nick burcher

Chartjackers "I've Got Nothing" - YouTube co-created Children In Need song

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:06:00 +0000

The Chartjackers have created a song to raise money for Children In Need and the track 'I've Got Nothing' has been created via YouTube.

Image from the I've Got Nothing YouTube video

"The lyrics of the [Chartjackers] song are made up of YouTube comments, compiled into a song by another YouTuber. The lyrics were released and then YouTubers wrote a melody for the lyrics, and we picked our favourite. We held YouTube auditions via video response to pick the band, found the producer of the song through YouTube, and the music video is made up of literal interpretations of the lyrics, clapping and singing along, by YouTubers! It's a bit YouTubey":

Out now! Only on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/CJBuySong (not available outside the UK yet, but it will be soon!)

Got involved with the project: http://youtube.com/chartjackersproject

I hope this spreads and raises lots of cash!

[via Mashable]

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X Factor - the ultimate in socialised TV?

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:40:00 +0000

The X Factor TV show is producing an enormous online echo. High levels of related Searches, significant activity on Facebook, substantial volumes of X Factor blog posts, ever increasing YouTube views and Twitter dominated by X Factor discussion every week.

1) X Factor Google Searches

Google Insights For Search shows volume of X Factor related searches over time:

X Factor - volume of related Google Searches by year (click for larger image)

The volume of X Factor related Google searches has been growing over time - with peaks in line with series broadcasts. 2005 grew on 2004, but then X Factor related searches stayed relatively constant until 2008 when they increased significantly. For 2009 Google Insights For Search are showing more X Factor related searching (on Google) than ever before.

Google Insights can also let us see when people are searching for X Factor terms. Looking at the current series by week we can see that X Factor searches peak every Sunday - corresponding to the Sunday night results show:

X Factor - volume of related Google Searches by year (click for larger image)

2) X Factor on Facebook

On Facebook there is an official X Factor Fan page with 849,409 Fans with The Wall updated regularly through the week and every few minutes while the X Factor is on air. These wall posts are generating huge engagement with thousands of comments per post:

X Factor Facebook Fan Page wall post with 10,133 comments (click for larger image)

X Factor Facebook Fan Page wall post with 4,685 comments (click for larger image)

The X Factor contestants also have official Facebook Fan Pages. Some of these have large numbers of fans. Here are the fan counts for the X Factor contestant Facebook Fan Pages (08/11/09):

Lloyd – 200,847
Olly – 126,665
Stacey – 107,026
Joe – 53,635
Lucie – 38,580
Danyl – 35,014
Jamie – 31,212
John and Edward – 19,584
Rachel – 17,444
Miss Frank – 15,293
Rikki – 5,375
Kandy Rain – 2,854

There are also over 500 Facebook Groups relating to X Factor, the largest being 'I bet I can find a million people who want the twins out of X Factor' with 281,055 members.

3) X Factor Blog posts

Google Blog Search shows that there have been approaching 3.5m blog posts referencing the X Factor since 1st July 09:

Google Blog Search results for 'X Factor' since 1st July 2009

4) X Factor YouTube

The X Factor YouTube channel hosts clips and performances and has 80,885 subscribers along with 6,366,302 channel views. 2009 X Factor videos have very high very numbers too, with Danyl's audition attracting 9.7m views and Stacey attracting 7.3m views - though John and Edward remain our favourites (!):

5) X Factor on Twitter

The most visible sign of X Factor driving online conversation is on Twitter. While the X Factor is on TV thousands of related tweets get posted. So much so that X Factor tends to dominate Twitter trending topics whilst it is on air, particularly during the Sunday results show. Last night 9 of the top 10 Twitter trending topics were X Factor driven:

X Factor dominating Twitter trending topics (click for larger image)

Show name (twice), contestant names, judge name and 'Black Eyed Peas' after they performed, all featured in the Twitter top 10 most common phrases last night. Every week Twitter is widely used as an X Factor discussion forum, but Twitter users last night seemed even more obsessed than normal. Thousands of tweets were being posted every minute and this carried on long after the X Factor had finished broadcasting - 'Jedward' is still in the top trending topics this morning.

Bil Tancer at Hitwise occasionally tries to predict talent show winners by studying Search activity, but there are now too many dynamics to interpret to be able to use internet data to easily predict X Factor winners and losers this year. When the internet was a one way street, then Search volumes were good indicators of intention / preference. However, new platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, blogs and Twitter fuel 'social influence' and contribute to the 'cumulative advantage' dynamic studied by Duncan J Watts.

Watts' argues that Justin Timberlake is a product of cumulative advantage, putting forward the idea that the 'most popular tend to get more popular' as social influence affects people's perception of quality. The herd mentality affects hits - rankings like the Top 40 / bestseller lists distort perception of quality and influence people's likes.

The visibility of shows like the X Factor in social media means that using search volumes to predict winners is not going to give the whole picture. The only way to use online data to predict X Factor outcomes would be to combine Search data with real time sentiment analysis in the period between the performances on Saturday and the results show on Sunday - not easy, or particularly cheap, to do.

It is clear though that compelling TV content does drive people to go online, often simultaneously - and you don't need research to tell you this when shows like the X Factor have such an obvious online echo!

(It may also explain Simon Cowell's 'inexplicable' decision to allow John and Edward to remain in the show - more than anyone they are driving X Factor Conversation, worth keeping in even 'if they can't sing'?)

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Keep The Wave Going - the MLB 'Mexico Wave' on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:03:00 +0000

Twitter is being overrun by (Kevin from the Jonas Brothers birthday tweets) and a message called 'Keep The Wave Going'.

The 'Keep The Wave Going' tweet is designed to look like a stadium wave / Mexico Wave and was tweeted last night by @MLB shortly before the Yankees completed another World Series triumph.

MLB 'Keep The Wave Going' originating tweet (click for larger image)

This Keep The Wave Going message is being extensively retweeted and remixed and continues to dominate Twitter. The initial appeal was obviously to baseball fans as the World Series came to a close and 9 out of 10 trending topics on Twitter were baseball related.

However, the interesting thing is to look at how the 'Keep The Wave Going' message continues to spread with different ideas attached to it eg NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK or ❤ symbols. This gives a good example of how messaging is re-interpreted as it spreads across the internet. It also seems to show that in this case people seem to be motivated to 'Keep The Wave Going' because they like the creative execution, more than perhaps they like the message itself?

I'm always a fan of unexpected creativity in small spaces online. The Keep The Wave Going tweet is reminiscent of when Sixt played with Adwords creative:

Sixt car creatives in Google ads

I wonder if anyone else will try to spread picture based tweets - this idea is surely ripe for an advertiser hijack?

Follow me on Twitter @nickburcher

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'Viral Loop' by Adam L. Penenberg - The Power Of Pass-It-On

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:20:00 +0000

At the Adtech London conference I presented my model of 'the Destination and the Conversation' and spoke about how everything now works together.

Traditionally it was (primarily) about pushing people to a Destination (a website, a microsite etc) through broadcasting a message along the lines of 'go here now!' However, the prolification of social platforms on the web has now added a second element to marketing, 'the Conversation.' The Conversation is where people discuss, share and interact in online social spaces - from blogs to Facebook to YouTube etc.

The Destination and The Conversation from my presentation to Adtech
(click for larger / higher res image)

Brands are now able to directly participate in and leverage this Conversation. This delivers traffic to the Destination, but in a more subtle and potentially engaging way than traditional broadcast messaging.

The real value though comes from a kind of built in, self-fulfilling loop. The more people who go to the Destination, the more prominently it features in the Conversation and thus the more people go to the Destination and so on (all the time improving Search Engine visibility and further enhancing 'discoverability.')

I go into more depth on how these mechanics work on a previous post about The Destination and The Conversation here.

This idea of a continuous loop is also a key component of a new book by Adam L Penenberg - 'Viral Loop: The Power of Pass-it-on.'

Viral Loop says 'the potential of pass-it-on lay unrealised until forward-thinking Web companies got hold of it and created their own, mightily efficient, money-spinning model known as Viral Loop - the ability to grow a company exponentially because the customers themselves spread it.'

Viral Loop is an interesting read, featuring a multitude of examples and first hand accounts as well as occassional theories on virality measures. The text covers examples of early viral loop businesses such as Ponzi schemes and Tupperware, before arriving at the current day with discussions of social networks and the like.

In some ways Viral Loop also acts as a history of Web 2.0, analysing some of the online success stories from recent years. Penenberg goes into depth on sites like Hot Or Not, looks at the origins of Hotmail (and how the Hotmail mesage footer spread the service), looks at Ebay and Paypal, how Birthday Alarm evolved into Bebo, browser wars and Marc Andreesen (charting his progress from Mosaic designer to Ning founder) before moving on to more recent developments such as Friendster, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

The book is also peppered with examples of how different people have harnessed the Viral Loop to gain attention for their products and creations. For example how independent film makers harnessed the Loop to gain attention for films like 'Four Eyed Monsters' and 'Open Water' or highlighting activity such as the Mentos / Diet Coke YouTube experiments - all set against the context of the Loop.

Furthermore, in its promotional campaign Viral Loop tries to practice what it preaches. The book has been serialised in Wired UK, has seen guest posts penned for sites like Techcrunch and Viral Loop has a trailer on YouTube here:

Viral Loop is also represented through specially created social applications. The Social Networking Application 'How Much Are You Worth to Facebook and MySpace?' can be accessed at viralloop.com/social and a Viral Loop Predictions App for iPhone can be downloaded through iTunes or from viralloop.com/prediction - with everything highlighted by the author on his @Penenberg Twitter account.

I recommend Viral Loop to anyone working in or around online / social marketing. The book provides a wealth of examples showing how the Loop has been used, as well as outlining some frameworks for planning / analysing viral distribution (viral co-efficients etc.)

A good read!

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My presentation to Adtech London - 'The Destination and The Conversation'

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Weezer and Snuggie - band sells new CD alongside the cult blanket with sleeves!

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Snuggie have a huge (cult?) following in the US. Not yet a mainstream phenomenon in the UK, but internet appearances are starting to give visibility to Snuggie products - none more so than Weezer's decision to sell their new CD in combination with a Weezer Snuggie!

Snuggie is a classic infomercial product. You never knew you needed a blanket with sleeves, but once the versatility of the product has been demonstrated you won't understand how you ever lived without one:

Snuggie

Snuggie has managed to crossover into mainstream conciousness quickly. A search for 'Snuggie' on Youtube reveals countless remixes and parodies - Snuggie has even been used in TV ads for Subaru in Canada:

Weezer have taken Snuggie integration to another level though. In the UK we recently saw Dizzee Rascal promote his latest album on TV with a Dizzee Rascal TV shop parody, but Weezer have actually combined sales of their new album Raditude with a customised Weezer Snuggie!

Weezer Snuggie shipping details

Weezer have a history of parodying themselves online and featuring internet meme hits in their videos and images, but taking a product that has become a cult must-have, re-cutting the Snuggie commercial so it features actual members of Weezer and then packaging the CD alongside the 'blanket with sleeves' is a masterstroke! Guaranteed to generate Conversation (approaching half a million YouTube views in just 24 hours) this is a really clever way of promoting an album and driving sales:

Could this be the Christmas that sees all manner of exercise equipment and lifechanging gadgets sold together with mainstream music releases?!

(Hat tip Rick at EyeCube)

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Sherlock Holmes Facebook detective game builds pre-release buzz for 'Sherlock'

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:12:00 +0000

The forthcoming Sherlock Holmes film, 'Sherlock', has launched a, Facebook based, online detective game called 221b.

221b Sherlock Holmes Facebook detective game

221b is a two-player game that runs through the events leading up to the first scene of the film. Players can choose to be Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson and investigate crimes, sift through evidence and solve mysteries.

221b Facebook Connect

The game is played out in 8 chapters, each with it's own mystery to solve. Based on Microsoft Sliverlight and Flash, the game also uses Facebook Connect (though won't update news feeds or Facebook status unless players give it permission too.)

Once registered players take a consultation to find whether they are best placed to be Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson:

221b Sherlock or Watson consultation (click for larger image)

and once decided players then have the option of selecting a Facebook friend to their partner in crime(solving).

The game is yet to start but is already emailing clues and information to be considered. 5 emails already so far!

221b - The Illustrated London News clue (click for larger image)

221b - 'The Detectives Art' (click for larger image)

221b 'Household Amusements' clue (click for larger image)

221b Egyptologist clue (click for larger image)

221b Almanac clue (click for larger image)

The game promises a 'rich audio-visual experience' and seeks to bring to life / create intrigue around the Sherlock Holmes stories and build excitement before the Boxing Day release in cinemas. A slick way of using Facebook Connect to bring the story to life and build pre-release excitement.

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New Guinness TV ad - sneak preview

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:40:00 +0000

The new Guinness TV is set to break in the UK this week. Shot in HD, the new Guinness TV ad will premiere on ITV and Sky Sports HD.

I have no idea what the ad is about, but have some behind the scenes shots and it looks spectacular:

New Guinness TV ad - behind the scenes (1)

New Guinness TV ad - behind the scenes (2)

New Guinness TV ad - behind the scenes (3)

New Guinness TV ad - behind the scenes (4)

New Guinness TV ad - behind the scenes (5)

I'm intrigued to see what the final ad looks like!

UPDATE:

Here is the final execution - the new Guinness ad 'Bring It To Life':

Definitely spectacular - the ad aims 'to parallel the way a pint of Guinness is created, the ad shows a group of men bringing "a world to life."'

What do you think?

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Guinness 'Tipping Point' and Pot Noodle's 'Tipping Pot' response

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Jordin Sparks / beinggirl.com 'Americas biggest sleepover party'

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:27:00 +0000

P&G's Always / beinggirl.com (the community site aimed at girls in their teens / formative years) have announced that Jordin Sparks will host "America's Biggest Sleepover" on Saturday, November 7.

Jordin Sparks America's Biggest Sleepover Facebook badge

The online event will be hosted at beinggirl.com and will bring together girls across the US for 'a night of fun, sleepover-themed activities' including games, recipes, hairstyling tips and advice from other girls on how to host the perfect sleepover party. Girls can register to be part of this event on beinggirl.com until November 7 and for every girl that participates in "America's Biggest Sleepover," Always will donate $1 (up to $25,000) to Protecting Futures, a program dedicated to helping girls in developing regions stay in school.

Beinggirl.com also will feature exclusive performances from Jordin Sparks including well known hits and tracks from her new album, Battlefield. She will also answer fan questions submitted on beinggirl.com and participate in other activities throughout the evening.

For more information about America's Biggest Sleepover, please visit www.beinggirl.com or the Facebook Event page. (Girls who are already subscribers to beinggirl.com will be automatically registered for the event.)

By connecting girls across the U.S. through a shared experience, 'America's Biggest Sleepover' is a great way of driving traffic / awareness for beinggirl.com whilst allowing like-minded girls to foster connections and learn from discussion in a safe environment - a good example of how 'social marketing' is not just about 'doing something on Facebook' (though Facebook is being used to drive awareness.)

America's Biggest Sleepover also allows Jordin Sparks to showcase her music and further her fan base in a uniquely, personal environment - a nice way of an artist giving back to her fans, whilst the sleepover deepens Always brand engagement by 'bringing people together and giving them something to do.'

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Scandinavian Airlines 2D code mobile boarding passes - SAS go fully paperless

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:27:00 +0000

After a successful trial earlier this year, Scandinavian airlines have announced that passengers can now use 2D code mobile boarding passes on flights operated by SAS and Blue1 across Scandinavia and Europe.

SAS mobile boarding pass (with 2D Code)

- When passengers check-in via SMS or the SAS Mobile Portal (http://m.flysas.com), check-in confirmation contains a web link and when clicked the Mobile Boarding Pass is displayed on the phone

- The Mobile Boarding Pass contains details of flight number, seat number, departure and arrival time - and it also contains a 2D Bar Code

- The 2D Bar Code can be used to register baggage at SAS Self Service Kiosks. Holding a mobile boarding pass up to the bar code scanner starts the baggage check process

- To board the plane the bar code is simply held up to a bar code scanner at the gate

SAS Mobile boarding pass benefits

Scandinavian Airlines / SAS have been pushing mobile services this year as they strive towards having 80% of passengers check-in using the internet or mobile. A few months ago a hard copy of the Scandinavian Airlines tongue-in-cheek 'Love At First Flight' guide to mobile travel solutions was sent to a large number of customers to promote SAS mobile products:

Love At First Flight guide to mobile solutions (read the whole story here)

The SAS mobile initiatives are a good example of how mobile marketing is more than just 'banners on a different screen.' Mobile should be seen as an enabler and there are great opportunities to harness mobile to improve customer experience. Full mobile check-in is a good example of this - making life easier for passengers and streamlining process for the airline at the airport.

So how long before mobile check-in becomes the norm?

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FooFighters live on Facebook from Studio 606 - Fri 30th Oct 7pm PT

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:26:00 +0000

Tonight the FooFighters will play live through their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/foofighters. The performance starts at 7pm PT / 10pm ET - or 2am UK time.

FooFighters Live concert on Facebook

Powered by LiveStream the FooFighters will perform at their Studio 606 headquarters in LA and the event will be streamed live onto the 'Livestream' tab of the FooFighters Facebook page.

Their is also an RSVP Facebook event invite here and Facebook users will be able to update their status from inside the Foofighters stream and see comments from all viewers on the same page. This creates 'community' around the event, whilst also acting as viral promotion, encouraging more people to watch as they see friends updating statuses.

On New Years Eve 2007 Radiohead performed their Scotch Mist concert and streamed it through YouTube and Current TV. In June 2008 RedBoxBlue performed the first live concert on Facebook and recently U2's Rose Bowl concert was streamed live on YouTube and attracted 10 million viewers. Official Facebook live events are becoming increasingly common too, first with Barack Obama's inauguration speech, then progressing to things like a live stream from the Bruno premiere - however, music performance seems to be the best fit for this type of activity and the FooFighters concert will continue to drive interest in real time streaming across social network sites.

For those of you staying up - enjoy!

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History of Google video - animated timeline and product summary

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:07:00 +0000

The history of Google, portrayed in a 2 minute animated film - 'The Google Story.'

I like this - a great way of bringing a timeline to life!

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Banners on flies - Eichborn micro insect advertising (!)

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:39:00 +0000

I attended Microsoft's Imagine09 conference in London yesterday and one of the speakers point forward the view that if you really wanted to get noticed then you need to follow the idea of 'étonnez-moi' ('astonish me') - if you really want to make an impact and stand out, then think big and dream the impossible (so called 'Dreamtelligence'.)

With this thought still in mind I get sent a link to this (by Mr.MadMenMedia) - posters on flies (!):

The headline reads "Eichborn fly banner at the Frankfurt Book Fair" and the final wording in the video is translated as "The banner was attached with wax and dissolves after a few hours by itself" - may be this is the ultimate in 'buzz marketing?'

If you look at reactions in the video I'm fairly sure this fulfils the 'étonnez-moi' criteria!

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DJ Hero - Eminem and Jay-Z TV ad

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:21:00 +0000

DJ Hero is out tomorrow!

DJ Hero have been continually uploading sample track clips to YouTube to build pre-launch buzz and have now got 29,000 Facebook fans and over 9000 Twitter followers (more on DJ Hero's social buzz building here.)

The mainstream advertising is now starting and the DJ Hero TV ad featuring Eminem and Jay-Z has also now been added to YouTube - a nice way of mixing celebrities with 'real people' to get the core game idea across:

Very excited about this release - looks like great fun!

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Google Music Search announced - YouTube video demonstrates forthcoming Google music service

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:17:00 +0000

Google have released details of the Google Music Search service that they are launching.

Info can be found at www.google.com/music. This Google page reveals the partners for Google Music (Imeem, Lala, MySpace, Pandora, Rhapsody, EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music) and also hosts a YouTube video explaining how Google Music will work:

The Official Google Blog gives further details on Google Music Search. Key features of Music Search are:

- when you enter a music-related query — like the name of a song, artist or album — your search results will include links to an audio preview of those songs provided by Google's music search partners MySpace or Lala. When you click the result you'll be able to listen to an audio preview of the song directly from one of those partners.

- Entering lyrics rather than artist / title into the Search box will still bring up the correct song in the Search results

- There is a 'discovery' function through partnership with Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody. Music Search results will include links to their sites where users can discover other music that is linked to the Music Search query.

Google Music Search will be rolled out across the USA over the next day. Other countries will presumably have to wait longer?

Music has long been a gap in Google's arsenal and Google Music Search will go a long way towards remedying this - with the partnership links making the service rich and useful. With recent announcements on Wave / social search and the like, it seems like the pace of Google innovation is increasing rather than slowing.

.....but one thing is for sure - Pub quizzes will never be the same again!

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Times Square - Toyota Prius iPhone app users co-create billboard ads

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Toyota Prius are allowing users of the Prius iPhone app to add graphics to the Toyota Prius ad running on the Reuters digital billboard in Times Square, New York (26th-28th Oct.) Users draw pictures using the Prius App and then click to send them to the Prius poster site for display.

The YouTube video below demonstrates the Prius app / Prius billboard combination in action:

There is also a live camera feed from Times Square that features the Prius iPhone enhanced digital poster site:

http://www.timessquare2.com/webcams_as3.asp?timestamp=20091026191713

I really like the idea of fusing digital and traditional channels and think User Generated Content on billboard digital poster sites is always going to be eye catching. The Prius Times Square site takes it to another level though by using the iPhone as the UGC facilitator whilst still staying true to the overall campaign idea.

(Furthermore the iPhone driven, Times Square Prius ad also generates buzz for the Prius iPhone App which promotes various Prius features in an interactive and interesting way.)

Can't wait to see what comes next in this campaign!

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Working iPhone Halloween costumes!

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Halloween meets technology as Reko Rivera and John Savio create the World's first 'working' iPhone costumes!

I have been reading 'Grown Up Digital' by Don Tapscott and he writes that 'NetGeners love to customise new product offerings, even if it means hacking', 'today's youth treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption' and '54% of NetGeners indicate they often modify "things I own so they fit who I am."'

The Halloween iPhone costume really illustrates these points:

Specifications are 42" Display, 1.5 Hours of Battery Life, 85 lb and the "real" iPhone can charge connected to the USB on the display. The two costumes have 3 batteries each with a total runtime of 4.5 hours before needing to be charged overnight.

The Savioshow YouTube channel gives more insight into how the iPhone Halloween costumes came about: "This all started two years ago Reko Rivera and Bobby Hartman created a wearable large iPhone costume with a real 37" lcd tv. An iPod was attached with a looping video of a real iphones screen in normal use. This time with the help of John Savio and John Matthews the team created yet another amazing rendition of the new iPhone 3GS. Savio loved the original idea but wanted to take it to the next level and make it thinner and actually work with user input! With some heavy researching and some solid determination Savio finally found a solution. He managed to modify the software on the iPhone to allow a live dual image output to the large 42" lcd tv while maintaining the image in landscape mode. Reko originally came up with the idea and really pushed to see his vision come to life two years ago. This year John and Reko plan to compete in most of the local and online contest to win back all the money they invested in the costumes. The team has about $2000 into the two costumes and has no regrets!"

Very cool and a great illustration of the customisation / re-engineering capabilities of the so called 'Net Generation!'

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The Berlin Twitter wall - Kulturprojekte Berlin and the perils of social media (part 482)

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:25:00 +0000

Kulturprojekte Berlin are celebrating the 'Fall Of The Wall' with a real world event at the Brandenburg Gate on 9th November and an ongoing social media tribute - 'The Berlin Twitter Wall.'

In 1988 the Berlin Wall and The Brandenburg Gate looked like this:

Berlin - Brandenburg Gate by nickburcher, on Flickr
The anniversary tribute Berlin Twitter Wall reflects on these times and looks like this:

The Berlin Twitter Wall (click for larger image)

The Berlin Twitter Wall is hosted at www.berlintwitterwall.com and syndicates any messages from Twitter that are tagged with the hashtag #fotw. The Berlin Twitter Wall encourages participants to "share your thoughts on the Fall of the Berlin wall now or let us know which walls still have to come down to make our world a better place!" However, this seems to have acted as a rallying cry for Chinese protest against the GFW (Great Fire Wall) and the Berlin Twitter Wall now seems to be dominated by tweets protesting against Chinese internet censorship...........

(The Berlin Twitter Wall also highlights the artwork that has been produced for the real world celebration on 9th November at the Brandenberg Gate. 1000 hand-painted Styrofoam dominos created by a collection of artists, politicians, celebrities and children will be toppled at the anniversary event and photos of the 2.5 metre high dominos are embedded into the Berlin Twitter Wall.)

The Berlin Twitter Wall is a simple but effective way of personalising the celebrations and taking the main event online / to a global audience - though after encouraging comment about 'walls that need to come down' there is now a difficult decision about whether to moderate anti-Chinese government internet protests.

Censoring activity that celebrates freedom doesn't feel right, but having an official German celebration 'hijacked' by internet users protesting about freedom in China is probably not ideal either.

A great project, but some difficult decisions to take - what to do?

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Spotify first TV ad

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:21:00 +0000

To date Spotify have been a 'viral loop business', however, Spotify have now started advertising on TV.

The Spotify TV ad is in Swedish and running on Kanal5 in Sweden, but the execution prevents this from being a barrier - you get the general idea regardless of your Swedish ability!

The viral loop model has driven adoption, but it's interesting to see mainstream TV being used to monetise Spotify premium services - is this aggressive expansionism or recognition of the fact that selling Premium subscription packages is critical for the future?

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Smithy - the John Smith's Race Horse

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:23:00 +0000

John Smith's bitter have announced that they will shortly be offering drinkers the chance to own a share of 'Smithy', a 3 year old thoroughbred racehorse.

Smithy - The People's Race horse

From January 2010 buying a pint of John Smith's in participating pubs will entitle the purchaser to register for a share in 'Smithy - The People's Race Horse.' Share holders will then be able to participate in Smithy's development through voting on various decisions as the season progresses.

Smithy's Yard

Everything is pulled together on a Smithy area of the John Smith's website at www.johnsmiths.co.uk/smithy. Here you can learn about Smithy's background, as well as meeting other important characters such as Dominique, Donald and Old George.

The Smithy website contains various multi-media information (with additional things like Facebook Pages promised shortly.) The crowd sourced football experiment at Ebbsfleet United saw a lot of buzz (if not necessarily long term success) and the Smithy promotion could create significant interest / discussion amongst John Smith's drinkers - though there is obviously a bit of a wait before this all goes live........

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Twitter comes alive around Nick Griffin on BBC Question Time

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:41:00 +0000

The leader of the Far Right British National Party, Nick Griffin, appeared on BBC Question Time last night. Joining a panel of politicians from mainstream parties, Nick Griffin was put on the spot by the audience and forced to explain his views / policies.

Almost every UK newspaper has featured Nick Griffin on their front pages this morning with widespread editorial coverage reporting what was said, reactions and the ongoing debate about the BBC and freedom of speech. The interesting thing for me though is not the press response this morning, but the immediate response last night.

The Question Time show was pre-recorded yesterday afternoon / early evening. We started seeing Twitter posts from members of the show audience, but, as the time of transmission approached, Twitter was alive with commentary about Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time - with 'Nick Griffin', 'BBC' and '#bbcqt' all top trending topics on Twitter as people debated the show and made comment.

TwitScoop shows how 'Nick Griffin' tweets grew last night:

TwitScoop showing volume of tweets including the phrase 'Nick Griffin'
(click for larger image)

We have seen primetime, event TV socialised through Twitter and live blogging (like Eurovision, the Apprentice or the FA Cup Final) but the Twitter response last night to a political debate show at 2230 at night was unprecedented.

8 million people tuned into Question Time last night (against a previous highest audience of 3.7 million) and many of them turned to Twitter to post real time comments on what they were seeing and hearing - instant reaction that mainstream media could use to gauge public reaction.

Last nights Question Time therefore gives another example of 'social TV' viewing (dual channel consumption - TV coverage, internet comment), but also demonstrates how wide reaching Twitter now is in the UK - and how effective Twitter can be in mobilising people to express political opinion.

By the time the UK election is announced next year, Twitter could have a significant role to play in election debate........

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VW 2010 GTI - mobile car launch through the itunes App store

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:05:00 +0000

Volkswagen have become the first automotive manufacturer to launch a car through the itunes App store.

VW 2010 GTI Real Racing App

Volkswagen of America have today announced the launch of the all-new 2010 GTI via the App Store by making available a free version of the popular Firemint Real Racing game that exclusively features the new 2010 GTI.

VW 2010 GTI Real Racing App - track shot

VW 2010 GTI Real Racing App - alternative track shot

The Real Racing GTI App offers one main track and six different 2010 GTI sports hatches. There are three game modes: Quick Race (against five others), Time Trial and GTI Cup Championship.

VW 2010 GTI Real Racing App in car view

The free Real Racing GTI App is available worldwide and allows players to experience the 2010 GTI on their iPhone or iPod Touch. Furthermore, across the next 6 weeks, US users of the Real Racing GTI App can compete for the chance to win one of six, limited-edition 2010 GTIs that are fully-customised inside and out. (More information on the competition can be found at www.vw.com/RealRacingGTI.)

VW 2010 GTI Real Racing App - alterntive in car view

The competition has also been socialised with players able to send messages to their competitors via Twitter and to capture and upload videos of their best Time Trial laps to the game's YouTube channel.

Interesting idea, will others follow in using mobile as an exclusive channel for car launches?

Related posts

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Mitsubishi torrent site treasure hunt - 'download a car'

Toyota Prius 'Random Acts Of Kindness' Facebook App

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Twitterfeed - now publishing in real time and into Facebook too

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:06:00 +0000

Twitterfeed have announced a range of new features including Facebook publishing, Google Analytics integration and real-time updating.

RSS is the invisible backbone of the internet. I contributed thoughts on RSS to Toby Bloomberg's Twitter Book and described RSS as something that 'makes your central content point (website, blog etc) like a radio station, with RSS broadcasting a virtual signal (aka a feed).' This allows internet users 'to consume content wherever they want' and lets marketers / publishers 'distribute content to multiple locations – Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter, other sites, email etc.'

There are a number of RSS services that syndicate feeds allowing content to be published in multiple locations. One of the fastest growing (and most useful) is Twitterfeed. Twitterfeed users add an RSS feed address to their account and Twitterfeed then automatically publishes links into Twitter - with users able to prefix or suffix tweets with a message and also track Twitter clicks through services like bit.ly.

Twitterfeed is responsible for a very large number of the links published on Twitter. To get a feel for the volumes go to Twitter Search and search using a query like 'news source:twitterfeed'. This will show details of any tweets including the word 'news' that were automatically syndicated through Twitterfeed - I have just seen over 200 tweets on this query in under a minute!

Twitterfeed number of feeds being published

Twitterfeed has grown quickly and there are now 350,000 publishers using Twitterfeed 'from the White House to CNN to John Cleese' (and www.nickburcher.com!) 600,000 feeds are syndicated and 5,500,000 clicks are generated by Twitterfeed every day.

However, Twitterfeed look set for a new spurt of growth. Twitterfeed have moved to a 'faster more reliable' platform and have announced new features that allow Google Analytics integration, Facebook publishing and Pubsubhubbub real-time publishing (RSSCloud for Wordpress is imminent too.)

Twitterfeed new feature summary

The new features will produce even more data for Twitterfeed users. The Twitterfeed Facebook publisher will give statistics for each Twitterfeed Facebook post, showing how many people clicked on posts from Facebook vs those from Twitter - allowing Twitterfeed users to better understand where social media strategy is working best.

Furthermore, Twitterfeed now adds special 'UTM' tags to each post that it publishes. Google Analytics can read these tags and integrate the information into its reporting. Twitterfeed users will now 'be able to understand how people clicking on posts from Facebook differ from those clicking from Twitter' and Twitterfeed users will therefore now be able 'to track the complete path of their visitors to the site.'

These changes will ensure that Twitterfeed continues to grow in importance - a really good service and one that seems to be getting better all the time!

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U2 live on YouTube - Sun Oct 25th!

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:29:00 +0000

The U2 'No Line On The Horizon Tour' is coming to YouTube! On Sunday 25th October 2009, U2 will be streaming live from the Rose Bowl onto YouTube. The U2 YouTube webcast starts at 2030 (PT) through the U2 YouTube channel at youtube.com/u2.

U2 YouTube 'One Band, One World' live concert broadcast

The full show will also be recorded and available for viewing on YouTube the following day, whilst a Twitter gadget embedded on the U2 YouTube channel will socialise the event.

A pre-event trailer promoting the live U2 YouTube concert is now on YouTube:

The U2 YouTube webcast is another example of how events can be socialised and taken to a global audience - and as YouTube becomes more of a distributor of professional content then this sort of thing is likely to become more common. This is not the first time that bands have streamed concerts live on the internet, but "U2 live on YouTube" could well end up being one of the most significant webcasts to date.

(NB - only available to viewers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, U.K., U.S)

UPDATE:

Here is the full live U2 YouTube concert live from the Rose Bowl in California. I don't know how long it will stay on YouTube so enjoy while you can!

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Technorati State Of The Blogosphere 2009 - Day One

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Technorati have started to publish the 2009 results of their annual 'State Of The Blogosphere' survey – today is day one and findings will be released in 5 parts across this week.

The Technorati 'State Of The Blogosphere' research was an internet survey that ran from September 4-23 2009 and carried out across a sample of 2,828 bloggers (predominantly US.)

The following audiences are included throughout the 2009 State Of The Blogosphere report:

• Hobbyists (72%)
• Part-Timers (15%)
• Self Employeds (9%)
• Corporate (4%)

[For the statistically minded the margin of error for the survey is +/- 1.84% at the 95% confidence level and larger for subgroups.]

The results are interesting and give indications of how blogging is evolving. Considering how many blogs are now in existence this is by no means a 'definitive' study, but it is big enough to give some interesting insight and is one of the most comprehensive blogging reports available.

Part One of the State Of The Blogosphere Survey answers the question ‘Who Are The Bloggers?’ Day 2 will revolve around the ‘What and Why of Blogging’, Day 3 ‘the how of blogging’, Day 4 ‘monetisation and revenue; brands in the blogosphere’ and Day 5 will be around ‘2009 trends.’ (I will re-visit this post once all results have been published.)

Today there are some interesting data that I thought was worth commenting on:

Survey respondents were male and old with high income and strong education (with 68% 35+ and 67% male):

Technorati State Of The Blogosphere 2009 - age and demographic profiles
(click for larger image)

The 4 different blogging segments – Hobbyists and professionals (comprising of Part-timers, corporate and self employeds) have differing motivations and activity levels:

- Hobbyists. Representing 72% of the respondents to this survey, hobbyists say that they blog for fun. They don’t make any money from their blogging - and only some would like to do so. More than any other group, though, Hobbyists say they blog to express their “personal musings” (53%). 71% update at least weekly, while 22% update daily. Because 76% blog to speak their minds, their main success metric is personal satisfaction (76%).

- Part-Timers. The next largest cohort, at 15%, part-timers say they “blog to supplement their income, but don’t consider it a full time job.” 75% of them blog to share their expertise, while 72% blog to attract new clients for their business. Their business and personal motives for blogging are deeply entwined - while 61% say that they measure the success of their blog by the unique pageviews they attract, 60% say they also value personal satisfaction.

- Self-Employeds. At 9% of respondents, self-employeds are in many ways the most professional of the cohorts. They say they "blog full time for their own company or organization," and 10% do report blogging 40 hours per week or more. 22% say that their blog is their company, while 70% say they own a company and blog about their business. Self-employeds also privilege page views (63%) over personal satisfaction (53%) as a success metric, and 53% are blogging more than when they started. Finally, in a demographic (bloggers) awash with Twitter users, self-employeds are the Tweetiest of them all — 88% say they use the service.

- Corporates. The smallest cohort, representing just 4% of respondents, pros say they “blog full-time for a company or organization” — though actually very few of them actually report spending a full 40 hours per week blogging. 46% are blogging more than they did when they started. 70% blog to share expertise; 53% blog to attract new clients for the business they work for. Accordingly, pageviews are the most important success metric for pros, valued by 69%, compared to 53% for personal satisfaction.

It is interesting to see how these people are blogging, with mobile growing in importance:

20% of respondents use their mobile to update their blog or add content (up 58% from 2008)
(click for larger image)

And blogs are growing in influence overall, with 38% of respondents claiming to have been quoted in traditional media:

Percentage of respondents who have been quoted in traditional media
(click for larger image)

The Technorati State Of The Blogosphere report is an interesting read and well worth revisiting as the different sections are released - blogging has come a long way since Technorati started the State Of The Blogosphere survey 5 years ago!

Related posts

Technorati State Of The Blogosphere 2008

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Conservatives on Spotify - a good idea?

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Burcher) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:57:00 +0000

This week will see the Conservative party in the UK start advertising on Spotify.

A 40-second audio ad with Conservative chairman Eric Pickles talking about debt (and the need to vote Conservative) will appear between songs for users of the non-premium, ad funded Spotify service. (This is the first political advertising that Spotify has carried and is mooted to start on Weds 21st October.)

Conservatives on Spotify - image from Benedict Pringle
On the one hand this targets digital-savvy, youth oriented audiences and Spotify's postcode targeting allows the message to be potentially refined by location. Furthermore this initiative has been amplified in both social and mainstream media with the 'Conservatives on Spotify' story generating headlines and blog coverage - and by association the Conservatives are positioned as 'modern' and 'forward thinking.'

Whilst Spotify audio advertising falls outside of the regulations that prevent party political radio / broadcast advertising, I can't help feeling that 'younger audiences' will not necessarily appreciate having their music stream interrupted by the voice of 'plain speaking Yorkshireman' Mr. Pickles?

The Spotify ads are a week long experiment and form part of ever evolving party political digital campaigning in the UK. So if the Conservatives on Spotify campaign doesn't work in the intended way then I doubt we'll see any more of this. If it is a success then expect more disruptive political ads on everything that is exempt from the traditional election rules - online video is not covered by the rules that prevent party political TV ads, online streaming services like Spotify are not covered by the regulations that prevent political radio ads and so on.

Though the big winners may be Spotify (and other similar services). 'Conservatives on Spotify' has drawn further attention to the service and on the one hand Spotify further monetise their free service by taking revenue from political parties, on the other an influx of political advertising may drive subscriptions / sign ups to Spotify ad-free, premium accounts as people try to escape political propaganda!

The case for Spotify accepting political campaigns is obvious, however, I still can't decide whether Conservatives on Spotify will make ad recipients more or less likely to vote Conservative......

Related posts

Myconservatives.com now with Facebook Connect

Speech Generator - user generated political conference speech remixer

#AskDC - David Cameron's live streamed Twitter sourced OU speech

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