Geico's Kash joins Twitter, says very little

In a move that ranks among the gravest misuses of social media of all time, Kash, the unspeaking, inanimate, googly-eyed wad of bank notes who stumps for Geico, has opened a Twitter account. He's being typically tight-lipped, as there's just one Tweet so far, from Feb. 13: "Who likes saving money?" Well, it figures he'd tow the company line. God, is Twitter about nothing more than marketing and self-promotion? It used to be ever so slightly less about those things, and those are the days I long for! The roll of bills has 128 followers, all of whom need to get lives. Except @AdFreak, of course. We're keeping an eye on Kash for purely professional reasons.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on February 17, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Geico, Gianatasio, Social networks, Twitter

Barbarian fighting the good fight on Twitter

It's not hard to find bad news about the media industry, whether it's the plummeting ad revenues for newspapers, the layoffs at magazines or the full-blown ad recession. It can be a real bummer. But what bleeds leads, as they say. A self-described bunch of "concerned PR professionals" have set up a Twitter account called TheMediaIsDying to chronicle media-industry layoffs so that fellow flacks know who to take off their spam—I mean contact—lists. It has attracted more than 10,000 followers. The Barbarian Group's Rick Webb, a firm believer in awesomeness of the Internet, has had enough and, with colleague Noah Brier, begun a rival feed: MediaIsThriving. The feed aggregates evidence of media doing quite well, thank you very much, such as the growth in cable-TV jobs, French movies doing nicely and the Financial Times growing readership after hiking subscription rates. UPDATE: Add another optimistic media-focused Twitter feed to the mix: TheMediaIsHirin.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on January 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Barbarian Group, Morrissey, Social networks, Twitter

Late to Twitter? Brands may be out of luck

A few months back, I made a pleasant discovery: The popular social site Twitter would release inactive user names if you asked them to. This was great news for brands (and anyone else) who showed up late to the microblogging party and found their preferred name already taken. Sure enough, I made a request for a name that hadn't been used in two years and got it without a hitch. But now Twitter has decided to stop granting almost all similar requests. "Due to high ticket volume, Twitter Support is no longer releasing inactive user names unless in cases of trademark or copyright violation," an automated e-mail response told me when I requested another long-unused name this week. "We are working on releasing all inactive user names in the future, however, we will no longer manually release them on an individual basis." While I understand the reasoning, it's a shame that Twitter has left users (and potential users) in an awkward purgatory by refusing to release individual names or delete all inactive accounts. Brand-name stewards might still have a chance if they can argue "trademark or copyright violation." So, if you're lucky, you could get maliciously brandjacked, and then Twitter might listen to you.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on January 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Griner, Social networks, Twitter

David Armano makes his social network pay

Critical Mass vp of experiential design David Armano is a certified social-network celebrity, with a well-read blog and popular Twitter feed. This week, he decided to put his network to use for good—and might have just developed one of the most powerful social-media case studies to boot. Last night, Armano posted an appeal on his blog, and to his 8,200 Twitter followers, to help a family friend in desperate circumstances. He set a goal of raising $5,000 in small donations to help the woman and her family get back on their feet. By this morning, donations had topped $11,000. Social-media mavens are talking new world order, and Armano thinks the response is a powerful testament to what networks can accomplish. "I'm hopeful we can move the discussion from who has influence to what we do with what influence we have," he tweets.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on January 7, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Morrissey, Social networks

Twitter, now with 100 percent more Jesus

Do you love Twitter but hate how you have to read all those awful anti-Christian messages on it? Then you need Gospelr, the new Twitter-like service for "ministry microblogging." Gospelr claims it's not just a Twitter clone. In fact, it can be integrated with Twitter. (Your Tweets get color-coordinated to show which service they're coming from.) Other than that, it's just a place for those who want to share thoughts, ideas, words of encouragement, prayer requests and daily scripture readings (you know, Christian stuff). I wonder if their fail whale has Jonah in it. It's totally possible—even its RSS icon has a Christian theme. According to the press release, it symbolizes "Christ, His Good Work on the Cross, being communicated and broadcast to a fallen and dying world, via Web technology." If your brand is associated with Christianity and you want to get into social networking, clearly Gospelr is your path to righteousness. I fully expect Chick-fil-A to start a Gospelr feed any second now.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Published on September 22, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Cullers, Social networks

Facebook to rock out for Advertising Week

Less than a year ago, fresh-faced Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg came to New York to declare that his social network was about to change the face of media and advertising. Since then, Facebook has continued to grow but has clearly had some stumbles in developing an advertising system. (See Beacon.) But Facebook seems determined to be a big player on Madison Avenue. It's signed on as "gold-tier partner" for Advertising Week next week, along with Web giants Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL. That means a series of earnest workshops and the honor of getting ad people drunk at the week's closing party. This is a big responsibility. Whom has Facebook turned to for the entertainment? Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. Huh? I decided to ask a reporter friend who works for a music magazine for his take. "I don't know why Ziggy is playing at Advertising Week. I'm sure there's a hacky sack circle out there that's really jonesing for his mellow tunes." Maybe Facebook should have friended Hootie.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on September 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Advertising Week, Facebook, Morrissey, Social networks

A brand's friends: the best money can buy

A group called the Social Media Advertising Council is trying to determine how much a "friend" is worth to brands online (in measurement terms, of course). The group's acronym, SMAC, is not very friendly, but they plan to meet every quarter and hold bimonthly conference calls, so things could get chummy fast. Their quest seems harmless and will probably yield some completely arbitrary — oops, I mean, thoroughly researched — facts and figures, similar to the undeniable assertion that word-of-mouth conversations are worth about 50 cents apiece. My conversations are pretty worthless, as I generally talk to myself, and even I can't understand what I'm trying to say. As a friend, I'm worse. I never participate in social media, unless lurking counts. In the real world, my friendship is worth about 20 cents, but only if you find two nickels and a dime in your sofa after kicking me off it. Oh, those coins were mine, and I want them back. You got a problem with that, friend?

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on September 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Nudd, Social networks

Stop wasting your life online, says Dentyne

Can you surf the Web and chew gum at the same time? Perhaps, but you'll be wasting your time. That's according to Dentyne, which has a bunch of posters up in the NYC subway (and probably elsewhere) encouraging young people to get off their stupid computers for five minutes and "Make face time." Dentyne can help in this regard by giving you decent-smelling breath—something that's all but unnecessary on social networks but handy in actual social encounters. The ads, which seem to have originated in Canada, may run the risk of making Dentyne sound parental. But it's nice to see a youth-targeted campaign that has nothing but contempt for Facebook.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on September 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under Dentyne, Gum, Nudd, Social networks

I see dead people ... all over the Internet

A social network for the dead? Why do we need one of those when we've got Friendster? Actually, two such venues are going live (pun intended) online: Tributes.com, from Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor, and Footnote.com. Both offerings, particularly Footnote, go beyond simple obituaries/memorials by serving as repositories for images and information about those who've passed on. There's already some controversy over the notion of "monetizing the dead." (Footnote is subscription based; Tributes will sell its services to funeral homes.) But there's something truly "immortal" about an interactive and interconnected databank representing—even recreating—people's lives for later generations to learn from, study and share. It's an ancient idea—seeking guidance from one's ancestors, speaking to the dead. Perhaps we're reached the point where technology allows them to answer.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on September 16, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Death, Gianatasio, Social networks

James Bond has changed his profile picture

A social network for secret agents? Sounds like a contradiction in terms. But A-Space, a forum for U.S. personnel working for agencies like the CIA, FBI and NSA, goes live Sept. 22. "It's every bit Facebook and YouTube for spies," Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis, told CNN. We can assume that's not his real name. In fact, everyone's photos and IDs on A-Space are probably fake. Which really makes it no different than MySpace. Does A-Space allow "friending" and "pokes," or are users under strict orders to disavow any knowledge of such actions? Given the sensitive nature of the site, advertising—even for Walther PPKs, jetpacks and Aston Martins with ejection seats—is presumably out of the question. Still, monetization won't be a problem, as highly classified information is always for sale to the highest bidder. By the way, if you've read this far, you've become a security risk, and I'm afraid I have to kill you—or banish you to Friendster, where you're even less likely to be heard from again.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on September 8, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Gianatasio, James Bond, Social networks

Facebook thinks you're pretty unattractive

I don't think Facebook has ever directly insulted me with its ads, and I feel a bit left out. Apparently, being called fat and ugly by the site's targeted ad mechanism is the hip thing these days. Much of the blame for this has fallen on Facebook itself, but what about the assholes making the mean-spirited ads? Copy like "You're fat. You don't have to be" is overly harsh, and youth marketing specialists who know how insecure teenagers are should know better. My point is that someone should put an stop to this negativity. We wouldn't want the backlash from this crap interfering with the backlash from the ill-fated Facebook movie that's in the works.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on September 4, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under Facebook, Kiefaber, Social networks

Hoff empire now includes social networking

The problem with enjoying things ironically is that if you do it for too long, people start to think you're serious. This is what's happened to fans of David Hasselhoff. There's practically a cottage industry based around pretending to like the guy, which is why he hasn't gone away like everyone else from Baywatch. In fact, he has a new social networking site, HoffSpace, where his legions of fans can do ... something. We're not sure, because the Web site is such a clusterfuck that we can't even turn off his annoying vocal track, let alone determine what, if anything, the site is for. Although it is a pretty dead-on imitation of most MySpace profiles.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on August 25, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Kiefaber, Social networks