Please help us find out your choice

June 16, 2011 1 Comment

 

 

 

 

dália vermelha porque hoje é quarta-feira

Image by Fred Matos via Flickr

Filed under Digital Media, IPL, Sports, Twitter

Still worried about your location data – think about funding Foursquare

April 24, 2011 2 Comments

Image representing Dennis Crowley as depicted ...

Image by DennisCrowley.com via CrunchBase

This is not to ridicule the outcry against Apple and Google tracking their users’ locations (after all, Apple is also adding cloud based video services and the iPhone 5 may be much faster) but the location based services and local services like Groupon and the Google afterthought in the field are set to burn up the competition and create a mass momentum that may in fact propel a new set of social media and brand services that make it impossible to serve the customer without meaningful location data. This latter solution may even be preferred by those in the building that are entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses and trading outfits like food stalls, pizza companies that are really benefiting from the social media visibility of their brands/businesses.  Meanwhile Google is probably depending on location services as it scales Latam business to twice its size this year (just 2-3% of GOOG revenue)

As of now, four square is about to hit the $5 billion valuation soon as the pe funding round envisaged by 4sq looks at pricing it for $500 million.

In the latest sign of the Internet gold rush, location-based service Foursquare Labs Inc. is looking to raise fresh funds at a price that would value the three-year-old start-up at as much as $500 million, people familiar with the matter said.

That valuation could be a stretch for Foursquare, which gives users the ability to get deals or connect with friends by “checking in” wherever they are, but so far pulls in little revenue, the people said.

Chief Executive Dennis Crowley is leading the effort and would like to raise $20 million to $40 million

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703387904576279380019110022.html#ixzz1KRQ3hKVh

 
Image representing Apple as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

 
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Filed under Digital Media, Facebook, Lifestyle Brands, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Early brands catch the worms | Advantage social

July 14, 2010 Leave a comment

One of the most important options for measuring engagement in social media, Postrank has a pretty robust, well tested method to observe and filter the best from any content. With a few tweaks to the same, PR lets you add up your business’s performance, esp if you are in the business of writing/tweeting. As all that pretty much hits close to home of what big brands are/should be doing globally, they have put up a few brand measurements on their blog. Ev and Biz should look them up and so should you.

According to Postrank, Virgin Atlantic, Starbucks ( a lot of push from them) and the New York Times are Brand properties that have made it socially. Good choice! Nike is another Gorilla. Don’t forget to get more of them on the Morning take out![We mean Postrank]

Filed under Digital Media, Lifestyle Brands, Social Media, Twitter Tagged with , ,

The social media progress charts : A 2010 refresh

July 5, 2010 Leave a comment

Facebook vs Twitter

Facebook continues to draw huge crowds in 2010 crossing 3 billion visits in April 2010, while Twitter managed 147 million visitors from 21 million users. However as we tweeted, most discussions on the winnability and success of Facebook and Titter were dominated by Twitter as the platform, while the answers leaned towards the heavy usage of facebook. Apparently the tale is divided by the very fact that no one wants to discuss anything meaningful on Facebook, managing their dominant usage of facebook for the personal sphere of influence and not really as a social site for business. A simpler answer for Facebook’s continued success would thus be a simple advertisr friendly approach that the platform has propagated and that brands have lapped up by the score.

The question is whether Twitter can convert this tirade of meaningful social discussions ( including 3 out of 4 reactions to facebook) that happen on Twitter and except on facebook happen to be mostly about Twitter. While paid subscription models and even paid blogs have failed to take off thus ending the high ideals of those who wanted a paying internet / digital proposition, the advertising based models seem to have been jettisond to early by us cognoscenti on Twitter. Promoted Tweets is not the answer in terms of reach but facebook ads meaning to propagate brands and social causes are a necessary hit.

Nevertheless, as most of the talk is about twitter, there would seem to be some basis to this continued banter about Twitter's innovative reach and effectiveness for business. Stock analysts also find it to be a continuing draw, instant opinion being quite a hit in this volatile world and unless you want to discuss a movie with all your bev y of friends, saying it on Twitter seems to get it done.

Well, the next one in the 2010 refresh is on the plateau for digital books, we having chosen to bite the bullet and make the comment in the here and the now. Interestingly, USA would have us believe they have declared the world wide web within its borders! Wonder if that will even be questioned in this decade!

Also, the FIFA world cup dominated Twitter most of June hitting 6 million plus tweets on the day USA and England were both playing for the honors. Though at less than 20% of the impact in weekly trends, there were other meaningful topics too in the Top 3 with the new Lizzie Mcguire movie at #3 and the Lakers win at #2 (whatthetrend.com) This week of course there is that corner in SW1 that will vie for the honors with the cup of joy, Nadal having come out par for the course.

Filed under Digital Media, Facebook, Social Media, Superbowl, Twitter Tagged with , ,

And the winner is – digital! | Advantage Social

April 26, 2010 Leave a comment

Well, pioneers will say we are late in the gainsaying. No we were not the naysayers. No it is not a holy jehad. No, Pope Benedict has no request to bless this revolution. No it is not the Book of Judas. No selling religion hasn’t gone digital. Phew, that’s another billion. Close. As April draws to a close, statistics say Twitter would have added 1 more billion to its 16 billion kitty from SMS alone.

Yes. And that news on the twitter blog is a good one, a great one and one that makes me wish I was a Cloudhopper. Twitter has finally started using the cash in the vain hope that it is ahead of the monetization of internet curve and thus people wil eventuually pay it in enough premium to cover now the third year of back breaking costs. The Cloudhopper purchase closely follows Tweetie and makes its Third party developers an integral part of Twitter.

We have said it before and we will say it again. It is time that all the tweeting , now available in the Library of Congress archives are a blessed source of will and wisdom that are sure to turn the world of digital media, social media and advertising in a tizzy.

Online advertising has also scored a neat $23 billion in advertising in 2009 according to a hat tip from the New York Times. 47% growth in Display ads, 38% in Video ads and search is still around. Well next year hopefully it will be Twitter’s promoted tweets there with a meaningful percentage and from our personal predictions, the search category would have mrphed into other pieces., incl the Apple iPad platform and maybe once Tweets count someone would have a percentage for Facebook as well.

Why am I rambling about that? Because a lot of people incl Accenture and Mckinsey have employed pioneers, our valley has gone down hooking them up and they all wanted to see a little more digital in our life. And that’s all Marketing, right! All those solo moments without advertising would also be sponsored by your refrigerator maybe. But the point is that magazine advertising scored less than $20 billion in the same year in the US. And that is where we plan to use everyone’s common decision. We think Marketing Budgets will be at least 30% Digital in a few years. And for the World’s Top 100 brands, more of that would be social and of course meaningful sponsorships would be most of the other stuff. See?

Filed under Digital Media, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter Tagged with , , , , ,

Promoted Tweets | Advantage social

April 13, 2010 1 Comment

Sorry Twitter, we’ll be a little hard nosed when we’re on the button

Well, just this weekend everything was fine with the @anywhere announcement on your dinner table and everyone was going to Chirp. But then one of the VC blogs exploded with Twitter criticism over the weekend and @ anywhere is suddenly not the topic, Chirp is looking not too friendly on the blogs and the Atebits acquisition ( yes dear, we were just watching and the great first priced Tweetie got gobbled up as bird seed.) was not even given a round of applause, let alone the kind of standing ovation Facebook got for eating up Friendfeed!!

A lot of shocking drama without the tweets and Twitter defense probably continues when Chirp convenes tomorrow and into next week as well when a lot of these pre Chirp tweet seminars will come useful for @ev and @biz. Tweetie will now be the official Twitter Twitter app for iPhone. Twitter Twitter for Blackberry was also rolled out this week. What a rush..but we need something bigger you little bird..

What is ‘Promoted Tweets’?

Well for one, I am giving you a sample of some quality campaigns with the Magpie network on @zyakaira with Heineken pushing its iPhone apps apart from a lot of Freelance wunderkind promoting their ware on Twitter..But Promoted Tweets is now an offering from the birdhouse directly. Twitter is rolling it out tonight marrying search results from their earlier acquisition for the Twitter ecosystem with an Ad engine that pushes intelligent ads on to the search page. Atebits may also be used later for marrying new elements of their API and Twitter continues to marry its own offering with that of its ecosystem, while good for us, confounding a lot of its developers ahead of Chirp whence it can do the soft sell. Wow Twitter! Your business model is sounding like a loud episode/pilot of a Saturday Night Live/Showbiz with lot of shallow screaming ( tweeting) and very less substance.

Search advertising on Twitter today will probably some of the left-over, hungover, Google crowd, but we think the party is moving on. We need something richer like Twitter with Sports or Twitter being used to oracle Hollywood successes at the box office and @anywhere, fast.

The Tweet ad would be something like the Sponsored Tweets on Tweetmeme or those from Heineken in our @zyakaira feed, making their debut as the Top tweet on the search page and making their way everywhere in the Tweet apps, lists, tweet feeds and timelines.

Filed under Digital Media, Social Media, Twitter Tagged with , , , ,

It’s Facebook F8 vs Twitter Chirp | Advantage social

April 2, 2010 2 Comments

Facebook vs Twitter series 31/800

Facebook Developer Garage and probably many others would soon be targeted by marketing vuffs for the events they are. When the F8 is held later this month followed by Chirp on Twitter, the Location and Like arguments of Facebook will hit another crescendo and Twitter ‘s @anywhere will go gaga about the liking of all that you browse with the Like button from Facebook vs the social knit experience of @anywhere. What can we say – It’s a wonderful life. It actually could also make for more than a few lighthearted moments on the social boards, esp. if they start calling in landed celebrities and not so busy political movements to these dias’ or platforms. We have decided to call Social browsing, the time spent on Facebook Twitter and any remaining social networks, soon to include significantly your time on Amazon and the newspaper sites as @anywhere goes live and iPad gets more user friendly.

This social browsing, may perhaps not spearhead anything more commercial than its current state in the discernible future as some stronger brands start taking their social visibility more seriously with Cash approved during FB and twitter’s Celebrations last festive season ( The period Oct 2009 – Dec 2009 was the hottest for both the surviving networks) The next layer of recommendation engines incl. Foursquare may well be significant players on the iPad and maybe even a new reinvented Kindle, but the dollars would come from the brands and not the cognoscenti and the twenty somethings browsing their working time away.

It’s tiring really. Without its commercial value, any invention is only useful to its inventor and the social web would have to do more than press F8 to sing all the way to the bank.

Filed under Digital Media, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter Tagged with , , , ,

Tweeting means meeting up | The Twitter Difference

March 23, 2010 Leave a comment

India’s status as no. 2 in number of Twitter users, also means a unique Twitter ecosystem. ‘Long wedded’ tweeters went to town with the concept of Twitter bang up for a big splash in seven cities together on the coming weekend. Sadly, for me, it seems to be dominated by the large population of TED attendees. Here’s hoping some non Technical types would be able to partake the coffee with me too! :D All the listed cities have their own IPL teams so the tweet up will be hot but not muggy by any means..except Goa fof course, who can get visitors from Pune now..

Filed under Digital Media, IPL, Twitter Tagged with ,

Twitter, anyone | Advantage social

March 18, 2010 Leave a comment

Well SXSW, WP Barbeque and Twitter Ev keynote. Hoo boy! Sad it doesn’t sound half as exciting as the new Audi sales figures. It is a statement of the times that one should temper one’s social enhusiasm with some hard hitting nos. Well the numbers go east and west, north and south every minute, SO i believe it’s fair for you to know these. All due references would be avl elsewhere on this portal

I am in Top 0.1% of active Twitter users that is 19% of all registrations not deleted. Upto 8% twitter accounts are deleted every month, reasons ( i’m extrapolating, inferentiating and instancing for all of you) ranging from don’t know what this is to why me? to what am i doing here to more germaine.. geez, why did I choose that name :-)

Being in the Top 0.1% means being in fair demand and actually fulfilling all those ideas you had when you came to sign on twitter – namely,

- someone would be reading you all the time, outside of your universe of friends, family and even twitter followers.
- you will be able to talk about yourself and your work ( it is not very easy till you have a sizable following for either of the two factors/ideas/aspirations)

Well, only 6 million of Twitter’s 25 million users are active and probably 25000 have more than 500 followers But with @anywhere this might change. As you need your twitter account to login to digg, maybe yahoo mail after a few months and whenever schools raise their fees, you’d want to login to sledge. This is other than the sports events, brand trails and the twitterlympics on any random topics that you might want to indulge in. Thierre Henry is a good topic as we pen this.

From 6 billion tweets in November 2009 we have already covered 10 billion in February 2010 and now we can add location, manage lists and look for it to discover any news and url we might be looking for. Apart from the 40% babble it engenders, twitter is quite a repository of social news and with us you get defined seminars on any and every subject that is of value on a day.

@anywhere actually envisions as a social journey rather than just a destination you park your browser on..that essential difference is the gamechanger. However much like its analytics which is more tweet count and follower counts than engagement, the users may be interested in not making their web a dynamic fluid experience everytime they log on..then the mountain must go to he/she.

That is an enormous challenge. But today I can reach my users and followers from anywhere on the web, just because i tweet when i have something to say. Isn’t that a new history?

Filed under Social Media, Twitter Tagged with ,

Adding Location based Services | Advantage Brands

March 10, 2010 1 Comment

I am on Foursquare.com, there is gowalla.com and I am not mayor of Times Square. Well, if you are still sitting in a big chair in a Fortune 200 company’s marketing office spending $800m and printing your own in-house magazine, secure in the knowledge that Location based services are the map providers on your car GPS and Navstar systems, this wake up call is for you.

You are happy that your ad agency has worked to the letter on your last 3 briefs..read on. You are the boss of department untouched by the latest storm to hit Facebook and Twitter, because you have a friendly social media strategy where the web is abuzz about the best that you offer and the not so good has been taken care of. Well, your and my world is about to change. The last privacy brouhaha was when location being made available to all my readers and any other publisher’s post meant that tweeting was risky. There had been reports of burglary’s because the robbers knew you were away..Not that any of them have been sorted out, they never are. In October 2009, foursquare.com was launched and to cut a long story short, millions were anointed mayors of their favorite cafe, mall and even schools. A lot of global travelers can now access tips of travel, stay and food at a diner, or in a new town and much more. That till last week was as far as it got. Now with a couple of 2010 conferences and well-timed roll outs this is going to be a long distant past in the history of the social revolution, the social web.

Facebook is adding inline location information with each status update

Now location-based services mean Four Square and more. Twitter’s location moves on from coordinates and nonsensical rhymes to geographically verified locations. Four square is also getting special treatment for iPhone apps and integration with Facebook. All this in the coming few weeks. Location based services have seemingly overpowered significant privacy concerns and make the web capable of communicating meaningfully and locating your own social circle in the ‘real’ world. It still can’t tell whether a NFL athlete is on or off the field when tweeting so it’s not that easy for users. Apps based on Foursquare have thus also made an entry, making beautiful GUI on the iPhone, (or Blackberry or Android) these apps let you check in to Foursquare and locate yourself for the handy tips and points, while if you are looking for tips, the same are available. Mapquest and the other geo coding apps of course remain at the base of the revolution, so the apps on top will have the same level of accuracy and can easily add features like driving directions etc on to it.

How do brands come into it? They will have to find a way. At least in the consumer / retail – lifestyle space, the users are not going to wait for their offline Macy’s, Starbucks or even the Coke or Pizza they want. The brand’s social strategy has to move from a Facebook page and find innovative ways to touch the customers with electronic coupons and in fact their own social games rather than ‘advertising’ on or around social games and animation. There is less reason today for not knowing your consumer personally and to keep in touch with customised preferences of all individuals from the billions that consume your drink or wear your shoes is now possible. If you don’t make it, someone else will. For the socially aware world ( 20% of the world is on Facebook right now!) not knowing their each and every quirk could soon become unforgivable. Banking and Healthcare should start using it now to earn their badges back. Maybe some brands can help them do that. Also I think Yahoo and Google could really start a counter trend by sponsoring such free Wi Fi services all over! It has to be a real brand to get mileage from Wi Fi on almost all domestic flights and major airports..

Filed under Digital Media, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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