Boring Facebook August 17, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites, Thoughts.add a comment
Is it just me or does Facebook get pretty boring after a while?See ive made contact with a crap load of people i haven’t seen in years. I’ve chatted to most of them. Some ive just collected as friends (you’ve done it to)
I’ve added a few applications and ignored most others. I’ve been bitten by zombies and vampires, sent drinks, had sheep thrown at me and been asked a ton of stupid questions. I’ve been told about moods, been offered food and been sent random gifts. All of this leaves me wondering – what’s next?
Dont get me wrong, Facebook is a great networking site, but after you’ve done all this stuff, Facebook actually becomes pretty boring. Especially for me as i couldn’t be bothered to keep up a conversation with someone i haven’t seen for 12 years.Sure ill say hi but that’s pretty much were it ends.
So where is Facebook going? Sure its probably one of the most popular sites on the web right now, but will it last? Ill guess well have to wait and see.
Links 17 July July 17, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites, Web 2.0.add a comment
- Wealthiest Americans ever – a cool flash presentation highlighting the richest Americans and how they made their cash!
- 68 bugs on the iPhone - I don’t care – i still want one
- Social media slide show – a very nice presentation on social media
Batman Marketing June 9, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Different Advertising, Sites.add a comment
I’m always on the look for new marketing techniques that break the mould, and this one from Warner Brothers does just that.
WB has launched a viral campaign for the new Batman movie due out next year ( i cant wait to see it)
Seems they launched a site with nothing but a pic of the new bat logo. When you click on the logo, you are then redirected to another site called I believe in Harvey Dent. This site features an election banner for Harvey Dent. Nothing special here, but then it gets interesting.
That site goes to another site with the same poster but its been defaced by you know who (the Joker if you dont know who) However one can (or could) interact with the site and by giving an email address, get co ordinates of a pixel to remove.
Once all the pixels were removed, it revealed a pic of Heath Ledgers Joker. Very cool. Now WB have got a huge database to keep contacting and drum up even more hype about the flick!!!
See all the pics here
The TV Killer? May 22, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Different Advertising, Sites, The Web, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
I signed up to check out Joost, the new internet tv streaming programme from the heavyweight founders of Kazaa and Skype.
Essentially, Joost is being touted as tv on your internet and boy is it good. They’ve worked hard on their streaming capabilities and they are pretty much the best ive seen. I was watching on a 3g datacard with true speed of 1.8mbps and it looked great. I can only image what a 4gig fixed line would deliver. ( or even higher speed like they have overseas)
Unfortunately there isnt much to watch at the moment, but im sure as they get going, more and more networks will jump on board. Joost is ad sponsored and free to the end consumers (as long as they look at a few ads) I was exposed to a Nike ad for a product that you cant get here, so theres a bit of
wastage there. I also saw it twice and was a bit annoyed, but im sure they will fix that going forward.
I only hope they dont block shows by region i.e. only show Lost in the US etc.
In short, if all web tv looks this good, I seriously see trouble in TV’s future.
Music industry still doesnt get it! April 19, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites.1 comment so far
Yup they are still stuck in the dark ages!
Well at according to this site called Ars Technica (?) reports on the latest figures of cd sales compared to downloads, and im sure you can guess who’s winning.
When will the music industry realise its doomed unless it wakes up!
Its just a pity local download sites like pick n play and musica are a)crap and b) more expensive than buying a damn cd.
Ah well one day!
Nine Inch Nails – the best music marketers in the world? April 12, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Different Advertising, Sites, The Media Landscape.2 comments
NIN seem to be on the cutting edge of “new marketing” – even more so than the record companies (surprise surprise).
In an apparent attempt to “go into battle with the people whose job it is to figure out how to sell the record” i.e. the much loved record companies, the bands frontman Trent Reznor devised his own marketing campaign for the upcoming album Year Zero. In true Reznor madness genius his campaign includes gems like:
- leaking tracks on the internet by leaving them on usb sticks in bathrooms of concerts.To quote the man him self “The USB drive was simply a mechanism of leaking the music and data we wanted out there. The medium of the CD is outdated and irrelevant. It’s really painfully obvious what people want – DRM-free music they can do what they want with. If the greedy record industry would embrace that concept I truly think people would pay for music and consume more of it.“
- designing an “alternate reality game”for the album
- registering a whole bunch of domain names, and leaving clues to the sites in various NIN tour t shirts
- deliberately leaking tracks to radio stations for them to play
- streaming the entire album from their myspace page
For a full NIN “Campaign” breakdown – check here and here
All I can say is WOW – Trent has essentially made a user generated marketing campaign and is almost giving his music away. As for the actual mechanics and content of his camping – only he could explain it relevance. However in saying this – it works and is something totally new and unique. Now if only the record companies would wake up and realise that this is what the people want.
BTW – their official site recommends Safari and Firefox to view the site – how cool!
The Pulse of Marketing April 4, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites, The Media Landscape, Web 2.0.add a comment
Or lack thereof – Business Week points to an article about the Future of Marketing whereby marketers and advertisers are asked to complete a survey about their future marketing plans. Apparently this is done around an award called the “Effies” which is given to the best ad campaign in America or some crap like that. The survey is completed by 121 “influential” advertisers and brand companies.
A lovely slide show of the results can be seen here.
Some interesting but confusing facts came out like 42.4% saying TV spend would take an even bigger hit in 07 but with 18% vowing to spend more on TV? Weird!
I’m not going to dissect the results so feel free to look for yourself.
All in all an interesting read that pretty much highlights the confusion in the industry.
SA’s own Onion? March 23, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites.2 comments
I stumbled across Kung News after hearing an ad for the site on radio. I dont normally pay any attention to radio ads but something made me check out the site maybe because it had a interesting call to action.
Anyway its sort of like a South African Onion News, but is no where near as good (hey the Onions has been around forever so its not really their fault). If you dont know the Onion – its sort of like a mock news site with brilliant and funny mock news stories. Anyway Kung News seems like it can grow into something good because its something different and seems to be mocking SA politicians which I love.
I also like how they have integrate mobile into the site to derive some revenue. Not sure about the content but ill be checking it out soon!
It seems to be run by a group called Virus Media – anyone know them?
Online Stats March 22, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites.1 comment so far
Dave Duarte over daveduarte.co.za and the much famed Cerebra has started a wiki inviting people to put up any stats on media and mobile that they may have.
Now i think this is a great idea – I too have just finished a presentation on Mobile in SA and struggled to find any relevant stats. This site would have helped loads.
In the end I had to buy the stats from a website! I really think it should be free and Dave has done something about it. Well done sir – ill be adding my findings to your wiki ASAP!
Dont the British play cricket? March 12, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites, The Media Landscape.add a comment
According to Google they don’t!
This is the Google.co.za homepage with a very spiffy Cricket logo in honour of the World Cup.
Now below is the Google.co.uk homepage – notice any differences? Hopefully an omen that the poms wont get very far in this World Cup.
Couldn’t get into Google.com as it automatically defaults to Google.co.za, but would be interesting to see if they use the same logo. Can you imagine those poor, confused Americans!
