Grown Up Thinking

From outlandish one-on-one encounters to themed bar nights, ChatRoulette has swept the nation with its unapologetically uncensored take on the classic internet chat. Marketing types around the world held their breath wondering who would be the first brand to tap in to the 500,000+ unique users per day.

And the winner is…. French Connection. The international clothing brand has launched a ChatRoulette competition challenging participants to use the service to seduce a woman in exchange for a $250 voucher. Risky move for an international brand, considering the proliferation of shady stuff going down on the site. But foolish or not, they’ve been getting a lot of coverage for being the first.

Only time will tell if ChatRoulette can become a useful tool in the marketer’s arsenal. Thoughts?

Growing up as a teen in the late ’80s and early ’90s was much simpler on so many levels. I never remember hearing the words economy, terrorism, war or debt. Instead, my thoughts were left to my dreams and curiosity. Since the library was not the place I aspired to be, and the Internet was far from reach, I was left to my imagination about much of what the world had to offer.The catalyst for my dreams growing up as a teen were the icons I looked up to and aspired to be like. Long before celebrity scandals were everyday news I, like many of my peers, were left with the innocent feeling of putting my heroes on impenetrable pedestals. Bobby Brown (see: mug shot), Charles Barkley (ditto), and yes, Brandon from Beverly Hills 90210 were at the top of my list.

No matter whom I looked up to as a teen, every icon had one thing in common … cool. They acted cool, dressed cool, talked cool and walked cool.

Fast forward to 2010, and the headlines are much different as are teens’ perceptions of their icons. The Internet, camera phones, and Perez Hilton have exposed those who might otherwise be teens’ everyday heroes as frauds or creeps, and there is little left to the imagination. The halo of cool has become blurred and faded with yet another flash from a TMZ photographer.

Enter the “age of anti-cool” for the modern teen. With each new celebrity wart exposed, the notion of hero and idol has virtually disappeared only to be awkwardly replaced by the likes of Michael Cera, Shaun White and Glee. Today’s rising teen heroes are largely embraced because of their flaws rather than their airbrushed perfection. We are entering an age that celebrates and promotes imperfection.

Teens are infatuated with Shaun White not only because he is an American teen icon* that is a killer snowboarder but because he is in many ways as relatable as the free-spirited, pimply kid next door. Michael Cera (or Jonah Hill for that matter) is not as easy on the eyes as Jason Priestly once was, but who would you rather spend a night playing Xbox with? Glee celebrates the inner shower singer in all of us that just wants to belt out some “Journey” … and something about that feels so right.

Social media has made the anti-cool acceptable and widespread. No longer does today’s teen need to be a cheerleader or sports jock to fit in. There are meet-ups for Star Wars geeks and tweetups for Circus Freaks and everything in between. Pepsi, long seen as an arbiter of teen pop culture, no longer uses the likes of Britney, MJ, Madonna or Shaq in its ads, but instead a promise for everyday people to make a difference.

Is your brand still hiding behind the bright lights and makeup of a paid celebrity shill to tout your wares? Or are you embracing your warts while becoming more authentic and relatable? The jig is up for fooling teen consumers with a paid endorsement by their heroes. Now you must earn their trust by letting it all out and embracing the anti-cool.

This article appeared as part of MediaPost’s Engage:Teens Publications. To read the original post, click here.

By now everyone is aware of the sensation Doppleganger week generated on Facebook, and a smaller buzz was created when a movement challenged women to change their status to the color of your bra to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. Both appear to have started organically.

Two new groups are getting viral traction on Facebook. The first one:  I’m With Coco, a group started to show support for Conan through the NBC debacle. The group, started up by artist Mike Mitchell,  is closing in on 1 million fans and has inspired a merchandise line featuring  a Shepard Fairey-esque image of Conan that Mitchell created.

The second meme of the month is “Can this Pickle Get More Fans than Nickelback.” It was inspired by the “Can this onion get more fans than Justin Bieber”, which had over 2-million fans before it was pulled down by facebook. This week, the Nickelback hating page reached their goal by netting more than 1,420,000 fans compared to Nickelback’s 1,413,167. The page continues to grow with pure viral pickle power.

Both social media movements have started small, but have resulted in big pay offs. Facebook is a tricky space. Their policies are ever-changing and they reserve the right to pull down pages that violate their terms. YET, if a brand approached this correctly, it could be a huge win. Conan could have put out a rally cry on the network and driven people to join a Facebook fan group, but a consumer did it instead. Who knows if there is some magic pickle man behind this viral effort. I’d put money on it that there isn’t, but you never know these days.

Back in November, a clam chowder joint’s viral stunt reported their sales tripled from a hoax campaign that put their billboard in the depths of the ocean. Damn, I’m getting hungry… gotta change my FB status.

Facebook is celebrating its 6th birthday this week, which seems a good a time as any to reflect on its path to world domination.

Let us not forget Facebook’s humble beginnings as “Thefacebook”. As if they were concerned there could be another one, this was THE facebook for all your networking needs. That is- assuming you’re an ivy leaguer buried in books in the Bay State. May I remind you that at its inception “Thefacebook” was only available to students at Harvard, where creator Mark Zuckerberg held his dorm room brainstorm sessions.

What you may not know is that even before “Thefacebook” there was “Facemash”- a Hot or Not game Zuckerberg created after hacking into Harvard’s computer network and stealing his peers’ student ID photos. “Facemash” generated 450 visitors and 22,000 photo views in its first four hours online.

I still remember the Facebook buzz growing my sophomore year of college- eagerly anticipating my D2 school’s addition to “the list”. This came around the beginning of junior year, my three roommates and I wasting hours of valuable study (and party) time polishing our profiles until they became a sharp snapshot of who we each were (on our best day, of course.)

I clearly remember my attempt to demystify the “poke” and debating with actual, legit friends what the rules were for deciding “Facebook friends”. Today, Facebook has 400 million members and anyone, anywhere over the age of 13 is allowed to join.

This tremendous growth doesn’t look to be slowing either. Membership this year is double what it was on Facebook’s fifth birthday. The social networking powerhouse also blew out the candles with some celebratory changes this week, including a shuffling of menus and an apps and games dashboard.

You thought that your car could keep you safe from advertising as long as you ignored the billboards, but it’s 2010 now and it’s time for change! As we move into the next decade of technology, consumers can expect to see more integration between marketing, social media, and their daily commute.

Companies like Ford are coming out with new cars that will deliver popular mobile features to their navigation systems like turn-by-turn directions, streaming music, and Twitter. Google Maps will even start featuring paid advertising layered over existing billboards. This is big news for businesses like gas stations, restaurants, fast-food chains and hotels which will now have the opportunity to offer special discounts and promotions to drivers.

I don’t mind this new presence so long as there’s an added benefit for the consumer. Maybe while on vacation my navigation system could show me a promotion for a hotel discount, or let me know where to get cheap gas. Perhaps when I pull in to fill up the tank, a virtual billboard could remind me how much I’d love some McDonalds for the road (just so long as my Twitter doesn’t automatically post that I’m breaking my new year’s resolution.)

Much like Dave Carroll and his 2008 plea to United Airlines to fix the guitar they busted, Freya Svensson has turned to song (and YouTube) to air her concerns about customer service with a huge brand (this time, it’s Volvo).

Instead of writing an angry letter, consumers will now write scathing blogs posts. Instead of asking to speak to the manager, they’ll turn to their social networks. Thankfully, these examples show less vitriol and far more humor, but act as a definite heads up for brands to listen and respond.

The masses have spoken, yet Facebook won’t deliver what we want. Thankfully, some awesome developer somewhere has given into our demands. The “Dislike” button is finally available!! Slow clap!

Now, you can install a Firefox plugin that gives your Facebook account access to the big ol’ thumbs DOWN, allowing you to boldly express your disdain for your ex-boyfriend’s new relationship status, or your roommate’s announcement that she just accidentally knocked your toothbrush into the toilet. So LOL, right? “Dislike”!!!

The only catch? Your friends need to have installed the plug-in themselves to see your “thumbs down”, which could perhaps turn into an incentive for Facebook to finally add their own. Why are they holding out on us, anyway?

A standard “Dislike” button would have come in serious handy this morning while oodles of my Facebook friends were touting the Yankees’ World Series win.  While I now consider myself a New Yorker, I was born on the North Shore of Boston and grew up in Connecticut where you’re raised either Yanks or Sox. I would have LOVED to put my big “Dislike” stamp across all of Facebook today. (Me, bitter? Noooo. I just have a tough time sympathizing with a 9-year wait for a World Series win, when my team once waited 86.)

Armed with this new tool, there’s a scary chance my online persona could go from witty to wicked (and not in the “Big Papi is a wicked good hittuh!” sense.)

Use wisely, friends! Or, um, whichever friends I still have next week.

I grew up with a mouse and keyboard in my hand. Sure, I played Oregon Trail, competed with my brother and sister in computer games, and hung out every night on AIM. I grew up with technology as it was becoming social.

The power of social technologies has amplified the power of consumers. In the digital age, every individual has the opportunity to be an influencer. The ‘publish’ button has given us the power (and the responsibility) to be citizen watchdogs. While this capability has always existed through traditional in-person word of mouth, it is amplified by the power of social technologies. Little did we know the drastic change that was happening while we stared at our shining screens worried about our Ox mid-game on the Trail.

Needless to say, Generation Y has been at the heart of this change, and the Net Generation is not far behind.

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Want to unlock the mysteries of marketing to today’s new moms? Mr Youth has just released Millennial Mom 101, our latest white paper which explores How Millennial Moms are Supplanting College Students as the Most Connected and Technology Dependent Population.

The paper concludes with the Millennial Mom Roadmap, 10 keys to marketing to this ever evolving consumer. Download the full white paper at MillennialMoms.com.

* Know your meme.

Ad network, Chitika, recently analyzed the browsing habits of over 33 million unique users in an attempt to find the sources that provide the most loyal users. So, what did they find? That Facebook provides more loyal visitors than Google, Twitter, Bing and Yahoo. The runner up: Digg.

So, how would one define “loyal” anyway? Quite simple. A user that comes back to your site multiple times. Not a dismissive head nod, but more of a definite “getting to know ya” handshake. It’s our job to make sure that turns into a full-on bear hug (or, lion hug, if you prefer).

While this is not necessarily shocking news to many of us, it’s surely a move in the right direction to showing the implications of providing users the chance  to share using Facebook. What’s your brand waiting for?

Blog fuzzy hearts and gold stars to Mashable, as always.