Dancing with the Stars and Social Media Flaws

If you have not been watching Dancing with the Stars (yes, I am married), you have been missing a great example of where social media has its flaws. ( http://fxn.ws/9uzNoc and http://usat.ly/aNY46E) Bristol Palin (Sarah's daughter) has continually advanced in the contest because conservative Republicans (advocates of Sarah) have organized on social media sites and made great efforts to vote on-line for Bristol each week (sometimes creating multiple email addresses to increase the number of votes). Yes, they are gaming the system, but it also identifies some of the issues with social media (namely, you do not always know who your audience is and you cannot always trust them!).

The lesson learned is that if you are going to create a social media tool, you have to understand the weaknesses of your system.

On another note, I think its funny that the Republicans lost in the Senate, but they are organizing over a dancing contest! I am not sure they really understand the value of social media...

Event held by CommNexus: Managing a Crisis in the Age of Social Media

I do not know how many of you are familiar with CommNexus. It is a non-profit network of communications industry companies, defense industry companies, service providers, professional trade organizations, and local government which hold events in their specific fields. 

Nevertheless, they are having an event regarding Social Media.

The title is "Managing a Crisis in the Age of Social Media". If you have free time I suggest going there.

Since we are students the registration will be free. 
Please click here for further information.

The Future of Advertising

Excellent (but long) article on what's in store for advertising. Will agencies be neglected and eventually go out of business? Why seek consulting on your campaign when you can directly test ideas with consumers through social media?

My favorite quote is by Jon Bond, "Marketing in the future is like sex. Only the losers will have to pay for it."

http://bit.ly/cb4qiD

Of course this means that there is also opportunity. As graduates-to-be, we can actually be thought leaders in a whole new way of offering services to corporations looking to advertise. An element of excitement that adds a wrinkle to our education thus far!

Results: Jpn Groupon violation of rule

This is an update of Jpn Groupon violates rule. 1st graph: blue line is accumulated purchase and red area is purchase per hour. At first Ponpare has estimated the blue line will reach top ceiling 500,000 minimum requirement.

However, Ponpare saw the weaker demand and then removed minimum requirement. The purple line indicates this decision.

The daily amount of purchase increased AFTER the decision. 2nd graph shows daily (12pm to next day 12pm) purchase, and the red bar was the decision.

What they did worked well, IN SHORT TERM. Regardless of positive or negative tone, the responses to the decision created huge buzz and contributed to the increase of awareness and purchase.

The other thing to learn was the interesting behavior of users. 3rd Graph shows that the pattern of weekday (blue) and weekend (green) is little bit different.

Lunch time is more important in weekend, and nighttime is more important in weekdays. Also, weekday's 2pm is air pocket.

Finally, 4th graph shows the distribution of weight of each hour in a day. The red bundle shows 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% confidence.

These graphs are only from public data. Ponpare must got bunch of data. They also got 367,401 users. They might have lost something, but they got priceless data and users pool.

Are we scared yet?

The Wall Street Journal just came out with its latest installment on online privacy which I suggest you check out:

http://on.wsj.com/dh7jzs

If last week’s reading didn’t already get you concerned about the privacy issues that can arise from the vast amounts of personal data collected online, this newest article will. Apparently insurance companies are turning to online data to build more accurate models in order to predict your health and longevity. You like McDonalds on Facebook? Maybe we should raise your premium. You installed the jogging app on your iPhone? Maybe you are due for a small discount.

An interesting question this raises though is whether you can game the system, since ultimately the information they have about us online is what we choose to share. You could imagine that if this became a popular method for pricing insurance, people would publicly like health and fitness magazines, and check into salad bars on Foursquare right before walking into a McDonalds to eat. Either way, this really highlights the difficult ethical and privacy issues that we will have to deal with moving forward.

Another Google Ad tool is coming out of Beta

A year ago Google launched an Ad tool which they called "Product Listing Ads".
Now it is coming out of Beta and going online in USA. Based on what Google says through this mechanism the product lead increases because of a much more accurate customer targeting and developing "product extension".
Nevertheless, for those of you who are interested in selling your products this new tool might come in handy :)

I am not sure, but as more and more Ads become targeted I find them frightening!!! I wonder what else they know about me?!!

One last question, does anybody know how big the Fuzzy Region is ;)

Movember

Using social media for social good. Everyone knows about breast cancer month, but not as many know about Movember. A chance to shine a spotlight on conditions that affect men.

So im busting out my version of the stash to try to raise some cash. I also thought it would be worth while to use my social media outlets to market and get the word out. You will find posts on my twitter, facebook, and others accounts.

Fine moustachery and immaculate grooming doesn't grow on trees. Pls donate to #Movember: http://us.movember.com/mospace/1275110/