Well, we’ve had a bit of a hiatus lately but I’ve finished my travels and am back on board. What you may not know though, is that there have been some pretty major changes, which have happened. Not only did I finish up at LOUD Sydney, but I kept my bags packed and headed to Singapore to start at BBH to become their new Engagement Planner. If you are interested in hearing more about the move, check out my warts and all accounts at lincutripping.wordpress.com.
But back to the internetz.
ESPN-ville Facebook game gains 350K users in 2 weeks
A social game for sports fans, the ESPN game takes a Farmville style approach to make gamers run their own sports bar filled with sports paraphernalia and TVs streaming sports games. The games also allow you check out real time scores and listen to ESPN radio. But where this game is sure to really come into its own is the inevitable (at least I hope they are heading this way) opportunity to combine the real world with the gaming world by allowing users to stream live sports matches from within the game.
Gaining 350,000 users in just 2 weeks, this will be a game with enormous potential.
Instagram reaches 150 million photos
Instagram is the iPhone darling of recent times and the latest round of stats sees no slowing of its popularity. Instagram, the photo sharing app available only on iOS, has announced that they have had 150 million images shared through the app at a rate of 15 per second. But the really interesting fact is that 80% of these photos have used filters. So what does that say about us?
Hierarchy of digital distractions
Another great infographic from Information is Beautiful.
Yes, word on the grapevine is that Twitter is set to launch brand pages similar to Facebook’s pages to allow brands more space to communicate with followers. If this is in fact true, this will be a major change to Twitter and something which will either make it or break it. My prediction – it will break it. We already have FB so we don’t need a copycat. Stay true, Twitter. Stay true.
Angry Birds Rio
Are you an Angry Birds addict? How would you feel if you could play it guilt free for your client? This is how the promoters of the new movie, Rio, feel right now. Actually, not only are they probably guilt-free, but are probably high-fiving their way to the bank as their partnership with Angry Birds has given them 10 million downloads in 10 days. At $AU1.19 per download, that’s $11.9 million from a promotion. Win.
So what other apps are you obsessed with and how could you make them work for your clients?
Facebook for mobile
With over 250 million users logging into Facebook from their mobiles, it makes sense to have as much functionality as possible without impacting on usability. Facebook feel pretty confident that they can squeeze some more function into their mobile apps (let’s face it, there wasn’t that much to begin with so it was a fairly safe bet) and have launched maps, unfriending and most importantly, the ability to check-in to events, not just locations.
To be able to check-in to an event you have to be invited and RSVP’d “yes” to attending. Your location also has to match the location of the listed event venue, and it has to be the correct time of the event. This will be an interesting addition to watch as it merges real life social with online social. Update your software on your phone to start checking in now.
Vice and WPP join forces
Global, monolithic ad agency network WPP has become a major partner in Vice Magazine. Vice – an infamous youth magazine – is known for its cheeky and irreverent take on the world. An interesting acquisition you may think, but WPP have invested in the mag to further develop their content capabilities and no doubt, further blur the lines between advertising and entertainment. If they don’t kill the mag in the meantime, this will be a stellar move.
In a direct move to combat Facebook’s “like” button, Google have introduced the “+1” button. The button will appear on articles, websites, etc for you to click and give your “public stamp of approval” towards. While I love the idea of “+1” as it taps into an already well-used terminology and acts as more of a indication of agreement, be it good or bad, rather than the positivity of a “like”, when I stop to think about it, the possibilities that come with this (if it takes off) are actually quite worrying. Let’s not beat around the bush here, Google already know everything about your internet habits. But what they don’t properly understand is the sentiment around your habits. By introducing this button, every time you click +1 Google will be able to build up a more accurate profile of you in order to better target ads and search results to you. More so though, this is actually a really smart move by Google. As the US prepares to introduce a “do not track” option for web browsing, Google will need other ways to play big brother…and this is it. Let’s just hope they remember their tagline is “don’t be evil”.
Get more info here:
Facebook announces profiles can become pages
If you are one of the many confused brands out there that is struggling to manage a business page when people keep trying to friend your profile page instead, you’ll be happy to know some changes are coming. Profiles were set up to operate for people only, however as pages became more popular for brands, many companies were setting up profiles for their employees to work from to manage the brand. The double up of pages vs profiles confused users and many were friending and fanning both, resulting in information overload. Now businesses who have built up a big friend base don’t have to worry about losing them and can convert their profile into a page and administer the page via a business account. I’m still investigating whether profiles can be merged with existing pages – fingers crossed! Stay tuned.
Amazon Music and Cloud
Best known as book sellers, Amazon have moved into music. Better still though, Amazon have launched a cloud service so you can stream your music from anywhere. You can upload 5GB of music for free and an extra 1GB for $1 per gig. It will be interesting to see how this picks up. As the first major player to offer this functionality, they will surely make huge inroads, but as they are not known for their music, will people think to use them? And is Apple just letting them go as a test before they launch their own category smashing product? Regardless, cloud music is the next big step for the music industry and one I can’t wait for!
Ok, well this week is shaping up to be a bit of a Google edition, so forgive the apparent favouritism, it’s not intended but there has been some interesting things going on over there.
Google goes Gaga
In an interview dubbed “one of the most watchable pieces of tech-related content ever produced”, Lady Gaga popped into the Google offices for a 73 minute chat. Taking questions from fans via Twitter and YouTube, Gaga surprised and delighted throughout the live stream. Following the questions raised in last week’s Rebecca Black post about the validity of internet famous popstars, Gaga discussed how YouTube is in fact a “star marker” and Google’s role to help you find out more about your heroes once you know what you like. It’s not surprising that Gaga is one of the most searched stars/terms on Google, so there was actually a purpose to her making an appearance at the tech company. Check out the following video which sums up the impact of Gaga:
or watch the full interview here:
Paid Search adds video
Just when you thought you were search experts (thanks to Dom), Google goes and upgrades it again. Just launched in the US is a new “Media Ads” format, which includes a small video that expands when clicked. Initially this will only be available for movies, but I’m sure it won’t be long until you see commercials or the next “viral” hit make an appearance too.
Google Analytics is getting a makeover
If you use Google Analytics, get ready for a new dashboard. It’s going to be more customisable and you can have multiple dashboards so if you have a few people looking at the same analytics account, you can set the various dashboards to suit the needs and priorities of each user.
And in non-Google news…
Crowdsourcing event of the week
Coca Cola have joined forces with Maroon 5 to write and record a new song in 24 hours with the help of their fans. The session was streamed live and allowed fans to submit comments, potential lyrics and pictures to help inspire the band. The event generated a lot of buzz across social networks, achieving the objective of “fostering social discussion” the campaign set out to do. The finished song will be available for free download on April 1 from http://www.mycoke.com/htmls/CokeMusic. While you’re there you can also watch videos from the event if Maroon 5 take your fancy (no judgement)!
Ok, so this is probably the most exciting time of the year. SXSW has just finished up and the internet is buzzing with the potential that was unveiled at the conference. For those that don’t know, SXSW (South by Southwest) is the premier event for all things interactive, film and music. This is where the bar is set for what the world will be doing online, watching and listening to for the next year at least. Last year Foursquare was launched, 5 years ago it was Twitter. SXSW is amazing.
So here is what we need to watch out for over the next year…
Canv.as
The must see presentation at the conference was by a 23 year old called “Moot” aka the founder of 4Chan – the dirtiest, lowest destination on the internet where people can anonymously post images to a message board. It is also the single most influential place on the internet for this reason. It’s responsible for creating the Rick Roll, Lolcats and pretty much every meme you’ve ever laughed at on the internet. Moot, otherwise known as Christopher Poole, took the opportunity to announce his next project – Canv.as. Canv.as is dubbed the g-rated 4Chan and will give users the tools to manipulate images and post them to the site. Like a little meme factory, this has the potential to boom as it has the backing of Facebook. Currently in beta, stay tuned for more on this one.
Gaming
The world is set to become one big game over the coming years, but not in the form you expect. We already have the social behaviours ingrained into us, now the next step is gaming. Playing into the mindset that people will always want to “level up”, expect an element of competition or challenge to infiltrate the things we do everyday. We’re already seeing gaming inch its way into popular services with group buying sites using the countdown feature to raise excitement and location-based services creating competition in the places we visit, but the next year will see this build significantly. Game on!
Niche social networks
SXSW saw attendees embrace niche social networks that allowed them to communicate with their select group of friends/colleagues without bombarding their entire network with information irrelevant to non-attendees. The big hits were:
Group.Me - an app allowing group messaging, location and photo sharing so you can keep everyone in the loop easily
Beluga – like twitter for small groups, the app allows users to cut through the noise and post updates on what they are up to to keep the group informed. Newly acquired by Facebook so one to watch.
Niche networks will become bigger and bigger, as people detach themselves from the major players of FB and Twitter to reconnect on a more manageable level with specific groups.
And in non-SXSW news…
Rebecca Black
Well I guess it’s true you don’t need a lot of money to become a viral hit. Rebecca Black, a 13 year old girl who’s parents paid $2000 to the ARK Music Factory, a business who promise to make your child a popstar by recording a song and video then seeding it to YouTube. Black recorded a catchy song called ‘Friday’, that as of this morning has had 32 million views on YouTube (that’s more than Lady Gaga’s video for Born this Way), and with lyrics including:
“Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday | Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’) | Tomorrow is Saturday | And Sunday comes after…wards | I don’t want this weekend to end”
it’s not hard to see why. Make sure you give the video a watch to really understand the true brilliance of this song.
But while it is hilarious/disturbing to watch, the real debate has been behind the power of the internet to create these virtual stars. Is YouTube fame worthy of the same recognition as those who take a traditional route? And even with all the criticism, has Rebecca Black been successful?
Porn sites get unique URLs
.XXX has been confirmed as the new URL for all porn sites from here on in. While easily identifiable, the move has not been without controversy, as campaigners in the US have expressed concerns that this will make it easy for the sites to get blocked by governments.
Happy birthday Twitter
It’s Twitter’s 5th birthday and to celebrate they have created a fun video featuring all your favourite twelebrities including Snoop Dogg, Hilary Clinton and Richard Branson.
As a present to Twitter, why don’t you set up an account and start following 10 people in fields you are interested in. Use it for a week and let me know your thoughts.
New York Times introduces a paywall
Heavy readers of the NY Times will have to pay a $15 p/month subscription fee as of last week. As online news portals debate their options to build revenue, this move will be watched closely. Occasional readers will be permitted to read 20 articles a month before being charged and print subscribers will have unlimited access.
Phew, that was a big one this week. Hope you enjoyed it!
Well it’s the pre-SXSW edition of BOTI this week, and let me just say, I am freakin’ excited for next week. If the twitter stream is anything to go by, it’s going to be a highlight edition. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we still have this week to get through and there were actually still quite a few substantial announcements to document.
Al Jazeera’s new Facebook talk show
Arab news network, Al Jazeera, have announced they will be producing a talk show using content from social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, to drive the topics. This is an initiative aimed at attracting “a younger, more technologically connected audience than most other news talk shows”.
The move comes following the reliance on social media during the recent uprisings in Egypt and Libya, which gives an interesting look at the changing role of social media in society from narcissistic mirror to a news and entertainment source.
WiFi Cabs
Japan strikes again in the innovation stakes, introducing WiFi to their fleet of taxis. While business people might rejoice at being one step closer to being constantly online, you have to ask, should there be times when we need to log off?
Facebook’s anti-bullying strategy
Long accused of inactivity in the fight against online bullying, Facebook have stepped up and developed an anti-bullying strategy. With the aim of creating a “culture of respect” the new tools include a better reporting system for offensive or bullying content as well as a more community focused option, whereby people are guided through the possible options for action including privately messaging offenders, removing them as a friend or blocking them altogether.
It’s important to note that users must be over 13 to join Facebook in the first place. So, what do you think of these steps? Is the subtle but empowering approach enough or should Facebook be more aggressive in their steps to reduce bullying across the site?
SXSW
Everyone get excited because SXSW is happening right now! SXSW is the premier event each year to reveal what new technologies are going to emerge and dominate. Hold onto your seats because the next issue of Best of the Internetz is going to be awesome! If you just can’t wait until next week, check out http://sxsw.com/ or the twitter stream for all the latest as it happens – search #sxsw.
Last week the brightest thinkers from round the world congregated in Long Beach, California for the TED 2011 Conference. Speakers included Bill Gates talking about schools and Wael Ghonim giving an insiders view into the Egyptian revolution. If you didn’t get up at 3.00am to watch the simulcast in Bondi, you can catch a snapshot of what you missed here: http://conferences.ted.com/TED2011/
A really lovely initiative at the conference was a competition for the best Ads worth Spreading. The competition sought to reward advertisers who “reversed the trend of online ads being aggressively forced on users” and was implemented to “nurture ads so good you choose to watch”. To see the ads which made the cut, check out the full list here: http://www.ted.com/initiatives/aws
Or my two favourites: Chrysler – Imported from Detroit
Dulux – Let’s colour
iPad 2
Yes, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock last week, you will have heardthat Apple have released the long awaited iPad 2. There may not have been any major surprises with the announcement, but the new features are set to open up a new level of interaction. While the two cameras are touted as perfect for Facetime, they are also perfect for augmented reality, which with this release, could experience its tipping point. Expect to see a whole onslaught of apps taking advantage of the cameras.
In addition to this, the way we use tablets is set to change. The iPad 2 has taken the tablet from being a passive piece of technology where we merely consume info, to being a tool for content creation. With its touch screen capabilities, the iPad 2 allows users to edit, remix and create with accuracy not possible from a laptop.
Again, if you haven’t heard about Charlie Sheen’s antics last week, where have you been? Not only ranting his way across every talk show in America, Charlie also decided to rant his way across Twitter. On Thursday morning, Sheen had 90 followers and no tweets. 24 hours later, he had over a million followers for his 12 tweets. While his bio might read: “Born Small… Now Huge… Winning… Bring it..! (unemployed winner…)” perhaps the most intriguing part was his hashtags. Branding many of his tweets with the interesting hashtag of #tigerblood, which has been a trending topic for 5 days now and dominated Twitter on Thursday night, he also uses #winning, #planbetter and #teamsheen sporadically throughout his tweets to make his point.
While you might just think it is a joke, Charlie has realised that Twitter gives him a direct voice to his fans and the public, which cannot be edited by the media. He is replying to his fans and using the channel to be open about what is happening and for the most part, actually using it very well. While it could be seen as a risky strategy as one misstep could see him come undone, this is probably his best move yet, as the power it has already given him is immense.
What is more interesting though, was the rush by brands to ride Charlie’s coattails. McDonald’s cashed in with this interesting addition:
While the Red Cross dropped this witty tweet for one of the most popular tweets of the night:
If you are on Twitter, I recommend you follow him at @charliesheen to keep up with his hilarious tweets and if you’re not on twitter (you should be), here’s a taste of his gold:
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.
What does this mean for you? Well Farmville is a huge growth channel for advertising with Bing taking out a full paddock a few months ago to build their Facebook fans and McDonald’s creating a branded farm for the day to reward punters with virtual goods, so the advertising world in social gaming is booming too.
YouTube drops its 15 min limit
Yes, you can now upload videos of unlimited length. As services in the US such as Hulu.com increase in popularity, is this YouTube’s attempt to cash in on some of this television program and movie hosting action? Will we start seeing YouTube set up partnerships for paid content and unlimited, on-demand viewing? Should Foxtel start getting worried? Probably.
R.I.P. Delicious
The online bookmarking tool is face to face with its demise this week as Yahoo announced it has been thrown onto the scrapheap. If you are one of the thousands of people with years worth of articles bookmarked here, best to start migrating to another tool. Talk to Dave about instapaper.com for an alternative.
iPad iAds have arrived
Tron has been the first to demo the iAds for iPad. Complete with the movie’s trailer, the story, the soundtrack (Daft Punk for those playing at home), a gallery and where it’s showing, it makes for a slightly more interesting experience than your average banner ad. These ads set quite a high barrier to entry by requiring such innovation and creativity but as they start gaining more traction, they will revolutionise what we know as online advertising.
A new social media site dedicated to charities launched to the public this week. Allowing you to follow charities by interests, the site gives you an easy way to track what the charities are up to and donate accordingly. Still in early stages but this will be one to watch. http://www.jumo.com/
Slam Champs announced
Technology can be confusing and overwhelming and let’s face it, we already feel like we’re in over our head, without trying to get our head around the myriad of new tools getting released constantly. So a while ago Google launched a project to get people comfortable using their products. Dubbed Google Demo Slam, people could make videos about the cool ways they use Google products and then battle against other videos to see which was the coolest. Well now the winners have been announced and they are pretty impressive.
Not part of the Demo Slam comp, but still pretty cool, turn Google translate into a beatbox:http://bit.ly/fwvfyt
Still confused about the internet?
Google comes to the rescue again with the intricate workings explained via virtual picture book. I guess it’s Google’s version of “the internet for dummies”. http://www.20thingsilearned.com/
Kim Kardashian is dead
At least her twitter account is. K-dash and her fellow twelebs (that’s a celebrity on twitter) including Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake have sacrificed their digital lives and will not post anything on their Twitter or Facebook pages until they can raise $1 million for World Aids Day. Get the full story here.
I'm Lindsey. I work in advertising, but I'm also an ex-record store, high fidelity-esque Aria Award winner. I'm a trend hunter, music obsessed and a pop culture tragic. I collect watches and scarves & I love to travel to anywhere completely different to home. I'm an Australian living an adventure in Singapore.
