Marketers are moving their budgets into more measurable categories in the global economic downturn, and that means digital.
Have a read of this interesting emarketer article.
- Sam
Thursday 30 April 2009
Monday 27 April 2009
Thought-activated Twitter-ing
More interesting developments in the world of Twitter, as the platform takes on a serious tone.
A US biomedical engineering student has developed a way to post messages on Twitter using electrical impulses generated by thought. By donning an electrode-fitted hat which hooks up to a computer and monitors brain activity, the user can post words by simply focussing on a desired letter. The computer senses which letter has been picked and starts to flash in response.
The implications could be hugely significant for those suffering from paralysis and "locked-in syndrome" – whereby a brain functions normally but the person cannot speak or move.
Twitter’s simplistic format and usage method lends itself to the potential for exploitation in this area.
- Sam
A US biomedical engineering student has developed a way to post messages on Twitter using electrical impulses generated by thought. By donning an electrode-fitted hat which hooks up to a computer and monitors brain activity, the user can post words by simply focussing on a desired letter. The computer senses which letter has been picked and starts to flash in response.
The implications could be hugely significant for those suffering from paralysis and "locked-in syndrome" – whereby a brain functions normally but the person cannot speak or move.
Twitter’s simplistic format and usage method lends itself to the potential for exploitation in this area.
- Sam
Tuesday 21 April 2009
Death no obstacle to micro-blogging
Historic Royal Palaces, the independent UK charity that looks after the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace, among other royal venues, has set up the Twitter identity IamHenryVIII.
Henry 8th will be tweeting from beyond the grave, giving followers updates from events, such as his coronation, which took place half a century ago.
Henry 8th was apparently a doyen of modernity himself, using the most modern means available to him to bring about change and reform. The campaign is an interesting way of imitating how modern day public figures such as Obama have used micro-blogging in communication to the masses.
- Sam
Henry 8th will be tweeting from beyond the grave, giving followers updates from events, such as his coronation, which took place half a century ago.
Henry 8th was apparently a doyen of modernity himself, using the most modern means available to him to bring about change and reform. The campaign is an interesting way of imitating how modern day public figures such as Obama have used micro-blogging in communication to the masses.
- Sam
Cash incentives for micro-blogging
AQA 63336, the text question and answer business, has launched a micro-blogging service that allows users to set up their own free SMS feed and get paid each time updates, news, offers and alerts are sent to their subscribers' mobiles. AQA2U can be used by the casual user or businesses alike for whenever they wish to share information with friends and colleagues, or fans and customers.
Coined “micro-blogging with a business model”, publishers will be incentivised by AQA with the offer of 25p per text, up to a maximum of £3.50 per month. The financial incentive lies in maximising the amount of subscribers each publisher can commit to sign up. For example with 250 subscribers, someone could earn up to £3,000 per year.
Charities are especially incentivised to get on board with the service as they receive the full cut of 12p per text normally pocketed by AQA. The Samaritans, WellChild and Straight Talking are already signed up for the launch.
If users are passionate enough about a particular brand to sacrifice a few pounds per month to keep in touch, then this could well be an effective business model.
- Sam
Coined “micro-blogging with a business model”, publishers will be incentivised by AQA with the offer of 25p per text, up to a maximum of £3.50 per month. The financial incentive lies in maximising the amount of subscribers each publisher can commit to sign up. For example with 250 subscribers, someone could earn up to £3,000 per year.
Charities are especially incentivised to get on board with the service as they receive the full cut of 12p per text normally pocketed by AQA. The Samaritans, WellChild and Straight Talking are already signed up for the launch.
If users are passionate enough about a particular brand to sacrifice a few pounds per month to keep in touch, then this could well be an effective business model.
- Sam
Mood-based ads with your Metallica?
Spotify, the free music streaming service, is to launch mood-targeted advertising, according to reports.
Spotify already employs demographic targeting for its display and audio ads, and has now accounced it will be introducing the new mood-targeting within the year. It is also available as a premium service without ads.
“If you're a brand that needs to reach people in a relaxed mindset – perhaps they're listening to Ibiza chill-out or Mozart – we know that 15-24 is in that mindset and therefore you can serve the right brand to them,” explains UK Sales Director Jon Mitchell.
Not that all Mozart is relaxing of course, so hopefully Spotify will be narrowing down its categorisation for this mood-targeting not just by artist but also by tracks.
- Sam
Spotify already employs demographic targeting for its display and audio ads, and has now accounced it will be introducing the new mood-targeting within the year. It is also available as a premium service without ads.
“If you're a brand that needs to reach people in a relaxed mindset – perhaps they're listening to Ibiza chill-out or Mozart – we know that 15-24 is in that mindset and therefore you can serve the right brand to them,” explains UK Sales Director Jon Mitchell.
Not that all Mozart is relaxing of course, so hopefully Spotify will be narrowing down its categorisation for this mood-targeting not just by artist but also by tracks.
- Sam
Wednesday 15 April 2009
Major music company teams with Google to launch ad-supported video online service
Universal Music has partnered with Google to launch Vevo.com, a new ad-supported online music and video service. Vevo will act as a premium online music video hub, hosting Universal Music’s official music promo videos.
Additionally, Google’s YouTube has renewed its partnership with the record company to give users access to User Generated Content videos containing music from Universal’s artists. On YouTube, this content will be available exclusively through a new Vevo channel and branded video player. Google and Universal will share advertising revenue from both platforms.
Content creators are clearly still getting involved in the ad-funded content arena. It will be interesting to see what the take-up is for this new service, and whether the ad-funded model is still alive and kicking.
- SamThursday 9 April 2009
The Hottest Brands on the Web
Ever wondered what the most talked about brands on the web are?
Well here is your chance to find out as the Social Radar has measured the top 50 brands for the month of March 2009.
The list is determined by the number of individual websites with at least one post per brand. Place your bets... Twitter or Facebook?
- SamMonday 6 April 2009
Twitter Developments
Recent buzz around developments in social media has included a possible buy-out of Twitter by Google, suggesting the microblogging service’s content is valuable to the search giant’s search engine index.
The posting of millions of real-time comments, musings and announcements is clearly an important development in search and social media as a whole, as companies such as Google look at ways of mining data for information otherwise sought in a search engine.
Twitter recently launched www.exectweets.com whereby users can find and follow the insights of top business executives, including Virgin’s Richard Branson. Exectweets.com was launched in partnership with Microsoft, demonstrating how major brands can get involved in sponsoring the service. Given that Twitter hasn’t yet worked out how to generate revenue, despite being hugely popular, this is an interesting venture into third party advertising.
- Sam
The posting of millions of real-time comments, musings and announcements is clearly an important development in search and social media as a whole, as companies such as Google look at ways of mining data for information otherwise sought in a search engine.
Twitter recently launched www.exectweets.com whereby users can find and follow the insights of top business executives, including Virgin’s Richard Branson. Exectweets.com was launched in partnership with Microsoft, demonstrating how major brands can get involved in sponsoring the service. Given that Twitter hasn’t yet worked out how to generate revenue, despite being hugely popular, this is an interesting venture into third party advertising.
- Sam
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