The good folks at Apple are expecting the iPad to be lots of things — useful, buzzed about… maybe even a cause for marital discord? Early word is that relationship coaching software and legal advice have been neatly packaged into the LoveU app, which is free to download for all iPad users. Recently, psychologists have written about the disconnect that happens to a couple when a third party gadget enters the picture. Apple, upon learning of breaking [Read more…]
Social Media Valentines for tweethearts of all budgets
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A recent article in the New York Times noted that Americans spent 14.7 billion dollars on Valentine’s Day purchases, down from the 17 billion spent in 2008. Retailers expect this year’s sales to dip even lower. The solution? Create affordable Valentine’s Day options for every budget and use social media marketing to get in on the act.
Below are three companies that are showing their customers love by using social media marketing.
New England Confectionery Company, creator of those chalky yet oddly tasty conversational Sweetheart candies has a special Twitter and iPhone app that allows candy lovers to create virtual candies with custom messages that they can share with the rest of the Twitterverse or keep private. The free app gives Sweethearts a modern makeover while allowing the brand to remain a holiday classic.
Hoping to speak to the bitter single girl crowd; LAB records has launched a Facebook group entitled, Say No To Valentines 2010: Help Portia Conn Hit Top Ten! The concept is simple: take one edgy girl with guitar, add jaded rocky lyrics, and serve to angst ridden teens everywhere. LAB invites Valentines loathers and Portia fans alike to join the group and stream her new single on their Facebook pages. The small label is wisely utilizing social media and holiday promotion to speak to their core audience.
Department store giant Macy*s is also hopping on the Twitter wagon with their “sweetest tweets” campaign. The retailer is in search of gushy tweeted love notes posted on Twitter from Feb. 1 through Feb. 13 to be entered in a promotional contest that features diamond jewelry giveaways. Valentine’s themed tweets are Macy’s modern replacement for traditional fill-out and win postcards and something anyone can do while pretending to work.
Search, social and mobile. Can’t we all just get along?
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Wouldn’t it be great if you could harness the power of search technology, mix it with all the top social media outlets and access it when you’re away from your clunky laptop? Well if you own an iPhone, your prayers have just been answered. Digital marketing powerhouse iCrossing just announced the release of a crazy cool iPhone app called “Say What?. According to iCrossing, “Say What?” is
“a free iPhone social media monitoring application that enables integrated search of Twitter, Digg, and thousands of forums and blogs. Say What? can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store.
This is the perfect solution for power users on the go who want real-time search data across multiple social media platforms right in the palm of their hands. According to a recent iCrossing press release, here’s how it works:
“Users enter a search term on a simple interface, and the latest conversations from each of the social media sites are returned in an easy-to-read format. Say What? displays the most recent conversations in aggregate, unlike searching social networks or blogs via a mobile browser.
Users have the option to dig deeper into the responses on a particular source, and a search history is saved so users can get easy updates for their regularly-searched terms.”
Between my Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and CNN apps, I may never have to take my face far away from the warm glow of my iPhone ever again.
Can you put a price on a pixel?
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How much should a pixel cost? Or better yet, how much should carefully arranged pixels that were once free cost? Well, more and more people are expecting their pixels to be free from the get go, that’s what attracted them to said pixels in the first place. Case in point, a new iPhone app for Twitter called Tweetie 2 was recently announced to be priced at $2.99 a pop. You would think the twitter universe would be gleeful considering the rave reviews for Tweetie 2. Think again. When actress Alyssa Milano let her fans know her displeasure about the new cost of the once free app, she let the world know by tweeting out a big “Boooo”. This, in turn, created a lot of debate on the subject of giving you something for free, then charging you for it later. Another example of how pixel pricing is creating some buzz comes to us from the world of another social media giant. A recent Business Week blog post titled, “Facebook users can afford to pay” , suggests that Facebook should cash in by charging users for services rather than trying to generate revenue via advertising. But if Facebook starts charging for stuff that people once got for free, wouldn’t that create an exodus to an alternative social media network, like Twitter, for example? As Twitter becomes more Facebook-like, that might not be such a bad idea. Just think, you would only have to manage one social networking platform at a time and you could let the other one collect dust on your browser. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea after all.
Viewers keep one eye on the TV and the other eye on the web.
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Neilson just released the Three Screen Report, a quarterly review of how viewers consume TV, internet and mobile web platforms. Overall, media consumption is on the rise. No surprise here. Also, web users are watching more video online, a 45.5% increase”“not really a surprise either. What’s interesting about this report is that more people are watching TV whilst surfing the web”“another clue that the convergence of web and TV is something that people want. According to the report, “57% of consumers with internet access at home watch TV and go online simultaneously at least one time each month.” I’ve been practicing this method for quite some time. Sometimes I even access the web through my Wii on my flat screen and download YouTube videos so I can watch them in the living room. I take this convergence one step further when I am in my office by streaming KCRW’s Chocolate City music while I watch TV, surf the web and write my blog entries. What was once considered the working regiment of an Attention Seficit Disorder sufferer is becoming the norm as the appetite for media grows. Another interesting bit of information coming from this report is that more people are watching video on their mobile phones; a 70% increase over last year. That’s huge! No wonder telecom providers like AT&T are having a hard time keeping up with the bandwidth of it’s users like this NY Times article suggests. Nothing guzzles up the data like downloading a video from a smartphone. So the next time I download a video on my iPhone while streaming Chocolate City, watching TV, surfing the web and writing my blog, I won’t feel like I’m all alone.
Lifecasters do it with the lights on or off.
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You think you spend a lot of time on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, your iphone, etc. You probably don’t hold a candle to a new breed of interneterati called “lifecasters” or “lifestreamers” . According to Wikipedia “lifecasting is a continual broadcast of events in a person’s life through digital media.” Many lifecasters transmit web content 24 hours a day, whether they’re awake or not, through more than one medium. Live video is the preferred medium for most lifecasters, but an ever-increasing number of this group employ social networking like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and blogging, texting and emailing in conjunction with live video feeds. According to a news article in The Press of Atlantic City lifecasters come in all walks of life. “Experts say social-networking junkies — people consumed with e-mailing, texting, tweeting, blogging, podcasting and videoing — are everywhere. They’re college students, marketing professionals and journalists. They’re attention-seeking extroverts and anxiety-ridden introverts. They’re young; they’re old.” If this trend takes hold in the mainstream I wouldn’t be surprised if soon we’ll be able to follow the Burger King mascot on his daily routine via a live video stream. Although I’m not so sure I want to watch “The King” walk into a bathroom whilst I nibble on my whopper. For now, we’ll just have to settle on bk tweets from the crowned one.