tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87797757482108647282023-10-07T03:00:47.787-05:00I Dig DigitalWelcome to my info-blog dedicated to all things digital. Here you will find current industry articles, noteworthy visuals and personal comments on today's media and technology trends.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-36238045760726877682008-07-07T15:46:00.007-05:002008-07-07T16:47:41.194-05:00Digital Download 7-07-08<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SHKOMwa3zSI/AAAAAAAABb4/4MniyQffask/s1600-h/senior-w-computer.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SHKOMwa3zSI/AAAAAAAABb4/4MniyQffask/s400/senior-w-computer.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220391267883011362" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">BABY BOOMERS EMBRACING SOCIAL MEDIA</span></span><br /><br />Some advertisers may believe the web (from online video to social networking) is the ideal playground for the young adult consumer but there has been emerging data that supports the theory that senior citizens are also internet savvy, if not more so, in this realm. According to the AARP and the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, 42% of American citizens over the age of 50 check the Web for news daily or several times a day, compared to just 18% of users under 20. Also, there’s a reported increase of this demographic using the Internet for fun and interaction. When it comes to social media, 70% of consumers age 50 and up said that their online community was "very" or "extremely" important to them. In contrast, just about half of all social network members under age 20 said the same. "Baby boomers are the most socially educated population ever," said Davis, a self-defined Boomer. "They may read the paper, or even go on the Web to get their information, but they're constantly networking with people to verify and expand their knowledge, and that's something we're seeing reflected in their activity on our site."<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">TOP BRANDS LEVERAGE HANDS-FREE CELL PHONE LAWS</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SHKMIZO72cI/AAAAAAAABbo/ReR9y1ur6MA/s400/05032007.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220388993916197314" /><div>LG Mobile, Ford Motor Co. and Microsoft are a few of the big brands that are using hands-free marketing and advertising campaigns to encourage consumers to stop talking and texting while driving. Their promotions give away everything from free handsets to advice, and are aimed at driving good will during a time when lost jobs and rising fuel and foods costs are curbing personal budgets. LG Mobile gave away more than 1,000 LG Bluetooth headsets last Thursday at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Experts were on hand to help consumers pair headsets with mobile phones. LG reached out to wireless bloggers to build buzz for the promotion and sent wireless headsets to local TV and radio station traffic reporters. After July 1, Headsets.com will send consumers a free headset if they are cited for driving while talking or texting on a cell phone. A study released earlier this month from ABI Research estimates that 2.4 billion Bluetooth-enabled devices will ship worldwide by 2013. More than half are cellular handsets and a quarter are wireless headsets.</div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">HOTS NEWS AND HOT BLOGS</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SHKOMzZx6fI/AAAAAAAABbw/w-yLPuT3INg/s400/s-AP-LOGO-large.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220391268683737586" /></div><div><br />There was a lot of anger in the blogosphere last week over The Associated Press’s assertion that some blogs were infringing its copyright by publishing excerpts of its articles. Jim Kennedy, an Associated Press vice president, said that the news agency now feels its demand was heavy-handed and was rethinking its policies. The current seven blog posts in question emerged on the Drudge Retort and contained short excerpts of A.P. articles. Last week, the A.P. demanded that the Drudge Retort remove the posts because they violated its copyright. Mr. Kennedy now says the news agency plans to create new guidelines for how blogs can use its material, after discussions with representatives of blogging groups and others. Mr. Kennedy said the association hadn’t withdrawn its copyright complaint and even small parts of articles and headlines are valuable and should be protected. In reaction to what Mr. Kennedy said, Michael Arrington declared on TechCrunch: “So here’s our new policy on A.P. stories: they don’t exist.” Jeff Jarvis, on BuzzMachine, wrote: “Back off, A.P. Because we won’t.” More important, the A.P. could well offer bloggers a safe harbor to use its content under certain circumstances without asserting a claim that every use beyond that line is copyright infringement.</div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">WINNING CONSUMER BUY-IN FOR BEHAVIORAL TARGETING</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SHKMILxXX3I/AAAAAAAABbY/tb7RjXCiRys/s400/091628.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220388990302510962" /></div><div><br />Behaviorally targeted advertising, which is expected to grow 60% by 2112, holds the promise of relevant advertising and greater revenues from ad inventory. But consumers are sensitive both to their behavior being tracked online and to the constant influx of marketing messages beamed at them. One way of directly addressing consumer concerns is by making ad targeting truly opt-in rather than opt-out. And for consumers to sign on, marketers will need to offer clear trade-offs, including access to valued media such as movies and prime TV shows, marketing messages that speak directly to the individual's current needs, and downloads and discounts.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">OBAMA'S SOCIAL NETWORKING SUCCESS</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SHKMIMo_9iI/AAAAAAAABbg/QM4HTEU0708/s400/barack_obama.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220388990535857698" /></div><div><br />The New York Times reports that social networks like MySpace and Facebook have helped Obama's campaign revolutionize the use of the Web as a campaign fundraising tool, as Obama raised more than two million donations of less than $200 each with the help of Chris Hughes who was one of the original founders of Facebook. The center of that movement has been My.BarackObama.com, an interactive community site for his supporters. As the candidate himself said in a statement, "One of my fundamental beliefs from my days as a community organizer is that real change comes from the bottom up, and there's no more powerful tool for grass-roots organizing than the Internet." Peter Daou, NY Senator Hillary Clinton's Internet director, recently described Obama's online reach as "amazing," adding that, "their use of social networks will guide the way for future campaigns." Learning from this case study, team Obama is now applying the same strategies to win the general election, but this time, The Times notes, they will need to expand beyond young, Internet-savvy supporters to reach the general public.</div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">CRAIGSLIST STILL CLASSIFIED AS THE BEST</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SHKMH2uzAiI/AAAAAAAABbQ/_sUWuORYjKM/s400/craigslist-logo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220388984654594594" /></div><div><br />As print newspapers' classifieds ad sales drop, more money for auto, real estate, jobs, and garage sale ads grow online. Craigslist still remains at the top of online classifieds. Analysts who follow Web classifieds closely agree the space is in flux. Even Wal-Mart has gotten in the free listings game, and Microsoft recently shut down their version, Windows Live Expo. While most listings on Craigslist are free, the site charges for some real estate listings. "I think they have not known exactly how to position that product," said Sterling of Google. Now, the company seems to be focused on using it as a service for individuals, small businesses, and firms with large listings feeds such as Cars.com and CareerBuilder to post ads or upload data that can then be found on Google's main search site. While Craigslist clearly leads as a destination for all sorts of classifieds, from collectibles to casual encounters, some think a new entry could attract lots of users without necessarily competing with Craigslist. One of the primary reasons for Craigslist's success is its communal sensibility; regular users feel a connection to the site and its other visitors.</div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">GOOGLE TO TURN OVER YOUTUBE USER DATA</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SHKMHl-zmbI/AAAAAAAABbI/fZRP21zrG5w/s400/apg_YouTube_Google_080328_mn.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220388980158339506" /><br /><br /></div><div>A federal judge has ordered Google to turn over information on YouTube users to Viacom as part of the media conglomerate's $1 billion copyright infringement suit against Google. The information will include the Internet protocol addresses and viewing history of YouTube visitors, raising concerns among privacy advocates that the information could be used to identify individual users. The two companies have both said they would take steps to prevent the information from being made public, and Viacom said it would not use the data to target individual users for copyright violation.</div></div></div>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-81424138196917243042008-06-20T10:04:00.003-05:002008-06-20T10:14:27.535-05:00So I Was Way Off<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SFvJS0gw7GI/AAAAAAAABbA/5DlaAcculdY/s1600-h/goohoo.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SFvJS0gw7GI/AAAAAAAABbA/5DlaAcculdY/s400/goohoo.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213982318782377058" /></a><br />Ok, I'll admit it. My prediction that Yahoo would eventually succumb to MSN's bid would have been a lousy bet to lose. I don't know if the news of the Google and Yahoo agreement (I like to call it Goohoo) is a good thing or bad thing. I just know Google always gets the best of both worlds. Today, Reuters posted an <a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080620/microsoft_internet.html">article</a> saying that Microsoft won't be making other troublesome internet acquisitions anytime soon. This has to be the quote of the week from Chief Executive Steve Balmer: "People don't under understand what they're talking about. At the end of the day, this is about the ad platform. This is not about just any one of the applications". Right on, Steve. But it still looks like Microsoft is hanging on to position #3 behind Google and Yahoo. Better shape up or ship out!Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-35107310562325609832008-06-16T15:57:00.003-05:002008-06-16T16:14:14.756-05:00Digital Download 6/16/08<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">MSN AND YAHOO ARE OFFICIALLY OVER</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SFbVvjNetZI/AAAAAAAABaY/zT19nrhjgZI/s400/1213340554_google-yahoo-microsoft-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5212588631610275218" /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>Yahoo signed an agreement with Google just hours after its very last talk with MSN this past Thursday <http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html> . With Yahoo’s finally farewell to negotiations with MSN, Google comes out on top (as usual) with the 10 year agreement that will have Yahoo serving its search ads on its portal. This means big bucks in the future for Google who could gain up to $1 billion from the ad pack. What does this mean for advertiser? The positives include a more convenient and manageable search campaign as well as access to a much larger search-ad inventory. The downsides include higher bidding prices, antitrust questions and one less option for marketers to choose another search provider.</http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html></div><div><http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">DADS CAN GET SOCIAL WITH THEIR KIDS TOO</span></span></http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html></div><div><http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SFbVwguP2tI/AAAAAAAABag/7baGu8IF74I/s400/Odadeo_+How+am+I+going+to+be+a+better+dad%3F.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5212588648122276562" /></http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html></div><div><http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><br />Just in time for Father’s Day, the new beta social network for dads called Odadeo was announced last week. It’s currently in private beta mode and it serves to help patriarchs keep in touch with their children, get parenting tips from fellow dads, and build blogs about their kids with photo and video sharing capabilities. Stef Lewandowski is one of the service’s founders and believe Odadeo is a great social channel for parents, specifically fathers, to communicate and connect closer with their children as well as other families who may share the same interests and hobbies.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">HAVE ONLINE GUIDE, WILL TRAVEL</span></span></http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><div><http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SFbVw4KyRkI/AAAAAAAABao/69ZVLlVU1ME/s400/TravelMuse+-+Inspiration+Finder+-+Discover+Destinations.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5212588654415988290" /></http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><div><http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><br />A new beta site called TravelMuse will sure to be plenty of competition for Travelocity, Expedia and TripAdvisor. It’s a new online portal that blends travel planning tools with quality editorial content topped off with a weekly theme or destination. TravelMuse is a one stop destination for reviews, trip planning and travel booking service. This site is perfect for those travelers who are not sure of where to go and like to see where others have enjoyed recent travels and what recommendations are popular. This goes for product purchases as well as global journeys. They present new feature destinations on a routine basis, plus the requisite tips, tricks, and specials like book reviews and ecotourist picks. In addition, TravelMuse users can transfer bookmarklets to their browsers to collect third-party data to keep in one cloud-based location. This option can prove very convenient if one’s itinerary becomes rather elaborate.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">PLURK IS RUFFLING TWITTER’S FEATHERS</span></span></http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><div><http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SFbVxAea-6I/AAAAAAAABaw/S0mZffp-DB8/s400/Your+life,+on+the+line+-+Plurk.com.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5212588656645831586" /></http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><div><http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><br />Plurk is another new microblogging site that has seen plenty of traffic in the past month due to Twitter’s constant problems and errors. Plurk offers a very similar service to Twitter, but throws in a curve ball with its horizontal timeline of updates, extended freedom of conversation, and “karma” points for avid users. It’s similarity to Twitter attracts Twitter users, it’s unique layout intrigues those who are looking for something “different,” and now, third party applications will promote widespread activity. The experience is similar to reading comments on FriendFeed, however, the layout of the site only creates unnecessary confusion. Regardless, many internet users (mostly Twitter fanatics) have visited Plurk enough to quadruple the site’s number of visits this month.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">LEAVE YOUR MARK WITH RETAGGR</span></span><br /><br /><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SFbVxoTGpiI/AAAAAAAABa4/k4f4EXxMPiE/s400/retaggr+-+your+online+presence+everywhere.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5212588667335779874" /></http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><div><http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html><br />Welcome the new way to pass on your business card. Retaggr is a new site that lets you compile all your online activities into one interactive profile. The result is a virtual business card that acts as a widget wherever your name appears on blogs or other Retaggr-enabled sites. You can use Retaggr to let people see your photo, twitter status, a link to your blog, and links to other social sites like Facebook. You can add any web widget to your Profile Card including Gtalk, Flickr, Youtube, Tumblr and more. What’s great about Retaggr is that it acts as the ultimate business card 2.0 for internet users who want to let people know who they are on the web as well as expand their personal brand. Likewise, Retaggr works as an ideal tool for bloggers who want their community of readers to get to know each other and participate more frequently. Names now become links that expand the Profile Card widget and showcase each owner’s virtual information without ever having to leave the site. Plus, blogs and sites that use Retaggr also get the photo tagging functionality which is similar to Facebook and Flickr, but takes it further by letting you see the names and Profile Cards of people in a picture all at one time.</http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-23372284068105975252008-06-10T20:41:00.004-05:002008-06-10T20:46:48.491-05:00Digital Download 6/2/08<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING IS BECOMING MORE MEASURABLE</span></span><br /><br /><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SE8ttKKP8iI/AAAAAAAABaA/c-eAiugkLH4/s400/image004.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210433547735659042" /><div>The IAB Leadership Forum on User-Generated Content & Social Media held in New York on June 2 included an intimate workshop with Jon Gibs, VP of Media Analytics of Nielsen Online and Jeffrey Graham, Executive Director, Customer Insights of The New York Times on the subject of quantifying brand influence in consumer-generated media, specifically in the social space. Using the previous NYTimes project as a case study, Neilsen’s BuzzMetric tool measured 70 million blogs, 6 billion comments and their corresponding sentiments and impact, 48 million inbound links and 19 million unique visitors from January to February in 2007. Statistics show NYT.com far exceeds brand influence level suggested by audience size. Findings also show the blogs that link to NYT business coverage are influential, independent and wealthy. The demographics reveal the average is male from ages 25-49, self employed and make around six figures in income.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">CELL PHONES REVEAL WE’RE CREATURES OF HABIT</span></span><br /><br /><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SE8ttXs80tI/AAAAAAAABaI/suPwCgMyB6o/s400/image005.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210433551370867410" /><br /><br />A new research study done by an undisclosed European mobile service provider along with Dr. Marta C. Gonzalez and Cesar A. Hidalgo using sensitive location-tracking data from random cell phones in Europe has revealed interesting results of human behavior. The study shows that most people don’t go far away from their home, they frequent the same locations and they exhibit similar patterns whether they travel long or short distances. Researchers believe studies like these could help open new doors in disease tracking, urban planning or emergency planning. They also made sure to exclude and scramble any individual identifying information that could personally be misused. 100,000 randomly chosen cell phone users were tracked via calls, texts and cell tower proximity for the study.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">THIRD PLACE IS A PRETTY GOOD PLACE TO BE</span></span><div><br /><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SE8ttxxIu2I/AAAAAAAABaQ/yUQm5xfXXvQ/s400/image007.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210433558367746914" /><br />According to the latest Hitwise report, MyYearbook.com is the third-largest and fastest growing social network in the U.S right now. MyYearbook was founded by two high school students and has grown over 426% over the past year in the market space. In contrast, Facebook and Myspace both have declined over the past six months in regards to growth. Still, the two social giants beat out MyYearbook with internet visits, 74% and 15% respectively. MyYearbook, however, wins over on site stickiness with an average time of 32:54 compared to Myspace’s 29:54 and Facebook’s 20:52.</div></div>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-12876234157555762592008-05-27T16:50:00.010-05:002008-05-28T14:11:43.640-05:00Digital Download 5/27/08<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;">IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT BLOGS ANYMORE</span></div><div><br /><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SD2awJHUBXI/AAAAAAAABYI/_ievRi8FS98/s400/mail.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205486896181151090" /></div><div><br />BusinessWeek posted an <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_22/b4086044617865_page_4.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">article</span></a> this morning in retrospect to its 2005 story "Blogs Will Change Your Business.” They’ve come to the self-realization that today’s business world is beyond blogs which are just one of the do-it-yourself tools out there on the net. Social connectors like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are changing the dynamics of companies around the world. Millions of companies are engaging with customers, befriending rivals and clicking through pictures of coworkers and friends. Top executives are playing the social field like Sun Microsystems’ CEO Jonathan I. Schwartz who has his own blog. IBM set up its own social network for employees, Beehive which boasts over 30,000 employees. A Dell employee who goes by “Ggroovin” tells BusinessWeek that Dell's service on Twitter has brought in half a million dollars of new orders in the past year. Some even use Twitter to find job potentials. "The new résumé is 140 characters," tweets 23-year-old Amanda Mooney, who just landed a job in PR. Major investors and corporations have been focused on the profit potential of social sites; they promise relationships in return of companies’ investments. Even MySpace is struggling to figure out the financials. And there's no guarantee that Web masses will stay loyal for the long haul. Sophisticated social metrics are still in the works and hopefully we’ll hit the jackpot while the space is hot.</div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">STARBUCKS IS GETTING STEAMED OVER NEW LOGO</span></span><br /></div><div><br /><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SD2pB5HUBYI/AAAAAAAABYQ/tw8Ija1Ghno/s400/mail-1.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205502594286617986" /><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SD2pCJHUBZI/AAAAAAAABYY/Pplb7s628cE/s400/mail.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205502598581585298" /></div><div><br />Remember last week’s section on the evolving scandal over Starbucks’ resurrection of its old logo? Well, a recent <a href="http://adage.com/article?article_id=127302"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">post</span></a> in Ad Age had reported the company’s attempt at a redesign in reaction to the controversy online buzz. Company executives first planned to release the old logo nationwide as part of its 35th anniversary but they limited its release to the Northwest. It didn’t matter because one Washington school district banned Starbucks coffee cups during the limited-time offer unless students concealed the mermaid’s breasts with a cup holder. The logo redesign has been recently under fire by a Christian organization with just 3,000 members whom took issue with what they saw as sexual connotations. Earlier this month, the group and its media-savvy leader got news outlets flocking for a piece of the action. "If you make a comment about the Starbucks logo, it goes all over the news. It's a fascinating phenomenon," said Mark Dice, a 30-year-old Wisconsin native who leads the Resistance Manifesto. The organization's home page lists the founder's many media appearances, including "The O'Reilly Factor," the London Telegraph and Pakistan's Daily Times. Mr. Dice said the response has been overwhelming. He said he's gotten his share of hate mail, but has also managed to expand his mailing list, and participation in his online forum is up. "We've made points on various issues but nothing has gotten the exposure of this," Mr. Dice said. "This one took off and went viral." Adding to the frustration at Starbucks is the widespread misperception that the logo change is permanent; the Pike Place cups will only be in circulation for a few more weeks.</div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">FACEBOOK IS GETTING A FACE LIFT</span></span><br /><br /><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SD2pC5HUBaI/AAAAAAAABYg/lubb0Ig8vlM/s400/mail-2.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205502611466487202" /><br /><br />Big <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/big-changes-coming-to-profile-pages-on-facebook/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">changes</span></a> for Facebook are planned to push out next month. The most important component reveals that user profiles on the service will evolve from the current and often cluttered page into four tabbed sub-pages highlighting the feed, info, photos and applications. Users will have more control over their feeds and what information their friends see about them. The info tab will contain all the data typically found on Facebook pages today like the user’s education and location. The photo tab will have a portfolio of images. Finally, programs created by third-party developers since last summer and installed by users are relegated to a fourth “application boxes” tab and will generally become less visible. But Facebook executives said there will be new opportunities for some developers who create the best applications to get their programs mentioned prominently on feed pages, and to entice users to create custom tabbed pages devoted to their programs. The changes come as Facebook aims to simplify its user pages in response to the criticism of it being a bit too visually chaotic as well as indications that its growth might be tailing off. According to a recent report from Nielsen Online, 22.4 million users visited Facebook in April, down from 24.9 million in March. Overall year-over-year growth slowed to 56% from last year’s 98% growth rate.</div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE THROUGH A NEW SOCIAL SITE</span></span></div><div><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SD2pC5HUBbI/AAAAAAAABYo/EqZJt9piom4/s400/grandopening.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205502611466487218" /></div><div>Palabea just <a href="http://mashable.com/2008/05/27/palabea/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">announced</span></a> today that it’s now open to the public after spending several months as a limited-access resource. Palabea is essentially a social networking site with the intentions of bringing different cultures and languages of the world together where people can interact while teaching and influencing each another. Everything here is a platform and everything is social. Users can upload most anything relevant to a modern learning experience such as documents, videos, podcasts and pictures. It even has a visually appealing layout that makes it fun for members of all ages. There’s even a place to hold virtual classrooms. Want to connect with particular site members? You can. Want to take your language learning to another level and consult with language specialists and schools? You can do that, too. Anyone is welcome from the casual and curious visitors to the serious pursuers. Palabea has also established partnerships with several companies, including Deutsche Welle, Cafe Babel, Babylon, and TANDEM Fundazioa. BBC Learning English will soon be adding resources as well.<br /><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#ff6600;">FROM HOME BREWING TO BEER TWITTERING<br /></span></strong><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDyCzpHUBQI/AAAAAAAABX4/HmVttPoXZQY/s1600-h/beer.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205179093054915842" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDyCzpHUBQI/AAAAAAAABX4/HmVttPoXZQY/s320/beer.png" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div>Here’s something fun and halfway relevant: a Mashable <a href="http://mashable.com/2008/05/26/13-online-tools-for-beer-lovers/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">article</span></a> highlighted 13 online tools for beer lovers alike. A few listed sites include: AllAboutBeer.com which is based on the same-named magazine and hosts details on beer locators, guides and articles; Beer100.com which has info on home brewing, calorie counts of major brands and links to bar webcams; BeerInfo.us is a customized Google search engine bringing you all the info there is to know on beer; BeerSuggest.com helps you locate beer related events, rate and tag beers and breweries; Chugd.com is a social network for the beer drinkers who can create a profile, tag & rate beers and find beer related events and post photos from parties; Coastr.com is similar but let’s you review those places and give them a rating; and last but not least, Foamee.com, a Twitter tool to help you keep track of whom you recommend a beer or coffee to, and vice-versa. </div></div>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-91351659947390006742008-05-19T12:15:00.011-05:002008-05-19T13:04:39.723-05:00Digital Download 5/19/08<strong><span style="color:#ff6600;">SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGING AND SHAPING PR AND ITS PRACTICES </span></strong><br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><strong><span style="color:#ff6600;"><br /></div></span></strong><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG9m5VuNDI/AAAAAAAABWQ/dItS0TXIIWg/s1600-h/PRSA_logo_lg.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202147520514241586" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG9m5VuNDI/AAAAAAAABWQ/dItS0TXIIWg/s400/PRSA_logo_lg.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A recent <a href="http://www.prsa.org/prjournal/Vol2No2/WrightHinson.pdf">article</a> written by Donald K. Wright, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, Professor of Public Relations, College of Communication, Boston University and Michelle D. Hinson, M.A.,Director of Development, Institute for Public Relations, University of Florida reports on a three-year-long international survey of public relations practitioners examining the impact blogs and other social media are having on public relations practice. Findings show these new media are dramatically changing public relations. Results indicate blogs and social media have enhanced what happens in public relations and that social media and traditional mainstream media complement each other. The study also finds the emergence of blogs and social media have changed the way their organizations communicate, especially to external audiences. It also reports blogs and social media have made communications more instantaneous by encouraging organizations to respond more quickly to criticism. </div><div><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;"><strong>WHEN YOU THINK OF A BRAND, WHAT COMES TO MIND FIRST?<br /></strong></span><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG-DpVuNEI/AAAAAAAABWY/1t_VmHMngK0/s1600-h/starbucks0iw.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202148014435480642" style="WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 205px" height="281" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG-DpVuNEI/AAAAAAAABWY/1t_VmHMngK0/s400/starbucks0iw.jpg" width="343" border="0" /></a></div><div><br />Brandtags.net is an interesting online tool that is a collective experiment in brand perception. All tags are generated by anonymous people and do not reflect the opinions of the site owner. The basic idea of this site is that a brand exists entirely in people's heads. Therefore, <a href="http://www.brandtags.net/browse.php">whatever it is they say a brand is</a>, it is what it is. I found the comparison tags between The New York Times and Wall Street Journal very interesting (liberal vs conservative) as well as how many people say “Catherine” (aka Catherine Zeta Jones) for T-Mobile. Speaking of brand perception, what do you think about the <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/news/article.asp?docKey=600-200805151443KRTRIB__BUSNEWS_40638-229SA792QRPDV55T1775K2LEMJ&timestamp=05/15/2008%202:43%20PM%20ET&headline=New%20revealing%20Starbucks%20logo%20has%20group%20screaming%20" docsource="'Knight%20Ridder/Tribune&provider=" realtedsyms="%7CUS%3BSBUX&symbol=">hype</a> around the new Starbucks logo?<br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;"><strong>WE WANT TO BE PORTAL, BUT NOT TOO PORTAL</strong></span> </div><div><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG-ZpVuNGI/AAAAAAAABWo/y8L2BNj5yNo/s1600-h/google_facebook1.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202148392392602722" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG-ZpVuNGI/AAAAAAAABWo/y8L2BNj5yNo/s400/google_facebook1.png" border="0" /></a><br />Businessweek released an <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080515_372632.htm">article</a> today on where internet portals such as Google and Yahoo collide with social networks like Facebook and Myspace. Apparently just days after Google’s Friend Connect trial run began on May 12 (a new tool that would let Web sites add a host of new social networking features), Facebook "suspended" their access saying it violated privacy terms in its user agreement. Though Facebook says it has "reached out to Google several times about this issue" to work out a solution, the decision shadows the growing tensions and blurring lines between social networks and traditional web portals, both of which are angling to capitalize on the presumed advertising riches that will come from social media. For MySpace and Facebook, "all of this openness is a big gamble," says Debbie Williamson, an industry analyst at <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=736862">eMarketer</a>. "It's a big gamble on who is going to control this user info and the bulk of the ad revenues”. Yet it's a wager both companies appear willing to make with their impressive revenue growth beginning to slow. If a site ceases to be a popular destination for users, it can still maintain a hold on them by bringing their valuable contact information and personal preferences to other sites—in the social network's branded package.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;"><strong>MOTIVEQUEST HELPS MINI SALES WITH WEB BUZZ</strong></span><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG-05VuNII/AAAAAAAABW4/wMM6B3Fp7eY/s1600-h/logo.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202148860544038018" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG-05VuNII/AAAAAAAABW4/wMM6B3Fp7eY/s400/logo.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The Online Promoter Score, developed by researchers at Northwestern University is a new metric offered by <a href="http://www.motivequest.com/">MotiveQuest.</a> The tool can correlated the relationship between marketing and online brand advocacy to sales by measuring the net frequency of people recommending a brand online. A 16-month <a href="http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=127168">test</a> of the metric helped BMW discover the connection between online buzz and retail traffic and helped Mini revamp its media-relations philosophy. Since MotiveQuest launched in 2003, it has been gaining ground in the online brand-monitoring space populated by rivals such as Nielsen Buzzmetrics and Cymfony. MotiveQuest works with a list of marketers that includes Citibank and Nike in addition to BMW Mini. Mini and MotiveQuest collected data from nearly 30 million online conversations about the Mini brand and its competitors on blogs, social networks; and sites such as <a title="Yahoo Autos" href="http://autos.yahoo.com/" target="_blank">Yahoo Autos</a> and <a title="MSN Autos" href="http://autos.msn.com/" target="_blank">MSN Autos</a> from January 2006 until April 2007. Trudy Hardy, manager of Mini marketing, said the results prompted Mini to take a different approach to online partners and prominent bloggers. "We treat bloggers like press [now]," she said. "We'll invite them to test-drive cars first and have asked one to be the official podcaster of our events." While Ms. Hardy said the metric doesn't "tie back directly" to sales, it correlates web traffic and online conversations to actual retail traffic.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff6600;">GOOGLE OPENS UP THE DOORS TO ITS CONTENT NETWORK<br /></span></strong><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG-6JVuNJI/AAAAAAAABXA/4isZHtN76F4/s1600-h/google-adwords.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202148950738351250" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SDG-6JVuNJI/AAAAAAAABXA/4isZHtN76F4/s400/google-adwords.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Today, the Google Blog <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/opening-our-content-network-to-third.html">announced</a> the search giant will now be accepting third-party advertising tags on its content network in North America. This will empower advertisers to work with approved third parties to serve and track display ads, including rich media ads, across the Google content network through AdWords, giving them more options, flexibility and control over their campaigns. This will now enable advertisers and agencies the ability to serve ads and measure performance through these certified third parties: advertiser ad servers such as DoubleClick (DFA) and Mediaplex; rich media agencies like DoubleClick, Interpolls, PointRoll and Unicast; as well as research firms such as Dynamic Logic, IAG Research, InsightExpress and Factor TG. Advertisers and agencies will now be able to manage their Google content network campaigns with the same systems they use for other online campaigns, which is helpful for determining the effectiveness of their online advertising mix. For publishers on the network, this program offers a way to expand their advertiser base and enable advertisers to better understand the value of their inventory, with the goal of increasing their overall revenue. </div></div></div></div></div>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-19104164424258791632008-05-12T19:09:00.002-05:002008-05-12T19:33:21.543-05:00Digital Download 5/12/08<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal;">Hope you guys had a great Mother's day weekend. Without further ado, here's this week's<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; "> digital download.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>SOCIAL STYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SCjeYpVuM-I/AAAAAAAABVo/UR0TSSs9Mls/s400/mail-1.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199650284794426338" /></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">An article in last week’s </span></span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/technology/personaltech/2008/05/02/social-networks-vip-tech-personal-cx_nr_0502style.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Forbes</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> listed five exclusive social networking sites that were upcoming in the world of elitists. "It's taken a while for wealthy consumers to start using networking sites, mostly due to privacy issues and concerns," says Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, a New York-based research company that focuses on high-net-worth individuals. "But now they want to leverage all those social-networking advantages.” The social networking sites listed were aSmallWorld, Diamond Lounge, Squa.re, Quintessentially and LuxuryRatings.com. Your membership depends on who you know and, in one case, how much you are willing to pay. An interesting finding reported by Luxury Institute was that Participation levels for the wealthy in leading social networks were 16% for MySpace, 13% for LinkedIn and 11% for Facebook.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">WIMAX GETS $500 MILLION BACKING FROM GOOGLE</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SCjel5VuM_I/AAAAAAAABVw/M5_1VzggKb0/s400/mail.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199650512427693042" /></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Google is serious about mobile wireless broadband. So much so, it </span></span><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/07/why-google-invested-in-clearwire/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">announced</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> a $500 million contribution to the new Clearwire-Sprint WiMax business last week. Of course, Google has its own best interests in mind since this investment ensures that the resulting broadband network is as open as possible and accepts Android handsets and devices. Rumors say Google will most likely be the default search engine on devices connected to the network. Google hopes the network will expand advanced high speed wireless Internet access in the U.S, allow consumers to utilize any lawful applications, content and devices without blocking, degrading or impairing Internet traffic and engage in reasonable and competitively-neutral network management. These are exciting times prefacing a new wireless era!</span></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">SOCIAL MEDIA POWER IN 48 HOUR ACTION</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SCje2ZVuNAI/AAAAAAAABV4/yEVHjMVz6Yk/s400/mail-3.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199650795895534594" /></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Andrew (Andy) Sauter, also known as the author of </span></span><a href="http://www.smoexpert.com/9/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">smoexpert.com</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">, shows us an example of how with only an hour of work on a Saturday morning, a zero dollar budget and a 56K modem, he made international news within 48 hours. The subject? A Clinton Obama gun mailer. Thanks to all the social channel players who made it possible: Flickr, Digg, Reddit, Technorati and YouTube; CNN and NewsWeek picked up the buzz and took a mundane negative mailer and made it an international sensation. A mailer, which was probably only meant to be viewed by maybe forty to fifty thousand people, reached millions on an international level. This is just one example out of millions of the power of social media optimization.</span></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">SEE WHO’S SPORTING THE LATEST BRANDS AT COOLSPOTTERS</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SCje6pVuNBI/AAAAAAAABWA/tE6TJ33Sc6A/s400/mail-4.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199650868909978642" /></div><div><br /><a href="http://coolspotters.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Coolspotters</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> is a newly launched site that focuses on celebrities and the products they wear in various photos. It allows users to track stars, products, brands, TV shows, movies, places and events and encourages them to talk about and purchase those items shown. The idea of the site is to show connections between people and things. These connections are called “spots” (i.e. “I spotted that”), and show details on the item. If something is incorrect, users can change or remove it, and add new people and things. Coolspotters is the first collaborative site that gets users to do most of the work where it’s essentially a structured data wiki. The end result is a ton of highly structured, highly valuable information. Users can search, find and purchase related things all in one celebrity-filled hot spot.</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><br />MYSPACE MAKES FRIENDS WITH TWITTER</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SCje-5VuNCI/AAAAAAAABWI/nPYIBbpIDoI/s400/mail-2.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199650941924422690" /></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Myspace decided to jump on the Twitter </span></span><a href="http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126955"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">bandwagon</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> and announced an added profile-sharing function (called Data Availability) which will enable users to update both profiles at the same time. The new service allows MySpace users to indicate whether they would like to make information in their MySpace profile visible on other sites such as eBay, Yahoo and Photobucket too. MySpace said it would like to expand it to other partners who might be interested as well. It seems Myspace is trying to become a social network aggregator itself and following the idea behind the likes of Digsby and Yoono. When asked on a conference call whether Facebook would eventually become involved in the program, MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe said "This project is open to any site out there that wants to work with us. We're happy to work with Facebook if they want to join up with us on this project."</span></span></div></div></span></span>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-90733908939293711252008-05-05T13:22:00.009-05:002008-05-05T13:51:14.039-05:00Digital Download 5/5/08<span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Hope you all enjoyed the spectacular weather we had this weekend.<br />Here’s this week’s digital download and don’t forget to have a cerveza in honor of Cinco De Mayo!</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;"><strong>WHAT IS YAHOO TO DO NOW?</strong> </span><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB9S3TOh6rI/AAAAAAAABVA/oCqFUVhKWQo/s1600-h/yahoo.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196963605016341170" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB9S3TOh6rI/AAAAAAAABVA/oCqFUVhKWQo/s320/yahoo.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br />For those who have been keeping up with the Microsoft/Yahoo saga, shocking <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/technology/04soft.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin">news</a> came last Saturday when Microsoft announced its bid withdrawal. Apparently Microsoft’s increased offer of $33 per share wasn’t good enough for Yahoo’s $37 per share minimum. Some experts have speculated that this is just another one of Microsoft's tactics to have Yahoo eventually come crawling back. Others say, Yahoo is now scrambling to make a deal with Google despite its weakened negotiation leverage. The backlash of the weekend news has Yahoo shares trading around $23 this morning which equates to about $14 billion that was left on the table. The progress of social and digital media is largely influenced upon Yahoo’s future.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;"><strong>GROW YOUR AUDIENCE WITH MOBILE INTERNET<br /></strong></span><br /><a href="http://www.hacktheipodtouch.com/tutimages/ipod-weather.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 179px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 309px" height="451" alt="" src="http://www.hacktheipodtouch.com/tutimages/ipod-weather.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />According to a new cross-platform Internet measurement Nielsen <a href="http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6556644&">report</a>, Mobile Internet extends the audience reach of many leading Internet sites by an average of 13% over home PC traffic alone. The particular categories of weather and entertainment can have a greater, extended reach. Take AccuWeather.com for example: the site received a 43% audience lift from mobile Internet users. “The data demonstrate that the mobile Internet can not only increase the frequency of visits to a web site, but also grow the overall size of the pie,” said Jeff Herrmann, vice president of Mobile Media for Nielsen Mobile. “Publishers can now monetize their total cross-platform audience, and advertisers will better understand the efficiency and incremental value of mobile Web traffic.”<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff6600;">BRINGING MIXTAPES BACK TO MUSIC LOVERS<br /></span></strong><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB9VCzOh6sI/AAAAAAAABVI/k4f2Oa_6qXw/s1600-h/muxtape.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196966001608092354" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB9VCzOh6sI/AAAAAAAABVI/k4f2Oa_6qXw/s320/muxtape.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Bring back the spirit of the 80’s with that mixtape madness and make your own personalized compilations to share and compare your music taste. This time around, you can do it all online. <a href="http://muxtape.com/">Muxtape</a> is a free service which allows any user to upload songs in order to create a sharable, online digital 'mix tape.' The mixes aren’t embeddable, but the links can be shared with anyone, and muxtapes are available for public access. The only downsides to this service are that users aren’t allowed to upload multiple songs from the same album, artist, or songs they don’t have permission to let Muxtape use. Are there legal issues involved? Kinda. In using muxtape’s service, you’re acknowledging that muxtape has permission to use the songs you upload. And, you can only create one muxtape.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;"><strong>YOONO, YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK AGGREGATOR </strong></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/yoono"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB9VdDOh6tI/AAAAAAAABVQ/krAOKTGUniQ/s1600-h/yoono.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196966452579658450" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB9VdDOh6tI/AAAAAAAABVQ/krAOKTGUniQ/s320/yoono.png" border="0" /></a><br />Yoono, a social bookmarking tool which already boasts 1 million users, is coming out of private beta and offering only a few <a href="http://test.yoono.com/privatebeta/techcrunch.html">invites</a> to the public. Yoono acts as a browser add-on that lets you chat and share items with friends instantly, offers recommendations as you browse the web and enables you to update your status across various networks and bookmark items. Yoono has a sophisticated capability that allows users to dig down into his or her friends’ content across networks and stream content. Yoono’s widget compiles all updates from Twitter, Facebook, Piczo, Flickr, and Friendfeed, and displays them in a scrollable list. The most useful is “Discoveries”, a widget that analyzes the pages you visit and presents a number of relevant tags and related sites, along with a list of Yoono users who share similar interests. “Web Notes” acts as a collaboration tool that lets you drag images, text, and video into the side bar for future reference or sharing with friends.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6600;"><strong>AP BRINGS LOCAL NEWS TO IPHONES<br /></strong></span><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB9V3TOh6uI/AAAAAAAABVY/veTMU5qO5uU/s1600-h/ap_phone.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196966903551224546" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB9V3TOh6uI/AAAAAAAABVY/veTMU5qO5uU/s320/ap_phone.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/05/05/ap-launches-iphone-targeted-news-service/">Today</a>, the Associated Press launched location-targeted mobile news for the iPhone. Several big news corporations are on board with the new AP service that promises to deliver local news from participating member newspapers and national and international news which will be organized by zip code. AP’s global product development director, Jeffrey Litvack says the Mobile News Network would offer easier access to local news stories than Google or Yahoo’s mobile news services.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-21175604014926995802008-05-04T20:55:00.004-05:002008-05-04T21:18:31.286-05:00Wow, Microsoft Walks Away<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB5t6DOh6qI/AAAAAAAABU4/gV8hGgCemwc/s1600-h/farberms.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SB5t6DOh6qI/AAAAAAAABU4/gV8hGgCemwc/s320/farberms.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196711864098220706" /></a><br />I was blown away from yesterday's news of the status of Microsoft/Yahoo's bidding war. I have been predicting over the past few months that Yahoo would put aside its pride and see the benefits of a merge with Microsoft and succumb to its offer. Apparently, even after Microsoft raised its bid to $33 a share (which in itself was not was predicted) Yahoo's CEO Yang wouldn't accept less than $37. Come on, does $4/share make that much of a deal breaker? I guess it does enough for Yahoo to stubbornly hold ground and Microsoft to pout and withdraw its bid.<br /><br />Some experts have speculated that this is just another one of Microsoft's tactics to have Yahoo eventually come crawling back. Others say, Yahoo is now scrambling to make a deal with Google despite its weakened negotiation leverage. The shareholders are fuming mad since most were more than happy to settle for Microsoft's $33/share offer. What is the fate of Yahoo? Whatever they decide to do, there's little chance they'll have the opportunity again to be in a respectful power of position as a major competitor.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-87166524515996149242008-04-28T14:47:00.009-05:002008-04-28T19:40:29.277-05:00This Week's Digital Download<span style="color:#ff9900;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">Nokia Losing Hold On Teens</span></strong> </span><br /><div><div><div><div><div><span style="color:#ff9900;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SBY6fjOh6gI/AAAAAAAABTo/fmVcnJ78gvE/s1600-h/mobile_teens_2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194403533924985346" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SBY6fjOh6gI/AAAAAAAABTo/fmVcnJ78gvE/s200/mobile_teens_2.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></div><div>In a recent <a href="http://www.cellular-news.com/story/30379.php">report</a> of the Global Habbo Youth Survey 2008, Nokia has lost some of its popularity among teens to Samsung and Sony Ericsson since 2006 when Habbo conducted its last youth survey. The statistics also show 71% of teens are using their mobile phone as a portal mp3 player, 88% regularly communicate via SMS, 70% are using them to take photos and short videos, 64% play games and over a quarter surf the web on their mobile phones.<br /><strong></strong><br /><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Your Mom Uses Myspace</span></strong> </span><span style="color:#ff9900;"></span></div></div><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SBY7JjOh6iI/AAAAAAAABT4/ehT6mn7pIQg/s1600-h/hot+mom.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194404255479491106" style="WIDTH: 218px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 166px" height="183" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SBY7JjOh6iI/AAAAAAAABT4/ehT6mn7pIQg/s200/hot+mom.png" width="230" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>Contrary to what most marketers have been saying about Myspace and the social network’s future and significance in the social space, the April 2008 comScore reports had some surprising results. 60% of the Facebook audience visits Myspace, 58% of YouTube and 39% of LinkedIn follow suit. An interesting fact found is while 60% of Facebook users visit Myspace, only 30% of the MySpace audience visits Facebook. Other findings show MySpace reaches 36% of all Moms 25+up online and they spend an average of 3.2 hours on the site and visit about 18 times each month.<br /><br /><span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Flickr Video</span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"> </span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Is Here!</span></strong></span> </div><div> </div><div></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SBY7rjOh6jI/AAAAAAAABUA/_b4PUW6AtBo/s1600-h/flickr.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194404839595043378" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SBY7rjOh6jI/AAAAAAAABUA/_b4PUW6AtBo/s200/flickr.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Flickr Video officially launched April 8 and currently only Pro members can upload videos but everyone can view them. Flickr will only allow 150MB or smaller individual files (roughly 90 secs worth of video). You have the option to upload longer videos, but Flickr will only play it until the 90 sec mark before going back to the start. Pro users can upload as many as they like and now there’s an advanced search that lets you select which type of content you want.<br /><br /><strong><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Social Media Is a Customer Service Channel</span></span> </strong></div><strong></strong></div><strong></strong></div><strong></strong></div><br /><p><strong></strong></p><strong></strong><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SBY8MzOh6kI/AAAAAAAABUI/LfVmq-I4YcU/s1600-h/microsoft.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194405410825693762" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SBY8MzOh6kI/AAAAAAAABUI/LfVmq-I4YcU/s200/microsoft.png" border="0" /></a><br /><strong></strong><div><strong><br /></strong></div>Last week, the Society for New Communications Research released a new <a href="http://sncr.org/?p=110">study</a> on “Exploring the Link Between Customer Care and Brand Reputation in the Age of Social Media”. More than 300 consumers surveyed agreed that search engines are the most valuable online tools for this research. 81% believe that blogs, online rating systems and discussion forums can give consumers a greater voice regarding customer care and 59.1% of respondents use social media to “vent” about a customer care experience among other other findings. Dell and Amazon were cited as the top companies to utilize the online social spaces for customer care. One remarkable observation is the “growing group of highly desirable consumers using social media to research companies: 25- to 55-years old, college-educated, earning $100,000+ – a very powerful group in terms of buying behavior,” said Dr. Ganim Nora Barnes, senior fellow, Society for New Communications Research. “This research should serve as a wake-up call to companies: listen, respond, and improve.”Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-62207394736308192022008-04-17T20:09:00.006-05:002008-04-17T20:43:25.683-05:00Google's Gold Goes Strong Despite Economy Woes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SAf8YqSN37I/AAAAAAAABSI/AEbjr1aG-yM/s1600-h/google_money.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/SAf8YqSN37I/AAAAAAAABSI/AEbjr1aG-yM/s320/google_money.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190394596165541810" /></a>Google just <a href="http://investor.google.com/releases/2008Q1.html">reported</a> their Q1 earnings this week and despite investors' lowered expectations and ComScore reports on slowing paid clicks, the numbers were pleasantly surprising and better than expected with a 31% growth ($3.1 billion) compared to last year. Google also attributed 52% of its Q1 revenue to its international outreach. Following close behind the recent report, Google stock rose to $500 a share.<br /><br />Google's good news only goes to show that the internet industry is not going to suffer the blows of a certain recession. CEO Eric Schmidt states "Our position is we're well positioned, if economics change, to continue to do well because we're so targeted and targeted advertising does well in pretty much most scenarios."<br /><br />Since their acquisition of DoubleClick, the global internet advertising solutions giant, Google has no doubt it will become the world's biggest display provider and believes that 90% of its daily impressions are eligible for display ads.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-91830112908118039152008-04-06T19:41:00.008-05:002008-04-06T20:00:41.292-05:00Yahoo's Up To Serve: Part 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/06/2234921585_62e94523ff_o.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/06/2234921585_62e94523ff_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>In my previous post of "Yahoo's Up to Serve" a couple of months ago, I predicted Yahoo would eventually succumb to Microsoft's bid. In an <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/05/microsoft-pretends-to-force-yahoos-hand/">email</a> from Microsoft's CEO to Yahoo's Board of Directors yesterday, it seems apparent that match point is near. There is no mention of a bid increase or a proposed Yahoo board slate. Yahoo is supposed to release their Q1 earnings in the next two weeks and there's some buzz that a negotiation might be made prior to their announcement. Other commenters say this is Microsoft's way of saving face prior to the cancellation of the deal. Either way, be on the look out for major changes within the next coming weeks that will rock the digital media industry. Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-75866478840814410812008-03-29T21:02:00.006-05:002008-03-29T21:29:35.735-05:00In Our Hour of Darkness<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R-703OSd_CI/AAAAAAAABQs/IMcN2-qWHtw/s1600-h/Google+goes+black.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183349450715560994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R-703OSd_CI/AAAAAAAABQs/IMcN2-qWHtw/s320/Google+goes+black.jpg" border="0" /></a>Today celebrates Earth Hour across the globe in respect to people's growing interests and concerns for the climate crisis. Created by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) in 2007, Syndey, Australia was the first city to participate in the event. Now only a year later, several countries and thousands of cities worldwide will turn off their lights tonight at 8pm (their local time) to support the cause.<br /><br />Google changed the layout color of their front page to black early last night to show their support for Earth Hour. Their quote "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn - <a href="http://www6.earthhourus.org/">Earth Hour</a>" takes viewers to the WWF event's homepage. This is another memorable move by Google that will bring awareness and new participants to an important cause. The creators of Earth Hour know that by millions of people turning their lights off for one hour for one day is not going to cause an impact on carbon emissions, however their global efforts will bring about worldwide support and an educated following to fight for climate change for the world's future.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-13708543115030061912008-03-25T23:08:00.016-05:002008-03-29T22:03:44.670-05:00Starbucks Shows Up in the Social Scene<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R-nZWeSd_BI/AAAAAAAABQc/cNHoTkAlulU/s1600-h/Picture1.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181911826377341970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 367px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 248px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="199" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R-nZWeSd_BI/AAAAAAAABQc/cNHoTkAlulU/s320/Picture1.png" width="382" border="0" /></a> Last week, the McDonald's of coffee retailers announced the launch of their web 2.0 program called <a href="http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/home/home.jsp"><em>My Starbucks Idea</em></a>. It's basically a social networking site for Starbucks consumers to comment and suggest ideas for the company on its services as well as vote for other commenters' ideas. Every idea gets points based on votes. Consumers can keep score of the votes online and then can visit Starbuck's new blog <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/blogs/"><em>Ideas in Action</em></a> to check and see if the company is actually doing something about them.<br /><br />It's actually a pretty smart move on Starbucks behalf since it has never really listened to online conversations before according to John Moore, a former Starbucks marketer. Some have criticized that it may be a little too late for Starbucks to rebrand itself while others debate the value of branded blogs and social networks for company advocacy.<br /><br />Regardless of how late Starbucks may be to the social networking game, their attempt is noteworthy and is already on the track to making positive changes towards its services and customer satisfaction. Just yesterday, Brad Stevens wrote about implementing a frequency discount as part of the Starbucks Card Rewards program which includes free refills on brewed coffee, complimentary customization and two hours of complimentary wi-fi.<br /><br />Here's a side observation. Since last week Tuesday, March 18th during the time <em>My Starbucks</em> <em>Idea</em> launched, which is exactly one week from today, the "top all-time voted idea" about a punch card system received 388 total comments and 30590 points. The idea is currently **Under Review** by the Starbucks corporate staff. How exciting it is to see a corporate giant give personal and reinforcing daily feedback to the people who matter most: its customers and employees. They're engaging in the space where their demographic spends most of their time and what better opportunity than to welcome them into your store with free limited wi-fi access! If Starbucks wasn't listening before, they're certainly listening now. Cheers, Starbucks!Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-59213831700272511852008-03-13T17:26:00.009-05:002008-03-13T17:54:00.556-05:00Graffiti Is Good<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R9muA7HrcLI/AAAAAAAABNs/6Jkdc236FhA/s1600-h/graffiticms_intro.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177360577532227762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R9muA7HrcLI/AAAAAAAABNs/6Jkdc236FhA/s400/graffiticms_intro.png" border="0" /></a> After a one month hiatus, I'm back with a new gig and post. These have been transitional times. I've recently left my beloved agency, Icrossing, and now work for the mover and shaker, <a href="http://telligent.com/">Telligent</a>. For those who may know little about me, I'm an avid writer and blog enthusiast; I'm all about creation, customization and personalization. So it seems like divine intervention that my career path has crossed with <a href="http://graffiticms.com/">Graffiti CMS</a> which is one of the showcase products I will be marketing and promoting for Telligent.<br /><br />It's only beeen week #2 for me and so far I'm very impressed with what Graffiti can do. I've been playing with the software and currently in the process of moving my blogs and site over (sorry Blogger). I can't wait to see the results.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-34634134761160575152008-02-19T13:36:00.013-06:002008-02-19T14:52:21.584-06:00Yahoo's Up to ServeFor a while now, I've been holding my breath around the discussion of Microsoft and Yahoo's tiff. But with Microsoft's announcement today of its proxy battle authorization for the company that snubbed its bid last week (a move that will prove cheaper than raising its original bid), my curiosity grows and the drama just keeps getting better. The ball's in Yahoo's court now.<br /><br />Many people wonder, did Yahoo make a mistake by rejecting the Microsoft offer? It is said in other <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/technology/19cnd-yahoo.html?_r=1&ex=1361163600&en=4124fa8930bb5d68&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin">reports</a> that Yahoo's board could be vulnerable in this proxy fight since all of its directors are up for nomination this year, and in accordance with its bylaws they're elected by a plurality of votes cast in a contested election. Supposedly the senior executives at News Corporation don't expect anything to happen with their discussions with Yahoo over a possible merger and Time Warner seems to be skeptical.<br /><br />With Google somewhat rooting for Yahoo from the stands, it would still prove to be hard times for Yahoo if they announced a deal with the internet Giant. It's unlikely the shareholders would believe that the money from search alone would be enough to back Yahoo's reasoning for turning down Microsoft.<br /><br />My two cents is Yahoo's putting up a fight it won't win. Either Microsoft is going to get its way or Yahoo will have to settle for less which would be less than ideal to the prior. I'm grateful everyday I didn't get that job offer from Yahoo back in 2007 and wish the best for its employees in the coming months.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-59150798931217652672008-02-13T16:25:00.008-06:002008-02-14T10:24:53.631-06:00The Amazon of the WebWomen have always been known to be mysterious and complex. "What women want" has been the topic of endless talk shows, relationship books and politics since the dawn of time. It's no different in the marketing world. According to a new interactive Ad Age <a href="http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=124948">article</a>, women ruled over 50% of online users in 2007. What were the highest traffic spots? No surprise, they were women's communities (35% unique visits increase) and political categories. Not to mention, there's a larger pool of women bloggers and readers out there in the social web space.<br /><br />YouTube women visitors comprised of more than 43% last year. The research shows that women are most drawn to news, music and movie clips.<br /><br />Don't forget shopping! An interesting statistic shows that 68% of women from household incomes of $100,000 or more purchased online versus 49% of those from $35,000 or less household incomes. That's not a tremendous difference.<br /><br />Another fact that might surprise some is that the casual gaming audience is equally split between men and women. In fact, women are more likely to pay for their casual games.<br /><br />Healthcare is always a significant source of search and women come out on top as the primary investigators. 90% of women ages between 25 and 34 comprise of the 84% who sought healthcare information via the web. Interestingly, 75% of women ages 65 and up use the internet for their healtcare source as well.<br /><br />The last two subjects make up "the birds and the bees" factor. Romance and parenthood finish up the online activity of women according to the article. As long as there's these type of informational sources around, women will always be actively looking for subjects on love and family.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-58917689203354538802008-02-07T13:38:00.000-06:002008-02-07T13:42:57.496-06:00Short and Sweet Sells Your StuffSmith Magazine came up with a great project to engage an audience and promote their product at the same time. Isn't this what advertisers do all the time?<br /><br><object width="425" height="373"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mBnP0DoGjRI&rel=1&border=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mBnP0DoGjRI&rel=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="373"></embed></object><br>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-34950107039644570472008-02-04T12:59:00.000-06:002008-02-04T13:36:32.635-06:00Ad Intelligence is AdvantageousAs a PPC manager and strategist, I am very pleased and excited about the possibilities of Microsoft's adCenter add-in beta for Excel 2007 called <a href="http://advertising.microsoft.com/advertising/adcenter_addin">Ad Intelligence</a>. Just by going through the basic steps of this program, I realize how efficient of a tool this can be to my keyword building. It includes keyword suggestions, categorizations and extractions as well as monthly and daily traffic estimators. Some interesting organizers include the Geographic and Demographic tabs that breakdown the data of your keywords right into the spreadsheet. Ad Intelligence even drops in a easy-to-read color coded chart with the Monetization option which in my opinion is a nice change of pace compared to Google's Adwords templates. I highly reccommend this tool as an addition to marketers' resources for search-related campaigns. Especially with the highly-likely merge of MSN and Yahoo close at hand, you can bet this instrument will become a common and significant accessory to paid search.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R6dnXZyDQJI/AAAAAAAABJc/2IBua5XTwDg/s1600-h/Picture1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163209149559029906" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R6dnXZyDQJI/AAAAAAAABJc/2IBua5XTwDg/s400/Picture1.jpg" border="0" /></a>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-37392244255727245712008-02-04T09:49:00.000-06:002008-02-04T14:53:45.177-06:00Super? Not So Much<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R6c9C5yDQGI/AAAAAAAABJE/82yF4qQc1L0/s1600-h/3min63_255.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163162617883344994" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R6c9C5yDQGI/AAAAAAAABJE/82yF4qQc1L0/s320/3min63_255.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I know, I know. There's a million other people out there who have already written their reviews on last night's Superbowl commercials. There were winners and there were duds. However, I would like to dedicate this post to the top 10 that deserve kudos based on their effectiveness and creativity from a marketer's perspective. If you missed them last night, you can catch them all on <a href="http://adage.com/superbowl08/article?article_id=124815">Ad Age</a>.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">1. Audi's Offer You Can't Refuse</span></strong><br />As the first few split seconds flashed on my screen, I instantly recognized the setup from my memories of <em>The Godfather.</em> As the camera closes in on the old man waking up to the horror in his bed, my interest peaked and I was dying to know who was responsible for this spoof. When the culprit turned out to be the Audi R8, I was awe-struck with its beauty, design and delivery. That ad left me stunned for 10 minutes and searching online for a price tag. Imagine how many other people all over the world did the same thing.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">2. Myspace on My Time</span></strong><br />I don't know how much Myspace paid for its Superbowl advertisement to Fox, but it went the different route by flashing its microsite url "myspace.com/superbowlads" across the screen every once in awhile during the game. This was a unique and interesting strategy where it compelled the audience to go online, whether it be right then and there or suffice as a mental reminder for surfing during work the next day.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">3. Tide's Take on Interviews</span></strong><br />Procter & Gamble's <em>Tide To Go </em>got me LOL with its "Silence the Stain" slogan. They even have a great tie-in campaign online at <a href="http://www.mytalkingstain.com/">http://www.mytalkingstain.com/</a> where you can create your own talking stain for a chance to win their instant daily prizes. Good clean fun.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">4. That Crafty Kraft</span></strong><br />This ad shows men going NUTS over a neanderthal-looking woman. What's so irresistible about her? Why, it's the peanut perfume from Planters she's wearing, silly! I salute this one because it caters to both sexes of all ages and pokes fun at our society's obsession with dating and attraction. Now, if only it were this easy. </span><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">5. Suck One</span></strong><br />For all the Bud Light lovers, <em>Old School</em> fans, frat boys and movie buffs, you can't go wrong with sexy Will Ferrell in short shorts. The tagline "(Bud Light) refreshes the palate and the loins" is memorable and gets you curious about Will's new movie coming out called "<a href="http://www.semipromovie.com/">Semi-Pro</a>". Two for one, not a bad combo.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">6. Jiminy Firefly!</span></strong><br />Careerbuilder went all out this year but their best ad by far had to be this one. It has all the elements of a great ad: cheesy theme song, cartoons and violence. Also, out of all one-line shooters they came up with, I think they said it great with "Wishing won't get you a better job".<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">7. Scary Simmons</span></strong><br />This ad hits close to home; it was made by The Richards Group based in Dallas, TX. Hearing Richard Simmons scream is priceless.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">8. Diet Pepsi Max: New Drug?</span></strong><br />Here's another one that showcases celebrities and artists alike. I laughed and cringed at the same time when I heard the iconic song made famous by SNL's own Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan (who makes a cameo appearance at the end) in <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_at_the_Roxbury">Night at the Roxbury</a></em>. Even though the original idea is played out and already past its shelf-life, it's still relevant enough in the market to get a few chuckles. Does it compell people enough to buy and drink Diet Pepsi Max? TBD.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">9. Pepsi's bringing sexyback</span></strong><br />It's always fun to see some annoying celebrity or pop culture pimp get tossed around like a little doll. Hence the popularity of this other Pepsi Co ad. Sophomoric humor, crossdressing and adult benefits of signing up at pepsistuff.com is what makes this one a winner with the crowd.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">10. I'm Renting A Clown</span></strong><br />As creepy as this may have been, there's something mesmerizing about a real baby talking about trades and stock. Both ads were great. You're never too young to invest. Check it and click.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-90873985176762925612008-01-31T17:31:00.000-06:002008-02-02T15:37:48.438-06:00Anomaly Makes Jaws SexyWhat do you think of when someone says "bluetooth"? I bet it's nothing like this ad campaign the agency Anomaly put out for Jawbone.<br><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wXrmXtSveH4&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wXrmXtSveH4&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-18445618595389380282008-01-29T11:23:00.000-06:002008-01-29T13:23:56.704-06:00The iPhone Inevitable<span style="font-family:georgia;">Why does it come as a surprise to some that about one million iPhones out of the 3.7 million sold have been unlocked? <em>*Unlocked meaning the phone's settings are disabled to allow the use of any carrier's SIM card.</em></span><br /><br />A new <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/29/one-million-unlocked-iphones-beautiful/">report</a> by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi traces the gaps between Apple's shipments, AT&T iPhone subscribers and European projections to estimate 1.4 million out there which are unlocked and/or still sitting on store shelves still packaged. <div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R591lpyDQFI/AAAAAAAABI8/FbvBxrYPc_Y/s1600-h/bern-080124-1.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160972987721269330" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R591lpyDQFI/AAAAAAAABI8/FbvBxrYPc_Y/s320/bern-080124-1.gif" border="0" /></a> </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>He also brings up the point of concern that there is excess stock of Apple's iPhone inventory. He claims that"if 10% were sold unlocked in the last quarter, it would leave more than one million iPhones unexplained and as many as 238 iPhones unsold per store". The Berstein report suggests that the iPhone's demand is waning and "end-user demand for iPhone is lower than many investors may think based on Apple's $4 million sales figure... and it points to slower iPhone sales in the current quarter, since much of this inventory is likely to be drawn down".<br /></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>According to <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/25/iphone_numbers_confusion/">The Register</a>, "unlocked phones represent a significant drag on the profitablility of the device. With Apple receving $300 to $400 in carrier payments for each iPhone sold, they generate 50% less revenue and up to 75% less profit than normal. The 1 million phones translates into as much as $400 million in lost revenue".</div><div><br /></div><div>Coming from a consumer's perspective, I've always found a way to buy the latest mobile devices as soon as they come out. When Motorola's original MOTORAZR V3 showed itself for the first time in market in 2004, it was exclusive to Cingular's (now AT&T) network. I already had a T-Mobile contract and didn't want to break it so I went in search of an unlocked V3 on Ebay. In 2 weeks, I had a brand new unlocked RA<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R59riZyDQDI/AAAAAAAABIs/BGk8q7xL0oY/s1600-h/0,1425,i%3D91006,00.jpg"></a>ZR at my door, popped in my SIM chip and escaped the costs and fees of changing carriers. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R59r1ZyDQEI/AAAAAAAABI0/T4kh5KFOFng/s1600-h/0,1425,i%3D91006,00.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160962263187931202" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R59r1ZyDQEI/AAAAAAAABI0/T4kh5KFOFng/s320/0,1425,i%3D91006,00.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>That was four years ago. You'd think by now the corporations would realize there's a huge demographic out there of tech-rebels like me. Supposedly, Apple has gone to great lengths to make it hard to unlock iPhones where updates to patch security bugs typically re-lock the handsets. However, hackers always prevail and found a work-around. Less than a week after the most recent version of the firmware was released, so-called jailbreaks that unlock the phone were circulating online. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>Whether it's due to its retail pricetag, contractual and expensive service plans with AT&T or the disadvantage of being the first generation of its kind, the iPhone doesn't seem to be worth its weight to many consumers. Especially in our recent economic recession, people are planning to spend less in general. This in turn would probably cause Apple to lower the iPhone's selling price. Many are waiting for a more sophisticated and fine-tuned version. The rest are patiently waiting for the iPhone to go the way of the MOTORAZR and become available across all network carriers. </div>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-14230708036522069182008-01-25T16:42:00.001-06:002008-01-25T17:51:56.536-06:00Now You CD, Now You Don'tLast month one sunny morning, I walked down the steps of my apartment to find a big Christmas surprise. Someone had broken into my car and stolen a boxed serving tray my sweet mum had given me. It was only worth about $30 for the $800 worth of damages ensued. The interesting thing I noticed was that through all the scattered glove-box items and rummaging of my art supplies, the intruder didn't think to take my music case of 300 CDs. They certainly found it, but thought them worthless. Is my taste in music really all that bad? I doubt it since there were plenty to choose from. Rather, I think it's a sign of the times which brings me to an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/business/worldbusiness/25music.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin">article</a> that was released today in the New York Times.<br /><br />People are spending less money on CDs due to the growth of digital music sales. CDs are going the way of eight tracks and cassette tapes. This trend is causing the music industry to look elsewhere in the likes of internet providers and lawmakers. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry reported that overall sales of recorded music fell about 10 % in 2007 ($17.6 billion) however, worldwide digital music sales rose to $2.9 billion from $2.1 billion a year earlier which makes up 15 % of overall sales. CD sales were more than 20% down last year.<br /><br />With the trend of everything going digital, security and legal rights have always been an ongoing battle. Piracy has record labels going to Internet service providers demanding strict rules and discipline. Remember what happened with Napster? That case really didn't deter too many copyright violators.<br /><br />As an avid fan for all things Apple, I am guilty of being a contributing factor to the compact disc's slow dissapearance from technology. I purchase and download about 20 songs a month from iTunes. Think about it. It's easier to sit in the comfort of your home or office and with a click of a mouse, have instant access to your new and favorite music. Much more convenient compared to the old days where you had to drive to the nearest music store to pay for the same music which would have cost more (new album releases on iTunes go for $9.99 while in-store can range from $11.99 on up).<br /><br />CD's that house music aren't the only ones losing their cool. Little by little, DVD sales are soon to follow suit. People are downloading movies and videos online now. Netflix and Apple have smartly picked up on this digital trend. A related playing component is the fact that within the next 5 years all television screens and cable networks will be streaming in HDTV. Everything you could ever want in terms of entertainment, news and information is literally at your fingertips. The way of wireless has brought a new meaning to the term "high tech".<br /><br />Very soon, we will see the latest cars with built-in wireless transmitters for your iPods and bluetooth headsets; no need to buy these accessories separately. The 6-disc CD changer will no longer be a luxury to car owners. Maybe one day, we'll find the technology to command our car to play our favorite track and to allow the internal computer to automatically compile a DJ list based on our playback history. How cool would that be?<br /><br />For now, I'll have to find a good use for my 300 CDs.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-6843480532805255322008-01-15T14:28:00.000-06:002008-01-25T17:56:26.786-06:00Slimming Down Your SpaceSteve Jobs did it again. Not suprising to most avid Mac insiders and followers, Apple announced the launch of its <a href="http://www.apple.com/macbookair/#ad">MacBook Air </a>today at the annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco. However, contrary to what Apple may say (you shouldn't believe everything you hear anyways, at least not from the media), the Sony X505 was actually the first ever world's thinnest notebook which released back in 2003. Other new Apple releases included iPhone software upgrades, iTunes movie rentals (giving <a href="http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/65068;_ylt=Avd0bohG4Ojt1VakHdaXiCeuL5A5">Netflix</a> a run for their money) and last but not least, the time capsule wireless hard drive. Still anticipate shelling out big bucks for these new toys.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R40lCkTosuI/AAAAAAAABIc/MEXEqhr2b3s/s1600-h/gallery-big-05.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5155817874445087458" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R40lCkTosuI/AAAAAAAABIc/MEXEqhr2b3s/s320/gallery-big-05.jpg" border="0" /></a>Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779775748210864728.post-9621817497197759652008-01-14T14:22:00.000-06:002008-01-25T17:56:44.261-06:00Upcoming Ad FadsA new eMarketer <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005817&src=article1_home">article</a> was published today focusing on the 3 hidden media advertising trends in 2008. In fact, CEO and co-founder Geoff Ramsey quoted eMarketer's prediction of U.S's total online spending share to be 9.3% for 2008 compared to last year's 7.4%.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R4vHyUTosrI/AAAAAAAABIE/-5Urq65ZDwA/s1600-h/1.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5155433865714119346" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R4vHyUTosrI/AAAAAAAABIE/-5Urq65ZDwA/s320/1.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So what does 9.3% translate into? How about $27.5 billion just for internet advertising. Most of the spend will be contributed to social network and online video advertising which are projected to be in the double-digit rates this year. Thanks to eMarketer, they've demonstrated this in easy-to-see charts.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R4vI7UTossI/AAAAAAAABIM/hg_V4hevPdw/s1600-h/2.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5155435119844569794" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R4vI7UTossI/AAAAAAAABIM/hg_V4hevPdw/s320/2.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R4vJLkTostI/AAAAAAAABIU/7e-uHQss6Nc/s1600-h/3.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5155435399017444050" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_duX6WWS-Oq8/R4vJLkTostI/AAAAAAAABIU/7e-uHQss6Nc/s320/3.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Even though these two arenas are hot spots right now, they will probably only generate about 10% of total online advertising spend ($2.9 billion).<br /><br />Geoff Ramsey thinks the three main trends for this year will relate to media fragmentation, the continual growth of the internet's reach and the emphasis on the consumer's content.<br /><br /><em><strong><span style="color:#ff6600;">Media Fragmentation: On our way to closing the gap</span></strong></em><br />Ad networks such as Google and Yahoo are still growing strong and becoming more mature and sophisticated in their ability to target specific consumer groups. We've been learning how to harness media fragmentation to cater to the needs of advertisers and consumers. In this way, advertisers have a bigger reach to audiences who share similar interests across endless, different websites.<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="color:#ff6600;">Continual Growth of the Internet's Reach: Web is King</span></em></strong><br />According to the article, "the Internet is becoming the central hub of most media and marketing campaigns-and for good reason. Not only is the Internet now used extensively by every major demographic group, and for a variety of purposes including information, communication and entertainment, but it also allows for a two-way interaction between consumers and marketers that is not found in any other medium". Along with the evolution comes various tools and measurement metrics that will help marketers optimize and support their media strategies.<br /><br /><em><strong><span style="color:#ff6600;">Emphasis on the Consumer's Content: The Consumer is in Control</span></strong></em><br />Media power is shifting from the interruption-disruption model towards the trend where consumers are more in control of their media content and ad intake. The internet audience is creating content on their own in the form of blogs, on social networks, wikis and other digital-communication platforms. Advertisers will have to follow suit in these formats if they want to keep up with the Joneses. The most successful and top-performing ad campaigns integrate entertainment, relevance and enough wow-factor that they will cause a buzz among consumers who will seek it out and share it. Create it and they will come.Penny Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11974797036434821437noreply@blogger.com0