Fair and Balanced? Sure Fox.

Unfair and Unbalance?
Wait no, wrong motto. Yet somehow more fitting.
Anyone who has seen the movie Outfoxed understands what I am talking about.


I have been sick of people who only get their news from one media source, Fox. Might as well just believe everything that comes out of the mighty spindoctor, Billy O’s mouth. No need for other opinions when you know that his is the only one that counts, right? WRONG! Recently, Fox has decided to let go of a moderator and a liberal panelist because they didn’t think they would be able to fit in with the new media they are trying to use? Yes, I ask that as a question because everyone who is not caught up in the cyclone of Fox knows that they are firing them for what they don’t bring to the table, republican-brainwashing bull. Fox wants to market to a younger generation and they feel they cannot do it with certain people (those being kicked to the side). They are getting rid of the liberal panelist, Neal Gabler because he once told his fellow panelists “it’s undeniable that this is a Republican-oriented network, and designed for Republicans who watch it.” What? He was only speaking the truth, which is also his opinion. Isn’t that what Fair and Balanced means? Getting all sides? Or is it more of a 9:1 thing. I am never sure. Let’s ask Bill. . .

Don't beat up facebook at snack time

Facebook just can't get a break. I almost feel sorry for it. It has become that little kid is class who is really annoying, not on purpose because that is just how they are, and so everyone hates them. Then they have to friends and they talk to the trees at recess time and you feel bad for them. That is facebook.

Facebook has a rule against people placing advertisement on their pages; however users continue to do it anyways. I read this in a New York Times Article. With the help of Montreal based Weblo, users are able to earn money for their popularity online. Now get this, Facebook says they don't want ads on there because it would create "clutter". I literally laughed out loud (lol, for those who read in code) at that statement. Do the owners and creators of facebook not look at their users sites anymore? People's pages are so cluttered I can't even find the wall to leave a comment. I have to scroll down for hours before I get to the bottom of their page. There is the vampire application, hotness application, drinks, top friends, pirates vs. ninjas, jetman, dead babies . . . ok maybe not that last one but they are all equally ridiculous.

So if Facebook wants a better reason to stop people from using ads, they have to come at their content creators with more than just the word "clutter". Because without Facebook’s users/content creators, Facebook would be nothing.

FRED '08

I wanna give a shout out to my boy Fred Thompson for engaging in Social media during his campaign. He, or rather people who work for him, have redone his website in the past few months to make it more socially friendly. There are a lot more options now and you can become a friend of Fred by signing up.

Options include:

• Helping you write letters to the media to let them know about Fred Thompson.
• You can upload your “support photos”.
• See videos and photos concerning his campaign.
• Read articles and press releases related to Fred.
• Tell Friends about Fred.
• Read blog posts from various people that have posted them to Fred’s site, where you can comment and give your two cents worth.
• Also buy campaign merchandise.
  

This is a great way to get the younger population a little more involved in the political process of our country. I know the younger generation has the smallest voter turnout which people are trying to change, for example Rock the Vote.

Ok, so I am not a Republican and I know I called him by boy, but he is just so nice to see interviewed. He is like that nice Uncle who brings you weird gifts at Christmas time. And he has a cool website. I know Howard Dean was a big user of the internet during his campaign in 2004, I am just glad to see others jump up and get into Social Media.

5 rules for Social Media Optimization

So if you even use the internet a little bit, whether you have a website of your own or not, you have probably heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is the process of improving the flow of traffic to your website during internet searches. Well, I just read an article by Rohit Bhargava who lists 5 rules for Social Media Optimization (SMO). He states that these SMO rules “implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs.” (In case you didn’t know, because I didn’t, vlogs are video-blogs. Cool huh!?!)

Now, I don’t want to copy his rules to my blog so I suggest you go check them out. Interesting thing is, other readers of his have commented below with their own rules annnnd then translated all of them into different languages. OMG! I love the blogosphere. . . anything is possible! But seriously, go check out this blog.

Facebook got me into college!

Worried about applying for college? Well not only can Facebook be used to procrastinate from writing that paper due tomorrow, but it can also be used as a way to apply for college. Facebook has teamed up with Embark.com, a leading provider of online services to help students and schools through the college and graduate admissions process. Embarks application on facebook helps you apply to college, see where your friends are interested in going and make school suggestions.

Word up to Embark.com for going directly to the students instead of waiting for them to come to you.

OUT OF THIS WORLD

I thought this was cute. NASA noticed that people were not visiting their site because it was, shall we say, a little dull. They did notice however the use of social media by the younger generation and decided to take advantage of this. They decided to redo their site and market to the 18-25 year olds. An article from the New York Times tells about thier new site and what it has to offere stating, “the site, introduced over the weekend, has new blogs and widgets and more ways for people to view and manipulate content.”

I think it is great for NASA to step up and change their ways in order to grab a stronger audience. I have seen NASA’s new site and there are videos, a NASA calendar, NASA TV and even an image gallery. It is not a new community like Facebook or Myspace because they are limited as to the information they can collect from their views, but never the less, if you are into space, or just feel like you are from a different planet, you should check out the site.

Use it or Lose it

After spending a few months reading the New Influencers I have finally reached the end of the book and what better way for author Paul Gillin to conclude than with a chapter called Next Steps where he describes his predictions for the future of social media and the impact it will have in changing traditional marketing and media. Now I don’t want to give it all away because I feel it is an important book to read if you are interested or involved in any form of marketing, but I will speak a little about it. He restates the importance of blogs for small business. The influence they could have by emerging themselves in social media could be astronomical. Also the fact that mainstream media is so dependent on social media gives a hint of which way the future is heading; which is in the opposite direction of traditional media.
My generation wants something different than traditional media. We don’t watch the news and rarely do we read a newspaper unless our favorite sports team won and we want to see the picture or we have to find an article for class. We expect all our information to come from the internet. I don’t look at the internet as some great invention that has changed my life because I have always had it around. It is my main source of information and I expect it to keep me updated in a way that traditional media cannot satisfy. Gillin touches on this point in his last chapter and I can only summarize it by stating this. I rely on the new influencers to tell me what is new and important, not traditional media. The bottom line is this, the internet is the new go to for everything from news and entertainment to products and services so as a marketer, you better be ready to adapt and change or else you will get left behind when my generation comes of age.

TMI!!!! (Too Much Information)

Facebook is advertising in a new way which I am sure you have heard because it has been in the news and my peers and I have talked about it in class. Facebook has been advertising to your friends the purchases you have made on other websites like overstock.com and fandango.com. Members have been wanting an easy opt out button for this feature, but facebook doesn’t allow members to do that. Facebook members have been outraged at this feature because it is a complete invasion of privacy. Over 50,000 members have signed a petition for them to stop this advertising feature that facebook has implemented to turn their popularity into profit.

What facebook is doing is using internet tracking to see what you are buying and interested in to than send you adds based on your searches and purchases. Pretty sleazy if you ask me, but also brilliant from a marketing perspective. Problem is, people don’t like this big brother aspect of facebook and don’t want everyone to know what they are searching online, which makes sense.

But get this, I was reading an article about how people were complaining and Mr. Zuckerberg, creator of facebook, said, “Facebook executives say the people who are complaining are a marginal minority. With time, Facebook says, users will accept Beacon, which Facebook views as an extension of the type of book and movie recommendations that members routinely volunteer on their profile pages.” Can I just say he’s a butthead (since I don’t want to use a harsher word.) People shouldn’t have to get used to something they don’t want to. I know many people were upset when the mini feed came out but at least we can change the privacy levels on that. In this article, Facebook, since it has been pressured by protesters, has decided to put up a notification every time you have something that could be shared on facebook, asking whether or not you would like to share it. This should make people happy for a while, but you know there are going to be tons of people, probably even those who protested Beacon, who allow some of their interests and purchase on facebook. People like to share too much information.

It’s 10 o’clock, do you know where your public’s at?

Ch 7 of The New Influencers talks about Putting the “Public” Back Into Public Relations. Many people feel disconnected from companies who never connect directly with their public. They send out press releases that editors and journalists can choose to write about or ignore, leaving the public unaware of what is new. The internet can change all that with social media press releases which are a way of getting out information that is accompanies by blogs, viral videos and podcasts and aimed directly at the internet using public. David Meerman Scott created the New Rules of PR which talks about how to create a press release strategy for reaching buyers directly. He talks about how the old form of public relations is dead and it is not time to connect directly with the public rather than going through some message carrying go-between. If you are interested in reading Scott’s writing they are linked above. Enjoy!

Conversation Targeting Advertisements

Advertising niche markets online just got easier thanks to Buzz Logic’s new on-demand software application, Ad Targeting.

“Now available within BuzzLogic’s on-demand software application, Ad Targeting enables advertisers to isolate influential blog and social media conversations occurring around products, brands and issues, then immediately target ad campaigns into the online conversations shaping consumer perception and buying behavior.”

This new software allows users to create conversation queries, similar to key words, to find out who are the influential leaders who are driving online conversations on various topics and communities that pertain to certain topics. Once they have this research they create text or display ads that pertain to topics that those communities identify with. This system uses online influence to double advertiser’s performance. Let’s see how well it work . . .