Category Archives: Trends

Sharing Everything Isn’t Necessarily A Good Thing

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Remember when mom taught you to share with others. Well, Verizon Wireless is veiling their new plan in the connotation that sharing is in the spirit of kindness.

Verizon Wireless’ new ‘Share Everything’ plans were just announced today. They are disguised in this news release from Verizon to be a good thing for the customer. However, they are not. That is unless you still use your phone for simply talk and text.

In this day and age it seems to be all about smartphones. In the last year they have taken over the majority of the handset market here in America. This means data usage is becoming more and more common for mobile phone users. The new pricing plan of Verizon’s eliminates choices for talk minutes or number of texts, they are now all unlimited. But Verizon also eliminated unlimited data usage, now you must choose between $50/month for 1 GB all the way up to $100/month for 10 GB.

So, the good thing about this new Share Everything Plan is that you can go back to your olden ways and simply call or text to communicate. If you don’t have the money, you’ll be forced to sparingly use the internet on your mobile device. Thanks a lot Verizon, let’s not move forward with communication technology for everyone, let’s make the middle class go back to the mid 2000′s when everything was talk and text.

I know many people that are hooked on this new trend of surfing the internet and using apps on smartphones. Now the big corporations are forcing us to pony up. Reminiscent of a tobacco industry that came alive in the early 20th century. Not to say using smartphones is an unhealthy habit as cigarettes are, but it can be addicting, and manipulated by the big corporations in how much you pay for it.

So while Verizon gouges their customers because the customer has no other clear cut choice, I think we should look to the government for some help, maybe the Justice Department can do something about what looks like collusion in the mobile phone service industry. Verizon has been on the hot seat with a Wisconsin senator warning of collusion.

I learned of this increase in prices from a website I like to occasionally wander around on called publicknowledge.org where I found this article about Verizon’s new plan. Here is a look at an infographic on the history of the telecom industry to today, well actually it is circa 2011 – Wall Street Journal:

'Ma Bell' is just fine

There is an overly exaggerated theory called ‘spectrum crunch’ that states the wireless waves are full and therefore the telecom industry can raise wireless data prices. It is a valid explanation but through the use of technology there are ways around the spectrum crunch. Some thought of by Martin Cooper.

Random thought of the day:

I’m going to invent an off switch for smoke alarms. Sorry everyone, I was just attempting to cook.

Graduation & Facebook Advertising

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I actually did it. I graduated from college after four years! I am so happy I decided to take a week vacation from my blog. Now I’m back and busy on the prowl for jobs… I heard Sundog was opening up new offices in Denver, that sounds nice.

NDSU Spring 2012 Commencement

So here I go again with the short and sweet bullet list to get you up to date in the world of social media and marketing.

  • Some good-times music I’ve been listening to the past week by Alex Clare. Have a listen to his ‘Lateness of the Hour’ because it is awesome. I especially like the song ‘Hands are Clever’.
  • Facebook is still having trouble figuring out how to effectively use advertising on its site. The privacy head at Facebook suggests that in the future they could be giving away information about what you like to third parties. Privacy issues are bound to pop up because it seems nobody is a fan of giving your Facebook information to advertising agencies.
  • Proof that Facebook is still struggling to market effectively to consumers, General Motors has pulled all of their ads from Facebook. Bad timing for Facebook because as I mentioned in my last post, they are getting ready for their Initial Public Offering (IPO). Investors need to ask themselves if Facebook is a long-term buy or is it just a trend that has hit its peak.
  • In an effort to stay on top of mobile social media, Facebook bought Android photo application Lightbox today. They recently purchased Instagram, another photo application that was based for iPhones. Hopefully this means that Facebook’s mobile app for Android will improve in how it views photos and newsfeeds because right now, it’s terrible. Speaking from my own experience, Facebook mobile slowed down my phone so badly I uninstalled the app and now just use the browser to view Facebook.

Tweet of the day:

The Funny Truth ‏ @funnyortruth

10 Facebook Tip: #2 Don’t use hashtag on Facebook. You look stupid.

Dead Week

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As the title implies, I have been ‘dead’ all week. Dead to the outside world. I’ve been stuck at my desk, in the library, and in class writing papers and finishing projects. Next week will be no better seeing as it will be finals week here at NDSU.

This is why I am going to try and just give you a bullet list as I get a chance to breathe and read about the latest trends in technology and social media.

  • First off, Jack White’s first solo album ‘Blunderbuss’ came out this week and debuted at no. 1 on the charts. It’s gotten me through the week so far. Take a listen if you get a chance.
  • Samsung revealed today their newest smartphone; The Galaxy S III was rumored to come out and rival the iPhone. Most preliminary reviews I have seen are in disfavor of the new design of the phone.
  • The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook is setting their initial public offering (IPO) in the $28-$35 range. This brings the value of Facebook somewhere around $85 billion; making it the most valuable U.S. web company at time of IPO.
  • LinkedIn users just got a little more excited to use the service for professional work. LinkedIn just acquired SlideShare, the Youtube of slideshows, for $119 million. Now seems to be a good time to sell if you are in the Web 2.0 market.

That’s all I have for you today, back to writing papers, finishing projects, and studying for finals. Maybe I’ll get out of the library by this weekend.

Random thought of the day:

Give a short visual IQ test to all the customers and cashiers in a store before picking a checkout line. Sometimes the longest line is the shortest line.

The Pitch

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From the channel that brings you ‘Mad Men’, AMC is promoting a series premiere of new advertising reality show ‘The Pitch’ in a few interesting ways. The show premieres Monday at 8 Central on the cable channel AMC. I’m graduating in a couple weeks from North Dakota State University with a double major in Journalism as well as Public Relations and Advertising. So with having a background in both television broadcasting and advertising, I think this show is going to be really fun to watch and interesting to see two ad agencies compete for a campaign.

I’d like to take a look at how AMC has promoted the show. One medium of advertising that has become quite popular is using Google Ads such as this one:

'The Pitch' Google Advertisement

Another form of their social media ad campaign is their Facebook page, along with a Twitter handle @ThePitch_AMC, and a blog that updates fans on events leading up to the premiere. They have also used more traditional forms of advertising with the following commercial being aired on cable channels across the U.S.:

They also have used Netflix to promote the show by allowing the pilot episode to be seen on demand (Watch Instantly). I think that it would have been very interesting if AMC reached an agreement with Netflix to post a new episode on Watch Instantly a week after it had aired on AMC – sort of Hulu-esque.

I came across an article written by Christina Warren at Mashable about how AMC had a unique problem of developing an ad campaign for a TV show about ad campaigns. The artwork that was ultimately chosen for the campaign and some other artwork that was pitched can be seen in her article.

Tweet of the day:

Eloqua ‏ @Eloqua

Looking to rule #B2B social media marketing? This free Aberdeen report shows you how. http://ow.ly/azfQY

The Tupac ‘Resurrection’

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Legend Hip-Hop artist Tupac Shakur made an appearance at the annual Coachella music festival last Sunday night. Well, actually it was a hologram of his that performed at Coachella. In case you haven’t seen the video that has now gone viral – it has over 2.5 million views in just a few days -  I have posted it here (**edit** I have opted to take this down as it is NSFW and contained too much profanity, instead here is a picture of Snoop Dogg standing alongside the hologram of Tupac at Coachella courtesy of nydailynews.com**):

Look’s real doesn’t it?! I was one of the many that was amazed by the quality of the hologram. A company named AV Concepts put together a performance based off of old footage from Tupac’s performances and synched it with his songs. They then took this animated video and projected it onto a mirror that showed up on a transparent foil that the audience wasn’t able to see. The only thing we see in the video is Snoop Dogg and what looks to be Tupac.

International Business Times

The success of this hologram has sparked conversation online that Tupac could go on tour with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. The Wall Street Journal wrote:

“Sources in the Journal article said that Dr. Dre had a “massive vision” for Pac’s projection. Both an arena tour and a more intimate, club tour were being considered at the time of this writing.”

I think that most people probably wouldn’t pay top dollar to see a hologram perform rather than a live person. But it is a way for past performances to be relived more realistically than watching, say, an old Michael Jackson video. Speaking of MJ, E! Online has reported that the Jackson brothers have plans for an upcoming tour, and Jackie Jackson says that a Michael Jackson holographic performance could “absolutely” go on tour with them. A holographic moon dance?! A performance Princess Leia’s hologram would be proud of. Need more proof that holograms have gone viral? Kanye West owns the top tweet on holograms saying, “Yo Hologram Tupac, I’m real happy for you and I’ma let you finish but Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of the best holograms of all time!!!!!!!”

So are holographic performances the future of concert events? I doubt it, but they could see more use at concerts by bringing ‘dead rock stars’ to life. What do you think?

Random thought of the day:

I have the answers to the ethics test if anyone needs them.

Look What I’ve ‘StumbledUpon’

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Everyday when you go online, you find something new. So much new information is posted online each day, it’s hard to grasp how much. 340 million tweets are sent every day according to Twitter’s blog. Youtube has 60 hours of video uploaded every minute. And if you are on Facebook, I shouldn’t even have to mention how many posts are made; just take a look at your news feed or ticker.

What if we had an easier way to find things we wanted to see/read/learn – things you wanted to discover? I introduce to you, the web discovery engine. This relatively new term is a service that takes your interests and things you already like and can recommend similar content for you to discover.


One such site is StumbleUpon. I like this site because it livens the internet up whenever I feel like all there is on the internet is Facebook, Twitter, news websites, and The Chive (something I will explain in my next post). By logging into StumbleUpon and clicking the ‘Stumble’ button, you get a new website that you most likely would have never found. Sometimes you’ll find an amazing website that you come back to routinely. I just logged in and the first thing I stumbled upon: How to Open a Beer Bottle With a Dollar Bill. I should also mention that it takes your friends interests into account because I don’t know how it got that site from my interests…

The big difference between StumbleUpon and Google is that you need not search for really interesting information. With Google, you need to know what your looking for in order to find it. Of course Google has taken this into account and now when you log in to Google, it can track what you usually search for and compile that information to figure your interests out. Although they have caught some flack with privacy issues when selling users personal information and interests to marketing research agencies.

Another site that is sort of like StumbleUpon is Pinterest. Pinterest is yet another social networking site that allows users to pin their interests (ha) to a virtual pinboard. Sites like these are seeing growth and they are pushing users to smaller, less-known websites. Mashable found that SU is driving more people to sites than Facebook. Another surprising fact is that Pinterest drives more traffic than Google+, Youtube, and Linkedin combined. There is definitely a future for web discovery engines.

Tweet of the day:

Natalie Gilles ‏ @NatalieGilles

Staying late at work on a Friday…ah the joys of adulthood. #imouttahere #tgif

Facebook Purchases Instagram

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Tech hipster’s everywhere let out a groan of despair earlier today as Facebook bought photo sharing service Instagram for $1 billion. Instagram came into existence two years ago with the company’s description of itself as “a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends through a series of photos.”

Facebook has had noted problems with their own photo service and the amount of ads they push on their users. Their mobile app has received heavy criticism because of multiple bugs and poor design and layout.

People that used Instagram before are worried that this purchase will ruin the app and post Instagram photos to Facebook. This is why Facebook and Instagram have announced that Instagram will continue to be independent from Facebook. But this is highly unlikely to continue for very long in my opinion. Facebook, like any other corporation has promised not to swallow the app but to only use Instagram’s features on Facebook’s own products. The following video explains some of the more corporate reasons and predictions on why Facebook bought Instagram.

It’s amazing to me that such an ‘upstart’ of a company can be sold for a billion dollars. Instagram was just 551 days old and already had a following of 30 million users. This is  by far the largest buyout of a mobile app, dwarfing the $200 million acquisition of OMGpop by Zynga a few weeks ago.

In the end, I can only hope that Facebook uses their own engineering capabilities and funding to install Instagram’s features and layout to Facebook Mobile and its own photos application.

Tweet of the day:
Pete Cashmore ‏ @mashable Many Instagram Users Already Heading for the Exits – http://on.mash.to/Huco5p

The Music Socializers

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Music is an art form. It’s something every culture throughout history has enjoyed. And our generation is taking it to the next level.

With advances in technology we are able to store, play, and share digital music in ways never seen before. On the frontier of the online music world are streaming music platforms Pandora and Spotify. These organizations allow for people to listen to a variety of music not only on their computers but also on mobile phone applications.

I found a good article on the battle between the two on Mashable. I think the author, Matthew Beck, does a good job of illustrating the similarities and differences of Pandora and Spotify. I would add that the two are different in the fact that Pandora is more for users that like a genre of music and don’t mind waiting and ‘digging’ for a great song. I’ve also found that Pandora plays less current chart-topping songs. Spotify on the other hand has a lackluster Android mobile app. It also has a partnership with Facebook, which gives it a huge advantage.

People are now beginning to use Facebook to share songs on Spotify with their friends. Here is an example of how easy it is to share with friends, I dragged my ‘ladeedah’ playlist onto my blog and it automatically created a link to it. Spotify found a good use for Facebook’s new Timeline page by sharing the history of music. It’s pretty neat and you can check it out here.

As a result of the digitization and social sharing of music, marketers are finding this new medium (digital music platforms) to be profitable after a majority of years advertising on the (old-fashioned, if you will) radio. Today is the second day of an event called ad:tech in San Francisco and Pandora and Spotify will be there to speak on the future of brand marketing. It should be interesting to read what they had to say tomorrow.

Now that we have the technology to listen to music with such ease, I feel that distributing good music that may not have made it to the top of the charts will also become easier. That’s good news for little known bands. Get out there and start enjoying music, new and old, anytime and anywhere. But if you work for Proctor and Gamble, you’ll have to wait until you get off work.

Random thought of the day:

I wish the dollar store would sell gas.

Streaming Video Is Now King

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In my last post I sort of touched on the popularity of streaming video. It is increasing to the point where many researchers, such as IHS Screen Digest, are saying it will surpass DVD and Blu-ray use within the year.

One reason for this new trend is because streaming movies online on services like Netflix or Hulu is easier for most people, rather than using the physical media of a DVD. Another huge reason is because streaming online is cheaper than buying or renting the physical copies. According to IHS’s research, you pay $0.51 per movie while streaming and $4.72 when you physically purchase a video. This can only help Netflix gain more movie licenses to show on its streaming services.

You may have noticed that Netflix streaming is very limited when it comes to newer, bigger budgeted films. But with the majority of viewing being done on Netflix’s Watch Instantly service, they stand to gain more in negotiating licenses with movie and television studios. For the studios, this is not a good thing, because they will be losing more and more profit to Netflix while physical copy sales decrease. The studios will probably add incentives to buying Blu-ray discs, maybe with added features.

Another thing studios have done is created a cloud streaming service called UltraViolet. When a consumer purchases a Blu-ray disc they get a code that allows them to add that movie to their digital library, viewable (streaming from the cloud) on multiple devices as long as they have a UV account.

DVD and Blu-ray sales will most likely continue to see big profits for the foreseeable future. Netflix instant streaming capabilities and ‘the cloud’ are still unknown to a portion of consumers. A way for Netflix to get the word out would be to have a Facebook app that shares what you and your friends are viewing. But this isn’t available in the U.S. currently because of an old video privacy law.

Another tell-tale sign for streaming video’s rise is that Netflix is funding a new season and movie for the previously cancelled cult hit “Arrested Development”. Up until recently there were talks that Netflix would also revive Fox’s drama “Terra Nova”. Those hopes are now dashed as The Hollywood Reporter and other sources have denied these claims.

While I believe streaming video to be the future, physical copies will never die out completely. It’s not only video that is being streamed; music and even video games have begun being streamed online.

Tweet of the day:

Pete Cashmore ‏ @mashable

Bacon-scented cat litter? That’s gotta be an #AprilFools joke, right – http://on.mash.to/H3WUh2

Social Gaming Boom

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From the olden days of dice and playing cards to the golden days of Super Nintendo and arcades, all the way up to the current consoles and social networking games, gaming has evolved in a very social way.

It seems like we all feel the need to compete, whether it be for survival or for fun. And we have competed against each other in a friendly manner (no cheating!) throughout history by playing games. So as technology has evolved, so has gaming.

To get to the point, I wanted to point out the current trends the gaming industry is seeing. We all know about video game consoles like the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. But did you know that Playstation Network has 90 million registered online accounts? This fact backs up the idea that a majority of gamers are going online to play with friends and other users on games like Call Of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo.

Now that’s what I call teamwork (Call of Duty style) I apologize for the annoying announcer:

Video game consoles have been specializing on realistic graphics for multiplayer online games, up and coming streaming video, and being capable of playing Blu-rays. Meanwhile, social networking sites and mobile devices have taken a different approach to the gamer in all of us.

Simple games that go viral on social networks like Facebook is the basis behind these mobile social games. There are hundreds of millions of people that play games on a social network and a lot of them download the application for the game on their mobile device in order to play wherever and whenever they want to. These games are beginning to see big profits as well. To reinforce my last post on infographics, here is one from Mashable.com on the social gaming pioneer Zynga’s earnings.

I believe we have seen the rise of mobile social games just over the beginning months of 2012. It started with games like Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook seen as profitable virtual products. Game developers such as Rovio then ventured into mobile based applications with Angry Birds and that sparked many more popular games. Another big game Words With Friends has recently been the top application downloaded. But a ‘Pictionary-like’ game called Draw Something is my pick to be the next trendy social game. This game is different from the others because it asks gamers to cooperate rather than compete against each other.

In concluding this topic (because I HAVE to go play Call Of Duty with my roommates!), the future of social gaming is very unclear. But I do see mobile social games stepping up to the plate this year and being seen as a very viable option for game developers and advertisers alike. The market is open for new, innovative companies to change the way we play.

Random thought of the day:

The 20 minutes of belting out old tunes, acting out movie scenes, and daydreaming in my shower is as necessary as the 5 minutes it takes to wash up.