to be taken to pull the party into the ‘net generation’?We hope to find answers to these questions and more at this special one day conference, which will bring together over 100 members of the left blogosphere, net-savvy Labour parliamentarians, councillors, organisers and others from the Labour movement who have an interest in e-campaigning and using the net to build a better democracy.
Nick Anstead was a presenter at the gathering - here is a link to his presentation on Communicating and Campaigning in the Digital Era.
Charlie Rose + Evan Williams = Broadcast
Evan Williams is a co-founder of Twitter and was the founder of Blogger.com - a true blogging visionary.
Long-shot L.A. municipal candidates depend on Internet
LAT reports: As recently as two months ago, David R. Hernandez said, he didn't even know what Facebook was. Today, he uses the popular Internet social-networking site to help spread the word about his steeply uphill campaign for Los Angeles mayor in Tuesday's municipal primary."I now have about 500 'friends' [on Facebook], and I am able to get them all news about my campaign in less than two minutes," said Hernandez, who also has run for Congress (twice), county supervisor and community college district trustee -- falling short each time.
The 60-year-old chamber of commerce chief and community activist has joined dozens of other underfunded, lesser-known candidates for city offices in adding the Internet to the limited arsenal of inexpensive tools for reaching voters.Many of these candidates have websites, which they use to introduce themselves to voters, post homemade campaign commercials and even solicit contributions.
"Internet technology has created campaign opportunities for underfunded candidates that didn't exist before," said Steven Afriat, a veteran Los Angeles political consultant who is not involved in any of Tuesday's municipal contests.
The 60-year-old chamber of commerce chief and community activist has joined dozens of other underfunded, lesser-known candidates for city offices in adding the Internet to the limited arsenal of inexpensive tools for reaching voters.Many of these candidates have websites, which they use to introduce themselves to voters, post homemade campaign commercials and even solicit contributions.
"Internet technology has created campaign opportunities for underfunded candidates that didn't exist before," said Steven Afriat, a veteran Los Angeles political consultant who is not involved in any of Tuesday's municipal contests.
Information Wants to be Free - Even Behind The Great Firewall
Waxy.org discovered a group of about 240 Chinese fans of the Economist Magazine who voluntarily collaborate each week to translate the full contents of the magazine into Chinese and distribute it online:
In short, a group of dedicated fans of The Economist news magazine are translating each weekly issue cover-to-cover, splitting up the work among a team of volunteers, and redistributing the finished translations as complete PDFs for a Chinese audience.
It reminds me of the scanlation movement, in which groups of fans scan, translate, and redistribute a magazine into another language. But I’ve never seen it applied to a newspaper or magazine, especially one as high-minded as The Economist.
It’s an impressive example of online collaboration with simple tools, a completely non-commercial effort by volunteers interested in spreading knowledge while improving their English skills. In the process, they’re taking a political risk in translating controversial articles about their homeland behind the Great Firewall.
The Ecocn forum link is here.
In short, a group of dedicated fans of The Economist news magazine are translating each weekly issue cover-to-cover, splitting up the work among a team of volunteers, and redistributing the finished translations as complete PDFs for a Chinese audience.
It reminds me of the scanlation movement, in which groups of fans scan, translate, and redistribute a magazine into another language. But I’ve never seen it applied to a newspaper or magazine, especially one as high-minded as The Economist.
It’s an impressive example of online collaboration with simple tools, a completely non-commercial effort by volunteers interested in spreading knowledge while improving their English skills. In the process, they’re taking a political risk in translating controversial articles about their homeland behind the Great Firewall.
The Ecocn forum link is here.
Update: Jonas Brothers' 3D Concert Movie - 1st Weekend BO
Jonas Brothers' 3D movie data points:
Sales: $12.7m
Theaters: 1,271
Sales Per Theatre $9,992.13
Tickets cost $15.00 for the moive - so that means approximately 846,667 people or 666 people per theater saw the movie this weekend .
However, the weekend's winner was a man in drag who went prison.
Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail had sales of $16.5m at 2,052 theaters - so that means with tickets costing $10.00 each, approximately 1,650,000 people or 804 people per theater saw this film this weekend.
What does this mean?
Two things.
1) Tyler Perry is better than the Jonas Brothers - even if they are in 3D - and 2) that content matters, not the technology.
Sales: $12.7m
Theaters: 1,271
Sales Per Theatre $9,992.13
Tickets cost $15.00 for the moive - so that means approximately 846,667 people or 666 people per theater saw the movie this weekend .
However, the weekend's winner was a man in drag who went prison.
Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail had sales of $16.5m at 2,052 theaters - so that means with tickets costing $10.00 each, approximately 1,650,000 people or 804 people per theater saw this film this weekend.
What does this mean?
Two things.
1) Tyler Perry is better than the Jonas Brothers - even if they are in 3D - and 2) that content matters, not the technology.
1,000 Points of Data
Commentaty from Ken Duberstein, who was the White House chief of staff from 1988 to 1989, which was printed in the NYT : The State of the Union address served this purpose for more than 200 years. But given today’s challenges and the rapid pace of change, a yearly formal address is no longer sufficient to measure the true state of our Union. To recapture the spirit of the founders — and to fulfill President Obama’s own promise to provide greater accountability in Washington — another tool is needed, one that enables all Americans to gauge whether we are making progress as a nation.
What we need now is a Web-based system for measuring our changing society with key national indicators — in a free, public, easy-to-use form. Ideally, it would be run by the nonpartisan National Academy of Sciences, which would ensure it has the best quality of information and is kept up to date. The system would enable us to offer in one place statistical information that we spend billions of dollars collecting but that is now underused and undervalued.
Imagine everyone having at their fingertips answers to questions like: How many quality jobs are we adding to the American economy? How many more students are getting into college? How many more people are gaining access to affordable health insurance? Are we increasing economic growth along with savings and investment? Are we reducing our greenhouse gas emissions?
What we need now is a Web-based system for measuring our changing society with key national indicators — in a free, public, easy-to-use form. Ideally, it would be run by the nonpartisan National Academy of Sciences, which would ensure it has the best quality of information and is kept up to date. The system would enable us to offer in one place statistical information that we spend billions of dollars collecting but that is now underused and undervalued.
Imagine everyone having at their fingertips answers to questions like: How many quality jobs are we adding to the American economy? How many more students are getting into college? How many more people are gaining access to affordable health insurance? Are we increasing economic growth along with savings and investment? Are we reducing our greenhouse gas emissions?
The new corporate firefighters
FT reports: When advertisers launched a campaign last September for the pain reliever Motrin, they hoped to attract the attention of mothers whose backs might be sore from wearing baby-carriers. The advertisements implied that while baby-carriers might be fashionable, hauling a child around could be painful.
Mothers were not amused. Soon after the ads were released, anti-Motrin campaigns appeared on Facebook and blogs. Outraged mums, furious at the suggestion that their babies were a hassle, posted rebuttal videos on YouTube. Through Twitter, the microblogging service, thousands of people attacked the company.
Motrin was caught off-guard. For days, no company representative replied. Critics accused the company of being not only insensitive but also unresponsive.
Eventually a marketing executive at McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson that markets Motrin, e-mailed individual bloggers to apologise for the campaign. But the damage was done.
The "Motrin moms" episode illustrates the power of social media - the expanding network of websites that allow users to interact with each other and, increasingly, with companies. It also demonstrates the perils for enterprises that are unprepared to interact with social media.
But now a growing number of companies, including Ford Motor, PepsiCo, Wells Fargo and Dell, are creating new high-level jobs to ready themselves for engagement with social media, with titles such as director of social media, head of communities and conversation, vice-president of experiential marketing and digital communications manager. The role of these new executives is to monitor and influence what is being said about their companies on the internet.
Johnson & Johnson made its own appointment in the wake of the Motrin debacle. Having already dabbled in social media, in December the company promoted Marc Monseau, a 10-year company veteran and former director of media relations, to director of social media. "My responsibility is to work with the corporate office and the individual companies to better interact online," Mr Monseau says. "It underscores the fact that we realise this is an important audience and one that we need to develop relationships with."
Mothers were not amused. Soon after the ads were released, anti-Motrin campaigns appeared on Facebook and blogs. Outraged mums, furious at the suggestion that their babies were a hassle, posted rebuttal videos on YouTube. Through Twitter, the microblogging service, thousands of people attacked the company.
Motrin was caught off-guard. For days, no company representative replied. Critics accused the company of being not only insensitive but also unresponsive.
Eventually a marketing executive at McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson that markets Motrin, e-mailed individual bloggers to apologise for the campaign. But the damage was done.
The "Motrin moms" episode illustrates the power of social media - the expanding network of websites that allow users to interact with each other and, increasingly, with companies. It also demonstrates the perils for enterprises that are unprepared to interact with social media.
But now a growing number of companies, including Ford Motor, PepsiCo, Wells Fargo and Dell, are creating new high-level jobs to ready themselves for engagement with social media, with titles such as director of social media, head of communities and conversation, vice-president of experiential marketing and digital communications manager. The role of these new executives is to monitor and influence what is being said about their companies on the internet.
Johnson & Johnson made its own appointment in the wake of the Motrin debacle. Having already dabbled in social media, in December the company promoted Marc Monseau, a 10-year company veteran and former director of media relations, to director of social media. "My responsibility is to work with the corporate office and the individual companies to better interact online," Mr Monseau says. "It underscores the fact that we realise this is an important audience and one that we need to develop relationships with."
Top 10 Newspapers in Trouble
Real Clear Politics has assembled a list of the "Top 10 Newspapers in Trouble."
Just last week one of the papers on the list, the Rocky Mountain News, shut down its operation.
Here are the other newspapers on the list:
New York Daily News – Circulation: 632,595 (10% Decline Since 2007)
Los Angeles Times – Circulation: 739,147 (4% decrease since 2007)
St. Paul Pioneer Press – Circulation: 184,973 (3% decrease since 2007)
Chicago Sun-Times – Circulation: 313,176 (.2% increase since 2007)
Detroit News – Circulation: 178,280 (5% decrease since 2007)
San Francisco Chronicle – Circulation: 339,430 (8% decrease since 2007)
Miami Herald – Circulation: 210,884 (12% decrease since 2007)
Philadelphia Daily News – Circulation: 97,694 (9% decrease since 2007)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – Circulation: 117,572 (9% decrease since 2007)
I am taking it one step beyond - I am predicting Detroit will be the first major city to have no major daily newspaper(s).
Just last week one of the papers on the list, the Rocky Mountain News, shut down its operation.
Here are the other newspapers on the list:
New York Daily News – Circulation: 632,595 (10% Decline Since 2007)
Los Angeles Times – Circulation: 739,147 (4% decrease since 2007)
St. Paul Pioneer Press – Circulation: 184,973 (3% decrease since 2007)
Chicago Sun-Times – Circulation: 313,176 (.2% increase since 2007)
Detroit News – Circulation: 178,280 (5% decrease since 2007)
San Francisco Chronicle – Circulation: 339,430 (8% decrease since 2007)
Miami Herald – Circulation: 210,884 (12% decrease since 2007)
Philadelphia Daily News – Circulation: 97,694 (9% decrease since 2007)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – Circulation: 117,572 (9% decrease since 2007)
I am taking it one step beyond - I am predicting Detroit will be the first major city to have no major daily newspaper(s).
Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps
Issues of Technology, Security and Privacy Slow the New Administration's Effort to Foster Instant Communication
WaPo reports: The team that ran the most technologically advanced presidential campaign in modern history is finding it difficult to adapt that model to government. WhiteHouse.gov, envisioned as the primary vehicle for President Obama to communicate with the online masses, has been overwhelmed by challenges that staffers did not foresee and technological problems they have yet to solve.
Obama, for example, would like to send out mass e-mail updates on presidential initiatives, but the White House does not have the technology in place to do so. The same goes for text messaging, another campaign staple.
Beyond the technological upgrades needed to enable text broadcasts, there are security and privacy rules to sort out involving the collection of cellphone numbers, according to Obama aides, who acknowledge being caught off guard by the strictures of government bureaucracy.
"This is uncharted territory," said Macon Phillips, White House director of new media.
WaPo reports: The team that ran the most technologically advanced presidential campaign in modern history is finding it difficult to adapt that model to government. WhiteHouse.gov, envisioned as the primary vehicle for President Obama to communicate with the online masses, has been overwhelmed by challenges that staffers did not foresee and technological problems they have yet to solve.
Obama, for example, would like to send out mass e-mail updates on presidential initiatives, but the White House does not have the technology in place to do so. The same goes for text messaging, another campaign staple.
Beyond the technological upgrades needed to enable text broadcasts, there are security and privacy rules to sort out involving the collection of cellphone numbers, according to Obama aides, who acknowledge being caught off guard by the strictures of government bureaucracy.
"This is uncharted territory," said Macon Phillips, White House director of new media.
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