Saturday, January 30, 2010
Live stream of The State of the Union draws 1.3 million viewers on Whitehouse.gov
TechCrunch reports: The White House had a live stream of the speech that was embeddable on blogs or websites. Nearly 1.3 million people tuned into the WhiteHouse.gov’s live video feed of the speech, which is a ten-fold increase in traffic over the most popular live-streamed event. Unfortunately, the White House doesn’t have any concrete statistics on the number of unique streams of the speech from the new iPhone App, but says that nearly a terabyte of data was served to iPhones with the application during the event.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Bloomberg Mulls Biz-Politics News Site
TalkingBizNews reports: Bloomberg News is mulling the launch of a new editorial Web site dubbed "BGov" that would cover the intersection of business and politics. The project comes after Bloomberg's parent company turned down the opportunity to buy Congressional Quarterly last year.
Are you Scribd?
As discussed many times with my clients and reader's of this blog, online document storage sites, such as SlidehShare or Scribd, are great tools for any campaign or advocacy effort to house press releases, press articles, opinion pieces, political columns, voter scorecards and other printed campaign collateral.
Each site provides another platform for your supporters to easily find documents to support your cause and advocacy efforts - and they can print them off and pay for the expense = extra bonus.
I came across one such site today connected to Meg Whitman's campaign for CA Governor -to my knowledge this is the first time I have seen a candidate employ this communication tool. Regardless if her campaign is the first, using this platform is super smart, super easy and demonstrates a high level of social campaigning and "lean-in advocacy." Whitman’s Scribd account can be found here - http://www.scribd.com/megwhitman.
On Monday of this week, I created some fun State of the Union BINGO cards and hosted them on SlideShare - click here to see them. With two days before the big event and just using my networks on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogger to promote them, they were viewed over 2,400 times and were SlideShare "Hot Topics" on both Twitter and Facebook over the days leading into the SOTU.
Powerful and quick response - and I am just one person, with no budget and some creativity. Without a tool like SlideShare, there is no way I would have been able to cheaply and efficiently make these fun BINGO cards available at such a scale.
Imagine if I had some budget and a staff to spread the word about campaign documents and positive press clips = oh my.
Make sure you are Scribd.
Each site provides another platform for your supporters to easily find documents to support your cause and advocacy efforts - and they can print them off and pay for the expense = extra bonus.
I came across one such site today connected to Meg Whitman's campaign for CA Governor -to my knowledge this is the first time I have seen a candidate employ this communication tool. Regardless if her campaign is the first, using this platform is super smart, super easy and demonstrates a high level of social campaigning and "lean-in advocacy." Whitman’s Scribd account can be found here - http://www.scribd.com/megwhitman.
On Monday of this week, I created some fun State of the Union BINGO cards and hosted them on SlideShare - click here to see them. With two days before the big event and just using my networks on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogger to promote them, they were viewed over 2,400 times and were SlideShare "Hot Topics" on both Twitter and Facebook over the days leading into the SOTU.
Powerful and quick response - and I am just one person, with no budget and some creativity. Without a tool like SlideShare, there is no way I would have been able to cheaply and efficiently make these fun BINGO cards available at such a scale.
Imagine if I had some budget and a staff to spread the word about campaign documents and positive press clips = oh my.
Make sure you are Scribd.
Where Twitter drops the marketing ball - iMediaConnection.com
Though there are similarities, Twitter and SMS marketing have very different capabilities. Break through the confusion and see if the microblogging service is shortchanging your mobile plan.
Yelp Elevated
Yelp, the popular Web site for reviews of local businesses, has a new investor: Elevation Partners, a private equity firm that has committed up to $100 million to the company.
Kevin Rose = Author
Kevin Rose, the founder of social news site Digg, has inked a deal with HarperStudio to share his entrepreneurial wisdom in a book, to be titled "One to One Million."
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
President Obama to Conduct Live Online Interview on YouTube
In an Internet first, video sharing site YouTube said that it will broadcast a live online interview with President Obama next week, posing questions submitted by users.
The site, which is carrying Obama's State of the Union address live Wednesday night on its Citizentube channel, plans to elicit questions in video and text format during the speech, as well as in the days after. YouTube visitors then will be able to vote for their favorite questions.
"We'll bring some of your top-voted questions to the president in a YouTube interview from the White House, which we'll also broadcast live on Citizentube," Steve Grove, YouTube's head of news and politics, wrote in a blog post. The site called the interview the latest example of Presidents using new technology to share their message with the American people.
The site, which is carrying Obama's State of the Union address live Wednesday night on its Citizentube channel, plans to elicit questions in video and text format during the speech, as well as in the days after. YouTube visitors then will be able to vote for their favorite questions.
"We'll bring some of your top-voted questions to the president in a YouTube interview from the White House, which we'll also broadcast live on Citizentube," Steve Grove, YouTube's head of news and politics, wrote in a blog post. The site called the interview the latest example of Presidents using new technology to share their message with the American people.
Procter Gamble makes major push on Facebook
Procter & Gamble, the world's largest marketer, is making Facebook a central piece of its marketing efforts this year, encouraging all of its brands to build a presence on the social network and setting up a Silicon Valley office to help develop marketing capabilities with the site, according to Ad Age.
P&G's Facebook push is part of the company's larger effort to reach 5 billion consumers globally, up from the 4 billion it currently reaches.
One of P&G's main goals for 2010 is for each of its brands to develop a meaningful presence on Facebook, and the marketer is ready to invest heavily in that, as evidenced by the Silicon Valley office. In a meeting with venture capitalists last week, P&G executives expressed skepticism over Facebook's "engagement ad" format, but viewed Facebook as a crucial part of online brand building.
Twitter, on the other hand, does not fare well in P&G's plans. The company views Twitter as a broadcast tool, but does not think the microblogging tool has the same value as Facebook or Google when it comes to brand building and advertising.
P&G's Facebook push is part of the company's larger effort to reach 5 billion consumers globally, up from the 4 billion it currently reaches.
One of P&G's main goals for 2010 is for each of its brands to develop a meaningful presence on Facebook, and the marketer is ready to invest heavily in that, as evidenced by the Silicon Valley office. In a meeting with venture capitalists last week, P&G executives expressed skepticism over Facebook's "engagement ad" format, but viewed Facebook as a crucial part of online brand building.
Twitter, on the other hand, does not fare well in P&G's plans. The company views Twitter as a broadcast tool, but does not think the microblogging tool has the same value as Facebook or Google when it comes to brand building and advertising.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Scott Brown Web Traffic
Alexa traffic rank for brownforussenate.com:
Traffic Rank Change
Yesterday 41,966 -3,511
7 day 8,199 -2,960
1 month 18,633 -431,259
3 month 52,442 -2,091,002
Monday, January 25, 2010
Learning from Allbritton’s success with Politico
LostRemote reports:One of the great success stories in local media has to be Politico, the political web-print startup by Allbritton, the small television ownership group in DC. Politico, according to SEC filings dug up by PaidContent, has hit $20 million a year in revenue. Wow.
Politico is one of very few success stories of local broadcasters who have broken out of their traditional market and content boundaries. And now, as reported a few weeks ago, Allbritton is looking to go deep in the DC market and take on the Washington Post in local news on the web, combining the assets of Politico, WJLA and Newschannel 8 along with as many as 50 new employees.
Two or three years ago, the notion of a local television operation seriously taking on the Washington Post both in politics and local news would be met with extreme skepticism or outright laughter. But with Allbritton’s success with Politico under its belt — not to mention former WashingtonPost.com editor Jim Brady at the helm of its new local operation — nobody’s laughing.
BIA/Kelsey has written up a great look at how Allbritton arrived at the decision to go deep in local. Allbritton’s aggressive competitive attitude with the web (invest big) combined with a broader approach to creating new market opportunities (national/regional interest) could be a lesson for traditional local media everywhere.
Politico is one of very few success stories of local broadcasters who have broken out of their traditional market and content boundaries. And now, as reported a few weeks ago, Allbritton is looking to go deep in the DC market and take on the Washington Post in local news on the web, combining the assets of Politico, WJLA and Newschannel 8 along with as many as 50 new employees.
Two or three years ago, the notion of a local television operation seriously taking on the Washington Post both in politics and local news would be met with extreme skepticism or outright laughter. But with Allbritton’s success with Politico under its belt — not to mention former WashingtonPost.com editor Jim Brady at the helm of its new local operation — nobody’s laughing.
BIA/Kelsey has written up a great look at how Allbritton arrived at the decision to go deep in local. Allbritton’s aggressive competitive attitude with the web (invest big) combined with a broader approach to creating new market opportunities (national/regional interest) could be a lesson for traditional local media everywhere.
A Foursquare first: teaming with a news org
From LostRemote: Location-based digital services are exploding all around us. Integration and consolidation of these services is inevitable, so let the partnerships begin.
Metro, Canada’s largest free daily newspaper, announced today it is the first news publisher to partner with fast-growing Foursquare, the social network and location-based game. According to the press release, “Metro will add their location-specific editorial content to the Foursquare service.” There is also a special Metro Foursquare badge that users can unlock when they check-in at a single-copy location (which is part of a contest to promote the partnership and give away some iPhones).
What a boost for a news organization to be associated with a brand as hot as Foursquare is these days. But business development deals that lead to partnerships like this don’t seem like a logical way for this space to evolve. Too time consuming and cumbersome. It makes more sense that open APIs and data sharing will eventually take over, as they’ve done on the consumer web. Foursquare would be wise to allow this type of partnership – the integration of location-based data in exchange for a custom badge – in much the same way Facebook and Twitter have allowed developers to build on their platforms.
Eventually, of course, a mobile device and service will deliver exactly what a user is looking for from their specific location: news, deals, friends, business information, and alerts – all wrapped together with augmented reality goodness. The race is on. Which makes Metro’s announcement today a smart one.
Metro, Canada’s largest free daily newspaper, announced today it is the first news publisher to partner with fast-growing Foursquare, the social network and location-based game. According to the press release, “Metro will add their location-specific editorial content to the Foursquare service.” There is also a special Metro Foursquare badge that users can unlock when they check-in at a single-copy location (which is part of a contest to promote the partnership and give away some iPhones).
What a boost for a news organization to be associated with a brand as hot as Foursquare is these days. But business development deals that lead to partnerships like this don’t seem like a logical way for this space to evolve. Too time consuming and cumbersome. It makes more sense that open APIs and data sharing will eventually take over, as they’ve done on the consumer web. Foursquare would be wise to allow this type of partnership – the integration of location-based data in exchange for a custom badge – in much the same way Facebook and Twitter have allowed developers to build on their platforms.
Eventually, of course, a mobile device and service will deliver exactly what a user is looking for from their specific location: news, deals, friends, business information, and alerts – all wrapped together with augmented reality goodness. The race is on. Which makes Metro’s announcement today a smart one.
CBS, Hearst Expect Political Ad Boost
Advertising Age reports: Last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn campaign finance laws is expected to open the floodgates for more political advertising. Much of the new money is likely to flow to local television stations, benefitting station group owners like Hearst and CBS.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Moment Social Media Became Serious Business
From Tamara J. Erickson's recent post on HBR's blog. She has authored the books Retire Retirement, Plugged In, and What's Next, Gen X? She is the co-author of four Harvard Business Review articles and the book Workforce Crisis.
The blog post is pasted unabridged.
It happened last year, around the first of July. In my experience, the switch was just about that abrupt.
All last spring, most senior business leaders I met shrugged off the business applicability of Web 2.0. Allowing access to social networks in the workplace was something they were willing to consider only if it was absolutely necessary to keep younger employees from complaining. Twitter? What was that?
But by summer, the conversations I was having with senior executives about the use of these new technologies took on a very different tone. Recognition grew that 2.0 technologies could be used to change the way work gets done in fundamental ways. Interest in exploring these new ways of working, of sharing information, of collaborating to enhance productivity and meet business goals, was here.
Advances in our ability to communicate always change the way we live and work — the two are inextricably linked. The advent of writing facilitated the development of a complex, stratified Egyptian society as rulers were able to document their holdings and express their wishes; the printing press spurred democracy as information spread among the populace; the telex allowed the growth of major cities as headquarters became physically separated from the factories.
And, like the hesitant adoption of 2.0, these advances in communication capabilities have almost always met significant resistance. Early assessments of the telephone predicted that it would be used primarily for social, non-business applications. What business would want to use a technology that provides no permanent record of a conversation, when the telex was available as a dependable alternative? Initial assessments of what became the core technology for Xerox completely missed the mark — no one could imagine why any business would need copies of a document. It's hard to envision the usefulness of new ways of communicating, and easy to dismiss new technologies as frivolous.
But each time our communication capability expands, several predictable things occur: An increase in the scope (distance and speed of reach) and richness of our interactions affects the way we organize, shifts the balance of power, and influences how we get things done.
Ronald Coase, a professor at the University of Chicago, won the Nobel Prize for Economics for his work showing how transaction costs influenced institutional structures. In "The Nature of the Firm," published in 1937, Coase explored how the cost of communication influenced the size of organizations. He found that high communication or transaction costs encouraged bringing as many functions as possible inside the organization — explaining, for example, the push toward vertical integration as a strategy in the mid-1900's — a strategy since largely discarded as communication costs have decreased.
Harold Adams Innis, a professor at the University of Toronto, outlined several predictable results that occur whenever there is a reduction in the cost of communications in his 1951 work, The Bias of Communication. Although Innis was writing well before Web 2.0, note how many of his predictions accurately reflect the major trends of today:
1. Redistributing knowledge and, in doing so, shifting power
2. Making it easier for "amateurs" to compete with "professionals," because access to knowledge substitutes for mastery of complexity
3. Allowing individuals and minorities to voice ideas
4. Reducing the advantages of speed that formerly accrued because some had knowledge before others
5. Reducing the advantages of size that are based on the ability to afford high costs.
I believe the impact of the combined technologies of the past decade, of Web 2.0, will have as powerful an impact on the ways we live and work as many of the blockbuster steps of the past — the printing press, telex, Internet — have had. Today's new technologies allow people to interact without specifying how they should do so, cause patterns and structure to appear over time, and allow activities to occur asynchronously and virtually. Even more importantly, the sophisticated search algorithms allow us to find what we're seeking in a sea of information. Together they offer significant improvements in generating, capturing, and sharing knowledge, letting people find helpful resources, tapping into new sources of innovation and expertise, and harnessing the "wisdom of crowds."
Today, the frontier of human productive capacity today is the power of extended collaboration — the ability to work together beyond the scope of small groups using the new tools of collaboration.
This train has left the station. Social media is on track to become an integral part of the way we work — a core tool of serious business. The story of how businesses use technology is in the midst of becoming a lot more interesting.
The blog post is pasted unabridged.
It happened last year, around the first of July. In my experience, the switch was just about that abrupt.
All last spring, most senior business leaders I met shrugged off the business applicability of Web 2.0. Allowing access to social networks in the workplace was something they were willing to consider only if it was absolutely necessary to keep younger employees from complaining. Twitter? What was that?
But by summer, the conversations I was having with senior executives about the use of these new technologies took on a very different tone. Recognition grew that 2.0 technologies could be used to change the way work gets done in fundamental ways. Interest in exploring these new ways of working, of sharing information, of collaborating to enhance productivity and meet business goals, was here.
Advances in our ability to communicate always change the way we live and work — the two are inextricably linked. The advent of writing facilitated the development of a complex, stratified Egyptian society as rulers were able to document their holdings and express their wishes; the printing press spurred democracy as information spread among the populace; the telex allowed the growth of major cities as headquarters became physically separated from the factories.
And, like the hesitant adoption of 2.0, these advances in communication capabilities have almost always met significant resistance. Early assessments of the telephone predicted that it would be used primarily for social, non-business applications. What business would want to use a technology that provides no permanent record of a conversation, when the telex was available as a dependable alternative? Initial assessments of what became the core technology for Xerox completely missed the mark — no one could imagine why any business would need copies of a document. It's hard to envision the usefulness of new ways of communicating, and easy to dismiss new technologies as frivolous.
But each time our communication capability expands, several predictable things occur: An increase in the scope (distance and speed of reach) and richness of our interactions affects the way we organize, shifts the balance of power, and influences how we get things done.
Ronald Coase, a professor at the University of Chicago, won the Nobel Prize for Economics for his work showing how transaction costs influenced institutional structures. In "The Nature of the Firm," published in 1937, Coase explored how the cost of communication influenced the size of organizations. He found that high communication or transaction costs encouraged bringing as many functions as possible inside the organization — explaining, for example, the push toward vertical integration as a strategy in the mid-1900's — a strategy since largely discarded as communication costs have decreased.
Harold Adams Innis, a professor at the University of Toronto, outlined several predictable results that occur whenever there is a reduction in the cost of communications in his 1951 work, The Bias of Communication. Although Innis was writing well before Web 2.0, note how many of his predictions accurately reflect the major trends of today:
1. Redistributing knowledge and, in doing so, shifting power
2. Making it easier for "amateurs" to compete with "professionals," because access to knowledge substitutes for mastery of complexity
3. Allowing individuals and minorities to voice ideas
4. Reducing the advantages of speed that formerly accrued because some had knowledge before others
5. Reducing the advantages of size that are based on the ability to afford high costs.
I believe the impact of the combined technologies of the past decade, of Web 2.0, will have as powerful an impact on the ways we live and work as many of the blockbuster steps of the past — the printing press, telex, Internet — have had. Today's new technologies allow people to interact without specifying how they should do so, cause patterns and structure to appear over time, and allow activities to occur asynchronously and virtually. Even more importantly, the sophisticated search algorithms allow us to find what we're seeking in a sea of information. Together they offer significant improvements in generating, capturing, and sharing knowledge, letting people find helpful resources, tapping into new sources of innovation and expertise, and harnessing the "wisdom of crowds."
Today, the frontier of human productive capacity today is the power of extended collaboration — the ability to work together beyond the scope of small groups using the new tools of collaboration.
This train has left the station. Social media is on track to become an integral part of the way we work — a core tool of serious business. The story of how businesses use technology is in the midst of becoming a lot more interesting.
Labour creates first iPhone app to rally support
marketingmagazine.co.uk reports: The Labour Party is set to launch its first ever iPhone app to help canvassers rally support in the run-up to the general election.
BREAKING: SCOTUS rejects limits on corporate spending in political campaigns
The case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which was first argued last spring, was reargued in September with the need to consider whether it was unconstitutional for Congress to forbid corporations and labor unions to use their treasuries to bankroll ads for and against candidates.
The decision should have a major impact on the 2010 midterm elections and President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
The decision should have a major impact on the 2010 midterm elections and President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Twitter readies advertising platform + no IPO in 2010
Brand Republic reports: Dick Costolo, chief operating officer at Twitter, said the service is ready to begin testing a new advertising platform shortly as he ruled out a stockmarket launch this year.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Citizens United v. FEC decision coming Thursday?
SCOTUS schedules rare Thursday session - speculation that ruling on campaign finance and first amendment case will be made.
Much-anticipated Citizens United v. FEC decision speculated to be coming Thursday?
Much-anticipated Citizens United v. FEC decision speculated to be coming Thursday?
Brown Heavily Used Online Ads
Political Wire reports an interesting statistic from Google: Scott Brown's (R) campaign in Massachusetts spent 10% of their media budget on online advertising, breaking Bob McDonnell's (R) previous record of 8% in Virginia last November.
E-reader owners are major new media consumers
Steve Safran of LostRemote reports: A new study finds that the most voracious consumers of new media are people who own e-readers. The study, “Hidden Opportunities in New Media,” from L.E.K. Consulting, reports that people who own e-readers consume 18 hours a week of digital media (not just e-books). By contrast, iPod owners – no Luddites – consume nine hours. There are a few other results in this survey that may shake some traditional wisdom:
32% of respondents use Internet radio, logging almost six hours a week. That’s more popular than satellite radio.
People aged 50-64, if they are online, spend more time there than people aged 25-39.
The older crowd spends more time emailing, the younger crowd spends the bulk of its time social networking.
There is growth in the television business, at least, if you’re running a cable network. 19% of respondents increased their cable viewing. People spend nearly 40 hours a week watching TV, compared to eight hours a week online.
There’s good news in here for people who like reading. From the release:
“The survey also showed that almost half of e-reader users increased their consumption of books, and more than one-third of their consumption was incremental. This means that many books are being sold that would not have been sold as traditional print books.”
32% of respondents use Internet radio, logging almost six hours a week. That’s more popular than satellite radio.
People aged 50-64, if they are online, spend more time there than people aged 25-39.
The older crowd spends more time emailing, the younger crowd spends the bulk of its time social networking.
There is growth in the television business, at least, if you’re running a cable network. 19% of respondents increased their cable viewing. People spend nearly 40 hours a week watching TV, compared to eight hours a week online.
There’s good news in here for people who like reading. From the release:
“The survey also showed that almost half of e-reader users increased their consumption of books, and more than one-third of their consumption was incremental. This means that many books are being sold that would not have been sold as traditional print books.”
Apple In Talks to Drop Google from iPhone
BusinessWeek reports that Apple is said to be in talks with Microsoft to replace Google with Bing as the default search engine on its iPhone. The discussions reflect the accelerating rivalry in the mobile market between Apple and Google, currently the iPhone's main search provider.
Companies love competition and not being dependent on one vendor - from chemical companies needing train competition to hardware companies needing software competition.
Companies love competition and not being dependent on one vendor - from chemical companies needing train competition to hardware companies needing software competition.
The White House Launches App for iPhone + iPod Touch
From the White House blog, "Today, we're excited to announce the new White House App available for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. The White House App delivers dynamic content from WhiteHouse.gov to the palm of your hand." Since there are several White House apps on iTunes -- priced from .99 cents to $1.99 -- be sure to look for the free app called "The White House"
This is the White House's first iPhone app, and the move was seen as inevitable for Team Obama and a White House that's been breaking new communications ground and expanding "lean in" advocacy. As HP reports, this is a team that is hosting online town hall meetings, offering live chats with top administration officials and creating a robust YouTube channel.
The timing of the app's release comes on President Obama's one-year anniversary in office and reminds Americans that after last night's defeat in Massachusetts, Team Obama and this White House is still cool.
This is the White House's first iPhone app, and the move was seen as inevitable for Team Obama and a White House that's been breaking new communications ground and expanding "lean in" advocacy. As HP reports, this is a team that is hosting online town hall meetings, offering live chats with top administration officials and creating a robust YouTube channel.
The timing of the app's release comes on President Obama's one-year anniversary in office and reminds Americans that after last night's defeat in Massachusetts, Team Obama and this White House is still cool.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Twitter Username Land Grab Coming Soon?
Mashable reports: The last big land grab was arguably the Great Facebook Vanity URL Rush of ‘09, and according to The Next Web, we might be seeing a similar gold rush for currently locked-up Twitter usernames coming soon.
Although Twitter didn’t specify a date, a spokesperson said they are planning to release usernames that are either inactive or have been deleted by their former “owners.” Right now, policy says that no updates for six months qualifies an account as inactive — but thus far those idle usernames have stayed dormant and unavailable.
Soon though, the sludge pile will be “recycled” and released back to the public. This could result in a virtual stampede as individuals clamor for some of the more coveted Twitter “real estate” now locked up in the dead pool, among them some short and catchy usernames that were claimed early and later abandoned.
Mashable keep thier keen Internet eyes peeled for any official word on when the race might kick off. Are there any inactive Twitter usernames you secretly (or not so secretly) plan to squat on?
Although Twitter didn’t specify a date, a spokesperson said they are planning to release usernames that are either inactive or have been deleted by their former “owners.” Right now, policy says that no updates for six months qualifies an account as inactive — but thus far those idle usernames have stayed dormant and unavailable.
Soon though, the sludge pile will be “recycled” and released back to the public. This could result in a virtual stampede as individuals clamor for some of the more coveted Twitter “real estate” now locked up in the dead pool, among them some short and catchy usernames that were claimed early and later abandoned.
Mashable keep thier keen Internet eyes peeled for any official word on when the race might kick off. Are there any inactive Twitter usernames you secretly (or not so secretly) plan to squat on?
Online Strategy Fuels Brown Surge
RealClearPolitics reports: Scott Brown is on the verge of one of the great political upsets in recent memory. And it may have started with a simple hashtag.
Well before many political watchers latched on to his candidacy, the campaign of the Republican state senator was cultivating an army of grassroots supporters online that helped fuel his insurgent effort. Brown has been able to leverage a simmering unease about the nation's direction - even in deeply blue Massachusetts - with the enthusiasm for his candidacy among national Republican activists thanks in part to a new force in electoral politics: Twitter.
On December 28, Brown announced what became the signature force behind his campaign, his pledge to be a 41st vote against President Obama's national health care reform legislation. Accompanying that news on his Twitter feed was this notation: #41stvote. Referred to as a hashtag, those nine characters became a mechanism to attract like-minded activists and identify new ones. Reflecting an enthusiasm gap not just in the state but among national politicos, Brown now boasts more than 11,000 Twitter followers, compared to barely 4,000 for Democrat Martha Coakley.
That following paid dividends last Monday when, aided by a strong Twitter campaign from Brown and dozens of his newest online advocates, the Republican smashed a fundraising goal of $500,000 for a one-day "money bomb," generating instead well beyond $1 million. That total from just 24 hours was well beyond what he had raised in the entire previous fundraising period. Where there had been skepticism before about what kind of impact Twitter could have, the Brown campaign is making a convincing case.
In 2008, the presidential candidates had Twitter accounts and made some use of them, "but the public really wasn't there yet," according to Bill Beutler, innovation manager for New Media Strategies, which advises clients on social media. There were signs of the impact Twitter could have during the gubernatorial and special elections for Congress in 2009, especially in the free-for-all in New York 23. But the midterm elections of 2010 will be the first major national campaign in which Twitter will be a factor, and campaigns and campaign committees have taken notice.
"When I started, everyone joked that I was the director of shiny objects," said John Randall, director of new media for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "This is not a shiny object. This is industry standard now. It's definitely something that I point out to all the campaigns."
Well before many political watchers latched on to his candidacy, the campaign of the Republican state senator was cultivating an army of grassroots supporters online that helped fuel his insurgent effort. Brown has been able to leverage a simmering unease about the nation's direction - even in deeply blue Massachusetts - with the enthusiasm for his candidacy among national Republican activists thanks in part to a new force in electoral politics: Twitter.
On December 28, Brown announced what became the signature force behind his campaign, his pledge to be a 41st vote against President Obama's national health care reform legislation. Accompanying that news on his Twitter feed was this notation: #41stvote. Referred to as a hashtag, those nine characters became a mechanism to attract like-minded activists and identify new ones. Reflecting an enthusiasm gap not just in the state but among national politicos, Brown now boasts more than 11,000 Twitter followers, compared to barely 4,000 for Democrat Martha Coakley.
That following paid dividends last Monday when, aided by a strong Twitter campaign from Brown and dozens of his newest online advocates, the Republican smashed a fundraising goal of $500,000 for a one-day "money bomb," generating instead well beyond $1 million. That total from just 24 hours was well beyond what he had raised in the entire previous fundraising period. Where there had been skepticism before about what kind of impact Twitter could have, the Brown campaign is making a convincing case.
In 2008, the presidential candidates had Twitter accounts and made some use of them, "but the public really wasn't there yet," according to Bill Beutler, innovation manager for New Media Strategies, which advises clients on social media. There were signs of the impact Twitter could have during the gubernatorial and special elections for Congress in 2009, especially in the free-for-all in New York 23. But the midterm elections of 2010 will be the first major national campaign in which Twitter will be a factor, and campaigns and campaign committees have taken notice.
"When I started, everyone joked that I was the director of shiny objects," said John Randall, director of new media for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "This is not a shiny object. This is industry standard now. It's definitely something that I point out to all the campaigns."
Monday, January 18, 2010
NYT Ready to Charge Online Readers
From MediaBistro:NYT Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. appears close to announcing that the paper will begin charging for access to its Web site. One personal friend of Sulzberger said a final decision could come within days, and a senior newsroom source agreed, adding that the plan could be announced in a matter of weeks. E&P/Fitz&Jen: "Making people pay for access will almost certainly scotch the NYTimes.com's position [as a top global news source]," writes Jen Saba. "AOL, NPR, CNN smell blood and will most certainly angle for those readers to come and read news for free." NYP reports Billionaire Carlos Slim seems to be using his financial might to help the New York Times stop dragging its feet on whether to start charging readers for online access.
5 tools to gauge your Twitter clout
CIO.com reports: A range of Web tools claims to measure your influence on social sites such as Twitter, using statistics such as your number of followers, tweets and re-tweets to measure the effect of your social presence. "Even if you're not into rankings, these tools deserve your attention -- your peers and potential future employers may use them to judge you," writes Kristin Burnham.
Click here for the article.
Click here for the article.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Mobile Trends 2020
A collaborative outlook on the mobile trends we can look for over the next 10 years.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Report: How to Foster Citizen Participation Through Small Donors and Volunteers
A joint project of the Campaign Finance Institute, American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution unveiled a new report that seeks to change the ongoing national dialogue about money in politics. The political world has been arguing about campaign finance policy for decades. A once-rich conversation has become a stale, two-sided battleground. The time has come to leap over this gulf and, as much as possible, move the disputes from the courts.
The 2008 elections showcased the power of the Internet to generate enthusiasm, mobilize volunteers and increase small-donor contributions. The digital revolution has altered the calculus of participation. Instead of further restricting the wealthy few, therefore, this new report presents detailed recommendations to help activate the many.
Full report can be downloaded - click here.
The 2008 elections showcased the power of the Internet to generate enthusiasm, mobilize volunteers and increase small-donor contributions. The digital revolution has altered the calculus of participation. Instead of further restricting the wealthy few, therefore, this new report presents detailed recommendations to help activate the many.
Full report can be downloaded - click here.
Morgan Stanley: The Mobile Internet Report
The Mobile Internet Report is largely in PowerPoint and is published on the web, expecting that bits and pieces of it will be cut / pasted / redistributed and debated / dismissed / lauded. MS's goal was to get out their thoughts and data into the conversation about what may be the biggest technology trend ever, one that may help make us all more informed in ways that are unique to the web circa 2009, and beyond.
MS presents their thoughts in three ways:
1) “The Mobile Internet Report Setup”– a 92-slide presentation that excerpts highlights of the key themes from the report (This presentation is also available in Simplified Chinese - 移动互联网研究报告摘要).
2) “The Mobile Internet Report Key Themes” – a 659-slide presentation that drills down on thoughts covered in “The Mobile Internet Report” (Note that the presentation is 40MB and may take some time to download).
3) “The Mobile Internet Report” – a 424 page report which explores 8 major themes in depth and includes the two aforementioned slide presentations + related overview text (Note that the report is 50MB and may take some time to download. If you prefer to download individual themes of the report, please click here. This report is also available in Simplified Chinese - 移动互联网研究报告.)
MS's key takeaways are:
Material wealth creation / destruction should surpass earlier computing cycles. The mobile Internet cycle, the 5th cycle in 50 years, is just starting. Winners in each cycle often create more market capitalization than in the last. New winners emerge, some incumbents survive – or thrive – while many past winners falter.
The mobile Internet is ramping faster than desktop Internet did, and we believe more users may connect to the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within 5 years.
Five IP-based products / services are growing / converging and providing the underpinnings for dramatic growth in mobile Internet usage – 3G adoption + social networking + video + VoIP + impressive mobile devices.
Apple + Facebook platforms serving to raise the bar for how users connect / communicate – their respective ramps in user and developer engagement may be unprecedented.
Decade-plus Internet usage / monetization ramps for mobile Internet in Japan plus desktop Internet in developed markets provide roadmaps for global ramp and monetization.
Massive mobile data growth is driving transitions for carriers and equipment providers.
Emerging markets have material potential for mobile Internet user growth. Low penetration of fixed-line telephone and already vibrant mobile value-added services mean that for many EM users and SMEs, the Internet will be mobile.
MS presents their thoughts in three ways:
1) “The Mobile Internet Report Setup”– a 92-slide presentation that excerpts highlights of the key themes from the report (This presentation is also available in Simplified Chinese - 移动互联网研究报告摘要).
2) “The Mobile Internet Report Key Themes” – a 659-slide presentation that drills down on thoughts covered in “The Mobile Internet Report” (Note that the presentation is 40MB and may take some time to download).
3) “The Mobile Internet Report” – a 424 page report which explores 8 major themes in depth and includes the two aforementioned slide presentations + related overview text (Note that the report is 50MB and may take some time to download. If you prefer to download individual themes of the report, please click here. This report is also available in Simplified Chinese - 移动互联网研究报告.)
MS's key takeaways are:
Material wealth creation / destruction should surpass earlier computing cycles. The mobile Internet cycle, the 5th cycle in 50 years, is just starting. Winners in each cycle often create more market capitalization than in the last. New winners emerge, some incumbents survive – or thrive – while many past winners falter.
The mobile Internet is ramping faster than desktop Internet did, and we believe more users may connect to the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within 5 years.
Five IP-based products / services are growing / converging and providing the underpinnings for dramatic growth in mobile Internet usage – 3G adoption + social networking + video + VoIP + impressive mobile devices.
Apple + Facebook platforms serving to raise the bar for how users connect / communicate – their respective ramps in user and developer engagement may be unprecedented.
Decade-plus Internet usage / monetization ramps for mobile Internet in Japan plus desktop Internet in developed markets provide roadmaps for global ramp and monetization.
Massive mobile data growth is driving transitions for carriers and equipment providers.
Emerging markets have material potential for mobile Internet user growth. Low penetration of fixed-line telephone and already vibrant mobile value-added services mean that for many EM users and SMEs, the Internet will be mobile.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Special Report: "Year One of Organizing for America: The Permanent Field Campaign in a Digital Age"
TechPresident's report on the first year of Organizing for America (OFA), drawing on new interviews with congressional staff in both parties, former Obama campaign staff, and 70 activists from the OFA grassroots. This report -- the most comprehensive review of OFA’s work to date -- is authored by The Nation’s Ari Melber, (www.arimelber.com) a longtime techPresident contributor who traveled with the Obama campaign in 2008. Barack Obama entered into office of President of the United States in January 2009 with an unprecedented base of digitally-networked supporters and volunteers. As we reach the one-year anniversary of OFA this weekend, this is an important time to have a detailed and open discussion of its work, and its future.
Report Year One of Organizing for America Melber
Report Year One of Organizing for America Melber
H-P, Microsoft Partner Against Rivals
WSJ reports: Hewlett-Packard Co. and Microsoft Corp. said they will invest $250 million in a partnership to more tightly couple their software and hardware products, as rivals Oracle Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and others remake themselves as one-stop shops for technology.
H-P and Microsoft said Wednesday the three-year agreement will involve an array of initiatives, all aimed at helping businesses reduce some of the headaches of setting up and operating data centers, the backrooms that house corporate software and computer equipment.
H-P and Microsoft said Wednesday the three-year agreement will involve an array of initiatives, all aimed at helping businesses reduce some of the headaches of setting up and operating data centers, the backrooms that house corporate software and computer equipment.
U.S. Holds Fire in Google-China Feud
WSJ reports: U.S. government officials and business leaders were supportive but wary of taking sides in Google's battle with China, a sign of the delicate tensions between the growing superpower and the West.
The White House said it would wait to comment until China responded to Google's threat to bolt from China, over censorship and alleged cyber spying. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke called Google's charge that it and dozens of companies were hacked "troubling" and encouraged China "to work with Google and other U.S. companies to ensure a climate for secure commercial operations in the Chinese market."
The White House said it would wait to comment until China responded to Google's threat to bolt from China, over censorship and alleged cyber spying. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke called Google's charge that it and dozens of companies were hacked "troubling" and encouraged China "to work with Google and other U.S. companies to ensure a climate for secure commercial operations in the Chinese market."
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Best Business Books 2009: Marketing
strategy + business 2009 reading list - click here to read more.
My Office
Currently riding Amtrak #125 from Philadelphia to Washington, DC and I have set up mobile internet connected, tweetdeck opened office in the cafe car using my AT&T AirCard = solid.
How Starbucks brews social-media success
TheNextWeb.com reports: With more than 700,000 Twitter followers and almost 5.5 million Facebook fans, Starbucks is clearly doing something right, notes Ayelet Noff. The brand's secret, Noff argues, is its blend of content, engagement and tools that allow customers to become a part of the coffee company's innovation and planning process. "Combined together, these elements create a social-media plan that works beautifully," Noff writes.
After quake, Haitians turn to Twitter
SmartBrief reports: Haitians are using Twitter and TwitPic to share photos of the devastation from a 7.0-magnitude earthquake near Port-au-Prince and to post appeals for assistance. Thousands of updates flooded Twitter and Facebook, as people turned to social tools for information about the disaster. "The Web has been moved by the plight of the Haitian people," writes Ben Parr. "Social media has quickly become the first place where millions react to large-scale catastrophes."
Google Threat to Exit Jolts China's Internet
WSJ reports: Google Inc.'s threat to walk away from China sent shockwaves through the country's fast-growing Internet industry Wednesday, with users, executives and analysts trying to gauge the potential fallout.
The U.S. search giant's announcement that it will stop censoring its Chinese search site, and may withdraw from the country altogether, triggered an outpouring of concern, and some anger, among Chinese Internet users. Students and others gathered at Google's offices in Beijing and Shanghai Wednesday with flowers in an emotional show of support for the company, which analysts say has an audience of more than 40 million loyal users in China.
"It's a tragedy if Google pulls out of China," said Xu Hao, a junior studying Japanese at Tongji University in Shanghai. Wu Zhiwei, a sophomore studying philosophy at Fudan University in Shanghai, said "a lot of people are very angry at government censorship," and also said he understands that it contradicts Google's philosophies on free-Internet use.
The U.S. search giant's announcement that it will stop censoring its Chinese search site, and may withdraw from the country altogether, triggered an outpouring of concern, and some anger, among Chinese Internet users. Students and others gathered at Google's offices in Beijing and Shanghai Wednesday with flowers in an emotional show of support for the company, which analysts say has an audience of more than 40 million loyal users in China.
"It's a tragedy if Google pulls out of China," said Xu Hao, a junior studying Japanese at Tongji University in Shanghai. Wu Zhiwei, a sophomore studying philosophy at Fudan University in Shanghai, said "a lot of people are very angry at government censorship," and also said he understands that it contradicts Google's philosophies on free-Internet use.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
"The bottom line is, when you enter your car, it should be as cool as your iPhone."
Marketing Daily reports: Ford is first off the blocks in 2010 with its clinching of both car and truck of the year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The company won top honors for its hybrid Fusion and Transit Connect wagon. This year, Ford launches two critical vehicles that articulate in sheet metal CEO Alan Mulally's "One Ford" strategy of developing global automobiles, rather than distinct cars and trucks for distinct markets.
On Monday, Ford did a live chat from Detroit with Jim Farley, group VP of marketing at the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker. He fielded questions about how the company will use social media and the company's One Ford plan, and of course, the vehicles. He said the key to Ford's One Ford idea is, at its simplest, one car across the world.
In regard to Ford's focus on in-car technology for music, entertainment, communications and information: "The bottom line is, when you enter your car, it should be as cool as your iPhone." He said Ford's in-vehicle telematics and communications platform, Sync, should also host applications like iPhone. "My point of view is that we create an open platform like iPhone and let the applications flow based on Sync. This seems odd, since you would think we want dollars, but we want the Sync community to grow and these applications are more creative than we can create."
He also said Ford's social media strategy is global. "We are working regionally to assess the best places to be and investing in those places. Honestly, the Fiesta Movement idea came from a social media site in China."
Farley said Ford's moving 25% of its traditional media budget to interactive reflects a move toward credibility. "Giving 100 Fiestas out meant some would crash it and others would get in trouble. We need to have enough creative horsepower to come up with unique ideas that viewers will find fun," he said. "The advantages are credibility and efficiency."
Per Farley, 60% of Gen Y consumers are aware of Fiesta now, but that awareness had not been the goal. "We did it to learn and have a small group who were passionate spread the word. We had no idea that awareness would grow that fast."
This year in the U.S., Ford launches the Fiesta subcompact and its first global-platform car, Focus. Scott Monty, global communications chief for Ford, tells Marketing Daily that the company is using different approaches to market the two vehicles.
He says the divergent approaches reflect the fact that while Fiesta was pretty much terra incognita to Americans (although extant as a European model), Focus -- a nameplate that has been around since 1998 -- is widely known here, but unavailable even as a preview model the way Fiesta is. Ford was able to get Euro versions of Fiesta to Americans way before launch -- thus the Fiesta Movement program -- while the Focus launch will be more traditional.
Efforts for the former include a second iteration of "Fiesta Movement," in which Ford will loan a group of influencers the car for several months, while they do assignments. In the first iteration last year, so-called "Fiesta Agents" blogged about their experiences. Monty says that while that chapter focused more on the people borrowing the cars, the second iteration will be all about the cars.
"The 20 teams of two are going to be creative teams marketing Fiesta at a local level," he says. "They are people who will understand their markets best, so we will let them do more coverage about the vehicle itself this time around," he says. Per Monty, Ford has 4,000 pre-purchase reservations for Fiesta and is getting about 1,000 new ones per week. "We hadn't set any expectations, but we are pleasantly surprised."
As for Focus, Monty says there will be a lot of Web and social media activity between April and October. "Both cars appeal to a wide demographic, but the Fiesta was designed for the small-car consumer who wants all the bells and whistles of a high-end car and still wants a small feel.
"With Focus, there's more of that but with a broader audience because that vehicle segment will occupy 25% of the auto sector. The Focus has already had a lot of enthusiasts, and we will want to tap into that and be highly engaged with them."
On Monday, Ford did a live chat from Detroit with Jim Farley, group VP of marketing at the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker. He fielded questions about how the company will use social media and the company's One Ford plan, and of course, the vehicles. He said the key to Ford's One Ford idea is, at its simplest, one car across the world.
In regard to Ford's focus on in-car technology for music, entertainment, communications and information: "The bottom line is, when you enter your car, it should be as cool as your iPhone." He said Ford's in-vehicle telematics and communications platform, Sync, should also host applications like iPhone. "My point of view is that we create an open platform like iPhone and let the applications flow based on Sync. This seems odd, since you would think we want dollars, but we want the Sync community to grow and these applications are more creative than we can create."
He also said Ford's social media strategy is global. "We are working regionally to assess the best places to be and investing in those places. Honestly, the Fiesta Movement idea came from a social media site in China."
Farley said Ford's moving 25% of its traditional media budget to interactive reflects a move toward credibility. "Giving 100 Fiestas out meant some would crash it and others would get in trouble. We need to have enough creative horsepower to come up with unique ideas that viewers will find fun," he said. "The advantages are credibility and efficiency."
Per Farley, 60% of Gen Y consumers are aware of Fiesta now, but that awareness had not been the goal. "We did it to learn and have a small group who were passionate spread the word. We had no idea that awareness would grow that fast."
This year in the U.S., Ford launches the Fiesta subcompact and its first global-platform car, Focus. Scott Monty, global communications chief for Ford, tells Marketing Daily that the company is using different approaches to market the two vehicles.
He says the divergent approaches reflect the fact that while Fiesta was pretty much terra incognita to Americans (although extant as a European model), Focus -- a nameplate that has been around since 1998 -- is widely known here, but unavailable even as a preview model the way Fiesta is. Ford was able to get Euro versions of Fiesta to Americans way before launch -- thus the Fiesta Movement program -- while the Focus launch will be more traditional.
Efforts for the former include a second iteration of "Fiesta Movement," in which Ford will loan a group of influencers the car for several months, while they do assignments. In the first iteration last year, so-called "Fiesta Agents" blogged about their experiences. Monty says that while that chapter focused more on the people borrowing the cars, the second iteration will be all about the cars.
"The 20 teams of two are going to be creative teams marketing Fiesta at a local level," he says. "They are people who will understand their markets best, so we will let them do more coverage about the vehicle itself this time around," he says. Per Monty, Ford has 4,000 pre-purchase reservations for Fiesta and is getting about 1,000 new ones per week. "We hadn't set any expectations, but we are pleasantly surprised."
As for Focus, Monty says there will be a lot of Web and social media activity between April and October. "Both cars appeal to a wide demographic, but the Fiesta was designed for the small-car consumer who wants all the bells and whistles of a high-end car and still wants a small feel.
"With Focus, there's more of that but with a broader audience because that vehicle segment will occupy 25% of the auto sector. The Focus has already had a lot of enthusiasts, and we will want to tap into that and be highly engaged with them."
Texting: It's Not Just For Children Anymore
MediaOnline reports: The stereotypes of the teenager whose thumbs are surgically attached to his or her mobile device and the older parent who sees the same as a phone without wires are, like most stereotypes, not entirely inaccurate -- but also not very reliable either.
According to new research by mobile messaging company Tekelec, 60% of those over 45 were found to be just as likely to use SMS as they were to make voice calls from their mobile device. The survey of 500 people in North America and Europe also found that text messaging is gaining on email as the preferred means of daily international communication, with 32% of responses across all ages preferring SMS, compared to 33% for email. And nearly a third of respondents said their use of SMS would increase in 2010.
In addition, more than 80 percent of respondents across all age groups thought they would get a quicker response from a text than from an email or voice message. Women preferred to let their fingers do the talking, with 40% describing themselves as 'mainly texter,' compared to 30% of men.
One more difference between the sexes: women were more likely to engage in TV voting via text, with 25% versus just 14% of men engaging in such behavior.
But those under 35 were the most likely age group to vote via text, with 16% of them saying they do so, followed by 9% of 35- to-44-year-olds, and 7% of those 45 and older. However, 35- to-44-year-olds are the largest consumers of news and sports by text, at 18% compared to 17% for those under 35, and only 8% for those over 45
According to new research by mobile messaging company Tekelec, 60% of those over 45 were found to be just as likely to use SMS as they were to make voice calls from their mobile device. The survey of 500 people in North America and Europe also found that text messaging is gaining on email as the preferred means of daily international communication, with 32% of responses across all ages preferring SMS, compared to 33% for email. And nearly a third of respondents said their use of SMS would increase in 2010.
In addition, more than 80 percent of respondents across all age groups thought they would get a quicker response from a text than from an email or voice message. Women preferred to let their fingers do the talking, with 40% describing themselves as 'mainly texter,' compared to 30% of men.
One more difference between the sexes: women were more likely to engage in TV voting via text, with 25% versus just 14% of men engaging in such behavior.
But those under 35 were the most likely age group to vote via text, with 16% of them saying they do so, followed by 9% of 35- to-44-year-olds, and 7% of those 45 and older. However, 35- to-44-year-olds are the largest consumers of news and sports by text, at 18% compared to 17% for those under 35, and only 8% for those over 45
Monday, January 11, 2010
Brown plans election strategy
UKPA reports: Gordon Brown is meeting senior ministers to discuss political strategy in the run-up to the forthcoming general election.
The Prime Minister will chair a special political session of the Cabinet - with no officials present - following their regular weekly meeting at Number 10.
He began to set out their approach at Monday night's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) at Westminster, promising that the "hard-won economic recovery" would provide a platform for victory.
Mr Brown also sought to address concerns over his leadership style in the wake of last week's failed coup attempt, promising a more collegiate approach after some ministers complained they were being frozen out.
"I am not a team of one, I am one of a team," he told the meeting, according to aides who were present.
The Prime Minister will chair a special political session of the Cabinet - with no officials present - following their regular weekly meeting at Number 10.
He began to set out their approach at Monday night's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) at Westminster, promising that the "hard-won economic recovery" would provide a platform for victory.
Mr Brown also sought to address concerns over his leadership style in the wake of last week's failed coup attempt, promising a more collegiate approach after some ministers complained they were being frozen out.
"I am not a team of one, I am one of a team," he told the meeting, according to aides who were present.
Firms Hold Fast to Snail Mail Marketing
WSJ reports: Looking to cut costs amid the recession, Alicia Settle initially thought it would be a good idea to eliminate her company's annual direct mailing.
Spending about $20,000 on the personally signed letters, which offered customers a discount on early orders, seemed indulgent for Per Annum Inc., which sells city diaries, albums, and planners in the struggling corporate gift market. But after swapping snail mail for email last year, Ms. Settle saw a 25% drop in early orders compared with the same period the previous year.
"We realized we had made a huge mistake," says Ms. Settle, president of the New York firm.
The affordability of e-marketing, along with the explosion of social media and the desire to trim costs in the recession, has prompted many small companies like Per Annum to slash traditional direct-mail budgets. U.S. consumers received about 5.2 billion pieces of direct mail in the third quarter of 2009, a 27% decline compared with 7.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Mintel Comperemedia, a research firm that tracks direct-mail marketing.
However, some entrepreneurs who were quick to write off direct mail as too pricey or passé are finding it's not so easy to dismiss.
Ms. Settle says that at first she blamed the economy for the dropoff, until she "started hearing from customers that they never got their 'reminder' in the mail." Ms. Settle quickly sent a postcard mailing in June, which recouped the 25% loss, she says.
Spending about $20,000 on the personally signed letters, which offered customers a discount on early orders, seemed indulgent for Per Annum Inc., which sells city diaries, albums, and planners in the struggling corporate gift market. But after swapping snail mail for email last year, Ms. Settle saw a 25% drop in early orders compared with the same period the previous year.
"We realized we had made a huge mistake," says Ms. Settle, president of the New York firm.
The affordability of e-marketing, along with the explosion of social media and the desire to trim costs in the recession, has prompted many small companies like Per Annum to slash traditional direct-mail budgets. U.S. consumers received about 5.2 billion pieces of direct mail in the third quarter of 2009, a 27% decline compared with 7.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Mintel Comperemedia, a research firm that tracks direct-mail marketing.
However, some entrepreneurs who were quick to write off direct mail as too pricey or passé are finding it's not so easy to dismiss.
Ms. Settle says that at first she blamed the economy for the dropoff, until she "started hearing from customers that they never got their 'reminder' in the mail." Ms. Settle quickly sent a postcard mailing in June, which recouped the 25% loss, she says.
Audi Boosts Social Media in 2010 Advertising Campaign
MotorTrend reports:
Audi takes its marketing very seriously. From big-budget Super Bowl commercials to innovative national billboards, the four-ring brand spends quite a bit of dough on making sure people know what it is and what it does. For 2010, as Automotive News reports, the automaker is stepping up the social media aspect of its multi-million dollar marketing budget and will promote more of that program in its TV ventures.
Chief marketing officer Scott Keogh mentioned today that his team will select a social media agency by month's end. Audi will continue its high profile Super Bowl ads and will include next month's Winter Olympics, March Madness, and this summer's World Cup soccer in the TV ad scheme. It'll also sponsor one quarter of each NFL Sunday night football game.
"The 2010 strategy is the same one we started in 2008," said Keogh. "The whole machine is working."
Read more: http://wot.motortrend.com/6610331/marketing/audi-boosts-social-media-in-2010-advertising-campaign/index.html#ixzz0cMpejvWp
Audi takes its marketing very seriously. From big-budget Super Bowl commercials to innovative national billboards, the four-ring brand spends quite a bit of dough on making sure people know what it is and what it does. For 2010, as Automotive News reports, the automaker is stepping up the social media aspect of its multi-million dollar marketing budget and will promote more of that program in its TV ventures.
Chief marketing officer Scott Keogh mentioned today that his team will select a social media agency by month's end. Audi will continue its high profile Super Bowl ads and will include next month's Winter Olympics, March Madness, and this summer's World Cup soccer in the TV ad scheme. It'll also sponsor one quarter of each NFL Sunday night football game.
"The 2010 strategy is the same one we started in 2008," said Keogh. "The whole machine is working."
Read more: http://wot.motortrend.com/6610331/marketing/audi-boosts-social-media-in-2010-advertising-campaign/index.html#ixzz0cMpejvWp
New Web Daily
I have launched a new blog (www.newwebdaily.com) and email called New Web Daily in which websites will be explained and revealed daily. It is designed to be an easy and quick overview of fun, compelling and useful websites updated daily.
I hope you enjoy this new service and blog – and feel free to send in website suggestions.
Thanks – Marc
PS – You can find New Web Daily on Twitter at @newwebdaily
I hope you enjoy this new service and blog – and feel free to send in website suggestions.
Thanks – Marc
PS – You can find New Web Daily on Twitter at @newwebdaily
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tweetdeck Infiltrates the News Room
Mashable reports: Sky News — a 24-hour UK news site owned by News Corp. — is changing up their entire newsroom to focus more on Twitter.
The organization is installing Tweetdeck on staff computers to stimulate news gathering via social media, according to reports from a UK blog.
The Tweetdeck rollout to staff is scheduled to be completed within the month. While journalists using Twitter is pretty commonplace, an organization-wide rollout is significant. The decision signals a change in ideology around conventional news gathering, and points to the need for journalists to use Twitter to keep pace with the flow of news.
Julian March, executive producer of Sky News Online, made the following statement to Journalism.co.um on the Tweetdeck rollout:
“The big change for us in 2010 is evolving how social media plays a role in our journalism. We no longer ghettoise it to one person, but are in the process of embedding throughout the whole team.”
For those of you who work in more traditional work environments, you can appreciate the significance of software installs on company machines, typically regulated to lock down or limit employee downloads. The vetting of Tweetdeck as an application worthy of a serious news organization is one that should not be overlooked.
The organization is installing Tweetdeck on staff computers to stimulate news gathering via social media, according to reports from a UK blog.
The Tweetdeck rollout to staff is scheduled to be completed within the month. While journalists using Twitter is pretty commonplace, an organization-wide rollout is significant. The decision signals a change in ideology around conventional news gathering, and points to the need for journalists to use Twitter to keep pace with the flow of news.
Julian March, executive producer of Sky News Online, made the following statement to Journalism.co.um on the Tweetdeck rollout:
“The big change for us in 2010 is evolving how social media plays a role in our journalism. We no longer ghettoise it to one person, but are in the process of embedding throughout the whole team.”
For those of you who work in more traditional work environments, you can appreciate the significance of software installs on company machines, typically regulated to lock down or limit employee downloads. The vetting of Tweetdeck as an application worthy of a serious news organization is one that should not be overlooked.
Social media marketing explained in 61 words
Insights from David Meerman Scott (@dmscott):
You can buy attention (advertising)
You can beg for attention from the media (PR)
You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales)
Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free: a YouTube video, a blog, a research report, photos, a Twitter stream, an ebook, a Facebook page.
You can buy attention (advertising)
You can beg for attention from the media (PR)
You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales)
Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free: a YouTube video, a blog, a research report, photos, a Twitter stream, an ebook, a Facebook page.
Microsoft anticipates 'biggest year ever' for the Xbox
LVS reports: Xbox users will soon be able to abandon their controllers and manipulate games with natural body movements, thanks to one of Microsoft's new products for 2010, the company announced on eve of the Consumer Electronics Show. Microsoft's heavily-anticipated Project Natal will go on sale for Christmas, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment devices division said on Wednesday. Natal is an add-on to Xbox 360 that works with a motion sensor, allowing gamers to control the action with their natural body movements.
Saw a demo of this product on CNBC this morning - amazing action, response and no controls needed. Also during the segment,not only did Bach say this would be a great year for Xbox, he said it would be the "greatest" year for the product.
Could Xbox and Natal by the five year game changer?
Saw a demo of this product on CNBC this morning - amazing action, response and no controls needed. Also during the segment,not only did Bach say this would be a great year for Xbox, he said it would be the "greatest" year for the product.
Could Xbox and Natal by the five year game changer?
David Pogue on cool phone tricks
In this engaging talk from the EG'08 conference, New York Times tech columnist David Pogue rounds up some handy cell phone tools and services that can boost your productivity and lower your bills.
Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce
Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
LA Times Enters Local News Web Venture
LAT reports: The Los Angeles Times Media Group and U.S. Local News Network are forming a joint venture that will include launching two news Web sites serving Orange County. The companies will share content and advertising sales across the sites theocnow.com and oclnn.com.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell Gets Most TV Time
AP reports: NBC's Andrea Mitchell logged more television face time than any other evening news reporter during the past decade. Consultant Andrew Tyndall calculates that Mitchell was on NBC's "Nightly News" for 2,416 minutes from 2000 to 2009. NBC had the most heavily used reporters.
Microsoft to Unveil Its Own Tablet Device
NYT reports: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to announce a multimedia tablet computer on Wednesday to be made by Hewlett-Packard, just as hype about a rumored similar device from rival Apple peaks. Microsoft's as-yet-unnamed e-reader could be available by mid-year.
Internet Poised to Become Retail Force
Chicago Tribune reports: Frugal shoppers are turning to the Internet in droves to compare prices, hunt for bargains, download coupons and seek advice from fellow consumers. Says a former Sears exec: "There's no question the Internet has gone from being a curious sidebar to a main event."
Kia Motors + Microsoft unveil voice-powered infotainment system
System will be the first in-vehicle solution to integrate intelligent speech engine technology called UVO.
UVO, which stands for "your voice," provides consumer friendly voice- and touch-activated controls for music files and hands-free mobile phone operation.
UVO was co-developed with Microsoft and is based on Windows Embedded Auto software. It will allow drivers and passengers to answer and place phone calls, receive and respond to SMS text messages, access music from a variety of media sources and create custom music experiences all hands-free.
UVO, which stands for "your voice," provides consumer friendly voice- and touch-activated controls for music files and hands-free mobile phone operation.
UVO was co-developed with Microsoft and is based on Windows Embedded Auto software. It will allow drivers and passengers to answer and place phone calls, receive and respond to SMS text messages, access music from a variety of media sources and create custom music experiences all hands-free.
Pandora Bringing Web Radio to Cars
Pandora has struck a deal with Pioneer that promises to make it easier for drivers to listen to Internet radio service in cars.
Road Trip 2010!
Road Trip 2010!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
reBlog from socialmediatoday.com: 10 Ways to Get Serious About Social Media
I found this fascinating quote today:
Here’s 10 ways to get serious about social media this year. There are plenty more, too. Add yours in the comments.socialmediatoday.com, 10 Ways to Get Serious About Social Media, Jan 2010
You should read the whole article.
The 2010 Social Media Marketing Ecosystem
Forrester Research analyst Sean Corcoran recently posted an insightful breakdown of some of the differences between owned media, paid media and earned media. Click here to view some compelling graphs, charts and outlines.
World Cup Soccer in 3D
USAT reports:ESPN is going 3D. The venerable sports network will launch ESPN 3D on June 11 with a World Cup soccer match, creating what it says will be the first all three-dimensional television network to the home. ESPN 3D expects to showcase at least 85 live sporting events during the first year.
At Consumer Electronics Show, 3-D TV will take center stage
LAT reports: Other trends expected to dominate the show, which runs Thursday through Sunday in Las Vegas, are TVs that connect to the Internet and mobile digital TV.
Grab the popcorn and 3-D glasses and get ready for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the trade event that got its start as a gadget-fest but has emerged as an important showcase for new entertainment technology.
In years past, the show has been the glitzy platform from which manufacturers launched such products as high-definition television, the digital video recorder, the compact disc player and the camcorder. This year will be no different.
On display Thursday through Sunday will be four technology trends that promise to shape how people get their entertainment. This year manufacturers will seek to capitalize on Hollywood's current mania for 3-D films -- and the recent box-office success of James Cameron's fantasy adventure "Avatar" -- by unveiling televisions that bring 3-D into the living room. Another trend is TVs that connect to the Internet. And as more consumers expect to be entertained wherever they happen to be, TV broadcasters are hanging their hopes on a third technology at CES -- mobile digital TV.
Finally, manufacturers will show a gaggle of portable gadgets to deliver all manner of entertainment, including books, videos and music.
Still, on the show floor 3-D will occupy center stage.
The groundwork has already been laid for bringing three-dimensional images into the home. The Blu-ray Disc Assn., a group of consumer electronics, computer and entertainment companies, last month agreed on a single standard for recording and playing back 3-D movies on Blu-ray discs. Televisions capable of displaying the images are expected to be introduced at the show.
Hollywood executives welcome the development, contending that audiences are embracing the reincarnation of the 1950s technology -- delivered this time without the cheesy cardboard glasses.
"The consumer electronics companies are seeing that this is a great opportunity to create a higher-quality in-home viewing experience. The technology is here, and there's a very big surge in content coming," said DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, a self-appointed evangelist for 3-D.
"You can feel this amazing surge that has been picking up steam all year," he said. "And with the arrival of 'Avatar,' it's pushed it to a frenzy level."
Many in the entertainment industry believe it could take years for 3-D television to catch on. After all, it's taken more than a decade since the introduction of high-definition television in the late 1990s for the sets to reach a majority of American homes.
Even now, one-third of HDTV owners -- or about 14 million -- aren't watching high-definition programming, according to a study done by media research firm Frank N. Magid Associates Inc. By that measure, it could take years for 3-D television sets to become cheap enough -- and for content to become plentiful enough -- for the technology to reach the mainstream.
"In my own mind, there are a lot of other innovations for the consumer to chug through way before 3-D," said Mike Vorhaus, Magid's managing director of new media.
Internet-connected televisions, another major trend on display at CES, may well be on a faster adoption path.
Last year a handful of companies debuted TVs that used Yahoo Inc.'s "widgets" to deliver an array of popular sites, including EBay, Flickr and Twitter, to the set. This year, nearly every TV manufacturer will have an Internet connection in its lineup, along with a slew of deals with Netflix, Facebook and Google.
Such connectivity is key to enabling entertainment to flow from the home computer or laptop to the TV.
Entertainment companies such as Walt Disney Co. are pushing technologies that would enable consumers to pay once for a movie or television show but watch it on multiple devices.
"Seemingly every device now is Internet-connected. I really see it as almost like the plasma that flows through the devices, from one to another," said Bob Chapek, president of distribution for Walt Disney Studios. "Any device that's not connected is at risk of becoming obsolete."
A similar initiative, dubbed Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, seeks to create a single "digital locker" that holds the movies and videos purchased by a consumer and enables them to be played on multiple gadgets. As with the Disney concept, the idea is to give consumers more flexibility in how they watch content, whether it's on a smart phone or a big-screen TV, said DECE President Mitch Singer.
Increasingly, people are turning to portable devices to watch movies, TV shows and short videos. To capture this segment, hundreds of broadcasters are pinning their hopes on mobile digital TV. The technology lets viewers watch from a laptop or a portable device such as a smart phone or portable DVD player.
"We need to follow our consumers," said Brandon Burgess, CEO of Ion Media Networks Inc., which owns 59 broadcast TV stations. "There are only 160 million living rooms in the U.S. but hundreds of millions of devices. The trends are clear that mobile devices are where consumers will be getting video. We want to be there."
Chances are, there will be even more mobile gadgets out when TV stations start rolling out their mobile DTV broadcasts this year. Dozens of manufacturers will be trotting out devices with screens measuring 5 to 8 inches -- smaller than a laptop but larger than a smart phone. One device, the LG Mobile Digital Television, features a 7-inch-wide screen and built-in DVD player. Others will emphasize the ability to read digital books, such as Plastic Logic's wireless Que ProReader, which features a screen the size of a sheet of notebook paper.
Whether they will flourish remains to be seen. Aside from e-book readers such as Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, consumers have tended to shy away from devices with small screens.
"There's a reason why we call that range a dead zone," said Van Baker, a consumer electronics analyst with technology research firm Gartner. "Any product that comes out in that size either migrates up to accommodate a keyboard or shrinks down to something you can throw in your pocket. Anything in the middle doesn't seem to work."
Grab the popcorn and 3-D glasses and get ready for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the trade event that got its start as a gadget-fest but has emerged as an important showcase for new entertainment technology.
In years past, the show has been the glitzy platform from which manufacturers launched such products as high-definition television, the digital video recorder, the compact disc player and the camcorder. This year will be no different.
On display Thursday through Sunday will be four technology trends that promise to shape how people get their entertainment. This year manufacturers will seek to capitalize on Hollywood's current mania for 3-D films -- and the recent box-office success of James Cameron's fantasy adventure "Avatar" -- by unveiling televisions that bring 3-D into the living room. Another trend is TVs that connect to the Internet. And as more consumers expect to be entertained wherever they happen to be, TV broadcasters are hanging their hopes on a third technology at CES -- mobile digital TV.
Finally, manufacturers will show a gaggle of portable gadgets to deliver all manner of entertainment, including books, videos and music.
Still, on the show floor 3-D will occupy center stage.
The groundwork has already been laid for bringing three-dimensional images into the home. The Blu-ray Disc Assn., a group of consumer electronics, computer and entertainment companies, last month agreed on a single standard for recording and playing back 3-D movies on Blu-ray discs. Televisions capable of displaying the images are expected to be introduced at the show.
Hollywood executives welcome the development, contending that audiences are embracing the reincarnation of the 1950s technology -- delivered this time without the cheesy cardboard glasses.
"The consumer electronics companies are seeing that this is a great opportunity to create a higher-quality in-home viewing experience. The technology is here, and there's a very big surge in content coming," said DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, a self-appointed evangelist for 3-D.
"You can feel this amazing surge that has been picking up steam all year," he said. "And with the arrival of 'Avatar,' it's pushed it to a frenzy level."
Many in the entertainment industry believe it could take years for 3-D television to catch on. After all, it's taken more than a decade since the introduction of high-definition television in the late 1990s for the sets to reach a majority of American homes.
Even now, one-third of HDTV owners -- or about 14 million -- aren't watching high-definition programming, according to a study done by media research firm Frank N. Magid Associates Inc. By that measure, it could take years for 3-D television sets to become cheap enough -- and for content to become plentiful enough -- for the technology to reach the mainstream.
"In my own mind, there are a lot of other innovations for the consumer to chug through way before 3-D," said Mike Vorhaus, Magid's managing director of new media.
Internet-connected televisions, another major trend on display at CES, may well be on a faster adoption path.
Last year a handful of companies debuted TVs that used Yahoo Inc.'s "widgets" to deliver an array of popular sites, including EBay, Flickr and Twitter, to the set. This year, nearly every TV manufacturer will have an Internet connection in its lineup, along with a slew of deals with Netflix, Facebook and Google.
Such connectivity is key to enabling entertainment to flow from the home computer or laptop to the TV.
Entertainment companies such as Walt Disney Co. are pushing technologies that would enable consumers to pay once for a movie or television show but watch it on multiple devices.
"Seemingly every device now is Internet-connected. I really see it as almost like the plasma that flows through the devices, from one to another," said Bob Chapek, president of distribution for Walt Disney Studios. "Any device that's not connected is at risk of becoming obsolete."
A similar initiative, dubbed Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, seeks to create a single "digital locker" that holds the movies and videos purchased by a consumer and enables them to be played on multiple gadgets. As with the Disney concept, the idea is to give consumers more flexibility in how they watch content, whether it's on a smart phone or a big-screen TV, said DECE President Mitch Singer.
Increasingly, people are turning to portable devices to watch movies, TV shows and short videos. To capture this segment, hundreds of broadcasters are pinning their hopes on mobile digital TV. The technology lets viewers watch from a laptop or a portable device such as a smart phone or portable DVD player.
"We need to follow our consumers," said Brandon Burgess, CEO of Ion Media Networks Inc., which owns 59 broadcast TV stations. "There are only 160 million living rooms in the U.S. but hundreds of millions of devices. The trends are clear that mobile devices are where consumers will be getting video. We want to be there."
Chances are, there will be even more mobile gadgets out when TV stations start rolling out their mobile DTV broadcasts this year. Dozens of manufacturers will be trotting out devices with screens measuring 5 to 8 inches -- smaller than a laptop but larger than a smart phone. One device, the LG Mobile Digital Television, features a 7-inch-wide screen and built-in DVD player. Others will emphasize the ability to read digital books, such as Plastic Logic's wireless Que ProReader, which features a screen the size of a sheet of notebook paper.
Whether they will flourish remains to be seen. Aside from e-book readers such as Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, consumers have tended to shy away from devices with small screens.
"There's a reason why we call that range a dead zone," said Van Baker, a consumer electronics analyst with technology research firm Gartner. "Any product that comes out in that size either migrates up to accommodate a keyboard or shrinks down to something you can throw in your pocket. Anything in the middle doesn't seem to work."
One on One: Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Square
NYT Bits: Nick Bilton of The New York Times speaks with Jack Dorsey at Third Rail Coffee in New York.
I recently sat down for coffee with Jack Dorsey to discuss Twitter, the location-based service Foursquare and his latest venture Square, an on-the-go credit card payment platform. Mr. Dorsey is the co-founder and chairman of Twitter, an angel investor in Foursquare and chief executive of Square.
Before I began my interview with Mr. Dorsey, he showed me how Square worked and in the process managed to derive $3.33 from me, through my credit card, for a demo of the service. (It didn’t take much arm-twisting.) The process was extremely impressive, simple and fast. Swiping my credit card on Mr. Dorsey’s iPhone, signing the screen and receiving an e-mail message in my inbox all took about 10 seconds. Here is an edited version of our chat:
Nick Bilton: How much money have you made from these demos so far?
Jack Dorsey: A little over $600.
What’s the goal with the Square devices and where do you see them being used?
The goal is to build another utility like Twitter that will scale to any kind of usage. Anywhere from coffee shops or clothing retail stores, to someone selling their couch on Craigslist, or getting paid back from a friend.
Mr. Dorsey using Square to charge $3.33 to my credit card.I’ve wondered about the security aspect of these transactions. You’re asking someone to swipe their credit card on a stranger’s phone.
No card or private information, including your e-mail and signature, is ever stored on the phone. As soon as that swipe happens, it’s encrypted with our keys, sent up to our servers and forgotten, so it’s never stored on the actual device. We’re also going to create experiences that you can always expect around Square, like an instant SMS or e-mail receipt, and being able to see a photo of your face when you swipe the card.
You just charged me $3.33 from your iPhone. What other platforms do you hope to launch it with?
The thing that’s great about the little Square is I can plug it into anything. I can plug it into my Android phone, my BlackBerry or my desktop.
You can plug Square into your desktop?
Yes. We’re going to build everything. I can plug the Square into my Mac and I will be able to use it with any Web page environment.
So how much will the hardware cost?
We’re going to be giving the Squares away free on our Web site. Some stores will sell them, but mostly we’ll be giving them away.
Is the device going to be open source?
It’s not open source yet, but it is something that we would like to do eventually. The hardware is fairly simple, the software is extremely complex.
Do you hope to distribute these in developing countries too?
One of the most successful mobile payment continents in the world has been Africa. People there pay over SMS through a major mobile banking initiative. That could never happen here in the U.S. as the infrastructure and culture are just not ready for it.
So how to do you hope to change that in the U.S.?
We realized that 90 percent of Americans use these plastic cards; they use them for everything as payment cards for debit and credit. Paying with them is easy, but receiving from them is very difficult. So we said what if we just turn on the other side?
Let’s talk about another small project you started: Twitter. Where do you see it going over the next year?
Right now we’ve created a really easy way to get the information into Twitter. I think the next big challenge is helping get the information out in a relevant way. Also exposing trends that are relevant to locations, topics and networks. I think the focus within the company will be around filtering: how do we create smart filters, like a smart playlist?
When you first started Twitter the concept was about sharing what you are doing. Over the past year we’ve seen more users share links. What does this mean for the service?
It really speaks to the situation. In situations like Iran there’s not as many links, there’s more eyewitness accounts from the street. The idea of Twitter started with me working in dispatch since I was 15 years old, where taxi cabs or firetrucks would broadcast where they were and what they were doing. That to me was the usage. I think when you’re at a computer or in an environment where you’re immersed in reading it becomes much easier to share links and information that way. But sharing links on the go is not something I would do. So it really depends on where the person is in their life.
From some of the downtime you’ve seen on Twitter what do you think some of the big engineering difficulties have been?
Early on our biggest problem was that we didn’t have any gauges into the system and we didn’t have metrics, so we were kind of flying blind. The way we got around it was to instrument the entire system so we could see what was going on. We’re still seeing these flash points that are not predictable.
You invested this year in Foursquare, where do you see these location-based services heading?
I love them. I said a long time ago that Foursquare can make cities better. You have these augmented realities like Foursquare and Twitter and Facebook that provide these virtual nodes and instant feedback from anywhere, adding annotation around a physical places.
If I check into Foursquare, it updates my Twitter feed, but are these experiences different, or do they just feed into each other?
They feed into each other. It’s a matter of invitations versus context. Twitter is really good at providing context, like I’m having coffee at Third Rail Coffee. Foursquare is about invitations to places. In this respect Foursquare has started to replace Yelp for me.
What do you expect from technology companies in 2010?
Hopefully a lot more start-ups in New York City. I think the start-ups here are building a really great foundation.
In terms of technology, we’re going to see a better and more immediate experience around the everyday things we do in life. For example, health care. I expect we’ll see a lot more innovation around health care after the latest initiative goes through Washington.
I recently sat down for coffee with Jack Dorsey to discuss Twitter, the location-based service Foursquare and his latest venture Square, an on-the-go credit card payment platform. Mr. Dorsey is the co-founder and chairman of Twitter, an angel investor in Foursquare and chief executive of Square.
Before I began my interview with Mr. Dorsey, he showed me how Square worked and in the process managed to derive $3.33 from me, through my credit card, for a demo of the service. (It didn’t take much arm-twisting.) The process was extremely impressive, simple and fast. Swiping my credit card on Mr. Dorsey’s iPhone, signing the screen and receiving an e-mail message in my inbox all took about 10 seconds. Here is an edited version of our chat:
Nick Bilton: How much money have you made from these demos so far?
Jack Dorsey: A little over $600.
What’s the goal with the Square devices and where do you see them being used?
The goal is to build another utility like Twitter that will scale to any kind of usage. Anywhere from coffee shops or clothing retail stores, to someone selling their couch on Craigslist, or getting paid back from a friend.
Mr. Dorsey using Square to charge $3.33 to my credit card.I’ve wondered about the security aspect of these transactions. You’re asking someone to swipe their credit card on a stranger’s phone.
No card or private information, including your e-mail and signature, is ever stored on the phone. As soon as that swipe happens, it’s encrypted with our keys, sent up to our servers and forgotten, so it’s never stored on the actual device. We’re also going to create experiences that you can always expect around Square, like an instant SMS or e-mail receipt, and being able to see a photo of your face when you swipe the card.
You just charged me $3.33 from your iPhone. What other platforms do you hope to launch it with?
The thing that’s great about the little Square is I can plug it into anything. I can plug it into my Android phone, my BlackBerry or my desktop.
You can plug Square into your desktop?
Yes. We’re going to build everything. I can plug the Square into my Mac and I will be able to use it with any Web page environment.
So how much will the hardware cost?
We’re going to be giving the Squares away free on our Web site. Some stores will sell them, but mostly we’ll be giving them away.
Is the device going to be open source?
It’s not open source yet, but it is something that we would like to do eventually. The hardware is fairly simple, the software is extremely complex.
Do you hope to distribute these in developing countries too?
One of the most successful mobile payment continents in the world has been Africa. People there pay over SMS through a major mobile banking initiative. That could never happen here in the U.S. as the infrastructure and culture are just not ready for it.
So how to do you hope to change that in the U.S.?
We realized that 90 percent of Americans use these plastic cards; they use them for everything as payment cards for debit and credit. Paying with them is easy, but receiving from them is very difficult. So we said what if we just turn on the other side?
Let’s talk about another small project you started: Twitter. Where do you see it going over the next year?
Right now we’ve created a really easy way to get the information into Twitter. I think the next big challenge is helping get the information out in a relevant way. Also exposing trends that are relevant to locations, topics and networks. I think the focus within the company will be around filtering: how do we create smart filters, like a smart playlist?
When you first started Twitter the concept was about sharing what you are doing. Over the past year we’ve seen more users share links. What does this mean for the service?
It really speaks to the situation. In situations like Iran there’s not as many links, there’s more eyewitness accounts from the street. The idea of Twitter started with me working in dispatch since I was 15 years old, where taxi cabs or firetrucks would broadcast where they were and what they were doing. That to me was the usage. I think when you’re at a computer or in an environment where you’re immersed in reading it becomes much easier to share links and information that way. But sharing links on the go is not something I would do. So it really depends on where the person is in their life.
From some of the downtime you’ve seen on Twitter what do you think some of the big engineering difficulties have been?
Early on our biggest problem was that we didn’t have any gauges into the system and we didn’t have metrics, so we were kind of flying blind. The way we got around it was to instrument the entire system so we could see what was going on. We’re still seeing these flash points that are not predictable.
You invested this year in Foursquare, where do you see these location-based services heading?
I love them. I said a long time ago that Foursquare can make cities better. You have these augmented realities like Foursquare and Twitter and Facebook that provide these virtual nodes and instant feedback from anywhere, adding annotation around a physical places.
If I check into Foursquare, it updates my Twitter feed, but are these experiences different, or do they just feed into each other?
They feed into each other. It’s a matter of invitations versus context. Twitter is really good at providing context, like I’m having coffee at Third Rail Coffee. Foursquare is about invitations to places. In this respect Foursquare has started to replace Yelp for me.
What do you expect from technology companies in 2010?
Hopefully a lot more start-ups in New York City. I think the start-ups here are building a really great foundation.
In terms of technology, we’re going to see a better and more immediate experience around the everyday things we do in life. For example, health care. I expect we’ll see a lot more innovation around health care after the latest initiative goes through Washington.
Social TV + Social Entertainment
NYT DealBook reports: Panasonic and LG Electronics, two of the top television makers, are to announce Tuesday that they are integrating the free online calling service Skype into their Internet-connected high-definition televisions.
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