Dove Onslaught Exposed

tags: social_media_useful

This video, which is cited in John Conroy’s iMediaConnection piece, shows the risks of viral video campaign. The producer points out that the same company that brought you the Dove Evolution campaign promoting girls’ self-esteem also produces the sexist campaign for Axe deodorant. You just can’t get away with being a giant corporate conglomerate these days!

Online social networks | Everywhere and nowhere

tags: social_media_useful

The Economist looks at the user-hostile limitations of today’s social networks and concludes that they can’t survive in this form. Having to log on to each service separately and being unable to communicate across them is an unnatural act. The article draws a parallel between Facebook/MySpace/Twitter and Compuserve/Prodigy/AOL. Ultimately, the “walled garden” model fails.

Keep viral video from coming back to haunt you

tags: social_media_useful

Viral campaigns can blow up in unexpected ways. In this example-packed opinion piece, John Conroy talks about how easy it is for companies to become vulnerabile to charges of insincerity and hypocrisy if they don’t consider all dimensions of their public perception before embarking on a viral campaign.

Shot heard ’round the auto world

tags: advertising, social_media_useful

General Motors will shift half its $3 billion annual advertising budget to digital and one-to-one channels during the next three years. That’s a huge jump from the $197 million it spent online last year. Other auto makers are likely to follow. Hyundai has said it plans to double its online spending. More ominous for traditional media is that a GM executive recently told Ad Age that told Ad Age that the company will try to persuade its regional dealer ad groups to shift their dollars to digital advertising and away from spot TV.

The Experts vs. the Amateurs: A Tug of War over the Future of Media – Knowledge@Wharton

tags: social_media_useful

What’s the difference between user-generated and professional content? It’s becoming harder and harder to tell as bloggers become more professional and some professional publishers put out amateurish bloggers. Experts agree that the business models that have long supported traditional media are decaying, but there is no consensus on what will replace them. In the meantimg, the user-generated content phenomenon is booming, putting more pressure than ever on readers to apply their own filters.

Companies Court Convenience-Food Blogs

tags: social_media_useful

Even though food bloggers don’t get huge traffic, food makers are discovering that their influence can help make or break a new product. Many are reacing out to bloggers as a standard part of their new product evaluation programs.

Eric Schmidt Thinks Microhoo Could “Break the Internet”

tags: social_media_useful

In this Conde Nast interview, The Google CEO also explains why it’s unlikely Google would buy The New York Times, how it manages to hire 100 people a week and why he’s concerned about the mobile market.

Online Advertisers To Spend Through Turbulence

tags: social_media_useful

As bad as the dot-com bust was, the industry that emerged from it was a more potent advertising force. The same effect could happen in this recession. EMarketer sees online ad spending continuing to grow as the economy slows, with online video leading the way.

The Social Shopping Craze

tags: social_media_useful, social_shopping

One of the hottest new categories of social media is social shopping, a peer-to-peer experience in which buyers exchange information about their favorite products and brands. This piece looks at why social shopping is so popular and what the big sites are doing to monetize their traffic.

Social Network Users Becoming More Affluent  Annotated

tags: social_media_useful

The rate of affluent US Internet user participation in online social networks increased dramatically to 60% in January 2008, from 27% in January 2007, according to The Luxury Institute’s latest WealthSurvey “The Wealthy and Web 2.0.”

Further Evidence That Crime Really Does Pay

tags: social_media_useful

The owner of Georgi vodka said he is in talks to put the derriere of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s call girl on the backside of every bus in New York.

Why direct marketing and social media don’t click

tags: social_media_useful

A post on Emerson Direct’s blog suggests that direct marketers are too focused on short-term results to realize the true benefits of social media marketing, which are improved customer relationships. The article suggests that direct marketers should be looking to YouTube to accomplish virally what their direct mail campaigns attempt to accomplish. You can get quick response and a multiplier effect as interested people forward links to interesting content to their friends.

The Wall Street Journal signs the praises of blogging for small businesses

tags: social_media_useful

• There are several very good anecdotes here of small business-owners who have used blogs to gain an international audience and score impressive sales wins.
   – post by pgillin

Memo to Hillary and Barack: YouTube Is a Two-Headed Beast : StraightUpSearch, March 7, 2008

tags: social_media_useful

• OneUpWeb says it’s amazing that the political candidates aren’t optimizing their Web presences for search. It also includes a link to Hillary’s perfectly-timed answer to Jon Stewart’s opening question in her March 3 Daily Show appearance.
   – post by pgillin

Lip Dub – Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger on Vimeo

tags: social_media_useful

Here’s a great viral video that has the dual effect of promoting both the service that hosts it and the ad agency that created it. The lip-synch involves dozens of agency employees, some of whom are clearly drinking beer, and shows the agency to be a fun a free-wheeling place to work. It’s scored almost 1.5 million views since launching last April.