Social Media | the7Stars

Category Archives: Social Media

[Trend of the Week] – 5 reasons to get excited about Crowdfunding

May 14, 2012

Welcome again to the second instalment of Trend of the Week. This week we’ll be looking at one of the hottest topics in creative circles – crowdfunding.

At its simplest, crowdfunding is about small businesses/projects replacing large VC investment with a larger number of small donations made online by strangers. Interest in the business model has been growing steadily for a while now and the word ‘crowdfunding’ was nominated for inclusion in the American edition of the English Oxford Diction in the summer last year.

There are already a huge number of crowdfunding sites out there. Kickstarter.com is the biggest site, but tens of specialist sites have started popping up for every creative area – CrowdRise, and Feed the Muse for music, 8-Bit Funding for games and www.authr.com for books, to name but a few.

Indeed, scarcely a week seems to go by without another crowdfunding platform launching. This week was no exception with the news that crowdfunding site Flattr has partnered with Dailymotion to push crowdfunding for video projects.

Flattr is an interesting crowdfunding site in that it lets users sign up and set a personal monthly donation amount. Every time you click that little green button, the click gets logged. At the end of the month, your donation gets split between all the sites you clicked on. They might receive a few pence or a pound from you, depending on your number of clicks.

If things go well for Flattr, expect a buy out from Facebook and a “Really Like” button to be cropping up across the web in the near future…

5 Reasons why we should be excited about Crowdfunding:

1) Crowdfunding means more innovative content and products for everyone – Sites such as Kickstarter have meant that projects that would never get off the ground are becoming realities. The Pebble Watch Kickstarter project was looking for $100,000 of funding, but has thus far accumulated a staggering $8,211,694!

2) Fans can vote with their wallets – TV shows fail to get renewed, bands get dropped by their labels and sequels get cancelled… instead of just bitching about it on forums, crowdfunding gives fans the opportunity to do something about it. Imagine a world where Firefly gets dropped by Fox and its 4 million fans all respond by pre-ordering the box set for the next season. That’s a production no brainer.

3) A Crowdfunded TV station? – The announcement that Channel 4 will be launching ‘4seven’ a catch-up station where the programming is decided based on social buzz around existing Channel 4 shows. The jury remains out on Zeebox’s impact on viewing figures, however Sky are certainly backing their newest social acquisition with a large marketing push. Is it so unlikely that we could see this social popularity contest taken one step further sometime in the near future?

4) Crowdfunding doesn’t mean an end for old funding models - The rise of crowdfunding certainly doesn’t mean an end for the role of the programming commissioners or A&R men at record labels. There’s a reason that people “get lucky” consistently and social buzz isn’t always the best indicator of imminent quality content. How many times have fans been sourly disappointed with much-anticipated films – Super 8 anyone?!? The most exciting thing about crowdfunding is that it represents entirely new money into the creative world. This means more content for everyone which can only be a good thing.

5) Crowdfunding isn’t going away - The economic climate means that crowdfunding or micro-investment offers a great option for both funders and people with great ideas. Declining government investment in art means that competition for public budgets will only increase in coming years. A poor economic outlook and low interest rates also mean people are looking for other ways to invest their money. Indeed, earlier this month Obama signed the “Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act” into law designed to allow and encourage businesses to raise up to $1m from small investments through crowdfunding. If the president of the biggest economy in the world’s stamp of approval isn’t a sign of a bright future, I don’t know what is!

Comment

Posted by admin

London Likes? Dislikes? Follows? – Elects

Comments 0

May 11, 2012

In a year of intense political and corporate scandal, both in the UK and abroad (DSK, the Euro, the London riots!), the London Mayor elections were surely expected to be the most actively participated to date.

Londoners had seen their streets burn and witnessed scenes which they believed were only possible in the politically unstable conflict zones of the Middle East.

Yes, election apathy has been a rising statistic ever since the high days of 1950 where 84% of us used our right to vote, reaching an all-time low of 59% in 2001, but there has been a post millennium rise, which has seen more voters take to the ballots (65% at last count), both nationally and for the London Mayor elections (although the record for the mayor elections is just 45%).

Now one could speculate that the rise in participation is a direct correlation with the new communications world, which gives more candidates the freedom to express their policies and opinions across more mediums, reaching even more people, how they want to be reached. This is something that seemed to work for Obama, so surely what works in the US, can work anywhere?

Looking at the efforts from the main players shows that they recognised the benefits of the new mediums of communication. Along with leaflets which didn’t have the candidates’ names on them (Ken), and booklets received through the post late on the day of the elections, the internet and mobile were also used to varying degrees, though perhaps the biggest difference between the candidates could be found on Facebook, Twitter & YouTube.

While we know who ultimately won, how did their social campaigns fair, and did it matter?

First up Boris. He came into polling day with a buzzing community of 142k Facebook likes, 13k people ‘talking’ on Facebook, an army of 286k followers on Twitter, though only 52,232 views of his channel and manifesto video on YouTube, which balanced out more positive than negative with 176 likes to 131 dislikes. His tweets were always personal, and connected to relevant events such as St. Patrick’s Day and Vaisakhi. He also kept his tweets varied though limited in number, such that they stayed focussed and didn’t become spam. Facebook was similarly thorough, although his YouTube channel was fairly thin. Overall What’s Hot gives this campaign 8/10.

Ken’s stats were a comparably punitive 6,711 likes on Facebook, with 1.6k people talking there, only 24k Twitter followers, but a leading 91,322 channel views on YouTube. His Facebook page looked very lonely indeed, and exposed a man who clearly wasn’t at home on the social network, showing a low level of activity since becoming a member in 2009, and a sudden ramping of efforts in the run up to the elections. His twitter was run by a campaign team, so was not at all personal, and had far too many tweets (14 on 29th April) to engage with or to provide a focus on message. YouTube was where he won, although the numbers all-round showed a serious disinterest here. Ken sill loses marks for disabling comments and likes/dislikes, and for also producing a manifesto video that shared a near identical and hackneyed creative execution with Brian Paddick’s. Score 3/10.

So while What’s Hot’s social campaign scoring doesn’t completely reflect the closeness of the end result, what is clear is that social media is a powerful constructer of personality and image which are key attributes for an emotional bond. So with 54% of Boris supporters giving “personality” as the reason (they like Boris or dislike Ken), and just 27% giving a “party” reason (they generally vote Tory or dislike Labour), social – while difficult to measure – is simply essential.

Another victory for emotional communications.

Comment

Posted by the7stars

A Big Week for Social Media

Comments 0

April 13, 2012

There have been some big revelations this week in the world of social media. Two of the most notable are Facebook’s buyout of Instagram for a cool $1bn and Pinterest becoming the third biggest social media platform behind – of course – Facebook and Twitter.

The news of the acquisition of Instagram, a free photo sharing program, seemed to come as an unpleasant surprise to many. Facebook was seemingly prepared for a backlash, attempting a pre-emptive strike against the negative responses in its news release about the acquisition. However, this did little to dampen the reaction, which mainly consisted of scepticism that the giant corporation will tarnish the independent and ad free software that Instagram currently offers.

What is it about Instagram that has made it so attractive to the site? Facebook is, in its essence, a photo sharing platform, and the app that owns this space more than any other at this point is Instagram, so of course, Facebook wants to piggyback on its success. Also, because Facebook saw Instagram as a major competitor in the mobile market – which is widely acknowledged as the future channel of social media – the acquisition has now erased the possibility of another competitor – such as Google or Twitter – buying it.In other social news: Pinterest is now sitting pretty in the number three spot in the social race. How? Girl power! Around 97% of the US Pinterest fans on Facebook are female, with the most popular posts focusing on women’s clothing and accessories (and yes, kittens and cupcakes).Why is Pinterest so successful? Because it offers something that Facebook doesn’t. Where Facebook is connecting you to your friends, Pinterest provides users with the platform to collect things that you find interesting instantly, from anywhere and share them – with anyone. The word ‘collect’ seems to be the key to what makes Pinterest so addictive – it’s a collection that represents your personality, and people are spending plenty of time making sure that their personality is impressive.Pinterest also boasts a simple user interface and aesthetically pleasing display that puts the content first. This layout has proven to be addictive, supplying users with a form of information and entertainment that’s easy to digest. Pinterest also provides a very effective platform for linking content to websites and blogs. Impressively, it links more traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube do, combined.Certainly one to give serious consideration if you own a blog or website that has a flow of unique visual content.

Comment

Posted by the7stars

This House Proposes…

Comments 0

March 16, 2012

One of the more entertaining recent developments from Google YouTube is the ‘Versus’ series, a forum where celebrities debate various global issues. The series of debates is streamed live on YouTube, then discussed and debated in the Google+ page comment section.

The first debate, titled “It’s time to end the war on drugs: Agree or Disagree” was clearly something that resonated with many celebs. The two sides of the debate – in simple terms – consisted of one side arguing that the war on drugs has failed, and needs to be scrapped to save the billions in wasted cash, and the counter that the war on drugs is working and just needs to be improved or modified.

The former group consisted of some impressive names, including businessman Sir Richard Branson, comedian and presenter Russell Brand and controversial journalist Johan Hari, as well as a large gang of hard hitting and high profile names. Arguing against them was a smaller group of similarly impressive brains, such as former MET commissioner Lord Blair and US lawyer and political commentator Eliot Spitzer.

Google collaborated with Intelligence2 to provide people with multiple avenues to participate and watch the event, giving Google the opportunity to showcase its ‘Hangout’ feature on its social network. This is the feature which has also been used recently during public interviews with President Obama and David Beckham, and gives the public the opportunity to engage and ask questions. Adding to the excitement, YouTube’s Live feature was also used so people could watch the debate and follow its progress.

Finally, we ‘ordinary people’ were asked to vote on which side of the argument they were persuaded by after the live show, through the YouTube channel. After voting, people were directed to the Google+ page to continue the debate and spark discussions.

Google’s official line is that forum is a way “for Web users anywhere to have a share of voice, and for that voice to be heard by the world.” What’s Hot thinks that the use of multiple social media to channel users through a content funnel from YouTube to Google+ is an effective way of making content more engaging and efficient. The results from the war on drugs debate have proven that the system is pretty successful, with lots of discussions sparked and votes made on the day.

Anything that gets people talking and debating can only be a good thing – it’s rare that the public actually gets a share of the voice when it comes to big issues today. Of course, this is essentially a commercial move by Google to get people signed up to its new services, but it could actually help make changes for the better.

Comment

Posted by the7stars

Anything Good on the Box?

Comments 0

March 16, 2012

Forget the year of mobile – 2012 is the year of data or internet enabled TVs, and media land is abuzz with discussions on dual screening and, specifically, one name – Zeebox. Sky Media’s acquisition of a 10% stake in Zeebox following its launch last November, as well as the current TV campaign (unsurprisingly running across Sky owned channels) has propelled Zeebox into the mainstream.

Zeebox offers users an amplified TV viewing experience, by not competing with linear TV, but by complementing the experience. The app appears in the form of an interactive guide, which allows users to express their sentiment towards programmes they are watching, and then sharing this across the social sphere through Facebook and Twitter.

The significance of Sky’s involvement is that they are embedding Zeebox technology across Sky+, and Sky Go is allowing advertising opportunities around Zeebox apps, evolving it from a purely peer-to-peer social product. Sky hasn’t yet formally laid out these opportunities, but it is initially looking for launch partners, which will lead to further commercial opportunities. These include the potential for sponsored Zeetags – similar to Twitter trends, and also the opportunity to click to buy products which appear in the programme the user is watching live. The true test for Sky will be harnessing the consumer interest around Zeebox and then turning this into a true commercial opportunity – a problem even the social behemoths of both Twitter and Facebook are still struggling to fully resolve.

The relationship of dual screening and social media’s influence on linear TV is evident in the announcement of Channel 4’s new 4Seven channel. It is essentially a catch-up service with scheduling defined by the social buzz around shows aired within the previous week, which are then repeated on 4Seven. This is, in effect, reversing the trend of on demand TV and allowing consumers the choice of what they would like to collectively watch within the linear format. This example re-enforces the importance of the first screen in any dual screen debate.

The TV is dead. Long live the TV!

Comment

Posted by the7stars

To Kony or Not to Kony?

Comments 0

March 16, 2012

: The most successful viral in history

: An American Ugandan response

: A very angry rant

: Power of ideas

It exploded with over 100m video views in just six days, lighting up every corner of the world with the story of Kony the evil warlord, and the campaign to make him famous. Measured on the rate of views, this is now the most successful viral video ever, surpassing the likes of Susan Boyle, Lady Gaga and even the Bieber.

On the face of it, this was a wonderful story for humankind. Finally, a real issue seemed to create a greater emotional connection than laughing babies or falling cats. Haters, doubters, cynics, Republicans and Bieber fans alike uniting to fight an epic battle against KONY. However, its success followed controversy.

Whether you are of the belief the video was Good, Bad or Ugly, what’s certainly clear is that we can all learn something from this emotionally draining campaign.

•A simple story told with great execution goes a very long way. The story told here wasn’t that great – or entirely true – but through its exceptional execution and delivery, people believed it, became part of it, and shared it.

•Think about the consequences of your campaigns. The campaign had a fundamental lack of good insight. Asking people to make someone evil famous could have catastrophic consequences, particularly if the person is assumed to be dead or in hiding, and support for them waned a long time ago.

•Transparency is the new (much welcomed) reality. Whether you like it or not, with fame comes transparency – on both sides. Invisible Children spends less than 31% of its income on actually helping people in Uganda, and spends far much more on simple things like computer equipment ($751,000) and furniture and fixtures ($45,361). Probably not figures they expected – or wanted – to see broadcast.

•If in doubt, doubt everything. No one wants to be spammed or hoodwinked by anyone, let alone a friend or brand they trust. Be a filter of quality, not just the kid in the playground spreading all the gossip. Do a degree of research before socially backing such big issues.

•Slacktivism is not just an issue for campaigners. Ironically, much of the anger here is directed to those who have supported this and sent it on without questioning it, or going even further, beyond the click. In the new social world, people can mistakenly believe that sharing a link is doing enough, no matter what the issue is. Similarly brands can falsely believe that more ‘likes’ mean more sales. Don’t be fooled in by Brand Slacktivism.

•Nothing is more powerful than an idea. Apart from a better idea. The opening statement in the video pays tribute to ideas, but ignores the elements that set ideas apart. Spending less on computers and staff and giving more to education and food programmes, or making a documentary and showing both sides, are all strategic choices and options, and some are harder decisions to make than others. Yet some are simple. Making KONY famous is an idea. Making KONY infamous would have been an even better idea.

Comment

Posted by the7stars

Spies Like Us

Comments 0

February 10, 2012

Facebook is courting controversy yet again with its recent Timeline update, which to all intents and purposes now displays all of your posts from the very beginning of your social media journey … including those you’d rather forget and which indeed inquisitive employers might well stumble upon.

At the same time, Google has been criticised for lumping together privacy policies from around 60 sources into a single, apparently more useful resource… yes, for them possibly as they seek to garner yet more information on our behaviour and monetise that (no doubt) in any number of their commercial spaces.

And this comes at a time when the whole privacy debate is hotting up with the anticipated EU ruling on cookie usage – that is, when sites record you as a visitor, keeping some information that is used for various purposes, both user experience and advertising based.

Come May 2012, the local state representative (in the UK the Information Commissioner’s Office) will begin enforcing the European Privacy Directive on cookie usage. How the directive is implemented is still open for debate. However, unless it is toned down, the implications are game-changing.

Two things will be affected if the full force of the directive comes into play. The first is user experience, which will be impacted as users are asked to opt-in to each individual cookie. When this new approach was tested there was a 90 per cent drop in the amount of data collected, which has seen online networks/exchanges scrambling for ways of limiting the inevitable damage to their reach.

The second is how companies leverage the data question. Businesses that are able to organise and make sense of all the data now available will be at a major competitive advantage in terms of customer insight, productivity and business insight. Google recently launched its Social Media Data Hub with the objective of creating a standardised way of tracking social data from all of your customer touch points. During 2012 we can expect to see more in the way of standards being applied to data but until Twitter and Facebook are on board, fragmentation will still exist.

We can also expect to see more intelligent data modelling from attribution modelling, as well as mobile data, customer data modelling and in analytics, from lifetime value through to cohort analysis. In tandem with this, data visualisation tools are going to become increasingly prevalent, streamlining the ability to model data and providing actionable intelligence to marketers.

So is the writing on the wall for behavioural marketing online as we know it ? Well the signs are there… have you noticed this little icon popping up in the corner of ads that are retargeting you using cookie data ? Not much data exists on opt-outs at this level, but May 2012 will be a pivotal moment in how data-driven online marketing might develop… or not.

Comment

Posted by the7stars

12 3 Older entries

Welcome to our blog - Social Media | the7Stars – Blog

Category Archives: Social Media

Categories

Tags

Archives