Why Twitter?

This video exemplifies exactly how I feel about Twitter right now.

Space!

Just a quick follow up to a post from a few weeks back. Fortunately, the space shuttle launch was delayed from launching a few weeks ago, due to the discovery of a fuel leak. I say "fortunately", because I would rather not witness astronaut-con carne.

Anyways, NASA TV should be an excellent place to hit-up over the next 2 weeks, as the astronauts go about their business installing billions of dollars worth of equipment to the space station (ooh, solar arrays- shiny!)

Already up is the launch from a few hours ago. So, take a look!

Edgy E4

Here's another example, this time of a website applying consumer interactivity and (successfully) targeting the Groundswell social technographics.

During my travels visiting English relatives, I have become all too familiar with all 4 of my Grandad's television channels. Two were usually devoted to news, cricket (like watching paint dry!), or a vast array of melodramatic soap operas, such as Hollyoaks or Eastenders. However, I found E4 to be the best bet for entertainment and have continued to follow many of their shows. It's definitley a bit edgy (are there any censorship regulations in England?!) and I consider it to be the "alternative" station. I was definitley a big fan of the ever-sensationalist Big Brother a few years back- something about the Geordie commentator made it that much more entertaining. But, to business!

The E4 website is an excellent example of a website that is trying to promote User-Generated Content. Indeed, viewers can create a profile of themselves, and are encouraged to upload pictures of themselves with cast members, comment/create blogs, download special MSN Messenger skins that allow for bonus access to show-related materials, create videos, and communicate with one another using comments. Moreover, they try to promote involvement with their shows, by allowing for people to recommend music to be included in the show, which often is! Lastly, they are involved in many social networking sites, such as Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter. Just check out any of the TV show sections for a better look. Definitley a company that's ahead of the curve.

I imagine that this is proving to be a very cost-effective way to promote brand advocates of E4, and catalyze interest in their TV offerings.

Product Bollywood

Just found a great, new example of a Viral Video at work.



I think that one thing that could definitley be improved upon from this is a direct linkage to the T-mobile site from the youtube site. Although it is aptly titled "The T-Mobile Dance" and there is spotty product placement and I don't think the linkage is very clear.

Interesting to see a company start to capitalize on the success of "freezing" videos, such as those done by Improv Everywhere (see video below), which have popped up online within the past year or so. It will also be interesting to see if this business application will drive interest in the product, or simply interest in how it was all orchestrated!

Happy Valentines, Internet!

Interesting study published by Reuters that indicates that people may be in a more serious, long-term relationship with the Internet than their romantic partner.

"In a survey by German broadband association Bitkom around 84 percent of respondents aged 19-29 said they would rather do without their current partner or an automobile than forego their connection to the Web...

Bitkom said 1,000 people had taken part in the survey, and one in two people said they had made new friends thanks to chat forums and Internet communities. Around 8 percent said they had found a new partner thanks to online relations.

"The Web creates real relationships and does not result in autism and dehumanization," said Scheer, who admitted he gets nervous when he does not have Internet access while on vacation".

Perhaps this is an an indication that increasing website interactivity and connectivity tools may be increasing the value that consumers place on the Internet. Certainly, offline companies who have been hesitant to get into the online marketing arena may want to take note, and try to harness this powerful medium.

Now, I wonder what an Internet break-up might look like....

Brace for impact!

More changes are coming to Facebook, and we all know how that went down last time.



If there ever was a virtual riot, that was it.

Apparently, the new layout and technical changes are being made to better compete with Twitter in terms of real-time status updates, as this article will tell you.

"The new-look home page, which will start rolling out on March 11, will refresh the status updates of friends and family as they happen, rather than every 10 to 15 minutes, as is currently the case.

It will make Facebook more like the Twitter microblogging service, which allows users to communicate with one another in real time in messages of 140 characters or less."

Also, the 5000-friend limit is being removed, which I know was a *real* problem for me. The article suggest that celebrities and other public figures who are looking to connect with fans and supporters may benefit from this new development, although all I've heard about celebrities who use facebook are the hackers who post their private messages/pictures.

However, the fact that Facebook is more prominently displaying that changes are coming in a "Home" page announcement is probably a lesson well-learned from last time. Indeed, the changes don't occur until March 11th, which may leave nay-sayers enough time to get used to the idea, and spare us all from developing "Protest against the new facebook!" facebook groups (which seemed rather contradictory to me).

It'll be interesting to see what the response is, and if Facebook takes any other measures to keep the peace amongst its users.

Why am I here?

There's good news for all of us who have sat in class, sleepy-eyed and bored to tears and asked ourselves just this.

Read a recent article in the Globe and Mail the other day, which led me to this article about how students who download podcast lectures actually score higher than those who attend the actual lecture!

"A class of 64 psychology students was divided into two groups. The first attended a regular course lecture and the second only listened to a podcast of the lecture. All students received printouts of the PowerPoint slides used in the lecture.

The results showed significantly higher scores (71 percent average) on an exam of the course material for students in the podcast group. Those who attended the in-class lecture scored 62.5 percent. Scores for students who took notes during the podcast lecture rose to 77 percent."

One of the key reasons for this, they suggest, is that students can repeat the material, whereas in the real lecture, the material is only available once. Certainly, it would seem that this could be applied to all sorts of learning material- employee training programs, web-conferences, and other information resources. Also, it may a good way to complement current educational programs in high school or elementary school, especially with the increasing size of classes and higher student-to-teacher ratios.

Certainly an interesting find, but I would definitley be hesitant to shell out $600 CND tuition for a class taken via an audio podcast, if that is where this development may lead!

Still, one more reason to sleep through lectures! Although, good luck passing Calculus.