Thank You in 140 Characters

Now that we are officially deep into Award Season, I’ve spent a good amount of time watching and reading up on these shows from the red carpet interviews to the after party gossip blogs. While I, of course, love checking out the hairstyles, jewelry and gowns, I’ve begun to grow tired of the long-winded acceptance speeches that have caused these pop culture pageants to take up 5+ hours of prime time television.

It is for this reason that I’m a fan of the growing trend celebs like Lady GaGa, Pink and Taylor Swift have trail blazed: acceptance speeches via Twitter.

After last night’s Grammy Awards it’s become clear that many of the nominees are going beyond the microphone to share their gratitude. The best part is, these speeches are only 140 characters!

I can think of a handful of really good acceptance speeches:

And I can certainly think of many truly terrible ones:

While I recognize that these are very special and important moments for these actors and musicians, it is virtually impossible that they can thank everyone in the allotted time and many tend to ramble on and on and on and on. . . Unfortunately, any genuine, poignant commentary in these speeches (which Merryl Streep so delicately exhibited at this year’s Golden Globes) is few and far between.

So in the spirit of the Digital Age, let’s enforce a new code when it comes to acceptance speeches: Please, keep it to 140 characters.

This Is Our Moment

The election of Barack Obama showed us all that it is possibly to rally a younger politically-interested crowd. All you have to do is show that you can create a substantial social media presence and tack on a few celebrity endorsements.

Recently, the NRDC took the same formula and created the “This Is Our Moment” campaign. The program took the best tactics used by the Obama campaign and has successfully driven a strong following through grassroots mobilization to help encourage senators to pass the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act.

With the help of everyone’s favorite earth-friendly celebrity, Leonardo DiCaprio, and other well-known actors like Jason Long (the Mac), Jason Bateman (I miss Arrested Development), Emmy Rossum (the Phantom’s love interest), the NRDC rolled out an information-packed microsite, a series of web videos and an interactive blog. The site even has a customizable form letter that anyone can send to their senator, encouraging them to pass this bill.

To support these core platforms, the campaign has maintained a Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube channel and Flickr page, among others, to ensure news, information and its call to action was easily accessible. As for any grassroots campaign, an must-have function is the “SHARE” option. Through virtually any social media platform, users can pass along the information to their network with the click of a button.

While may other politically-driven campaigns appear to be very one-sided and authoritative, this campaign boasts a communal database of user-generated content. Viewers can upload videos expressing their thoughts on the bill and relevant environmental issues. All of this content is then aggregated and shared on the homepage.

Whether or not you support the cause (but come on, love mother earth!), this campaign is a great case study for grassroots social media that has resonated with the (seemingly) politically apathetic youth.

Bark, bark. Tweet, tweet.

Mattel

“Now even your Chihuahua can tweet.”

I kid you not, this is a headline currently found on CNN’s website.

Toy giant Mattel is launching a new product called “Puppy Tweets,” a device dog owners can fasten to their furry friends that will automatically update a Twitter account based on the dog’s activity. Possible tweets include, “I finally caught that tail I’ve been chasing and…OOUUUCHH!” and “Somedays you just gotta get your bark on.”

No, I’m not kidding.

As a person who offers strategic council to clients about social media for a living, I find something fundamentally wrong with a new canine-friendly product. To become an authority on Twitter, one must share information that is at least one of the following: 1) Useful (i.e. “ilili is a great choice for NYC Restaurant Week. You get HUGE portions!” or “Pinkberry is having a 2 for 1 deal today”) 2) Relevant (i.e. “Check out the top 10 YouTube videos from 2009 here: LINK”) 3) Unique (i.e. Check out my latest blog entry on this ridiculous pet product”).

It’s much easier to fall beneath the radar on Twitter if one only shares information that is mundane, irrelevant and/or unoriginal. I see the “Puppy Tweets” product doing just that.

Think about this concept of automatically generated tweets sent by your dog. First of all, the content is finite, as the folks over at Mattel have written the stock repository of potential tweets. The content has no potential to be useful, relevant or unique.

Second of all, the content is coming from a dog. Sure it might be funny the first time to see tweets from the perspective of a German Sheppard or Golden Retriever, but if this thing is going to shoot off updates every time the pooch drinks from his water bowl or chases after a squirrel I see the overkill kicking in sooner than later.

Lastly, I’d image the type of dog owner that would set up with Twitter account for their pet would be one of those people who walks their dog around Manhattan in a stroller and/or brings pictures of their puppy to dinner parties and talk about them like they are children.

Don’t get me wrong – I love dogs. But I do not need real-time updates from Fido included in my Twitter feed.

What does your email address say about you?

After a healthy debate with a colleague over which email service provider was the dorkiest, I decided to take a deeper look into the psyche of email addresses and their owners. Please take a look, let me know what you think and share any additions.

What’s in a name?

SpiceGirl08 or YankeesRule86: If this is your email address, then you created it when you were in the sixth grade and are too lazy to upgrade.

SexyMama23 or LadiesMan45: If this is your email address, then clearly you are not.

FirstNameLastName: If this is your email address, then you are either a) a 40-something who just set up your first email account, or b) a 20-something making the first jump into a professional career and/or looking for a job.

The email cliques: High School all over again

Gmail (Google Mail): Class Superlative – Most likely to Gchat at work

Hotmail: Class Superlative – Most likely to wear a pocket protector

Ymail (Yahoo! Mail): Class Superlative – Most likely to become a Yuppie

AOL: Class Superlative – Most likely to have the same email address you created in the sixth grade

And last, but not least. . .

.com: I’m using a free email service provider.

.mac: I’m a hipster.

.org: I’m supporting public interest.

.net: I’m still using dial-up.

.edu: I’m hanging on to my college email so I can still get cheap flights on StudentUniverse.com

Top Takeaways from Social Integration: Harmonizing Social Channels into the Marketing, Communications & Service Platform

This morning I had the pleasure of attending the Business Development Institute’s social media seminar on social integration in New York City. I had the chance to meet many interesting and intelligent PR/marketing practitioners and listen to several top-notch speakers. I left with a wealth of knowledge and I’d like to share with you a few of the top takeaways that were discussed.

• Digital Content doubles every 18 months. The amount of data available online in constantly swelling and it is up to marketers to 1) cut through the clutter and determine the areas where their clients already have a voice; 2) identify the white space their clients can “own”; 3) execute innovative social media campaigns that maximize opportunity and reach targeted audiences.

• There is a paradigm shift already taking place within integrated communications; we need to focus on facilitating meaning Engagement online, rather than garnering the highest number of impressions possible.

• The Digital Newsroom is no longer just for media. To appease a broader audience, we need to aggregate company and industry news (not just press releases), incorporate multimedia features (podcasts, video, etc.), and repurpose existing content (white pages, bylined articles, etc.) to tell the story that we want to be told.

• You can’t ignore Negative Commentary online. Consider this: If a consumer walked into a retail store with a complaint, would the customer service representative send them to the back of the line?

• Social media is much like the lesson we teach children about crossing the street: Stop, Look and Listen before you make a move.

• Social media tools have enabled a constant Mobility which means that we must be “on call” 24/7. Consumers are constantly looking for more information, more connectivity and more usable content. Before you engage, be sure you are prepared to nurture and maintain the process.

You can check out the event’s hashtag on Twitter for additional insights and takeaways from today’s attendees by searching #BDI.

Do you have any other tips or best practices you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you.

Chasing Red Balloons

The other night, I saw an interview with Dr. Riley Crane, the recent winner of the DARPA Challenge. The whole concept was so interesting, that I did some research and wanted to share with the team.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) marked the 40th anniversary of the Internet with the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition that explored the roles the Internet and social networking and how they play in the timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization required to solve broad-scope, time-critical problems. The challenge was to be the first to submit the locations of 10 moored, 8-foot, red, weather balloons at 10 fixed locations in the continental United States. The balloons were located in readily accessible locations and visible from nearby roads. The catch: teams had to use the Internet to track down the locations.

The winning team comprised of MIT researchers created what they call a “viral collaborative incentive program.” By using social networks like Twitter and Facebook, the team spread the word about the challenge and promised to give a cut of the winnings to anyone who sought out and retrieved useful information that would ultimately lead to the balloon locations. This encourages others to share the information with their networks, gather necessary information and send it back to the team. Amazingly, the group received instant interest from people all over the world and managed to track down all 10 balloons in just eight hours and 52 minutes. The success of this platform seems to be in the formula: one finite end goal and relatively no cost to participants.

What I find so interesting about this program is not only the creative use of social networking to rally participants all over the world, but the fact that this program demonstrates how social networking can encourage collaboration to solve real social problems. While finding red balloons may not be a true “real world” problem, it does show the potential for using social networking to find missing persons, catch criminals or track census data—far more important than just updating your status to tell everyone that your flight is delayed.

Surfing the 3-D Channels

Companies like Comcast, Samsung and Vizio have hyped the coming of 3-D television for the past few years, though it looks like this Jetsons-esque notion may become a reality sooner than later.

As much as I enjoyed watching Avatar with silly 3-D glasses on, I’m not so sure this form of media will serve all programming as well. I’m all for technological progress, but here’s a list of shows I certainly don’t want jumping out of the screen:

• NFL injury play backs – These shots give me the willies already. I’d hate to see a compound fracture coming at me.
• Dirty Jobs – I certainly don’t need to see Mike Rowe pluck goose feathers, scrub mechanical piping or stick his hand in any sort of animal in 3-D.
• Jon & Kate Plus 8 reruns – The hideous Kate hair looks like it’s jumping out at me already.
• Nancy Grace – When hi-def was introduced, that was bad enough.
• Seinfeld – Don’t mess with perfection.

Please feel free to add to the list in the comments section!

As 2009 Comes to an End, Who’s at the Top?

I’d guess there would be few people who’d argue that 2009 was the biggest year for social media to date, in terms of participation numbers alone. I’m the first to admit that while quantity isn’t always as meaningful as quality, a handful of the top leaders when it comes to numbers on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube certainly demonstrate the power of spreadable media.

YouTube:
Susan Boyle: 100,000,000+ hits (and counting)

When it comes to YouTube, the most popular hits are either visually interesting, unusual or funny. The top video of 2009 was all of the above.

Scottish singer, Susan Boyle, didn’t look the part when she took the stage on “Brittan’s Got Talent” in the spring of 2009. Her homely appearance had Simon Cowell rolling his eyes from the moment she stepped out behind the curtain. However, when she sang the first note, her angelic voice captured audiences. And once the performance was posted on YouTube, she became an international sensation.  This fall, Boyle’s YouTube video hit 10,000,000 views—the most in history.

Facebook:
Michael Jackson: 10,465,618 fans (and counting)

Of all the social media websites, Facebook is certainly one of the most personal. There we demonstrate our personalities, behaviors and likes/dislikes—often distinguished by the badges of specific fan pages on our profiles.

This time last year, Barak Obama was the leader of the pack on Facebook, but in mid-2009, the Michael Jackson page took the president’s record and “beat it” shortly after the death of The King of Pop. Even though MJ is no longer with us, the Epic Records-managed Facebook page continues to distribute information about the singer, links to relevant news stories and promotion of the concert bio flick “This is It.”

Twitter:
Ashton Kutcher: 4,223,448 followers (and counting)

The art of tweeting comes from frequent updates with a strong point of view. Millions of people have taken to the microblogging trend, but few have mastered the art of garnering followers better than one Hollywood actor.

For the past year, Ashton Kutcher has become one of the most accessible celebrities, regularly updating his account with daily musings, links to interesting organizations he’s involved in and other topics his fans would appreciate. He also used his Twitter audience for good when he challenged CNN to reach 1 million followers. He won the bet in April 2009 and he delivered on his promise—donating 10,000 bed nets to third world countries on World Malaria Day.

In the Wake of Brittney Murphy’s Death, Twitter Provides Platform for Newsworthy Public Statements

As the Sunday news cycle erupted with news of Brittany Murphy’s tragic death, I couldn’t help but notice a consistent mention in each story I read: celebrity condolences from Twitter. Not only were People, E! and other tabloid-esque media including this information, but The AP, The New York Times and other more traditional news outlets included Twitter mentions in their coverage of the actress, as they would a formal public statement.

CNN even posted a follow-up article discussing the social media frenzy the ensued following the announcement:

The topic “RIP Brittany Murphy” began trending on Twitter on Sunday evening, as millions included the phrase in their Twitter postings. Most fans simply wanted to share their feelings about Murphy, 32, and talk about their favorite movie roles. . . One Facebook page, “RIP Brittany Murphy,” had 2,000 members as of Monday morning with fans posting their shock about the “Clueless” actress’ death on the page’s wall.

While recent deaths including Patrick Swayze and Michael Jackson resulted in similar trending topics on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, this was the first time that “hard-hitting” news sources substituted interviews for tweets—and I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

Whereas more traditional means of getting public statements from friends and family of the deceased would have travelled through a conduit of publicists, lawyers and agents, the commentary tweeted directly by Kutcher and others appeared to be heart-felt and genuine. In my humble opinion, I find that “from the horse’s mouth” commentary to be a refreshing addition to the news cycle, especially in reports of loss and tragedy.

AVATAR and the Interactive Trailer

When going to the movies, I always arrive early to make sure I have a chance to see the previews. Trailers showcase the best elements of a film, like high-energy action sequences with bad guys in toe, heart-warming embraces between the heartthrob and his leading lady, epic soliloquies by the underdog-turned-hero or that one punch line that everyone will remember for years to come. Whether or not the movie is actually good, the preview never seems to disappoint. While I may be an easy critic, every once-in-a-while there is a trailer that creates such buzz and generates such curiosity that it nearly crashes the Fandango site weeks before the film is in theaters.

One of these aforementioned previews is for the James Cameron flick Avatar, out in theaters today. While the futuristic storyline sounds awesome and the special effects look out of this world, you have the chance to really get to know this movie before you even hit the theaters.

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking out the Avatar interactive trailer powered by Adobe AIR. Offering much more than your average two minute preview, this desktop application takes over your screen with a variety of video clips, behind the scenes interviews and connection to social media sites like Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. As you scale through the many features, you can track the Avatar Twitter account, which disseminates updates about the cast, links to additional YouTube clips and offers updates on ticketing. If you see something you like, you can update your Facebook status or Twitter page with the click of a mouse.

For decades, movies were very one-way; the audience would sit in front of the screen and absorb the movie in front of them. Today, we have the option of becoming involved with a particular movie even weeks or months before we see it. Through social media outlets like Flickr, YouTube or Twitter and with interactive applications like the Avatar trailer, we are able to watch and absorb information about the film and share our opinions with our peers and directly with the production companies.

How do you feel about the interactive trailer? Does it enhance the movie experience or ruin the element of surprise?

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Thanks to Rob Longert for the idea behind this post.