The social space online changes rapidly. Feedback stays on top of emerging media news so you don’t have to. Here are my top social media picks of the week.
Mar
04
04
Anna’s Social Media Picks of the Week (03/04/11)
iPad 2
Apple announced the iPad 2 this week. The iPad 2 is 33% thinner, has duel webcams, and new color options. The prices will range from $499 (for 16GB WiFi-only models) to $829 (for the works) and will be available on March 11, 2011. Watch the following video to see more about the new iPad:
(For those who are TeamCoCo, watch a spoof on the commercial here.)
@CharlieSheen:
You’ve probably been following the tirades of Charlie Sheen… actually I know some of you are (on twitter, at least). Charlie Sheen joined Twitter (@charliesheen) this week, and gained a million followers in a little over 24 hours, breaking a Guinness World record.
Side note: Three Feedbacker’s made it into the list of Charlie Sheen’s top 10 followers. #Winning
Libya’s Internet Down
The government has shut down the internet for most of Libya, including the capital city of Tripoli. The Wall Street Journal reported, “U.S. firms that monitor global Internet networks reported that Web traffic in and out of Libya was disconnected abruptly Thursday afternoon local time and continued to be unavailable late Friday.” This is all too familiar to what we saw a few weeks ago in Egypt. Learn more here.
Behind the Scenes with Old Spice
Old Spice brought you the man that smells like a man, man, and now they’re bring you behind the scenes of their latest commercial shoot. Take a look at the following video, which shows the creative process behind the latest Old Spice commercial:
Healthcare Pick: Emerging Media Whitepaper
Those who are members of SHSMD, take a look at the official Emerging Media Handbook/Whitepaper from SHSMD – Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development where Feedback’s Dean Browell wrote the introduction as the Chair of the Emerging Media Task Force.
-Anna (@alucas9)
Sep
15
15
Feedback in Healthcare News: SHSMD Report
Feedback was found all over SHSMD 2010 in Chicago, the annual conference for the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development. The firm conducted a three-hour workshop on social media and strategy, participated in a lively panel on emerging media, roundtables and more. 
Feedback also made the news:
Healthleaders article, “Stop Waiting for Social Media to Emerge” excerpted here:
Panelist Dean Browell, PhD, executive vice president for Richmond, VA, ad agency Feedback, said it best: “I know some of you are thinking, just let me retire before I have to learn this crap.”
Dean Browell was also listed as one of the top ten you need to get to know at SHSMD by Dan Dunlop, who later chronicled the Emerging Media panel:
Dean Browell of Feedback was on the panel, so I knew it would be good – and even entertaining. Dean is the most grounded Ph.D. I know. And he is incredibly bright. The panel did not disappoint. It was informative and engaging. I thought the audience members asked really good questions and each of the panel members offered valuable insights. My favorite part of the presentation was when Dean said that MySpace is “dead to him.” If it isn’t quite dead, then it is on life support!
You can also see a video interview and highlights from the social media strategy workshop here at the CPM Marketing blog.
Aug
16
16
A Note About MOG
MOG introduces the new MOG Music Network (announcement here). Bravo, MOG for not just redefining a music network online, but also showcasing CONTENT and writing. This is an important point many people forget in social media: it’s about content, comment and quality crowds. Better still if you can crowd-source, curate and promote great writing about your industry. A great lesson, writ large for MOG who has been doing interesting and relevant things for fans for years now.
For example, MOG began in June of 2005 but really hit its stride a year later as an actual social network built on fans and music. My first contact with it was a year later, at Bonnaroo, after which 
I started a profile and dutifully used the iTunes plug-in that took glimpses of my catalog of songs and my play counts and suggested people with similar interests, artists I didn’t have and critical and fan thought I might like. Instead of “follow” or “like” (now ubiquitous terms for socializing) MOG used a much more forceful and meaningful term for those you cared to read: “Trusted.” If someone visited my profile page, perhaps drawn by a blog post, my music list or any other number of custom lists I had created (at one point detailing all of the tour t-shirts I owned) than they would also see a list of the writer/music-blogger (“MOG’ers”) that I trusted. It was interesting to see how slavish our re-posting was between us. It really was about trust. I discovered more new music in my first year of using MOG than I had at nearly any other point in my life. And it was all music I would come to LOVE. I discovered Arcade Fire, NIN spinoff projects and more.
It was pretty incredible and way before it’s time. When I saw Twitter’s “Who To Follow” space debut earlier this month I thought it was a nice addition but part of me had to laugh– MOG had been doing that for four years and far more accurately.
So cheers to MOG, who may have lost me as a regular contributor (my profile is a bit of a misshapen ghost-town of 2007-8) but gained me as a fan of their other efforts such as their Pandora-like music service (app and all) and now their aggregation of the best music writing on the web.
We here at Feedback love music AND social media. It’s nice when we can get the chocolate in our peanut butter.
-Dean (@dbrowell)
Jun
29
29
Yelp & Healthcare: Sittin’ In a Tree?
Wondering aloud: Do people go to Yelp to research healthcare, or are they simply encountering Yelp reviews for non-retail/restaurant in searches?
As with all we do at Feedback, we start by examining the local culture of social media use first – because not all regions are alike (not by a longshot). In a recent study of a particular large region we saw relatively heavy use of Yelp in providing reviews of healthcare. We observed service-line specific reviews as well as general hospital comments. Obviously it varies by community, but it does beg the question that if you have heavy Yelp use in your town for other things, that even a minimal number of reviews could get high visibility. Plus, their system of reviewer ranks means the reviews have a high trust factor.
We don’t recommend putting too much or too little emphasis on any particular channel until you’ve done a thorough review and deep dive that helps you make strategic, informed decisions.
So what does everyone think about this?
We’ve spoken about Yelp before here on the Feedback blog, but we felt this was an important question. Feel free to email us at contact [at] feedbackagency.com with your thoughts.
18
Anna’s Social Media Picks of the Week (August 19, 2011)
by FeedbackThe social space online changes rapidly. Feedback stays on top of emerging media news so you don’t have to. Here are the must-read social media articles of the week of August 14, 2011. Read More »