Studying the impact of innovation on business and society

Month: July, 2010

Social Media Spend to Double This Year

The spirit of social media is enlivening industries, refreshing marketing, and humanizing businesses. While the steps to the social revolution are gradual, so are the budgets that fund innovation. Progress is underway however, and with every experiment and pilot program, we learn the answers to the questions that serve as the gateways to change. Early experiments are sparked within various forward-looking divisions and funded by other resident or surrounding programs or departments. As social media permeates and socializes the frameworks…

Social Media is Measured by the Sum of Its Parts

Social Media is greater than the sum of its parts, but it is these parts that define the socialization of business. Today consumers are interacting with peers, brands, and influencers in social networks at varying levels across more industries than you might possibly believe. The answers of who, what, when, where, how, and to what extent are out there; we just need to spend a moment searching for the insights necessary to galvanize meaningful social media content, branding, and engagement…

Once More, with Feeling: Making Sense of Social Media

I was recently asked at a communications and marketing conference for senior executives when Social Media would start to appeal to all senses including, vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. It was an interesting question and the first time that I had heard it in public. My response was that it is already in full effect. To go one step further, much of the work I’ve studied and also the focus of much of my own work fuses aspects of…

Facebook Connects 500 Million People: Defines a New Era of Digital Society

On July 22nd 2010, Facebook officially announced that it had surpassed 500 million users around the world. This significant achievement represents a significant milestone for Zuckerberg and Co. as well as for social networking and more importantly for global societies overall. To celebrate this achievement, Facebook released Facebook Stories, a new service to spotlight user stories from around the world and the impact Facebook has had on their lives. In Mark Zuckerberg’s words, “We’re launching a new application called Facebook…

Twitter Report: BP and Obama Oil Spill Sentiment by the Numbers

This week BP successfully recapped its ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. Test results are favorable and show that oil and gas are, for the time being, confined. This news inspires cautious optimism in the hearts of residents and spectators alike. Online, however, the social effect continues to flow across social networks and social graphs, echoing anger, hope, and the demand for resolution and prevention from BP and the Obama administration. If we were to look back and…

The Hybrid Theory Manifesto: The Future of Marketing, Advertising, and Communications Part Three

Part Three of Three Nicheworks are highly coveted or soon will be as no brand is an island. Attention and interests are focused within social streams and as individuals are empowered to define their online experiences, connecting the dots proves pivotal. If conversations are markets, nicheworks represent the glue that binds disparate conversational ecosystems. And through effective engagement, we make inroads towards community and being the construction of bridges between our brand and each desirable market. From Silos… While many…

The Hybrid Theory Manifesto: The Future of Marketing, Advertising, and Communications Part Two

Part Two of Three In the book Engage!, I use music as a metaphor for the business approach necessary to execute socialized programs flawlessly. I suggest that today, many organizations approach new media with the style of jazz improvisationalists. They possess an incredible ability to jam independently and also together, but they often drift into wild, wonderful solos that may or may not lead the audience back to the heart and soul of the brand purpose and mission. Instead, I…

Twitter’s @EarlyBird Soars: Launches with Disney

Prior to the July 4th Holiday, reports that Twitter would soon launch a dedicated stream for special and promotions hit the web. Today, Twitter announced that the @earlybird account takes flight and Disney goes along for the maiden voyage. @earlybirdoffers Twitter-exclusive deals in entertainment, fashion, technology, beauty, travel and more. For a limited time, @earlybird and Disney Pictures will offer Twitter users a special “buy one, get one free” deal on tickets to “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” a new feature film…

The Hybrid Theory Manifesto: The Future of Marketing, Advertising, and Communications Part One

Hybrid Theory |ˈhīˌbrid thee-uh-ree |: The fusion of creative and communications, combining earned and paid media to enliven ideas, unite communities, amplify stories and spark desired outcomes. Part One of Three… Marketing, advertising, service, communications, and business dynamics in general is undergoing incredible transformation. The innovation transpiring across the board however, wasn’t ushered out of vision as much as it was pressured through the democratization of content and the equalization of influence. After years of the socialized media changing how…

Foursquare Means Business: Have you checked-in yet?

Are you playing Foursquare? Are you “going out” with Gowalla? Are you looped in with Loopt? Location-based services are once again changing the face of social networking. Where relationships were once at the center of user experience, in the Golden Triangle of mobile, social, and real-time interaction, “places” take center stage and corresponding  activities and rewards become the cast and crew of the production. What started as a way to literally see and be seen, has now transformed into a…

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