Yahoo Tumblrs for Cool: Board Approves $1.1 Billion Deal as Expected

As reported this weekend – the Tumblr / Yahoo deal is done, as millions of blogging voices suddenly cried out in terror.

Microsoft debuts Skype for Xbox with group video calling

Looks like the next gen of game consoles are going social in a big way (or at least trying to) – with Skype built into your Xbox One, a social sharing button built into the PlayStation 4 controller and more.

With Rich Pins, Pinterest Begins Working Better With Brands

All new Pin information for multiple kinds of Pins including movie, recipes, and product Pins with pricing, cook time, ingredients and services, ratings, cast members, and more…

Foursquare brings advanced filtering options to iPhone app

Again, Foursquare doubling down on discovery.

Google Said to Consider Buying Waze Presaging Bidding War

Hoo boy, here we go. (Although, like we’ve said: Waze is worth it.)

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As always, our comment on social media news can be found on our Twitter profile and Facebook page!

Successful Strategy:

• Listening. I seriously can’t give better advice than just looking at the actual actions and behaviors of your audience(s) first and not just doing social media for the sake of it, or because it’s trendy. Everyone is doing something social online, but audiences and demographics are using it differently. Its important to understand how yours are, otherwise you’ll spend your valuable time creating and providing content for channels that no one wants, needs or is paying attention to.

Challenges:

• Shiny Object Syndrome. So many cool tools come to life nearly every day in social media – and you should play with them and inspect them like you would any toy in the toy aisle. But it is SO easy to spend your time turning a new toy over in your hands while everyone else has decided what they’re playing with for the day, or week or year. This is where just looking and listening to your audience helps.
• Executives With Shiny Object Syndrome. “We need an app!” – we’ve heard a VP shout basically because he or she discovered Angry Birds over the weekend and decided, for no other reason, that they should make one. It’s not that there’s not a good reason to do things like that, it’s just that mere exposure isn’t a good reason. The best way to overcome this is to approach each channel, idea and concept from the audience path rather than the techie or wannabe-techie mindset. Chances are your Chief ___ Officer has a lot more to do than the average target audience member, so what fascinates and entertains them is probably not the exact same.

General Advice:

• Lessons learned: Social media didn’t change the fabric of society – people did. The masses did. Yes, there were innovations in the last ten years, but it was new habits that made them catch on and evolve. A new social channel lives or dies not because it’s cool or even because it’s a fantastic service — but rather because people use it. Some folks like to lift up social media like it’s the special unicorn that will save us all, or they groan and point to it as what has killed other media… both of those views are wrong. Looking at the forest for the trees you’ll see it’s just behavior. The public is in control. And THAT’S what’s scary for those looking to fleece rather than empower.
• To those just starting out: It’s okay – just explore. Find something you like doing online, then seek out a social way to interact with it. Chances are you already do, you just don’t count it as “social media” like looking at star-ratings and reading reviews, or joining that forum for your hobby. Then branch out from there. Don’t get blinded by all the jargon, stick close to your own activities and you’ll understand more about behavior in social than any book can teach you.

Facebook Home flagship phone, HTC First, may be discontinued

Facebook Home’s flagship phone is on the verge of being discontinued? Combine this with the reports that Home is slipping in the Android charts and it looks like the bloom has come off the new home screen environment rose just weeks after launch.

Further reading: Facebook Home Is Losing Steam In The Charts…Fast

BlackBerry bringing BBM to Android and iOS this summer

Blackberry on iOS? Android? From a social perspective this could have some interesting effects, especially on communities and geographies where BBM is still heavily used for socializing, such as Trinidad. The CEO bleated, “It’s time to bring BBM to a great audience.” Um… no, that actual time would have been 3-5 years ago. But it is an interesting development and could be impactful in certain parts of the world.

USA Network’s Dividing Line With Twitter

Throwing a hashtag on your television network might be considered a Twitter campaign nowadays, but is the next logical step in the television world to create a specific network to talk about your network’s programs?

Will Yahoo Try to Get Its “Cool Again” By Doing a Deal for Tumblr?

Sure, Yahoo has been on the acquisition trend lately but what’re the odds that a Tumblr acquisition could end up turning into another Flickr situation where Yahoo simply refuses to innovate with an acquired product?

There’s always an alternative with plenty of cash with a history of making bigger buys and improving the product it acquires…

Further Reading: Yahoo wants to buy Tumblr. Will Facebook swoop in at the last minute?

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As always, our latest thoughts and opinions are posted to our Twitter and Facebook pages–be sure to follow us to get our updates!

YouTube introduces subscription channels with a group of partners starting at $0.99/mo, will expand

Paid subscriptions at YouTube? How many subscribe for free NOW?

Mark Zuckerberg and Kevin Systrom on What Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

An interesting and rare look at an important moment in social media’s brief history.

Introducing the YouTube Trends Map

Interesting ways to track trends… or to be really disappoint in a country’s viewing habits.

Reports: Facebook Is Buying Social Mapping/Traffic App Waze For Up To $1B To Court Mobile Users

Now THIS would be interesting… We’re big fans of Waze’s concept and execution.

Further reading: Facebook Previews New Features For Home, Which Is Near 1M Downloads And Increases Users’ Time Spent

Trending: Masters buzzing on social media

Interesting stats on how even golf gets in on public social media buzz.

Foursquare launches tool to visualize your check-ins

Interesting!

Facebook’s Chat Heads Come to iPhones, iPad with App Update

So one of the most interesting and compelling features of Facebook Home is being brought to iPhones and the iPad…

Further reading: Talking heads: how a late-night hack turned into Facebook’s next big thing

Twitter’s New Video Plan: Ads, Brought to You By Ads

Ugh, brought to you by ugh… (Advertisers, realize that no matter how great this sounds to you, the average Twitter user will hate this.)

More Twitter news: Twitter, BBC America announce video partnership

71% of Facebook Users Engage in ‘Self-Censorship’

A fascinating behavioural look at self-censorship, identity and really, self-perception.

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Check out our Facebook page and Twitter profile for the latest news from us including events Feedbackers are speaking at!

Twitter’s New Music App Launches Friday

Can it do for music what Vine did for… um… well let’s hope it’s got more oomph for the mainstream than that…

And the site is live, albeit currently is more of a placeholder.

Chat Multi-Tasking is How Facebook Home Could Rattle Apple And Google

So now that we’ve had a weekend to think about it, we agree with this article that the real meat of Home is how they handle chat.

Brands Favor Social Shares Over Likes

Surprise! Engagement matters more than random Likes!

More Facebook news: Facebook Rolling Out Emoticons, Actions In Status Updates To More Users

FourSquare’s iOS Update Brings Search to the Forefront

Interesting… Foursquare as more about search than check-in?

Twitter Now Rivals Facebook as Teens’ Most Important Social Network

Experience tells us it isn’t always reliable to use teens as a barometer for future trends but there will be many youth brands who might sit up and review their plans with this shift gathering momentum.

And remember kids – mileage may vary based on how your target regions actually use Twitter!

We are speaking at the Spring conference of the New England Society for Healthcare Communications – come join us in beautiful Newport, RI!

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For more commentary on the news that affects social media, follow our Facebook page and Twitter account!

Welp — here it is…

HTC and Facebook announce the First smartphone with AT&T, arriving April 12th for $99.99

Further reading: Why Facebook Home bothers me: It destroys any notion of privacy, Manjoo: The Facebook Phone Is Not as Dumb as I Thought It Was Going to Be Slightly different take on the story from the BBC: Facebook releases ‘home’ software for Android phones

Youth flock to mobile messaging apps, may be threat to Facebook

We’ve been literally saying it for years: the trend in social media is towards more privacy and discreet communication — as seen in this turn towards messaging apps by many younger people.

Dish.fm launches a beautiful new food exploration app on iPad

What if social food switches form the restaurant (Yelp, Foursquare) and more towards the dish?

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Keep an eye out for our UK office’s perspective on the Facebook Home launch and other news stores via our Facebook page and Twitter feed!

So let’s just address the Facebook news first, then:

News Feed’s design finally catches up with Timeline

A long time coming, in some respects.

Further reading: Facebook introduces new News Feed with larger images, choice of feeds and consistent mobile design

And like with Graph Search you can sign up to get it first by clicking the button at the bottom of this feature page: https://www.facebook.com/about/newsfeed

This news comes just in time, too. TechCrunch had just published an opinion piece critical of the current state of the News Feed: Facebook’s News Feed, A Skittish Gift Horse

A tidbit from the article that caught our eye with regards to coping with the news feed: “…we post twice as much each year, but we’re not doubling how long we spend reading our social streams…”

The same author of the opinion piece then published a leaked feature list before the event: Facebook Will Launch Content-Specific News Feeds, Bigger Photos And Ads On Thursday

For news that isn’t Facebook related:

Path 3.0 adds private messaging and The Shop, with ‘handcrafted’ stickers and premium photo filters

Path takes a page from Line and adds stickers, a shop and more. (Not that we thought it NEEDED those things…)

Twitter Reaction to Events Often at Odds with Overall Public Opinion

A surprise to no one, but at least it’s proven! And proven via several Pew polls!

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For up-to-date analysis of social media news and moves, follow the updates to our Facebook page and Twitter profile!

I’m not sure if you felt it, but you might have detected a shockwave in the air as heads exploded at the thought of a reverse-procedure, modern-day telethon, held on the internet, using actual phones, conveying sensitive information the opposite direction while, of all people, Weird Al Yankovic pulled a list of musician’s names out of the butt of a paper mâché donkey. Okay, maybe that was all a lot to take in at once. But trust me, there was some method, some madness and actually some brilliance in the breaking down of true public relations and actual social media at work within an incredibly traditionally structured live event. But let me explain…

Bonnaroo Lineup Announcement Megathon (B.L.A.M.)

For a few weeks prior Bonnaroo had teased that they would announce this year’s lineup to their 12th annual four-day music and arts festival (held in June on farmland in central Tennessee, we’re fans) and telegraphed that comedian and song parody king Weird Al Yankovic would be a part of the big reveal.  Bonnaroo was no stranger to unusual or gimmicky lineup announcements. In 2010 Bonnaroo unraveled the lineup slowly throughout a whole day via a cartoonish clock hosted on MySpace (of all places). But this year’s plan began to coalesce with the announcement of an hour-long internet TV-special on YouTube called B.L.A.M., hosted by Yankovic.

Nevermind whatever you think of Weird Al, who, with the help of other comedians like Chris Gethard and a vaudevillian lineup of stunts, live music (Portugal The Man), jokes, tubs of meat and more managed to at least captivate if not actually entertain during the special event. Some found Weird Al’s humor painfully annoying while others were at least charmed in the same way they were when Al used to do a takeover of MTV for a Saturday (or indeed his whole movie on a TV takeover, the classic UHF).

No, the real magic was in the clever and casual use of social and traditional – and not in the same staid “one promotes the other”  cheap imitation of integration. In fact some of the ideas were so forehead-slappingly easy to pull off the real feat was that it all didn’t fall apart under the weight of what is a big news day for one of the bigger U.S. festivals.

Video Phones

After a montage of videos depicting what bands some people were hoping Bonnaroo to announce (which confused a few online who joined late into thinking these were the actual updates), B.L.A.M. hosted a mother-son duo who were chatted up and then given, presumably in the chat window below their private VOIP call, the names of the bands they could be the first to announce. This happened a few times during the event, putting a human face on the fans and allowing real surprise to show on the faces of fans also communicating a lineup to viewers.

The Reverse-Telethon

But by far the most unique, and frankly brilliant in my opinion, move by Bonnaroo was this unusual reverse-telethon they hosted. After a number had flashed on the screen several times early on, viewers were encouraged to call in and talk (presumably) to one of eight phone operators, which included comedians such as Eugene Mirman). When calls did manage to get through the caller was given a name of a Bonnaroo artist in the lineup that had yet to be announced. That’s it. And yet, it’s brilliant. No embargo, no requirements to share. You could do whatever you wanted with that information – you could just be privately excited. You could just tell your friends by phone, email, Facebook, whatever.  Or you could be the first person to tell the whole world an unrevealed nugget of news. If you wanted to reach the most people you’d use the #BLAM hashtag on Twitter – where you would no doubt be met with gaggles of new followers, hundreds of ReTweets. It was up to the caller. The truth would be revealed eventually whether you told anyone or not and so the onus was truly on the caller to make the most of the information. And the gem of news you were given was yours to do with as you please. It was a fantastic blend of the private hand-to-hand gossip world of social media and the opposite public desire to be a source to be recognized.

Love (and Information) Will Find a Way

Sure the whole, “let our audience announce it” bit has been done before, from white board photoshopped photos to even video clips – but Bonnaroo’s B.L.A.M. took it one crucial step further: they not only gave bits of info to fans directly but they gave them the freedom to use it too.

Timing was also on their side, theirs to mangle and play with like play-doh for the hour. No matter what happened, the Bonnaroo lineup would be revealed by 2pm. Countless media were no doubt ready to publish the list or at the very least would be sent it instantly. For an entire hour Bonnaroo (and Weird Al) could just screw with us. From a PR perspective the greatest weight was lifted with the concept that at 1:01pm EST if the whole thing unraveled it just didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if Paul McCartney was unveiled first in some ways (he wasn’t). It was a communications stress that lifted the moment the show started. It was play, it was fun, it was freeing. Yes, they wanted B.L.A.M. to be a success and be an entertaining hour but if the whole thing felt like a giant experimental theatre project that was perfectly okay. They had let the lunatics run the asylum and handle all the good china. In fact it was the best china Bonnaroo had: their precious and manically protected lineup before tickets would go on sale.

(At one point they had the internet live-vote through hashtag use to determine which envelope hidden in a poster would be open for the next reveal – one was Mumford and Sons, the other that Weird Al himself would be at Bonnaroo.)

The lineup content, or basic information in this case, was incredibly easy to separate and compartmentalize. Certainly some announcements were bigger than others, but not knowing how big a name was about to be revealed was part of the excitement (especially since, by many standards, Bonnaroo had managed to compile a relatively top-heavy lineup comprised of many other summer festival’s headliners and several unique ones all their own). There was more to B.L.A.M. than just reverse-telethons and you can watch the whole thing for yourself below.

Perhaps most refreshingly the B.L.A.M. stunt broke down the silos of not just “traditional” versus “new media” – but also the silos between channels. They had official channels that were all humming, but they didn’t try and make anyone use any channel they didn’t want to. With the exception of the live stream hosting exclusively on YouTube, fans of Bonnaroo could find out about the lineup a myriad of ways. The almost lackadaisical variety was nice to see – they weren’t getting worked up over how you revealed what whenever you wanted to. All control would still be theirs by the end. (Meanwhile I’m sure the entire endeavor would make many classically trained public relations professionals clutch their pearls.)

In the end, the important thing to take away from this isn’t how they utilized both channels and behavior to their advantage. No, it’s how they didn’t let a need for control get in the way of a number of smart ideas. Did everyone love every part? No. But as a series of tricks they managed to do more interesting things in 45 minutes than I’ve seen some brands do with an “integrated” strategy in an entire year.

- Dean

Pinterest May Be More Popular Than You Think

“For all the chatter about Facebook and Twitter, it’s a huge statement for Pinterest to be just one percent behind Twitter in terms of users…”

8 Tips to Prevent a Social Media Meltdown

Yep. Combine these with an actual audience-behaviour-based strategy and you can have your cake and eat it too!

And to continue our conversation on nightmare social media scenarios…

Burger King’s Twitter Account Got Hacked By Patrick Carney On Behalf Of McDonald’s, Apparently

And then resolution:

Burger King Twitter account back up after Monday afternoon hacking; company apologizes

Aaaand now Jeep!

Jeep’s Official Twitter Account Hijacked (Just Like Burger King’s)

Announcing the Twitter Ads API

Twitter officially announces a Twitter Ads API for managing those ads that nobody really believes in yet.

Announcing: NESHco’s Spring Conference 2013

Proud to be speaking in the General Session of this Spring’s NESHCo Symposium!

Facebook Admits Critical Bugs Caused Page Reach To Be Misreported For Months

BIG news – could mean big gains for Pages. It’s important to note: “Ad Insights has been behaving properly, have thorough monitoring systems to prevent these kinds of errors, and no one was over or undercharged for ads. App and Payment Insights should also be fine.”

Facebook Updates iOS App; Adds Free Calling In U.S., Canada, Improved Buttons

And a feature–not a bug–comes to the App Store!

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