All posts in “conference”

The New Facebook – Social Media Roundup for September 23, 2011

With the recently passed F8 Developer Conference, Facebook’s spotlight from last week has continued into this week and I think it may hold onto that spotlight for a little while longer as the new features roll out, which started happening on Tuesday night.

New Features:

#1) Top Stories

Facebook has replaced the old News Feed with a smarter feed. Whether you are on Facebook every day or not all that often, the new feature will let you know the “top stories” since the time you last logged on, so you don’t have to go through everything or miss out on important news. How does it do this? By simple actions such as hiding something on your News Feed and using the new control in the top right of each story to unmark something as a top story, Facebook gets a better idea of what you want to see. In other words, it starts thinking, “What would Kirsten be interested in seeing?”

#2) Timeline

The old Facebook didn’t seem to have the best representation of an individual, as it only offered a snippet of our current life. Say, if I added a new friend, they would only be able to easily see what I have been up to within the last week or so but the new Facebook Timeline allows for friends to see the highlights of my life (whatever I choose to share of course) and this can be kept on my Timeline forever, dating back all the way to birth!

Check out this video for a little introduction to the Timeline:

#3) Real-Time Ticker

You never have to leave; it’s a one-stop shop! With newly formed partnerships, you can watch a show on Hulu, listen to a song on Spotify or stay updated on current events with Yahoo News and you can let all of your friends know what you are “watching,” “listening,” or “reading.” These types of notifications will show up on another one of the new features, your real-time Ticker. This sounds like a great marketing opportunity. If you see that a lot of your friends are “watching” the Grey’s Anatomy premier, maybe you want to tune in too?

This is all great but that real-time Ticker will keep changing as updates keep happening. How does a brand become important enough to a find a permanent place in your timeline? This is the real opportunity for a brand to build a relationship with you and get on your Wall so that your friends can see the brands you are loyal to. This is the challenge that seems to be ahead of us.

Here’s the results from a Mashable poll asking people how they feel about the new Facebook:

How do you feel?

Finally, check out this video of Andy Samberg impersonating Mark Zuckerberg at the F8 2011 for some end of the week giggles.

 

 

'On-Demand Computing: Soaring with the Cloud' Tackles Current Tech Issues

I’m Michelle McCudden and I’m the new intern here at SMG.

We are excited to let you know about an event our friends (and clients) at SAP are helping put on later this month.

On September 28, MyVenturePad, along with SAP, will present “On-Demand Computing: Soaring with the Cloud.” This four-and-half hour global summit will cover cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology. This summit is specially tailored to high-growth enterprises, so if that describes your business, you should definitely check it out.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear A-list speakers like Reid Hastings of Netflix, John Byrne of C-Change Media, Brent Leary of CRM Essentials, and Doug Merritt of SAP discuss SaaS, the ins and outs of On-Demand, and how cloud computing can impact your business.

By registering, you can attend all or part of the summit, or just view the archive of the event later. If you’re already involved in On-Demand or want to learn more about it, visit the registration page here and sign up for this exciting event.

Vote Canadian: panels at SxSW 2011

I know it’s months away, but the buzz for SXSW 2011 has already begun! As SMG is proud to be Canadian, we thought it would be nice to show some ‘Canada love’ and post (and strongly encourage voting for!) Canadian panels that were proposed for next year. The team here worked hard to find as many Canucks as we could, so if we’re missing anyone, please let us know in the comments and we’ll add ’em. Let the voting (and don’t forget commenting – that counts, too) begin!

Kevin Richard also has a great post on the same topic here. Voting closes on August 27th. Vote well and vote often – we’ll see you in Austin in March!

Social Media Roundup for June 18, 2010

Twitter Places

There is a huge amount of information that streams through, but depending on the topic, it is not always relevant to your particular geographical location. To help solve this problem, Twitter is launching their Places functionality. Users can tag locations to tweets, or browse tweets in a location of their choosing. If you find yourself at a sporting event, you can log into the stadium Twitter Place and see what everyone else is saying at the stadium. Places will be fully integrated with Foursquare and Gowolla, and API enhancements will be created to ensure all developers can use the full potential. Twitter Places will be implemented for 65 countries around the world in the coming weeks, so everyone keep your eyes peeled for the add location option below the tweet box!

How The World is Spending Time Online

It feels to many of us that Social Media has been gaining steam for years, and it looks like the momentum has just begun. Nielsen has released a study that found users are on blogs/social networks for 22% of their online time, an increase of 66% since last year. Blogs and social networks are also visited by three quarters of all global consumers, which is up 24%. These numbers are incredible, and clearly shows that social media is here for the long haul! So where do you spend your online time?

Principals of Measurement

KD Paine has a great live writeup about the recent International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) event in Barcelona. Delegates from 33 countries voted, and passed the seven proposed key principals. It is great to see that standards are being agreed upon for measuring PR and social media, and even more so that there is a focus on measuring the business results rather then just the media results.

USA vs England

World Cup fever is in the air! This week brings us another viral video that illustrates a USA vs England game with stop motion photography – using Lego! Who will win? You’ll have to watch it to find out!

It's gonna get Mesh-y!

This Thursday, the creators of popular Toronto conference Mesh, open the doors of Circa to throw the first (of many, we hope) meshmarketing Conference. meshmarketing comes at a time where there is a huge demand for more, as the Mesh guys say, “hands-on insight” in an industry that is constantly morphing.

Having been to past Mesh events, I’m looking forward to the calibre of speakers, diversity of discussions and valuable networking opportunities that the Mesh folks are so keen to supply. While the keynote and panels are stocked with talent, I’m personally most interested to attend the afternoon workshops (specifically the Facebook-focused one). My hope is that the workshops give delegates a chance to get into the really geeky stuff that we are so fond of.

And après all that geekery, it’s important to note that SMG will be sponsoring the after party–conveniently located at Circa as well!

If you haven’t already got your ticket, there are still some available here: Mesh Marketing Tickets. And if I haven’t convinced you yet, check out the 5 reasons to attend Mesh Marketing.

The Role of Digital and Influencer Marketing in Driving PR Programs of the Future

I had the privilege of attending the 2008 Public Relations Society of America International Conference in Detroit. I’ll be writing an account of each of the sessions I’ve attended and highlight the take-aways from each presentation.

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The Role of Digital and Influencer Marketing in Driving PR Programs of the Future – Presentation by Mark Hass, CEO, MS&L Worldwide

It’s no surprise when experts claim that the internet is the root of all changes in consumer markets today. What is important to realize is how these markets are changing. It’s through understanding these changes that we can incorporate better strategies that will ultimately have more results.

Change in the Consumer

Access to information, and the ability to relay that message, has put the “message” directly into the hands of the consumer. In doing so, their expectations have grown. They have a larger sense of entitlement because of this control and in turn, it gives them a sense of power.

Change in Dialogue

How we speak to consumers is shifting from a monologue to what has been coined a ‘multilogue’, a single conversation to what can be an overwhelming collaboration of information.

Monologue (think of one person) Messages are shaped and delivered in a one way process. There was a time where you could pick up a major publication and know what everyone was talking about. This news cycle is now broken because it’s spread over multiple publications and a variety of niches.

Dialogue (think of two people) This was a more sophisticated communication between influencers and communicators but still is one way. It embodies the idea of “What do you need to be able to say good things about me?”

Multilogue (think of a sea of people) Conversation that is happening everywhere; it takes place all around us and consumers are more important in shaping our brands than we are.

Change in Perceptions

Changing face and landscape – Who are the people making the decisions on what messages get put out there? With the increase in accessibility on the web it’s no longer suits in meetings that are deciding what messages and branding gets spread. The landscape has changed to include anyone who wants to get involved.

Lack of trust and confidence – A study conducted by MS&L showed that people are losing trust in their governments and corporations. Instead, they place their trust in other consumers. Again, this is a perfect illustration of the shift in where those messages are coming from. A corporate endorsement of a product (advertising) doesn’t carry the same resonance as another consumer’s opinion. Consumers are using forums much more as a place of product comparison and review.

Loyalty is redefined- This was a bit surprising that loyalty to a brand is not what it once was. Here, the focus is on the transaction (use of the product) rather than of the company itself. Perhaps this is tied to the lack of trust and confidence. Here, brand identity is important (recognizing) but loyalty is not directly related.

Changing expectations- As explained earlier, the expectation that a consumer has on a brand is much higher. The product not only has to perform to quality standards as before and be available at a competitive price, it also has to hold value or meaning to the consumer in order to be competitive. Connecting a brand with causes and issues is a way to meet those expectations.

Change in the PR practitioner

The face of PR is changing, or it must change, in order to be competitive. Relationships are no longer a one-way transaction and as such PR needs to adapt to these new communications characteristics. Keep in mind that the role has not changed completely; instead think of it as adding another tool to your tool belt.

Advisor – To provide counsel: “This is what you should do.”

Advocate – To provide counsel and meaning: “This is what you should do, and why”

Activist – To be involved and motivating: “What can we do?” This role requires more involvement, more participation from the audience and requires a practitioner that truly understands how to use the tools. They need to motivate and involve, incorporate feedback and provide areas for the consumers to participate and gain a sense empowerment and control over the product (whether it be an actual thing, support for a cause, or an idea). The key here is to have “Message Discipline” – Say what you believe and say it often.

Overall, the landscape of communications is changing and we need to adapt, not so that we can forget what we once learned but add to our knowledge to better refine the way we communicate with our stakeholders.

These changes are creating a phenomenon and public relations is the key to taking advantage of it.

2008 PRSA International Conference

The beginning of last week was an educational whirlwind for me while I was at the 2008 Public Relations Society of America International conference in Detroit. I engaged in many sessions, met a ton of new people and felt inspired and motivated by the keynote speakers (let’s just say it was money well spent). Over the next while, I’ll be recapping my time in Detroit. Whether it is posts highlighting major take-aways from the presentation or putting my two cents in about a speech, you’ll get an inside look at what you missed (and perhaps be motivated to attend in San Diego next year).

For now I’ll give you an overall synopsis of what I really got out of the conference and what I see in the year ahead for those of us in the social media, public relations and communications industries.

This year’s theme, The Point of Connection, couldn’t have been more appropriate. Throughout my time there I saw the point of connection being illustrated as the point where change becomes mainstream and turns into action. I see 2009 as a revolutionary year filled with many accomplishments and changes in perceptions. Here’s where I started to make that connection:

  • Craig Newmark from CraigsList.org is proof that nice is the new black. His keynote proved that a strong focus on community is where it’s at; it’s not only more rewarding than a focus on ROI but also is a financially sustainable business model.
  • Calling what a PR practitioner does as ‘spin’ is usually considered suicide, especially when done 40 times in a room full of 3000 PR practitioners. However, Penelope Trunk’s keynote proved that your perception is reality and we have the ability and the opportunity to change perception.
  • The communications profession hasn’t experience such a drastic change since the invention of the TV. Common sense and old rules apply but social media techniques allow us to communicate in different ways. We need to learn to optimize the way we communicate and be flexible to that change.

And finally…