TV+Social Network=?

Thanks WSJ for this article on how the bastion of 1.0, the TV, is moving into the world 2.0

New television ventures promise to bring the community-building features of the Web into the living room

Our television set is about to become a lot friendlier.

Seen by many as a one-way medium where the content comes through but nothing goes back, the TV generally goes off and the computer goes on when people want to connect and communicate with others.

But now, some of the tools that allow people to build communities and socialize on Internet sites like MySpace and Facebook are making their way to the living room.

TV Takes a Cue From the Web

Ever wish your television talked back? Well now it does and more. Stacey Delo talks to WSJ's Christopher Lawton about the new ways people are using their TV to be social. (Oct. 24)

The movement was pioneered in part by videogame-console makers such as Microsoft Corp. as a way to connect hard-core gamers for competitive matches, and it is gaining momentum as those companies and others seek to entice a broader audience to chat with friends, share photos and recommend movies and music over their television screens.

Analysts say social networking has the potential to play a key role in shaping what people watch and do on the biggest screen in their homes. They say that eventually could pay off -- perhaps in terms of subscription revenue or advertising -- for the companies involved in these mostly nascent ventures, as efforts to marry the Internet and the TV gain traction.

"The TV set is evolving and content itself is evolving," says Michael Gartenberg, an analyst in the research division of Darien, Conn.-based Jupitermedia Corp. Understanding what friends are watching or doing on their TV screens "has to have a tremendous amount of value," he says.

The Journal Report

• See the complete Technology report.

Seeking Connections

Gamers have been able to message and befriend each other through the TV since 2002, when Microsoft launched Xbox Live, the gaming and entertainment service that allows Xbox-console owners to connect to the Internet and compete against each other in multiplayer games. More than 60% of Xbox owners subscribe to Live, according to Microsoft, some paying a $50 annual fee for a premium version of the service.

Right now, the only way to chat with fellow subscribers is to create a game session and invite them in. Some users create game matches for the sole purpose of chatting, showing that for many, the social experience is just as important as the game, says Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live.

The Redmond, Wash., company is redesigning Xbox Live to add more social-networking features. The idea is to give subscribers more of the social connections they crave, while broadening the appeal of the Xbox console beyond the hard-core gaming community.

Jason Schneider

The new version, due out Nov. 19, will include a chat feature in which groups of as many as eight people will be able to communicate with each other via headsets, regardless of what they are doing. Members also will be able to share photos and create unique graphic images of themselves, called avatars, that can interact with other subscribers' avatars in a virtual community.

Eric Word, a recent high-school graduate in Columbus, Ohio, says he is looking forward to the new Xbox Live because he won't have to enter game sessions to talk to friends. "Sometimes I don't get in the mood to play, but I still want to talk to these people and see how their day is going," says the 18-year-old Mr. Word.

Sony Corp., too, is preparing to launch a virtual-community service for its competing PlayStation 3 videogame system. The free service will allow players to create avatars, interact with others in a virtual world and chat through the game console.

The company says it plans to launch the service, called Home, this fall, though it declined to be more specific.

A Broader Audience
TAG Networks Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., is trying to expand social networking based on gaming beyond videogame consoles to a much broader cable-television audience.

The firm owns a subscription-based games-on-demand TV network that allows people to use their remote controls and cable boxes to connect and play with other casual gamers. According to founder and Chief Executive Sangita Verma, the setup is simple: Gamers create profiles, compete for high scores in their area and match up for multiplayer games. Next year, the channel will introduce a more formal social network with buddy lists, messaging and other ways to connect multiple players.

"Gamers today expect to be able to communicate and play against other people," says Ms. Verma. "I think there is a paradigm shift in the way people think about games and play games."

TAG TV has more than 200,000 subscribers in Hawaii and is being tested with cable companies in Texas and Alabama.

Movie studios and software firms also are helping to bring social networking into the living room.

Studios such as Walt Disney Co., Sony Pictures and Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures are adding features to Blu-ray movie discs that allow people with certain Blu-ray DVD players to interact while watching movies. Disney's recent release of "Sleeping Beauty," for example, includes a "movie chat" feature in which friends watching the movie simultaneously from different locations can exchange messages on their TV screens with Internet-connected devices such as iPhones or BlackBerrys.

New York software firm Boxee, meanwhile, has incorporated social-networking features into a media-player application designed to be used with a remote control and viewed on a large screen, like that of a TV connected to a PC.

The application, which can be downloaded free, offers users a single interface through which to organize and play media content such as videos, movies, music and photos from their PCs or the Internet. It also allows users to sit in front of their TV screens and, via remote control, recommend movies, music and other content to Boxee users they have befriended. They can see in real time what songs those friends are listening to or the movies or TV shows they are watching by monitoring a so-called media-activity feed appearing on their screens.

For piracy reasons, Boxee's software stops short of allowing people to share content with friends. But Dave Mathews, vice president of product development, says that even if a person is watching a pirated copy of a movie or TV show and recommends it to friends, the software will send the recommendation and tell the friends where they can stream the content legally.

Versions of Boxee's software for Apple Inc.'s Macintosh computers and for PCs based on the Linux operating system are in testing. A version for PCs running the Windows operating system is due out by the end of the year.

Robert Basil, an information-systems manager in Tempe, Ariz., has been testing Boxee on a Mac Mini connected to his flat-panel TV for several weeks. He says he likes Boxee because he prefers media recommendations from friends rather than professional reviewers.

"Nobody knows what you like better than your friends," says the 41-year-old.

—Mr. Lawton is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau.

Write to Christopher Lawton at christopher.lawton@wsj.com

Bosses 'should embrace Facebook'

Thanks to the BBC for this insighful post on why social networks at work are, could be, a good thing:

Social networking: not just for organising parties

Companies should not dismiss staff who use social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo at work as merely time-wasters, a Demos study suggests.

Attempts to control employees' use of such software could damage firms in the long run by limiting the way staff communicate, the think tank said.

Social networking can encourage employees to build relationships with colleagues across a firm, it added.

However, businesses are warned to be strict with those who abuse access.

'Intuitive interaction'

Firms are increasingly using networking software to share documents and collaborate in ideas, the research found.

And while more work-specific systems, such as LinkedIn or bespoke in-house software tended to be used for work matters, the likes of Facebook, Bebo and MySpace still had a place, said Peter Bradwell, a Demos researcher and the report's author.

Banning Facebook and the like goes against the grain of how people want to interact Peter Bradwell Demos

"They are part of the way in which people communicate which they find intuitive," he said.

"Banning Facebook and the like goes against the grain of how people want to interact. Often people are friends with colleagues through these networks and it is how some develop their relationships."

Using technology to build closer links with ex-employees and potential customers could also boost productivity, innovation and create a more democratic working environment, Mr Bradwell added.

"In today's difficult business environment, the instinctive reaction can be to batten down the hatches and return to the traditional command-and-control techniques that enable managers to closely monitor and measure productivity.

"Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counter-intuitive, but it appears to create businesses more capable of maintaining stability."

'Business goal'

The popularity of social networking showed that there was a desire to connect with others and socialise, said Mark Turrell, chief executive of Imaginatik, which develops bespoke networking software.

"Being able to see a photo of colleagues, or knowing what they are up to, can be incredibly useful for businesses, especially if a firm employs thousands of people," added Mr Turrell, whose firm took part in the study.

By focusing the minds of a group of people on a specific task, you can find a solution much more quickly than you would do otherwise Mark Turrell Imaginatik

But he argued the use of networking sites "must be tied to a business goal".

He said his customers used the software to set out problems which they faced and then threw them open to employees.

"The first people to respond might not know the answer, but they could suggest somebody who does," he said.

"Within a few days, they are able to get enough people from across the organisation with the right expertise to work on it.

"And by focusing the minds of a group of people on a specific task, you can find a solution much more quickly than you would do otherwise."

Staff should be told if their use of social networking sites is excessive

Younger employees who have grown up with e-mail, mobile phones and social networking want their employers to adapt to new technology, he added, saying this put pressure on older employees to adapt.

"The key questions are, how do you get the brightest people to work for you, and then, how do you get the most out of them," Mr Turrell said.

"Organisations need to give their employees physical and virtual space to grow and explore their ideas.

"In today's new world, employees expect and require sophisticated enterprise social networking tools to shine."

'Aware of tensions'

The report's authors said that clear guidelines needed to be set out about appropriate use of social networking.

And there should be no hesitation in telling employees who spent "unreasonable" amounts of time using technology for non-work related activity that their behaviour must change, they added.

It is good for companies to be aware of the tensions and look at deploying practical guidelines which will protect the positive impact of networks, not hamper it Robert Ainger Orange Business UK

Mobile phone and broadband firm Orange, which commissioned the research, is currently building its own in-house social networking platform for staff.

"The profile and significance of social networking is increasing now, because of the proliferation of new technologies that enable us to connect to each other in our personal and professional lives," said Robert Ainger, Orange Business UK.

"But it is also good for companies to be aware of the tensions and look at deploying practical guidelines which will protect the positive impact of networks, not hamper it."

Top Mobile Trend: Mobile Wallets

Thanks 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.

The Vital Importance of Links

Thanks Chris Brogan

November 4, 2008

Some of you know about how links work on the Internet. Others don’t. If you’re in column A, nothing to see here. Watch this instead. For the rest of you, let’s dig in.

Search is a very important part of online communication. I know you don’t normally think of it that way, but think about it for a moment. When you ask Google for something, it’s a query and a response. It’s a communications path. Think now like a marketer. Every communication is a chance to build a business relationship (or a nonprofit relationship, or an education relationship, etc). Now, with that in mind, you need to understand how search is impacted by links.

The Vital Importance Of Links

First, a disclaimer: I don’t suggest that I know all the ins and outs of link authority and stuff like that. For that stuff, read SEOBook. Smarter folks than me. But here’s what I do know. If I’m wrong, this post is all yours for ripping apart and making better in the comments. I’m betting ahead of time that the comments will be better than the post.

How Links Move Traffic Around

Links tell Google (and when I say “Google,” assume I mean “anyone searching for something using the Internet) what is important. If I link to Jon Swanson, Google assumes there must be something useful there. Further, because my site is reasonably trusted by Google, it presumes that I’m not sending you to something spammy and yucky. Thus, just by adding a link to Jon Swanson or anyone on my blog, I’m telling Google that people searching for Jon Swanson might be better off going to http://levite.wordpress.com.

What Link Text Means to Search

Look at the previous paragraph. I made the word link the hot text to click. If I had put modern church as the clickable text, that would have told Google that, to me, someone searching for “modern church” might want to find Jon (by the way, Lord knows whether that’s what I’d send people to Jon for, but he’s MY modern church, so there).

So, if someone is searching for writing copy that sells, then I’ve just told them Brian Clark (and his army of other authors) is the way to go. The more times someone links Brian’s site to the text “writing copy that sells,” the more likely someone typing that set of terms into Google will land on Brian’s site. Make sense?

The top seaches on my site, by the way are for “Chris Brogan,” which makes sense, and then “blog topics,” and then “topics to write about.” This all came from 100 Blog Topics I Hope You Write, which is still a popular post on my site, months and months later. I wish I had some better search terms to get people to find me here, but so far, that’s what people link to when they think of me.

The important point I’m making here is this: the words you highlight as the linked text matter to how people find resources on the Web. Google knows when you’re trying to game this system, or do something devious, but for the most part, they also understand that enough pointers from lots of sites saying similar things probably means it’s accurate. (Again, feel free to disagree if I’m wrong.)

Takeaways

• Be conscious of how you link to other sites in posts.
• Consider what people are searching on to get to your site.
• Are there ways to guide people to link to you using the terms you’d prefer?
• Take the time to link to other people’s stuff. Linking in to your own articles and materials is greedy.
• Links are communication/conversation/conversion. Treat them with respect.

And now, far more importantly, what else can we add on this topic? You’re smarter than me, many of you. Help educate people further, will you?

Online ad spend boom Down Under

Cheers Elizabeth Lloyd at imedaiconnection for this rundown on the state of affairs in the Australian online ad space

The latest figures show Australia has a bright future, both for online advertising opportunities as well as broadband subscriber growth.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, 74.3 percent of Australia's population is online -- out of 20.6 million inhabitants, 15.3 million are online (as of December 2007). With statistics like this, it is no surprise that Australia is one of the top 20 countries with the highest number of internet users.

What is interesting to note is how the internet has changed Australia's traditional media use. The World Internet Project in July 2008 published a report titled "CCi Digital Futures Report: The Internet in Australia" detailing:

• For users, the internet is now their most important source of information. Just under seven in ten users described the internet as 'important' or 'very important' compared to a third for television and less than a half for newspapers or radio. Internet users spend less time watching television, listening to radio and reading newspapers than nonusers.

Advertisers are starting to notice the shift from traditional to digital media -- it is evident in the rising online advertising expenditure. With growing internet penetration rates (in just eight years the number of online users has more than doubled), online advertising expenditure in Australia has showed record quarters. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Online Advertising Expenditure Report, which was published in June 2008, states:

• Online advertising expenditure in Australia for the second-quarter of 2008 totalled A$412.5 million, the largest second-quarter recorded. This is an increase of $28 million (or 7.3 percent) from the first-quarter of 2008, and is an increase of $87 million (or 26.7 percent) from the second-quarter of 2007.

What has contributed to increased penetration rates and the shift to digital media for information consumption is growth in the broadband market. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that 22.8 percent of Australia's population falls in the broadband subscriber category (as of September 2007) -- just under four in five home connections are broadband.

Broadband does make a substantial difference to peoples' use of the internet. "The internet is more highly valued by those with broadband connections and they use the internet for longer and for a greater variety of purposes. Younger people have been quick to integrate the internet into their lives, they use the internet more and particularly for entertainment," according to the CCi report.

The internet is widely embraced in Australia. However, a digital divide does exist as a fifth of the population has never used it. With or without broadband, internet use varies greatly between different groups. The CCi report has found that "men, students, employed persons, younger people, higher educated and higher income individuals are all more likely to use the internet than women, retired people, home-makers, older people, lower educated and lower income individuals".

Aside from the demographics, what is interesting to note is the type of online media that is receiving the most attention. The IAB report cites that:

• The largest online advertising expenditure was search and directories, which comprised of 45.3 percent, while general display advertising and classifieds advertising accounted for 27.8 percent and 26.9 percent of the total advertising expenditure for the second-quarter of 2008, respectively. Finance, computers and communications, and motor vehicles sectors continue to be the dominant industries using general display advertising, and comprise over 50 percent of the general display spending.

Marketers take note of the online user demographics as well as the dominant sectors in all forms of online media. It is evident that Australia has a very promising future -- both for online advertising opportunities, as well as broadband subscriber growth. Not only does the number of broadband users increase, but online advertising expenditure statistics are very impressive.

Elizabeth Lloyd is co-founder and chief revenue officer, 9Global, Inc.

Data "point" of the week: Data alone is not enough

Cheers Forrester for this point of view on data and how to approach it.

by Josh Bernoff

I've been thinking about data lately. This is partly because of Bill's comment on our last Data Chart of The Week (Seniors) and also the responses we got to Part 1 of our recent Webinar series. In the Webinar, I chose to focus almost exclusively on several Social Technographics Profiles -- data about how different groups of people use social technologies -- and while most of the responses were positive, a few people responded that they were unsatisfied with the result.

Confession: I love data. I helped start Forrester's first consumer surveys, called Technographics, in 1997, and I love the idea that we can answer consumer behavior questions around the world now. As an analyst, I love having the ability to dive into data and find the answers to a client's behavioral or attitudinal question. And I find it endlessly fascinating to see how people's attitudes vary with age, or where they live, or from year to year. Having the ability to ask questions of the form "I wonder if people . . ." and actually get the answer is intoxicating. That's why data about People is the first step in the POST method for social technology strategy formation.

But data isn't the whole story. Data looks backward, and answers only questions you thought to ask. Surveys have biases. They have margins of error and sample size issues. I believe our surveys are the best, most comprehensive set of data available anywhere on technology. That said, if you start and end with data alone, you will go wrong.

That's why we always try to provide analysis along with, or driving, or surrounding the data we present, which creates the basis for intelligent decision-making.

There are experts on this stuff, most notably my colleague Brad Bortner. But I've learned a few things myself in a decade of research with consumers. So rather than present more data this week, I will offer up these bits of advice:

• Better to have data than to trust your gut. In the absence of data about your market, youi are driving blind. You intuition about your customers may be right, and it may not. (It's useful to remember that in every stock trade, one side expects the stock to go up and the other does not -- why are you so sure you are smarter than everyone else.) If you can get access to consumer behavioral data about what you're doing, then by all means study it.
• Data is not insight. What does it mean that 40 year-olds are twice as likely to create social content than 20 year olds? That depends on what you want to do about it. Use data to start and bolster your argument. Then ask, "Is there any other way to interpret this?"
• Check the source and the base. All Forrester data charts have a source (typically a survey) and a base (the group of people surveyed). The source will tell you when the survey was conducted -- and data is perishable, since people's attitudes change over time. The base us important to -- is it online consumers, people with mobile phones, or people in metropolitan China? Sample size is also important -- results from 200 people are interesting, but clearly not as as solid at results from 10,000. That's why I can tell you the social Technographics profile of people who own Mercurys, but not people who own Hummers -- we only reach a dozen or so of the latter.
• Protect against bias. All surveys have bias -- most notably, they reach only people willing to take surveys. Another common bias is "social desirability bias" -- people want to believe they are better than they are. This is why PBS gets higher ratings in diaries than when measured with a meter. Always ask "is there a bias here that could reduce the value of this data?"
• Beware of overinterpretation of a question. I will often show survey data in the form of a question and the percent who gave various answers. An audience member will ask "did they mean this, or did they mean that?" It's a hard question to answer, since I wasn't in the brain of the person answering. Strictly speaking, they read the question and they gave the answer -- it's up to you to interpret. Similarly, just because people participate in discussion forums doesn't mean they want to talk about your products. Data gives you a feel for how people are thinking, but it's still up to you to engage them.

I promise to keep showing you data, but always with a context on what to do about it. What bits of advice do you have about working with data?

Cheers Future lab for this great case study

What's Transformative Advertising? Here's One that Shapes Public Behavior.

by: Idris Mootee

Governments often use mass advertising to educate and shape social behavior. The results are often mixed and we all understand it is not easy to have a change in human (public) behavior. Upgrading faster police cars is definitely not the solution. Here's an innovative idea from a Latvia agency.

A local ad agency MOOZ! (Riga, Latvia) was tasked to develop a campaign against speeding and aggressive driving with the goal to in reduce the number of car accidents and casualties. Target audience were those who consider the speeding part of their lifestyles and police have a hard time chasing them down.

The agency came up with the idea of Organ Donors Certificate as a part of the ad campaign. Agency believed that the reason for speeding is very social, fast driving is considered to be cool among large groups of the society particularly male age 20-35. Trying to educate them is useless. The agency thought of another social problem - shortage of organs needed. The idea is during the campaign aggressive drivers are asked to sign their organs to those who are waiting in line for a transplant by signing Organ Donors Certificate. Certificates were issued directly to aggressive drivers during raids by the Latvian road traffic police. So instead of getting a ticket which cost whatever $50, you will end up giving a liver away for driving above the speed limit!!

Not sure how they enforced that but it was effective. Number of victims dropped by 29%. You may not remember the ad, but you will always remember the day you signed your Organ Donors Certificate and devoted your organs to somebody else. Campaign raised as well the discussion of another social problem - the sortage of organ donors, Transplantation Center was very thankful and client had nothing against combined solution, since the main task was to save lives. Still not sure exactly how it works, first timers get to sign away their liver and seriouos offenders signs away their heart? Will find out more.

The more I think about it, borrow this idea to use on repeated violent criminals.

Original Post: http://mootee.typepad.com/innovation_playground/2008/10/whats-transformative-advertising-heres-one-that-shapes-public-behavior.html

Tags:

• campaign
• Idris Mootee
• inovation
• mass advertising
• public awareness
• social responsibility
• transformative advertising