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Olympics
Sponsors have a new name for the Vancouver Olympics: the Social Games.More consumer eyeballs will be on computer and mobile phone screens during the Winter Olympics than on TV screens. Coca-Cola says that while 100 million saw its Super Bowl ads air once, online interactions with the ads now number more than 500 million. The Olympics will be no different.Sponsors have spent months creating strategies aimed at nudging folks to mingle with their brands online and share virtual goodies with friends."Virtual goods and currency are becoming enormous," says Rebecca Lieb, vice president at Econsultancy. But, she cautions, "It needs to be relative to the Olympic Games and your brand."Visa is getting a bigger boost in pre-Olympic buzz online than any sponsor, reports LBi, an interactive ad agency. "Social-media buzz is important because it makes ad dollars work harder," says Joe Schab, CEO at LBi.Social-media plans for four sponsors:*Visa. About 40 percent of its Olympic marketing funds will go to digital, four times the past share, marketing chief Antonio Lucio says. It created a YouTube channel where its six Olympic spots can be seen before they air on TV. Folks can pick their favorite and enter to have their name appear in the ad.*Coke. The brand created a virtual snowball fight for consumers to share via social media. It also has an iPhone app with NBC that has sounds of cheering, air horns and a Coke being poured. Coke-sponsored athletes will tweet on Twitter about their experiences."Every piece of our Olympic marketing has a social and mobile component," says Katie Bayne, marketing chief for Coca-Cola North America.*McDonald's. The chain has created a virtual scavenger hunt: How Do You McNugget? The first to figure out such things as how Olympic athletes eat McNuggets can win a trip for two to the 2012...
Twitter
Dave Magnusen has never used Twitter, yet it bugs him."It's a form of communication, but it's not very social," says Magnusen, 55, a database administrator in Durham, N.C. "You can't ignore (Twitter), but it's kind of sad how it's replaced people talking."Tony Fuda feels the same way. The Niles, Ohio, native is particularly irked by tweets that insist on sharing the most mundane details of life."Do we really need to know that you just put your pants on, just brushed your teeth, just ordered a hamburger, just finished dinner, just walked out of the bathroom?" he says.Magnusen's and Fuda's gripes underscore a strong undercurrent of resentment -- and incredulity -- by non-Twitter users toward the social-media service used by tens of millions.Backlash among anti-Twitterers -- reflected in scores of recent online comments to USATODAY.com -- often center on unfamiliarity with the technology, its often narcissistic bent and the "random" use by many of its advocates, says Joseph Turow, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania."With the advent of every new medium -- books, radio, TV, social networks -- there is a built-in fear, social concern, that it will lead to lack of productivity and a general sense of dysfunction," he says. "This is one of the tropes of the arrival of any new media. Many consider Twitter a fad."Twitter spokeswoman Jenna Sampson pointed to a recent blog post by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. In it, he acknowledged the company has work to do in reaching out to those who are new to Twitter. "Defining a 'tweet' ... doesn't resonate with everyone," Stone wrote.Earlier this month, Twitter bashers had another reason to send their tongues wagging: A new study concludes that 40 percent of tweets are "pointless babble."Pear Analytics categorized 811 out of 2,000 random...
Stagnant MySpace Lays Off 400 To Become Nimble
MySpace is looking to return to its online upstart roots -- and the first step is to shave 400 people from its workforce.By reducing staff nearly 30 percent, MySpace hopes to restructure into a more innovative, efficient and entrepreneurial business. The plan crosses all U.S. divisions of the company and cuts the total number of domestic MySpace staff to 1,000."Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company," said MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta. "I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace. Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centered on our user and our product."Is Facebook to Blame?The move to lay off staff comes as Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who owns MySpace parent News Corp., looks for ways to revive his digital business assets. News Corp. acquired MySpace in 2005 for $580 million at the beginning of the social-networking craze. At the time, it was the leading social-media portal, but Facebook and Twitter have taken some of the shine off the brand and the company isn't meeting its financial goals."MySpace grew too big, considering the realities of today's marketplace," said Jonathan Miller, News Corp.'s CEO of digital media and chief digital officer. "I believe this restructuring will help MySpace operate much more effectively both structurally and financially moving forward. I am confident in MySpace's next phase under the leadership of Owen and his team."Van Natta took the CEO reins from Chris DeWolfe in April. DeWolfe, who was responsible for growing MySpace from a seven-person firm to a leader in social networking, continues to serve on the board of MySpace China and is a strategic adviser to the company, but News...
Iran Protests: The Whole World Is Watching, Flickring, Tweeting
"The whole world is watching" was one of the loudest rallying cries of Vietnam protesters gathered in the streets of Chicago outside the Democratic convention in 1968. Forty-one years later, the same slogan still applies and is even more relevant in the chaotic streets of Tehran. Thanks to social media technologies, the whole world is indeed watching Iranian citizens rise up against suspect presidential election results.
Motorola
Motorola on Monday announced the Cliq XT Google Android-based handset, a keyboard-less new handset that will use the Motoblur platform and be known as Quench overseas. The device, which uses a full virtual QWERTY and sports a rounded square navigational touchpad on the front, offers a new messaging feature called Swype for text entry. Judging from this promotional video, Swype is a drag-your-finger-around instead of tap type of input: The Cliq XT/Quench is Motorola s eighth Android device to date, and was announced at Mobile World Congress 2010. The handset is aimed at the same social media-meets-multimedia audience that the original Cliq was, and its new media player allows users buy and download music from a store as well as integrate third-party apps such as ...
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