Sweethearts showing Twitter the love
Sweethearts, which have managed to remain a staple of Valentine's Day for 145 years despite tasting like fruit-flavored chalk, have announced that they'll be adding the phrase "Tweet me" to their conversation hearts this year. Sweethearts and Twitter seem like a match made in brand heaven. As Biz Stone, Twitter's co-founder, put it, "It's even more proof that people can say anything in short messages. A 140-character message may seem short. Sweethearts are even smaller." The messages clearly needed a little updating, as past high-tech phrases now seem absurd. Like "Fax me." Really, who faxes a love note? Probably the same sort of weirdo who publicly declares their love in 140 characters. |
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Published on February 1, 2010 | Permalink
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On Twitter, the mob may always rule
Every time Facebook changes anything, an army of Facebook users spend the day whining and becoming fans of "I'm Hating Facebook's New Thing." Likewise, Twitter is enough of a social-media powerhouse that twits will turn on their creators for any minor changes in their tweetdom. Like in August, when Twitter decided to try and formalize the retweet function (a user-invented system) with a plan to integrate it into the interface—but without letting people add extra commentary to their RTs. The mob rose up, and the #SaveReTweets hashtag was born. Now, Wired magazine takes a closer look at that Twitter-tweak freakout and what it means for the brand in the future, along with some analysis of how social-media applications might try to guard against this kind of mob rule. Stick around for page 2's handy infographic that includes such milestones as Kutcher's war with CNN and P. Diddy's terrifying tantric sex updates. (Oh no, he didn't? Oh yes, he did.) —Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
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Published on November 6, 2009 | Permalink
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Still want Tracy Morgan on Twitter?
It's always disappointing when you meet someone in real life and it's not as you imagined. There's got to be a similar feeling for many who lobbied for the undeniably funny Tracy Morgan to join Twitter. You might recall the brilliant Twacy campaign that got Morgan to post his every thought on Twitter—and garnered a short burst of attention for celebrity stalker site OMGICU. Now, nearly a month in, the results are underwhelming. Maybe Morgan's just getting his footing, but right now he's not that funny on Twitter. Take his only update today: "Just got off the phone with puff daddy wishing him a happy birthday." Maybe not all celebrities should be on Twitter. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on November 4, 2009 | Permalink
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Deep Twitter thoughts, by Miles Nadal
Everyone on Twitter has his own style. It's a personality thing. Follow MDC Partners chief Miles Nadal for a while, and you'll get a mix of Gen. Patton, Confucius and Tony Robbins. Nadal is heavy into the inspirational and profound quote, complete with odd capitalizations that make it seem like he's translating from a foreign language. Today's pearls of wisdom include: "Never Partner with individuals who dont't share the same passion , dedication & will to sacrifice to acomplish your shared goals & dreams." That followed this: "Perpetual Reinvention is very Difficult , some might say an Oxymoron !" The idiosyncratic tweets are attracting Nadal a bit of a following—over 1,400 people received his regular musings. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on November 4, 2009 | Permalink
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McKinney recycling the lamest tweets
Agencies love to show off their social-media chops with Twitter apps. McKinney is now doing it with Recycled Tweets. The idea is, people are unfortunately human and therefore post dumb Twitter updates. This bothers other people. By pasting the offending tweet as a reply with the hashtag #recyclethis, a user can get McKinney's app to suggest a new, awesomer tweet. The new tweet arrives courtesy of @recycledtweets. It's a clever app, although there's a case to be made that it adds to the overwhelming negativity already on the Web as part of the "fail" culture. McKinney has added a good-cause angle by arranging for a penny to be donated to getTRASHED.org, a recycling initiative, for each trashed tweet. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on October 20, 2009 | Permalink
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Miley Cyrus ditches Twitter. Noooooo!
Yes, that's right. Miley Cyrus has deleted her Twitter account after reaching over 2 million followers, and the way people are acting, you'd think it was a disaster of biblical proportions, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together! Miley broke the news with a rump-shaking YouTube rap, which has already garnered more than 4 million views, and caused both the tabloids and the theoretically respectable news outlets to freak out. But there might be a good reason for advertisers to worry. People have been saying Generation Y is just not that into Twitter. Of course, it's one thing for only 22 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds to be using Twitter, but it's quite another thing for the celebrities in that cohort to outright abandon it. If Miley's fans follow suit, Twitter could lose even more ground among the Millennial set. And you know what that means: mass hysteria! —Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
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Published on October 20, 2009 | Permalink
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Can Twitter reinvent sweepstakes?
The Web sweepstakes is a regular promotions workhorse. It stands to reason that marketers would try to invigorate it with some social-media mojo. Marriott Resorts Hawaii is running a "Tweet Yourself to Hawaii" sweepstakes that requires people to enter by tweeting a message to their followers. I doubt this is a passing trend. Many brands have seen success running charity programs that require users to tweet or update their Facebook status. Even the granddaddy of all sweepstakes, Publishers Clearing House, is dabbling in the area. Its digital division has set up an experimental site, SayAndWin.com, where users can update Twitter and Facebook. Each update from the site counts as an entry to a PCH sweepstakes. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on October 19, 2009 | Permalink
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What's the best brand use of Twitter?
Social-media bible Mashable's Open Web Awards has a category for "best brand use of Twitter." You can nominate a brand via Twitter or Facebook message. It'll be interesting to see how Mashable sorts through the nominations. Some are simply for Twitter applications, like Foursquare and Tweetie, rather than brands building out social-media programs outside their core business, like the Daffy's app that updates consumers when their trucks are due to arrive at stores. Go vote. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on October 15, 2009 | Permalink
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The brand apology goes real time
The Amp Up Before You Score application for the iPhone had all the hallmarks of something that could be controversial. The flimsy premise is that the Pepsi brand will give guys tips on scoring with women, even including a "brag list" function to share their successes via status update. R/GA's Jay Zasa said the app is meant as a lighthearted brand utility. He even said the most likely use would be laughing along with a girl while reading the cheatsheets. That didn't stop the howls of social-media protests that Amp—and by extension, Pepsi—is sexist. Posts appeared Monday on blogs like Mashable and Jezebel, which then inflamed Twitter. Amp did something quite interesting yesterday afternoon. It responded via Twitter with the classic I'm-sorry-to-anyone-offended half-apology. Time will tell if it's enough to mollify the outraged. A Pepsi rep said the brand has "no plans at this time" to either change the app or withdraw it. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on October 13, 2009 | Permalink
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Can 'meme marketing' take off?
The Internet has long been fueled by memes—concepts that catch fire and spread rapidly online. (Think LOLcats.) Twitter is frequently overtaken by them, as evidenced by the popularity of #followfriday. Can marketers get in on the action? Maybe, at least going by the encouraging start to a marketing campaign launched by celeb stalker site OMGICU. Its founder, Hugh Dornbush, and a few folks at social-media/PR shop Attention hatched a plan to publicize the site via a campaign to get 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan to join Twitter. Attention's Colin Nagy calls it "meme marketing." Launched yesterday, Twacy.org asks visitors to tweet on behalf of the quirky star. Thousands have done so. Twacy.org got 14,000 visitors yesterday, according to Nagy, and that's sure to increase today thanks to coverage from The Wall Street Journal and NBC. The site also includes a link to OMGICU.com, where users can indulge in sightings of Morgan and other celebrities. Yesterday, traffic spiked tenfold, Nagy said. While the numbers aren't overwhelming, they're nothing to sneeze at, either. UPDATE: Looks like Morgan has taken the bait and joined Twitter. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on October 8, 2009 | Permalink
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