“If someone wants money they almost have no choice but to take money from corporate sponsors. But a lot of times I feel like music is now post-apocalyptic because everyone is making it in the shadow of this huge music industry that hit the ceiling and crumbled and is never coming back. If we ever get to the part when Mr. Clean is sponsoring experimental rock acts to play the end of the world, then I’ll be incredibly sad/legitimately happy.” – Jordan Michael
Archive for 2012|Yearly archive page
Bob Lefsetz on the press release
In Armchair Marketing on December 19, 2012 at 10:34 am“Who and what is this mysterious press you think is salivating for this information, eager to distribute it around the world to individuals whose lives will be changed when they receive it? Your work is your press release. Its virality will depend on its quality.”
The web is being rebuilt around people, not content
In Social Media, Technology on November 5, 2012 at 3:18 pm
“There is overwhelming evidence that the web is being rebuilt around people. This is not a small change, it’s a fundamental re-architecture. We’re moving away from a web that connects documents together to a web that connects people together…Businesses that place people, rather than content or technology, at the center of their business model are thriving and in some cases outperforming incumbents.”
-Paul Adams, Global Head of Brand Design at Facebook
Creating meaningless digital churn
In Social Media on October 19, 2012 at 12:05 pmThis is what Paul Adams would call “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” and what I call “creating meaningless digital churn.”
Batman goes to San Francisco, Facebook and Twitter HQ
In From the Road on October 15, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Normal people paying to promote ham sandwich-eating posts on Facebook? Yep.
In Social Media on October 3, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Earlier today I was telling a client about Facebook’s recent Edgerank algorithm tweaks that further hamper the organic visibility of Brand Page posts in a user’s timeline.
You may have noticed fewer posts from brands on your own timeline (or that the majority of posts you do see from brands are photos or “like-bait” updates that are designed to drive attention rather than communicate messaging). This is all by Facebook’s design to retain users, drive engagement and monetize brands.
Simply put, Facebook is slowly clamping down on marketers’ free ride on the platform, and paid media will continue to emerge as a necessity when building marketing programs on Facebook.
Today, Facebook took that quest for maximum likes, comments and shares to the next level, introducing promoted posts for the average user.
That’s right. If you want to make sure more people see your update about that garage sale, block party or ham sandwich you’re eating, just pony up a few bucks to reach a wider audience.
After you publish a post, a Promote button will let you pay to bump up its rank in the news feed — making it appear both higher in the feed, and to a larger portion of your friends. Unpromoted posts are typically only seen by 12-16% of your friends.
After you Promote a post, it will be marked “Sponsored”, and you can check to see how many more people saw it because you paid. For example, you’d see “So far you post has had 3.8x as many views because you promoted it.”
Promoted posts are already live in about 20 countries, and although detractors are shouting the rich will soon own the newsfeeds, I tend to believe we’ll adjust to in-stream advertising from our friends more readily than from brands vying for our attention.
Here’s the new option in action:
Would you pay to promote your own status? Maybe I would pay for you to see this post. Or maybe not.
Drones, Kites and Balloons! Oh My!
In citizen journalism, Social Media, Technology on September 12, 2012 at 4:19 pm
I got pretty amped about drone journalism this time last year, and it’s slowly catching on within grassroots media organizations and those looking for an affordable, accessible way to tell a story from the air (election protests in Russia, Improv Everywhere in NY).
You won’t see CNN or NBC with drones flying above the Presidential inauguration or next high-profile court case — this year. But it’s my bet major news organizations are going to adopt this technology very soon. It’s cheap. It’s nimble. And nevermind those pesky privacy laws, drones get you into spaces journalists typically have to break trespassing laws to view.
Personally, I’m still waiting for the client opportunity where we can buy a camera-mounted hexacopter drone to capture brand content for a client. But, they’re a little pricey… today. We’ll get there.
And that’s why I’m excited for this organization who is creating high resolution maps using low cost, DIY technology like kites, balloons and cheap digital cameras.
Their most impressive effort to-date was mapping the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science’s (PLOTS) maps were the only high resolution images available at the onset of the spill and spread all over the world media because access to airspace was restricted and planes could not capture aerial photos using traditional methods.
Sunlight Foundation just posted a very good video feature on PLOTS. It’s worth watching and reading the entire piece if you have a few minutes. PLOTS website is also a treasure trove of cool technology capturing stellar images.
At the very least, I expect one client event activation in the next 6 months to include kite- or balloon-mounted cameras. That’s a dare!
Construction season
In Home Projects on September 10, 2012 at 11:11 pmNew sewer, new water main, new street, new storm sewers, new curbs, new boulevards, new sidewalks, new trees and lots of noise and dirt. And cutting down century-old trees…
And still a long way to go.
