The Psychology of Facebook: Implications for Social Commerce

Nice post from Paul Mardsen via Social Commerce Today, on the why's of facebook usage

Thinking of using Facebook as a social commerce platform? Then it can help understand the social psychology of the Facebook user. Here are 7 evidence-based insights from recent psychology research into why we do what we do on Facebook (to learn more, check out Jeremy Dean’s wondrous PysBlog – an Aladdin’s Cave of practical insight)

• It’s all about ‘Social Capital’, baby: Facebook is used to manage social capital – the power, privilege and possibilities we have by virtue of the social networks we are part of. Ellison et al. (2008) found that Facebook users had higher levels of ‘social capital’ – in other words more ‘friends with benefits’. Social Capital is a BIG concept in understanding social media – more in upcoming posts. How could social commerce help improve the social capital of Facebookers, whilst helping them shop smart with their social intelligence?
• The Facebook 7s. Tap into one or more of the 7 core Facebook activities (‘uses and gratifications‘) identified by Joinson (2008). Note: connecting with or buying from brands and businesses is not one of them)
  1. Connecting (with People)
  2. Participating (Group Behaviour)
  3. Sharing (Media)
  4. Using (Apps)
  5. Updating (Status Updates Sharing/Learning)
  6. Surfing (People – Virtual People Watching)
  7. Investigating (People – Social Surveillance)
• The Disinhibition Effect: Facebook disinhibits people – they say, share and do things they wouldn’t share, say or do in face-to-face situations. Nosko et al. (2010) found that young, single people were particularly likely to disclose sensitive information about themselves. How could you use the ‘disinhibition effect’ to build a revealing social commerce strategy (think blippy)
• Beautiful People: Walther et al. (2008) found that attractive friends boosted the perceived attractiveness of participant’s profiles (unlike the contrast effect in real life). Boost the attractiveness of Facebookers by helping them mix with beautiful people.
• The magic number of 150: People can manage relationships with 150 people – and Tong et al. (2008) found Facebooker’s social attractiveness peaked at around this number. Help people manage relationships.
• Jealousy: Compulsive Facebook usage is a sign that your partner may be a jealous type (see social surveillance above): Muise et al. (2009) found that participants who spent more time on Facebook were more jealous of their partner. Opportunity to build apps that play on partner paranoia?
• The Truth is Out There: Strangely, people tend to be honest about themselves on Facebook: Back et al., (2010) found that Facebook profiles generally reflected their owner’s actual rather than idealised selves. Harness honesty in social commerce.

Near field communications - the death of the password?

Bit slow off the mark with reposting this, but a nice article from Computer World about how near field communication (NFC) enabled devices, like the new Android Nexus (can't wait for them to be released here in OZ), could not only change things like credit cards and micro-payments, but also how we handle secure access to data and services.

How Apple and Google will kill the password
Prediction: Your phone is about to become a universal biometric ID and debit card

By Mike Elgan

January 29, 2011 07:55 AM ET


Computerworld - Imagine sitting down at a public PC, surfing the Web, visiting Facebook, checking your online bank account and buying something on Amazon.com -- all without entering passwords or credit card information.

It gets better. You get up and leave without even logging out. Some shady criminal type sits down at the same PC and finds his attempts at cracking your password foiled at every turn. Your accounts can't be accessed because your phone is no longer on the desk.

It gets better still. Hop in your car and press the "Start" button -- no key necessary. The car knows it's you after you wave your phone over the dashboard, and it adjusts the driver's seat and steering wheel just for you.

On your way to work, you swing by Starbucks to grab a Trenta Iced Cafe Mocha with whip. To pay, you wave your phone over a terminal on the counter, grab your drink and head for work.

Arriving at the office, you sail past security with doors unlocking automatically as you approach them. When you walk into your office, the lights and PC come on auto-magically.

But what's this? While you were out, IT replaced your old-and-busted PC with the latest and greatest. The PC is a blank slate, and it's unaware of your data or settings. No worries. Just drop your phone on the desk, and the system instantly implements your settings and begins downloading your work documents from the cloud.

While all this is happening, a co-worker walks in talking smack about the game yesterday -- and the ill-advised bet you lost. You owe him $10, so you both pull out your phones. You launch an app, type in the number 10, and tap the phones together to transfer the money.

All this has taken place without a single password or credit card.

The magic happens when you can combine a biometric ID system (which uses some kind of scan from a smartphone to verify that you're actually in possession of the device) with a secure short-distance wireless communication technology that other devices (cash registers, PCs etc.) can read.

What's wrong with passwords?

Why do we need a new ID system? Because most users don't create secure passwords, and they can't always remember the ones they create.

On any public system -- like, say, Facebook -- if a hacker tries the 20 most common passwords on enough accounts, he'll eventually break in. Any two-bit suburban script-kiddie can download free software to crack the majority of passwords on a public system within hours.

Many people use a single password for all accounts. Once a hacker gains access to the password, he can wreak havoc, steal your identity, destroy your credit, ruin your relationships and expose your secrets.

Password protection -- or lack thereof -- is the IT industry's dirty little secret. Passwords are a broken and obsolete model, yet everyone relies on them and pretends they do what they're supposed to do.

The obvious password replacement is biometric identification -- the use of a system capable of recognizing unique physical attributes, such as fingerprints, iris patterns or voices.

Far too many people don't trust biometrics because it feels like Big Brother technology. But I believe that if the biometric system resides on the user's cell phone, and is under the user's control, such technology would be far more acceptable to the public.

How Apple will kill passwords

Apple doesn't discuss future product plans, but it appears likely that the company is aggressively pursuing the development of technologies that replace IDs, passwords and credit cards.

Two years ago, Apple was in the news for patenting a range of biometric ID tools for the iPhone, such as a voice recognition system, a retinal scanner that uses the phone's camera or, most likely, a system that uses the screen to scan fingerprints.

Last year, Apple hired an expert in Near Field Communication, or NFC, to head up the company's Mobile Commerce department. NFC is technology that enables the transfer of data over distances of just a few inches -- a model that's far more secure and reliable than, say, Bluetooth. Other inside sources have been quoted as saying that Apple plans to build NFC into the iPhone 5.

Apple has also recently advertised three job openings related to payment platforms and short-range wireless data transfers.

And Apple has been granted NFC-related patents.

Apple is in a unique position to add biometric ID and the short-range communication technology that would make it effective.

Because Apple makes both handheld devices and PCs, it could easily build support into both. And because Apple already maintains one of the largest e-commerce systems in the world -- the various iTunes stores -- it already has most of the infrastructure for payments in place -- and the credit card numbers of millions of customers.

Most important, however, Apple has proved to be the best company in the industry at taking research concepts that have been going nowhere for years and mainstreaming them overnight. It did that with multitouch user interfaces, cell phone videoconferencing and touch tablets. And it could do it with biometrically secured NFC ID and commerce systems.

In other words, all Apple needs to do in order to turn the iPhone into a universal debit card is to add a tiny, inexpensive chip to the device. And all Apple needs to do in order to make the iPhone a universal secure ID is to add a fingerprint scanner to the phone and put another chip in its various desktop systems.

Of course, it could be a while before you can use an iPhone as a universal debit card. It could take Apple some time to establish the partnerships and programs necessary to get every gas station and grocery store to support iTunes. But the password-killing ID card functionality could exist on Apple systems as early as this year, or most likely next year.

How Google will kill passwords

Google, meanwhile, does discuss (some) future plans. CEO Eric Schmidt announced late last year that Android Gingerbread 2.3 and later versions will support NFC at the software level. It's up to Google's hardware partners to build that functionality into Android devices.

Google is already using cell phones to improve security. The company has a universal password log-in that grants admission to most of its many online services, from Gmail to Google Latitude. Google encourages users to associate that single sign-on password with their cell phone number. If someone hacks your Google password, you can get a new password sent to your phone.

The Android platform has also been at the forefront of workable biometric solutions for cell phones. In fact, you can already download Android apps that do face recognition and iris scanning.

What doesn't exist yet is a Google-approved or Google-designed system that ties it all together -- NFC, payment and biometric ID. But with Apple apparently taking the lead when it comes to using a cell phone as a debit card and a universal ID, you can be sure Google will step up and do whatever is necessary to compete.

I believe that it will soon be possible to live without passwords or credit cards. If Apple builds in these capabilities, you can be sure Google will. And if Apple and Google do it, so will all of their competitors.

It won't be easy -- we can look forward to messy standards and privacy battles. But once they ship cell phones that can replace both passwords and credit cards, I think life will be more convenient -- and more secure.

Mike Elgan writes about technology and tech culture. Contact and learn more about Mike at Elgan.com, or subscribe to his free e-mail newsletter, Mike's List.

Slow start to 2011 - but not for facebook

Hi all and apologies for the hiatus in posting. End of the old year and start of the new have definitely provided more than a few distractions. In any case, back into it now and hoping to be able to provide more frequent Stickyness in 2011.

To get things rolling, here's a couple things that caught my eye this week:

Facebook is making big strides towards having its own economy. With Facebook Credits out of beta and set to become the mandatory currency for all social gaming purchases (Thanks Mashable: http://mashable.com/2011/01/24/facebook-credits-out-of-beta/), and the recent announcement that Facebook is testing a Group Buying scheme using the credits as currency ( http://mashable.com/2011/01/26/facebook-buy-with-friends/), it certainty looks like the site is setting itself up for a transition into a more commercial environment, and one that it pulls all the levers in. Who's taking bets on Facebook Credits being listed as a tradeable currency within 2 years? I've got a case of red on it if there are any takers?

And, the New York times is thinking of creating its own version of Wikileaks (Thanks Cutline: http://yhoo.it/fU3SDA) The ironic nature of the relationship between Wikileaks, Assange and main stream outlets like the NYT aside, this is certainly an interesting development that might not bode well for Wikileaks in the long run, certainty feels like a good move for news. I'm just left wondering about how much we can trust the main stream outlets when it comes handling really explosive info.

Happy weekend

Google launches it's online 'shopping mall'

With Youtube getting on the shopping band wagon and Facebook launching 'deals' it was only a matter of time before Google also took part in the conversation.

On Wednesday, Google launched Boutiques.com, it's very own online shopping centre. The website is designed to give users a personalised shopping experience allowing you to browse through designers, follow them and be followed. It includes bloggers recommendation pages, celebrity style pages and popular trend pages. Perfect for those who need inspiration to build their wardrobe.

Googles Product Management Director, Munjal Shah wrote:

"It lets you find and discover fashion goods by creating your own curated boutique or through a collection of boutiques curated by taste-makers -- celebrities, stylists, designers and fashion bloggers. These days, bloggers, stylists and everyday fashionistas are expressing their sense of style online. We invited them to create boutiques so people could shop their diverse styles. But you have a unique and independent style too, so Boutiques also lets you build your own personalized boutique and get recommendations of products that match your taste."

The site is set up to let users filter their searches by size, silhouette, patterns and colors. Google also is offering what it's calling "inspirational photos." If a user searches for brown boots, photos will pop up on the right showing brown boots with matching outfits.

However, Boutiques.com is currently only available in the U.S. and only for women's fashion. Google has said that it intends to expand but has yet to state when.

Online retail awards - finalists

OK, it's often the business, rather than the sexy end of digital, but it's where the ROI rubber hits the pixel road... and these guys are being recognised as getting it pretty right. Worth checking some of these out

Thanks Alf, courtesy of http://www.onlineretailer.net/

1. Best Pure-Play Online Retailer

This category is open to new and established pure-play online retailers without a physical store, who demonstrate best practice in merchandising, service, functionality and customer experience. Judging will be based not on overall size but on efficiency, ingenuity, dedication to customer experience and return on investment.

SHORTLISTED NOMINEES

• Deals Direct | www.dealsdirect.com.au
• Appliances Online | www.appliancesonline.com.au
• Little Dance Invitations | www.littledanceinvitations.com.au
• Trixan Body | www.trixanbody.com.au

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2. Best Multichannel Retailer

Multichannel is open to retailers demonstrating best practice in integrating traditional retail with online retail in an innovative, effective way to grow the overall retail business. Judging will be based not on overall size but on efficiency, ingenuity, dedication to customer experience and return on investment.

SHORTLISTED NOMINEES

• The Warehouse | www.thewarehouse.co.nz
• Clive Peeters | www.clivepeeters.com.au
• ABC Shop | www.shop.abc.net.au
• Supre | www.supre.com.au
• Oxfam | www.oxfamshop.org.au
• Proactiv | www.proactiv.com.au

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3. Best New Online Retailer

This award is for the best new start-up (launched post Jan 1, 2009), be it pure-play or multichannel, who demonstrates a sound, innovative and effective business strategy and a growing customer base.

SHORTLISTED NOMINEES

• Clive Peeters | www.clivepeeters.com.au
• JasonL | www.jasonl.com.au
• Birdsnest | www.birdsnest.com.au
• Trixan Body | www.trixanbody.com.au
• Shoes of Prey | www.shoesofprey.com

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4. Best Use of Technology

For the online retailer who best utilises available technologies or proprietary systems that deliver improved efficiencies for the business, better customer experiences and valuable analytical data to continually improve.

SHORTLISTED NOMINEES

• JasonL | www.jasonl.com.au
• City Beach | www.citybeach.com.au
• Metro Cleaning Services | http://metro.cleverappz.com.au
• Shoes of Prey | www.shoesofprey.com
• Jeans West | www.jeanswest.com.au
• Trixan Body | www.trixanbody.com.au

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5. Most Innovative Online Retailer

We're looking for the most imaginative initiatives in the online retail space, whether that be in site design, usability, customer experience, service, fulfillment or any other area of the retail discipline. What we're looking for is something original, exciting and practical. Must be able to prove demonstrably how innovation has led to tangible, positive results.

SHORTLISTED NOMINEES

• Shoes of Prey | www.shoesofprey.com
• Domino's | www.dominos.com.au
• General Pants | www.generalpants.com.au
• Sportsgirl | www.sportsgirl.com.au

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6. Best Online Retail Marketing Initiative

An award for the best online retail marketing initiative, via a single channel or an integrated campaign, such as email, mobile, social media, search, offline, live events or a combination of many. Must be able to show a link between the marketing initiative and increased traffic and sales.

SHORTLISTED NOMINEES

• Shoes of Prey | www.shoesofprey.com
• Red Balloon | www.redballoon.com.au
• Personalised Plates Queensland | www.ppq.com.au
• DealsDirect | www.dealsdirect.com.au
• General Pants | www.generalpants.com.au

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7. Best Customer Experience

Site usability, product and content, efficiency of delivery, customer service and marketing are among the factors that will be taken into consideration when judging the customer experience award, with contenders requiring high scores in all areas.

SHORTLISTED NOMINEES

• Mooo | www.mooo.com.au
• DealsDirect | www.dealsdirect.com.au
• Appliances Online | www.appliancesonline.com.au
• BirdsNest | www.birdsnest.com.au
• Clive Peeters | www.clivepeeters.com.au
• Proactiv | www.proactiv.com.au

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8. Emerging Star

This is for the fast-thinking, entrepreneurial innovator (either individual or company) whose new ideas, approaches and strategies have had an impact on the industry in the last 12 months and will help influence the future of online retailing.

SHORTLISTED NOMINEES

• Lasoo | www.lasoo.com.au
• Scoopon | www.scoopon.com.au
• OzHut | www.ozscopes.com.au
• Buyinvite | www.buyinvite.com.au

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9. Best Site Design

This award is for the best overall site design from an aesthetic, usability and technology perspective.

SHORTLISTED NOMINEES

• Proactiv | www.proactiv.com.au
• Bras n Things | www.brasnthings.com
• JasonL | www.jasonl.com.au
• Barkers | www.barkersonline.co.nz
• Crumpler | www.crumplerbags.com
• Big Brown Box | www.bigbrownbox.com.au

The Check-out of the Future: Fewer Humans, More Phones [video]

Older 'future video' and article from NCR via Fast Company. Even thought it's nearly a year old, i still love signs to a future of RFID/NFC, internet of things...

National Cash Register is one of those grand old American companies that, come the digital revolution, might have gone the way of the rotary phone. Instead, with a trimmed down name (now NCR), and a ramped up R&D operation, the company is transforming the way we handle our money--or its digital equivalent.
We visited NCR’s "Innovation Center," an expansive high-rise display space filled with next-gen ATMs, kiosks, and self-service systems that will let you do everything from check into a hotel (and find your way to your room), to burn a movie (and redeem the old ones you no longer want.)

We were most taken with the possibilities of using our cellphones to conduct business in all sorts of intriguing new ways. We got the company to demonstrate a few cutting edge applications that may soon appear in a bank or hotel near you.

Technology, Game Mechanics And Bridging The Virtual-Actual Divide

Thanks again PSFK for this interesting talk from Jesse Schell of schellgames.com on the intersections of gaming and the real world... the stuff on much real money social games generate, and the insights behind them, is fascinating.

At our New York Conference last year, Kevin Slavin of Area/Code delivered a talk on gaming in everyday life entitled “This Platform called Everyday Life”. Recently we stumbled upon a talk Jesse Schell of schellgames.com (game developer, previously of the Disney Imagineering division) delivered for this year’s DICE summit (Design, Innovate, Communicate Entertain) that elaborates on this concept.

During the talk, Schell talks about how the explosion of the virtual in our lives has driven us to crave more reality in every facet of life; think the continuing proliferation of “reality” TV programming and “authentic” offerings from major brands and corporations (like Starbuck’s London Conduit Street and Seattle 15th Ave. locations). This trend has had an incredible impact on gaming across the last few years, and has allowed for the continuing success of “real”-ish gaming (the Nintendo Wii which translating real activity into interactivity, Guitar Hero and Rock Band which simulates a rock-stardom with “real” instruments), as well as games driven by very real social mechanics (eg. Mafia Wars). Schell concludes his talk with an elaborate example of how foursquare-like game mechanics complete with rewards points and achievements could impact our everyday lives as world the virtual and actual collide; Imagine getting “achievement points” for taking public transit which result in a government tax credit to further incentivize you.

The particulars of Schell’s talk are debatable, but with the explosion of augmented geolocated technology (SPIMEs) such as Dennis Crowley’s Foursquare, Nike’s Plus, and the prolific use of social networking to interface real life interaction, this continued collision of virtual and actual is inevitable. We were particularly struck by the bizarre economics that bridge the virtual/actual divide. Did you know that Farmville earns more money from lead generation (allowing credit card companies to get players to fill in applications) than micro-payments from users?

Watch a video of Schell’s talk below:

Wii Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

Explore a whole new way to window shop, with Google and your mobile phone

Nice development from Google

12/07/2009 06:00:00 AM

What if you could decide where to shop, eat or hang out, with a little help from local Google users?

It might take you a while to ask them all, so to make it easier we've launched a new effort to send window decals to over 100,000 local businesses in the U.S. that have been the most sought out and researched on Google.com and Google Maps. We're calling these businesses the "Favorite Places on Google" and you'll now start to find them in over 9,000 towns and cities, in all 50 states. You can also explore a sample of the Favorite Places in 20 of the largest U.S. cities at google.com/favoriteplaces. Each window decal has a unique bar code, known as a QR code that you can scan with any of hundreds of mobile devices — including iPhone, Android-powered phones, BlackBerry and more — to take you directly to that business's Place Page on your mobile phone. With your mobile phone and these new decals, you can easily go up to a storefront and immediately find reviews, get a coupon if the business is offering one or star a business as a place you want to remember for the future. Soon, you'll be able to leave a review on the mobile page as well, just like on your desktop.


To scan the codes, you'll need a phone with a camera and an app that can read QR codes. For Android-powered devices, including the Droid by Motorola, we recommend using the free Barcode Scanner app. For iPhone, we have found the $1.99 QuickMark app to work best, and starting today, we're partnering with QuickMark to offer the app for free for the first 40,000 downloads. For other devices, we recommend searching for "QR reader" in your app marketplace, if it has one, or searching for the model of your phone and [qr reader] on Google. BeeTagg and NeoReader are two other apps that we've found to work well with the decals.

Here's a video that shows you how this all works:



This launch is part of our overall effort — online and offline — to provide you with the best local business results whenever you're trying to figure out where to go, whether it's a trendy Cuban restaurant in Philly, a comics shop in L.A., a hip hotel in NYC or a little bit of photographic history in Rochester, N.Y.

We plan to periodically send out new waves of window decals to qualifying businesses. If you own or manage a business and were selected as a Favorite Place, you may have already received your decal or, for most of you, it will arrive by mail in the next one to two weeks. If you weren't selected in this round, your first step is to claim your listing with Google's Local Business Center for free. That will help us determine that your business information is correct. Then, you can enhance your local business listing by adding enhanced content like photos and videos.

To explore a gallery of several hundred Favorite Places in 20 U.S. cities, to learn more about how to use the QR codes and to find out how your business can get involved, check out google.com/favoriteplaces.

Posted by Ryan Hayward & David Kim, Product Marketing Managers

Universal Platforms for Virtual Goods and Social Currency

Thanks Mobile Behaviour for this on Viximo's interesting offering for virtual economies

Social currency and virtual goods have kept online gamers locked in their basements for years. Then Facebook introduced us to the virtual gift, and digital birthday cakes became badges of honor. Now game dynamics are becoming an increasingly popular way to encourage behavior online and on mobile, turning life into one big game.

A new startup called Viximo is looking to help smaller social sites build their own virtual goods platforms. Their turnkey solution includes an embeddable gift store, showcase and microtransaction system.

"Our virtual goods solution is designed to provide social networks with a powerful solution they can grow with, yet spend only a week integrating," said Brian Balfour Founder and VP of Product Marketing at Viximo. "This allows web publishers to focus on their core business--engaging their audience--while we provide their users with targeted and merchandised virtual goods through a well vetted and integrated system."

Viximo's solution supports various types of virtual currencies including cash, reward, mixed, or dual currency systems, and aggregates the best payment methods including one click credit card purchasing, PayPal, mobile, and CPA offers.

Techcrunch points out that Viximo’s ‘universal giftbox’ option, which allows for a gift given on one site to also appear on another site, could be both confusing and ugly. This is a good point, but it would be great to see some standardization across networks, not just for virtual goods but for all the gaming elements we're seeing built into social networks and media sites.

Thought Starter:

With the proliferation of “leaderboards” – the hot new SNS accessory that quantify site activity (see Foursquare, Fashism, Hypemachine, Learnvest…)—there’s an opportunity to create a points exchange. So just like you can use your frequent flier miles on partner airlines, you could redeem currencies on partner sites. Or how about a platform that aggregates social currencies and lets you redeem them for branded rewards?

Shoe-Shopping via Short Code

Thanks Next Great Thing for this post on short code shopping

Despite th obvious issues the author pioint sout, i think it's an intersting way to run ecommerce in a low-fi way

October 5, 2009 by NGT

Shoe-Shopping via Short Code

Not counting content for the mobile phone, like ringtones, mobile commerce is still in its infancy in the United States. From fast food (Papa John’s) to fashion (Net-a-Porter), marketing and sales executives with pioneering attitudes have been experimenting with mobile commerce. Many are still trying to figure out what does and does not work in connecting with consumers and their wallets via their mobile phones.

Since most US mobile users still do not have a smart phone, companies have to decide whether to offer a richer experience via an optimized mobile Web site or app, but to potentially fewer customers, or reach more customers via something almost every mobile user has, such as SMS. While at first blush it might seem best to err on the side of scale, my recent experience with an SMS-based m-commerce platform convinced me otherwise.

Here's how it went down. A few weeks ago while on vacation, I was flipping through a women’s magazine and came across an ad which contained a potentially cute pair of shoes. As there was a mobile call to action and I was nowhere near my laptop, I was intrigued. I texted the code to the short code and the process began.

However, several messages back and forth later, I did not buy the shoes. Never having shopped for anything this way or from this service or retailer before, I was not sure what to expect. Other than “standard messaging rates apply,” neither the ad nor the first message from ShopText (on behalf of the retailer) offered any expectations. The process itself was a long series of messages, which seemed to take longer than if I had just gone to my nearest Internet connection, logged on and created an account. Frustrated, I aborted somewhere along the way (again, not sure how far along as nothing was communicated regarding what to expect).

My issue was not just with the cumbersome and unclear nature of the shopping process itself. Unfortunately, shopping by text message did not meet the high bar for shopping for shoes virtually that sites like Endless and Zappos have set. The print ad offered almost no detail in the photo and accompanying text and none of the text messages offered any additional details (thus, why I earlier referred to the shoes as “potentially cute”). I had no idea what the heel height and type were, what type of pattern had been laser cut into the leather, if there was a platform in the shoe, etc. These are all extremely important details to me, as I expect they are to most women, when evaluating a shoe.

Even though I found my particular experience lacking, I have to applaud this retailer and magazine for trying to increase the engagement with their young, connected, female consumers via the ShopText platform. They recognize that there is a real opportunity in connecting with consumers via their mobile phones, an item that most consumers state they cannot and do not live without (per Synovate’s recent research that found “three quarters of the survey respondents - including 82% of Americans - never leave home without their phones, and 36% of people across the world (42% of Americans) go as far as to say they 'cannot live without' their cell phone”).

However, for m-commerce to outgrow its baby shoes, all of the parties involved need to rethink how women are accustomed and want to shop for shoes virtually. Otherwise, for this category of goods, ShopText will need to clarify the level of service offered by renaming itself “OrderText.”

- Valerie Cashour

Future of mobile commerce, in a skinny vanilla latte?

Thanks CNET for this on an iphone app that's actually useful:

Your decaf caramel macchiatos and no-whip pumpkin spice lattes are going mobile.

In a double-shot launch (sorry), coffee giant Starbucks unveiled late Tuesday its first two iPhone apps. The first one, called MyStarbucks, is a no-brainer: you can use the phone's GPS capability to find nearby stores (previously, this was available via text message), search ingredient and calorie information for Starbucks beverages, study coffee bean varieties, and build virtual drinks to see what exactly would be in one if you ordered it.

But it's the second app, called Starbucks Card Mobile, that could be worth a double-take. The app allows for balance check and refilling of Starbucks gift cards, which the company has expanded into a customer loyalty program by offering discounts, free refills, and two hours of free Wi-Fi to cardholders. And in two experimental test markets, the Starbucks Card Mobile application can use a barcode to replace the plastic gift card altogether.

As far as mobile e-commerce is concerned, this could be a big deal.

Mobile retail promotions, from text-message codes to redeem for free drinks to the nascent pop-up deals in geolocation app Foursquare, are nothing new. And mobile payments are commonplace in countries like Japan and South Korea. In the U.S., they haven't caught on yet. But having a ubiquitous national retailer like Starbucks in the game could change this.

The barcode-based electronic gift card from the new Starbucks iPhone app.

(Credit: Starbucks)

"We're really venturing into new waters in terms of mobile payment," Stephen Gillett, senior vice president of digital ventures at Starbucks, said regarding the Starbucks Card Mobile app.

"The mobile app is really the powering of some of our most frequently used functions on (the Starbucks card's Web site) and our in-store activity in terms of balance and payment and favorite orders," Gillett said. The app was developed internally with some help from third-party companies like mobile billing start-up mFoundry, he said.

Unless you're geographically very lucky, you won't be able to pay for a venti frappuccino with your iPhone just yet. Only 16 Starbucks outlets, eight in its home turf of Seattle and eight in Silicon Valley, can currently handle the barcode-based gift cards. These are stores already internally designated as test spots for new Starbucks technology, Gillett said.

"In some of these Seattle stores we've tested store manager laptops, allowing them to get instant messaging, full access to e-mail, and conferencing," he said. "These are some of the stores that got the new AT&T Wi-Fi earlier."

As a result, that means the integration process may be smoother for the test stores than it would be for a random Starbucks elsewhere in the country. "The store employees are used to getting new kinds of technology, new kinds of services earlier than most markets," Gillett said.

Estimates vary on just how big the U.S. gift card industry is, but according to the Federal Reserve, it's certainly well into the billions and continues to grow. As for Starbucks, already one in seven transactions at the coffee chain involves its array of gift and loyalty cards, Gillett says. "We see a significant amount of our traffic represented by loyalty cards of some sort," he said.

And eliminating that need for a physical gift card is a pretty obvious next step, especially if you've ever spent any time fishing around for one in a handbag.

The question is whether a new concept like barcode-based gift cards can easily scale to a chain as widespread as Starbucks. Mobile barcode systems have typically been rolled out in far smaller contexts--short-term advertising campaigns, for example, or companies with far smaller reach such as Equinox, a high-end gym in a handful of U.S. cities that recently began letting members check in with an iPhone-based barcode. And while Starbucks has been battered by the recession and has closed several hundred stores in the U.S., it still operates or licenses over 10,000 outlets in the U.S. and thousands more overseas.

So Starbucks is taking a slow approach to mobile payment testing, which means that customers outside of Silicon Valley and Seattle might not be seeing it any time soon.

"We're really working on getting that (customer) feedback before we put any long-term plans in future markets," Gillett said. "This really is a consumer-driven app in so many ways. This is an app that we need the customer experience to have a very strong influence on."

He was equally mum om whether Starbucks Card Mobile will offer advance mobile ordering options or other potential features. "Again, we're really looking to this app hitting the real world before we lock in future functionalities," Gillett said.

The same goes for taking the app beyond Apple's handset. Apple and Starbucks have a years-long and complicated history encompassing both iTunes and AT&T wireless service, but a mobile payment option ideally wouldn't be restricted to the iPhone.

"We are definitely interested in non-iPhone based platforms, particularly Windows and Android and BlackBerry," Gillett said. "But at this point we're just really focused on the launch for this."

Humour and irony boost sales by a gazillion percent

Well maybe not, but i think these two post from eConsultancy and BazaarVoice make some really intersting points about the role CGH (Consumer generated humour - yes, finally, my own acronym!!) can play in sales.

now go out and buy a really crappy shirt because we all love taking the piss... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NZW3IY






Thanks Econsultancy -http://econsultancy.com/blog/3876-ironic-user-reviews-boost-t-shirt-sales-by-2300
User reviews come in many shapes and sizes, but typically people either love or hate a product. It’s normally a simple black and white issue, as few people bother to leave reviews for mediocre products.

It turns out that this either/or thinking is plain wrong, and there is a third factor to consider: irony. And tongue in cheek reviews stand a better chance of going viral, at least judging by the success of the Three Wolf Moon T-shirt.

The t-shirt, which features three wolves and one moon, has become one of the top sellers on Amazon, thanks to some classic one-liners and other more detailed reviews, with most written with an industrial-sized dose of irony.

Here are a few of my favourites (there are 455 to choose from):

• "Unfortunately I already had this exact picture tattooed on my chest, but this shirt is very useful in colder weather."
• "Every night, for the past 6 weeks, I have been visited by 3 wolf sprirts. And every night, they bestow upon me endless amounts of knowledge and offerings of imitation crab meat."
• "The Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt gave me a +10 resistance to energy attacks, +8 Strength, and added 30 feet to my normal leap. I cannot list the specific effects involving the opposite sex as I am still discovering these. And they are many."
• "I had a two-wolf shirt for a while and I didn't think life could get any better. I was wrong. Life got 50% better, no lie."
• "The second that these 3 Wolves touched my chest I benchpressed 5 meth labs and wrote an essay about moonlight. When I wear this shirt as pants I can run to Canada in only 42 days."
• "I once ran into Chuck Norris at a bar. He noticed I was wearing this shirt and he ran away."

Not all reviews were positive…

• "They SAY it's three wolves, but how do we know it's not the same wolf from three different angles? We cannot assume they'd be above airbrushing or the use of creative lighting just to save on wolves..."
• "I'm beginning to believe that some of the benefits ---- as described by other reviewers ---- are exaggerated. For example, not ONE supermodel has approached me."

In response to that one-star review the company that created the t-shirt responded in kind:"We at The Mountain do not guarantee that you will become a magnet for super models. There is no governing the fate of one man to secure the kindred love of a like-minded mate for life while baying at the moon on a warm Summer's night; to the man who wears not the 3 Wolf Moon and stumbles through life on a path of loneliness of one forgotten by the mortals he walks among… we feel we deserve at least 3 stars from you."

The company did however take issue with some of the comments, saying that “We appreciate humor as much as the next company, but we don't approve of some of the Classist remarks that are being generated here… some say ‘Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all’. We however disagree if it's at the expense of others in a Classist, Racist or Prejudice manner.”

So there it is. Ironic reviews are a winner.

And there I was thinking that the rise in popularity of animal t-shirts was linked to The Flight Of The Conchords…

---------

“H” is for Humor

May 25th, 2009 by Brant Barton | Co-Founder and VP of Business Development

In addition to tagging reviews, questions, answers, stories and other customer-generated content with descriptive codes like “CR” for references to competitors and “CS” for customer service issues, I am starting to think that our content moderators should apply “H” to content that could dramatically boost a product’s conversion rate (because after a fit of uncontrollable laughter and the delirium that follows you simply cannot resist the urge to buy the product that is the subject of the “H”). That’s some actionable business insight for merchandising teams.

The inspiration for this post is the now infamous “Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt”, currently the #1 selling Apparel product on Amazon.com. No, that’s not a typo. I could efficiently end this post by just telling you to read a few of the reviews for this product. That would more than accomplish my goal of demonstrating the value of not taking yourself (or your brand) too seriously. But I have a minimum length requirement to meet, so I’ll go on . . .

Our good friends at Econsultancy in the UK beat me to the punch with an entertaining blog postThe Washington Post published an article on the same day. No matter who you trust, that’s one damn funny t-shirt. If you trust me and took my advice above to read a few of the reviews, I bet you are now making your way through the checkout process while you finish reading this nailbiter of a post. That’s impressive multi-tasking. on the t-shirt.

We see our share of humorous reviews and many of those are just too inappropriate to post, but as reviews of the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt aptly demonstrate, there is a very fine line between inappropriate humor and pure genius, not to mention a word of mouth marketing bonanza. I won’t speak for my colleagues at Bazaarvoice (you know who you are), but this t-shirt is responsible for a major drop in productivity last Friday because I was personally contributing to the millions of word of mouth “impressions” that the product received. While it may be difficult to put a dollar value on each of those impressions, you can most definitely put a dollar value on lost productivity.

In closing, if you offer customer reviews of your products and services, whether you are a Bazaarvoice client or not, I urge you to evaluate whether your definition of inappropriate is too strict and your tolerance of humor too low. Millions of dollars and an immeasurable wealth of customer word of mouth could be at stake!

'Virtual currencies' power social networks, online games

Thanks CNN... jesus, am i really reposting something from CNN?

(CNN) -- When Santiago Martinez wants to give his friends birthday presents, he buys a cake or flowers or sometimes a teddy bear.

'Virtual currencies,' like the hi5 Coin, shown here, are becoming more important on the Internet.

But the 41-year-old, who lives on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, doesn't spend pesos or dollars. He buys the gifts with an online-only currency called hi5 Coins.

He also doesn't deliver the gifts in the physical world. They appear digitally on his friends' online profiles on a site called hi5, which is a social network like Facebook or MySpace.

"They can't eat the cake. It is an image -- the thing that it represents," said Martinez, an accountant with a wife and two kids. "You can send the feeling of that [cake] that you want to send."

In any given month, he spends the equivalent of $40 in this manner.

But Martinez is hardly alone.

As our identities migrate further onto the Internet, currencies that exist only online are becoming a more significant part of commerce on the Web and in the real world. Some, like the hi5 Coin, operate almost like tokens in an arcade or tickets at a fair: They're a stand-in for real-world currency.

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Other "virtual currencies," like Second Life's Linden Dollars, however, are traded on markets. The currencies also fuel online gaming communities and are becoming an important part of social networks.

Several online currencies are competing to be the economic engines for MySpace and Facebook, which don't have their own unified currencies. Other social networking sites, like hi5 and myYearbook, have created their own units of money for their users to spend.

All of this movement leads some experts to see a future in which virtual currencies enter the same trading space as their real-world counterparts.

The online monies are not robust enough to trade competitively against real-world currencies, but people underestimate the large amount of cash that is transferred from the real world into virtual currencies, said Edward Castronova, a professor of telecommunications at Indiana University.

Castronova says people transfer at least $1 billion into the virtual currencies each year, with most of that money going into online games. The actual amount could be much higher, he said, but the market is hard to quantify.

"The question is really one of scale," he said. "Is this big enough for someone to take their 401(k) [out of real-world currency] and start looking into this? No, absolutely not."

Sometimes, people collect online money simply by purchasing it.

In "World of Warcraft," players earn WoW Gold as they advance through the game. The currency has become so sought-after that it is bought and sold on a black market, experts said.

Low-wage workers in China are known to play the game for a living and then sell the virtual currency they earn to avid "World of Warcraft" players in the West. This despite the fact that the game's maker prohibits such activities.

As the market for online-only currency grows, problems that plague real-world economies start leaking in, said Charles Hudson, who runs the Virtual Goods Summit, an annual conference.

"Once you get a virtual economy that's functioning, you run into all the problems that we have with the real economy: taxation, interest rates, inflation. All of the same problems that cause headaches for the Federal Reserve come up in the virtual economy -- and the stakes are the same," he said.

The solution has been for each social network or game that uses its own currency to appoint a money manager. Hi5, for instance, employs a staff economist for this purpose.

The site soon hopes to make as much money through its virtual currency exchange as it does from advertising, which is the primary revenue source for many social networks.

Mark Methenitis, a Dallas attorney who writes a blog called "Law of the Game," said online currencies are "completely unregulated," which will make trading them against each other dangerous.

"There is huge potential for fraud, for what would be the equivalent of insider trading," he said. "Also, since these economies are completely under the control of the virtual world owner, it's pretty easy to cause massive hyperinflation."

Social networks and virtual worlds are currently trying to find ways to manage or capitalize on their developing economies.

These networks' successes may hinge on how they are able to manage their economies and currencies may, experts said.

Facebook is researching the idea of creating a unified currency but is "very early" in the process and has not committed to it, the site said in a statement to CNN.

Currently, applications on the site -- which allow users to play games with each other and trade gifts -- are powered by currencies made by the application's developers, not by Facebook.

These developers are making good money on the system, and Facebook is missing out on profits in that area, said Hudson, of the Virtual Goods Summit.

Joey Seiler, who writes about virtual worlds, said virtual goods are becoming more popular because people are taking their online identities more seriously.

At first, it may seem ridiculous that someone would pay for virtual currency in order to buy a T-shirt icon to put on a social-network profile. But Seiler said more or his friends see the virtual T-shirts on his Facebook page than see any T-shirt he wears in real life.

Zappos Launches Realtime Ordering Map

Thanks psfk for this post on Zappos real time visulaisation of what's happening in the online ordering system. Dunno why, but i really love this. Less shoe fetish but more a transparency thing...

April 16, 2009

Want to know what shoes people are buying in Montpelier, Vermont? Then just watch the realtime map on the Zappos website long enough and you just might find out. With this new feature, the popular online retailer is giving consumers even more reason to keep up with the Joneses, as users are granted the ability to zero in on their home towns and wait to see what items pop up. Currently, monitoring a specific location requires a bit too much active participation to be a worthwhile endeavor - the map continuously scrolls as new orders are being placed - but down the road we suspect Zappos will offer a static view for members wanting to make sure they don’t miss out on the latest trends in their area.

Kachingle Coordinates Microdonations to Get Content Creators Paid

Thanks again PSFK

February 19, 2009

Kachingle is a new service that looks like it could bridge the gap between scattered micropayments and free content. Many old media pundits have been suggesting micropayments as a solution to monetizing dying newspapers and other online content, but historically, micropayments don’t do as well as they should. It’s a hassle to pay every time you want to read an article, and you can often find the same content for free elsewhere.

Kachingle acts as a distributor of microdonations. Member sites would sign up and place a Kachingle badge on their page. Readers pledge to send a monthly payment to Kachingle - $5.00, $10.00, $100.00 or whatever they want. Then, Kachingle distributes that money proportionately amongst the partner sites you’ve visited over the month. So, if you visited PSFK 50 times, and The New York Times 50 times, your pledge would be split evenly, and so on.

It’s a smart concept that simplifies the act of micropayment, or micropatronage. With one payment and a once monthly transaction, you can support your favorite sites. Though critics don’t think Kachingle will make a ton of money for its member sites, it could - combined with advertising - make for a healthy revenue stream.

[Editor and Publisher & Steve Outing via Klintron]

Top Mobile Trend: Mobile Wallets

Thanks again Next Great Thing

November 3rd, 2008 by Sarah

Wallets don’t mix with skinny jeans, and since we hope cargo pants won’t be back anytime soon, we’re eagerly anticipating m-commerce.

Spurred by a generation used to paying with a click, mobile payment systems are in high demand Stateside. And thanks to the emergence of Near Field Communications and other innovative solutions, it won’t be long before we get them.

Just in the last week of October, both Visa (San Francisco) and New York-based Citi’s Mobile Money Ventures (MMV) announced the rollout of initiatives designed to enhance the banking functionality of people’s mobile phones.

Visa has a pilot program in Canada (through the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Rogers Wireless ) that lets users wave and pay for goods at the point of sale using their mobile phones.

Pilot participants will be issued specially equipped, near-field communications-enabled Motorola mobile phones that can simply be waved at Visa payWave-enabled checkout readers at select retail stores and fast food restaurants in Toronto’s downtown.

Citibank Hong Kong is letting customers perform mobile banking or stock trading using MMV’s m-banking platform, which is independent of device and network.

Among the features that Hong Kong customers can use are account inquiry and management, funds transfers, payments and time deposit accounts. Also available is stock trading, including buying and selling, pending order management, stock quotes and portfolio management.

Meanwhile, some smaller fish are figuring out alternate ways to enable mobile payments using existing (and widely used) mobile technology:

Tagattitude uses the voice function of phones for secure payment through a technology called Near Sound Data Transfer—NSDT. The two phones establish an audio channel, go through a series of questions and then transfer money from one account to another. Here is a video of the mobile payment in action (WARNING: it may cause dizziness and motion sickness.)

Anam Mobile SMS Money Transfer allows users to send money to another person using standard text messaging. After both parties subscribe to the service, subscriber A can send money to subscriber B with a standard text and then both subscribers receive texts back when the money has been transferred.

PocketFuzz equips cash-only retailers at festivals, venues, and concerts with their simple SMS-based payment solution that works with any major card or bank, any carrier, and any phone. A buyer’s text along with their personalized secure 4 digit PIN completes a secure transaction in mere seconds. Charges appear on users credit card or bank statements just as any other purchase would. First time users can set-up their account online or using a call back method.

At the end of the day, we just want to dial up a Big Mac. And we don’t think we should have to move to Japan to do it.

TiVo, Dominos: Broadband Never Tasted So Good

Thanks that Channel Wire for this post on TV finally getting sueful! TiVo, Dominos: Broadband Never Tasted So Good

November 17, 2008

When the moon hits your eye with a big pizza pie, thank TiVo and Dominos. Beginning today, TiVo subscribers can order pies for delivery or pick-up from the pizza maker.

Hungry viewers can order pizza when they see a Dominos ad on TiVo and click "I want that" through their remote. TiVo subscribers will be able to set-up a user name and password on Dominos.com and each time they use their TiVo remote to place an order, they can log-in via their account number.

Through the TiVo/Dominos interactive system, subscribers can also create a custom pizza from television and select types of crusts, toppings and sauces. Users can also track pizza delivery timing. The companies promise that pies will be delivered in 30 minutes. The new service is free and payable in cash upon pizza delivery.

The new service gives new meaning to the term couch potato, and in fact, the companies' marketing executives refer to the service as "couch commerce."

"Joining forces with Domino's Pizza creates an effective marketing and commerce tool for Domino's while enhancing and further distinguishing TiVo as the ultimate way to watch TV with a closed-loop advertising experience," said Karen Bressner, Tivo's senior vice president of advertising sales, said in a statement.

Or, as Bressner put it, the deal is an "advertising solution as commercial avoidance continues to increase."

So, get the door, get the scale, its Dominos

Visa befriends Android

Thanks Contagious

---

Visa recently unveiled a partnership with Google’s mobile platform, Android, where users can sign up to receive offers from marketers that will be delivered directly to a simple interface on their mobile phones. In practise, this means that Starbucks could send consumers vouchers for cut-price cappuccinos straight to their mobile handset.

Those who opt in click an ‘offers’ button for the latest promotions, and can then use their handset to find out the location of their nearest Starbucks (normally right in front of them). Visa is also teaming up with Nokia to roll out a mobile payment system before the year-end.
Contagious caught up with Prakash Harirami, senior business leader, global product innovation at Visa, to find out more.

Contagious: What are the specific benefits for Visa Mobile services developed for the Android platform?

PH: The benefits include:
Alerts: Near real-time notification of purchase activity based on customised cardholder preferences. The consumer can personalise the types of alerts delivered to their mobile device according to pre-selected parameters, such as the size of the transaction or whether the transaction is in foreign currency
Offers: Consumers will receive targeted offers from merchants directly to their phone. These offers, ranging from discounts to loyalty offers, could be based on a consumer’s previous purchase activity.
Locator: The Locator service is expected to integrate with technology developed by Google, such as Google Maps and Google location-based services, to show consumers nearby locations of merchants sending them offers, or of an ATM that accepts Visa.
Finally, with more than three billion mobile devices worldwide and 80% of the world's population living within range of a cellular network. Visa has a significant opportunity to extend our products and services to geographies where they don't exist today and enhance the consumer payment experience.

Contagious: Nielsen Monitor-Plus reports that credit card companies in the US – including Visa – have reduced the number of TV spots that they’re buying by 24% year-on-year. Are you planning to invest more in mobile platforms instead?

PH: This is a significant milestone because it shows how Visa is making mobile commerce a global reality. We developed a flexible, iterative mobile platform approach to encourage market trials, learn from real experience, and draw out the business models that make the most sense in each situation and local market. Visa’s continued investment in its mobile technology comes as more consumers adopt mobile devices which play a central role in commerce.

Contagious: How easy to track are the promotions that are run on the platform?
PH: Visa can easily track mobile offers/promotions on its platform, including redemption rates and purchases by merchant.

Contagious: How big will Google Android be?
PH: By developing these mobile services for the Android platform, Visa has taken a step toward achieving our goal of combining two of the world’s most powerful and ubiquitous consumer innovations: electronic payments and mobile technology.

Glamour.TV

Thanks to Adage for this post.

Glamour Rolls Out Web-Video Platform With Key Advertisers
Conde Nast Title Ventures Further Into Branded Content

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Three years after launching its groundbreaking "Reel Moments" short-film series, Glamour continues to branch out in the realm of branded entertainment.

Earlier this week, the Conde Nast fashion title introduced Glamour.TV, a new web-video platform aimed at expanding Glamour content into bite-sized video clips, customized to key advertisers.

Looks are everything
Dockers, for example, is the sponsor of "Moms Working It," a show that interviews celebrity mothers such as Jennie Garth, Solange Knowles and Nikki Taylor. Revlon is the presenting sponsor of "Beauty Wars," a makeover competition series, hosted by "Entourage" co-star Debi Mazar, in which makeup artists from around the world strive to create the consummate look for the American woman. There's also "The List," a fashion and entertainment news show, hosted by model Molly Sims and E!'s Giuliana Rancic, that is co-sponsored by Estee Lauder and Burberry.

Bill Wackermann, senior VP-publishing director of Glamour, said the model is reminiscent of the TV-sponsorship model of the 1950s. "It harkens back to when advertisers were in the business of promoting their own shows, promoting their brands and having more creative control of the process."

(To highlight the vintage ad model, Glamour this week literally trotted out the vintage by sending waiters to its top ad clients in New York with champagne and TV dinners prepared by Kurt Gutenbrunner, the Austrian chef of uber-trendy West Village bistro Wallse.)

Glamour.TV is the second video site of its kind to emerge from a Conde Nast fashion title in the past year, following last year's late-summer launch of ShopVogue.TV (now Vogue.TV). Both magazines have taken an aggressive stance on owning their own content online at a time when everyone from Elle to Marie Claire is partnering with TV networks for reality TV projects.

An image to maintain
"We've been approached on almost every one of those deals for a reality show. You pick the program -- magazine partners are always being asked to participate," Mr. Wackermann said. "But that becomes about their show and their brand vs. ours, and if you have a small brand you may benefit from being associated with that show. But Glamour reaches 12.8 million women; our brand is larger than the audience that watches those shows at any given time. For us, when we do something to extend our brand into different media, it has to be what is relevant to our consumer and our brand."

Glamour is also experiencing growth in year-over-year web traffic going into the launch of Glamour.TV, an encouraging sign that the site could find a sizeable audience early on. Since July 2007, Glamour.com's monthly traffic has increased 118% to 862,708 users, according to ComScore. Its Conde Nast sibling, Vogue.TV, also reached a viewership milestone earlier this week when "Model.Live," an original series co-distributed by social-networking site Bebo, passed the 1 million view, or video streams, mark after five episodes. In just two weeks "Model.Live" drew enough traffic to Vogue.TV to send its unique viewer stats past the 1 million mark as well, having accumulated 900,000 users since launching in August 2007.

Said Vogue Publisher Tom Florio of the site's economic model, "We want to make sure clients get the print, that we're not giving away the business like everyone else out there. [But if a client] moves 10% of their budget to the internet, we want to show them where the tonnage is coming from. ... You've got everyone in Hollywood trying to suck money out of this business, so we want to work together exclusively with advertisers online, or package together with pages."

Guest stars
Mr. Wackermann said Glamour.TV's first season will carry through October, when the latest installment of "Glamour Reel Moments" will also appear on Glamour.com. On tap for this year's short films are directors Demi Moore and Courteney Cox, featuring stars such as Rumer Willis (Ms. Moore's daughter), Anna Faris and Laura Dern.

Glamour is also actively in talks with the major video distributors to help syndicate Glamour.TV content online. Vogue.TV already has deals in place with Hulu, TiVo, Tidal TV, Veoh and JuiceCaster.

Click on this link for the original article: http://adage.com/madisonandvine/article?article_id=130923