Open The Dialogue

• David Armano is asking his readers whether digital agencies should be blogging or not and what sort of return they might reasonably expect to see from that. Make sure you read the comments, as all the smart people come out of the woodwork to form a really interesting discussion. (CT)
• Zillow is now allowing homeowners to make adjustments and corrections to the information on their homes that is displayed. As Andy Beal points out, giving Zillow better information then allows them to better target their ads and position themselves as a more accurate resource, but I have a feeling that's worth the trade-off. (CT)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dear Everyone on the Internet:

Please stop referring to Hulu as a competitor to YouTube. That was alright a few months ago when plans were still sketchy and no one - including yours truly - didn't think it would actually get off the ground. But now we know what it looks like and what the content is and the analogy is completely off-base.

Saying Hulu competes with YouTube is like saying your Aunt Rosemary inviting you over to watch slides of her 55+ singles cruise competes with the local AMC Theater multiplex. Yes, they both require an investment of time by the user but that's about the extent of where they overlap.

Hulu is stocked with professionally produced television shows and movies. YouTube is, by and large, stocked with videos created by amateurs. That's not always the case - the site is a valuable tool for companies to distribute their commercials, movie trailers or other officially produced videos. And it's a great place to run a video contest or other promotion.

But it's not a home for full-length entertainment product. Hulu is, at least within the parameters of its partnerships with network partners.

So please stop it. I've been guilty of labeling the venture as a "YouTube-killer" or something like that in the past, but that was in the past. Now we know better.

Regards,
--Chris

Posted by Chris Thilk at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Magazine publishers have finally learned to stop worrying and love the internet, finding ways to use the series of tubes to do everything from report print readership to try out different titles through a Netflix-like system. 'Bout time. (CT)
• NBCSports.com will now be the exclusive sports-information provider for MSNBC.com, a partnership that seems painfully obvious when you get past being dumbfounded that this wasn't already in place like you thought it might have been. (CT)
• Everyone thinks that the idea behind MySpace's Roommates series - a guy convinces four female college friends to live together and he films all the (sexy) goings-on - was pulled from an indictment someone read somewhere, right? Just me? (CT)
• MTV is linking its new song lyric search feature together with the ability to view videos, read related stories and buy the CD from the song you find. (CT)
• Google's making plans to win some share of the social networking market, plans that might start off small but then will likely expand to the whole of the Google-verse. (CT)
• To help get the word out about the new book "Blogging Heroes," Wiley allowed the bloggers who contributed stories to offer the chapters they appear in free on their sites. Chris Anderson and Steve Garfield are among those who participated and you can find their chapters there. (CT)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's a new study from the Advertising Research Foundation and American Association of Advertising Agencies that shows the most effective TV commercials are the ones that tell stories.

This really shouldn't be surprising to anyone who's around my age (32), especially the guys. After all, we grew up in the Golden Age of long-form entertainment-as-advertising. G.I. Joe and Transformers, along with Thundercats, He-Man and a host of others were cartoons second and commercials for the respective toy lines first.

But they told interesting (at least they were at the time) stories and sucked us in. We needed the Cobra Hydrofoil because it played such an important part in that new episode and we absolutely-please-won't-you-just-understand-mom needed to recreate that scene in our living rooms. We...wait for it...created content. And yes, I realize that by actually typing that I'm in danger of having my keys to the Internet revoked.

But as we got older we realized we were being spun and marketing's effectiveness, to some extent, wore off. Our enthusiasm for (wince) creating content (/wince) didn't diminish, though, since we're now online creating blogs, participating in forums, building our social networks and starring in online sex tapes.

More than that, a good story in the marketing still hooks us. The problem for many companies is that they're no longer in the position of instigating those stories. Instead the inspiration is coming from our friends and contacts. That's why social media is such an effective marketing tool, because when you weave together the points of view of three or four people who are discussing a particular topic you come up with a really good story.

Some people are good storytellers and some aren't. Some companies are good storytellers and some aren't. The trick is to know which one you are and make sure you either use that talent to its fullest advantage or get out of the way so those who can.

If you're a marketer and you just can't adequately tell your brand's story in a compelling way, the best thing you can do is step into the pitch and let the community do it for you. But then it's up to you to provide them the best possible tools to do just that - high quality photos, videos, product information, etc. That's what getting out of the way looks like in that case.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's a strong trend in the online world of publishing companies buying vertical search engines. NBC Universal invested recently in Healthline, which searches on medical information. Meredith added Helia, which also covers medical topics, to its line-up to bring more user activity to its roster of online titles. Blog network Glam just launched their own vertical search engine to mine the content of its 350+ partner blogs.

The latest move in this space is Hachette Filipacchi Media's deal with TheFind.com. TheFind helps people find (natch) home and lifestyle products and information. Under the deal, Hachette will sell ads on the search engine and TheFind will provide search functionality on Hachette's home and lifestyle portal PointClickHome.com.

So why the move toward vertical search? Because when you need to find specific information on a topic, a broad Google search often won't return the results you need. There have been many times when I'm looking for information on a specific topic and I've wished I could just search blogs and sites on that topic instead of the whole web. Vertical search engines that draw upon just that sort of list have tremendous value to the user.

They also have power for the advertisers. This is a tightly focused audience they can reach by placing ads either on the engine's site or contextually alongside search results. That's access to people when they're most motivated to be looking for help finding what they need, and if the best source turns out to be an advertiser then everyone wins.

I suspect more and more of these vertical plays will pop up and existing ones will be integrated into existing sites. The technology is getting better and with the proliferation of information online it's going to be more important than ever to organize that information based on the needs of those doing the searching.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Fox Interactive is starting to feel the heat coming down on MySpace. Monetization of the social network has been the key since News Corp. acquired it a while ago but that goal has remained elusive, with CPMs staying low for a variety of reason.

For one, the people on MySpace don't particularly care for ads, and Fox has littered everyone's profile with a ton of them. There's also the fact that advertisers aren't completely convinced putting brand messages next to pictures of the two hot chicks you met at Senor Tadpoles is a great idea. Add on top of that recent numbers showing membership is declining for the first time ever and that members are sticking around on the site for a shorter amount of time and you can see that the problem is going to become even more...ummm...problematic.

MySpace is also facing pressure from Facebook, which turned out to be much more of a competitor than they probably initially pegged it as. Considering Facebook just signed an ad deal with Microsoft that, I think, will help Facebook make many of the same mistakes MySpace has, that threat is only going to grow. As Ian Schafer says in the BW story, display ads on social networks just aren't working out well and that's where Microsoft is strongest. So expect the Facebook experience to decline in quality when this roles out.

But it's not just Facebook that is breathing down MySpace's neck. Friendster has decided to open up its platform for developers much like Facebook and others have and MySpace is planning to do. More than that, it's decided to make the platform open to widgets and apps from other networks, meaning developers don't have to re-create their work to bring it to the Friendster audience. And there are a host of niche-focused networks that cater to a passionate audience by providing them with a virtual meeting place to hang out with like-minded fans.

Social networks are, by their very nature, niche environments. It doesn't matter if an ad or other marketing message reaches two million people on Facebook. It's only slightly better if that ads reaches a group that's setup for people who share an interest in that type of product or industry. What does matter is if you, as a marketer, provide value to the community. You probably don't remember who has advertised to you, but you are likely to remember someone who, through their sponsorship or something like that, enhanced the experience you had on the site.

That's why I think the best sorts of marketing I've seen on MySpace are the ones that have added functionality. All of the examples I have, unsurprisingly, come from movie studios. Warner Bros. upgraded people's photo-album limit to market 300. Dreamworks let you edit your photos to market Transformers. Warner Bros., again, added a video slideshow tool to profiles to market I Am Legend. In each case the user got something out of the sponsorship.

The help provided by a marketer is going to stick in people's minds much more than a banner ad that flashed at them while they were trying to leave their friend a comment. Provide value and the audience will assign the appropriate level of value to your brand. Provide no value and the audience will assign the appropriate level of value to your brand.

I know which one I would prefer.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In their book Citizen Marketers, Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba told the familiar story of an ordinary, non-marketing guy who was so in love with the iPod that he created his own commercial and posted it online. That user-generated spot created a tremendous amount of recognition and press coverage, despite - or maybe because of - being officially disowned by Cupertino.

So check out this story in the New York Times. Apple has taken a commercial created by 18 year-old Mac enthusiast Nick Haley and will remake it with the help of their agency TBWA/Chiat/Day. The spot he created, reportedly in just one day last month, has so far garnered over 2,000 views on YouTube. Some of those viewers were Apple employees, who then tasked T/C/D with getting in touch with Haley about reworking his video for official use. The agency apparently has futzed only limitedly with the actual content, wanting to maintain the originals spirit while making it just a bit more professional looking.

The spot will debut this Sunday during football telecasts, "Desperate Housewives" on ABC and during Game 4 of the World Series.

Everyone wants their spots to become viral sensations on YouTube, all the while people are creating their own videos that are achieving that goal with little to no effort on their part. It's great to see someone like Apple - who could use the good PR right now - embracing their passionate users in a way like this. It actually makes me want to make sure to tune in and check out this spot on TV to see how it's turned out.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's a really interesting story in Editor & Publisher about the lack of recognition given to online news reporting. While that point alone has probably spawned a dozen panel sessions it was one line later in Pauline Millard's piece that caught my eye:

"By nature, they (newspaper people) are not shameless self-promoters."

Compare that attitude to the Internet, where almost all of us are promoters, looking for new and exciting ways to extend our personal brand. The reason there's a discussion over whether Robert Scoble's videos are too long and boring is because he's out there pimping them. There's nothing wrong with that - that's just the way it is. Look at Twitter, which some days is lousy with updates that begin with "New Blog Post:..." We're not just engaging in a conversation, we're largely engaging in a conversation about ourselves.

So here's what I'm going to do, beginning next week: No talking about myself. No linking to myself. No saying "When I said this back in June..." or anything that promotes myself. Oh I'll still blog and all that, but will try to do so in a way that highlights the best of what's going on elsewhere, not just the best of what I'm doing.

I've actually tried to do this to some extent already. I've been making an effort to leave more comments on people's blogs. I love getting comments, maybe even a little more than if someone links to something I've written. It means they've decided to talk to me, not talk to their audience about me. So it's a little more personal, and I like to think others have the same reaction I do when I see someone has dropped by and left a comment, which is to feel a little pick-me-up about what I'm writing.

Back to the story, the best of online newspaper efforts are deserving of recognition, and not just in a special "Best of the Web" category that automatically diminishes, in some people's minds, the item being lauded.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• PRWeek.com has relaunched with a new look and, I think, greatly improved navigation. (CT)
• Yahoo has decided there are more sites on the Internet than just those it's created and runs and so has begun linking out from its homepage. Of course those getting the link-love are the ones with syndication partnerships with Yahoo, but it's a step in the right direction. (CT)
• If you're a fan of the AT&T commercials from director Wes Anderson you now have a microsite to visit where you can make your very own. [via PopCandy] (CT)
• Jeremy Pepper has an absolutely fantastic post up today about the state of social media and public relations and the dangers of allowing advertising to gain the foothold that rightfully belongs to PR. (CT)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• StumbleUpon is launching a new "social search" function that builds on its recommendation engine that seeks to add the human factor to the more sterile search world. (CT)
• Sioux Gateway Airport has stopped tilting at windmills and accepted the fact that it SUX. The airport is using the airport's acronym as part of a new tongue-in-cheek campaign. Nice to see people growing comfortable with their lot in life. (CT)
• People are beginning to speculate MySpace co-founder - and everyone's first friend when they sign up - Tom Anderson is older than he and his profile says he is. I think we just need to be happy that a story involving lying about your age on MySpace doesn't end in "...and that's when the police became involved." (CT)
• WSJ powerhouse Walt Mossberg has written a the mobile industry equivalent of declaration of war against the absolutely insane way mobile carriers are able to artificially manipulate the market. A few more solidly laid out arguments like this and some real change could be affected. (CT)
• Online advertising, this New York Times story points out, is being stifled by the fact that hinders continue to be mistaken for elbows when it comes to visitor measurement. (CT)
• In the print world, publishers are looking to technology like RFID to get a better count of readership, as well as get a clearer picture of how those readers are interacting with the magazine. (CT)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hey all - we're working on some server migration issues right now, which is why some recent posts have disappeared momentarily and why we're not posting the last couple days. Things are progressing, but first we need to run into town for some power converters. We'll be back soon.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Some interesting stats from research done by Ipsos into the media habits of upper-level executives and those in the upper economic classes. The study showed that C-level executives are heavy blog readers and podcast listeners, with nearly a third reading a blog at least once a month. More than that, the usage of blogs and podcasts by those executives is increasing at a clip faster than the general public.

If corporate executives want to stay on the cutting edge of their industry - whatever it is - they need to up that usage even more dramatically. More than that it's the responsibility of those below him or her in the corporation to be showing their executives what they need to be reading daily or weekly and then doing something with that information. There need to be people guiding him or her one way or the other.

That means, of course, that the people below the C-level are reading and listening themselves. So that might be the first hurdle to clear before things go any further up the org chart.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

MySpace will be integrating Skype's VOIP service into its instant-messaging offerings come November. The two will split the revenue generated by MySpace users taking advantage of Skype's premium offerings like Skype-out, but it's unclear how that split will be structured. eBay, which owns Skype, is basically hoping that the extra revenue will help make up for the fact that, as it admitted earlier, it overpaid by about $1 billion (said with pinkie finger at the corner of my lips) when it bought the company.

But as the story points out there's very little overlap between Skype users and MySpace members. If 25 million people are using MySpace's IM client, and only 6.7 percent of MySpacers also use Skype and if only a fraction of that use the premium services, then we're not talking about very many dedicated users.
It would be really interesting to see how many people actually use this and how. It's also going to be really interesting to see if this service is adopted by the marketers who are so in love with MySpace and its very attractive user demographic. Let's say I'm a movie marketer (what can I say, my brain goes there by default) and set up a MySpace profile for the flick I'm promoting. Would there be an advantage to my being available on Skype?

I think the answer to that question has to be yes. If you really want people to get engaged and entice them to see the movie you have to offer points of contact for interaction. If voice can be one of those then it's a bonus. The fraction of people who would use Skype to get in touch with you are likely going to be people looking forward to the movie who might be having problems with the page or who have a question about the movie. People who fall in either category deserve to have their questions answered.

It's at least something that needs to be considered as part of a larger customer service/new media maintenance strategy I think. It could be a tremendous opportunity to create another valuable point of contact and could actually add value to a MySpace execution that goes deeper then counting how many people you can get to say, "Thanks for the add!"

Posted by Chris Thilk at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Evian has entered Second Life, providing people with upgraded avatars via in-world vending machines.

I don't have data on this but it seems like there's been a shift in corporate strategies toward products in Second Life. We've gone from "Let's sell" to "Let's give away." Companies, I think, have decided it's better to use their brands to add value to the Second Life user experience than to try and use it as another retail outlet. Not that there aren't plenty of people still doing it that way (Armani just opened a retail location) but now there's some different thinking going on.

I think companies are going to see higher return on investment from things like what Evian is doing, adding something substantive to the in-world experience, than in just trying to sell, sell, sell. If there's no cost to adopt a new avatar look, or add a t-shirt or something along those lines then brand enthusiasts or even casual fans are more likely to indulge themselves and let the brand-flag fly.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• If you want to get a preview of a comic book cover to the front page of digg, it helps if you put a drawing of Kevin Rose wearing a DiggNation t-shirt on said cover. (CT)
• The RIAA has decided that instead of going after the pirates themselves it will target the boat they sail on, serving Usenet with a suit saying it facilitates the illegal transfer of copyrighted material. Yeah, they sued Usenet. Someone at the RIAA must have left a 1993 BusinessWeek lying around. (CT)
• Gizmodo makes with the Star Wars jokes in reporting that Apple's Leopard OS won't include the hologram-like chat feature once previewed. (CT)
• The number of people watching TV shows and other long-form video online is growing. If you're an entertainment company, do you have a cross-platform strategy? (CT)
• Spending by marketers on "conversational marketing" and "social media marketing" is expected to grow in the next five years, both in absolute dollars and as a percentage of budgets. I'll give $10 (not really) to anyone who can accurately define those terms and then we can move on. (CT)
• Congratulations to Steve Hall on his selling a minority stake in AdRants to Watershed Publishing,which also puts out MarketingVox (which I contribute to) and a couple other sites. (CT)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• I was about to write something tremendously intelligent and insightful about the schmuck who thought that wearing a "lifecasting" camera in a movie theater wouldn't be a problem (cause the theater industry hasn't gone on the record about cameras AT FREAKIN' ALL) but then I found Neville Hobson had pretty much beaten me to it. (CT)
• Other things Phil Gomes can't be bothered to do: Get off the couch to change the channel, read the instructions on microwave popcorn or walk the dog. (CT)
• Jaffe stops teasing us and announces the new name of his podcast: Jaffe Juice. He totally ripped that off from...oh...right...nevermind. (CT)
• Why is everyone talking about leopards? There are a couple at Brookfield Zoo, so it's not like they're rare. Don't understand why everyone is writing about...oh. (CT)
• I asked Tom if we could turn Open the Dialogue into just a series of pictures that I write on using Microsoft Paint but he said no. What a buzz kill. (CT)

[ed: It should be noted that for some reason, this post ended up being sanctioned by me. Go figure. TB]

Posted by Chris Thilk at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Jay Berkowitz has asked a great question about new podcast listeners on LinkedIn that might have some answers that new podcast producers could need to pay attention to. (TB)
• As Chris mentioned before, Josh Hallett has joined the social media crew at Voce Communications as a New Media Strategist. Congrats, Josh! That's awesome to hear. (TB)
• Social networks are being used by people to stay in touch with each other, and now they're being looked at as a viable business-to-consumer communications platform, not just a place to throw more ads. (CT)
• Looks like Gawker's advertising sales staff needs to do a better job of keeping the editorial team apprised of sponsorships that will impact the site's presentation in the wake of a very public kerfluffle between the two teams. (CT)
• Apple is finding that all that the force that's powered the goodwill it had built up over the decades can also be turned against it, as a series of recent moves have honked off longtime supporters. (CT)/li>
• I have no idea what they're talking about when they say the Internet has created a whole series of jobs that never existed before. No idea whatsoever. (CT)
• Alex Rudloff has unveiled the official mascot of lunch_fu. (CT)
• ABC has designed an afternoon webcast that's meant to appeal to younger audiences who are bored by more traditional news programming. That includes a good deal of integration of video blog footage and more consumer generated content. (CT)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Before we continue on with the news of the day and other good stuff, wanted to give a big shout-out to Josh Hallett, who just announced he will be joining the team at Voce Communications. Josh, I'm sure, will be a great addition to the Voce team and it will be exciting to see the stuff that comes out of there in the future, with him joining such an all-star team Voce already has in place.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• That's some more Gmail space for you, some more for you, and some more for everyone else. The Official Gmail Blog has a post from Rob Siemborski, Gmail Engineer, saying that all Gmail users will be getting more storage, and the counter will be speeding up. Speaking of that, Googlified says that we'll have 2.70266701 x 10 to the 72nd terabytes by January 2, 3456 at 7:00. Good to know. [via Techmeme] (TB)
• Thilk made a number of quality posts yesterday at the Forrester forum in Chicago, but I know the multimedia-lover in you will enjoy this one, which points to the photos that a number of the attendees have taken. Hey, it's Friday. (TB)
• You know those posts that are kind of smart, but end up just reading as obnoxious? Yeah, like this one over at Valleywag. Owen Thomas points out a decision that Intel made about how the co-op advertising dollars it provides to companies who use its "Intel Inside" branding could be spent, namely on the Web. This is how it should be done. It's free money subsidizing your ads, right? I thought that was the point. (TB)
• Fortune's Yi-Wyn Yen describes eBay's Neighborhoods as "eBay meets Facebook." (TB)
• In BusinessWeek's Viewpoint, David Holtzman calls Google's new privacy push "paltry." What do you think? (TB)
• Wired's Julie Sloan has a fun chat with uncov's Ted Dziuba. (TB)
• I believe I have found the most link-baiting headline ever to land in an RSS reader, and I have linked Fast Company's Matthew Finkelstein blogs "Sports: Is A-Rod Worth $1 Billion? It Might Not Be As Crazy As It Sounds" - Riiiiiight. (TB)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 09:01 AM | Permalink

I mentioned this over on my personal site but wanted to mention here as well that tomorrow - Thursday - and Friday I will be attending the Forrester Consumer conference here in Chicago. Peter Kim was nice enough to invite me not only to attend but also to help blog the event over at the Forrester Blog. I'm looking forward to what should not only be a great conference but also just the chance to see some of other folks in attendance.

It's so vitally important, I think, in these days of being followers or friends or connections that we occasionally shake hands with the people whose blogs we comment on. There are people who produce them and it's nice to meet face to face to reinforce those relationships, share conversations that don't allow for usage of the Backspace button and just generally hang out.

If you're going to be at the conference find me (I'll be the one with the laptop) and say hi.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 08:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was checking out the newly launched WeSmirch leaderboard and was taken aback by the lack of blogs - assuming a "self-published website with a single author" definition - among the top cited sources for celebrity gossip news.

Then I realized that this was not anywhere near what the creator of the leaderboard intended to create and so went about my day, realizing there was nothing at all odd about this.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Following the Chris Thilk-inspired LOTD from earlier today, I'm taking that same tack.

I had forgotten to post a link to this key item from the Bad Pitch Blog from last month, when Kevin Dugan posted a short quiz for PR folk to take before pitching bloggers. Thankfully, the excuse to do so quite late showed up on my doorstep, er, in my office, this morning. When asked why they clearly hadn't taken the quiz, at least one firm told us to step aside, because we clearly underestimated their ability to get bloggers to "place [this] banner and Public Service Announcement pro bono," on their blogs.

Our own Allison Blass brought this "situation" to my attention a few minutes ago while having a brief meeting, and I've gotta say that I wouldn't exactly be happy with the outreach efforts so far if I were the PR people at LifeScan. Do PR people really think that just because a group of individuals happen to post on a health related topic that they would automatically post a "public service announcement" that isn't exactly a piece of video I'd run around sharing with bloggers, of all people, or put up banners on their blogs, "pro bono," that are promotional to a product or service? Sure, there's a contest involved, and I get that, but clearly people have too much confidence in their pitches if they think that something self-serving is going to get the same feel-good action that a firm reaching out to diabetics about a banner for World Diabetes Day - even on behalf of a for-profit corporation - is going to?

Sometimes I really wonder if public relations firms don't want to truly explain the dynamics of working with bloggers - that is, when they actually appear to know about them - for fear of "turning off" a client. Someone at the firm responsible for pitching this "PSA" should have known what kind of reaction it would get from the bloggers being reached, but instead it went ahead full bore.

Coming out and saying that your product has cool colors and that's an improvement over what might have previously been seen at boring is perfectly valid. Coming out and saying that since your product now has cool colors, that people with a medical need will use it more often isn't necessarily the case, especially if the tone of the commenters on Diabetes Mine can extrapolated across the masses. When I bought the Product RED iPod, it didn't make me use it more, it made me feel like I had a cool product. Color might add value to your feelings towards something such as a blood glucose monitor, but is it going to make you use it more? For an industry that's full of disclaimers and "oh, we didn't actually say THAT," this is a big jump off the wrong diving board, IMHO.

Posted by Tom Biro at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• IBM and Google are teaming to bring "cloud" processor clustering to college campuses. When reached for comment on cloud computing the average college sophomore thought we were referring to the haze that lingers in his dorm room long after Friday night has passed. (CT)
• Both Toyota and Burger King are operating under the opinion it's better to create unique gaming content themselves than simply buy ad space in existing gaming titles. When reached for comment the average gamer told us to move, we were blocking the TV. (CT)
• It looks like Google won't be building its own mobile phone but instead developing a full suite of software that operates on Linux-based mobile devices and supporting the service with advertising. When reached for comment the average cell phone user still just wanted to be able to play Bejeweled. (CT)
• Google is reported to be prepping a push to re-introduce its social network Orkut to U.S. audiences. When reached for comment the average social network user said they thought Orkut was the little floaty guy in the red hat and purple scarf from "He-Man." (CT)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Tom Biro at 11:15 PM | Permalink

• Chris rightfully pointed out that the massive amount of Facebook applications created in recent months is staggering, but did anyone catch this monster number that Read/WriteWeb's Richard McManus pointed out in late August, about how 1,000,000 flash widgets - per day - were being added to Slide's network every day? (TB)
• While it's not owned by Google (yet) and it's not the only video player on the market, did we notice that French video site Dailymotion had snagged $34 million in funding? (TB)
• Muhammed Saleem posted this gem at the end of August detailing how to write a social media news release, in case that was your thing. (TB)
• Paul Stamatiou informed us that Mac FTP client Transmit was working with Amazon's S3 service. (TB)
• Hey PR people - if you haven't also started keeping an eye on sites like Wikileaks when keeping an eye on your brand, your executives, and your products, you're missing something. Just a thought. (TB)
• Did you notice the introduction of sellout.woot, woot.com's deal with Yahoo! Shopping? More here. (TB)
• I haven't been using their services very much of late, but did you notice that Real had dropped Gracenote's CD data services? (TB)
• OMG advertisers are targeting MySpace users by mining their content and serving up contextually relevant ads? Shocker! (TB)
• A huge bit of useful software for Windows folk, LH's Adam Pash points out the Document Hyperlink Checker which can be added on to your MS Word. Nice. (TB)
• Like all good amusement, this one was found on MeFi. Enjoy your time(suck) with the Political Stock Exchange, brought to you by the National Journal
• A whopping 10% of employees surveyed by Marlin Co. said that their company had gone the electronic route to cut down staff, according to the Associated Press. Ohhhhkay. (TB)

Posted by Tom Biro at 11:13 PM | Permalink

• The fact that over 4,000 people have created Facebook applications since the social network through open its code is something I don't quite know what to do with. Investors keep finding money for developers despite the fact that the only ones who are making money are the ad networks that run ads on those apps. That actually makes two things I don't quite know what to do with. (CT)
• AOL is trying to keep up with Facebook by adding a "Here's what I'm listening to" plug-in to the new version of AIM. People can actually listen to the songs on their friends' playlists, meaning everyone on your Buddies list now can see that you have Starland Vocal Band on your iPod. Dork. (CT)
• @sarahwurrey: If you're trying without luck to get Red Sox playoff tickets and can't, Major League Baseball has directed you to visit StubHub, which just so happens to be the "Official Ticket Marketplace of the MLB." (CT)
• Companies that sign endorsement deals with athletes apparently aren't thrilled when those athletes trash them on their personal blogs. Comments athletes make via blog are turning into PR problems for the sponsors, who then have to deal with the fact that the person they're paying a lot of money to doesn't like their shoes. (CT)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• I'm actually giddy about the fact that Matt Drudge has apparently stopped hotlinking. I've only been hoping for this since 2004. (TB)
• Fake Steve Jobs is going on tour to promote his book. This has the potential to turn out very, very poorly and I'm fairly certain that's what I'm hoping for, like watching to see if a squirrel gets devoured by a python. (CT)
• Everyone is discussing the Techmeme Leaderboard and what it means. There's probably more of a conversation going on about it, but it's hard to hear when you're outside the echo chamber. (CT)
• Steve Johnson defends himself and the Chicago Tribune from a completely pointless attack by Gawker and makes some really good points about how newspaper bloggers need to adapt and fit in to the communities they're writing about. That comes at the same time that sister publication the Los Angeles Times is said to be on the verge of launching a slew of new blogs. (CT)
• The New York Times looks at commenting and how it can be used as a powerful personal branding tool. (CT)
• Finally, the Cubs begin their playoff run tonight, a run that won't be televised on WGN and starts at 9PM Central, thereby ensuring only cable customers who don't mind being half-dead at work tomorrow will be watching. And, as a bonus for Chicago papers, the game will likely end too late to get the score in tomorrow's edition. Fantastic plan. (CT)

Posted by Tom Biro at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Two headlines recently appeared within minutes of each other in my Google Reader feeds.

1. Barnes & Noble.com revamps home page
2. Do home pages have a place in Web 2.0's future?

While the first story is interesting - B&N has added a number of features like search clouds and video on the front page - the second story is the one that really stands out. Essentially, a new study from Avenue A/Razorfish shows that search is the beginning point for about 54 percent of online shopping experiences. That calls into question the importance of home pages overall, since through search people are landing right on the page for the product (or story, or whatever) they were looking for, bypassing the home page layout completely.

While the study's authors make the excellent point that what's increasingly important is what's NOT happening on the site (think widgets, links and more) I still think there is a point where home pages continue to serve a vital and important role, just maybe not the one they're serving now.

The role of the homepage should be simple: Help the visitor find what they're looking for. The problem is that pages are getting mucked up with flashy graphics and other junk data that is getting in the way of that experience. If there's a model for the homepage it should be the sitemap. It's clear, uncluttered and fairly simple to navigate. When people get lost on the site they should be able to hit the "Home" tab to reboot their visit and start fresh in finding what they're looking for.

It should also provide the tools so that the visitor never has to come back to it unless they specifically want to. That means RSS feeds, email newsletter signups and other things that will let people get the information on their time instead of needing to hit the site for it.

Homepages are important - You have to do something with that pricey .com after all. But its use should be make the site experience as elegant as possible, not as a showcase for the graphic design department. If you're hoping people will read/watch/buy on your site then the homepage is your first opportunity to make sure that happens.

Posted by Chris Thilk at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• A new academic paper mentioned by PaidContent talks about marketing in the social media space, looking at the issue from the perspective of trying to fit in with an existing community, something that's going to lessen the odds of the marketer being beaten to death with a computer mouse. (CT)
• Ning founder Marc Andreessen talks about why his build-your-own social network software has managed to attract over 100,000 such networks. While still a far cry from MySpace and others, it's a great example of someone actually meeting a market need, something that's becoming increasingly rare in the Web 2.0 space. (CT)
• Radiohead is allowing people to set their own price for the digital download version of its new album, something that's bringing headlines of changing record industry business models and such. I'd agree, but don't actually. (CT)
• Techmeme is launching a blog ranking system called Leaderboard, showing the top blogs that appear most often on Techmeme. So it's a list of a blog's importance based on appealing to the audience of one particular social news site. Within that space that brings value (to some extent) but that's not transferable outside of the Techmeme community. (CT)
• The fact that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales created an entry that was then deleted because it didn't meet the criteria for being important has started a bit of a kerfluffle. There's not a single part of this story that didn't have me cackling with glee not unlike that exhibited by the Emporer when Luke went for the lightsaber. (CT)
• Dear Companies Everywhere: Don't just go and grab a picture from Flickr without getting the owner's permission. You'll get screwed. Sincerely, The Internet. (CT)
• Engadget's Ryan Block has posted a well-worded letter to both Apple and its iPhone-bricking worried customers regarding the 1.1.1 update that the company just released. (TB)

Posted by Chris Thilk at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's so much to say about BlogOrlando that it's kind of impossible to sum it up even in an extended blog post. The event was an absolute blast, presenting me the opportunity to finally meet some of the people I've gotten to know online over the last couple years for the first time, meet some new people who reaffirm my faith in humanity a bit and otherwise have a lot of fun and hear some smart people talk.

Thursday, the day before the event, a group of about 40 folks took a tour of the Kennedy Space Center (group photo here), turning the lot of us into eight year olds who just think rockets are cool. It was an amazing opportunity that really got the event started off an a very special foot. Some pics from Kennedy are in the BlogOrlando Flickr set of mine. You can view everyone's photos here.

Friday (after over-sleeping, getting lost on the way to Rollins College and then helping to sort name-tags) the "unconference" finally began. Below are some of my slightly expanded notes from the sessions that were part of the PR/Marketing track. I probably could have expanded my comfort zone a little, but this seemed the most consistently interesting and so I just stuck here for the day. If I've added my own commentary to the speaker's points it's italicized.

8:30 - Josh introduces the sponsors, what BlogOrlando is and generally what to expect.

9:00 - Shel Israel takes the stage, introduces himself as a "recovering publicist" after Hallett accidentally calls him "Shel Holtz." Good stuff.

• It's not about the platform, it's about the conversation.
• Those under 35 are increasingly influenced by social media more than traditional media
• "having a conference 10 years from today on blogging will be as exciting as having a conference on emailing today."
• "There's nothing Twitter in his pants." - Hallett on Israel
• Young people aren't going to join companies that don't allow them to blog.
• Don't just join the conversation, bring something to it as well.

Tom Biro: Blogger Relations and Ambassador Programs

• Thought Starters: Journalists? Press releases? Where do I get a list? "Write back to me..." "5 can equal 10"
• Sending product is a tricky thing and takes a lot of time to put together.
• Developing relationships and soliciting feedback on projects is so important.
• Mitigating a crisis is easier when the participants in a program defend the program themselves.
• Having a local event? Invite the local paper and five or six local bloggers.
• Transporting THE blogger in a particular space might be an issue to get coverage, but if they're the RIGHT bloggers then it's worth it.
• There are larger issues that need to be looked at in addition to worrying about charges of bribery and such

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Dave Coustain: Using Blogs for Product Development

• What happens to companies as a result of blogging?
• How does a blogging company relate to its customers?
• Shel Israel: "Bloggers can be assholes too." Tom Biro: "Can be?" Hands down the exchange of the day.

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Laurie Mayers:  Crisis Communications

• What works and what doesn't for the GM Fastlane blog.
• Blog works both as corporate communication outlet as well as for rebutting some negative/misguided press stories. (EX: Thomas Friedman wrote an NYT story that was commented on via the Fastlane blog, resulting in an interesting back-and-forth.)
• Long-standing policy of not negatively commenting on labor issues, something that's been important to adhere to during the recent UAW negotiations and subsequent strike.
• GM does moderate comments, filtering out those that violate established policies (ie; union-bashing, specific car problems, etc)
• GM does monitor the social media space, reaching out to Flickr photographers and sometimes including their pics on one of the five or so corporate blogs they have.
• Some people within GM just go read the blog to find out what's going on. This is actually really cool since it means those employees are at least a bit more emotionally invested than others.
• Getting people internally to blog is difficult, unsurprisingly.
• Tracking ROI is tricky, to the surprise of none of the PR people in the room. But ROI isn't really the point since blogging is largely about establishing a community and specifically a dialogue within that community.

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Jake McKee: Customer Relationships with the Rabid Crowd

• Mantras he has:
• Open and honest relationships
• Spin damages long-term relationships to achieve short-term gains
• Establish yourself in a community BEFORE a crisis emerges
• Fans become rabid because of an emotional connection
• Live the life, love the life
• The team is the family
• People involved in long-term strategy should be intimately familiar with the product
• Passionate involvement brings fans with it - If people who are working on the product are excited then that will rub off on the audience.
• Building relationship means you have more eyes watching your back who can alert you to an emerging crisis
• It’s important to let your community know when changes are coming soon
• What’s your kink?
• People spend time and money on things they’re passionate about.
• Learn to take a good beating
• Not everyone is a fan and you’re going to have problems – develop a thick skin now.
• Success by 1,000 papercuts 

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Annie  Heckenberger: Tourism and Social Media

• Tourism is just like any other sort of brand-building
• Giving a place for those in the community to have an authentic voice
• Be high-tech but also high-touch
• Blog extends the more static (and boring) official tourism website.
• Now that they're being engaged more, people are becoming more vocal in the community.
• "Philly Like a Local" the name of the larger campaign.
• Everyone has a good laugh at the amount of money
• Printed mag insert pulls out blogger quotes. Others featured original art based on blog entries.
• Uses TubeMogul to upload videos to multiple sites with tags intact
• First thing Annie wanted to do was put together some sort of local blogger event
• Used event to encourage people to tag their stuff in a certain way and they've built a community site around those individual posts. (PhillyGeeks.net)

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David Parmet: Business Blogging, the Next Steps

• When PR agencies start blogging a change occurs within them. Same goes for other companies as well.
• Pretty much opened up the floor to questions after ten minutes of talking.
• "Who should blog?" "Anyone who has the time to blog.
• There's no magic formula that fits for all situations. It really depends on the corporate culture.
• Blogs are not a sales channel as much as their a conversation channel.
• Blog content can come from anywhere - Flickr photos, b-roll video, short posts and other places.
• Interesting discussion of how to/not to use Twitter on a corporate level - Some feel it should be left alone by corporations but others see no problem with it, as long as they're respectful of the existing community. This really goes for all members, not just corporate ones.

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Geoff Livingston: Participation in Marketing

• All those things that PR is supposed to do should be by-products of being a valued part of the community listening to what they care about. Seriously – this is probably one of the biggest takeaways I got from the conference.

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Chris Heuer: Closing session

• Whatever you call it, it's all some form of social media.
• Business is personal again - decisions are being made based on relationships first and foremost.
• We count on those relationships to infer trust. That extends to marketing relationships as well, with people so cynical of PR/mktg that they really only can trust the people they know.
• Accurate reputation ranking systems are still needed.
• Social bookmarking/news are a great way to be found, but also act to dilute the conversation away from the b