February 26, 2008

Brides decide for 2008

By Alicia Dorset

Thanks to my co-worker Nichole Woodcock, I've been fascinated with Brides Decide this morning, a site brought to us by super-big wedding giants the knot, the nest and Wedding Channel.com. And if you're wondering what this site's all about, the title sums it up:

When it comes to electing the 44th president, it's savvy women like us who are going to make history. That's why we created BridesDecide.com, a front-row ticket to the 2008 presidential election. Get informed, take our survey, and check out the candidates' real wedding photos (we couldn't resist!).

Thanks to the site, I now know that Ron Paul was married at age 21 back in 1957 and still wears the same tux size he did back in the late '50s. Would this help me make a decision on who to vote for this fall? Probably not. But for some of my friends whose poor brains are mushed with everything wedding right now... I bet it might.

What is useful for the site are the quick links up top on key issues, such as abortion, education, the war in Iraq and more. Clicking on a topic gives you a quick rundown of who's for it and who's against it. There are also links on where to register to vote and forums on the various wedding web sites that are currently talking politics.

While you might initially laugh at the thought of someone spending time looking through Hilary Clinton's wedding photos, Brides Decide is on to something- they realized their target audience has one BIG non-election topic on their minds this year, and if they want those brides to get out and vote, they need to reach them the best way they can.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 10:10 AM
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February 25, 2008

Techy notes from the Academy Awards

By Alicia Dorset

I couldn't help but notice last night the amount of "techy goodness" sprinkled in during the 80th Academy Awards ceremony. Here's what I caught:

• After a retrospective on some of cinema's greatest hits during the past 80 years, host Jon Stewart is seen watching Lawrence of Arabia on his iPhone. He remarks that this is how movies were always meant to be watched, then flips the iPhone horizontally and says, "Oh, that's better. Widescreen!"
• Coming back from a break, Stewart and 11-year-old Jamia Simone Nash (who performed earlier in the night for Best Original Song, Raise it Up, from August Rush), are found playing Wii tennis on the main stage's projection screen.
• Making a reference to Nicole Kidman's upcoming movie roles, Stewart uses the Internet Movie Database as his source for her "upcoming unnamed project."
• And of course, let's not forget about blogger-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody taking home the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Juno.

I'm not the only one noticed some prime tech product placement. Check out ZDNet and Engadget for Oscar tech coverage, too.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 11:53 AM
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February 20, 2008

Review: OurChart

By Kim Huston

The Writers Guild of America strike and Michigan’s lovely winter weather had me craving television that wasn’t of the reality variety. I consulted my trusty friend Netflix, and that’s how I started watching The L Word.

One of the characters, Alice, is mildly obsessed with the connectivity of the lesbian community (think Six Degrees of Separation). She keeps a chart of the various known hook-ups of her friends and the Los Angeles lesbian community. In the second season, Alice pitches a radio show based on the idea. In the fourth season “The Chart.” as it's called. becomes a social networking site that allows women to list people they’ve dated, creating “Constellations” and “Solar Systems” of connectivity. A funny plot point includes a woman named Papi uploading her hookup list, which was so long that it crashes the server of the site.

As it turns out, the creators of the show capitalized on the fictional social networking site to create the very real OurChart. Here’s what the creators have to say about the site:

Pretty much every group of friends has its own ‘chart,’ right? Whether it's written down or not, we all know who's slept with whom, who's part of whose serial monogamy, and who's part of everyone else's serial non-monogamy. It's part of the glue that holds all forms of social networks together.

We were first introduced to Alice's chart of hookups in season one, episode one of The L Word. Since then, it's been the connecting thread throughout all of the relationships on the show. Whether or not the characters have slept together, they're all together on Alice's wall. The underlying friendships in the group are the real foundation of all these connections, and that's where OurChart comes in. Until now, there's never been a central meeting place just for us — lesbians, dykes, queer girls, gay women, high femmes, butches, drag kings, bois, transwomen and transmen — however we define ourselves. On OurChart, you can connect yourself via friendships and relationships to the wide world encompassing all these people and more.

You can invite your friends, make new ones, and share your favorite stuff, your innermost thoughts, and your most superficial leanings. That's pretty standard. But on OurChart, your network of connections will also form a visual ‘chart’ a lot like Alice's — only this one is dynamic and interactive. And it's yours.

The site includes blogs, content about The L Word, and allows you to watch episodes from the current season. When you sign up, you have the ability to upload photos, manage your own blog, and allows you to manage friends and “friends plus,” which can include ex-significant others and anybody you may have gotten romantic with. And it’s not just for women; there are men on the site, too. The most interesting part of the site is that you can launch your own chart where you can see how you’re connected to everyone on the chart.

The L Word creators built a truly fun, interactive social networking site that not only promotes their program, but gives groups that might feel left out by traditional social networking a chance to share their voice and meet new friends.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:21 PM
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February 19, 2008

Twitter talks a "big game"

By Nichole Woodcock

Each year, millions of dollars are thrown into advertising for the “big game,” otherwise known as the Super Bowl, and the day after everyone seems to have an opinion about their favorites. With a little help from social networking, this year people were talking in real time.

“TwitterBowl” was introduced to the masses this year as a “real-time social experiment” in which viewers at home get to chime in on ads. The tweeting was in hopes to spark interesting conversation and see how popular the online network has become.

The little trial was dubbed a success with more than 2,500 people participating, about 625 messages an hour. I’m sure their comments are a marketer’s dream, no matter how good or bad. Take a look at what people were saying about Dell.

No word if Twitter will be making this an annual event, but it really sparks intrigue into how social networks are adapting to become part of mainstream events. Tweaking this concept for the upcoming elections would make for some interesting fodder.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 11:07 AM
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January 28, 2008

boingboing sorts out Ford Mustang Club social media confusion

By Charlie Kondek

boingboing's Cory Doctorow has an insightful take on a recent kerfuffle between a Ford Mustang fan club, Ford Motor Company, and Cafe Press. In a nutshell: CafePress told the car club they could not use images of Mustangs in their fan materials. But then Ford let CafePress and the fan club know that this was, in fact, allowable, and a misunderstanding involving the legal wing of Ford. Doctorow's conclusion:

There's a couple of interesting lessons for Ford and CafePress to take away from this. For Ford (and companies like it), the lesson is surely to tighten the reins on your legal department. When they send stern letters to online service providers that threaten legal action, the natural outcome is that OSPs are going to get gun-shy — and they'll tell your fans that they can't do anything and blame it all on you. The usual overkill approach from corporate counsel will come back and bite you on the ass.

For CafePress, the lesson is to take your customers' side when the law is with them. Even if Ford did tell CafePress to kill the BMC calendar, they'd have been wrong. The BMC calendar is legal — even without Ford's blessing — and when you protect yourself from legal liability by shutting it down, you incur PR liability by seeming like a bunch of candy-asses who can be bullied into submission by a memo from some white-shoe legal goon from a Fortune 100. Word gets around.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 11:00 AM
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January 25, 2008

Judging a MySpace page by its cover

By Nichole Woodcock

It seems like every client is working to create the next great application on Facebook or a page on MySpace. Let’s all welcome Harper Collins to the game. Recently, the publishing company launched their very own page on MySpace, MySpace/HarperTeen, in hopes to tap into the elusive teen demographic.

With blogs and chats by authors, book release information, videos, contests and polls, MySpace/HarperTeen is hoping to encourage young bookworms to interact and invite other teens to the site.

The MySpace/HarperTeen page is filled with featured authors and books, illustrated on a bulletin board filled with various sticky notes and news. I was personally a fan of the forums they host on the site. Teens have a chance to share their writings amongst their peers, and hopefully have Harper Collins add their reviews of the works.

To keep the fan base in the know, MySpace/HarperTeen distributes various updates for book recommendations and the latest releases, encouraging members to discuss books on message boards.

The latest push on MySpace/HarperTeen was to promote “Create and Share,” a creative writing contest where teens submitted original works of poems, songs and short stories. A panel of HarperTeen judges selected the finalists for the $5,000-grand-cash-prize. From there, the MySpace/HarperTeen community voted contestants on. However, the promotion didn’t receive a lot of mainstream coverage and the number of entries is unclear.

Regardless, Harper Collins is making an effort in the educational direction. But, after spending time on the site, I found that underneath the message of supporting teens to read and write, the corporate shadow looms, pointing teens to read books they publish. It’s probably only a matter of time before competing publishers jump on board these types of social networking initiatives, too.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 11:44 AM
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January 24, 2008

Mark your calendars and delete your MySpace?

By Alicia Dorset

You’ve got just one week to say goodbye to all 800 of your MySpace friends if you’re planning on participating in International Delete Your MySpace Account Day on Jan. 30.

Constant band friend requests, spam comments and inappropriate inbox messages have driven blogger Simon Owens to present the reasons why he hates the still-No.1 social networking site. Check out his post for all 10, but my favorite has to be No. 3:

“You’re a girl who constantly gets marriage proposals from random men in the middle east.”

I’ve definitely had my fair share of date offers, but I don’t think I’d delete four years of my social networking life because of it. I agree with Mark Hopkins on his take on the idea:

“Personally, even though I experience most of the same things that Simon says he goes through with MySpace, many of the folks in my less tech savvy circles of friends use MySpace exclusively. For me to nuke that account would be the same as deleting my contact database. I don’t know that I could personally join Simon in his campaign to end his MySpace involvement, but I can definitely see the motivation.”

Owens disgust with MySpace reflects a growing trend from many users on the site. People are tired of the spam, obnoxious layouts and numerous 18-year-old girls named “Theresa” asking to be their friends. But while Owens’ wish to delete his account is representative of many MySpacers’ feelings, it’s in no way the majority.

Yesterday’s post from eMarketer reports that MySpace is still the No. 1 social networking site, taking 72% of all social networking visits in 2007, according to Hitwise. And while Facebook continues to constantly gain traffic and members, the site received only 16% of all social networking visits last year.

So if you plan on deleting your MySpace account next week, or in the big picture, advising your clients not to get involved with the site, remember this- for every hot(t) spring break ’05 picture “Theresa” wants you to look at, there are two people out there who genuinely want to be your friend or hear your message.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:39 PM
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January 22, 2008

Go red with this community

Campbell's has teamed up with the American Heart Association to help spread the word about Go Red for Women, an annual campaign aimed at promoting heart disease awareness for women.

The Red Dress Community allows users to create their own red dress, complete with accessories, and share the things they love most in life while providing a statement on why they love their own heart and how they keep it healthy. I made my own dress, seen above.

I really enjoy the site and the ability to make a dress, but I think Campbell's missed the boat on the full social networking benefits this idea could have provided. With more than 1,110 dresses to look at , the search function is a little clunky, and there are no options to embed the dress you make on your own blog, Flickr account, Facebook profile, etc. We all saw the viral benefits of the Simpsons avatars from last summer, and with a little more thought, Campbell's could have had a winner just like that, too.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:32 PM
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January 18, 2008

Scrabble, You're Making A Mistake

By Charlie Kondek

A year and a half ago, two entrepreneurs from India made an online version of Scrabble called Scrabulous. It's become a wildly popular Facebook application, and toymakers Hasbro and Mattel, who own the game, are now demanding that the game be removed from the internet. In my opinion that's a mistake, particularly on Facebook, where Scrabulous lives and breathes to the tune of half a million users per day.

I learned about Scrabulous recently from a client who plays five games at a time with friends on Facebook. I became eager to join in but soon learned the Scrabulous application was the subject of a cease and desist action. I also learned soon after of the Facebook-based effort to Save Scrabulous, currently at 30,000 members and climbing. There's also a fan group for Scrabulous, which has more than 36,000 members.

The makers of Scrabble should come to some kind of agreement that keeps the Scrabulous train rolling, for several reasons. In the first place, you can't buy the kind of publicity Scrabulous has gotten on Facebook. Well, you can, but it would be really expensive.

The point is, Hasbro and Mattel haven't had to spend a dime to make Scrabulous as popular as it is. Certainly, you can also argue that the developers of Scrabulous haven’t spent a dime developing the awesome game they’re now profiting from, so they should be willing to deal.

In an age when marketers are working to engage online audiences on a grassroots level, you have to recognize when it happens all by itself and cultivate it, not squash it. I'm sure there are commercial entities that would kill for 500,000 opt-ins on Facebook. Along with the coveted new media buzz, Google juice and all that goes with it, Hasbro should realize that Scrabulous is introducing an entire new generation of people to the game of Scrabble. To prove this point, some Facebook members have created a group themed I Got into Scrabble BECAUSE of Scrabulous, (currently at 43 members, but it's a start).

What this all adds up to is free advertising for Scrabble you can't get anywhere else. People get to actually play the game, enjoy it, and are more likely to want to play it OFF line. That's got to convert to some kind of cash flow for the makers of tabletop Scrabble. At a time when Hasbro has updated numerous games to keep them relevant, this online extension of classic Scrabble seems too good to be crushed by the legal department.

Perhaps Scrabulous can cut the makers of Scrabble a piece of the online ad revenue in exchange for some kind of brand-license agreement. Perhaps that's what Hasbro and Mattel have had in mind all along. Regardless, there is an opportunity here, and in Scrabble that's an 18-point word.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 11:13 AM
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January 17, 2008

I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who…

...nevermind

By Daniel DeMoss

I’m an avid Facebook user and I’ve grown to really appreciate their “groups” feature. I’m not one of those people that have 127 groups on his page. I have only 28, but I appreciate them, nonetheless.

There are all kinds of Facebook groups, ranging from the “Six Degrees Of Separation - The Experiment” group, which has almost 4 million members, to the “Brian is The Scariest Guy I Ever Met” group, which currently has 13 members. These groups seem to do a good job of bringing people with common interests or goals together and their subject matter and number of members vary widely.

Lately, I’ve noticed an interesting, and some might say disturbing, phenomenon with the naming of new groups. It seems like everyday I read in the news feed about another group whose name contains the number 1 million in it. A few examples of these are 1,000,000 Bears Fans, I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who want FacebookIM, and I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who hate cancer, just to name a few. This would be fine, except for the fact that none of these groups has 1 million people in it. In fact, these groups don’t even have 100,000 members.

In my opinion, if you create a group with the number 1 million in it, or any number larger than 10,000 for that matter, you can count on not getting enough members for it to live up to the lofty title. Why? Some people won’t join because they don’t see the point, others may not join just to spite you. Or, simply, people won’t join just because it seems impersonal to be lost in a group among 999,999 other members.

Of course, regardless of why people don’t join, having five people in a group with 1 million in the name is just so ironic that it’s bound to happen.

So what’s my recommendation? Don’t put numbers in the name of your group. It’s much less embarrassing to have 63,573 members in a group named Bears Fans. The exception to this rule of course is the wildly popular 1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert, which currently has 1,455,477 members. This is one of the few groups that I’ve come across that has met or exceeded the goal given in its title.

Bravo, creators of the Stephen Colbert group. To the rest of you, next time, leave the numbers out.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 01:59 PM
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December 19, 2007

Facebook friend lists are here

In case you haven't logged into your Facebook account today, take some time to do so right away. Grouped friend lists are here, and they're very helpful.

You now have the ability to categorize your contact list however you'd like, whether it's by clients, family members or college classmates. The friend lists allow you to send mass mailings to each list and see their recent updates quickly, to name just a few of the uses.

Little things like friend lists make me hopeful that Facebook is listening to their users and providing us with the tools we want to make social networking even more beneficial, whether it's for work or personal use.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 12:00 PM
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October 24, 2007

Reporting web traffic

By Chris Poterala

The Monday edition of The New York Times has an interesting article about a struggle between web site publishers and the companies that track and report web traffic.

Companies such as ComScore or Nielsen rely on sampling panels to guesstimate web traffic for sites, extrapolating traffic numbers based upon feedback from their panels. This method is analogous to calculating television ratings, where "Nielsen families" have a device hooked up to their televisions that "phones home" viewing data.

These traffic numbers are critically important because they are used to help price and sell advertising on web sites. Just like print and television; more eyeballs on a site = more charged for ads on the site.

Publishers argue the traffic numbers reported for their sites are low and sometimes differ greatly from their own reported traffic numbers. The example from the article uses Forbes.com. The site reported 11.6 million visitors for September 2007. ComScore reported 5.8 million visitors, a 50 percent difference, and Nielsen reported 7.5 million visitors, a 35 percent difference.

Who does the advertiser believe?

Site publishers have raw traffic logs available and do not need to rely on any multipliers or sampling in order to come up with accurate traffic statistics. Programs exist that can crunch the logs and spit out a myriad of visitor statistics. Are there still issues with these logs? Absolutely. A company with 10,000 employees may show up as a single user in the logs, underreporting some statistics, but the logs will still accurately reflect other data points.

Sampling is "old school" and needs to go away. Yes, advertisers and publishers are comfortable with it from the print and television spaces, but that does not make it right.

There needs to be a new standard developed for measuring web traffic, with both publishers and advertisers having a hand in developing it.

Define a visit, define page views, define session length. Maybe it's third-party auditing of traffic logs provided by the publishers.

In this age of every bit and byte being recorded, isn't it time to move away from the analog world of sampling and guesstimating?

What do you think?

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 12:09 PM
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October 16, 2007

Wal-Mart launches free Facebook gift

Did you give your friend the free Facebook gift from Wal-Mart yet? Better hurry -- as I post this, only 56,493 were left.

But the big debate is... Did Wal-Mart post the gift to poke fun at itself, or did they really think a ghost trapped in cellophane with "WAL-MART" written across it would be a hit in the social networking world?

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:14 PM
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October 05, 2007

Flickr Famous

You may have read the story in the New York Times this week about the high school student in Dallas who sued Virgin Mobile after it plastered her photo on a billboard in Australia.

The billboard did credit the Flickr photographer who took the photo, Justin Wong. He had originally posted the photo with a Creative Commons license allowing any use of the photo, as long as the work was attributed to him. (Since then, Wong has changed the Creative Commons license on his photos to “All Rights Reserved.”)

But neither Virgin Mobile nor Wong had obtained a model release from the student, Alison Chang, or -- since she’s only 15 –- from her parents. Nor did Virgin Mobile tell the photographer they were using his photo. He found out when a Flickr member in Adelaide, Brenton Cleeland, snapped a photo of the bus shelter billboard, which said “Dump Your Pen Friend!” and posted it on Flickr. Alison saw Cleeland's photo and wrote, “hey that’s me! no joke. i think i’m being insulted.”

The next message was from Wong, who wrote: “where was this? do you think virgin mobile will give me stuff?” The photo and the very interesting message thread are still on Cleeland’s Flickr site. In one of the 244 messages there, Alison’s brother writes that he has consulted lawyers about the matter.

The family is suing Virgin Mobile USA and Creative Commons in federal district court in Dallas.

What this should make Flickr users think of:

• Think hard about whether you want to allow commercial use of your photos. Creative Commons gives a list of “Things to Think About” before choosing your license.
  
• You may want to add language to your profile noting that you have not obtained model releases for your photos.
  
• If you’re an advertiser, just because a Flickr photographer has given permission for use of his/her photos doesn’t mean the subjects of the photo will allow you to use their likenesses in advertising.
  
• And if you think a teenager in Dallas will never see her face on an ad in Australia, think about the global social network, and think again.

P.S. Thanks to Paula Amunategui for the link to the Flickr discussion.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 01:16 PM
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The Heartbreak Kid makes its mark on Facebook

I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed this week with the social networking promotion for today's release "The Heartbreak Kid," a new comedy from Ben Stiller.

Since Monday, my Facebook profile pages have been littered with "Heartbreak" flyers and banner ads. But this morning, when I logged in to see what was new with my friends, I was told I had one free Facebook gift to give: a "Heartbreak" sombrero, of course. Naturally, I gave it to myself.

The sombrero is the first free gift I've seen since Facebook launched the gifts this year, and is the first "sponsored" gift as well.

The sponsored group on Facebook features a different "freebie" every day, ranging from contest entries to special online-only content. And if you're wondering why you should join this group, as many of my friends do when I send them group invitation after group invitation, the "Heartbreak" group tells you why:

Why join? Because love blows and you’ll have a chance to… see the movie for free! Win a trip to Mexico! And many more great prizes!

As of this post, there were more than 2,000 members in the group, 12 videos posted, 32 photos uploaded and 273 wall posts stating either how great or terrible the movie is. Combined, I can only imagine that the Facebook outreach dollar amount has to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Will the Facebook group, free gifts and the ability to post why you think love blows make more people go see this movie? Who knows. But do all these components reflect how someone at DreamWorks Pictures got the memo that Facebook is just as important as MySpace when it comes to creating your digital marketing package? You bet. Trust me, "The Heartbreak Kid" isn't going to be the last movie we see all over our social networking profile pages.

And now, I'm off to admire my digital sombrero.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 09:13 AM
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October 03, 2007

Joost in time

By Melanie Seasons

Last night instead of getting my eight hours of beauty sleep, I stayed up way too late to play with Joost, the newish P2P-TV streaming program. There’s been a fair amount of buzz around Joost since it launched last year, mainly because of their hard-to-come-by invitations to the beta program. But as of Monday, Joost opened their digital doors to everyone - and I mean everyone. I was just barely able to get on to the site yesterday to download it. Once I did, it was quite evident how many people were doing the same thing. The load times were pretty slow and some channels weren’t “available.” Even so, I was able to put a few thoughts together on the program and its possible impact on digital PR.

The good:

• The design of the program is incredible. There’s a side bar of categories to choose from. Once you choose a category, these transparent widget-like objects of all the available shows come up. They’re fairly easy to navigate and upon first glance do seem to be appropriately categorized.
  
• Searching for something to watch is a snap, as is changing channels. The transparent widgets allow you to still see through to the program you’re watching while searching for other channels. Think of it as a very sleek picture-in-picture.
  
• You can’t beat 15,000+ shows. With Joost there is no excuse for saying “there’s nothing on.”

The not-so-good:

• Load times are ok. Joost is incredibly popular right now, so I’m sure much of the lag is due to that. However, it’s something to keep an eye on. There’s nothing more annoying than getting into a show and having it time out on you.
  
• Joost is really heavy on the advertising. Many sites with streaming capabilities make you sit through a 30-second spot before taking you to the goods. Joost has short commercial breaks just like traditional TV, but takes it a step further by having random logos pop up in the margins while you’re watching a show. They were annoying and incredibly distracting. They also didn’t seem to be related to the content of the show or targeted to me as a user. Advertisers take note: Joost ads need to be modeled more after Facebook’s targeted advertising.

The undetermined:

I see potential for PR involvement with Joost, but not in the way you might think. While the blogosphere is abuzz with what the program could mean for online PR, I say that Joost is still just TV. Just because it lives online doesn’t mean it’s 100 percent in our realm. Traditional agencies have always dealt more with broadcast, so I see Joost as falling under their umbrella. This doesn’t mean that online PRs shouldn’t be involved in working with Joost, but I see this as being more of an opportunity for collaboration between traditional and digital rather than an either/or situation.

Having only been open to the public for two days, I’m sure they’re getting a lot of feedback. You can bet I’ll be keeping a close eye on future Joost developments

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:40 PM
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October 01, 2007

The virtual velvet rope

By Britany Larsen

Social networking is built around the idea that everyone is welcome. Sites like MySpace and Facebook are places for every “average Joe” to put themselves on display and enjoy some sort of notoriety and fame.

However some new social networks are changing that.

Built around exclusivity, and providing a safe haven for its rich, beautiful, or famous users, sites like Diamond Lounge, ModelsHotel, and ASMALLWORLD require lengthy application and verification processes (at ModelsHotel, would-be members need to provide agent phone numbers and recent bookings), and charges of up to $60 per month. Every applicant is personally reviewed and many are denied.

ASMALLWORLD has grown to about 150,000 registered users in its four-year existence. The crowd of young jetsetters is 60 percent European and 20 percent American, and the average age is 32. The founder of ModelsHotel is only 25, already seeking 1.5 million in venture capital and commanding $10,000 for a banner ad. Diamond lounge is still in launch mode, but is hoping to attract only the upper echelon of society.

The sites are too exclusive to receive the attention necessary for an advertising-based business model, and are instead attracting luxury marketers who utilize their high-profile members as sponsors.

According to the Wall Street Journal, pricey-denim makers Diesel worked with ModelsHotel during Fashion Week by giving out free “skinny” jeans to models so that they would be seen around town in the brand while on auditions.

These exclusive social networks have changed the way that luxury brands traditionally connect with "the beautiful people," and have created a virtual velvet rope for the rest of us.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:05 PM
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September 25, 2007

Are you ready for Google’s Second Earth?

By Kai Blum

Rumor has it that Google plans to populate a 3D version of Google Earth with a new kind of Second Life.

That means a digital version of our planet would be completely repopulated and new countries and societies could be created.

My dream of owning an island and calling it Kailand may finally come true. Its digital economy will be based on Google Advertising, of course.

But wait, isn’t that Google’s goal for our real world as well? Things may become a bit blurry…

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:25 PM
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September 24, 2007

Animoto ends photo slideshows

If you haven't had a chance to check out Animoto yet, put it on your list of things to do today. Your Flickr photo stream will thank you later for the end of boring slideshows.

I've been very impressed with the beta version of this site so far. The idea is this: upload your photos or pull them in from another hosting service, add music, and Animoto will create a unique video customized to both your photos and your song. And the great part is, there are no two videos that are alike.

So far I've already been sent a few videos from friends obsessed with the site, so it appears that the idea is catching on. I'm excited to see what happens next for the Animoto kids. Keep updated by reading their blog.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:40 PM
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September 21, 2007

MySpace know-how = $1 million

It pays to spend time on MySpace. Well, it does for 17-year-old Ashley Qualls, a young Detroit entrepeneur who recently turned a small MySpace design business, whateverlife, into a $1 million venture.

Not bad for an $8 investment from your mom.

TECH. BLORGE reports:

Whateverlife.com targets teenage girls and offers MySpace layouts, as well as a magazine section. Her site ranks well above other websites produced by large corporations that target teenage girls, such as Seventeen and Cosmo Girl, as you can see in this Alexa chart.

She's had countless offers for the site, but has turned them all down so far. Kudos to Ashley for being a smart business woman and putting her MySpace skills to work. Ashley is just another example of the countless business opportunities the blogosphere offers.

I wonder if she'll help me pimp my MySpace profile...

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:41 PM
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September 20, 2007

Check out this crazy link...

Have you been Rick Roll'd yet?

The next time you receive a YouTube link from a co-worker or "supposed" loved one, think twice. You might be setting yourself up to watch Rick Astley's painfully classic "Never Gone Give You Up," or, a Rick Roll.

Not only is there a Rick Roll web site for the Internet-based joke, there's currently an Urban Dictionary entry, a Yahoo! Answers reply, and even a Digg update.

If you're ever asked for the definition of "viral video," this is it.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:44 PM
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August 27, 2007

Onion reports on "Web Crash 2007"

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 01:19 PM
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August 13, 2007

Black is the new green

By Nichole Woodcock

There are a number of us who have clicked “make Google your homepage.” Google’s popular search engine is now helping users through a green-friendly search with a revamped homepage, Blackle.

Designed by Heap Media Australia in the hopes of helping users conduct an “Energy Saving Search,” Blackle transforms your white Google homepage into a black screen that features the same familiar one-bar search tool. Some call Blackle an inconvenient homepage, while others insist it is a small way to help save energy.

Why Blackle and not Polkadottle? Earlier this year, the EcoIron blog featured a post on how “Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a year.” This sparked enough debate to get people talking about actually creating an energy efficient search engine. Wikipedia has additional info on the emergence of Blackle.

Google does not own Blackle, meaning the bells and whistles Google users are accustomed to are not available. Blackle is operating solely on the homepage. Results appear in a light grey text, but once you click on a new URL you are thrown back into the colorful world of the internet. Blackle also provides an eco-friendly reminder at the bottom of the page showing the number of watt hours saved. This is a small reminder that you are making a difference.

There have been heated debates among online skeptics who question Blackle’s efficiency, especially when comparing a LCD monitor with a CRT. Some tests have even shown that there are no energy savings to be found using Blackle on a LCD monitor.

Whether or not this truly saves a great deal of energy, it is sparking healthy conversations about the everyday things people can start doing to help conserve energy. It is certainly a nice contrast to thinking green.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 12:54 PM
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August 07, 2007

Where do we go when we die?

By Melanie Seasons

We are now in an age where everyone has the potential not to be forgotten, even in death. And nowhere is this more evident than on social networking sites.

As the prime example, when someone on MySpace dies, his or her profile becomes a digital snapshot of his or her life. This is because a MySpace account owner is the only one who can disable his or her page. If no one has access to the account, it has the potential to be archived forever.

If you haven’t come across one of these profiles, they’re absolutely heartbreaking. They have become online tombs littered with messages and memories posted by friends and family members. Reading comments that go from the everyday mundane like, “See you next week” to “I've trying my best to ‘cope’ with all this but it's just so hard. Life is never going to be the same without you,” is enough to make a complete stranger get a little misty-eyed.

If you’re morbidly curious, but don’t know where to find a dead MySpacer, there’s a new resource: MyDeathSpace.com, a site that collects and archives submitted MySpace profiles and obituaries of the recently deceased.

Unsurprisingly, My Death Space has sparked controversy, launching sites like Action Against My Death Space. The site claims that owner of My Death Space exploits the tragedy of death by featuring a cartoon-like skull as its logo and not moderating comments in its forum.

For me, though, it’s seeing an obituary headline like this, that’s the real tragedy.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:39 PM
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July 26, 2007

Did you watch the YouTube debates?

A colleague of mine recently asked me if I’d been watching the CNN/YouTube debates, to which I replied, “Meh.” I had, but I really wasn’t that impressed. After reading an opinion piece (“Brave New World Made Boring”) by Glynnis MacNicol yesterday, I don’t think I’m the only one who felt so “,eh” about the whole idea.

“By far, the best "YouTube-style" videos of the night were done by the candidates themselves (John Edwards being the clear winner...take that Maureen Dowd!), which is a bit like your parents having a better Facebook page than you.”

Was putting these debates on YouTube the right choice? I’m thinking it might not have been, but more an example of “Look at what I can do with Web 2.0!” Just because the size of the screen has been reduced to 425 pixels wide doesn’t mean thousands of high school seniors will suddenly pay attention and cast their vote.

As social media marches on and companies begin to listen, I see more and more examples of “check this off the new-media list” for ideas that aren’t always appropriate for a client or specific event. Perhaps that’s the case here with the YouTube debates. What do you think? I’d love to hear more thoughts on this.

Some other thoughts I laughed along with come courtesy of Jon Stewart and a recent “Daily Show” monologue on what he really thought of the debates. Check it out here.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:16 PM
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July 23, 2007

When TV and social media meet...

...Facebook Schrute Bucks are born. I just gave one to a friend on mine on Facebook; have you?

Never heard of a Schrute Buck? Read up on the subject over on Wikipedia.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:25 PM
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July 13, 2007

McBlog: Do fries come with that unbiased opinion?

By Nichole Woodcock

McDonald’s has tapped into the Momosphere in its latest efforts to help boost their company persona in the public arena. I think we all remember the surprisingly overwhelming impact “Super Size Me” had on the entire fast food industry. McDonald’s enlisted six moms to go behind-the-counters for an exclusive in-depth look at their restaurants. Moms will meet with top execs, chefs and nutritionists and write about their experiences via personal online journals.

The “Moms’ Quality Correspondents” were chosen by an independent company from a group of 4,000 applicants. The mom’s started on June 20 and will continue their journey through the Golden Arches until September. Their thoughtful opinions can be found on none other than the McDonald’s Web site itself. Keep in mind, McDonald’s said they would not edit the posts and have no control over what the women write. Think they are telling them what’s in the special sauce?

There certainly is a chance that a mom could post something negative about their encounters, but after reading the highly positive remarks from their first posts, I think McDonald’s is pulling out all the stops to make sure these moms and their meals are kept happy.

The online community has strong opinions on McDonald’s tactics. Mom sites are upset that McDonald’s selected six relatively unknown mothers instead of working with already established mom sites. Many moms will undoubtedly trust their favorite mom blog over a corporate site full of women they have no connection with. It is surprising that McDonald’s fails to see the advantages of going with trusted moms, or perhaps they are afraid of what they will really say. Whatever opinions the six moms share, any credibility is weakened by McDonald’s corporate stronghold.

We’ll have to wait on future posts to know how McDonald’s ultimately fairs with mommies, but they are on the right track with tackling a mass medium. According to the eighth annual survey conducted by StrategyOne, "a person like you" is seen twice as credible as a CEO and just slightly better than an academic or a doctor. I am among the skeptics who believe McDonald’s has the right idea in theory but is going about it the entirely wrong way.

Safe to say, I’m not “lovin’ it.”

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:32 PM
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July 12, 2007

The Mentos Intern

By Melanie Seasons

In what I consider to be the cleverest online marketing initiative this year, Mentos launched the site MentosIntern.com, where Trevor, “The Mentos Intern,” can be seen doing whatever the public tells him to do 40 hours a week. It’s quite a jump from the Bellagio-esque Diet Coke fountains, more like a cross between Justin.tv and a much, much cooler version of Ms. Dewey.

Trevor has a schedule that visitors to the web site can fill in with tasks. If he and his bosses approve the task, it’s penciled in and Trevor performs it. For example, yesterday Trevor was scheduled to perform the Mexican Hat Dance for 15 minutes. Today, he’s already choreographed and taught a line dance, practiced handstands, and taken a yoga class.

I can already tell that our intern, Daniel, is incredibly jealous. Who knows? Maybe Daniel will be the next summer’s Mentos intern. He certainly has the look down.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:02 PM
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June 28, 2007

Facebook's helping hands

An article in last week's Wall Street Journal had some interesting updates on Facebook's new platform that is allowing third-party services to create new applications for the No. 2 social networking site. According to the article, more than 800 services have been created for Facebook since the launch of its platform in May.

The new applications range from slide shows to horoscope finders, rating your top friends and Last.fm plug-ins. I know I've received countless requests from my friends asking me to add their new favorite applications. Looking at all of the options you now have on Facebook, I was nervous for them; didn't most of my friends abandon MySpace because of all the ads, band requests, and spam profiles? I guess not. Take a look at these numbers:

• In May, Facebook had 24 million active users.
• In June, just one month later, Facebook had 27 million active users.

Three million users can't be wrong...

I especially liked this rationale for why Facebook seems to "get it" right now. From the article:

Facebook is actually borrowing a tactic pioneered by Microsoft: Rather than building every piece of technology yourself, let others build on your "platform," much the way Adobe Systems Inc., Intuit Inc. and others built software for Microsoft's Windows operating system in the 1980s. Using this strategy, Facebook can nurture an ecosystem of developers who can create services far faster than Facebook could build them on its own.

With numbers that appear to be climbing every month, and friends who keep bombarding me with iLike recommendations I usually can't turn down, it looks like it's going to be a good summer session for Facebook.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:44 PM
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What we have here is a failure to communicate...

...Or, managing relationships, traditionally and digitally

By Nichole Woodcock

Reading Guy Kawasaki's blog entry on “The Top Ten Reasons Why PR Doesn't Work” is like rubbing salt in a wound. There is nothing worse than when a campaign is viewed unsuccessful in the eyes of a client. Every client dreams of “Oprah” and “The Today Show,” but if our client is Mattel and they are trying to get on top broadcast shows with the latest yo-yo, we have to advise them to thoughtfully reconsider. The same is true for the blogosphere. Not everyone needs to have an island in Second Life, even though the client might want the latest, greatest digital "must-have."

Whether it's a traditional PR initiative or a digital endeavor, It is our job as professionals to manage expectations of campaign results, keeping in mind that no two clients are alike. What might have been a great success for one client could turn out a flop for another. There is a way to be honest and fair with a client without insulting their ideas or thoughts. PR is a paid service to manage communication and if we do not advise our clients to the best of our ability, we all look bad in the public arena. If you were paying someone for something they promised you and it never happened, you would be upset too.

A client can be difficult, crusty or perhaps perfect to work with, but for each campaign or RFP we have to manage values and relationships with clients and act on their best behalf with honesty and integrity.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 11:47 AM
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