(Image courtesy of flickr.com)
Walmart. Always a target. Always.
Walmart is no stranger to controversy whether it is from their employment practices, their paid wages, where their stuff is made, or any other reason you can think of. Recently their online site has come under criticism for something posted that may, or may not, have been intentional. Either way, everyone can agree that the newest flub is quite a big fat screw-up.
Twitter has introduced a new shopping feature which lets tweeters purchase items from the musicians and companies they follow – what will you buy first? Continue reading
To everyone reading this, you’re just a science project. You’re an experiment.
Every day we log onto social media to chat with our friends, to express inner opinions, to look at the new movie coming out, or even to “like” a new program. What you probably don’t know is that you’re part of a science experiment which is using everything you do, on your free to use social media platform, to create a profile for who you are and how you think. Ever write a status update on Facebook just to see your ads to change immediately to whatever you just typed about? That’s exactly what I’m talking about here.
In a PBS post by Angela Washeck, she quoted Douglas Rushkoff as saying that impressionable teens today have replaced their habit of plastering their personal stuff on their bedroom walls with now moved on to inhabiting social media and sharing their personality through there, but don’t realize how this is benefiting trends and brands (Washeck, 2014). Rushkoff’s newest Frontline documentary “Generation Like” explores how young adults are providing social marketing and advertising with treasure troves of information through their online interactions. Some, like Tyler Oakley, are getting “free” stuff in order to promote certain brands to their friends and/or followers (Washeck, 2014).
What we have perceived as “organic” viral trends are actually meticulously planned marketing strategies (Washeck, 2014). Do we really like these things or are we just monkeys running through the course in order to try and score “free” stuff and fame? While some are being given things for free, they really aren’t free. As these items or brands become popular, their publicity does the work for them. A couple of freebies handed out to some carefully placed popular online identities can turn into millions or billions of revenue for companies, so in a sense, they pay for themselves.
One of the questions being raised is whether or not this is exploitation. Not only have advertising pros learned exactly how young people share, but they’ve also learned just what drives them to share (Washeck, 2014). We, as consumers, are providing free data for marketers and advertisers without even realizing we’re doing it. Some may actually realize it though, and they’re profiting off of your shares and retweets. There is definitely more public relations work being done through this, but there is a lot of behind the scenes advertising as well. We, the consumers, are doing all the leg work without much benefit, unless you feel that the products you’re knowledgeable about now is your payment. According to Washeck, Rushkoff said, ““Over time, there will be a reaction against it…I’m kind of hopeful we’ll have another burst of awareness” (Washeck, 2014).
Knowing how we’re all essentially being manipulated through observation, how do you feel about this? Does this make you think twice about “liking” or re-tweeting something?
References
Washek, A. (2014, February 19). [Web log message]. Retrieved from
By Matt Gillis
It is no doubt that Twitter is taking the advertising world by storm. Essentially, the social media tool is an advertiser’s greatest gift, allowing companies to converse with their target publics, send out messages in real time, and monitor audience receptivity.
Most recently, Twitter became a more-than-successful advertising platform for one such brand, Samsung. On Sunday night during the broadcast of the 86th Annual Academy Awards, Ellen DeGeneres’s now infamous selfie with Oscar-nominated celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Brad Pitt, and Meryl Streep, was taken with a Samsung phone and posted via Twitter. The picture became the most retweeted picture in the social media site’s history, a record that was previously held by a picture posted by President Obama of him and Michelle celebrating after his reelection in 2012.
The selfie, which has 3,311,786 retweets and counting, shows the extent to which brands like Samsung can reach potential consumers. Companies now have the opportunity to capitalize on Twitter’s successful use of interactivity by combining the advertising medium with real-world promotional tactics to reach an optimal consumer audience.
Another brand hoping for advertising success via Twitter is Oreo. After garnering widespread attention from their successful Super Bowl XLVII advertisement released on Twitter in response to the game’s blackout, Oreo is hoping to receive comparable publicity for their latest Twitter promotion.
The cookie brand is employing vending machines that will use trending Twitter conversations to create 3D custom-printed Oreo cookies. The vending machines, which were created by technology design and innovation firm Maya Design, will be featured at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in the Oreo Trending Vending Lounge.
Using each machine’s touch screen, users will be able to browse and choose from the trending Twitter flavors that include a variety of 12 cremes and colors. The user will then be able to watch as the edible cookie is built in front of their eyes in less than two minutes. Twitter users interested in the promotion can follow the Oreo conversation using #eatthetweet.
https://twitter.com/jmitchem/status/441702267679277056
Oreo has managed to stay ahead of the advertising trends and create an innovative advertising experience that allows for ultimate consumer interactivity with the brand. Consumers are involved in creating the Twitter conversations that influence the Oreo flavors, they are able to choose the actual cookie to be created, and they can engage in conversation using the promoted hashtag.
This promotion definitely wins my personal award for best advertisement because it combines my two favorite things, Twitter and Oreos.
Reference list:
– Lukovitz, K. (2014, March 6). Twitter-Powered Vending Machine Creates 3D Oreos. MediaPost. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/220949/twitter-powered-vending-machine-creates-3d-oreos.html
– Sloane, G. (2014, March 6). Oreo Uses Twitter to Make 3-D Cookies at SXSW. AdWeek. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/oreo-uses-twitter-make-3d-cookies-sxsw-156121
By Matt Gillis
In today’s marketplace, any company looking to create a successful brand presence must turn their advertising efforts to the realm of social media. Consumers are voicing their opinions via online blogs, engaging with companies on Twitter and “liking” the organization’s Facebook page to get the brand’s latest updates. But in order to bridge the gap between such online interactions and traditional print or broadcast advertisements as a fulfillment of a company’s integrated marketing communications, these brands must provide incentive for consumers to make that jump.
While many companies chose the traditional and expensive route of broadcast television advertisements during Super Bowl XLVIII this past Sunday, Esurance, an auto insurance company, combined the use of a television commercial with the integrated communication tactic of online engagement in promotion of a sweepstakes.
The company strategically purchased a television spot for directly after the big game. In the advertisement, The Office star John Krasinski explains that the company is randomly giving away $1.5 million, which is the amount of money the company saved by waiting to advertise until after the Super Bowl, to a United States Twitter user who tweets using the hashtag #EsuranceSave30. The sweepstakes was scheduled to last from 4 p.m. Eastern Sunday until 4 a.m. Eastern Tuesday.
While the sweepstakes was the largest sum of money given out via a Twitter contest, the promotional tactic also generated significant publicity for Esurance due to its successful reception by Twitter users. According to the company’s spokesman Danny Miller, 200,000 tweets featuring the promoted hashtag were submitted within a minute of the commercial’s airing and two million entries were recorded within less than 24 hours into the contest. Esurance increased their Twitter following by 101,100 followers within the sweepstake’s timeframe and was the top trending topic throughout the United States throughout that period.
“John,” a 29-year-old from California, was revealed as the winner of the sweepstakes Wednesday night on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
Last year during Super Bowl XLVII, Oreo released a timely advertisement via Twitter during the game, which made reference to the blackout that occurred during the second half. Both Oreo and Esurance’s advertisements garnered more attention than any televised commercial during each Super Bowl, proving that Twitter is a powerful marketing platform in the world of advertising.
Due to the nature of Twitter, which allows users to easily retweet content generated by others, companies have the opportunity to create viral marketing messages with just a little bit of creativity. Consumers are willing and eager to engage with companies in order to establish a more intimate relationship with the brand. With just a small incentive, like $1.5 million, companies have the ability to reach outside of the bounds of traditional advertising and into the world of social media.
Reference list:
– Luckerson, V. (2014, February 3). Esurances $1.5 Million Giveaway Is Making Twitter Go Crazy. Time: Business & Money. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from http://business.time.com/2014/02/03/esurance-save-30-twitter-contest/
– Rive Holmes, R. (2014, February 6). Winner of $1.5M Esurance Giveaway Announced on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”. KMBZ. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from http://www.kmbz.com/Winner-of-1-5M-Esurance-Giveaway-Announced-on-Jimm/18333353
$25,000 sunglasses, money, fashion and couture; materialistic objects that define The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. In todays society, vanity is greater than virtue. People live by the motto “the more you have, the more you are worth”. Aired in October 14, 2010 with 2.8 million total viewers among females in the age of eighteen to 49 in prime time (Gorman). The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is a reality show that focuses on the lifestyle of five “wealthy” women and how they interact with each other and society. In this new season, Carlton Gebbia and Joyce Giraud became the replacement of Taylor Armstrong and Adrienne Maloof.
As I now began to see the new season, I did not even think about why they had replaced the old cast of the housewives. It was after the show was over that I realized, Glamour and fashion are priorities for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Bravo media,one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience, has dominated and taken over Monday night by having the highest records of people watching the show; drew a season-to-date high with 1.15 million adults from 18-49.
The drama that is created in this show has caused massive controversy between Twitter users and the cast. Viewers constantly tweet what they think about the drama and who they side with. The cast is bombarded with strong hard comments that criticize them. Instead of letting the tweets not get to them, the stars of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills tweet what they think and talk about each other outside of the show.
Demonstrating their gender roles as high end society forces them to live up to certain standards, which end up damaging not only themselves but others. Maintaining the lifestyle that The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills have can be comfortable and luxurious at times but, it can lead to overspending and in extreme cases death due to the pressures of keep up with the lifestyle in which they live. Rusell Armostrong, Taylor Armstrong’s husband, committed suicide at the end of the past season due to the pressure he was under of maintaining their lifestyle and showing off their luxuries. Russell Armstrong was more than $1.5 million in debt and spending wildly before his apparent suicide; he was living month to month to support Taylor’s expenses and for her to be able to stay on the show. Although Armstrong made enough money to support his family, he overspent and fell into debt by trying to keep up with the other housewives. The current obsession with money has a negative impact on society just how it had a detrimental impact on Rusell Armstrong and his family.
Realizing that one of the reasons that they took Taylor out of the show was because she could not keep up with the “lifestyle” Bravo expected, made me realize how people lack morality and the understanding of the actual value of money. If people from a different country watch this show, they could consider Americans to be shallow and selfish. People are straying away from the important things in life such as family and happiness and are replacing these values with greed. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is an example of what society has come to; a place where money is king and if one does not have it, one is worth less than those that do.
References
Picture
– I Watch Anything On TV. (n.d.). The real housewives of beverly hills, season premiere at 9pm on bravo. Retrieved from http://iwatchanythingontv.wordpress.com/
Is new media shaping our culture? What is fair game and what isn’t? Those are definitely questions we should all be asking ourselves in the digital age we are living in. This has been discussed in the media semi-recently when a comedian live tweeted a breakup of a couple from his apartment rooftop.
In an article, Tweeting Private Conversations #DirtyLaundry, by Paulina Haselhorst, she said, “But despite Ayer’s conviction that his tweets were innocent, there’s something that just doesn’t feel right about publishing personal conversations, especially ones that are not our own” (2014). Haselhorst has a nice moral opinion stated there, but honestly, can we really hold ourselves to this? Public is public. These people could have easily held this conversation in their apartment, but chose to go to the roof and then, upon getting up there, proceeded to carry on this conversation despite another person being up there.
Is it wrong to tweet this? The couple had every opportunity to not have this in public despite Haselhorst’s statement that “some compassion is in order…” (2014). I believe that when someone knowingly throws common sense and/or tact out the window then they are fair game for someone else who chooses not to show compassion. Is it really fair to tweet, blog, or YouTube someone who got pulled over because of a DUI? A case could be made that they, too, deserve compassion because it was a screw up and it’s not our drama, but it’s still getting reported through these mediums anyway. This is the culture we live in today and just going out your door every morning you see people constantly with ear buds in or reading their phones, tablets, laptops, etc. It’s to be expected that new media is everywhere!
Haselhorst also went on to say that users of Twitter can still have laughs, but should ultimately be choosy or selective about what they post to get the laughs. I don’t understand how this author can take this moral attitude without scolding all the comedians, journalists, script writers, song writers, or even everyday people who go about making a living by telling other people stories based off of something public that has happened or they experienced. Twitter isn’t the only place that this sort of exposure happens and something as little as this isn’t nearly as embarrassing as other stories that get told to thousands of people each day. All someone needs to do is to log onto YouTube and people are constantly posting videos of things people are doing. These videos can be moronic, dangerous, or heartwarming. The bottom line is that media is a major part of our culture and we are being shaped by it through its control over the population.
I don’t feel that we, as in the general public, should go about tweeting or sharing everything we see, but I also don’t believe we should censor everything either. While we might be disgusted at the sharing of public information, it also may serve as historical data for future generations as well. All of this is certainly up for ethical debate, but one thing remains constant and that is that new media is around us. We’re told all the time to be careful what we post, but we also know that people are watching us whether we want it or not. With access to all sorts of media at the click of a button, it’s only a matter of time before we begin to shape our culture as either socially awkward or everyone becoming “e-famous”.
Sources:
Haselhorst, P. (2014, January 08). Tweeting private conversations
Images courtesy of: 10 Of The Best Twitter Cartoons
As Twitter continues to grow and gain new users, Facebook feels as if it is being left behind. In order for them to keep up with the competition, Facebook will launch “Trending” on their site. Facebook has recently decided to add a new feature to their site called “Trending” which mostly aims at trying to get more users involved in real-time information and events that are trending on the web; just like Twitters trending topics. This new feature on Facebook main focus, is to allow public conversations to happen between many people on important or popular topics that may be surfacing the web. Facebook wants to expand the way users interact and allow them to have conversations with other people rather than just their friends. Facebook users will be able to see what other people think about a certain topic or their reaction to important events happening in the world.
This new feature of “Trending” will show Facebook users what the most important and popular topics are on social networking sites as soon as they log into their profile. Users will also be given the opportunity to personalize the list of information they get based on their topics of interest. Users newsfeed will have the topics that the users carefully selected to be of their interest and will appear of the right of the users page. Also, some of the topics will be highlighted which means that they are the most popular topics on the site for that particularly day. During Facebook’s announcement of this new addition to their site, they carefully explained how “Trending” works; “a response to the volume of public conversations about real-time events on the social network.”
Recently, Facebook signed a partnership with NBC sports to cover the Olympics. NBC’s Olympics’ Facebook page will have content regarding the event. It will share the most important information, videos, photos, and polls. Also, Facebook users will be given the opportunity to their own questions to Sarah Hughes, an Olympic god medalist. Although Facebook is creating this new “trend”to increase its new users and be more attracting for the younger audiences, current Facebook members are not using the site as much as they did before. With all the new apps created such as Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, users do not need to log into their Facebook pages to see what their friends are doing. This new idea hopefully revives Facebook and it will be interesting to see if Facebook users begin to use Facebook for “Trending” topics rather than Twitter.
Video Hyperlink: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000236502
References
Twitter: The Outlet to Watch in 2014
Melissa Mandarino
January 22, 2013
With the start of the new year, we should all be looking out for the next “big thing” in advertising technology. 2014 is predicted to be Twitter’s year, reaching consumers differently than any other social media outlet has been able to do; and now that Twitter is going public, it is ready to make some big changes and improvements. In Garett Sloane’s Advertising Week article, “Twitter’s Tailored Audiences Program Gets More Targeted”, he explains that marketers will be able to “retarget ads to website visitors who also use twitter.” This will give brands the ability to increase exposure of their product or service through a secondary outlet, reinforcing the message. Brands will also be able to communicate directly with their target with something called “Twitter ID”, which is when brands “compile lists of Twitter accounts – based on keywords in users’ bios and their past Tweets – to send Promoted Account messages.” Another strategy according to Sloane in a second Advertising Week article entitled, “Twitter’s 2014 Strategy: The Intersection of Video and Data”, will allow Twitter to become a second screen. Basically, Twitter would have the ability to “harness data and insights from conversations surrounding specific TV shows and then allow brands to reach those viewers.” (Sloane, 2014). This would allow people to interact with their shows as they are watching them. Advertising budgets will increase significantly in 2014 because of this new way of advertising and creating an experience for the consumer. This is an exciting step towards giving consumers what they are asking for. According to an article entitled, “2014: The Year Online Closes the Budget Gap (The Ad-budget Gap!), by Jon Steinberg, media is finally starting to expand their budgets to accommodate online vehicles such as Twitter or Facebook. In previous years, the amount of money spent on digital advertising was not proportional to how much time people were spending online. Steinberg states that, “In the US, people are now spending 5 hours and 16 minutes a day on the Internet…yet digital only gets 22 percent of ad dollars.” In the video discussing advertising with Steinberg, he answers several very good points about why current digital advertising is not successful and how brand sales can grow if we invest in new media. (Steinberg, 2014). 2014 will be an exciting year for Twitter, who will open up a new platform for bridging the gap between consumer and brand with it’s abilities to target consumers and allow them to interact with their favorite programs from traditional media.
Video link below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwDwILxpjoo
Sloane, G. (2014, January 14). Twitter’s tailored audiences program get more targeted. Advertising Week, Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/twitters-tailored-audiences- program-gets-more-targeted-154977
`Sloane, G. (2014, January 20). Twitter’s 2014 strategy: The intersection of video and data. Advertising Week, Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/twitter-s-2014-strategy- intersection-video-and-data-155067
Steinberg, J. (2014, January 2). 2014: The year online closes the budget gap (the ad-budget gap!). CNBC News, Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/101305512
Steinberg, J. (Producer). (2014, January 2). Jon Steinberg on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street 1-2-14 [Web Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwDwILxpjoo
You can have more social media influence than you believe. With every tweet, post, share, comment and like you are creating an online presence. Presence of your personal brand. Klout is just one other platform that brings an analysis of your impact.
Klout is a San Francisco based social media platform that launched in 2009 and incorporates your online presence on various platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and other several platforms. Klout serves more like a performance platform and scales a person’s social media presence on a scale between one and hundred. The higher your score the more social media presence you have within the digital networks.
A lot of people find it difficult to understand the structure of this social app. The site is administered on complex, secured algorithm basis, which makes it, complicated to understand but with well planned insight using other social media platforms you can this app to your utmost advantage. Here are some helpful Q & A on this app:
Who is an ideal Klout user?
Klout users are people who want to be online influencers. This is particularly important for authors, professional speakers, actors, marketing professionals and other leaders. A lot of business decisions today are made based on ones influence hence this app will be particularly important for entrepreneurs and enterprises. Klout has an incentive program where is gives perks to people who have significant amounts of influence. A Klout user is one who is looking for a national or international audience to engage with hence online presence is crucial.
You can make the most from this application by creating specific strategies and schedules to interact with customers and make the most from business.
What is an important tip for newcomers?
One of the most important rules for social engagement for newbie’s would be to follow ABC’s of social engagement.
Be engaging with people on a personal basis. Social media is replacing the traditional method of advertising to create and more personal and targeted connections with people. \
Be consistent. You cant expect to have any influence if you occasionally tweet once every couple of months. Being out of sight means being out of circle of influencers. Hence it is important to have a consistent and engaging environment with the community.
Be connected. In order to your community to connect with you, you must learn to hear them first. Understand what they are looking for and cater those needs sincerely.
Will Klout ever replace resume?
Klout will not replace resume but add to the application process. It will definitely be used as an effective hiring process for job applicants.
References
Fidelman, M. (2013, 7 9). Why microsoft’s partnership with klout to measure influence at work is a good thing. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
Palermo, E. (2013, 10 22). how to improve your klout score and why you should bother. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/marketing-sales/2013/10/22/how-to-improve-your-klout-score-and-why-should-bother/
Hall, S. H. (2013, 6 4). Don’t like klout? 12 other ways to track social media influence and engagement. Retrieved from http://blog.crazyegg.com/2013/06/04/dont-like-klout/
With mobile technology and social media on the rise, advertisers have begun to become creative when it comes to placing ads. Through mobile device platforms, ad creators have to find ways to reach its consumers in ways that do not stray them from the product being advertised. Twitter has recently begun to implement “promoted tweets” as well recommending twitter accounts that might interest the user. Through these forms of advertising, companies have the ability to interact on a more personal level as opposed to other forms of advertisements.
Companies are able to have personal interaction with its consumers through Twitter due to the small scale in which they have to respond. Twitter is becoming more interactive with its advertisers by providing platforms better suited for the companies’ advertisements. Through the promotion of tweets by celebrities or the “promoted tweet” mode, companies are able to share photos, news, videos, links, and more which reaches the consumer in 140 characters of less.
Twitter has recently added ESPN, Ford Motor Company, and CBS to its major advertising program. This brings in revenue to not only these companies but Twitter as well. Major networks like ESPN and CBS find it innovating to see the power that live broadcasting and twitter interaction can have. The interaction consumers have with television and twitter is in most cases 58% more likely to create a sale than if the consumer only saw a commercial without any twitter interaction. It is simple; the consumer likes to be in control at all times. With this interaction they can have through twitter, they are able to believe that they are controlling the outcome. Through twitter they can express complaints, concerns, and suggestions on the products.
The importance of twitter on advertising is increasing everyday. With new technology and advertising partnerships, Twitter has the potential to become one of the biggest advertisement platforms in the market. The problem with this is how the consumer will react if their social media is covered in advertisements. Facebook received criticism when they began to show more and more ads on its page. However, many people forgot about it after some time. I believe its beneficial to the companies to advertise on all social media platforms, and as a user of social media, I can honestly say I am okay with advertisements as long as they do not interfere constantly with my content.
References
Yeung , K. (2013, August 29). Twitter’s lead generation card opens to all advertisers with a new layout, analytics, and more. Retrieved from http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2013/08/29/twitters-lead-generation-card-opens-to-all-advertisers-with-a-new-layout-analytics-and-more/
Goel, V. (2013, September 23). Twitter adds cbs to its stable of big advertising partners. The New York Times . Retrieved from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/twitter-adds-cbs-to-its-stable-of-big-advertising-partners/?_r=0
Last week, Twitter bought mobile advertising publisher MoPub for a rumored $350 million in stock. This deal happened in light of the social media giant’s move to file for an IPO. The valuation of a company for the initial public offering of stock includes future potential revenue, so the timing of this deal makes a lot of sense. While the company has been successful in recent years, the acquisition of MoPub will only improve Twitter’s revenue from mobile advertisements.
Does this mean more ads are coming to Twitter? Probably. The company already uses ads on its mobile and desktop clients. However, 20 percent of users utilize third-party sources, and currently Twitter does not place ads into those apps. With MoPub’s help, Twitter can expand its advertising capabilities to all supported platforms and increase ad revenue immensely.
As discussed in this Bloomberg Television’s “In The Loop” segment, Twitter is a highly successful mobile advertising platform. While it may not have as extensive an audience as some platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter does have key features that contribute to its mobile advertising success. For example, its real-time conversation capabilities offer advertisers to pinpoint and reach target audiences as events are happening. The MoPub acquisition offers Twitter other services to further expand on its already successful mobile advertising platform. MoPub has previously used location-based mobile advertising, and Twitter has reportedly been preparing to do the same.
MoPub’s expertise in mobile advertising through a variety of platforms will help Twitter expand its marketing from only native apps to yet untapped third-party sources. With the imminent valuation of the company in anticipation of the IPO, increased breadth of advertising exposure can only help the company.
What all this means for Twitter users is as of yet a bit unclear. Twitter will most likely continue with its sponsored tweets on its native platforms, but perhaps these will spread to third-party apps as well. Previously ad free platforms may soon see advertisements, but it is still somewhat unknown. What is known is that Twitter is a force in the world of mobile advertising and is poised to continue its growth.
References:
Elvekrog, J. (Performer) (2013). Twitter is made for mobile advertising: Elvekrog. [Television series episode]. InIn the Loop. Bloomberg Television. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/video/twitter-is-made-for-mobile-advertising-evelkrog-ckly0tEOR7Chglqzat0c3g.html
Elvekrog, J. (2013, September 12). With the mopub acquisition, twitter embraces the ecosystem.VentureBeat, Retrieved from http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/12/with-the-mopub-acquisition-twitter-embraces-the-ecosystem/
Ha, A., Cutler, K. & Lunden, I. (2013, September 9). Twitter buys mopub for $350m to up the ante in mobile advertising. TechCrunch, Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/09/twitter-said-to-acquire-mopub/
Kessler, S. (2013, September 16). Social advertising: How twitter can compete with facebook. Fast Company, Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/3017472/social-advertising-how-twitter-can-compete-with-facebook
Kessler, S. (2013, September 12). Twitter has filed for an ipo. Fast Company, Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/3017372/twitter-has-filed-for-an-ipo
Short videos posted on social media platforms are not new, right? Vine has been around since the beginning of this year with its 6 second loop videos. So, what is so special about video on Instagram? Christopher Heine offers up “5 Reasons Why Instagram Video May Cut Down Vine,” an article posted on AdWeek.com:
1) Longer videos
15 seconds could turn out to be a far more engaging length than Vine’s six-second clips. Not to mention, in terms of advertising, that’s the length of TV spots constantly employed by brands.
2) Cool filters
Anyone who has made a Vine knows that they are fun but kind of rough-looking. Instagram’s filters and cinema elements really seem to give it the upper hand here.
3) Brand Engagement
On the pure marketing level again, social media teams are getting stretched like crazy these days, as they have for a few years been trying to market items with Facebook, Instagram photos, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, MySpace, Foursquare, Pinterest, etc. If brands can incorporate good-looking Instagram videos into their messaging via those channels, will they bother with Vine? It undoubtedly will be interesting to watch.
4) Built in scale and community
Instagram—as a photo-sharing app—has 10 times more users than Vine. Those folks are used to constantly updating the app, so consumers are going to start using Instagram videos in the next few days if not hours. It should not take long for it too overtake Vine in terms of sheer audience.
5) Oh yeah, and Facebook is also big
FB has a billion users who are likely going to start regularly seeing Instagram videos of children, puppies and random footage of things like street mimes. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s huge platform should be an unusally strong advantage to the forthcoming Instagram video vs. Twitter Vine battle.
Heine also writes about marketers utilizing Instagram Video in another article on AdWeek.com titled “Brands Are Already Using Instagram Videos and Planning for More: Stoked marketers quickly whip up 15-second ideas.” He quotes the social media lead for Red Vines, the super delicious licorice candy, as saying the following regarding Instagram Video:
“It was wise to make them 15 seconds, because it allows for more engagement than the six seconds you get with Twitter Vine,” said Michael Kelly, Red Vines’ social media lead. “It allows you to tell stories that are at least a little more complicated.”
Marketers are hoping that they can utilize these 15 second videos to give consumers a more intimate look behind the scenes. There is a benefit in the homemade feel of these short clips because it puts the brand in the same creative space as the consumer: they’re all just a bunch of people using their smart phones to tell stories about the things they love. And the relatively unpolished Instagram Videos feel like home videos, so consumers can feel more connected to the products that they use every day. Here are a few examples that Heine shows in his article:
I will admit that I am not a fan of Vine. I had a project in another class that involved Vine and I just don’t see the point of it. Most of the videos seen on Vine feature teenagers doing stupid things that they think make them cool. Vine’s network isn’t as big as other social media giants. The benefit of video on Instagram is that the network is already built up, so users aren’t jumping into a new platform with no friends. They can share video with the friends, celebs, and brands that they already follow. And, the Instagram platform supports both photo and video, so you aren’t stuck with just video as you currently are on Vine.
It will be interesting to see how the video war plays out. What do you think?
Loyola Digital Advertising [로욜라 디지털 광고] 
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