Business Storytelling

Pay Up with Facebook

At some point in the next few weeks, Facebook will roll-out a credits currency for games, aiming to double revenue by giving social game users the ability to “Pay With Facebook” to buy virtual goods.  According to the Business Insider article, “Revealed! Facebook's Plan To Double Its Revenues,” Facebook will charge developers about 30% per transaction for the service, an amount some experts believe has the ability to exceed the company’s ad revenues. 

For most, this seems like an obvious decision for Facebook, and a chance for the company to take back its rightful share of game revenues.  In 2009, there was no doubt about the success of social gaming.  Even this year the U.S. virtual goods revenue is expected to hit $1.6B with social gaming startups accounting for $835 million of the total.  It's no wonder that Facebook, the company that provides the gaming platform and access to 350 million+ users, is seeing dollar signs.

If You Tweet It, They Will Come…And Arrest You?

I’ve discovered a lot of ridiculous and sensational stories on Twitter over the past year – the balloon boy hoax, for example – but when I found this one about a man being arrested for a stupid little tweet, I thought it was worth rehashing.

On January 6th, 2010, U.K-resident Paul Chambers was stranded at the Robin Hood Airport(South Yorkshire, England) due to heavy snow. Annoyed and frustrated by the closures and grounded flights, Chambers decided to vent his (understandable) anger via sarcastic tweet. His message read; “Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your *&^% together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"

One week later, Chambers was arrested under the U.K’s Prevention of Terrorism Act and interrogated for seven hours because he was perceived as a major “security threat.” This mild-mannered guy has since been released on bail, but is currently suspended from his job and banned from the airport for life.

This is really extreme, of course, but worth noting. After all, our tweets are not private, they’re public. It may seem obvious, but it's worth repeating.

This doesn’t mean that you have to overly censor yourself or cancel your Twitter account, of course, it just provides a friendly reminder that sometimes you need to ask yourself (especially if you're using a corporate account), “Am I ok with the public seeing this?” And, if the answer is “no,” then you may want to rethink it.

The Times, They Are a Changing

I felt really old the other day. I actually heard myself saying "Well, when I was a kid..." to my daughters. Ok, so mid-thirties isn't exactly elderly, but I can't help but feel dated when I think about how much has changed technologically in my lifetime.
 
This all came about when I was taking photos of my kids. One of my girls ran up to me and said "let me see the pictures!" and it suddenly dawned on me that she'd never know what film was. She has no idea about having to send a roll of 35mm off in an envelope or bring it to the photo counter to have it processed. As far as she knows, you can see photos immediately after you take them and delete the ones you don't like. She'll never know about accidentally popping open the back of the camera and exposing the film, or excitedly bringing that little paper ticket to the Fotomat to pick up your double prints  and negatives. And it doesn't stop there. I started thinking about how many of the things I thought were cool in my youth are now completely foreign concepts to my kids.
 
Remember the day your parents bought their first VCR? I do...vividly. I remember the drama over whether we should get VHS or Beta (wait, did anyone actually pick Beta?). I remember how exciting it was -- at the time, it seemed like the wave of the future.  Nowadays, if you were to show my kids a VHS tape and ask them what it is, they'd be stumped. And cassette tapes? Forget it. I won't even bother trying to explain the good old days when we'd tape songs off the radio (admit it -- you did it, too) or use a pencil to wind up the actual tape when it came unspooled.
 

CES 2010: 110,000 People, 2,800 Companies, 20,000 New Products

If you've never been to Las Vegas or you've never been to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, you'd probably have no idea what to expect of either. Earlier this month, I experienced both my first visit to Las Vegas and my first CES. While Las Vegas itself was somewhat similar to the image I had of it in my head (large, fancy, themed hotels and casinos with an interesting blend of people from various places), I soon realized that my image of what CES would look like was a bit off. I was aware that thousands of people would be coming through the show to see the latest and greatest in the consumer electronics world, but the innovative products and the booths that these products were found at were what amazed me the most.

For example, our client Shure has a two-story "booth," complete with aesthetically pleasing displays of their products and two well-known DJs to entertain the crowd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XMBvoTiGFs or embedded link

Every booth drew a crowd in their own, unique way.

With the hype of 3D television as one of the highlights of this year's show, I was eager to try this technology. After recently seeing the movie Avatar in 3D, I left the theater feeling dizzy and wondered if I could see myself actually using it. John Falcone of CNET asked the same question that I asked, "Does anybody actually want to buy it?" According to Falcone, "The industry thinks 3D is a slam dunk. It's already a hit in theaters--almost half of the top-10 highest grossing movies of 2009 were offered in 3D--so the thought is it should translate perfectly to the home." I'm with Falcone on this one. I find it hard to believe that a large percentage of consumers will want to put on 3D glasses every time they watch television, even if the effects are absolutely incredible. I suppose I could see myself watching certain movies or sports events in 3D, but I don't think I'm going to turn on my favorite TV show and think, "This would be so much cooler if it was in 3D." I'm very curious to see how successful 3D televisions turn out to be.

Aside from the show's most popular consumer electronics, I thought I'd give an overview of some of the products that I personally liked.

1. HydroFill: "Horizon's HydroFill is made to convert water into hydrogen, and hydrogen into juice for your gadgets. CNET explains: 'The HydroFill extracts hydrogen gas from water and stores it in Hydrostik cartridges with a metal alloy that absorbs the hydrogen. To then charge electronic devices, people use a pocket-size fuel cell charger, called a MiniPak, which pulls hydrogen from the cartridges and a produces an electrical current.'"
2. Underwater Digital Camera Mask: Designed for scuba divers, this mask allows them to take clear digital photos of fish right without much effort. A similar product was designed for snowboarders looking to film videos while on the move down the slopes.
3. Zomm: "Zomm has introduced a solution to help consumers who constantly lose their phones: their device, the 'Zomm,' connects wirelessly with your phone via Bluetooth and will set off an alarm if you leave it. The Zomm also acts as a speakerphone to let you know about incoming calls." Mom, friends, and anyone else I know that constantly loses their cell phones, if you're reading this, expect this as your next Christmas or birthday present. In fact, I'm starting to wonder why we don't already own these.
4. Samsung's Semi-transparent Laptop: While I'm not quite sure why you would need this, it is pretty cool. Most details weren't disclosed at the show, but we do know that, according to Engadget, "it's being celebrated as the first and largest transparent OLED prototype" and that "the panel is up to 40 percent transparent (as opposed to the industry average of below twenty-five percent)."
5. Solar Chargers: Despite Treehugger's claim that CES 2010 was a "steaming pile of hypocrisy," there were plenty of environmentally-friendly products at the show, including solar chargers. The hybrid charger by Miniwiz is "capable of charging your gadgets using the wind or the sun’s rays." Other chargers enabled users to charge their gadgets while on-the-go, which is appealing for today's consumer.

Seeing Green in Detroit

The Detroit Auto Show kicked off yesterday and the big buzz was around green technology. Internal-combustion engines seemed like a thing of the past as the world’s largest automakers unveiled models of hybrid gas-electric and battery-powered vehicles. When will they hit the road? Not for awhile because consumers aren’t buying alternatives to gas engines – but they are still considered the future of the automobile industry.  The following advanced technology vehicles were on display at the show:

• Nissan Leaf – the only model Nissan brought to Detroit
• Toyota FT-CH – a concept version on a car small than today’s Prius
• Honda CR-Z Coupe – a hybrid designed to better compete with Toyota hybrids
• Chevy Volt – powered by batteries with a small gas engine to extend the car’s range.

We all know that green is hot, but do you think the automakers jumped the gun? The New York Times reported that last year, about 98 percent of the cars sold in the U.S. were powered by conventional gasoline engines. Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with the research firm HIS Global Insight, told the Times, “Hybrids are less than 3 percent of the market, and they’ve been less than 3 percent for years. The idea that people are going to immediately accept electric vehicles when hybrids are such a small part of the market is sort of dangerous.”

I agree and I think Ford is playing it smart by listening to consumer demand. The company realizes that it doesn’t know what the market is going to be like for electric vehicles.  Therefore, instead of jumping in feet first to keep up with the competition, Ford is going to unveil an electric version of the Focus in 2011 and prepare for the overwhelming green vehicle demand that is expected to take place by 2020.

When do you think green vehicle adoption will increase? In 2010? Not until 2020? We’d love to hear your predictions.

Contributed by Jena Coletti.  Follow her @jmcoletti

Taco Bell’s Trainwreck

By now you’ve heard of it.  Heck, you might even have tried it.  Yes, I’m talking about the Taco Bell diet.  It’s the “diet” that, according to the official site, “is not a weight loss program.”  Interesting.  I can count the number of times I’ve eaten at Taco Bell on one hand, but I still know that something doesn’t feel right about this.

Technically, Taco Bell’s Drive Thru Diet just takes existing menu items and replaces the cheese, sauces and guacamole with salsa and calls it “fresco.”  This erases about 20-100 calories per item.  If you’re watching your calories and have a penchant for fast food, this could very well help you out a bit.  But to call anything from Taco Bell a “diet,” when even the website admits that it’s not true, is just poor marketing. 

On his blog Scalable Intimacy Mike Troiano writes that, “Where once you could focus on driving the product reality by shaping market perception, now you must also gather market perception to shape the product reality.”  Wonderfully phrased, this rule that becomes more and more important everyday, as social media, cellphones and other new ways of communicating continue to burrow into our daily lives.  The people who determine market perception are more empowered by the minute, and when something isn’t right, they’ll make that known.

Case in point: According to AdAge, the words now most closely associated with Taco Bell are “fat,” “stop,” and “joke.”  Social media is puncturing their message like a million tiny needles.  The reality of the public’s perception is that it’s a difficult thing to change and even more difficult to trick.  Had Taco Bell approached their health food offering differently, as McDonald’s has, things could have been different for them.

Working in PR, there are lots of lessons I take away from this.  Transparency is key in all communication and companies that understand this are most likely to win the support of their audience.  Not just transparency with the public, but with the press and with their agency partners as well.  You can’t slap an audience in the face by making ludicrous claims about a product or service.  Respect and loyalty are built gradually and messaging must be consistent, or it will be called out.  As one online commenter stated, “It is pretty difficult to convince consumers that you have a diet plan after several months of telling them to stay up late for their "fourth meal" of the day.”

Contributed by Jim Fay.  Follow him @JGF3

My Phone is Not as Dumb as I Thought

It seems that every time I go to take out my phone these days I'm reminded that it's archaic (and I only bought it 6 months ago!).  It's a Verizon LG and it's far from glamorous.  In fact, I like to call it a "dumbphone" to have a sense of humor when communicating with my tech-savvy friends that all have iPhones, blackberries and Google phones.  Well, today I learned that perhaps my phone is not as dumb as I thought, and that I'm actually in the majority when it comes to the types of phones consumers own. 

As Jenna Wortham of the NY Times points out in a recent article: "Given the craze around the iPhone, Motorola Droid, Palm Pre and Nexus One, it might seem that nearly everyone has a smartphone.  But most consumers use simpler, much cheaper phones."  What's more, Jenna goes on to explain that there are companies out there that provide a way for "kinda smartphone" (or feature phone) users to get apps on their devices.  One such company is GetJar, offers about 60,000 applications, and they are not tied to a single provider or network.  I looked up my phone on the Web site, and even I can download their apps.  So, my phone is not as dumb as I thought.

But here's the catch: is the market for a "kinda smartphone" app store sustainable, or will smartphone adoption phase it out? I can tell you right now that I'd certainly love an iPhone or Android, but, as Jenna also points out in her article, cost is a deterrent for many consumers.  Why invest in a new, more expensive phone when the one I have functions just fine? It doesn't search the internet, but at least I have SMS. 

Speaking of which, I also learned today that SMS has a reach of over 3.6 billion subscribers.  And, according to the article's author William Dudley, social networks like Twitter will certainly not overshadow SMS.  If SMS will remain the most popular means of communication and I can pimp my dumbphone if I want to, maybe I can stick it out for a while longer.  Besides, I'd like to see the kinds of phones/technologies that hit the market in the next year -- and see what happens to the costs of the technologies -- before I commit to a smartphone in the near term.  So, while I drool over my friend's fancy phones, at  least I can take solace in knowing that I can also make my phone fancier if I want to thanks to companies like GetJar.

 
Contributed by Susan Wise.  Follow her @swise.

‘Tis the Season to Tame Your Inbox

The holidays are here and as part of my "2009 clean-up" efforts I’ve got my mind set on getting my inbox under control. It’s not that I’m disorganized or lackadaisical about managing e-mails; it’s just that I get a lot of them and sometimes the process of culling through everything can be a bit daunting.

Manual clean up is a necessary evil, but I’ve started to realize that effective e-mail management really boils down to the ability to quickly search for and prioritize e-mails in the midst of a hectic workday. Keeping this in mind, I did a little digging online and found a few free inbox management tools I'd like to install on my desktop (pending approval from Paul, our IT guy, of course).

There are number of great options out there, but I felt that Xobni and Liaise were the most user friendly and comprehensive of the free tools available.

Xobni
Xobni (inbox spelled backwards) is a simple plug-in for Microsoft Outlook that makes it possibly to instantly find e-mails, attachments and contact information using a search box. Think of it as the “find” option on steroids.

Why it’s worth downloading?

• Xobni Basic is free.
• It’s easy to download and integrates seamlessly with Outlook.
• It’s extremely intuitive and user friendly, so you can start using it immediately.
• Your search results appear in a helpful side bar with the lists of contacts, e-mail content or other information neatly laid out, so you can find exactly what you need in no time.

Liaise
Liaise is a free beta tool that helps you identify key tasks/priorities within your flood of daily e-mails, so you can search for projects, assign tasks, update calendars and address pressing client issues more efficiently. It gives you access to everything you need to streamline conversations and projects right at your fingertips.

Why it’s worth downloading?

• It’s free and works within Outlook, so you won’t have to deal with disruptions when you download it.
• Liaise automatically isolates key points or action items in e-mails by keywords (say “We need to finish the draft of the Lions release by 12/23, for example), so you can assign priorities, send updates to coworkers and set up calendar alerts without having to exit the e-mail you’re currently reading.
• It’s secure and won’t interfere with anti-virus software, including solutions from vendors like Symantec and McAfee.
• It works with Office 2003 or 2007 and it's compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems.

I can keep rattling off features, of course, but the easiest way to get a handle on this tool is by checking out a demo on YouTube. See below.

Both Xobni and Liaise make managing e-mails, tasks and client contacts easier, while streamlining the way you use Outlook. I’m in the midst of getting permission for Liaise, and hopefully Xobni, so I plan to dedicate a follow-up post to how these tools work in practice, and not just in theory, sometime in 2010.

- Contributed by Gretchen Doores. Follow her @canadiangal84

It’s Official—I Am No Longer Cool

A few weeks ago while visiting my family over the Thanksgiving holiday I spent some quality time with my seven year-old cousin. He and I have always had a special relationship—every time I come home for a visit he can’t wait to show me what he’s learned in school or debut his newest toy. I even helped him complete his first jig saw puzzle. I like to think that I’m the “cool” adult in the family, introducing him to new things while being way more relatable than his parents.

But during this most recent trip we engaged in a rousing family-wide Wii tournament and I realized how far off base I was. It all started when I bowled my first Wii gutter ball and he fixed me with a disdained look and announced, “You bowl worse than Granny.” By the time he helped me navigate the complex world of Blu-Ray, it was clear that any cool cache I had was long gone. At seven years old, he has mastered the world of technology in a way I fear I never will. And this got me thinking—his generation has grown up in the age of iPhones, netbooks and e-readers. It’s no surprise that he is so much more savvy than me, a child of the landline and desktop-if-you’re-lucky generation.

I wonder how the ease with which he embraces all things tech will impact other milestone experiences in his life. For example, will he be homesick on his first foray to sleep away camp or will he feel connected to his parents and extended family by his omnipresent cell phone? Will the GPS sensor on his parents’ SUV make his first attempt at parallel parking far less nerve racking than mine was in a regular old station wagon? And will he have the same sense of nervous anticipation at meeting his freshman roommate if they’ve already friended each other on Facebook?

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. In the meantime, I’ll be practicing my Wii skills in preparation for my next trip home.

-Contributed by Kate Finigan. Follow her @PRKateFin

Facing Off on Privacy

Unless you live under a rock, you know that this week Facebook announced a change in its privacy settings to give users more control over who sees the information they post to their personal pages.  Although the company’s intentions are to give people more privacy, there are plenty of complaints form the angry mob about the new policy. Many users believe the new settings will inadvertently expose their personal information, and they've threatened to delete their accounts. As is the case with almost every change the social networking giant makes, there's now a Facebook group against the moves: PETITION AGAINST NEW PRIVACY'S SETTINGS ON FACEBOOK!

In some cases, users are upset because the old privacy settings gave people the ability to make it harder (or impossible) to find someone through a simple search.  For many users that was the very thing about the privacy policy that made them comfortable with joining the site.  The way users see it, with the new privacy settings, they no longer have the option to keep their name, profile picture, current city, gender, networks, friend list or pages private.

According to Attorney Kevin Bankston from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), in reaction to the new Facebook privacy settings, “I think you're better off in some ways and worse off in some ways. It's really a mixed bag."  Contrary to Bankston, Brendon Slattery of PCWorld states in the article, “Why privacy concerns are ruining Facebook” that:  “If Facebook users became more acquainted with the power they have to protect themselves, perhaps sweeping shut-downs such as these wouldn't be necessary. But as Facebook locks doors and tosses keys, I cannot help but feel it's headed in the opposite direction from whence it started, dismantling its very purpose, and adopting an attitude of exclusivity.”