Best of the Internetz 9
After a slight hiatus, BOTI is back, and there’s plenty to catch up on.
ShopAlerts
Something that has slipped under the radar recently is the news that American telco AT&T is launching “ShopAlerts” - a location based services that alerts users of special deals in their area. While we’ve seen programs like this from Foursquare and Facebook Deals, we’ve never seen something from a telco. It makes sense for telcos to tap into this though, and make more use of the functionality already built into their users’ phones. It works by sending you a text alert for a deal when you walk through the virtual perimeter of a shop offering a deal.
With proper filtering so users only get deals relevant to them, this has the potential to be huge. Definitely one to watch.
Disney’s Social Network
Disney have stepped up to fill the gap Facebook left open by banning anyone under 13 to join by acquiring a new social network – Togetherville, aimed at children under the age of 10. Togetherville differentiates itself by offering a safe place for parent-child interactions, where children can send virtual gifts and chat with their friends, while their parents monitor the activity.
Considering we have never seen a more tech savvy generation, is this a step in the right direction for Disney? And will this instil greater online awareness in the generation, as they grow up understanding how these networks work.
“Gaga explodes youtube !!!! again ;)”
This was a quote from a comment on Lady Gaga’s YouTube channel today, as she launched her new, 7-minute long video for her new single, Born this way. And this is exactly what she has done. Premiering the video on YouTube, in under 24 hours it has received millions of views, over 50,000 likes and in the time it took me to write this, had received over a 1000 new comments on the video. So it’s probably no surprise it’s the number 1 most discussed video, most favourited and the top rated video on YouTube too.
While Gaga is lucky enough to have millions of adoring fans, having this much interest in her video also allows her to get instant feedback as lovers and haters scramble to have their two cents heard. Gaga understands this perfectly and interacts with her fans regularly to keep them engaged and to keep them pushing her to the top.
To give your two cents, check out the video below:
Daft Coke
Speaking of icons, French clubbers, Daft Punk, are spreading their commercial wings again. We last saw them compose the soundtrack for the latest Tron film, and I guess a taste of the corporate dollar whet their appetite a little too much as they are now going into partnership with Coke to release Daft Coke.
This isn’t a joke. The promo will include Gold and Silver “Club Coke” bottles (also not a joke), but other than that, in stark contrast to Gaga, we know very little. There is a website “coming soon”, a few unofficial tvcs floating around on YouTube and a whole lot of buzz across blogs of all types, but to score such a coup as having Daft Punk involved, fans worldwide will be expecting big things. Stay tuned.
