Windows phone leveraging social media?

One of our favorite MBA-terms: leveraging. Honestly, I just could not think of a better word. What I mean is 'cheapening' or 'band-wagoning' or 'exploiting'... but none fit the title without some explanation.

I saw this commercial on TV (yes, traditional media) last night:
http://www.youtube.com/user/windowsphone?blend=2&ob=1

Starts off great - and I'm sure most everyone (US & globally) can relate to how silly our society has become with staring at their phones and texting non-stop. But then, why would a phone by Microsoft (MS) solve this? Is the message, "Hey, you are ruining your life staring at you phone, so may as well consider doing that with our phone too"? There is nothing in this ad that speaks to the features or advantages of the MS Phone. Worse, there was no feeling of excitement for me that made me want to seek out and test the phone at my local AT&T store; or even go online and read about the phone. So I am writing this blog post with complete ignorance on the MS Phone. You know what, I'm okay with that.

"The Social Network" Number One In Box Office

I finally went to see "The Social Network" this morning. I can now see why this movie was number one in the box office. This movie is a must see, especially for business students interested in starting their own company. The movie touches on several important topics such as state of incorporation, angel investors, venture financing, anti-dilution clauses, additional rounds of financing and intellectuality property rights.

Misinformation spread on the internet

As Kiyoshi mentioned, for Japanese people, the diplomatic dispute with China is the biggest issue recently. Especially, some Japanese internet heavy users are losing their temper, since their political beliefs tend to be right and extream patriorism. So they are called "internet-right wing".

These internet users try to spread as much information as possible. As a result, we can see a lot of correct information and incorrect information. One example of (probably) correct information is the movie, Kiyoshi mentioned. If you access YouTube with location setting as Japan, Most Viewed videos are these movies.

However, incorrect information also spread rapidly on the internet. An internet user found the article of BBC written in Chinese including "事故沒有造成人員傷亡" [The accident caused NO dead and wounded]. He/she tried to translate the sentence to Japanese, and Google Translate said "事故は、死傷者が発生" [The accident caused dead and wounded].

After seeing this translation (in fact, mistranslation by Google Translate), he/she thought that "this fact was hidden by unreliable Japanese government! I must spread this fact!" And he/she did, then caused bunch of Fwd, RT, etc. by internet right wing.

Before now, other interenet users have corrected the misinformation using the same way, Retweet or else. But... please think which information spread more rapidly and widely, (a) Sensational information (b) Correction of the information ? In Japan, especially among internet right wing, (a) is much faster than (b). So this misinformation have not yet completely disappear.

"There's no smoke without fire." Almost all Japanese people know this proverb. But they should know that "we live in internet era, when there could be smoke without fire "

5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Media

5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Media

I hope you would find these TED talks on social media useful.
I had previously posted one of the videos on how social media can change History.
But as I was looking into internet to find new stuffs about social media I came across this article in Mashable.
Probably, you are now familiar with Mashable website because of some of our readings.


Do not miss watching the films, although it might get a long to look at all of them at one shot :)

50 Awesomest Viral Videos

For your viewing pleasure...

http://gizmodo.com/5681765/the-50-awesomest-viral-videos-under-30-seconds-long

One video posted on YouTube might change Japanese prime minister....

Recently, there has been a big diplomatic dispute between Japan and China, because of China's ship attacking Japanese coast guard in the sea boarder between Japan and China.　Later, Japan coast guard seized the captain, but China retaliated that China restricted exporting of some precious metal to Japan, and so on......
The key point is the video which showed the accident and Japanese Congress and others required the Government to disclose the video. Before releasing the video officially, one guy (maybe inside of Japanese Government) posted the video on YouTube, this week before the official release in the Congress and APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Conference) in Japan starting from Nov 7th. During the APEC, Japanese prime minister and Chinese President are assumed to hold a meeting at the summit. Now, in Japan, every news program report this post very often and for a long time. There are various speculations broadcast-ed.
Only one post on YouTube would make the Japanese people lose the trust to Japanese Government and prime minister, which would replace with a new guy in the near future.....


News: http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/05_08.html
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Di8406Z474
(A Japanese coat guard official reported the movement of Chinese ship.)

Cooks Source Magazine Breaks Guitars

For the past 24 hours or so, there has been a situation quite similar to United Breaks Guitars that has been growing throughout the internet. Apparently Cooks Source Magazine stole an article from someone's blog. When the original writer asked for an apology, all she got was an offensive email dismissing her.

For the full story, see: http://illadore.livejournal.com/30674.html

Now this story has gone viral, and people are mad. You should check out the Cooks Source Magazine Facebook page, which is now full of negative comments attacking the company for its actions: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Cooks-Source-Magazine/122095074516624

What is so interesting about this case is that we can watch it unfold in real time. What do you think will happen next?