I’m still figuring out whether there is any point to Twitter…
I love the fact that it can be integrated into webpages; there are sleek plugins available; we used some for a pilot project on the PushOn Online Marketing Blog in combination with a mobile phone application Shozu which published images straight to our Flickr account. The images can also be automatically re-published to the PushOn blog, or PushOn MySpace page.
The freedom of instant one click publishing via mobile makes it great for commentary on events, however the fact that it’s so easy to do, means that it’s very quick and easy to publish crap. Big Brother have a Twitter feed, and there have been notable instances where people have said something silly and ended up in a lot of trouble.
Jaiku is a similar application to Twitter, and has had good feedback.
I think I like this ‘micro blogging’ malarkey, it’s good for sending a small amount of information quickly to multiple people with similar interest.
Jack Lail thinks it’s a bad, bad thing, but he likes it, he’s written an interesting post on the subject of Twitter.
Incidentally, I’m trying out a tool which publishes a note on your Twitter account when you post a blog entry… I’ll let you know if it works!
Another fake viral email offer has spread with impressive speed;
The viral email offers users £100, or £200 in Marks and Spencer vouchers, and claims to be a joint campaign with Persimmon Homes.
Most web savvy Internet users will be wise to the ‘Microsoft will give you £XXXX if you forward this email to all your friends‘, and ‘My rich relative has died and I need someone to transfer the inheritance funds to‘; but many companies are legitimately offering discounts, vouchers and exclusive deals via viral email marketing.
HMV, Threshers, and LastMinute.com are companies that have successfully used this viral voucher strategy in the past, so it’s easy to see how people have been fooled by this latest hoax.
Universal Studios are launching the horror film Dead Silence shortly; and I’ve been impressed with the Online Marketing Campaign so far.
The have a well designed Micro Site with the movie trailer, mobile cinema listings download and bonus footage from the film.
They also have a well executed MySpace page. MySpace allows for easy segmentation of audiences, as users are encouraged to categorise and describe themselves.
Universal Studios seem to have targeted horror enthusiasts as friends, and they have included games and widgets that can be used by other MySpace users on their profiles - thus further spreading the reach of the campaign.
Viacom Media, the massive entertainment company that owns MTV and Nickelodeon are suing YouTube for showing content from MTV uploaded by viewers.
This could change things in the online community considerably; copywrite is a major consideration for organisations maintaining websites but the general public are more likely to copy, share and upload without thinking of consequences.
I would imagine that YouTube, along with the other content sharing community sites, will have to enforce tighter controls on content that users provide. This is bad news for the user, and for artists/directors who benefit from having clips of their work distributed.
The BBC are approaching their relationship differently, by allowing content in a more controlled way, they are agreeing that YouTube can show approved clips. Find further information on the BBC website.
The PushON video has gone live, and it’s pretty funny if you’re into Online Marketing.
Actually I think the funniest thing was seeing it up on YouTube next to a real life Marketing Bull S*** video promising to get you to the top of Google in 24hrs.
I’m still figuring out whether there is any point to Twitter…
Another fake viral email offer has spread with impressive speed;
