The Latest
February 28, 2008
HBO Channel
HBO recently announced their first branded channel on YouTube. The channel will feature clips from episodes of popular shows like Entourage, The Wire, Extras, Real Time with Bill Maher, Def Comedy Jam and the Flight of Conchords. The HBO channel also will have full episodes from In Treatment. In the future, the brand hopes to start YouTube channel only specials.
ESPN The Masters Coverage
This year ESPN will expand its Masters Coverage and include two social media tactics: podcasts and wikis. The ESPN Podcenter will have daily coverage from Thursday and Friday while including highlights from all four days. The ESPN Wiki will provide scoring, video and news highlights.
Yahoo Buzz
Yahoo announced its latest social media tool, Yahoo Buzz, which aims to compete against social media news sources like Digg. Yahoo Buzz will function just like Digg. Readers can rank article and videos to be posted on the front page of the site. The site will also track “top” searches for the day.
YouTube’s Weekend Outage
The outage was caused by the posting of an anti-Muslim film clip from Dutch lawmaker/filmmaker Geert Wilder’s upcoming expose on the Koran. Pakistan officials requested that the clip be removed from local versions of the YouTube site to prevent violence. Pakistan Telecom followed the orders, but instead of just blocking the video from local versions, an error occurred causing the order to block the message worldwide.
Go Fish Adds Social Network Wee World
The kid/teen on-line ad network increased its reach to over 18 million users by partnering up with Wee World. Wee World is a social network based on avatars.
Quitting Facebook Follow Up
February 25, 2008
Facebook reacts to its recent criticism for not being able to quit after joining the network. The site has added the question “How do I delete my account?” on the newly updated Facebook help page. The answer states, “If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, we can take care of this for you. Keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any content or information you have added. If you want your account deleted, please contact us using the form at the bottom of the page and confirm your request in the text box.”
The general feeling about the change is mixed. Critics feel it is not necessarily enough. They think it would be more convenient if the site would just have a “delete” button that can be pressed no questions asked. Others welcome the change and claim it makes a difference.
The site still claims that the only reason the question was not previously included was because so many quit the program and then rejoin after a short amount of time and that way user’s are able to retrieve their content.
Despite the argument, changes were made for the better. The critics are still bitter, but a majority of the population is satisfied. The problem is solved.
BlogTalkRadio and the Pentagon
February 25, 2008
Finally, the government is becoming more involved with social media marketing tactics to reach the nation. They have started internet talk shows that attempt to inform their internal audiences, public and blogger community about the Pentagon. The series began with “ASY Live” and “Department of Defense Bloggers Roundtable.”
”ASY Live” typically features a guest with an organization. It is mainly war-focused and features interesting interviews from how the troops are able to download free music to financial issues. They typically last anywhere from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Perhaps, they don’t always answer the questions we want answered from the Pentagon, but we all know that the Pentagon will never fully be openly communicating with the public. It simply can’t for both safety and security purposes. Some may say they are avoiding the ‘real’ issues by concentrating on ‘fluff’, but the ‘fluff’ tells the untold stories and continues to be interesting while telling real stories from the wives and tidbits of the soldier’s lives. In the end, it’s two-fold. I hope as time goes on, the Pentagon will be able to be a bit more open and weave both real news and “fluff” together into an enjoyable program.
For all those who are truly interested, check it out at blogtalkradio. Judge for yourself.
More News
February 25, 2008
Revver
Revver, the video sharing site, was finally acquired by online entertainment platform LiveUniverse. The site was sold for under $5 million according to NewTeeVee. Revver was founded by Brad Greenspan who also co-found MySpace and also operates sites like Glumbert.com, BlinkYou.com and LyricsDownload.com.
New Features for YouTube
According to Ian Schafer,the site will begin to offer active sharing. Active sharing allows users to share videos and watch them all at the same time. They are also planning on having a recommendation-like engine which will offer future suggestions for viewing. It will operate just like Amazon. YouTube will also upgrade its video editing tools so that users are able to post higher quality videos. Marketers will also be able to have access to additional user behaviorial metrics. Lastly, YouTube plans to increase distribution through mobile and large-screen TVs.
Kidthing–Kid-Focused Social Networking Site
February 25, 2008
If you have never visited the kidthing web site, you should. Kidthing is social networking site for kids. At first, I found the concept to be slightly alarming especially with all of the security and privacy problems normal social media marketing sites have been having. I’m happy to say kidthing is different.
The web site offers wonderful features for parents and kids. The site features ‘real’ graphics that really makes the page come alive. Kidthing is a free dowloadable player that essentially creates a secure world for kids to learn and grow. Parents choose the leraning and interactive content that their kids will see. Parents fill out the information about their kids. They don’t even have to complete the information. There are no advertisements and personal information is not sold to marketers. Kidthing also allows for personalization. They can view digital pictures of themselves within book pages or even hear their Grandmother’s voice reading a story. The site offers a specialized platform for schools, playgroups, families and much more.
In today’s digital world, it is absolutely neccessary to get kids exposed to the Internet at younger and younger ages. It exposes them to important computer and technological skills as well as social skills. The interaction that the site provides even helps promote learning. Kids may actually want to read and learn when they can read about themselves in the story or the butterfly flies out onto the screen. It’s all about that personalized, customized interaction. Even better, its great for all those families on the go or around the country. When mom is gone on business, she can still read her son a bedtime story. Or maybe its Grandma and Grandpa can still read and talk to their kids through the site. But at the same time, their life can’t be about computers and the Internet. They still need to actually run around and play with their friends or have personal interaction with their family. The Internet can’t be a substitute for interaction, but it is an excellent supplement. It’s all about a balance.
As of late, Kidthing is making their Web site even better. They are partnering up with children’s publisher Charlesbridge Publishing to distribute its educational books through the site. Best selling books by Julie Danneberg, “First Day Jitters” and Margery Facklam, “Bugs for Lunch” will be featured with interactive graphics.
For all you families, check it out.
Online VideoCensus
February 25, 2008
The Online VideoCensus discovered that most men and women watch videos online during the lunch hours of 12-2 and late at night on the weekends. 22% of women (18-34) went to watch their favorite shows on their network TV web sites. Only 12% of men (18-34) went to watch their favorite shows on their network TV web sites. On the other hand, 27% of men (18-34) watched video on user generated sites rather than the 11% of women.
Thanks to Cynopsis Digital for the following information.
Top 10 Online Video Destinations ranked by Total Video Streams for December 2007
Video Web Brand Total Streams (000) Unique Viewers (000)
YouTube 2,635,408 67,157
Yahoo! 371,922 26,596
Fox Interactive Media 364,113 18,650
Nick Kids & Family Network 177,461 6,966
MSN/Windows Live 111,700 7,174
ESPN 110,480 6,824
Disney Online 104,799 8,999
Turner Ent New Media Network 74,798 4,865
Google 60,113 10,656
Veoh 57,919 2,131
Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus, U.S. Home & Work
News Briefs
February 25, 2008
Rumors Fly about MySpace Music
MySpace Music is rumored to be signing major labels to offer tracks on the site as free ad-supported downloads or as paid DRM-free-to download songs. MySpace is supposedly asking Universal Music, Warner Music, Sony, EMI about its service.
Hearst Magazines Comes to YouTube
Marie Claire, Seventeen and Good Housekeepingare now posting video channels on YouTube.
Social Network Series: Kate Modern by Bebo
Kate Modern will shoot 7 episodes on the road this week from 3 different locations in the UK with Toyota’s Aygo Platinum. Kate Modern is an interactive social networking site by Bebo. So far within 2 weeks, the show has attracted over 5 million views.
Facebook Chief Revnue Officer Resignation
Chief Revenue Officer Owen Van Natta is resigning. He is one of the first executives to leave the company.
AdSense Details
Google announces the details of its AdSense video ad solution. The solution allows contextual InVideo overlay ads to a group of programming partners like entertainment portals blip.tv, Revver and My Damn Channel and how-to-video sites like BobVila.com and ExpertVillage.com. The system will search each clip and then pick an appropriate clip according to the subject matter and/or theme.
Membership Ethics
February 11, 2008
Should Facebook, MySpace or any social network users be able to fully delete their profiles? Not just delete your account, but remove all information relating to your account. Some argues that there shouldn’t be any footprints lingering or information leaked out to others long after someones left the site. A recent article by the NY Times has found that deleting membership to social networking sites is very complicated and at times seems even responsible. The question remains: Is this fair? Should these digital empires, keep their users personal information in their archives?
Most social network users have signed up without realizing the effects and the consequences of displaying personal information on the sites. At the time, they did not realize that the information they placed on the Web site would be permanent. If a Facebook user chooses to delete their account and have no record, it is recommended that they delete every piece of information by hand (line by line) relating to their account, ie. every wall post, message, picture, etc. After all of this, they must e-mail a customer service representative and request the deletion of their account. But even after all that, is the information really gone or is it still sitting in some archive.
In the defense of most social network users, there is a small disclaimer stating that the information on the Web site even after deletion may still remain in archived files for a reasonable amount of time. What is a reasonable amount of time? Days, weeks, months, years…try months.
As the digital age comes in full, we are entering a gray area. What is the extent of our privacy on the Web and where do our privacy rights fall?
On one hand, we as users of the Web are openly putting information on the Web where we know it can be seen by potentially thousands of people and perhaps if we are not comfortable with that fact then perhaps we shouldn’t be posting that information. Should users be held accountable for their actions and postings? Or can they argue naivete?
On the other hand, early users were not clearly warned about the implication of posting information on social networks and the permanency of their nature. It should be obvious, but perhaps it isn’t or at least not at first glance? Or is it our right to be clearly informed?
Other questions also remain like should marketers have access to all of this information?Many social networking sites are now thinking about or are currently selling their user’s profile information for data mining about the hard to reach 18-24 year old market? Users were not warned that their personal information would be sold/solicited to marketers. Is this fair? Do these sites have that right? Or did we as users give up our privacy right in posting the information and having a membership with the site? If we did give up our rights to our posted information to the network, is this fair? Where does the line fall? Shouldn’t there be an opt in/opt out option? Will there have to be Do Not Solicit My Profile list similar to that of a Do Not Call List?
There seems to be no true answer to any of these dilemmas. There are already several court cases in the works concerning privacy rights on-line, but the precedent has not been set.
As word gets out about the permanency of posted content on social networks, will membership come to a halt? Or will membership numbers drop? As of now, numbers have not severely dropped. But is this any indication of the future?
Looking ahead, social networking sites don’t seem to be a fad. But the only people who seem to care are these current dilemmas are those who have been affected by posting information on the sites. For all those who continue to participate in social networking sites, there is plenty you can do to limit the information about you on the site. First of all, use the privacy settings. There are a variety of privacy settings and they can be set to your ideal level of disclosure. Secondly, the key is to be smart about what you post and monitor what others say and monitor those comments/photos. If all else fails, follow a general rule of thumb, if it wouldn’t make your mom proud, then it shouldn’t be on the site.
The Facebook Update
February 11, 2008
Vodaphone Partnership
Facebook and Vodaphone UK teamed up to allow its 8.9 million mobile subscribers to receive frequent news updates.
Facebook in Spanish
The Translation project is now complete! A Spanish language version of the site is available and next week all Spanish speaking countries will see their profiles in Spanish. The site also is available in Spanish through selecting the language on the tab.
CBS March Madness Facebook Application
The application has been enhanced by CBS Sports to allow a CBS mobile component. Users will be able to fill out their brackets and compare results with friends through their mobile. Last year alone, more than 2.6 million Facebook users participated in the application. CBS Sports hopes to dramatically increase those numbers.
