Posts filed under 'Media'
Posted February 15th, 2008 by Scott
With so many restrictions and guidelines in place for the media during the Olympics, I thought it was interesting to see this announcement made today by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowing competing athletes the ability to blog. The IOC considers blogging as “a legitimate form of personal expression and not a form of journalism.” This is interesting to see because I feel that blogging is absolutely a form of journalism; especially since we live in a world where companies are now reaching out to their PR agencies more often to “leak” new product information to consumers online.
I think that allowing blogging is a great idea and could potentially generate more of an audience for the Olympics (which equals more brand exposure for sponsors). People have the ability to develop a personal interest in athletes if they choose to follow them via their blog. At least they can get the athlete’s take on events prior to NBC’s report hours after the events occur.
This definitely adds another notch to blogging’s belt 
.
Posted February 8th, 2008 by Neha
Fashion Week in 2007 was the year for the celebration of staple institutions in the fashion world. Lacoste was applauded for 75 years of defining timeless and Ralph Lauren took a much deserved bow at the end of the runway for 40 years that have reshaped the industry.
As last year applauded the traditional, Fashion Week 2008 has embraced the new. New media that is. In 2006, bloggers were handed the much vied for press passes among the Anna Wintours of the industry. 2008 sees another first on this front. IQONS.com, a social networking platform that has connected some of fashion’s premier young talent with the industry’s superstars, was enlisted as a media partnership, alongside longtime traditional media partner The New York Times.
I find the most compelling aspect of social media to be the ability for a community to contribute their own thoughts and build upon one another’s ideas. It gives everyone a voice, even those who don’t get those prized seats at the runway. So I find it fitting that with the induction of this new media partnership, IQONS will circulate the first issue of its user-generated magazine among the jewel tone clad fashionistas perched under the white peaks of the Bryant Park tents. Meanwhile I will shiver in Boston, and try to live vicariously through some of my favorite fashion bloggers (Fashion Tribes) who were given the ultimate nod from the industry by getting press passes to arguably, the most glamorous week of the year.
Posted January 11th, 2008 by admin
I caught an episode of “Access Hollywood” the other night. One of their feature stories was the re-launch of their companion website www.accesshollywood.com – Who cares, right? Well, Access Hollywood does…and BIG time (and they should). While I was intrigued by the length and depth of airtime given to this story, it was host Billy Bush’s voiceover commentary that grabbed my attention. In it, he described how central and integrated Access Hollywood’s website has become (in a very short time) to the distribution of entertainment news & media. What used to be a second thought to the on-air broadcast is now a rush to post content online.
And then while watching CNN’s coverage of the New Hampshire primary results, I literally had a “holy crap” moment: Suddenly my “viewer experience” became a seamless “user experience” because of the way CNN converged its online and on-air media.
The highly watched cable news network managed to pull this off in a number of ways:
- Purposeful Crossovers: The on-air broadcast of the results maintained a persistent running tally of votes framed around the visual commentary – if a viewer was watching CNN in HD, they’d get access to additional data points along both sides of the frame. Throughout the broadcast, host Wolf Blitzer would lead viewers to reference their laptops and check out CNNpolitics.com in order to drill down and hone into more granular real-time specifics. While lots of broadcast programs lead people to the web, it was the effortless, integrated, “live”, and complementary nature of the use of their website that grabbed me.
- Embedded Content: At certain points throughout the broadcast, CNN would feature segments from the various campaign’s live video feeds and direct viewers to CNNpolitics.com to tune into any of the candidate’s specific coverage for further viewing and analysis. Since the on-air broadcast only gave samplings of each campaign event, viewers were easily able to target their preferred candidate online and augment the on-air content. Although CNNpolitics.com was referenced constantly throughout the broadcast, it wasn’t disruptive – it felt right.
- Integrated Look & Feel: CNNpolitics.com was a natural creative extension of CNN’s “Election Center” set design and broadcast graphics. The two mediums visually became like one. Viewers who frequently turned their attention from being an online user to an on-air viewer felt a single, integrated experience.
The fundamental shift in the way in which we consume and interact with media has now tipped the scale from the after thought of “supporting Web information” to primary online content. We’ll be seeing many more examples of this in 2008 as TV continues to become an inefficient content consumption technology.
Posted September 24th, 2007 by Neha
Rumors that 14 year old Disney star Miley Cyrus is pregnant circulated around radio waves bright and early this morning. The radio program, Matty in the Morning, had assistants frantically trying to confirm these rumors. Once upon a time, when a rumor needed to be verified, contacts at print publications like US Weekly were on speed dial. Yet, this morning the contact that was bombarded with phone calls and email was none other than the most notorious blogger.
Listeners were assured that all efforts were being made to contact Perez Hilton to solve the mystery of the alleged pregnancy. Kerry, a member of the Matty in the Morning team, proudly stated that she had Perez Hilton’s cell phone number and another team member was simultaneously flooding Perez’s inbox with inquiries.
A brief post on Perez’s blog quelled the rapid rumor and put it to rest. But one thing remains true - a shift became apparent this morning when traditional media turned to social media for news and content. The blogger used to generate content by scouring magazines and gossip columns in newspapers but now Perez Hilton, the king of gossip, has emerged the ultimate source of
Hollywood chatter.
Posted August 21st, 2007 by admin
Heavy.com, providers of such online video hit series as “Superficial Friends” and “Behind the Music that Sucks” has today announced the public beta of its own ad network, The Husky Network.
According to the press release, Heavy will be wrapping video players, such as YouTube or Revver, with branded skins and selling them on a CPM basis. According to the screenshot below, Heavy will be dropping a big static pop up on your page with a hole in the middle for the video to play in.
Posted June 28th, 2007 by Kevin
Last week, Digital Influence Group Chairman, Larry Weber, celebrated the release of his new book, Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business, with a launch party at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Mass. Drawing on his three decades of experience, Larry provides a roadmap for all marketers looking to harness the power of the social web to enhance brand awareness and create effective customer communities. The early reviews are in and here is what people are saying about the book:
• “The Social Web is an intriguing but scary place for marketers,” said Josh Bernoff, Vice President at Forrester Research and co-author of Groundswell, an upcoming book on business strategy and social technologies. “Marketing to the Social Web is the guide you need to enter this world with confidence. Let Larry Weber take your hand and show you around – you’ll profit from it.”
• “Larry has brought pragmatic and useful recommendations to help brand builders manage the complexity of social interaction in a digital age. I was pleased to read a book that actually suggests how to do something with social networks, instead of just ponder them.” – David Kenny, Chairman and CEO, Digitas Inc.
• “Where’s the allure of social 2.0? Brands can talk…customers talk louder! Digital influence has arrived.” – Jeff Taylor, CEO, Eons and Founder of Monster.com.
• “Larry Weber provides a simple and effective roadmap of the new customer information highway. Marketing to the Social Web is a valuable tool that will give everyone the confidence and know-how to compete in this fast-growing marketplace of ideas.” – Steve Harris, Vice President, Global Communications, General Motors Corporation.
Of course, in the spirit of the social web, we want to hear reviews from some of the lucky few who were able to get their hands on a copy of the book already. We’re happy to answer questions and will keep you updated on the progress of the book as more news becomes available.
If you’re interested in learning more or purchasing a copy, please visit the books site here.
Posted May 8th, 2007 by Andre
Don’t have a 512Mb video card and 2gigs of RAM? Longing for old school RPGs where the characters were 2D sprites? Compulsive MySpace/Facebook checker? Do you like anything Anime style?
Gaia Online is for you.
Gaia Online is a cross between an old school RPG and a social networking site. You can build a member page, ala MySpace and Facebook, communicate with friends, and meet new people, but at the same time it offers things that other social networks don’t: continuous gameplay.
That’s right, you can do quests, buy, sell, or trade items, build up your avatar with the newest and most awesome items, armor, clothes, and weapons. You can interact with other people in a 2D world, you can fish, gamble, play slots, earn money and a multitude of other prizes to gear up your avatar.
Here’s what they have to say:
“Founded in 2003 by a few comic book fans in a garage, Gaia Online has become the fastest-growing hangout on the web. Millions of teens come to Gaia every month to play games, make friends, and participate in the world’s most active online community.”
Source
Gaia has millions of members and boasts that it has “nearly two million unique visitors… each month” and that “three hundred thousand members log in to Gaia every day, and those members spend an average of two hours on the site daily.”
Two hours, that’s a ton of time when you think about it in context of daily web surfing. How long do you usually spend on Facebook or MySpace once you have been using it for a few months? You check your friend requests, group requests, answer some messages and maybe a wall post or two. Total time? For me, that’s about 15 to 20 minutes a day, every other day, then I’m gone.
What does this graph say? Well, that Gaia Online’s usage by its members per day is growing at 3 times the rate of MySpace’s usage and 300 times that of Facebook.
So what’s the appeal? Well, there is just that much more to do in Gaia Online.
From the site’s about page:
- Online Hangout: Millions of teens spend hours a day on Gaia, exploring, chatting and just hanging out. Whether they’re posting on our forums, participating in special events, or playing our multiplayer mini-games, there’s always something fun to do.
- Endless Customization: Gaia revolves around creative customization. Every member can create their own virtual character and dress it up with over five thousand items: clothes, accessories, pets, masks and just about anything else imaginable.
- Thriving Community: Gaia Online boasts one of the most active forum communities in the world with over one billion posts to date. Members can chat in our online games, post messages on our forums, or send each other private messages.
- Gaia Gold Marketplace: Gaia Online is free to join, and members earn free Gaia Gold for everything they do on the site- posting, playing games, or just hanging out. Members can buy thousands of items in our virtual stores, or they can set up their own shops. Our virtual auction house lets members buy, sell and trade their items– over 50,000 auctions are completed every day!
- Fun and Games: Members can interact, have fun, and earn Gaia Gold with our quick and casual online games. They can also go head-to-head in our Avatar Arena to see who can make the coolest virtual outfit, or test their talents in the Art Arena, where thousands of members vote on the best original artwork.
With a thriving economy, endless items and engaging games, there’s always a reason to stay an extra 10 minutes on Gaia.
Here’s my avatar:
He likes to rock the Scythe, but he has a softer side, shown by his love for his “mimzy,” one of the collector items that were introduced to Gaia Online to promote “The Last Mimzy” movie.
A social network exploding in size is nothing new, but now that they are aging, keeping those same users interested and logging on will be the make-it or break-it for many fledgling networks.
Link to my original post
Posted April 13th, 2007 by Kristin
Oh boy! Mitt Romney wants to know what you believe is America’s single greatest challenge in a video he posted on April 11 as part of the YouChoose ’08: Face the candidates on YouTube. So far he’s had almost 111,000 views, 600 comments and 27 video responses.
Let’s take a look at a representative sample of the comments so far:
- I’m terribly sorry that you’re an idiot. Please don’t share it with me.
- America was in NO WAY founded on religion or the bible. Where do you get your history? Many of the founding fathers were NOT Christian.
- Skip the 10 commandments and let’s just go with “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”
- Thou shall not kill that includes sending people to another country to do your dirty work all for oil. This country is being run by the mighty dollar and big corporations, and with the religious fanatics as cheer leaders.
- Just Google this guy. He tries and come off like a good guy, but he’s just another shady politician.
- Education. Especially when it comes to religion affecting schools/education/scientific progress.
He’s certainly engaged the community… which is a start. But I doubt these are the responses Romney was hoping for. What might’ve helped? Here are a couple of basics:
- Lose the white dress shirt and tie. Look like one of “us”.
- The background is way too staged. Living room couch, flagged by family photos. Ugh. Smarmy.
- Drop the politician speak. If you’re gonna take a minute of our time, say something. Don’t pussy foot around. Tell us what you think is our single biggest challenge.
Posted January 2nd, 2007 by Kristin
Everyone has different standards for what they share/forward to their friends and family online. One of my sisters appears to have no such standards – tasteless jokes, pictures that make me cringe, and animations that could get me fired.
I think the stuff I share is qualitatively better; that my family and friends think to themselves, “Wow, Kristin thought this was cool, so it must be worth checking out!” On a side note, at 33 I still think that Jaws could live in my parent’s swimming pool – a slight drawback to having an overactive imagination.
So anyway, I’ll let you be the judge. Here are five things I couldn’t resist sharing in 2006.
1) Brawny Academy – “I’m the Brawny Man, but my friends just call me Brawny Man.” Thank you Georgia-Pacific for taking a risk on highly entertaining online advertising. Don’t know if it sold paper towels, but it sure cracked me up.
2) Matt Harding – Kudos to Stride Gum for sending Matt around the world to create this awesome video of himself dancing in amazing places. The resulting video ranks among YouTube’s Most Viewed (All Time) list.
3) Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty – Maybe I’m revealing my sappy side here, but yeah Dove for creating a campaign worth being proud of. Truth speaks volumes and may develop brand loyalty.
4) Ze Frank – Here’s a concept: a video blogger with talent, intelligence and a killer sense of humor. You go Ze!
5) Brookers – She’s the frosting on my mini-wheats – not high quality, but it’s the sugar that gets me through the day. I think it’s her irreverence that brings me back again and again. She ranks #4 among YouTube’s Most Subscribed (All Time) channels.
Posted December 19th, 2006 by Andre
I could tell it was coming, I just never figured it would be this soon. On Wednesday, Dec. 13th, TIME Magazine released their TIME’s Person of the Year: “You”. Suddenly, all around the world, bloggers and other social media aficionados could feel their egos getting just a little boost.
The article is definitely on the right track, the power of the social web is amazing. Although for a lot of people, harnessing that power may still seem like controlling a fusion reaction. It’s now up to established media and those paid journalists to figure out how to do it better than ever in 2007. Digital Influence Group has been doing just that, and is always striving to improve.
Everyday, at work and at home, I read through blogs, search YouTube and social networking sites, and I am always thoroughly entertained and appalled by what the Web 2.0 has to offer. So here’s to all of you, the pioneers of the 21st century frontier!
(a parody of Budweiser’s Real Men of Genius)
“Time Magazine Presents: Person of the Year”
(Person of the Yeeeeear)
Today, we salute you, Mr. and Mrs. Blogger-YouTube-Second Life-MySpace users
(Mr. and Mrs. Blogger-YouTube-Second Life-MySpace users)
What do you do with all the free time you have?
You post about life’s littlest things, and the most important events of the century
All from your Helio cell phone
(don’t call it a phoooone)
When the man tries to take you down,
All you have to do is show him how many friends you really have… on MySpace
(you’re not on my top 8 )
Oh, you fantasy football hero, you Second Life rock star
You don’t have the glory or the fame, but you sure can party like one
(touchdown!)
So crank up that high speed DSL connection, oh sultans of web media.
That funny YouTube video just isn’t going to blog itself.
But seriously folks, is it really “amateur hour” as Richard Stengel, TIME’s managing editor, talked about on his post? I don’t think so, yet. Let’s just say that there are some new big kids on the playground. There are real people out there blogging and posting to make a difference in their communities, online and offline. There are those those unpaid journalists who strive to get information out to the masses. Of course, who can forget all those who do it all in order to entertain, enlighten, and make our days a little brighter. And no matter how tiny “your” voice is, “our” voice can be loud. Hey, no one can really tell what the web will be like in one or two years, but I, for one, am excited to be a part of it.
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