Grown Up Thinking

On January 28th we posted our POV on the social media blackout in Egypt. Social media played a remarkable role in the ability for revolutionaries to communicate and mobilize, and this is not the first instance where social enabled incredible change for a country and its people.

With knowledge of the political and cultural power of their sites the executives of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, and others have unique approaches to their resulting responsibility and democratic role.

Google isn’t afraid of taking sides. Becoming part of the revolution, they worked with Twitter to create Speak2Tweet, allowing the people in Egypt to skirt the online access restrictions. YouTube also played a role on behalf of the protesters by quickly curating submitted content to be shared with the world.

While it is unquestionable that Facebook knows their power as a tool for social change, there is no intention to partner with movements as Google and Twitter have done. In part this is a crucial stance on behalf of social justice. If Facebook promoted themselves as a tool for uprising or gave statements in support of this activity, the site would be blocked by some regimes in a precautionary attempt to avoid a repeat of Tunisia or Egypt.

Some advocates for human rights see this as a mistake (more on this specifically in this NY Times article). The trust and authenticity we find so appealing about Facebook can be devastating to citizens of more oppressive nations as it stems from the prohibition of false identities. Facebook’s response is always in defense of overall user protection, so this policy is not currently up for negotiation.

This does not mean that Facebook will idly stand by. Last month we all jumped on the security upgrade to prevent stolen passwords. This was Facebook’s response to actions taken by the Tunisian government, worded as a technical solution across the board for greater user security. Facebook has also shut down activist pages with falsified admin names, solidifying their stance against overall abuse to their terms.

All social media sites have been threaded into historical progress. What do you think of the differences between Google and Twitter putting themselves in the front line and Facebook sticking to the sidelines?

It’s that time of year again in New York City. The trendy restaurants are booked solid, there are black Escalades everywhere and the white tents are up in Lincoln Center. It’s Fashion Week, and this year for the first time, fashionistas everywhere are given real-time access to the runway thanks to Maybelline New York, the official makeup sponsor of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Throughout the seven day fashion extravaganza connoisseurs who aren’t lucky enough to have a press pass (or volunteer pass for that matter) can tune into the Maybelline New York YouTube channel where 30 runway shows are being streamed live. The live video is supported by a #liverunway Twitter aggregator that pulls in consumer conversations about the live show, and is wired with Facebook and Twitter Connect for easy content sharing.

The Fashion Week access that Maybelline is providing consumers through social media is unprecedented. Never before has a regular gal like me been able to see the latest looks and designs of Monique Lhuillier and Christian Siriano at the same time as Anna Wintour and Nina Garcia. Thanks to social media, a coveted seat under that white tent, which by nature is so exclusive, is suddenly so attainable. An excellent case study of how brands can use social technology to provide consumers with exclusive access to the content they crave, thus further establishing and strengthening the consumer/brand connection/relationship.

Maybelline’s decision to provide consumers with exclusive Fashion Week access is no accident. Over the past year Maybelline has taken an extremely editorial position in the marketplace, providing consumers with trend reports, make-up lessons and more through their digital and social properties. The Fashion Week initiatives are an extension of this stance, deeply engaging consumers with fashion and New York, two pillars of the Maybelline brand, up close and personal.

If 3,029,062 people “Like” Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook, could 18,976,457 people “Like” New York City? Rumor has it Mayor Michael Bloomberg just had a powwow with the world’s most popular dweeb to discuss pushing the Big Apple into the social realm (which is really the least Zuckerberg could do to redeem himself for that painful SNL cameo.)

The NY Daily News reports that while Big Mike has been somewhat vague about the details of the meeting, he believes “there’s a lot of potential” in NYC having its own Facebook page. Bloomberg’s even gone so far as to hire a Millennial to man the helm as Chief Digital Officer – 27-year-old Rachel Sterne (<< follow her!) There has been some criticism that Sterne doesn’t have enough experience for the position or its reported $115,000 salary, but I beg to differ.

What does her resume look like? Our new CDO is founder and CEO of citizen journalism site GroundReport, and was named one of America’s most promising social entrepreneurs by Businessweek, at age 25. Rachel’s also an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, despite the absence of her own graduate degree. AdWeek even claims she’s “a bit of a darling in New York’s digital scene“. So, what else do you want? Social and digital is a relatively new space for city government to play, and I believe it takes a fresh and eager mind to understand, embrace, and stay on top of it all.

Equipping the Big Apple with a social media presence will do more than give New Yorkers a greater sense of city pride, it could be an efficient way for NYC to both communicate and collaborate with those of us who live here. I’m curious to learn more about Zuckerberg’s plan for how New York can use Facebook, and what our new CDO will bring to the table. What’s your social media strategy for your city?

MTV’s new show, “Skins,” has been dominating my Twitter feed lately and creating what seems to be the largest social controversy since the Starbucks logo announcement (which likely indicates that most people will stop caring by the time this is published). I read the tweets, articles and comments, and after being inspired to find out more, I took to my favorite research tool, Crowdtap, to find out just what teens were thinking about and what that says about Skins “pushing the envelope.

I started by tapping in to a crowd of 450 teens just to see how many of them had heard of the show (78%) had heard of it) and built my line of questioning from that subsequent group. The results, as you’ll see below, brought some interesting new insights into play while also reaffirming some existing ones.

#1) They didn’t judge brands by where they advertise. The majority of respondents did not respond negatively to brands that advertised during the show, because they only saw it as the brands trying to reach them as an audience during a teen-targeted show.

#2) What seems controversial to older audiences is not as controversial to them. One-third of teens who had seen the show agreed that MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” which has now grown into a four-season show, is more controversial than “Skins.”

#3) They weren’t as impressionable as we tend to think. The majority of respondents who’d seen the show did not think it was an accurate depiction of teens, and 93% said that watching “Skins” did not make them want to act that way.

#4) They weren’t hearing about it through social media. MTV’s in social and traditional channels, but used more traditional channels to drive reach. Only 9% of respondents had heard about “Skins” through social channels (Facebook, Twitter or YouTube), with most citing TV as their source.

I wasn’t completely surprised to see that the majority of teens did not find the show as controversial as everyone else does, which at the end of the day makes it seem like teens aren’t as quick to react or engage, and as a result are harder to access.

Today the world waits as reports are rolling in that Egypt has put a lock down on Internet and SMS, creating a blackout that has prevented internet traffic from entering or exiting the country as of 12:30am.

The unprecedented move was made by the Egyptian government in an effort to silence voices of dissent against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, just hours before a new series of major protests were planned. Before the blackout, Egyptian activists were utilizing hashtags such as #Jan25 to communicate.

As we’ve seen in Iran and Tunisia previously, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are key communication tools used by political protesters to organize large-scale gatherings and rallies. By blocking these sites, the regime has stripped its people of something much more important than a tweet or a status update—the fundamental right of equal access to knowledge and ideas.

Speaking on the importance of social media, President Obama stated, “There are certain core values that we believe as Americans are universal: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, people being able to use social networking and other mechanisms to communicate their concerns; and that is no less true in the Arab world than it is in the United States”.

While we cannot predict the ultimate political and cultural significance of the outage, our thoughts are with the people of Egypt today.

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

A teen, a Millennial and a Mom walk into a restaurant for dinner. The Mom has a coupon for 10% off that she got for “liking” the bar’s Facebook page, the Millennial checked in on Foursquare to get a free drink, and the teen has nothing and is too busy texting her friends to care.

Teens are a unique audience. They have their own needs and social drivers that are unique to their stage in life. Many marketers assume that, because teens are young, their needs are the same as Millennials and that they will interact with brands in the same way.

New research is showing that teens have their own needs and behaviors that are different from other generations. If you’re a marketer looking to reach teens, it’s vitally important that you always have your finger on the pulse of the teen audience. As technology evolves, teens are finding their own uses for it that are unique to their personal and social needs.

There are some myths about marketing to teens that every marketer can learn from.

Myth #1: All teens want smartphones
While it is true that teens want phones, smartphone adoption has only reached 31% as of 2010. If 90% of teens own a cell phone, why aren’t they buying smartphones? The answer is actually pretty simple: texting. Teens send an average of 3,339 texts per month, and typing that many messages on a touch screen is a lot more difficult than typing on even the most basic phone keyboard. That’s why BlackBerry is one of the most popular phones for teens.

Click here to read the rest of David’s teen marketing myths.

This article first appeared as part of iMedia Connection’s Social Media: In Focus

More than a fan aggregator

With its recent F8 announcements, Facebook has again one-upped the world as we thought we knew it. Brand marketers need to start looking at Facebook as a much deeper and broader solution than one that purely amasses a fan base. As Facebook rolls out new functionality, brands have the opportunity to act immediately in a variety of ways. In addition, it’s important for brand managers to re-imagine their brands by leveraging social enhancements.

Brands need to be able to take immediate advantage of features such as the “like” functionality, but they also need to be visionary in how they can build their brands for the future and become truly social. While I encourage brands to take part in these new advancements, we also need to make sure that we keep an eye on the Facebook future and build with this future in mind.

So, in the quest to make your brand truly social, uproot your assets and think of new ways to infuse them through Facebook integration and by adding key social layers to the brand experience. Look toward the future and start evaluating the role that Facebook can play at retail, on the ground, and across every channel your brand touches. Not all opportunities will be a fit, but one thing is for sure: If you only look at Facebook as a place to have a fan page, you are missing the greater offering and will likely be sitting on the sidelines when the future arrives.

Get the full article here to take a look at some of Facebook’s new and evolving functionalities, as well as what they mean for your marketing efforts.

Looks like the Apple/Adobe “feud” just got a lot more interesting. Fresh off the heels of Steve Jobs’ condemnation of flash on the Apple blog, Adobe released a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal proclaiming its “love” for the computer giant.

While a traditional media play may seem contradictory for a brand whose product resonates most with the online crowd, the provocative ads demonstrate just how powerful the synergy can be between traditional and social campaigns. Already, there are thousands of blog posts dedicated to the subject, and the twitter-sphere is buzzing as the tech-savvy crowd rushes to choose sides.

Regardless of where your allegiances lie, the Adobe example demonstrates an important point for marketers: traditional and social needn’t be mutually exclusive. When executed strategically (with an inherent understanding of your target’s behavior), a traditional mass awareness play can be so powerful that consumers will willingly turn to social media to weigh in, amplifying your message exponentially. All you need to do is start the conversation, and let your audience take it from there.

Who are you rooting for, Apple or Adobe?

Find out in our just-launched white paper in partnership with Intrepid, titled Millennial Inc. Following a six-month joint international research study, the paper explores what the Millennial-led company will look like when Millennials take charge.

Closely observing the way Millennials would run an organization and develop and market products brings to light the challenges marketers are currently having in reaching this demographic. By taking note of how Millennials would reach and impact themselves, the white paper is a much needed how-to guide for making the changes necessary to survive and thrive in the new socially-connected, fully transparent world.

Millennial Inc explores nine core themes across three main areas of the business and concludes with the 10 Core Principles that the Millennial Led Business Will Follow. What are they? Download the whitepaper at millennialinc.com and find out.

It’s not unusual to see a Gen Yer glued to her Blackberry, tweeting while walking (warning: not advised), updating her Facebook status and checking in at every stop along the way.

While only a year and some change old, Foursquare has been creating serious buzz both here at Mr Youth and in the tech worlds, with talks of some big players eyeing the game for a possible sale. While the Foursquare user base is growing, the start up  is making moves to become more business-friendly.

Foursquare recently added several features to increase its user-friendliness to area businesses. Here’s a run-down of some of the recent updates:

Management Ownership- Foursquare now allows businesses to ‘claim’ their venues on Foursquare to better ‘engage their increasingly mobile customers with specials‘, and track how each venue is performing on foursquare thanks to analytics. The site also gives sample engagement rewards to drive return visits (i.e. mayorship specials, wildcard specials).

Management Stats- By claiming their business on Foursquare, owners can also gather the following real-time stats:

• most recent visitors

• most frequent visitors

• times of day people check in

• total number of unique visitors

So why does this matter? Other than getting a free ice cream or the prestige of becoming the mayor of your favorite lunch spot, Foursquare is giving businesses the tools to shape their social media profile to a world of tech-savvy customers. While review sites have reshaped how customers find and frequent local businesses, Foursquare is giving businesses the tools to shape their perception in the eyes of ever-elusive consumers.

So while local businesses and restaurants catch up with Foursquare’s new offerings, I’ll continue to work on my hard-earned mayorships.