Hasta La Creative!

O Foursquare, apontado como o mais sério candidato a “onda” do ano, ganhou mais um ingrediente que lhe confere status de rede social a ser vista: serviços obscuros e pagos baseados em seu sistema de recompensa social.

O quê? Tecla SAP: já existe gente querendo ganhar seu santo dinheirinho com o seu vício no Foursquare. E de maneira torpe.

O Get Mayor apareceu hoje. Trata-se de um serviço que cobra um valor único para torná-lo mayor de um local ($29,90 USD) e para que ninguém tome este lugar de você ($89,90 USD).

Lembram-se de pessoas vendendo convite no Orkut pela Internet? Pois é.

Mas o que um usuário ganha com uma prefeitura no Foursquare? Sim, todos os usuários que ali realizarem o seu check-in saberão que você é a pessoa que mais passa por ali. Quanto mais lugares legais você tem em seu portifólio de prefeituras, mais whuffies foursquarenses você tem. Aliás, se você amealha 10 prefeituras, o próprio Foursquare lhe premia com esta inestimável peça ao lado. Um grande negócio por menos de um real por dia, hein?

Tem um plus a mais: o cheating. O Get Mayor ainda exibe um quote do personagem Montgomery Burns em sua página: “cheating is the gift man gives to himself”. Em bom português, o serviço se adequa à Lei de Gerson e transpira malandragem. Mas se malandro é malandro e mané é mané, quem paga por um serviço desses é malandro para os manés do Foursquare ou mané para os malandros do Get Mayor?

Aliás, a corrida por recompensas sociais é realmente hors-concours. Numa grande animosidade, perdemos a noção do ridículo por premiações que, na verdade, não existem. Ser o cara com mais followers no Twitter ou ser o cara com maior número de prefeituras, badges ou sempre líder da semana no Foursquare não representa nada. Pelo menos, não deveria. Sabemos que existe uma comoção de especialistasemxoxalmedia e jornalistas procurando os top-top das redes sociais que pintam na reta e possivelmente o sistema de recompensa social é uma forma rápida de mensurar movimento.

“Na Internet, todos serão famosos para 15 pessoas”

É por isso que sempre vai haver alguém querendo roubar no jogo. É o blogueiro que fez 1001 gambiarras para iludir o algoritmo do Google, é a twitteira que usou script, é o cara do Foursquare que foi prefeito do Polo Norte e do Taj Mahal. Gente que até converte malandragem em dinheiro, que até vai gerar cliques, que vai se achar importante e até achar que tem algo a acrescentar na vida das pessoas. Aí começa a nossa diversão. =)

E que fique claro que eu gosto bastante do Foursquare, como guia, como plataforma, como disseminador de uma cultura geosocial que veio para ficar. Também adoro minhas prefeituras e badges (porque sou filho de Deus, oras!). Outra coisa que gosto nele é que os usuários têm algum poder em manter a rede em ordem, portanto, no futuro, seu conteúdo pode virar uma zona, mas também pode se auto-organizar, como na Wikipedia. Esta incerteza não lhe fascina?

Aliás, se você usa o Foursquare, identifique-se em qual estágio de uso da rede você está.

Ajudaram com as fontes o @alexandremaron e o síndico Carlos Merigo, com o link sobre o Get Mayor.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Foi com algum espanto que acabei de ler sobre a parceria entre Wikimedia Foundation (aquela da Wikipedia, entre outros projetos de conhecimento livre) e a Telefónica, já bastante conhecida entre o povo daqui.

Segundo o press release publicado no site da Wikimedia, a parceria foi firmada por um período de três anos, quando ambas as empresas trabalharão junto para disseminar o conteúdo livre produzido pelos diversos projetos da Wikimedia Foundation (e devo sempre lembrar: como, por exemplo, a Wikipedia) em canais desenvolvidos pela Telefonica: aplicativos, mobile web e outros canais de acesso que a empresa atua ou atuará.

Especificamente:

– Aplicativos: desenvolvimento de aplicações mobile e para TV utilizando o conhecimento de projetos da Wikimedia.
– PC Web: Criação de canais e busca para a Wikipedia, bem como o acesso ao vasto material multimídia acumulado pela enciclopédia.
– Mobile web: Distribuição de conteúdo mobile da Wikimedia em portais da Telefónica.

Além disso, a Telefónica poderá explorar comercialmente todo e qualquer material da Wikimedia Foundation, que é considerado livre para todo o tipo de uso. Também dará suporte e patrocínio a iniciativas educacionais da Wikimedia Foundation.

Para bom entendedor, a empresa espanhola de telecomunicações supre um problema crônico da Wikimedia (principalmente por causa da Wikipedia): se bancar. Não é de hoje que suas pesquisas dentro da Wikipedia acompanham um pedido formal por doações, feito pelo Jimmy Wales, para ajudar a Wikipedia a conseguir pagar os seus servidores.

Contas pagas, criam-se alguns problemas:

O primeiro deles tem relação com a isenção que a Wikipedia sustenta: por ser fruto de uma fundação, a Wikipedia seria um terreno livre dos interesses comerciais e poderia tratar de assuntos da maneira mais imparcial possível. Num mundo em que todos têm algum interesse no que diz respeito à informação, a Wikipedia seria aquele canto utópico criado por hippies cibernéticos do bem que possibilitaria a qualquer um ter informação livre de manipulação.

Este discurso é tão forte que os usuários da Wikipedia o defendem a todo custo, muitas vezes passando por censores cruéis, eliminando artigos inteiros que contenham qualquer tipo de rastro de parcialidade comercial. Se a sua empresa de Social Media ainda vende “colocar a ação como verbete da Wikipedia”, tente executar a promessa uma vez apenas e conte quantos segundos e verbete dura por ali.

Como poderia agora a Wikipedia garantir, com 100% de credibilidade, que uma parceria com a Telefónica não irá interferir em alguns tópicos de interesse da empresa?

Um outro problema diz respeito ao uso que a Telefónica poderá fazer do conteúdo da Wikimedia de maneira comercial. Eu até acredito no press release, que garante que todo o “lucro” da Wikimedia é revertido para aumentar a sua capacidade de disseminar o conhecimento livre (pagar as contas). Mas estariam todos os usuários preparados para continuar defendendo com unhas e dentes um conteúdo que poderá ser explorado comercialmente pela Telefónica? O que torna, agora, a Wikipedia tão mais romântica que o Knol, do Google?

Finalmente: e quem garante que os frutos dos projetos da Telefónica envolvendo know-how da Wikimedia Foundation serão para o livre usufruto do homem?

Na verdade, eu não tenho conclusões. Somente dúvidas que tal parceria colocou na minha cabeça. Dúvidas que já haviam sido tratadas anteriormente, mas que finalmente se materializaram. E vocês, o que acham?

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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O estúdio de design Pentagram tem uma tradição de fazer cartões de natal especiais desde 1974. Tradição essa que eu só descobri hoje. haha.

O estúdio eu conhecia inclusive por que tem como um de seus sócios a incrível designer Paula Scher (se você não conhece o trabalho dela, procure). Ela foi responsável por boa parte do movimento de posteres urbanos nos anos 80 em NY, que deram muito a cara da cidade, além de uma série de trabalhos excelentes como o rebrand do citibank.

Para o Natal de 2009, fizeram um site super legal onde você responde algumas perguntas sobre a sua personalidade e um personagem com jeitão de terapeuta que diagnostica com que tipo de fonte você se parece.

Eu fiquei com jeito de New Alphabet. E você?

(Para acessar o site, use “character” como sua senha).

| Via @lelepereira e Veryshortlist

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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This post is about a Chilean Design Students oriented website I’m working on, so its content is rather irrelevant in english. If you’d like to view it in spanish, just click on the flag to your right.

Thanks!

It would be pretentious to speak about the emergence of online media as if it were…news. However, it is vital to address the fact that, despite the advent of the Internet, there remains a divide within the “connected” of the digital divide. Avant garde disseminators will tell you that marketing efforts are still being improperly implemented through online venues.

Leveraging the web correctly for business requires both the left AND right side of the brain; there is an art & science to web marketing applications-particularly in the field of web writing.

You can see web writing being utilized for various online mediums: websites, webzines, e-newsletters, blogs, Internet advertisements, and social networks, among others. However, it should not be dismissed as a task that can be done by a web designer or art director; it’s a craft that is developed through experience. Therefore, web writing should be delegated to professional writers.

Some of the variables of web writing that ROI is contingent on are: SEO, Meta tags, keywords, links, titles, and of course, content. Many writers are aware of some of these terms, but don’t know how to apply this knowledge when developing copy.

It would be a waste of time to delve into each of these terms, as their meanings are easily accessible on the web. I will, however, illustrate what makes good web copy, and elaborate by providing some examples.

1)      Wait…what were we talking about?

-Consider your topic. There are programs online to determine what the most important keywords are for any given topic; utilize this tool to determine which terms to include in your web copy.

2)      Pithy the Python says “WRAP IT UP, SON!”

-Concise, cohesive copy is the elixir of web writing.

3)      Want Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious web copy?

– Limit your vocabulary. To optimize SEO, you want controlled word usage so that your content is included in search results; stick to keywords and synonyms.

4)      I like em’ chunky.

-Both readers and search engines favor “chunking.” In fact, 79% of readers prefer “scanning” to “reading.” Techniques like creating sections, headlines, subheads, bullet points, and lists improve SEO.

5)      Links are a site’s best friend.

-To increase credibility, link to outside websites and resources. Outbound links encourage inbound links from other sites and improve SEO.

For a great example of web copy that utilizes linking and chunking, check this out.

Rohan Raj

Syrupy schmaltz. Finessing perpetual cadence. Boundless behemoth.

Absence of mutual exclusivity? Priceless…

www.twitter.com/dweomerlak

www.linkedin.com/in/rohanraj

Google, Google, Everywhere…

There’s probably not a day in our lives for the last five years that we have not come in to contact with Google in some way or another; a very charismatic and sticky brand, here is where we daily find Google:  from trade pubs (IT, Advertising, and Marketing) to our home and work computers, Google has become a brand that has become a staple of our day to day online interactions. There are, of course, purists out there that use other search engines simply because they are not Google…but they are few and far between.

Google excels in bringing brand extensions to the user…thus, they are able to capture non-search users with Google Reader (an RSS Feed plugin). They never stop innovating, which is most likely the reason for their success. Some of the company’s newer products include Google Health, Google Finance, Google Labs (very cool), Google Blogs, and even a program for purchasing TV advertising nationally using the AdWords utility. And recently released, there is Google Chrome.

Will Chrome Be The Gold Standard?

Google Chrome is the company’s answer to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Compared head-to-head with IE8, my choice would be Chrome. It’s super fast, does not use a ton of memory, “hangs” infrequently, and is extremely simple to use. It does have drawbacks: no zoom, no status bars, and managing bookmarks is a challenge. Other than that, I dig it. I also have IE8, which has a ton of features, but thus it’s never really worked correctly…

As Seen On TV

But the real reason that Google Chrome is in the headlines is for another reason entirely: Google Chrome has the honor of being the first Google product to be advertised on television (although search has made “appearances” in other advertiser’s spots).

Touted as an experiment, Google states that they will use the Google TV Ads system, which includes cable systems and networks that allow Google to sell some of their inventory. Echostar’s Dish Network and NBC Universal cable networks like CNBC, Sleuth and Chiller are some of their available networks. The entire endeavor will be low cost.

Google started a marketing campaign for Chrome last month in which it commissioned 11 videos from small creative firms that were initially posted and promoted on YouTube. Recently, Google started placing those videos on websites through ad buys, including an expandable ad on the front page of the New York Times’ website.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

Like the Robinson’s robot from Lost In Space, someone has obviously been warning “The Suits” at MySpace “Danger! Danger! You are losing users!”  To MySpace’s credit, they listened, and have introduced new user features (Profile 2.0), revised their music section, and launched a “connect” feature. They also announced that they had ousted their CEO to bring in a former Facebook exec, Owen Van Natta. (No one is quite sure what happened to ever-friendly Tom…)  Additionally, MySpace is offering a beta version of MySpace Local which provides some of the functionality of Twitter, like; “Where can I get a great Tuna Sandwich in Kansas City?”

To be honest, other than the music search on MySpace, it’s been dead to me. And the music portion, until lately, wasn’t the simplest to use: if you sift through enough crap, you could find a among the shattered glass: One listen to A Fine Frenzy and you’ll know what I mean. However, the newly revamped music features on MySpace are far better than what they had, and leagues beyond anything Facebook has to offer.

Yet is it too little, too late? Should MySpace have made these changes mid-year 2008 when they knew Facebook was coming on hard? Facebook overtook MySpace as the largest Social Network in existence, and it’s not showing any sign of slowing down. (My mother, in her 60s, recently added a Facebook account to keep up with the “kids;” we are all over thirty.)  So, Facebook’s growth, in addition to the growth rate of Twitter (1300 percent from 2008 to 2009) leaves MySpace with difficult challenges to overcome. (See the graph, below, courtesy of Compete.)

Will MySpace Lose Their Space?

It’s doubtful in the near term, but it will depend on Van Natta’s leadership, innovation, and speed. MySpace will also need to rollout MySpace II carefully, not offending current users but also regaining previous members. The other huge benefit for MySpace: it’s owned by NewsCorp, the same company that owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post. With that kind of breaking-news potential backing the site, it’s possible that MySpace may emerge as a combination between Digg and Facebook, with an awesome music application, online dating services, and the Twitter-like MySpace Local application.

Another hurdle for MySpace is to overcome its “ghetto” feel when compared to Facebook. Facebook is branded thoroughly on every page of the site whereas MySpace has multiple skins that can be utilized; some from third party vendors that cause the pages not to load correctly or even hang your browser. Additionally, MySpace is not positioned like Facebook in regard to the “employment” factor. Facebook is setup to “brand” yourself to potential employers…which means that tend to keep it clean of profanity in the headings, as well as use actual names rather than online IDs. But, then again, maybe that is part of its charm. Facebook has experienced their share of problems; they’ve disenchanted some of their members with sweeping changes to their privacy policies (although later rescinded), and have changed the user interface, much to the chagrin of many. In fact, many demand that the “old” Facebook be brought back. Finally, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, seems to be a wild card that holds the future of the site in his hands, as evidenced by the mysterious departure of Chief Financial Officer, Gideon Yu. Yu’s departure was the latest change of several in the upper ranks at Facebook, “whose employees and investors are anxious about Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s plans for the social-networking site.”

MySpace’s biggest challenge is to implement their changes quickly; not only to maintain their 130 million current members, but to also reel in former users that broke rank. MySpace and Flixter were the only two Social Networking platforms to lose users from 2008 to 2009.

Jeff Louis is a Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

I’m not too keen on drinking, actually I started drinking like a year ago. But if there’s one drink I like, it’s rum.

I also love design, so it’s quite an exciting day when you see one of your favorite drinks team up with one of your favorite designers to bring you an all new hot website design.

I drink Flor de Caña on a regular basis, at least the young-party-going-fella-accesible version, and I truly believe after seeing them team up with the crew at Your Majesty, I will like it even more.

Indirect persuasion just got me big time.

Go check it out.

Searching the web this morning for fun advertising news (using Google), I groggily checked out the advertisers that were vying for the top paid slots as was my usual habit. What I saw nearly made me spit out my coffee, and will be burned into the back of my brain forever: The number one paid slot on my Google search for “advertising” was none other than Yahoo! Sponsored Search?! Disbelieving my own eyes, I refreshed the page. Same result. Now fully awake, I ran the search again. No change. This was no fluke…this was real…Yahoo was paying for search on Google! I thought about all of the people that I should call to alert, but couldn’t think of a single one. So, I sat back and thought about it for a second.

Well, I reasoned, maybe Google pays for search on Yahoo!, as well. So, I decided to check it out, although I secretly scoffed at the thought of Google paying for search. But, I logged in to my Yahoo account anyway and searched for “advertising.” No Google in the results. Slyly, I typed in “Google” and hit search. No paid results for Google, although they occupied the top bazillion pages of Yahoo’s organic results.

And that’s when I noticed the innocent-looking words, right beneath the search bar, near the top of the results: 

“You could go to Google. Or you could stay here and get straight to your answers.”

A plaintive plea from Yahoo!, begging me to stay. So, I went to Google. Obviously, if Yahoo! is begging me to stay, I have no use for them.