Methodical Madness

Is Twitter biting the hand that feeds it?

 

We’ve been watching and writing about Twitter for over a year now and a recent Mashable article highlights some of the concerns we’ve seen with recent Twitter developments. Earlier this year, Twitter held its first developers conference, Chirp. It was there that the microblogging site announced its first app – an iPhone app called Tweetie. 

 

With this announcement, Twitter said loud and clear that they aren’t just going to sit back and let others dictate how their site is used. Overnight, Twitter killed a whole burgeoning development segment. Third party app developers went on alert and some were sent running scared. Venture capitalist took notice as well and funding for Twitter based apps dropped from $21.6 million between June 2008 and May 2009 to $10.4 million between June 2009 and May of this year. That’s a 50% drop in early-stage investment over the past year.

 

Twitter has seen rampant site growth and third party app development over it’s short life. If it wasn’t for the company allowing anyone and everyone to build on top of their system, they wouldn’t be the powerhouse site they are today. The microblogging site owes its success to the independent developers that created applications to make the user experience more rewarding. 

 

Twitter has added Android and BlackBerry apps to the smartphone mix, effectively cornering the market. Their iPad app has all but killed development in that area and the addition of the Tweet Button ousted Tweet Meme and other sites that do the same. So far, we haven’t seen Twitter purchasing additional apps, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they develop more location based systems a la Facebook and Foursquare, purchase an official url shorting system and photo sharing app, as well as better use of analytics and trending topics. All of these areas seem natural for Twitter expand into. 

 

With less focus from developers on Twitter apps, we could be coming to an end of the golden age of the site. If developers perceive the site as a direct challenger, the site will be left to develop their own apps and this will stagger innovation and creativity that has, to date, been one of the defining characteristics of Twitter. Could this be the beginning of the end of Twitter’s market dominance or is this just a bump in the road we try to figure out Twitter’s next move?

 

Google one step closer to communication dominance

With Google Voice, the web giant crams most of your communication needs into one browser

Given their recent track record with the likes of Google Wave and Google Buzz basically tanking from the word go, it’s difficult not to feel skeptical when Google releases a new “revolutionary” product. But where Buzz and Wave failed, Voice has every chance to succeed. The former services were entirely new communications platforms. Their use wasn’t communicated clearly and as such people didn’t know why they should bother putting the effort into incorporating yet another networking tool into their lives. Voice is back to basics, offering a service everyone understands and needs.

But why should you rethink your calling habits? Web services like Skype and of course mobile phones work pretty well for you already. Well, there are some pretty nifty advantages to making calls from your browser. Advatages like:

• having one universal phone number
• being able to call all of a contact’s phones at once
• listening to voicemail as a caller leaves a message
• transcribed voice messages that appear automatically in your Gmail account
• text messages that go to both phone and email
• send texts for free online via Gmail
• mobile app lets you call and text for free
• low international calling rates.

It’s the coming together of all our major communication needs in one toolbox that makes the launch of Google Voice especially intriguing. If Voice takes off, Google will add calling to the list of successful communication platforms that cover email, video and photo sharing and chat. All of which are browser based, making them easier to access from anywhere than app-based platforms that need to be downloaded and installed. With the advent of HTML5 and the ever increasing array of functionality of web browsers, the future might be a lot less app-centric than we think. 

The major mountain left to climb for the search giant is social networks. Google has tried to break into the space with the aforementioned Wave and Buzz, but have fallen flat on their face so far (GoogleMe may or may not change that). But Voice could at least put them at the top of the heap in non-social network communication.

What do you think: is Google Voice going to change the way you call, or is it another miss from Google’s throw everything against the wall and see what sticks strategy?

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.

 

 

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Top social media stories of the week

A rundown of the hottest articles we found thanks to Twitter

 

 

If there’s one thing we love Twitter for, it’s sharing social media news and ideas. Just in the past week we’ve found a good heap of fascinating and useful stories from websites and blogs which may have slipped under your radar. Here’s a rundown of the top stories that got us talking.

Google Tests Streaming, As-You-Type Search Results
Google is looking to revolutionize the search engine game again. Click the link to see a video of streaming search results in action and decide for yourself if it’s great news, or just a gimmick.

Kit Kat’s Risky Word of Mouth Marketing Campaign
Advertisers usually shy away from the powder keg subject matter that is religion. Kit Kat decided to take the risk and launch a word of mouth campaign based on claiming to have spotted Jesus in a half eaten Kit Kat.

Can Augmented Reality Help Save the Print Publishing Industry?
With doom being proclaimed for the traditional ways of newspaper and magazine publishers, they are starting to explore some exciting new approaches to distributing their media. Not only is augmented reality adding fun, but a new depth to storytelling.

Social Media and Letting Off Steam
We tend to let go when we’re on social media, giving the world the piece of our mind we generally reserve in real world exchanges. But this isn’t always a good thing as the impression we create online can be far different than what we expect, or want. Some fascinating thoughts to ponder as you tweet and update the world about what you're thinking right now.

Kinderkreis: Danse Gooshers!
And finally, your hilarious viral phenomenon of the week comes from Germany in what is either a hoax, or the most unsettling children’s program of all time.

For more of our favorite articles, blog posts and bizarre videos, follow The Duffy Agency on Twitter: @theduffyagency.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.

 

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The Summer of Memes

Internet memes come and go so quickly that sometimes they’re old news just as you’re hearing about them (Sad Keanu Reeves I miss you). At any given moment there are several memes floating around. This summer has seen great blending of brands and quirky fads.

Sweeping college campuses this spring, Bros Icing Bros blends Smirnoff ICE with an impromptu drinking game. The game involves giving someone a hot Smirnoff ICE and upon receiving the bottle, the person must drop to one knee and chug it. Some of the best have included plastic-wrapped inside a toilet and  wrapped around a friends pet. The site is now defunct but that doesn’t mean that the concept is dead. Blending the red hot campaign of the Old Spice ad with Bros Icing Bros comes Bros Spicing Bros. If you’re sick of the Old Spice guy, it's another fun use of the brand and expands its exposure is way up. The brand is seeing a resurgence and sales are way up.

Thanks to I Can Haz Cheeseburger, cats have been internet meme fodder for quite some time. Cats are everywhere these days. The meme tracking site, urlesque.com, created a fight bracket that pits one furry internet meme against another. Around 40,000 people voted and Maru emerged victorious. The feline sensation has over 55 million page views on it’s YouTube channel and over 150 videos. It’s hard to be cuter than that.

 

No summer internet meme list would be complete without the inclusion of the meme of the moment, Antoine Dodson. After stopping a man from attacking his sister, the local North Alabama NBC affiliate interviewed Antoine Dodson. He became an overnight Internet sensation. Antoine is rather colorful in his interview and The Gregory Brothers remixed the interview and created an amazing dance track.

 

It’s so catchy that YouTube commentator, DeStorm TV, decided to do his own version of the song.

 

Facebook works it’s way into the meme world. Not because the mega-site has done anything interesting but because of the movie, The Social Network, about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.  Here is the original trailer.

 

 

And of course, cats come back into play, with a parody of the making of LOLCats.

 

While Internet memes come and go quickly, they can be a brands best friend. In the case of "The Social Network", the more parody videos that are created, the more people will seek out the original trailer, increasing hype and exposure. Antoine has created a cottage industry selling copies of the song on iTunes along with other merchandise, and Old Spice is on a roll that doesn't look to end any time soon. Internet memes and viral campaigns are only going to become more popular. If your brand isn't looking to branching out into online video, now is the time to start.

What are your favorite memes?

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Twitter “Who To Follow”: Great idea or total mistake

If you’re like me, you use Twitter every day but never go actually go to the Twitter site. In the past week, Twitter has upgraded a feature on their site. On the right side bar, Twitter has now added a feature called “Who to Follow.” It works two ways. If you’re very active, it’s able to show more people that share the same interest as you. If you aren’t very active, it shows you the most popular people on Twitter.

Reactions from the web have mixed. Over on Tweetsmarter.com, Aman Sharma voices his dislike, “I loathe the ‘who to follow feature’”, while just below him Tim Baran says, “I’ve been known to criticize Twitter but I like the new feature...I even find it useful.” The cooking blog, Kitchen Mage, posted a step-by-step guide to blocking the feature. It’s proved to be very popular.

While I can understand why people are reticent to use the new feature. Twitter has added a feature that it believes will create a better user experience without seeming to understand what its users want. The site has had this feature for a while. It’s been under the “Find People” tab, where it still resides. Why does bringing this feature front and center on a profile feel so intrusive? We didn’t mind it being there before. It’s like going to a high school dance where the chaperones force everyone to dance wether they want to or not. Now that it’s a constant reminder on our profiles that Twitter is shoving people in our face, it takes away the organic nature of growth that people have grown to love . 

Reaching out to new people and finding new people to connect to is one of the most important things to do on Twitter. Networking is one of the fundamental uses of Twitter. There are scores of websites that help you with finding new people. Individuals have registered with these sites and identified themselves under different categories. The difference between that and Twitter’s suggestion is Twitter doesn’t know me. Most people don’t identify all of their interest in their profile. Twitter is doing a random guess of people to recommend.  It suggests people that they think I would be interested in. 

There are several features people would like to see added to Twitter such as tweet search, editing published tweets, finding your Facebook friends to follow, link shortening and translation of foreign language tweets.  Of course there is every present request for Twitter to be stable enough to handle traffic surges and reliable use of their API. If Twitter would address some of these issues, maybe people would migrate back to the site over third party apps.

Really Twitter, why do you think I would care about Justin Bieber? 

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.

Google Wave may come back with Google Me

It should come as no surprise that Google Wave is being shuttered by the end of the year. It’s another in a long line of failed efforts from the search giant. Sure, Wave was pretty much set up to fail as Google didn’t clearly explain how it should be used and made early adoption difficult as people clamored to get an invite.  Buzz was a victim of Google’s model of throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks. Wave was doomed from the beginning and follows long line of failed projects such as Jaiku, Dodgeball, Google Video and Lively. 

According to Google:“But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users can easily “liberate” their content from Wave.”

From Google’s statements, it appears they never intended to support Wave long term. Instead they wanted to work out the kinks so it can be used in another manner. Wave is revolutionary in that it gives you the ability to share photos, videos and comment on them in real time. Could Wave return as built in feature of the Google OS or their Facebook challenger, Google Me? 

Google’s other big project, the supposed Twitter killer Buzz, launched to great fanfare and criticism earlier this year.  Unlike Wave, where you had to get an invite to use it, by having a Google account, you already had an active account. Most people, including myself, weren’t happy with this new feature openly sharing content without the users permission.  Since it’s launch adoption has been slow and it’s impact isn’t as strong as Twitter, Digg or Reddit. Because Buzz hasn’t seen the hype and promotion that Wave had, it makes you question Google’s commitment to the project and if we’ll the axe fall on it next year.

The question now becomes, what does this mean for Google Me. If they stick true to form, Google Me will launch out of Gmail. This means that everyone that has a Gmail account will see it magically transformed into a Google Me profile. Rumors are flying about what features will be a part of the site. I would expect Wave to be a big part of that along with a retooled version of Dodgeball, Jaiku, and Buzz. 

Whatever comes out, expect it have to full support of Google. They want to cripple Facebook and only a major push can have any hope of putting a dent in Facebook's 500 million users. Working in Google's favor is Facebook fatigue. Users of the world's largest social network are starting to look for new sites to join and Google Me could be in the perfect position to exploit that need. While Google has been tight lipped about the Me project, expect details to start trickling out soon. 

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.

Twitter brings the San Diego Comic Con to the masses

We love Twitter at events. We’ve covered how Twitter was used at SXSW and created a simple guide on how to use Twitter at your next event.  The past weekend saw the Super Bowl of pop culture and entertainment at the San Diego Comic Con. The 4-day event saw over 126,000 people and once again, Twitter was in the forefront leading communications. For those attending and those playing at home, the constant stream of information not only let people know what the latest scoops were but also where to meet your favorite celebrities, where to get the best swag and which parties to attend. 

For those that haven’t attended or seen photos from the San Diego Comic Con, it’s a blend of movie, TV and comic book stars (yes there are comic book stars) converging on one place for four days. It’s not uncommon to see a celebrity stopping to talk to a Klingon or a gaggle of slave girl Princess Leias. Hollywood trots out their big budget films in an effort to gage fan reactions and stoke the fires of Internet hype. Twitter provides instant feed back to the studios and hopefully they are paying attention to what's being said.

Cosplay women and men broke Twitter from time to time when photos of people in their hottest superhero outfits swarmed the site. As news of Green Latern, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers and The Walking Dead leaked out from the event, rumor spread like wild fire across Twitter with fans clamoring to be the first to report the news. And when a reported stabbing occurred, of course it was blown out of proportion in the way that only Twitter knows how to do. (It turned out to be a minor squabble over a seat. Hell hath no furry as a nerd scorned.) 

Check out what you missed this year with tweets from celebrates as well as us common folk.

 @NathanFillion Goodbye Comicon. You are the summer girl I met at the lake. We made out, then I had to go home. I hear Boys of Summer and see a montage.

-Nathan Fillion, Actor ("Serenity," "Firefly")

@BRIANMBENDIS best convention present was from a film projectionist who cut out a piece of film from Ironman 2 that had my credit on it and gave it to me
-Brian Michael Bendis, Writer ("New Avengers," "Ultimate Spider-Man")

@ronmarz No, I don't know anything about the Marvel-CrossGen stuff. It was news to me. But I'm glad to see the material make a comeback.
-Ron Marz, Writer ("Green Lantern," "Witchblade")

@jpalmiotti This San Diego did not feel like a comic book convention...this year more than most. The census of most everyone I spoke to
-Jimmy Palmiotti, Writer ("Jonah Hex," "Painkiller Jane")

@TheRealStanLee Oops! My bad! It seems NEXT week I'm guesting on "Entourage." I just had a 1 1-sec shot in the trailer at the end.tonite\
-Stan Lee, Writer ("The Amazing Spider-Man," "The Fantastic Four")

djlarew Of course there are strollers everywhere at Comic Con! How else would an 8-month-old infant find those rare Dr. Who action figures? #sdcc

facepunchlife I was blinded at ComicCon and all I got was this stupid eyepatch #SDCC #NerdOnNerdCrime

MrDonaldGlover Someone getting stabbed in the eye at SDCC. Not funny. The guy dressed as wolverine screaming like a girl next to him…a little funny.

PipsBadIdeas If the World Cup broke twitter then Comic-Con broke tumblr. Curse you sexy cosplay women, curse you! #sdcc

therealcliffyb Just saw someone run up to a Princess Peach cosplayer saying “OMG Fat Princess is my favorite game!” #facepalm #cosplayfail #sdcc

FaustestSobeck These enormous free bags offer ample room to store self respect and virginity. #sdcchttp://twitpic.com/2802cr

pattonoswalt Having a window seat at a restaurant during #SDCC is like dinner with a puppet show directed by Diane Arbus.

-Patton Oswalt, Actor/comedian ("Weeds," "The King of Queens")

NathanFillion Slave Leia debauchery at G4 party #sdcc http://tweetphoto.com/34327714 /via @cyborgturkey— Geekgasm. Just now.

MichaelAusiello In advance of our chat in AM, SPARTACUS’ Lucy Lawless is texting me pics of herself modeling merkins. This interview could get hairy. #SDCC

gizmogladstone cute trekkie girls talking to gaming nerds? I’m calling it — #SDCC is a dorky Brigadoon.

hawaii United announcer at the airport: “For baggage claim three, note oversized items, surfboards, car seats, lightsabers…” Yep, it’s #SDCC.

wilw OH: “What’s a Cylon?” (someone is in the wrong place) #sdcc

ophanim People dressed like Ghostbusters DO smell like they’ve been hosing down the dead. #sdcc

jesusreyes The problem with all the #SDCC webcams is you can’t experience the Exclusive Comic-con scent of BO and funions.

Justin_Stangel San Diego Comic-Con: How many Stormtroopers helemts do you think are in the lost and found right now? #SDCC

DeathStarPR If you’re attending #SDCC & happen to see @darthvader go up to him and yell “Go, go Gadget legs!” He loves that joke. & force choking nerds.

a1topnotch Hall H #sdcc is like riding coach class for 8 hours but with movie stars and previews..

mattfraction I smell cigarettes and pepper spray… @warrenellis must be here #SDCC

clearasmud Will Ferrell is dressed as Megamind! Lol “I thought we were all going to dress up. I kinda feel like a turd up here.” #sdcc

pattonoswalt Just spotted a Superman who’s not donut-proof. #SDCC

benschubert Okay, #sdcc has been going on for a day now. Where are the hot chicks in cosplay galleries?!? You fail me internets.

Melilli Chef Vader serves up Jar Jar, John the Baptist style: http://twitpic.com/27lxiq #SDCC

augiedb #SDCC is a world of promises and announcements, followed up with a year of bitter disappointments and failures.

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.

Twitter: Your new love potion

Study finds Twitter triggers a chemical response, and it feels a lot like falling in love

If you remain unconvinced that it’s worth your while as a business to connect with people through Twitter and social media, this piece of news should send you hurtling over the edge. One researcher has found that Tweeting and status updating triggers the release of oxytocin (no, not happy pill Oxycontin) – a chemical closely linked to some of our most positive emotions like empathy, trust, love and generosity. Basically, your brain interprets tweeting the same way as talking to people you know and care about face to face.

It may seem like this news is mostly of interest to dating sites, but those feelings are key in all sorts of interactions that depend on trust – including economic ones. So how can making relationships in social media help your business? I can think of a few ways.

More receptive customers
With people feeling trust and connection on a personal level, they are more likely to hear you out and buy into what you’re telling them. This connection is increasingly important, as people want to feel a healthy relationship with brands and not as though they are doling out cash to a cold hearted corporation. But this needs to be built up genuinely – people can sniff out a phony a mile away.

Word of mouth really is that effective
That trust permeating social media circles all the way down to a chemical level means they are likely to take advice and recommendations to heart. So if you can get a positive wave going, those good vibrations will find their way back to you. But beware as this works both ways. If you make a bad impression, people will trust the negative comments coming from their network as though people they know and care about are telling them in person. Not having a presence in social media at all makes the risk of bad mojo getting out of hand all the greater.

Another reason to let employees tweet
Not only can employee tweeting make people feel more connected with and empathetic toward you, it can make the employees themselves more content. The study found that the increase in oxytocin also led to decreased stress. And that means they’ll be happier, healthier and more productive.

The results are preliminary and need further testing, but the insights they’ve uncovered into our biological reaction to social media could explain a lot as to why so many people show such hardcore devotion and trust in e-relations with people they’ve never met. It may well be that, biologically speaking, our brains can’t tell the difference between online and IRL. Either way, it should give you a lot to think about regarding your online interactions. 

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.

Old Spice Man: Epic fail

As reading this blog requires you to be on the internet, it’s a pretty safe bet you’re familiar with the Old Spice campaign that has the entire web talking. And, hard as it is to believe on our jaded internets, the talk is almost universally positive, even the YouTube comments. Now that is an achievement. But while the videos are entertaining and hilarious on a level seldom seen in marketing, they aren’t doing any favors for the Old Spice brand. 

Debuting during the Super Bowl in February to instant acclaim, the campaign features a half naked man who is the symbol of all that is manly. It recently won a Film Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions, the advertising industries highest honor. But the ultimate man’s man didn’t become a bonafide sensation until a few days ago when he started posting video responses to fans’ questions – 180 of them in two days. 

They even directed a video at 4chan without getting burned

It’s a noble effort from Old Spice to reposition its brand. They are trying to make the leap from the cologne your grandfather used to wear to a young, hip brand that can compete with the likes of Axe. But there’s one big problem: it’s the same product. It’s scent is associated with a time gone by and that won’t be broken by an ad campaign. So while the audience is entertained, their minds aren’t being radically changed about Old Spice – sales have actually dropped 7%. 
 

Showing some heart by sending a message to his daughter

But those numbers were tallied before this recent flurry of interest stirred up the personalized videos. Will this new viral surge send Old Spice sales rocketing upwards? Probably not, as all the same problems remain with the disconnect between the message and the product. If they had launched a whole new product line (New Spice?) in conjunction with the campaign that was tailored to what today’s young people want to smell like, then the campaign would have had a much higher chance of converting views into sales. Or even if the campaign had played off the nostalgia for the good old days somehow, like having a Sinatra-esque character talking into the camera. But what we’ve got is youth oriented messaging on top of a product it isn’t suited for. 

It’s still a great example of a viral campaign done right. It’s impossible to say what content will go viral, but Old Spice did as much as you can to deliberately make it happen. They had funny content that people can universally relate to, they spread it through multiple channels, they got fans intimately involved and even exploited new online promotional channels like Promoted Tweets. You can learn about how they made the videos on Read Write Web. 
 

The last in the series. Silver fish hand catch!

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this is the beginning a new era for Old Spice that will only become clear in the long term. But I doubt it, they certainly haven’t made a dent in my feelings about dabbing myself with their distinct scent. Has the campaign done anything to change how you feel?

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.

And the winner is…

The American Days Photo Contest has found its champion

The polls have now closed on our first American Days Photo Contest and all the votes have been tallied. We asked you to send us your best photos that captured the American spirit and got some fantastic submissions in return. A huge thank you to everyone who participated, whether it was by sending in a photo or taking the time to vote for a winner. 

It was hotly contested for a while, but one entry charged ahead of the pack to win by more than a few lengths. Chalking up an impressive 184 votes, the winner of The American Days Photo Contest is…

Fedja Jakupovic

Congratulations, your photo of a gravity defying break dancer has won you an iPad from The Duffy Agency! 

Fedja is a project leader for a great local organization called Hela Malmö, which works to get children more involved in sports and other activities. Fedja’s winning photo is below, along with some other exceptional photos from the contest. Again, we’d like to give a great big thanks to all those who got involved. 

Photo by Fedja Jakupovic

Photo by Maisa Dabus

 Photo by Nicci Clayton 

Photo by Johan Jox Carlsson

Photo by Sarah Nilsson

Photo by Mats Tomas Söderberg