You know that old adage, “If you can’t beat them, join them?” We’re seeing it happen more and more on the Internet. When the big recording companies could not stop the beast within that was called NAPSTER, they went into business with the site…
And so now we see that what began as an anti-piracy tool has evolved into a monetization and marketing tool. Say what? you say. Or is that, “Arraagh, me mateys, show us the bling!”
One recent trend noticed in the blogosphere is how users are preferring local blog posts, information, and news, over sites that are more national and global in perspective (that is, some New York Post reporter’s blog as opposed to a blogger who only discusses issues relevant to a region, city, or town). READ MORE
Consumer Control is Cool
One of the recent trends that has yielded positive results is the concept of relinquishing a product website over to the consumer — that is, consumer control.
Consumer control includes the un-moderated and un-censored freedom to post product reviews and commentary in forums, as well as the ease and usability of a website to go from landing page to sub-page without pop up ads and unwanted delays.
So many of us use one Google feature or another when we get online — from web searches (“Google it” is now part of our popular lexicon), email with Gmail, or the Chrome browser. Like any big company, Google is embroiled in a number of major issues in trends, the law, and culture, so it’s good to keep abreast of these as they could effect each of us, one way or the other.
Example: the U.S. Dept. of Justice weighed in on Google’s proposed book search settlement with authors and publishers, saying it should be rejected in its current form but that the parties involved should continue ongoing discussions. READ MORE
After some discussion and tons of iterations, Ninthlink has new business cards fresh off the press and scheduled to arrive early next week. This pile of mock-ups is a tiny peek into the process it takes to come up with the end result.
Webcasting is growing in popularity every day, as more net surfers prefer to have the message delivered in images rather than text. Many brands and companies realize this and are scrambling to put up video content and links to their sites — you’re probably doing this yourself right now, or are thinking about it.
The problem out there: low quality, bad production values, and sometimes slow servers; these three things cause the web cast to not be as pleasing-to-the-eye that’s necessary. READ MORE
Today, Twitter’s Biz Stone announced that the hot social media service has changed/updated its terms of service, which you can view here.
Busy Biz blogs:
Things have come a long way in a short time. We recognized potential early but users and platform developers would demonstrate how much more Twitter could be. Fostering an open and increasingly important network is not as easily dismissed as it once was… READ MORE
Sometimes social media marketing can be about damage control, and the faster a company can get a handle on the “disaster,” the easier the mess is to clean up.
Viralheat, a social media monitoring site that analyzes Twitter and over 200 other hangouts in cyberpsace, announced a new feature that will automatically alert marketers to any dramatic spikes in brand mentions. If a there is an uptick in Twitter activity, the Viralheat homepage will alert users of what is going on. Users can also sign up for hourly email reports to make sure that nothing is missed.
A good example of this: we noticed that the social media airwaves were all abuzz this past week about the lawsuit and restraining order German Company AG-Smartbook filed against Qualcomm over the name “smartbook,” resulting in an order that estops QTC from calling their product a “smartbook” in German territory. Our observations indicate that the buzz is in favor of Qualcomm as most people felt the name smartbook is generic and describes the “class” of product, not the product or brand itself.
What is interesting is that there did not seem to be any response from QCT on Twitter. So this is definitely an example of a need for staying on top of these matters via social media, and being able to respond to it quickly. A viral buzz via Twitter or Facebook could get out of control, gaining a life of its own, and negatively effect a brand; having a way and means for quick response and damage control becomes a necessity. Viralheat is only one service that provides such monitoring — the point here is to monitor any and all heavy chatter that could arise on a brand.
Niche Information and Reviewing
Much like cloud computing, in the near future, we will be taking our networks with us wherever we go. As long as we “allow” the sharing of information to our networks, there will soon be a day when you can log on to Amazon and not read random people’s reviews of products but instead read the reviews written by people within our personal networks. These networks are quickly becoming our best currency on the web; the integration and merging of information within our networks is the next popular trend. How much more valuable is it to you to see a movie review written by a friend or even more importantly written by a friend who’s taste you agree with? This type of segmentation within your own networks will be realized.
Reviewing: The New Advertising
Here’s what PR and ad firms and brands are starting to realize in trend-setting: product reviews are the new advertising, and they don’t cost as much. READ MORE
You know that long-running Twix commercial where the guy and girl are at a party and he tries to lure her to his apartment, saying, “I thought you were someone who wanted to blog about your ideals” and she replies: Oh, blogging! I LOVE blogging!”?
That commercial shows that Madison Avenue is aware of a trend online: the marriage of political activism and the blogosphere.
A connected trend: online communities forming and coming together to build a better planet — to think green, go green, work green, and engage in charitable acts that will have a domino-effect of postive change and compassion.
Ninthlink (Re)Presents Beautiful Organic Catering with Eco Caters fb.me/2AeuOI95D
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Ninthlink (Re)Presents Beautiful Organic Catering with Eco Caters
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Twitter Analytics for Everyone
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Coming Soon; Google AdWords Image Ad Extensions
Added by: Ron Weber on June 11, 2013
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Twitter Analytics for Everyone nblo.gs/M70dN
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