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:
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.
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.
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.
This last week I reviewed the effect of Facebook EdgeRank™ for a one month span for a client and focused in on one post. For this review I will call this client EXA (Exhibit A.)
On one given day EXA admin posted a status update that created a spike in their activity chart. The status update caused the spike with a 0.61% feedback rate and 984 impressions that went across the main Facebook wall. It received 5 likes, 1 share, and 1 comment. In that it received a higher impression impact is due to that interactivity. When someone does any one of those activities on one of your own posts it will thrust that post into their own fan reach and into more newsfeeds outside your own circle. That is part of the Facebook EdgeRank™ algorithm.
What is the EdgeRank™ algorithm? “In order to optimize a user’s News Feed, a formula called Facebook EdgeRank was created. Facebook EdgeRank decides what’s most important to display in the News Feed. If Facebook EdgeRank decides it’s not important, then it gets dropped off the Feed.” – Paul
Anytime someone posts something like a photo, video, status, or even like something this creates an edge, and therefore helps to rank your post.
EdgeRank™ has 3 elements to its algorithm: affinity, weight, and time decay.
1. Affinity: the closeness you have with the other person. If you list a person as a family member or work colleague there will be a bigger affinity present. Even if you message them, Facebook will be able to pick up that you have an affinity with that person. Posting on their wall, commenting, “Liking” and so on creates a stronger affinity with them. In turn, will cause for when you post and they interact with you it is most likely to span across their newsfeed and so on helping to give you an edge in rank.
2. Weight: this factor is about making your updates interesting with ability to impact (influence) interaction. This is a point that can help a profile or page to rank and find placement in another person’s newsfeed who are not listed as family or colleague, etc. Posting with a video holds the highest weight while writing just a normal text status update holds the lowest.
The weight influence goes as follows:
Image Source: Adobe
3. Time Decay: this factor is about the currency of your update. Of course, the more recent the post the more this factor will give edge to your post.
There are ways a business can take advantage of this Facebook feature. Watch the video below and around minute 1:40 she begins to speak on that topic.
Have you explored Facebook’s EdgeRank or completed any reviews of its edge creation?
Facebook Timeline is finally here – and in the few short months since its announcement at f8 in September, the “story of your life on a single page” has taken on quite the life of its own as the target of a high-profile lawsuit and privacy advocates alike. On Monday, however, Timeline went live worldwide (though Facebook – in its awesome benevolence – is giving users until Dec. 22 to hide their skeletons). Of course, the social world went bonkers. Of course, the dramatic “That’s it – I’m officially DONE with Facebook” types signed off in protest … and then, missing their outlet for dramatic expression, quietly reactivated their accounts. Of course, nothing really happened.
Facebook launched Timeline on Monday - the most significant overhaul of the Facebook profile in the network's history.
Still, Facebook Timeline represents the most significant redesign in the network’s history. Here’s the deal…
In the “Like” column…
DESIGN
Considering what “The” Facebook looked like waaayy back in 2004, Timeline is a grand slam. There’s no denying that the new cover photo offers a lot of potential for creative types. Photos and videos really pop on the new two-column layout, and the revamped “About” section is cleaner and better organized for our increasingly diminished attention spans.
Facebook, er, "The Facebook," circa 2004.
STORYTELLING
With Timeline, Facebook fires a no-nonsense shot across the Creative Memories bow, offering a new kind of digital scrapbook – and you don’t even need a $20.85 tape runner. Rather than simply curate your life since joining Facebook (which Timeline does), the new profile allows users to fill in the missing gaps, because, you know, we’re all just dying to know what you’re up to when not posting status updates about your super adorable kittens and being 80 percent finished reading “The English Patient” on your Kindle. Really, though, allowing users to fill in the gaps only strengthens Facebook’s status as the one-stop shop of the social world. And, with an expanded 63,206-character limit, who needs that old LiveJournal? Well, maybe this guy.
In the “Dislike” column…
PRIVACY
Facebook maintains that Timeline lets you “control who sees your stuff.” And, technically, this is true. However, Facebook’s own Timeline is hardly one defined by respect for user privacy, and the new profile will only make integrating stronger, easily understood controls more difficult. Creating the world in seven days is pretty ambitious, but herding 800+ million users into redesigned profiles in the same amount of time? That’s just nuts.
REVISIONIST HISTORY
Because Timeline makes it easy to fill in the gaps (see above), it’s also possible to recreate your past. As Alison notes in this interesting post, the ability to edit Timeline content means its record is not exactly reliable.
What do you think? Facebook Timeline: Like or Dislike?
We’ve all heard it before: the familiar whine usually associated with the angsty pre-teen set, reminding us that “Well, I was a fan before it was popular.” The truth is, no one wants to hear this, and more importantly, no one cares. So what if you were into Justin Vernon beforeBon Iver? The rest of us were into Bon Iver when Bon Iver got really good, which is really all that matters. But I digress…
The point is, there’s a lot of news surrounding Spotify this week – and rightly so. But I’m not here to talk about the online music service’s new apps. I’m here to talk about why I love Spotify. And, yes, why I’ve loved Spotify since it debuted in the US. That’s right – I’ve been a believer since the beginning, so yeah, I’m biased – and I guess in that regard sort of like a “I was a fan before it was popular” Twilight kid. Guilty as charged.
The Best
1) Social
Spotify more than gets by with a little help from its friends. As Spotify itself notes in introducing itself to new users, Music is Social – and the service has already revolutionized the way music listeners engage in the social sphere. With Spotify, listeners can easily share favorite tracks and playlists via Facebook, Twitter and more. Spotify scored a major victory (and more than a few new subscribers) at Facebook’s f8 Developer Conference when the world’s largest social network announced it would integrate the new service directly into the platform. And while it’s great sharing music with friends, privacy settings ensure that you’re not broadcasting your guilty pleasures to everyone.
Spotify: it's not your grandfather's music machine.
2) Selection
Considering that a) Spotify must ultimately satisfy both music fans and recording companies, and b) music fans and recording companies are prone to hissy fits, Spotify’s selection is pretty killer. In the several months I’ve been using the service, I’ve been disappointed by an absent artist maybe three or four times. Granted, I’m not a real techno, grime, or dubstep guy, so if you’re into that sort of thing, you might find Spotify’s not for you. Or, alternatively, you might try listening to real music. Kidding. Geez.
3) Premium Service
For just $9.99 a month, Spotify users can listen to unlimited music on-demand, commercial-free and via the Spotify mobile app. As if that weren’t enough, Spotify Premium adds high-fidelity audio and an Offline mode, allowing users to download music to their devices for the duration of their membership. Considering the fact that a year’s subscription to Pandora One costs the same as 3 months of Spotify Premium and doesn’t allow for on-demand or offline listening, the Spotify offer is a steal. I’ll gladly forgo two overpriced lattes for the full Springsteen catalog – anytime, anywhere.
The Worst
Like any service, Spotify inevitably has its downsides. And while my experience has been overwhelmingly positive, I can’t say I’m not disappointed by the lack of an iPad app, the sometimes clunky mobile interface and the occasional artist / album blackout. Meh.
The Verdict
All in all, Spotify offers a seriously social way to enjoy music online. But what do you think? Is Spotify truly a smash hit – or just another one-hit wonder?
You can’t listen to all music on Spotify. But you can listen to real music.
Social Media has become a hotly integrated item for a company or project’s marketing campaign. It’s a platform that can both save your budget and also go viral with an insane amount of return as compared to TV ads, radio spots and/or outdoor advertising.
The Viral Virtuoso
Why is that?
It’s what is known in the oldest of traditional forms of advertisement as word-of-mouth. It is the Viral Virtuoso. Recommendations from personal connections or opinions shared by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising.
“Ninety percent or consumers surveyed noted that they trust recommendations from people they know, while 70 percent trusted consumer opinions posted online.” (Nielsen, 2009)
Those are some pretty huge percentages and worth the argument that any and all brands need to get with the flow and master (at best) the networks of Social Media. And, that’s obviously the skinny on that!
Tie My Shoestrings, Please
Even a short film out of Detroit discovered social media’s benefits despite a shoestring budget [2010/11].
Official Poster for One Last Call - click through for IMDb page
One Last Call, a short film created for a master’s capstone project, was implemented on a shoestring budget of $5,000. By the end of the finished product it reached an appraised worth of close to $35,000. It was a production that was, of course, about the filmmaking, but it was also about the business side, a side that takes place behind the scenes. This is something most non-industry pros have no idea about – that not so glitzy and glammed up side. Things like negotiations and contracts, location planning, city permits, sponsorships, music scores and studios, creating merchandise and so on comprise this hidden world. On this project, agitating social media fan base prior to the film entering production played a role in the invisible side as well.
In fact, social media was the success point of One Last Call. Its utilization of social media before heading into filming was part of the reason the project received a total five (5) sponsorships prior to finishing principle filming. In turn, giving the project the ability to complete at that $35,000 level. The film brought on such national sponsors as Coca Cola Creative and NVIDIA.
Some Social Sizzling Stats
In the first 30 days of launching the project’s “OLC Short Film Project” Facebook fan page, the film garnered a fan base of close to 900. On YouTube, the trailer received close to 1,000 views and the music video topped 500. On Twitter, NVIDIA and Channel 7 news WXYZ (the top in Detroit) tweeted more than once about the project. Upon announcement of the premiere via the social network, Coca Cola Creative contacted the project letting them know they wanted still involved. The national company volunteered a booth at the event giving out free Fuse drinks to a sold out crowd at the Main Art Theater in Royal Oak, Michigan.
Now That We’ve Tied My Shoe Laces, Let’s Play!
Another successful factor that played into this project was the encouragement of interaction from its fans on Facebook. Part of the strategy for the page was to go beyond simple conversation surrounding the project and post only things pertaining to One Last Call. One Last Call and the production team connected with their fans on a personal level, as is recommended in any social media campaign or plan.
Andy Rathburg (Dodge in OLC) w/Clay Matthews Fathead behind-the-scenes: photo Marc Ruiz
Within a few hours of posting one of the behind-the-scene photos from the set people were commenting and “Liking” the OLC page. Because Rathburg was tagged in the photo, his almost 3,000 followers were suddenly made aware of OLC’s existence.
These techniques worked wonders. The corresponding posts were, in turn, re-posted and oftentimes tweeted. This helped drive people to the OLC page and “Like” it. The project also encouraged behind the scene photos and set humor, which resulted in a high rate of views and “likes” from the fans.
Made-In-Detroit: A Finished Weave via the Viral Shoe String
Since the release of the short “Made-In-Detroit” film, a cult following has been ever expanding. Mentions and references to the project continue and those who were involved still give wings to the Viral Virtuoso that has become Detroit’s One Last Call success.
It was just a short film, made for a master’s program capstone. Forty (40+) people came on board in the real world and thousands came on in the virtual! Not bad for a first film from a team of emerging filmmakers from the neighborhoods of Detroit.
Some Social-lite Advice to Close With
Pay attention to that social network out there because it is what helped launch the public awareness of this project and its team. If you, as a company and/or project, are not on the social network yet, then you are missing out on a lot of leads, ROI and awesome fans!
Thank you Social Media for stepping to the platform!
And we now close with the teaser trailer from the film – hurry before its time for your “One Last Call!”
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Reference:
Neilsen. 2009. Global Advertising: Consumers Trust Real Friends and Virtual Strangers the Most. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/global-advertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-and-virtual-strangers-the-most/
