Ustream & Timeline – U.K. Boy Band Digital Fame – Library Offers Digital Help
In today’s news, Philadelphia introduces “Techmobile”, a British pop group achieves social success, and Ustream joins Timeline.
Philly Library Offers Digital Help
Philadelphia is taking their citizens’ digital education into its own hands. Yesterday, the Free Library of Philadelphia introduced its Techmobile “Hotspot on Wheels,” a 25 feet van equipped with six computers, broadband Internet access, and a trained assistant. The energy efficient, hybrid vehicle will offer classes on basic computer functions, resume writing, career workshops, social networking, and others.
It’s impossible to ignore the fact that digital skills have become necessary to exist in the professional world. Workshops and public services like this could enable those who cannot afford the cost of college classes to acquire the necessary skills to find jobs in today’s economy.
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U.K. Boy Band Achieves Digital Fame
For better or worse, a British boy band has reminded us just how effective viral videos can be. The group, called One Direction, launched a digital campaign with the help of a London ad agency. The video campaign features a character called 1-D-Cyberpunk, a fictional fan of the band who tries to get other fans to show their support. In 50 days, the campaign amassed 2.5 million views for the band’s YouTube videos.
The ability to rise to fame digitally shows to how comfortable consumers have become with receiving their media online. More and more, performers, especially those appealing to younger audiences, are looking to digital marketers to create their online campaigns. As sites like YouTube and Spotify continue to improve the quality of their media and prove they are worthy campaign platforms, digitally-launched careers will become more common.
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Ustream Launches Timeline App, Doubles Users
Earlier this month, Ustream, a live-feed video service, created their Facebook Timeline app, and they are enjoying exponential growth. Since then, they have double their user sign-ups per day.
The app lets users integrate any live stream from the site into their Timeline, and lets their Facebook Friends watch along.
During the first week of the launch, the Ustream app generated 10 million Facebook impressions. Because of such success, they plan to incorporate their own social feature, Social Stream, with Timeline.
Ustream’s immediate growth shows the traffic driving power of Facebook . Their success demonstrates the social network’s ability to create engagement simply by allowing people to easily share media.
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Google Redesigns Plus
Yesterday, Google announced that it is redesigning its Google+ platform. Changes include new apps, a customized navigation bar, more opportunity to personalize profiles, and an ‘Explorer’ page that show what’s popular and trending around the site.
Many of the new features mirror changes Facebook made when it introduced its Timeline format. Both sites have enlarged their photos, and the Google Plus navigation ribbon structures the homepage to more resemble Facebook.
Although Google Plus has attracted 170 million users since it launched last year, it remains to be seen whether it will be able to compete with its Hollywood-status rival. Its main advantage is the fluid connection between Gmail, YouTube, Plus, and other Google sites. If they can better market the benefits of this connection they will have a chance at competing with Facebook.
Sony Confirms Lay-Off of 10,000
Sony has confirmed the report from earlier this week that they will be laying off 10,000 employees. The global job cuts are part of a plan to restructure the company into what they’ve been calling “One Sony.”
In a press release issued earlier today, Sony outlined their goals, which are “strengthening core businesses, turning around the television business, expanding business into emerging markets, creating new business and accelerating innovation, and realigning the business portfolio and optimizing resources.” Essentially, they want to become a sleeker, more innovation-driven company.
The massive layoffs by Sony, as well as those by Yahoo, show how centralized the tech market has become. This trend is due largely to companies that, by basing their operations around innovation, rewrote the rules of the game, a.k.a. Apple. Industry giants that have been left behind are now looking to cut the fat to catch up.
In such a centralized market, advertising space is limited. If companies like Sony and Yahoo were to become relevant competitors in the industry, it would present marketers with more opportunities to reach target markets.
Mobile Advertising – Instagram Music Video – Blog Benefits
In today’s news, mobile Internet dominates emerging countries, a songwriter uses Instgram for his new video, and blogging makes a comeback.
Phones Bring Internet to Developing World
A recent study by tech company Jana shows that most Internet users in developing countries use their phones to access the Web. Out of all Internet users in Egypt, 70 percent receive it via mobile phones. India is similar at 59 percent, as is South Africa at 57 percent.
These statistics provide a strong argument that marketers need to start concentrating on mobile advertising, especially when entering international markets. The amount of money spent on mobile marketing is far less than that spent on traditional marketing. Innovation and adaptability govern the tech industry, and marketers need to adopt these values if they want to create effective campaigns.
Fans’ Instagrams Create New Music Video
For his new single, “Out of the Game”, singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright is turning to his mobile-savvy fans to create a video. He is asking fans to submit Instagram photos for a special lyric-image collage for the song. These photos are to be based on the song’s lyrics. The best photos will be featured in the video, and Wainwright will also release a print book of the mosaic.
Wainwright is not the first artist to use social media to create a music video, but his intention with this project is different than most. He has already released an official music video for “Out of the Game”, so the Instagram project is meant solely to engage fans. It shows his appreciation for his fans and their creative take on his music while using that creativity to promote the song.
Why You Need a Blog
With all the craze over the newest and most stunning social media platforms, the blog has almost been forgotten about. But it is making a comeback as many people, especially those in professional fields, are starting to realize its potential as way to reinforce their online presence and give their brand a voice.
Here are five reasons that a consistent company blog will positively affect online business.
- Blog content makes for effective SEO results.
- Google has started ranking new content above keyword-filled content.
- It is a great place to create enriching content for other social media channels.
- A blog can position you as a thought leader in your industry.
- Blogging gives your brand a voice and allows you to connect on a personal level with consumers and clients.
As both consumers and search engines begin to place more value on authentic on content, blogs provide an opportunity for brands to retain their online visibility and strengthen their image.
Google’s Grassroots Campaign
Google is starting a campaign called “Take Action” in an effort to sustain public outcry against Internet legislation. Through the Take Action website, The Internet tech giant is calling on people to answer the question “What is the power of the Internet to you?” and share those responses on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. The site also features a tree-themed infographic entitled “We Are the Web” that describes the history of the Internet as a product of the hard-working public.
The Wikipedia-led SOPA protests showed that public outcry is the strongest weapon to use against Congress. Google realizes that the immense amount of control over the Internet actually diminishes its voice when arguing against legislation. Their grassroot strategy with the Take Action campaign is very similar to a company using crowd-sourced public opinions and reviews to legitimize their brand. By calling on the people for support, Google makes its argument seem less biased.
Facebook Buys Instagram
Vintage photos are apparently selling at a premium these days. On Monday, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. Mark Zuckerberg announced the purchase in a Facebook post along with a few reasons, including his plan to “work even more closely with the Instagram team [to offer] the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos.”
Zuckerberg will be bringing on the Instagram staff, and he is “committed to building and growing Instagram independently.”
The photo app already relies heavily on Facebook as a method of sharing its content, but it still retains its own platform on mobile devices. Facebook has admitted that photo-sharing is a priority of theirs, and Instagram was a big player standing in their way. By acquiring Instagram, they have positioned themselves as the controlling mobile-photo network.
The Rise of Gamification
Rajat Paharia was gamifying before their ever was such a term. He is the founder of Bunchball, a California based gamification firm that has worked with companies such as Comcast, the Los Angeles Kings, and Hasbro. Although the company began to build online games for non-game based sites in 2005, it wasn’t until Facebook’s FarmVille exploded that gamifying became popular.
Since then, Paharia has seen a sharp rise in the popularity of gamification. One of their most popular projects is a website based off of the NBC television show The Office, where users can sign in as characters from the show and earn “Shrute Bucks” (a currency based on one of the show’s more eccentric characters).
Through the game, fans were creating buzz, and according to Paharia, “NBC loved it because they were paying all these users fake money to do real work.”
The gamification pioneer sees only growth in its future as companies will discover ways to apply it to their own needs, both in their infrastructure and with consumers.
5 Most Innovative New Start-Ups
With the imminent passing of the JOBS Act and the potential benefits it holds for young businesses, we’ve decided to take a look at the newest and most promising start-ups. This list includes five of the tech industry’s young, innovative companies:
- Aunt Bertha – Amasses information on nonprofit programs, including those run by the federal, state, and city governments, as well as local and charitable organizations. The site works to match people with the programs that best fit their needs.
- Echoing Green – Offers grants to promising young entrepreneurs. These grants are based not on business models, but on “personality and ambition.”
- Givmo – Finds new homes for people’s unwanted stuff. It’s pretty much a CraigsList for people looking to give things away for free.
- DailyFeats – Uses positive rewards and personalized programs to help people achieve their goals on a daily basis. Users earn points, which they can cash in for rewards or donate to charity.
- Reboot Stories – A site whose goal is to educate and engage the imagination of children from low-income communities. Teachers can incorporate the site into their classroom for access to a range of multimedia and technologically-based activities.
These sites demonstrate the innovative and socially stimulating aspects that start-ups need to succeed. They are centered on enriching the lives of their users and clients.
Kony 2012: Pt. 2 Released
The release of KONY 2012 left a wake of controversy. Many people loved it and aligned themselves with the cause. Others drew attention to the video’s cheap use of director Jason Russell’s son to draw sympathy. More called to light the questionable financial practices of Invisible Children, the nonprofit organization behind the video.
To top it all off, Russell was arrested after he ran down his street, naked and drunk.
Despite all of this, Invisible Children recently released the second installment of their hyper-viral video, Kony2012: Pt.2. The short film debuted on Wednesday, and yet again it has amassed an astounding number of views, almost 800,000.
The reception of Kony 2012 is a sobering reminder that going viral is not the absolute solution, and content is still “king.” Invisible Children was not prepared for the amount of scrutiny that the video elicited from the public, and because of this they did give enough attention to the finer aspects of the video. However, the cause they support is respectable, and it remains to be seen whether Kony 2012: Pt. 2 can mend the damage that followed its prequel.
