http://www.metia.com/social/peter-morgan Tue, 07 May 2013 15:04:00 +0100 Tue, 07 May 2013 15:04:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2013/05/the-linkedin-conundrum/#number-of-comments LinkedIn turned 10 this week, the site having launched back in May 2003. 225 million registered users later, LinkedIn claims to be the leading professional network on the Internet - and is often the first name mentioned by our clients when discussing a B2B social media programme. But is this reputation justified? Is LinkedIn the only social network B2B marketers should consider? Let's look at what we know… Firstly, how many of those 225 million users are actually 'active'? It came as something as a shock to Wall Street when LinkedIn admitted that a 'substantial majority' of its users weren't active when it launched its IPO back in 2011. Finding data to substantiate that admission isn't straightforward, but based on this Nielsen Norman research article it wouldn't be too outlandish to suggest that only 10% of those users visit frequently, and that only 1% actively contribute to the site on a regular basis. That won't come as too much of a surprise to most LinkedIn users: after all, how many silent types are you connected to compared with 'active' users who post or interact with something every day? And while this phenomenon certainly isn't unique to LinkedIn, it seems to be less of a problem for the competition: Facebook, for example, openly reports on 'monthly active users' and has 1.1 billion of them to boot. But is it fair to compare LinkedIn to Twitter and Facebook when the latters aren't business-focused? Well, yes... as while Twitter and Facebook don't define themselves as professional networks, it doesn't mean they aren't used by professionals for business purposes. Facebook users, for example, may not post many updates about their business lives, but they do find and consume business content through the service, and at some scale. According to this eConsultancy research, Facebook drives more than half of the traffic referrals from social media to B2B websites, with LinkedIn driving only 14%. The sheer scale of Facebook means it just cannot be ignored. In LinkedIn's defence, this competition hasn't gone unnoticed. Content has been identified as key to the company's future, and LinkedIn has been investing heavily to establish itself as a key source for business content online. And no wonder - the rise of smartphones, tablets, and the BYOD boom have greatly increased the role social networks play in how we all find and consume content. The social network that provides the best content experience may be the one that prevails in the long-term: after all, better content means more users, more effective advertising, and more revenue. So what does this mean for the B2B marketer? Well, in many scenarios LinkedIn still offers the best opportunity to find and engage professional audiences online, but it shouldn't be utilised by default: while some B2B marketers are still blinkered by LinkedIn, others have been driving real value through 'consumer' networks like Facebook and Twitter - and those that ignore such platforms on face value do so at their peril. /social/peter-morgan/2013/05/the-linkedin-conundrum/ /social/peter-morgan/2013/05/the-linkedin-conundrum/ Tue, 07 May 2013 15:04:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2013/02/how-long-until-your-car's-on-facebook/#number-of-comments Excuse the Daily Fail style headline there... not sure you need to worry about your car dating online any time soon, but you can start to get excited about the future of in-car Internet floated in this BBC article. It's hardly new to imagine the comfort gained by adding the Internet to... well... just about anything really (who wouldn't want an internet fridge that helps you plan meals and re-order your groceries?) but the reality is that, aside from in phones, no-one has really hit the mark when taking every day devices online (clunky Internet smart TV anyone?) So with bad UX fresh in my mind, the most tantalising quote in this BBC article was from John Leech from KPMG: "It will not be car companies but actually someone like Apple or Facebook who will successfully challenge the car manufacturers" Now that could lead to something... Apple has proven its revolutionary credentials before (remember just how bad mobile phone UX was before Apple forced the industry to up its game?), and the company's involvement could be the catalyst needed to spark a step change in how Internet is used in cars. I for one am aiming high: I plan to let Google drive my car so I can watch 3D TV on the windscreen. /social/peter-morgan/2013/02/how-long-until-your-car's-on-facebook/ /social/peter-morgan/2013/02/how-long-until-your-car's-on-facebook/ Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:06:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2013/02/twitter-edges-facebook-in-super-bowl/#number-of-comments Here's an interesting read amongst the wealth of 'Super Bowl meets social media' stories that sprung online this morning. Instead of focusing on Beyonce's antics at half-time or—I don't know—the game itself, Matt McGee of Marketing Land focused his attention on tracking the mentions of social networks in Super Bowl TV adverts. The results are quite an eye opener. Of the 52 national TV commercials that ran, Twitter was mentioned in 26, while Facebook was only mentioned in 4. So is this a big deal? McGee puts much of the difference down to Twitter's role in providing a 'second screen' experience for TV, and that certainly seems logical. But could it be more? Are brands starting to rebel from Facebook's iron grasp, mindful of recent moves to start charging them to reach the audiences they already thought they'd acquired? That certainly seems to be the case for some (read this interview with Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban from November of last year) and it's no shock that brands in general are trying to build more balanced presences online... so is that behind this outburst of affection? I think it's more than possible... I mean, if you were promoting a social network in your Super Bowl ad which would you choose? The network that makes every one of your posts visible to your entire audience, or the network that hides your posts behind an algorithm, and forces you to pay extra if you want to reach the people that have already chosen to 'like' you? The answer for most brands is becoming clear... PS if you're into your Superbowl marketing, you might like to review Corey's recent predictions in this post on Wireless Week. /social/peter-morgan/2013/02/twitter-edges-facebook-in-super-bowl/ /social/peter-morgan/2013/02/twitter-edges-facebook-in-super-bowl/ Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:35:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/the-rise-and-rise-of-3d-printing/#number-of-comments Without a doubt one of the most exciting technological advancements of the last few years has been that of 3D printers, and a flurry of recent stories have really highlighted the potential they hold beyond printing small plastic Star Wars characters. Firstly there's the Dutch architect planning to 3D print buildings, then there are the scientists working to increase the efficiency of food consumption through 3D food printers (I thoroughly recommend this Freakonomics podcast on that subject), not to forget the phone company that's just provided a free 3D printing template so customers can print their own phone covers. But the news it isn't all positive... there's been growing talk around the impact 3D printers will have on the shadow economy. Firstly, affordable 3D printers will make patent infringement and piracy a lot easier and cheaper... it isn't a stretch to imagine The Pirate Bay offering free printing templates to recreate your favourite patented products for a fraction of the price. And if you consider the epic legal battles surrounding piracy in the music and film industries, can you imagine how the manufacturing industry will react? But by far and away the scariest story I've seen is this article on how 3D printing makes the home manufacturer of plastic guns a reality. Now that can't have been too high on the Christmas wish lists of Operation Trident officers. One thing's for sure: 3D printing will lead to seismic shifts in how the products we consume are created, and we're only starting to understand the full potential of this change. The cost of 3D printers is dropping fast (a quick web search finds them starting at £1,400 on Amazon) and there's little doubt they'll be a mainstream product in the home within a few years. It's only then that the true impact will begin to be realised. /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/the-rise-and-rise-of-3d-printing/ /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/the-rise-and-rise-of-3d-printing/ Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:00:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/'showrooming'-and-the-opportunity-for-the-high-street/#number-of-comments I was interested to read this article on 'showrooming' yesterday. For those scratching their heads, 'showrooming' is the phenomenon (fast becoming the common practice) of consumers browsing for products in a High Street store, before buying those product online instead (often forgoing instant ownership for a sizeable discount). High Street chains including HMV and Waterstones have become prime 'targets' for such consumer behaviour (the story made the ITV news before Christmas), with the process made easier for shoppers thanks to innovation from more agile online competitors: Amazon, for example, includes a barcode scanner in its iPhone app so consumers can scan products in a High Street store and then order them instantly online. But is 'showrooming' necessarily a bad thing for the High Street? Well no, at least according to this Deloitte study from 2010 on the provision of in-store WiFi. Deloitte suggests two compelling advantages that High Street retailers can gain by providing WiFi to customers (and therefore enabling 'showrooming'): 1. Consumers will often choose convenience over the online discount. By making a modest price gap visible, retailers can encourage some consumers to buy in-store. "Retailers are realizing that the convenience factor often wins over consumers who, because of the in-store Wi-Fi, quickly research the information they're looking for and decide in favour of the store they're in, even when prices might be somewhat lower elsewhere… thus, for consumers, the immediacy of their in-store experience generally provides a favourable outcome for the retailer." 2. 'Showrooming' provides an opportunity for High Street stores to better engage their customers, and thereby increase sales. "Providing internet access in the store can allow retailers to more readily offer customers information on past purchases, current sales, coupons, or even instant contact with the retailer. It also allows the retailer to provide on-the-spot, personalized marketing messages to the in-stores shopper." "Wi-Fi can also facilitate the multi-channel shopping experience. While in the store, shoppers can purchase online if they so desire. It also allows quick access to an "endless aisle", where shoppers can purchase a size or color online that is not available in the store, thus keeping that shopper from going elsewhere." So why aren't more High Street chains benefiting? The biggest hurdle may be the High Street's failure to compete online. It's well known that many High Street retailers failed to spot the digital opportunity early, and it's fair to say that nearly all (if not all) High Street chains are behind online competitors like Amazon when it comes to engaging consumers through the web. In short, most High Street stores are failing to identify and convert the 'showrooming' consumers for themselves, and are losing potential customers without much of a fight. But that may be starting to change: Deloitte's advice was taken to heart by Marks and Spencer last year, when it launched a trial of in-store WiFi as its new superstore in Cheshire Oaks, near Liverpool. If more High Street stores follow suit and develop credible digital presences that help to convert more 'showrooming' consumers into customers, then the High Street may be able to bounce back – after all, the High Street still has its own advantages over online retailers, especially when it comes to the more tactile shopping experiences such as buying clothes or shoes. And with specific reference to HMV, it'll be interesting to see whether the newer, leaner company being proposed by Hilco can become a credible competitor for Amazon & Co. Many a British High Street and consumer hopes it will. /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/'showrooming'-and-the-opportunity-for-the-high-street/ /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/'showrooming'-and-the-opportunity-for-the-high-street/ Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/facebook-launches-free-iphone-calls/#number-of-comments Facebook launched free iPhone calling for its US members yesterday, in a move that will see it square off against Microsoft-owned Skype in the battle to be VoIP top dog. The Verge has the scoop, reporting that Facebook has extended the functionality to the US after successful testing in Canada. UK users like myself can't currently access the functionality, but the article assures us that performance and call quality are good, meaning Skype finds itself battling with a huge, unwanted competitor – and one with many more users than itself (400 million more, if you believe Wikipedia). It'll be interesting to see both how Skype attempts to differentiate itself from its larger competitor, and how mobile operators further shift their business models (away from calling and towards data) in order to profit from the move. Game on! /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/facebook-launches-free-iphone-calls/ /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/facebook-launches-free-iphone-calls/ Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:22:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/driving-revenue-through-mobile/#number-of-comments Here's a good read for any businesses looking to develop or enhance their revenue streams through mobile... that's most businesses then! It's particularly relevant given the demise of HMV and Blockbuster in the UK, both having been accused of failing to adapt to the world around them. The evolution of mobile browsing is an opportunity for businesses to run more efficiently, and this opportunity is no longer a differentiator: it's become business hygiene for any company serious about competing in the long run. /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/driving-revenue-through-mobile/ /social/peter-morgan/2013/01/driving-revenue-through-mobile/ Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:34:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/12/instagram-starts-to-shun-twitter/#number-of-comments Many a Twitter snapper will be freaking out this afternoon with the news that Instagram has started to decouple itself from the popular social network. Instagram (bought by Twitter's big rival Facebook earlier this year, as you no doubt recall) has this week taken steps to reduce the connectivity between itself and the micro-blogging site. While Instagram photos currently display embedded within a Twitter user's feed, this article on TheNextWeb suggests it won't be long before those users are back in the dark ages; required to click links to view photos off on the Instagram website itself. While Instagram claims this move will ensure the best possible experience for its users (as only its website and apps offer full functionality), there's little doubt it's a competitive swipe, not to mention a stab in the back... after all, Instagram owes much of its success to its connectivity with Twitter. So what's the point in all of this? Well, that extra click will be mightily annoying on a smartphone - and who will be there to soak up the disaffected users? Ol' Mr. Zuckerberg, that's who - looking to recoup some of the $1bn dollars he spent earlier this year. /social/peter-morgan/2012/12/instagram-starts-to-shun-twitter/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/12/instagram-starts-to-shun-twitter/ Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:41:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/10/why-brands-can-expect-to-pay-more-to-use-facebook/#number-of-comments Life at Facebook HQ in the last few months must have been interesting to say the least, what with the slide of the company's much vaunted and newly issued stock; the fact that—for the first time ever—Facebook has been driven to advertise itself on TV; and all against the seemingly positive backdrop of the company acquiring its 1 billionth user. Most businesses would kill for that many users (1 billion people is 14% of the planet by the way), but there’s a problem: Facebook is having difficulties turning those users into cold, hard cash. Sure, the company's been making money through advertising for a good few years, but its traditional advertising model doesn't seem to have legs—at least not strong enough to prop up the company's stock. So where's the issue? Well, while brands have happily paid Facebook to acquire audience, some of them (like GM) have started to cut Facebook out of the loop; shifting budget away from Facebook advertising and towards investments in content strategy in order to better engage their acquired audiences; investments from which—rather critically—Facebook can't take a cut. So tough luck for Facebook right? Well... no. Audiences on social networks aren’t acquired and owned like a database of email addresses: they're earned... or more specifically they're borrowed and hired, and Facebook is changing the rules on how its 'leasing scheme' works. Until now, companies have had a fairly free ride of it with Facebook: once audiences were acquired (paid or otherwise), companies were free to engage them how they wished. But when Facebook launched 'Promoted Posts' back in May of this year it became clear that its strategy was shifting: Facebook was trying to slice more revenue from the on-going engagement of its users, effectively asking companies to pay twice: once to acquire users, and then again to engage them. So where does old man Zuckerberg see this going? It's not all that clear, but there's speculation (e.g. in this Ad Age article) that it may consider charging brands based on audience size. Now, I don't think that model is feasible (not least because the value of each fan differs so much between companies and industries – just consider a company selling £20,000 cars vs. a company selling 50p chocolate bars), but I do think Facebook will investigate new ways to cash in on brand use as it tries to reinvigorate investor trust—and that surely means higher cost for brands. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out. /social/peter-morgan/2012/10/why-brands-can-expect-to-pay-more-to-use-facebook/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/10/why-brands-can-expect-to-pay-more-to-use-facebook/ Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:38:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/10/rip-ceefax/#number-of-comments Here's a lovely obituary to mark the passing of a great forefather of this digital age: Ceefax. Long before Sir Berners-Lee invented this Internet fad, and Mr. Jobs conceived his iPhone, and even before the popular weekend sport of watching grown men watch live football on TV caught on, millions of British men spent hours of each and every Saturday camped out in front of their dishwasher-sized televisions, eyes fixed firmly on the Ceefax sport pages. But alas, as the UK digital switchover nears its completion the light will finally go out on Ceefax - and while I'm sure said advances in technology are for the better, future generations will no doubt live less rounded lives having never known the frustrations of waiting for page 8 of 9 to scroll around during a particularly congested round 1 of the League Cup when your team had been drawn away to Walsall on a dark and dreary Wednesday night. Rumour has it that Ceefax contained even more content than sports... though no-one I know ever ventured away to check. But whatever your memories, make a cup of tea and enjoy this last, sweet burst of bright block fonts on black... and savour one of the few BBC icons from the 1970s that we can still take time to enjoy. /social/peter-morgan/2012/10/rip-ceefax/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/10/rip-ceefax/ Mon, 22 Oct 2012 10:52:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/09/facebook-ad-update-brings-social-crm-closer-to-reality/#number-of-comments New changes to Facebook advertising are allowing brands to target users by their email addresses and phone numbers for the first time. This Inside Facebook blog post details the changes, which will let companies deepen their engagement with existing customers and better integrate Facebook with their core marketing activities. This is another step on the road to brands better justifying the value of their Facebook investment: assigning value to Facebook as a marketing channel becomes considerably easier when it can be integrated more closely with a company's CRM database, a point picked up well in this eConsultancy post. Marketers need to tread carefully though... while this change will allow companies to better target their customers with more relevant communications, it will no doubt raise further concerns about the scale and range of data held by Facebook. It's up to Facebook to communicate the value of these changes to consumers - and that's something they haven't done too well in the past. /social/peter-morgan/2012/09/facebook-ad-update-brings-social-crm-closer-to-reality/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/09/facebook-ad-update-brings-social-crm-closer-to-reality/ Wed, 19 Sep 2012 11:49:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/09/google-gets-ready-for-paradigm-shift-in-mapping/#number-of-comments Google is well used to being on the front foot when it comes to... well just about any aspect of the web. So when confirmation came last month that Apple's forthcoming mobile OS would no longer include Google apps as standard, it must have caused more than a ripple down at the Googleplex. The effects could be pretty big: Apple has invested significantly in its own rival mapping device (well, those piles of cash had to be used somewhere) and can expect to acquire a huge audience once its new OS is rolled out (as many as 316m iOS devices exist, according to this unverified post from March). On the contrary, Google will find itself a few hundred million users down - something that will make its advertising services a great deal less attractive to businesses worldwide. All of which makes this BBC interview with Brian McClendon (the man in charge of Google Maps) a compelling read. Mr. McClendon provides a glimpse of what's coming next for Google Maps as it attempts to regain a competitive advantage over Apple. His team obviously saw this change coming a long while back, and there's some pretty impressive stuff on the way - as you'd expect, given they need to convince those many million Apple users to ignore their new in-built software and opt for Google instead. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out. /social/peter-morgan/2012/09/google-gets-ready-for-paradigm-shift-in-mapping/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/09/google-gets-ready-for-paradigm-shift-in-mapping/ Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:31:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/09/livingsocial-driving-big-revenue-for-brands/#number-of-comments Daily deals website (and Groupon competitor) LivingSocial is driving significant revenue for consumer brands, at least according to these figures on Mashable. Companies including Starbucks, Amazon, and McDonalds are using LivingSocial to offer big discounts on stock; providing consumers with great value, and themselves with a revenue shot. And that shot is pretty significant... Starbucks broke the record for most units sold in a single deal yesterday with 1.5m sales of a $10 gift card discounted to $5: that's $7.5m of revenue in one day, from one site. And that's small fry compared to the $11.5m Amazon generated earlier in the year, when it sold 1.15m $20 gift cards discounted to $10. It's hard to gauge the long-term value retailers will get from such sites, and Groupon's struggles since floating suggest that the sector's future may not be clear cut - but revenue figures like those above should at least ensure a steady flow of companies looking to test bulk-discounting for themselves. /social/peter-morgan/2012/09/livingsocial-driving-big-revenue-for-brands/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/09/livingsocial-driving-big-revenue-for-brands/ Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:29:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/08/london-2012-the-creative-review/#number-of-comments Here's a great read for anyone trying to milk every last drop of enjoyment out of the Olympics: a creative review of the Games by Creative Review (they're probably best-placed to do it, right?) taking in everything from the London 2012 logo, the Olympic torches and cauldron, and even the mini-Minis that raced around the Olympic stadium returning shots, hammers, and javelins to their burly owners. There's some fascinating insight on the decisions behind each element: well worth a read for both creative professionals and - frankly - anyone with a passing interest on how the Games were put together so well. As for me, I always loved the branding: any brand logo that is easily recogniseable independently of colour is a winner for me. And there aren't many brands that can claim to pull that off. /social/peter-morgan/2012/08/london-2012-the-creative-review/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/08/london-2012-the-creative-review/ Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:24:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/07/hipmunk-leads-the-way-with-online-flight-booking/#number-of-comments I really like the travel booking site Hipmunk - it's one my favourite start-ups from recent years, and one of the few to offer a real improvement to a common (first world) problem: that of booking air travel. The technology and data behind the service is far from revolutionary, but the approach to the user experience - at least in travel circles - is. Flights are organised visually (instead of within a list like Expedia) and can be easily sorted and filtered based on variables such as price, duration, and agony (a combination of price, duration, and number of stops). Overall it provides users with a much clearer and quicker understanding of available flights. But the simplicity of Hipmunk's solution could be its downfall. Google have already followed suit with their own visual flight search, and the tech giant's huge ready-to-go audience must have Hipmunk worried. In response, Hipmunk has started to think beyond the traditional revenue model of commission. This week it launched Hipmunk Business Class - a monthly subscription-based service aimed at PAs who regularly book business travel for colleagues. The service offers access to a range of features that - while not ground-breaking - should prove useful for regular bookers, and at $10 per month the subscription will be well within reach for most companies. You can learn more through the short video below, and read Wired's take here. /social/peter-morgan/2012/07/hipmunk-leads-the-way-with-online-flight-booking/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/07/hipmunk-leads-the-way-with-online-flight-booking/ Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:23:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/06/is-twitter-slowing-down/#number-of-comments Had an email from Twitter of late? As time passes Twitter seems to be relying more and more heavily on traditional email marketing to keep its users engaged. In the past, most of Twitter's email activity was focused on re-engaging users that had lost their way and hadn't posted for some time. But all this seems to have changed: many users (including the very active) now receive a weekly email digest of activity on the site featuring content both from people they follow, and from others that Twitter thinks may be of interest. So why more email marketing? Is the average Twitter user spending less time on the site? Certainly a drop in user activity would spring Twitter into such an action. As Twitter builds out its advertising offering, its relying on a heavily active user base to provide a competitive advantage over other ad platforms – and if users are finding their kicks elsewhere (Pinterest? Facebook? Instagram?) Twitter becomes a less desirable platform for brands to advertise on. Time will tell if Twitter has a problem – but I certainly don't think this change in strategy is indicative of success. /social/peter-morgan/2012/06/is-twitter-slowing-down/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/06/is-twitter-slowing-down/ Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:35:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/06/building-narrative-with-storify/#number-of-comments Here's a good example of social media being used to organise content around a live event: the BBC has been using the social timeline service Storify to build narrative around the horrific events witnessed by reporter Paul Danahar as he accompanied UN monitors to the scene of a massacre in the Syrian village of Qubair. Through Storify, users can create a timeline linking individual pieces of content from around the Internet, and add their own commentary to wrap the content into a story. In this case the BBC sourced content from its own website and the journalist's posts on Twitter, but other news outlets are using Storify to collate public reaction and content from the wider web (see MSNBC's new piece on Rodney King's death, or the Toronto Star's story on last weekend's Radiohead stage collapse). Storify clearly fits the bill for news outlets trying to curate content around big news, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see an acquisition from outside of the traditional silicon valley social media businesses - CNN perhaps? /social/peter-morgan/2012/06/building-narrative-with-storify/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/06/building-narrative-with-storify/ Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:21:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/05/crowd-tagging-from-twickenham/#number-of-comments I always enjoy these 'tag yourself' photos from huge events… first came Glastonbury, more recently there was the FA Cup Final, and now the egg-chasers from Twickenham are getting involved with this panoramic beauty from the Aviva Premiership Rugby Final this past Saturday. The execution is very good (you can seamlessly zoom into the faces of most of the 81,000 people present) and – ignoring privacy concerns for a short minute – it's a great way for a sponsor to engage an audience after an event has finished. Indeed, more than 2,100 people have been tagged in the four hours since the photo was published this morning… not bad when you consider that most Facebook advertisers would kill for this 2.7% rate of engagement. One thing I'd like to see though: photos of all these people heading to work this morning... it would be safe to assume a rather high rate of sunburn! /social/peter-morgan/2012/05/crowd-tagging-from-twickenham/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/05/crowd-tagging-from-twickenham/ Mon, 28 May 2012 16:18:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/05/beyond-the-mouse/#number-of-comments Much has been made of touch technology in the last few years, but touch isn't the only way computer manufacturers are envisioning a post-mouse and keyboard world... Meet Leap, a new 3D motion system to control your computer. It claims to be 'more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard and more sensitive than a touchscreen'. We'll have to wait until the end of the year to see how true those claims are - but it looks pretty darn cool on first view... /social/peter-morgan/2012/05/beyond-the-mouse/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/05/beyond-the-mouse/ Wed, 23 May 2012 17:38:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/04/google-joins-the-consumer-cloud/#number-of-comments Google entered the consumer cloud storage market yesterday, as the west coast tech giant announced its new Google Drive service - offering up to 16TB of cloud storage to average Joes like you and I. Cloud storage is hot stuff, and not just because one of the world's most annoying men is an investor: it's already become a cornerstone for how we consume technology and content as individuals. Through cloud storage users can back up photos, videos, and documents, and have them synched to every device without so much as a click. It increases productivity in offices, removes the hassle from sharing files, and provides piece of mind to anyone with a large photo collection (I couldn't have made it through a six month break abroad last year without Dropbox keeping my photos safe). But Google are late to the party and they're up against some stiff competition - so if you're making your first steps in the world of cloud storage this Guardian article is a great place to begin. I wish I'd read it before splashing out on a Dropbox upgrade - for generic storage needs like mine they recommend heading straight for Microsoft's SkyDrive. /social/peter-morgan/2012/04/google-joins-the-consumer-cloud/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/04/google-joins-the-consumer-cloud/ Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:29:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/04/internet-explorer-getting-down-wiv-da-kidz/#number-of-comments Is this the future of music videos? Microsoft have teamed up with Jasmine Villegas (yea, I wasn't cool enough to know either) for an interactive HTML 5 music video for her new single 'Just A Friend'. By logging into the site with a Facebook ID users are served a personalised experience, becoming the singer's best friend who clearly longs for a helluva lot more. Through a range of in-experience games users can alter the path of the video - though all attempts to shape my own destiny were futile (if it ain't FIFA I can't play it), and I'm fairly sure she'll have a restraining order out on me before the day is out. Check it out for yourself... and be prepared to feel very, very old.  (What may be more useful for most is this detailed run-through of exactly how the experience was put together. Bravo for the transparency!) /social/peter-morgan/2012/04/internet-explorer-getting-down-wiv-da-kidz/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/04/internet-explorer-getting-down-wiv-da-kidz/ Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:59:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/03/who-remembers-friends-reunited/#number-of-comments Friends Reunited re-launched this week amongst much fanfare. Britain's original social network is back in business with a brand new site and - I was surprised to find - I quite like it. The new Friends Reunited has pitched its tent in pastures new (online friendship is best left to Facebook eh?) using the scrapbook/pin board style made popular by Pinterest to display a wealth of nostalgic content aimed at putting tears in our eyes, and making us speak like four Yorkshiremen. I actually think they've done a good job. Certainly the site feels easier to use than the competition's, plus there's better editorial and less spam - though both are most likely due to a lack of users. Once the teary-eyed British public let loose things will no doubt nose-dive. It's hard to imagine the site can ever recover its position as a leading social network (the brand name alone sticks out like a sore thumb, and Pinterest functionality is bound to improve), but I can well imagine a steady stream of traffic from the UK's ever growing legion of silver surfers.  And I'm one of them - I love this collection of vintage footy kits... /social/peter-morgan/2012/03/who-remembers-friends-reunited/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/03/who-remembers-friends-reunited/ Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:42:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/02/social-media-and-the-grammys/#number-of-comments It's no surprise that social media usage records have been broken by the week as the likes of Twitter and Facebook have become more and more mainstream. But the scale of the records set during Sunday night's Grammy Awards show just how much a part of our lives social media have become. According to this post on Mashable (and the infographic below from Bluefin Labs) there were 13 million social comments during Sunday's event - breaking the record of 12.2 million set just last week by the Super Bowl. Of more interest to me though is the developing maturity of the 'second screen' experience: the Grammy Live app for iOS provided viewers with a dedicated platform for exclusive content and discussion, and 1 million people used it - that's 3% of the entire TV audience: a not insubstantial number of people. All this shows the potential of social media as huge drivers of traffic and conversation: this was the most watched Grammy Awards for 28 years – that may be a coincidence, or it may show the power social media can have when channelled effectively. /social/peter-morgan/2012/02/social-media-and-the-grammys/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/02/social-media-and-the-grammys/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:36:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/the-new-face-of-bbc-sport/#number-of-comments Several million British men took sharp intakes of breath this morning as they loaded their laptops and logged on to find big changes in the most important website on the entire Internet: BBC Sport. The site has seen a major refresh ahead of the Olympics, and initial user opinion seems to be divided. And don't think I'm joking on the importance: as I write 'New BBC Sport' is planted firmly atop the UK trending charts on Twitter. But I won't get caught up in the hype, oh no: I'm a firm believer in giving sites a thorough test before offering a critique, so I'll be spending the next few hours trying to find the team with the most yellow cards in the Football League. It's not Northampton Town, only 71 more to check... /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/the-new-face-of-bbc-sport/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/the-new-face-of-bbc-sport/ Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:50:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/soundcloud-hits-10-million-users/#number-of-comments    Great to see the audio-sharing service SoundCloud reach 10 million users last week. In just over 3 years SoundCloud has become the de facto standard for publishing and sharing audio online, a position similar to that achieved by Flickr with photos, and YouTube with video. And it's not just musicians using it: click the play button above for an example of how Penguin is using SoundCloud to promote its audiobooks. The company's meteoric rise is thanks to its focus on making innately social products. Nearly every SoundCloud user action – however basic – can be integrated with another social platform to help drive traffic to a sound (just search Twitter for 'a new SoundCloud favorite' to see this for yourself), and this traffic helps to amplify the SoundCloud brand and attract new user registrations. This sociality – coupled with a truly vast stream of user content – has helped SoundCloud capture the audio sharing space for its own. It surely won't be too long before that ten million turns into a hundred... /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/soundcloud-hits-10-million-users/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/soundcloud-hits-10-million-users/ Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:20:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/crowd-sourcing-to-the-max!/#number-of-comments This has to be the ultimate example of crowd-sourcing: a full length recreation of the original Star Wars film, stitched together from 15 second clips created by Wookie loving members of the public. The clips have been able individually before (the project won an Emmy in 2010) but this is the first time they've been stitched into the full length movie. I recommend putting the kettle on, kicking back and enjoying the full 2 hours… all in the name of Internet research of course! /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/crowd-sourcing-to-the-max!/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/crowd-sourcing-to-the-max!/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:30:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/a-beautiful-thing/#number-of-comments While on my way into work yesterday a smiling girl stepped into my path and handed me a bottle of Tropicana orange juice. The gift was delicious, perfectly timed, and came with a hashtag encouraging me to tweet if I enjoyed it - something I very nearly did, but something distracted me (a ball of yarn maybe), the opportunity passed, and I moved on with my day. Leaving work 8 hours later, I was enticed away from my normal route by a beautiful, warm glow coming from Trafalgar Square. There was a large ball of light suspended in mid-air (well, hanging from a large crane) next to Nelson’s Column: a mini-sun in the dark depths of the London winter, tempting people to spend a few minutes basking in its glow before heading home. Turns out it was commissioned by Tropicana. After giving us all a lovely gift in the morning, Tropicana was drumming its brand into our collective subconscious via the medium of a beautiful experience. Finally I took a photo and tweeted; as did many others. The moral of the story? Surprise people with beautiful things and they will share them. But what can the average company learn from this? Well… while relocating the Sun to central London may be outside the means of most companies, creating beautiful, compelling experiences for their customers is not - and if companies can do that regularly they can convert their customers into advocates and rapidly increase the value social media adds to their business. Just ask Volkswagen, Old Spice, or Blendtec! UPDATE: Tropicana have posted this video to YouTube... /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/a-beautiful-thing/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/a-beautiful-thing/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:18:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/why-you-should-dig-a-bit-deeper-to-learn-more-about-sopa/#number-of-comments No surprise, I've had great difficulty trying to decipher SOPA and understand the impact it could have both on me and on the Internet as a whole. And while yesterday's blackout action helped raise awareness of SOPA, I found it hard to find balanced commentary on the matter - mainly thanks to the huge stakes involved for those on either side of the argument. Many of the world's largest Internet companies have built business models around copyright infringement, while on the other side publishing houses are well aware that a networked Internet means their traditional business models are no longer viable. This is serious business for both sides, and the amount of effort and money each is spending on lobbying the public and Congress is testament to that. So, to get a more balanced opinion the casual commentator had to dig a little deeper - and some of the most balanced articles I found yesterday came from smaller scale content creators: the musicians, writers, and journalists whose work is at the centre of the debate around the concept of a 'free' Internet. So how has the Internet impacted these guys? Well before the World Wide Web, talented content creators were able to generate enough income from their work to make the effort worthwhile. They could retain sufficient control over their work to make money from it: because if people wanted to consume it they had to pay for it. And that income helped them to keep working and keep creating the pieces of art, writing, and music that we all enjoy. But the Internet changed that: while it made it infinitely cheaper and easier for an artist to expand their reach, it also made it harder for them to retain control over their work - and without some level of control it became more and more difficult for them to make money from their work. So why should we listen to what these people say? Because unlike the main sparring parties, they seem to see both sides: they understand - and benefit from - the power the Internet can bring to their work, but they've also experienced the downsides of a free Internet. They don't want to see creativity on the Internet stifled, but they know things need to change to better protect copyright. So whether you're strongly for or against SOPA, or - like me - struggling to find a balanced critique, here are three articles that helped me to better understand what's at stake... Chicago Daily Herald: Talk with the Editor: The problem with a simplistic view of freedom. BetaBeat: Why You Shouldn’t Listen to Facebook or Google When They Come Out Against SOPA. Robert Levine interviewed by Ben Watt. How much is music worth? The author of 'Free Ride' in conversation with Buzzin' Fly's Ben Watt. /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/why-you-should-dig-a-bit-deeper-to-learn-more-about-sopa/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/why-you-should-dig-a-bit-deeper-to-learn-more-about-sopa/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:28:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/3d-printing-for-the-masses/#number-of-comments One of my favourite stories from this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was this one about 3D printing. After years as a complex and expensive technology way beyond the reach of the average consumer, it seems 3D printing is finally making it into the home. £1,130 buys you a 3D printer from Makerbot capable of printing a child's toy set or replacing a missing bath plug. The video below sheds a bit more light on how it works. I love the possibilities this holds for businesses: imagine if you could replace lost Ikea parts without leaving the home!Bring on the future!   /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/3d-printing-for-the-masses/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/3d-printing-for-the-masses/ Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:19:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/twitter's-most-popular-brands/#number-of-comments I was interested to see social media aggregator Hootsuite yesterday publish a list of the most talked about brands on Twitter in 2011. The majority of the top 15 companies are the cool, consumer companies you'd expect - and while you can safely assume conversations around companies like Nike and Apple had a positive effect on their brands, the impact of buzz around companies like Research In Motion (as it struggled to regain market share after BlackBerry service issues over the summer) and News Corporation (as it reeled from the phone hacking scandal in the UK) must have been rather more harmful. It would be interesting to know the effect this negative buzz had on each company's share price... now that would be a more complicated infographic to put together! /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/twitter's-most-popular-brands/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/twitter's-most-popular-brands/ Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:08:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/photosynths-across-the-americas/#number-of-comments Cracking view at Machu Picchu After five years of service here at Metia I was fortunate enough to be given a sabbatical in order to get away from London for a while and see some more of the world (and no doubt to give some of my colleagues a bit of a rest). A few months and a few thousand miles later I'm back at my desk (with all my organs in the same place), so as a gentle first post upon my return I thought I'd share a few panoramas taken along the way with Microsoft's Photosynth app for iPhone - a great way of capturing more of a place than the average camera allows. And if you'd like to see more you can find a whole host of them here. Iguaza Falls, Brazil    Inca ruins near Machu Picchu   Valparaiso, Chile    Mexico City Zocalo   Chargers vs. 49ers, San Diego   /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/photosynths-across-the-americas/ /social/peter-morgan/2012/01/photosynths-across-the-americas/ Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:54:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/06/what-does-5000-tweets-per-second-look-like/#number-of-comments They look a little like this. I'm loving the work Twitter is doing to visualise the behaviour of its users. Putting aside how it it must help the company understand how use of its product is changing as its user base grows... it's just plain beautiful! PS thanks to Gavin for the tip-off. /social/peter-morgan/2011/06/what-does-5000-tweets-per-second-look-like/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/06/what-does-5000-tweets-per-second-look-like/ Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:03:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/05/search-data-a-dengue-fever-early-warning-system/#number-of-comments In 2008 Google launched Flu Trends, an attempt to detect flu epidemics using search engine query data. The hypothesis (original proposed by this clever chap) was that an increase in searches for flu-related information would correlate to an increase in cases of flu: something the data collected appears to back up. Google has since spotted a similar trend in dengue fever, and has used this data to create a tool that estimates cases of dengue in affected countries. I'm no scientist, but—visually at least—the correlation is striking... This is much more than a quirky Google labs project: unlike official data from health agencies, search data can be analysed in the moment, giving epidemiologists an early detection system in the fight against disease. Who would have guessed our web searches had the potential to save lives? /social/peter-morgan/2011/05/search-data-a-dengue-fever-early-warning-system/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/05/search-data-a-dengue-fever-early-warning-system/ Tue, 31 May 2011 16:44:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/05/twitter-and-the-justice-system/#number-of-comments Lots in the news about the role Twitter is playing in the British legal system, particularly on whether court orders can still be realistically enforced. This BBC article is one of the best I've read on the subject—it focuses on concerns over Twitter's potential impact in the criminal courts, particularly with regards to the leaking of sensitive information that puts victims or witnesses at risk. You get the feeling this one will rumble on... /social/peter-morgan/2011/05/twitter-and-the-justice-system/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/05/twitter-and-the-justice-system/ Wed, 25 May 2011 14:03:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/05/osama-crashes-the-royal-wedding/#number-of-comments Two big world events over the weekend, and two enormous spikes in Twitter conversations. Check the graph below that compares mentions of "royalwedding" (in red) to "osama" (in blue). He was obviously annoyed at not being invited... /social/peter-morgan/2011/05/osama-crashes-the-royal-wedding/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/05/osama-crashes-the-royal-wedding/ Tue, 03 May 2011 15:04:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/04/project-cascade-visualising-how-we-share-content/#number-of-comments Here's an interesting project from The New York Times' research and development lab. Project Cascade helps to visualise the flow of information through the social web—a puzzle key to helping publishers like the New York Times improve how they distribute content online. The tool splits online activity into separate but related events (for example a story being published on the NYT website; the story being tweeted by a journalist; the story being retweeted by someone else) that are then mapped over time to highlight patterns in a way that can be easily understood by our feeble human brains. By uncovering the connections between its content and its readers, the New York Times can work to increase the reach of its stories, and conveniently measure how its new paywall is affecting sharing and consumption (which one can reasonably assume was the brief the R&D team received in the first place!) A smart looking tool, and no doubt one other publishers will be willing to pay big money to use. Worth clicking through to watch the video introduction. /social/peter-morgan/2011/04/project-cascade-visualising-how-we-share-content/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/04/project-cascade-visualising-how-we-share-content/ Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:13:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/04/cancer-research-uk-and-smart-content-delivery/#number-of-comments As reported by the BBC last week, Cancer Research UK has asked its experts to contribute to Wikipedia articles about the disease, in order to increase the public's access to accurate information. This is a smart move: according to the BBC, cancer pages on Wikipedia receive 3.5m views every month. By contributing to Wikipedia, Cancer Research UK is supplying its knowledge in a way that matches how the public are looking to consume it. It may seem obvious, but it's something a lot of organisations don't do. Henry Scowcroft, scientific communications manager for Cancer Research UK, said: "It has been our intention for a long time to be involved in the online discussion outside of our own website." "Wikipedia is nearly always at the top of an internet search for cancers. It's not always that easy to understand and sometimes it can be inaccurate or not completely up to date." "We want to increase the accuracy and clarity." Wikipedia and charities aside, this should be a wake-up call for companies that don't consider how people consume content. If a company's online presence is limited to a static website, then its more than likely missing out on an opportunity to better engage its target audience. /social/peter-morgan/2011/04/cancer-research-uk-and-smart-content-delivery/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/04/cancer-research-uk-and-smart-content-delivery/ Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:29:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/skittles-touch/#number-of-comments Skittles launched a new YouTube marketing campaign on Monday, with five interactive videos that are proving rather viral. The one below is the pick of the bunch; I can't remember laughing so uncontrollably AND being so freaked out for quite some time. It's definitely a combination of emotions that makes you want to share it with friends—I've passed it on to everyone I know. Try it for yourself... and make sure you follow the narrator's instructions and put your finger on the screen! /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/skittles-touch/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/skittles-touch/ Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:38:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/salesforce-com-acquire-radian-6/#number-of-comments Big news today in social technology… online CRM giant Salesforce.com has agreed to buy social monitoring tool Radian 6 for a none-too-shabby $326m (or approx. 4 misfiring Fernando Torres’ if you prefer your footy speak). Salesforce.com has been working to improve its offering through a series of acquisitions (7 in the last 9 months—I hope their legal department get paid for overtime) and the Radian 6 purchase continues their move into social technology for the enterprise (they previously bought social productivity start-up manymoon and invested in social networking client Seeismic). If anyone still thought social CRM wasn't big business, this should convince them otherwise. If you want to read the full press release, you can do so here.     /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/salesforce-com-acquire-radian-6/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/salesforce-com-acquire-radian-6/ Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:27:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/quot-viral-quot-isn-39-t-a-strategy/#number-of-comments As many of my colleagues know, one of my pet hates is when fellow Metians ask to create viral campaigns for their clients. Don’t get me wrong, I'm delighted when clients want to incorporate more social media into their marketing (seriously... mail me!), but the “v” word sends shivers down my spine... because it usually sets the wrong expectations. If you don’t follow, you should read this post on the Social Media Today blog dissecting the differences between branded entertainment and viral video. The moral of the story is this: don’t bet the success of your campaign on it going viral, because it’s out of your control, and more often than not it won’t. Viral isn't something you can choose. To paraphrase their post… “Viral content depends upon the perfect combination of creative genius, market timing and an emotionally engaged audience. In other words, you have to get lucky. Betting on content going viral is a great way to set up your campaign for disappointment.” So what does this mean? Viral content is the holy grail of social marketing. If you have an amazing product, and you tell its story in a truly compelling way, using surprising (but always effective) methods of delivery, and this combination of elements sparks a connection with enough of the right kind of people, then maybe—just maybe—your message will tip and go viral. But that doesn’t mean you should give up before you start... just concentrate on the things you can control. Make your product or offer as good as is humanly possible. Tell its story in a way that engages and excites your audience, and choose the right channels and methods through which to tell it. And most importantly, always focus on meeting the needs of your customers. If you get these things right, more often than not success will follow. The result may not be viral, but it will make you and your customers very, very happy.     /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/quot-viral-quot-isn-39-t-a-strategy/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/quot-viral-quot-isn-39-t-a-strategy/ Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:40:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/blue-is-the-colour/#number-of-comments Ever wondered how colour preference differs between men and women? Well the infographic-loving folk at KissMetrics have tried to answer the question with this little beauty. It’s no surprise that blue is popular with both genders… just take the colour monopoly on social networks as an example: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all enjoy a cyan-tinted view of the world. But my gender's hatred of purple took me by surprise… I expect Yahoo’s branding agency had a few missed calls when they strolled into work this morning. And the less said about orange the better—apparently our own favourite is cheap… I think we can safely blame that one on these guys.     /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/blue-is-the-colour/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/blue-is-the-colour/ Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:10:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/twitter-helping-japan-to-correct-the-story/#number-of-comments Following the tragic events of last week, Twitter has helped Japanese residents share news and counter the panic and hyperbole present in the western media. Of note, Oliver Reichenstein's feed has been a constant source of balanced news and information, with other users helping to confirm or dispute the information he posts. I hope western governments are paying attention to the method and style of delivery, as it's been a great example of how to communicate during unforeseen events. I'd also recommend this post by Michael Keferl on the excellent Japan Trends blog, who took his camera out onto the streets to show that, though a bit harder than usual, life goes on in Tokyo. /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/twitter-helping-japan-to-correct-the-story/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/twitter-helping-japan-to-correct-the-story/ Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:32:23 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/the-power-of-interaction/#number-of-comments Along with many thousand others in the UK, I receive a box of dried fruit and nuts in the post every week from a company called Graze. I pay £2.99 for the pleasure, and it (sometimes) succeeds in keeping me away from doughnuts, biscuits, and other treats that will send me straight to hell. Graze launched in 2009 on a mission to supply British office workers with the healthier snacks they desired but often struggled to find, and from the off the company recognised that its success was tied to generating referrals through word of mouth. They bet that if they could establish a happy customer in an office, then that person had the power to convert their colleagues and make Graze a tidy profit in the process. So they helped lubricate the necessary social exchange with a simple incentive: if you referred a friend they got their first box free, and you got £1 off your next box. It’s a simple idea, and it’s particularly effective in an office environment where people tend to have lots of acquaintances, but relatively few close friends. People need that incentive to spread the word beyond their neighbouring desks. And that's exactly how it worked here at Metia—1 or 2 early adopters spread the word, and within a month 10 or 15 of us were signed up. It’s simple, and it’s genius.  And that’s not where Graze’s manipulation stops… After despatching your weekly box, Graze emails asking you to rate the food that you’ve received. By rating your deliveries Graze gets better at sending the food you like, which in turn means you’re more likely to remain a customer. They understand how important their food selection is to customer retention; so much so, in fact, that if you stop rating your deliveries (as I recently did) they email asking what’s up, and offer you £1 off your next box if you start rating again. No points for guessing who started rating his deliveries again this week… But this is more than just a nice story about Graze, this is the future of business.  The companies getting ahead in these ‘tough times’ are those that aren’t content simply selling to their customers: it’s those that are putting effort into building deep, long-term relationships with them. Brands like Graze, Threadless, and Ducktape share that trait—they assign a lot of value to on-going interaction with consumers, because it creates emotional attachments that are hard to break. And that is where social media starts to benefit a business—it isn’t enough just to set up a Twitter account, or to post to a company blog once a week. To see real benefits, companies need to place social media at the heart of their business. Their social outreach needs to be a direct extension of their brand, applied thoughtfully and authentically across the relevant channels in order to build relationships that change their customers’ behaviour, so they not only keep on buying, but they also start to spread the word. These are the companies that will still exist in 10 or 20 years' time. /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/the-power-of-interaction/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/the-power-of-interaction/ Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:58:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/visualisation-wifi-through-light/#number-of-comments One of my tech highlights of 2010 was this Dentsu/BERG project that created some truly beautiful light paintings using time-lapse photography and an iPad. It was one of those projects that made you stop and think. Timo Arnall (one of the designers of that project) has since teamed up with fellow Norwegians Jørn Knutsen and Einar Sneve Martinussen to visualise WiFi signal strength across physical space using a similar method. (In my opinion) it's not quite as breathtaking as the original project—mainly because this one came second—but it's still worth a watch because as well as being beautifully photographed it's a neat example of how things we take for granted can be rather more complex when you take a closer look. You can learn more by watching this video on Vimeo, reading this blog post, or viewing the photos themselves on Flickr. /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/visualisation-wifi-through-light/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/03/visualisation-wifi-through-light/ Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:46:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/beatport/#number-of-comments I met with Beatport CEO Matt Adell on Monday night. For those that don’t know, Beatport is the leading online music store specialising in electronic dance music, and has a come a long way since it was launched in 2004 by three friends from Denver. This was when vinyl was still king in dance music, but—along with the emergence of new technology that let bedroom DJs spin with CDs and MP3s—Beatport helped to kick-start a digital revolution in the genre. The company now has 60 employees split between offices in Denver and Berlin and, while Beatport has maintained its focus on the DJ market, it recently penned deals to ingest the catalogues of two of the “big four” in the shape of EMI and Warner Music Group. Beatport hired Matt from Napster as Chief Operations Officer in 2009 and handed him the reins as CEO last year—a move aimed to ensure Beatport continues to grow in a challenging market. And the market is most definitely challenging: as Matt revealed on Monday, Beatport’s biggest competitor isn’t another download store, its piracy. That resonates with a quote another Beatport employee Michelle Owen posted to Twitter this week… "People won't buy music anymore, but Farmville has created a billion dollar industry selling imaginary cows" It’s tragic when you think about it, but also quite logical—it’s been too easy to pass digital music off illegally as so much of the experience is in the listening. With digital music, so long as the file quality is good whether you bought the music legitimately or not has very little impact on the experience. Compare that to Farmville: unless you pay there’s literally no way to play. So how are retailers like Beatport fighting back? One way is by focusing on the experience of buying music. Taking a lead from Soundcloud—the wildly popular, cloud-hosted music sharing community now rumoured to be worth upwards of $400m—online retailers like Beatport, Traxsource, and Juno Download have been adding more and more social functionality to their stores, growing real communities around the music they sell, and differentiating the retail experience from that of piracy. In Beatport’s case they’ve been busy, launching community-orientated site Beatportal in 2007, amassing more than 400,000 followers across Twitter and Facebook, and most recently working on a new HTML5 version of their site—the first iteration not to be developed in Flash. Moving to HTML5 will help Beatport reach more customers across more platforms, and give these customers a slicker experience that’s better integrated with the rest of their lives on the internet. As we’re already seeing from the likes of Levi’s, modern digital retailers are using social content to add context and depth to the retail experience, making it a whole lot easier for them to connect customers to product. Time will tell whether the strategy works against piracy, but I think sites like Beatport are turning a corner. By building truly great experiences that work across platforms they can help to differentiate their products from the illegal alternative. And that has to be a good thing, right? /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/beatport/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/beatport/ Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:59:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/imagination-is-more-important-than-knowledge/#number-of-comments   I love this Einstein quote greeting me as I got on the tube this morning... “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” I love this Albert Einstein quote greeting me at my local tube station this morning... “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Something that must resonate with a few of these guys, plus my big cousin Rob who picks his MBE up from Windsor Castle later this year! /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/imagination-is-more-important-than-knowledge/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/imagination-is-more-important-than-knowledge/ Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:25:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/jeremiah-owyang-on-klout/#number-of-comments Following on from my post about Klout on Monday, a certain West Ham fan forwarded me this excellent critique of the tool by Jeremiah Owyang, that includes a great illustration of why Klout shouldn’t be relied upon to give a full picture of online influence. After Kenneth Cole’s PR disaster at the start of the month (where he piggybacked on the uprising in Cairo to advertise his new spring collection), any sane person would expect his online influence to have dropped... right? Not so according to Klout, where his influence score increased by 46%. Based on Klout’s measurement criteria (that is "highly correlated to clicks, comments and retweets" but crucially does not factor in the sentiment of these reactions) Kenneth Cole suddenly became a lot more influential. But from a quick scan of Twitter it was clear that the vast majority of reaction was negative, and Klout’s single metric fails to tell this story. It’s worth heading to Jeremiah’s post to read the full article, but to get you started here are the six insufficiencies he highlights in Klout: Alienating your mainstream customers in desire to serve influentials. Careful when using Klout to segment customers priority, while high scoring Klout users may appreciate the ego boost –anyone with less than the ideal number of points may quickly fall out of love with your brand if you display elitist behavior. No one likes a ‘better than thou’ unless they are the ‘thou’. Consumers will game the system –reducing validity of metric. Expect many people to start gaming the Klout systems, in fact I see some ‘influential types’ tweeting over 200 times a day to try to hopefully raise their Klout scores, which just ends up annoying their followers. Klout is not representative of a customer’s real influence. Currently, as I understand it, Klout only siphons in content from Twitter and Facebook if the user allows for FB connect. Without sentiment of the influencer –the gauge is incomplete. Klout lacks sentiment analysis, so true opinions of what’s being said about the person may be ill-informed, see Kenneth Cole example above. Relying on this single metric alone is dangerous. as Frank Eliason of Citi (formerly Comcast Cares) indicates the “sleeping Comcast technician” was uploaded by someone who had practically zero prior online influence. Influence is not a gauge of true buying potential. Perhaps the most important point is that influence scores don’t necessarily impact the revenue or customer satisfaction of your brand to your core set of customers. While we trust Scoble for technology choices, relying on him for the latest in landscaping design may be a mis direction worth avoiding. /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/jeremiah-owyang-on-klout/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/jeremiah-owyang-on-klout/ Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:55:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/youtube-on-the-tube/#number-of-comments I was interested to spot this Google billboard on the Underground promoting YouTube advertising—has anyone seem them elsewhere? It's part of the "Watch This Space" campaign Google launched late last year, aimed at making display advertising more accessible and inclusive for advertising agencies. You can learn more about it in this article on Campaign. Keen to know where else they are on the tube network... I suspect the proximity of Saatchi & Saatchi’s UK office might have something to do with this billboard at Warren Street! /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/youtube-on-the-tube/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/youtube-on-the-tube/ Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:25:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/i-never-knew-i-needed-an-eco-friendly-boombox/#number-of-comments   Eco-friendly boombox Thought the boombox had been consigned to repeats of I Love 1988 on BBC2? Think again… Chilean design house Grupovibra has designed an eco-friendly, organic, free-range boombox made from used cardboard boxes. You can now carry your tunes with you in style—though you might want to check the weather forecast first. There are more pics on the Lovely Package blog http://lovelypackage.com/spack/, and if you read Spanish you can learn more on the product website. http://spack.cl/ Thought the boombox had been consigned to repeats of I Love 1988 on BBC2? Think again… Chilean design house Grupovibra has designed an eco-friendly, organic, free-range boombox made from used cardboard boxes. You can now carry your tunes with you in style and with a clear conscience—though you might want to check the weather forecast first. There are more pics on the Lovely Package blog, and if you read Spanish you can learn more on the product website.     /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/i-never-knew-i-needed-an-eco-friendly-boombox/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/i-never-knew-i-needed-an-eco-friendly-boombox/ Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:43:08 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/4-ways-to-ruin-your-online-relationships/#number-of-comments I’m suspicious about any tool that claims to measure influence without human input. Influence is, after all, a rather human trait—something that can vary subtly, or substantially, depending on the context of our relationship with the person or brand in question. So while I do think that Klout (the online influence measuring tool getting column inches in the Wall Street Journal) can provide a better overview of a Twitter account than a cursory glance at how many followers someone has, I don’t think it should be used to seriously gauge how influential different people are. With this in mind, I was quite surprised when I read Trey Pennington's post on the Social CMO blog offering “4 Keys to Increasing Your Klout Score”. Fair enough, Trey ends the article by concluding that the suggestions have little to do with real influence and may be best avoided, but in my opinion the 4 steps used to hook in readers include some potentially damaging advice that is worth discussing: Get important people to talk about you: “Getting people who already have Klout scores to retweet your tweets or in some other way mention you enables you to ride the draft of their influence... Follow them on Twitter, retweet them, and if they don’t notice you, you can use a Twitter mention to ask them to retweet you." Stay away from people who aren’t important: “Be careful about who you follow on Twitter. People with low Klout scores… can bring you down.” Ensure you have more followers than people you follow: “You can accomplish this by aggressively following people (but not TOO aggressively, probably no more than 300 to 400 per day, and not all at once either) and then waiting until a week or two after they follow you back to unfollow them” Find something that’s trending already and re-amplify it: "Either use the auto-retweet button, or do a classic retweet so you can edit the trending tweets to add a bit of your own personality to the content. Of course, be sure you keep the trending keyword in your tweet!" Why do I disagree with these tips? Proactively asking people to retweet you on Twitter is a dangerous game. At its least harmful it can be seen as cheeky (and you may well get the retweet you want); at its most harmful it can be seen as pushy or aggressive, and you may be called out for it in public—a PR disaster for any brand. So don’t waste too much energy on being retweeted by more influential people—if your message is sticky, and you’re a natural converser, people WILL start to retweet you. If you’re a business, it isn't wise to automatically stay away from people who don’t appear important. These people may be your customers, and you need to treat them with respect. If a customer follows you, you should probably follow them back—after all, why would you want to miss an opportunity to deepen your relationship with them? Aggressively following then unfollowing people is spam, plain and simple. People notice it, and they don’t like it. Doing this will undermine everything else that you do on Twitter. You should only re-amplify trends if that trend is relevant to you and your followers—otherwise jumping on the bandwagon will be pointless, and may do a lot more harm than good (as Kenneth Cole recently discovered). In conclusion, what the tips seem to forget is how actual humans would react to these tactics. People aren’t stupid and they know when someone is trying to game the system. Following these tactics might increase your Klout score, but they will decrease the authenticity of your message, and risk harming the relationships you have with your followers. My advice: don’t even think about how you can appear more influential. Concentrate instead on what your followers want to get from the relationships you have with them. If you succeed at mastering that then your influence will grow by itself. And in contrast to his 4 tips, Trey’s last point sums it up perfectly: “If you help enough people get what they want, you’ll have all the influence you’ll need.”     /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/4-ways-to-ruin-your-online-relationships/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/4-ways-to-ruin-your-online-relationships/ Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:36:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/bbc-iplayer-data/#number-of-comments One of my favourite things about the BBC is how open it is with its data—and so it should be considering how much we pay for it!  The monthly iPlayer performance pack is a great example of this transparency in action: it provides a monthly snapshot of iPlayer activity including the popularity of different programmes, and the behaviour of users. Did you know, for example, that our use of iPlayer TV content tends to mirror our daily patterns of TV viewing (heavy during peak-time evening), but that our use of iPlayer radio content is quite different to how we consume traditional radio (mainly because we can now listen at work)? It’s a big geeky, but always interesting to see how digital services are enabling shifts in consumer behaviour. The January report can now be downloaded as a PDF, and you can find data for previous months on the excellent BBC Internet Blog.     /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/bbc-iplayer-data/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/bbc-iplayer-data/ Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:12:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/public-diplomacy-on-twitter/#number-of-comments Diplomacy on Twitter A bit late posting this one. Spotted this piece of public diplomacy in the immediate wake of the Moscow Airport bombing last month—it’s EU President Herman Van Rompuy offering his support to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev via Twitter. I’m all for more public diplomacy, but I don’t think 140 characters was the right choice here—surely a short blog post or video would have allowed Mr. Van Rompuy to add a bit more sympathy to his message? http://twitter.com/euHvR/status/29587227340185601 A bit late posting this one. Spotted this tweet in the immediate wake of the Moscow Airport bombing last month—it’s EU President Herman Van Rompuy offering his support to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev via Twitter. I’m all for more public diplomacy, but I don’t think 140 characters was the right choice here—surely a short blog post or video would have allowed Mr. Van Rompuy to add a bit more sympathy to his message? Or am I misinterpreting something that was intended as a personal message from one man to another?     /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/public-diplomacy-on-twitter/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/public-diplomacy-on-twitter/ Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:37:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/linkedin-highlights-metia-programme/#number-of-comments   As per Ross's recent guest post on Lizzie's blog, we've been using LinkedIn to help Microsoft recruit entrepreneurs and early-stage start-ups to their BizSpark program. http://metia.com/london/b/lizzie-donnachie/archive/2011/01/13/project-overview-digital-media-campaign-drives-success-for-microsoft-s-bizspark-program.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/ The good news is that Linkedin have been impressed by the campaign, and have highlighted it as a success story on their site. http://marketing.linkedin.com/success-stories/ By participating on social networks companies can engage their target market like never before, and while the bulk of these relationships are built through natural conversation, targeted advertising can play a big part in helping get more people involved. If you’d like to learn more about how we could help your business please get in touch. As per Ross's recent guest post on Lizzie's blog, we've been using LinkedIn to help Microsoft recruit entrepreneurs and early-stage start-ups to their BizSpark program.  The good news is that Linkedin have been impressed by the campaign, and have highlighted it as a success story on their site. By participating on social networks companies can engage their target market like never before, and while the bulk of these relationships are built through natural conversation, targeted advertising can play a big part in getting more people involved. If you’d like to learn more about how we could help your business please get in touch.   /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/linkedin-highlights-metia-programme/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/linkedin-highlights-metia-programme/ Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:22:44 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/great-products-tell-a-story/#number-of-comments Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister asked his School of Visual Arts class to create a design that could touch someone’s heart. This is how two of his class interpreted the brief: a single sock given to New Yorkers in laundromats, in a custom package that tells the story of a washing machine named Gene who’s been eating everyone’s socks and now wants to make amends. Awesome! OK, so it probably isn’t a feasible product (although I’ve seen stranger in Urban Outfitters during Secret Santa season) but it shows how otherwise indistinguishable products can be made unique and sticky through a story—something that's becoming more and more important for brands who want to cut through the noise online. Case in point? Compare the online success of Compare the Market's Aleksandr Orlov with that of Confused.com. Compare the Market famously doubled their sales in a year thanks to the cheeky meerkat, and they've acquired almost 800,000 social followers in the process—almost 800,000 more than their rivals at Confused.com. The products are the same: the story made all the difference. But back to the socks: you can watch highlights of the giveaway below, and learn more on the making of the sock (and Gene the washing machine) on the designers' blog. [View:http://vimeo.com/19855604] /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/great-products-tell-a-story/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/02/great-products-tell-a-story/ Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:24:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/don-39-t-leave-your-social-marketing-to-chance/#number-of-comments Threadless is one of my favourite businesses, partly because they make such great t-shirts and partly because their business model is pure genius.  For those that don’t know, Threadless is a community-based t-shirt company that sells designs created by its users. Wikipedia puts it better than I can: “members of the Threadless community submit t-shirt designs online; the designs are then put to a public vote. A small percentage of submitted designs are selected for printing and sold through an online store. Creators of the winning designs receive a prize of cash and store credit.” The community do the designing, and the community indicate demand, so in essence Threadless are just a (very friendly) fulfilment and marketing company... and boy do they market well. They’ve built up an impressive online presence with nigh on 1.6 million Twitter followers, 240,000 Facebook fans, and they’re rumoured to have around a million registered site users. This is a business with a great deal of momentum. So you’d think they could relax now right? Wrong… Threadless understand how important it is to sustain this momentum, so they mandate that staff spend 15 minutes on the site every day participating in the community. Moral of the story: don’t leave activity on your social channels to chance, get out there and make it happen!     /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/don-39-t-leave-your-social-marketing-to-chance/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/don-39-t-leave-your-social-marketing-to-chance/ Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:12:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/twitter-permeating-the-real-world/#number-of-comments You know Twitter is viewed as mainstream when its logo is printed onto rail tickets. This was on the back of a ticket I bought in London yesterday, promoting the National Rail Twitter account through which they post service updates. Interesting that National Rail choose to promote a free information service rather than the paid-for iPhone app that brings in revenue (a cool £4.99 per purchase), but hey... that's a different story. Twitter's mainstream credentials had a boost in the press last week, with Forbes reporting that Twitter now has more than 200 million registered accounts, and more than 110 million Tweets are posted every day. That's a whole load of... um... Tweeps. /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/twitter-permeating-the-real-world/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/twitter-permeating-the-real-world/ Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:08:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/innovative-door-to-door-marketing/#number-of-comments Got back home yesterday from a weekend away, to find this sticker on my letterbox (and the letterboxes of everyone else in my road).  I was too tired to work out if I was impressed or annoyed, but it’s certainly innovative—and more to the point, I noticed it… unlike the scores of take-out menus that land on my doormat and are immediately thrown in the bin. /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/innovative-door-to-door-marketing/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/innovative-door-to-door-marketing/ Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:52:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/rough-guides-up-for-awards/#number-of-comments Good to see our pals at Rough Guides up for a couple of industry gongs, namely for innovation in multi-channel marketing  in the eConsultancy awards and in the media and publishing category of the CIM Marketing Excellence Awards. We worked with them recently to create the Rough Guide to the World, an interactive HTML 5 travel site that featured in the launch of Internet Explorer 9, the latest version of Microsoft’s web browser. Fingers are crossed! Good to see our pals at Rough Guides up for a couple of industry gongs, namely for innovation in multi-channel marketing in the eConsultancy awards and in the media and publishing category of the CIM Marketing Excellence Awards. We worked with them last summer to create A Rough Guide to the World, an interactive geo-tagged photography site that was built in HTML5 and featured prominently in the launch of Internet Explorer 9. The site was very well received, so fingers crossed! /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/rough-guides-up-for-awards/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/rough-guides-up-for-awards/ Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:00:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/a-third-of-uk-consumers-now-shopping-via-mobile/#number-of-comments ...well not quite, but that’s the headline for this eye-catching report on Brand Republic. The findings aren’t quite as impressive when you learn that only 8% of consumers have actually completed a transaction through their phone—it turns out people only needed to have visited a shop’s website on their mobile to qualify as “having shopped”. That said, the number of consumers completing transactions online has shot up in the last year (from 2% to 8%), which shows that both mobile applications and consumer behaviour are maturing fast—I for one made good use of the Amazon iPhone app over Christmas (guiltily completing my festive shopping online while stood in the Waterstone’s on Oxford Street). It will be telling to see how bricks and mortar retailers respond to the increase in information and choice now available to consumers—they appeared not to capitalise on their competitive advantage before Christmas despite the snow and postal delays*; how will they respond to customers testing products with one hand while buying elsewhere with the other? If the birth of online retailers in the late 90s made life harder on the high street, mobile commerce could be the melon that breaks the monkey's back. But all is not lost... look at Argos’s example—by October last year (just 5 months after launch) their iPhone app had been downloaded more than 850,000 times, and already accounted for 1% of sales. There's hope yet for the British high street! * When Amazon stopped guaranteeing pre-Christmas delivery, few retailers seemed to change their advertising to focus on the benefits of high street shopping—for the most part they remained focused on price.     /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/a-third-of-uk-consumers-now-shopping-via-mobile/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/a-third-of-uk-consumers-now-shopping-via-mobile/ Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:04:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/qr-codes-in-tokyo/#number-of-comments The increasing interaction between our on-and-offline lives will no doubt be a running theme in 2011, so cool to see Japan Trends blogging about a new QR scheme in Tokyo.  As part of a scheme to promote less visited areas of Tokyo, transparent codes were added over maps on signposts which—when scanned—loaded a more detailed map to the user’s handset. Some issues with execution aside (e.g. unsuitability for foreign tourists, due to the lack of compatibility with foreign phones) it’s a neat idea. Look forward to similar in London at some point! The increasing interaction between our on-and-offline lives will no doubt be a running theme in 2011, so cool to see Japan Trends blogging about a recent QR code scheme in Tokyo. As part of a scheme to promote less visited areas of the city, transparent QR codes were added over maps on signposts which—when scanned—loaded a more detailed map to the user’s handset. Some issues with execution aside (the scheme didn't work well for foreign tourists due to the lack of compatibility with foreign phones) it’s a neat idea. I'm looking forward to similar in London at some point—would be more than handy for the Boris bikes!     /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/qr-codes-in-tokyo/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/qr-codes-in-tokyo/ Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:49:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/rss-is-dead-long-live-um-rss/#number-of-comments If you read tech blogs you may have noticed some interesting debate of late on the future of RSS. Well, not exactly Ashes interesting, but stick with me here…  The argument surfaced at the turn of the year, with TechCrunch claiming that (based on their experiences) Twitter and Facebook are killing RSS, and with web designer Kroc Camen speculating that the lack of RSS support in modern browsers will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Cue plenty of finger pointing and a few ugly geek rants, so good to see some common sense returning in this post by Matthew Ingram of GigaOm, who believes that RSS is so well established that it’s simply becoming part of the web’s plumbing, much like HTML itself. It all seems a bit ridiculous, a classic case of controversy fuelling pointless media coverage. Surely one of the greatest benefits of social media is the ability for people to consume content when and how it suits them? It doesn’t have to be Facebook or Twitter or RSS, organisations can benefit from them all… hasn’t anyone read The Long Tail?! If you read tech blogs you may have noticed some interesting debate of late on the future of RSS. Well, not exactly Ashes interesting, but stick with me here…  The argument surfaced at the turn of the year, with TechCrunch claiming that (based on their experiences) Twitter and Facebook are killing RSS, and with web designer Kroc Camen speculating that the lack of RSS support in modern browsers will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Cue plenty of finger pointing and a few ugly geek rants, so good to see some common sense returning in this post by Matthew Ingram of GigaOm, who believes that RSS is so well established that it’s simply becoming part of the web’s plumbing, much like HTML itself. It all seems a bit ridiculous, a classic case of controversy fuelling pointless media coverage. Surely one of the greatest benefits of social media is the ability for people to consume content when and how it suits them? It doesn’t have to be Facebook or Twitter or RSS, organisations can benefit from them all… has everyone forgotten the long tail?! /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/rss-is-dead-long-live-um-rss/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/rss-is-dead-long-live-um-rss/ Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:26:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/a-giveaway-fit-for-the-21st-century/#number-of-comments   Love this giveaway by Wahaca, the Mexican street-food chain. A neat evolution of an age-old advertising classic. It looks like a standard book of matches (not dissimilar to the first commercially branded matchbook from 1896*), but what company wants to align itself with smoking in this day-and-age? So… open the pack and it’s a set of plant-your-own chilli seeds. Very clever! *no-one can Google like me I love this giveaway by Wahaca, the Mexican street-food chain. A neat evolution of an age-old advertising classic. It looks like a standard book of matches (not dissimilar to the first commercially branded matchbook from 1896*), but what company wants to align itself with smoking in this day-and-age? So… flip open the book and you find a row of plant-your-own chilli seeds. Very cute, very green, and a great example of social advertising... I gave a book to a friend, they asked what Wahaca was, I told them about the great meal I had there, job done. *no-one can Google quite like me.     /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/a-giveaway-fit-for-the-21st-century/ /social/peter-morgan/2011/01/a-giveaway-fit-for-the-21st-century/ Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:53:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/you-can-39-t-please-everyone/#number-of-comments Love this Venn diagram, look forward to digging it out at some point in 2011. Found on this fun blog: Indexed. /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/you-can-39-t-please-everyone/ /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/you-can-39-t-please-everyone/ Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:16:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/word-lens-real-time-translation-with-your-iphone/#number-of-comments Every now and then something new is launched that meets my expectations of what I thought 2010 would be like when I was a child. I may not be wearing a shiny spacesuit while I hover-board around my underwater office, but I can now translate on the fly using my iPhone camera. Seriously... HOW COOL IS THIS?! /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/word-lens-real-time-translation-with-your-iphone/ /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/word-lens-real-time-translation-with-your-iphone/ Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/why-partner-with-an-agency-when-you-can-do-social-marketing-yourself/#number-of-comments Someone recently asked me why a business should consider working with an agency on their social marketing, when a lot can be done for free. Good question. This was my answer… Knowledge Most agencies have worked with many clients in many industries over many years. They have a lot of experience, and have accumulated a lot of knowledge and understanding, so can offer great insights on your social marketing from the outset.  Expertise Specialist agencies trade on their competitive advantage—they exist solely to market things, so they do it better and with less overhead than organisations that don’t specialise. Tools and technology Agencies invest in tools and technology to provide great service across all of their clients (e.g. tools to monitor brand mentions on social networks). Investing in these tools can be unfeasible for individual companies. People Great agencies have specialists in every role. When you partner with an agency your project team is assembled based on your brief: you get experts in every position. How many businesses can resource that in-house? Process and accountability Getting started with social marketing can be easy. Building and maintaining the momentum required to be successful can be much more difficult. An agency will help you define objectives and targets; they can be held accountable for the work they do, and they can train and motivate you to honour your commitments. It’s a two-way relationship that helps you get the best results from your marketing. All great reasons to partner with an agency (ahem, mail me), but simply working with an agency doesn’t guarantee results. If you consider the companies making the most headway with social marketing (think Zappos, Threadless, hell… even Microsoft), what connects them is the passionate, articulate, and committed employees that engage customers through social media on their company’s behalf. Agencies can help businesses get the most from social marketing, but it’s the companies themselves who hold the key to their success. /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/why-partner-with-an-agency-when-you-can-do-social-marketing-yourself/ /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/why-partner-with-an-agency-when-you-can-do-social-marketing-yourself/ Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:57:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/social-map-of-america/#number-of-comments The New York Times has launched an amazing site, visualising US census data over a map of the country. It's amazing to see how segmented US cities still are—just look at the split between the white (shown by green) and black (shown by blue) communities in downtown Philadelphia. I hope they update this site over the coming decades—will be interesting to see how communities change over time. Someone should do this in the UK nextyear The New York Times has launched an amazing site visualising US census data over a map of the country. It's fascinating to see how segmented US cities are—just look at the split between the white (shown by green) and black (shown by blue) communities in downtown Philadelphia. I'm assuming the split wouldn't be so stark in the UK, but could well be wrong—hopefully someone does this for the UK census next year so we can see. How to improve this already great map? Add data from past censuses and map US social change over the decades. /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/social-map-of-america/ /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/social-map-of-america/ Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:41:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/facebook-map-of-the-world/#number-of-comments   500 million users create a lot of data, so Facebook is a goldmine for anyone interested in how we interact with each other online. This latest visualisation, made by Facebook intern Paul Butler, shows the relationships of a sample of 10 million users. It's easy to forget how much of the world is sparsely populated—just look at Australia. There's more detail in a post by Paul on the Facebook blog. I'm guessing they'll be offering him a full-time job before long... http://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/visualizing-friendships/469716398919 500 million users create a lot of data, so Facebook is a goldmine for anyone interested in how we interact with each other online. This latest visualisation—created by Facebook intern Paul Butler—plots the relationships of a sample of 10 million users of the site. The number of long-distance interactions didn't surprise me, but it's easy to forget how much of the world is sparsely populated—just look at Canada. Not too many elk with broadband access. There's more detail in this post on the Facebook blog. I'm guessing they'll be offering Mr. Butler a full-time job before long!     /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/facebook-map-of-the-world/ /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/facebook-map-of-the-world/ Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:22:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/learn-social-marketing-from-dj-shadow/#number-of-comments Here’s a good read on DJ Shadow’s marketing techniques for his latest tour. His marketing manager employs a great mix of ideas and tech: both new and old; online and offline. It’s interesting to see how proactively they interact with fans through social media: if someone mentions they’re attending a show on Facebook, they reach out personally and ask them to contribute photos and reviews—this content is aggregated back onto the website, with a specific page for each tour date (e.g. Seattle). Unlike a lot of brands they don’t leave the user participation to chance, and they build momentum with every show. Music is a hotbed for social marketing: miniscule marketing budgets mean great innovation is required in order to stand out. Particularly important as royalties are plummeting towards zero: getting fans to gigs is now number one priority for a lot of acts. Here’s a good read on DJ Shadow’s marketing techniques for his latest tour. His marketing manager employs a great mix of ideas and tech: both new and old; online and offline. It’s worth noting how proactively they interact with fans through social media: if someone mentions they’re attending a show on Facebook, they reach out personally and ask them to contribute photos and reviews—this content is aggregated back onto the website, with a specific page for each tour date (e.g. Seattle). Unlike a lot of brands they don’t leave the user participation to chance, and they build momentum with every show. Music is a hotbed for social marketing: miniscule marketing budgets mean great innovation is required in order to stand out. Particularly important as royalties are plummeting towards zero: getting fans to gigs is now number one priority for a lot of acts.   /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/learn-social-marketing-from-dj-shadow/ /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/learn-social-marketing-from-dj-shadow/ Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:41:00 +0100 Peter Morgan /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/has-facebook-advertising-turned-the-corner/#number-of-comments There’s an interesting post by Kevin Kelleher of CNN Money on how Facebook fixed the social advertising problem, transforming itself from one of the industry’s worst-performing advertising platforms (with click-through rates of 0.04% in 2007—that’s just 400 clicks for every 1 million views), to an industry high-flier (the Japanese airline ANA recently reported click-through rates of 25% for a campaign they ran).  A vast improvement but no huge surprise: just consider the amount of data we now share with Facebook compared with 3 years ago. Each and every click of the ubiquitous “like” button helps Facebook learn more about us; each and every click increases the effectiveness of their advertising. CNN Money think this improvement could help Facebook bring in $2 billion this year—ahh, so that’s why Zuckerberg doesn’t seem so concerned about our privacy!     /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/has-facebook-advertising-turned-the-corner/ /social/peter-morgan/2010/12/has-facebook-advertising-turned-the-corner/ Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:35:00 +0100