• 1/27/2012
  • Post By: Dan

Oneupweb Reviews : Facebook Open Graph

Anyone who’s even slightly active on Facebook has likely noticed a new kind of content popping up in the News Feed lately. With the launch of the Facebook Open Graph, user-brand interactions are taking new precedence. With Open Graph, I know what my friends are pinning on Pinterest, what articles my brother-in-law is reading on Yahoo! News, and I’m even painfully aware of the very moment at which a good friend casts his lot with evil and listens to the Twilight soundtrack on Spotify. Most importantly, I know all of this without ever leaving the Facebook environment. It’s all happening in the News Feed with apps featuring Open Graph’s new Actions capability.

Spotify

Spotify was one of 60 apps to participate in the launch of Facebook's Open Graph.

Okay, so Open Graph is pretty cool. Now I know more than I ever wanted to know about my Facebook friends even after knowing too much already. Great. What makes Open Graph particularly exciting for marketers, however, is its integration with the world beyond Facebook – the greater Internet.

A More Connected Facebook?

Yes – it’s possible, and it’s here. As detailed recently in Search Engine Journal, Facebook’s Open Graph dramatically increases the network’s importance in SEO. For months now, online marketing blogs have been abuzz about the impact Google+ is making on SEO. With Open Graph, now it’s Facebook’s turn. With Open Graph’s Actions feature, as detailed by Search Engine Journal:

Those who interact with the product and post on their Facebook Wall then generate a direct route (link) to the webpage of the company … Given Facebook users average 130 friends, there is a huge amount of exposure that can be gained from Facebook Actions. Website traffic can increase dramatically because 1 person in a network “listened” to your product.

Hitchhiking on the Open Graph

Do brands need to create their own apps to take advantage of Open Graph’s SEO benefits? Not necessarily. In fact, many brands can leverage the power of stronger, existing apps – such as the wildly popular Pinterest app – by developing creative campaigns on those outside platforms. Land’s End’s recent Pinterest campaign, for example, generated double exposure for the brand, by featuring user-shared Land’s End favorites across both Pinterest and (thanks to Pinterest’s Open Graph app), on Facebook.

Lands End Pinterest

The Land's End "Pin It to Win It" contest promoted the brand on both Pinterest and Facebook - powered by user "pins" (Actions) and Pinterest's Open Graph app.

The Verdict

The bottom line is: Facebook’s Open Graph is great news for users and greater news for marketers. Unless, of course, you discover via Open Graph that your friends are into Twilight. Then everyone loses.

What do you think?

Categories: Social Networking
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Oneupweb Reviews: The SOPA and PIPA Protest

2011 has become a year known for its world-wide protest movements – often inspired by the advent of social media. 2012 appears to be starting off on the same foot and that collective voice is on a march. From the Middle East protests against regimes to the 99%’s Occupy Wall Street protests against the 1% Mega Rich of the United States, a protest has indeed taken root and it doesn’t look like it will recede anytime soon.

That is unless come January 24th, 2012, two bills get passed in the legislature: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

SOPA is “a law of the United States of America proposed in 2011 to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods… The bill would criminalize streaming of content, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.” (Wikipedia: House Bill 3261)

PIPA (Protect IP Act or Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011) is “also known as Senate Bill 968 or S. 968, is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to ‘rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods’, especially those registered outside the U.S.” (Wikipedia: Senate Bill 968)

SOPA and PIPA could have negative results in the long term on Internet speed, security and innovation if passed. The two bills intend to stop online piracy and protect copyright holders, but observers claim they will infringe upon creativity, Internet security and innovation. They infringe on these by punishing websites that link to any copyright-infringing sites, even by accident.

Oneupweb supported the stand against the SOPA and PIPA bills presently being considered in Congress. In a public announcement yesterday Oneupweb stated:

“While the intention behind the bills is to stop copyright infringement, they are drafted in such a way that is incompatible with the current open and free Internet as we know it. These bills, as they exist presently, will do little to stop piracy. Instead, they will stifle innovation, promote censorship, and break how the internet functions.”

Oneupweb Home Page on January 18th, 2012

Of course the big wigs of websites like Google, WordPress and Wikipedia also protested the bills by performing blackouts on the 18th of January, 2012.

WordPress

Google launched a petition page that gathered 4.5 million signatures just on the 18th alone. Wikipedia’s blackout caused a Twitter freenzy in the hashtag #wtfWikipedia, which caused a real time page to be created that showed the millions of tweets on its blackout.

To better understand the intention and the backlash against PIPA and SOPA watch this video:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet:

In response to the mass blackout day across the Internet people also came out from the New York tech community and gathered to protest SOPA and PIPA on Wall Street. Around 1,500 people were in attendance.

Something to know is that PIPA is a rewrite of the COICA Bill (Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act), which supporters unsuccessfully attempted to push through in 2010. The same thing happened with the SOPA bill. Therefore, something to also note is that though we may beat SOPA and PIPA this time around (and we better with 4.5 Million signatures from the Google petition be end day of Janurary 18th, 2012), we may be protesting revised versions of these in the not-so-distant future.

We at Oneupweb support the movement against SOPA and PIPA. We have a right to a voice and we give the movement two thumbs up!

Where do you stand and how do you feel about this movement?

Categories: Campaigns, Community, Social Networking
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  • 1/13/2012
  • Post By: Dan

Oneupweb Reviews : Coca-Cola on Tumblr

Fresh off a pretty radical social marketing experiment in Portugal, Coca-Cola has opened another can of serious social on Tumblr with its “Happiness is…” blog. Aimed at the network’s active young blogger demographic, the “Happiness is…” campaign draws on the traditional marketing strengths of both Coca-Cola and Tumblr, respectively: sugary, feel-good sentiment and photography. As reported by Jason Keath for Social Fresh, Coca-Cola launched its Tumblr blog just after Christmas and is one of the first consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to the use the platform. From what we’ve seen so far, I’d say they’ve nailed it. Touchdown, Coke.

What makes the “Happiness is…” campaign tick? Well, being one of the world’s most recognizable – and admired – brands certainly doesn’t hurt. But it’s the design of the Tumblr blog itself that truly distinguishes Coca-Cola’s campaign. We’ll keep it simple and focus on three important lessons:

1) Less Can Be More

Much like the theme of the campaign itself, “Happiness is…”, the Coca-Cola Tumblr page focuses on essence – and is careful not to overpower the user with graphic wizardry and surface static. In doing so, the Coca-Cola team is positioning itself to appeal to the platform’s core demographic – young, artistically inclined bloggers looking for authentic experience, not commercial polish.

Coca-Cola Happiness Is Tumblr Blog

Coca-Cola's "Happiness Is..." Tumblr blog invites users to experience the essence of the brand.

2) Push the Idea, Sell the Product

Social media is all about relationships – and a platform like Tumblr is perfect for forging emotional connection between a brand and its audience. By focusing the conversation on what happiness means, Coca-Cola’s “Happiness is…” campaign not only connects the brand with potential customers; it connects the product with a desirable feeling.

3) Hand Over the Wheel

When I can hangout with the Muppets, why would I bother sticking around a brand page that treats me like a museum visitor? Today’s social consumer needs to feel involved. While paying close attention to message and design consistency, Coca-Cola has given visitors to its “Happiness is…” Tumblr blog plenty of creative license, posting user-generated content and encouraging interaction with the content.

Coca-Cola's "Happiness is..." Tumblr Blog

Coca-Cola shares plenty of user-generated content on its "Happiness is..." blog, curating the user experience.

So what do you think? Can this latest social media campaign by the world’s 6th most valuable brand maintain its fizz?

Categories: Campaigns, Design, Social Networking
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Oneupweb Reviews: The Down Side to Source and Crowd

Sourcing and crowding seem to be the words for the last decade in the business and finance world. From outsourcing to crowdsourcing, the terms have been both beneficial and exploiting, to say the least. When first introduced to a group of people in whatever way it is going to be used it appears to be a friend, but give it some turn of events and we start to see the face of the frenemy. Like a great villain out of a comic book.

"There are always 2-sides to a coin" says Harvey to Batman

With offshore out-sourcing we have watched some of the good, the bad, and the ugly with its development over time. Big USA corporations ran to the opportunities they found in raising their profit margins by taking some of the labor overseas. As stated in the CIO 2003 report “offshore vendors [in] IT work costing $100 an hour in the United States can be done for $20 an hour in Bangalore or Beijing.” – The Hidden Costs of Offshore Outsourcing. There was good to be found in that tactic, but over time I think many of us can agree we have witnessed the bad that has followed along with some ugly.

Then there is the topic of crowd-sourcing. In this term I am referring to the act of sourcing tasks, skills and/or talents traditionally performed by specific individuals/professionals to a crowd of people and/or community through an open call. There are of course some benefits to this call.

Consumer end:

  • Opportunity for the amateur to gain recognition
  • Gain close to accurate information without having to employ an expert
  • Don’t have to spend hours in some corner of a library skimming through reels and reels of microfiche.

Brand end:

  • Able to collect target market research at little or no costs
  • Able to hear a collective voice in response to a brand and/or topic
  • Gain on profit margin

But then there are the down sides, like truly talented people being lost in the crowd, or professionals working harder to keep their previous margin alive. For example, as many of us are enjoying the great benefits of a tool like the website iStockphoto professional photographers are not. I’m talking about the photographers that spent a pretty penny on schooling, or gave great time and strife to an apprenticeship position so as to gain that professional skill while spending another pretty penny on the equipment to provide the product.

“In 2000, [a professional photographer] made roughly $69,000 from a portfolio of 100 stock photographs, a tidy addition to what he earned from commissioned work. [In 2005] his stock business generated less money – $59,000 – from more than 1,000 photos. That’s quite a bit more work for less money.” Wired: Issue 14.04 – June 2006.

I will be the first to admit that there is some definite benefit in sourcing and crowding for a company and/or individual, but it is a tactic that when employed should be strategically thought out for the long term. I feel people are jumping way too fast on to the short term benefits without realizing the effect it could have (and has had) in the farther scheme of it all. Therefore, I give these two verbs a sideways thumb. To me, we are still babies in the theory.

How about you? What are your thoughts?

Categories: Community
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  • 12/30/2011
  • Post By: Dan

Oneupweb Reviews : Government Photoshopping

There’s never a dull moment when it comes to North Korea – and recent events surrounding the death of “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il are no exception. One moment the North Korean regime is inviting South Korea (with which the communist country is still technically at war) to fax over their condolences, and the next it’s threatening to call the whole thing off and blow the whole peninsula to smithereens. Talk about drama, sheesh.

Well, the North Korean regime may still prefer its fax machine, but someone in Kim Jong-un’s inner circle knows how to use Photoshop. Two photographs released separately by the North Korean Central News Agency and Japan’s Kyodo News reveal some rather blatant – and less than professional – photo editing. Check it out:

North Korea Photoshops Kim Jong-il's Funeral Procession

These two photos, taken just one second apart, reveal some less-than clever Photoshopping.

Notice the difference? What happened to the group of men on the left? And what about the color of the snow? Kim Jong-il’s funeral procession is hardly North Korea’s Photoshop debut. In 2008, a photo of the communist leader featuring some creative shadow effects raised eyebrows and fueled speculation about his health.

North Korea Photoshops Kim Jong-il

Analysts cried foul on this 2008 photo of Kim Jong-il, which featured irregular lines and shadows.

Now, fair is fair, and North Korea is certainly not the only country to get creative with photography. One shouldn’t overlook Iran’s famous “phantom fourth missile,” or, on a deeply troubling note, the US Army’s doctored photos of Iraq war victims. Nationalistic Photoshopping (and propaganda in general) knows no bounds.

Iran's 4 Phantom Missiles

In this photo released by Agence France-Presse and illustrated by the New York Times, striking similarities between launch patterns suggest photo fakery.

So what’s the lesson here? Governments deceive when it suits their own purposes. Simple as that. Still, that’s no excuse. Fortunately, the same technological revolution that brought Photoshop PR to North Korea continues to equip citizens and journalists alike with the tools and know-how necessary to sort through the garbage. The decentralization of communication – mobile technology, social media, open source, etc. – has rendered both censorship and propaganda increasingly difficult to execute effectively.

Thumbs down for government Photoshopping. North Korea may find it all too easy to edit the historical record. But the brutal government and totalitarian regimes everywhere face a different reality in attempting to control the course of history – a big thumbs up for the people, as far as I’m concerned.

Categories: Social Networking
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