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Common Thread in Social Media for Business: Hiring

posted on November 23, 2010

On some level, most larger businesses are engaged in social media. I say larger only because we have discussed the plight of the SMB in this space before and it is not safe to assume they are doing anything at all with social media.

To what degree and with what level of success these businesses use social media varies across the entire spectrum of runaway success to abject failure. This is not unusual because that’s how things work with everything in life, not just social media.

A recent study by Ketchum and FedEx tries to capture just how or to what degree most businesses are jumping in the social media waters. eMarketer shared part of their study with this chart.

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Should You Be Archiving Your Social Media Data?

posted on November 22, 2010

Imagine throwing all of your company’s hard copy files off the roof of twenty-story building in Manhattan. Tax returns, meeting notes, personnel files, all of it, gone with the wind.

That’s the brick and mortar version of the business data that’s currently speeding along the social media super highway. From public Twitter Tweets to private Facebook messages more and more of our daily exchanges are happening over the Internet and it means we’re losing track.

Sure, you probably don’t set out to send formal communications through Facebook but you’re on the site and Susan’s on the site, so why not just ping her chat box and let her know that deadline was moved up to Tuesday? And remember that customer complaint on Twitter? The one where you promised the guy a replacement part overnight? Forgot about him, didn’t you?

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Home Depot Personalizes Gift Cards with Video

posted on November 22, 2010

A gift card may seem like the last act of a desperate gift giver, but Home Depot is determined to change that feeling by adding video to their cards.

When sending a Home Depot e-card, you can now upload a video up to 3 minutes long, or, you can use a webcam to record a message. Then, the recipient uses the code they receive in their email to access the video and voila, it’s now more than just virtual money!

Want to spread the love? With one click, you can send e-gift cards to your friends on Facebook, even if you don’t know their email address.

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Google TV Dead on Arrival as Viacom Blocks Access Too

posted on November 22, 2010

If you recently bought a Google TV device, I hope you kept the receipt!

If you’re on the fence, then this might convince you that Google’s foray into set-top boxes is dead on arrival: Viacom just yanked access to its content.

Viacom has joined the ranks of NBC, ABC, Fox, and CBS–all of which have blocked Google TV in some form or another.

Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon are just a few of the Viacom owned networks that bring up the dreaded “sorry, this content is unavailable for your device” when attempting to stream a full episode from their websites.

Try to access their full episodes and you’ll be greeted with this less than friendly message:

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Murdoch’s Own Version of “The Daily” Show

posted on November 22, 2010

Rupert Murdoch is determined to take the free out of Internet publishing if it’s the last thing he does on this earth. In his latest effort to do so he is even in cahoots with someone that seems a bit surprising, Steve Jobs.

Murdoch’s News Corp has apparently sunk $30 million into hiring 100 people to produce an iPad only paper in the very near future called “The Daily”.

The ‘paper’ is expected to cost 99 cents per week and provide readers with another outlet for news. To what degree there will be original news and a mashup of other News Corp. properties remains to be seen but the staff reports of only 100 is pretty small for a full-blown news organization. Whatever the look, it is likely to be announced this month with a launch set for the start of next year.

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Don’t Do A Half-Apped Job on Mobile

posted on November 22, 2010

The Age of the App is truly upon us. Not shocking or daring at all to announce it but this industry has come to life in a very short period of time and it is starting to settle in a bit. How do we know this? It’s when app users en masse are no longer willing to accept just anything that is called an app. Once the new industry smell is gone, app users get just like everyone else: demanding.

eMarketer reports on some research from Effective UI and Harris Interactive that tells the story, to some degree, of just what the app user crowd is expecting. And it’s a lot.

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YouTube Prepares to Offer Skippable Ads

posted on November 22, 2010

MY DVR is precious to me for many reasons but one is the ability to skip over the commercials while watching my favorite shows. Now, YouTube is going to give their viewers the same choice and it raises some interesting questions.  They call it TrueView, and according to AdAge, it’s going to launch very soon.

TrueView has a number of options connected with it that change depending on whether you’re watching short-form or longer-form videos on YouTube. At the lowest level, viewers will be allowed to skip an ad. For longer material, YouTube is working with the concept of allowing the viewer to choose all ads up front or scattered throughout the program TV style. There’s also talk of offering the viewer a choice of ads which is something Hulu tried a few years ago.