Grown Up Thinking

An hour-long high school dramedy series that’s a musical? Let’s face it: Glee initially had everything going against it. Time will ultimately tell, but skeptics be damned. This year’s Golden Globe winner for Best Comedy Series turned out to be a runaway hit that has yet to lose steam as it heads into the second part of its freshman season. Above all, the show’s writing is top notch by melding a perfect blend of edgy dark humor and a lot of heart. The talent of the young cast is undeniable. And Jane Lynch turns anything into comic gold. But producers were faced with some tough challenges right from the start. How to get people to actually tune in? Enter social media and a relatively risky gamble on an aggressive interactive marketing campaign.

First of all, Fox chose to debut the pilot episode months before its actual season debut in order to capitalize on its 20+ million captive audience from American Idol. They then utilized the down time to really gain traction online by engaging with their most passionate fans (or ‘Gleeks’). Currently, @gleeks has a nearly 50,000 person following on Twitter and almost 2 million fans on Facebook. Mix that with its very own YouTube channel with exclusive content, PR-worthy appearances (Oprah!) and even nationwide mall performances. Yep, everyone’s all abuzz over the little show that could.

Blurring the line between fan and fiction even further, Glee has since launched a national casting campaign for new characters to appear on the series. Fox also recently released an interactive “hypertrailer” allowing viewers to click and “fan” the show’s cast members on Facebook, who also participate live on-air in weekly re-run episodes (or “Tweetpeats”) much like the cast commentary on today’s DVD and Blu-ray discs.

So what’s so significant about Glee’s marketing strategy, anyway? At its core, it is truly a niche show. But a very enthusiastic niche crowd at that. And Glee is giving that very core audience exactly what they want: access and interaction. At a time when studios are shuttering unauthorized playback of content and guarding creative copyrights like a fortress, this show is practically shooting it across America through a t-shirt cannon. Whether it be the show’s music content (consistently charting week after week on iTunes) or capturing that “underdog” spirit in everyone, Glee has succeeded in truly crossing all media types, including a forthcoming iPhone/iPad app. That makes it one of the very first scripted shows to actually achieve results in reaching out to a young, digital audience with significant viral success. That’s definitely a social media coup to be gleeful about. I, for one, am proud to be a Gleek. Who’s with me?

Glee resumes its season on Tuesday,  April 13 on Fox.

If I were in the sports marketing department at Northern Iowa, I’d be working overtime (no pun intended) to get my basketball coach on Facebook and Twitter by, like, yesterday. Your school just knocked off a giant in the NCAA Tourney and now you’re the trending topic of the week. Embrace it.

How many opportunities does a small school such as Northern Iowa get to have millions of people reading, watching and talking about them? Schools are businesses, and businesses need to build their brand in order to attract new customers (or in this case, students).

A school and coach that’s doing it right? Check out Kentucky’s Coach Cal. He has over 138k fans on Facebook and over 1.1 million Twitter followers…WOW. I imagine there are a couple brands that would pay good money for that type of online community.

How many of those Facebook fans are high school students still deciding on which school they will attend? How about potential basketball recruits looking to get to know the coach? He even goes on to promote a Nike contest that the University of Kentucky is participating in to help rally votes and get the University more exposure.

So, Ben, even though your Panthers crushed my dreams of bracket supremacy by defeating Kansas, I forgive you and would like to offer you a bit of advice if I may:

Please, speak to your marketing department and ask that they set you up with some social media networks pronto. The world is listening and you’ve just signed a big ol’ 10-year contract extension to stay at Northern Iowa (congrats BTW) – better start building that brand while you have our attention.

Happy Birthday, Twitter! As we reflect on four years of compacting our thoughts into 140 characters, social media pulse point Mashable.com is asking readers how Twitter has changed their lives, by using the hashtag #thankstwitter4. Sifting through the 140 #thankstwitter4 tweets that Mashable chose to highlight got us well-connected folks at Mr Youth thinking about what we’d like to thank Twitter for. Here’s just a smattering of our grateful gospel:

@courtneyc: #thankstwitter4 helping our generation fuel the biggest text-based fundraiser in history via the @RedCross

@laural:  For the information I learn from everyday #thankstwitter4

@kennyh:  #thankstwitter4 forcing me off my butt on #lazysunday by showing me what all my friends are doing

@jennaa:  #thankstwitter4 the most hilarious trending topics – i.e. #myfuturehusband & #dearfuturewife

@ericab:  For celebrating pithier wordsmithery #thankstwitter4

@ericab: (and for @ShitMyDadSays) #thankstwitter4

@alexisd: #thankstwitter4 giving me a place to voice all of those random thoughts that come to me on my commute to and from work

@manisham:  #thankstwitter4 helping me get hundreds of clicks a day on manishainmanhattan.com!

@laural:  For all the new friends and business contacts I have made #thankstwitter4

@giancarlop: #thankstwitter4 making human interactions, thoughts, and feelings searchable. (sorry to get all heavy on you)

There are many among us who cherish the days when we get to indulge in a hearty breakfast of pancakes and syrup instead of our usual cup of coffee and too much to do. Well today is our day, because it is officially National Pancake Day according to IHOP, and the folks over at the famed food shop are taking a new approach to promoting it with a Web 2.0 spin!

For starters, IHOP enlisted Miss America 2010 to be the official spokesperson for National Pancake Day to support the nationwide promotion and tie-in with the Children’s Miracle Network. On the official National Pancake Day website consumers can share information via their social networks and sign up to receive celebrity wake up calls reminding them to celebrate with some pancakes. If you’re one of the 74,000+ IHOP Facebook fans you may have noticed that you were automatically sent to the National Pancake Day tab this morning while IHOP employees across the country took to their local IHOP Twitter accounts to spread the news about the promotion and were even triumphant enough to earn IHOP a spot in the coveted “Trending Topics” list on Twitter. Overall I’d give IHOP an “A” for effort, but a “B” overall for their Web 2.0 centered celebration. They’ve got a lot of room to make this a full-blown social media extravaganza, and this is a great step in that direction.

At some point over the last year many of us have realized that some of what we post on Twitter may not be what we’d like to share with all of our followers. Unfortunately for those in that situation, Twitter does not have privacy settings like Facebook that allow you to choose who can see what information that you share, so what do you do when you realize that your personal life is crossing over into your public life? The answer is simple – make a second account!

The first question you should ask yourself when doing this is, “Why am I using Twitter and what am I trying to accomplish?”. There are many reasons why having multiple accounts makes sense. You can segment your Twitter traffic based on your interests, focus content on different topics and develop larger followings across different fields. I will admit that I ran in to the same problem on Twitter which actually became more of a positive than a negative. Now that I have two Twitter accounts I can share personal content with my close group of friends and network with other professionals. In fact, I recently discovered that 53% of Twitter users have multiple accounts which is why Twitter management software like HootSuite and TweetDeck have become so popular.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Twitter was already developing a new platform to improve some of the organization and privacy issues that are plaguing many users- but until that day comes, I’ll have to keep up with my (not so) secret double life on Twitter. You can call me Bond… James Bond.

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.)

As we enter the “tear it up” 10s we should be in for a wild year in all areas of American culture- entertainment, technology, sports, and media. Since Twitter has become such a critical source for news dissemination, I thought it would be appropriate to share some predictions for 2010 in the form of Tweets:

1. @TigerWoods: feels great to be back on the course and winning again

2. @BarackObama: We never said we were out of the woods

3. @MTV: Ask and u shall receive! Excited 2 announce #JerseyShore renewed til 2015

4. @ESPN: SportsCenter in 3D premieres tonight- get ur glasses in today’s @USAToday

5. @Mashable: Facebook Announces Premium Account Service Offering $1/mo Subscriptions with Enhanced Functionality: http://bit.ly/19ksST

6. @The_Real_Shaq: #Italwaysfeelsgoodto hoist that trophy

7. @JamesCameron: Humbled by #Avatar passing Titanic as top-grossing film of all time

8. @AlGore: Don’t believe the hype, I am not running in 2012

9. @PerezHilton OMG! OMG! Tom and Katie are history

10. @NFLNetwork: 2011 lockout looms large for next season

11. @IMDB: Shooting for The Sopranos movie seen around Northern NJ yesterday

12. @VirginAmeria: Now offering @Skype seats for in-flight video conference in select “noisy rows”

13. @EbertChicago: Sex and The City 2: Two thumbs down!

14. @Gizmodo: The #SkiffReader is our 2010 tech device of the year

15. @JimJCramer: It is still not too late to get out of the dollar and into commodities

16. @CNN: 36 countries report internet outages for as long as 9 hrs as a global task force is created to identify what happened http://cnn.com

17. @LadyGaga: Just found out I’ve been selected by Richard Branson for Virgin Galactic’s first ride to space

18. @JimGoldman: Google discontinues #NexusOne citing lackluster sales

19. @APlusK: This tweet is sponsored by @Coca_Cola

20. @SergeyBrinn: We have officially ceased Google.cn. We recommend using @Baidu

What other tweets do you expect to see?

In the wake of Haiti’s massive and devastating earthquake, we’re now bearing witness to the largest text-based fundraising campaign for disaster relief to date.

Countless compassionate individuals combined with the girth of our social media world have led to an outpouring of financial and emotional support for the people of Haiti. As of Thursday morning, the American Red Cross had collected nearly $3 million in donations through text messages.

Both the American Red Cross and the Yéle Haiti Foundation have set up “text to donate” services and have asked Twitter users to text a number to make a donation, which is then added to your cell phone bill. #Text, #Help Haiti and #Yele are currently among today’s top 10 trending topics on Twitter.

Text-based donations get aid swiftly to those in need- Yéle Haiti’s technology partners Mobile Giving and Give on the Go have even waived the typical two-week waiting period to deposit the donations. As a result, Yéle Haiti says they’ll have nutrition bars, candles, blankets and flashlights on the ground in Haiti this Friday. Many text-based donation services even let you sign up for tweets to see how their donations are being spent.

These past few days have truly been a testament to the power that technology and social media hold- and as a wise man once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

To donate $10 to the American Red Cross’s earthquake relief efforts, text “Haiti” to 90099.

To donate $5 to Yéle Haiti, text “YELE” to 501501.

One of my Twitter friends recently posted a great article by Xavier Lur, who is a 15 year old Singapore student and also the editor of TechXav. TechXav, a technology blog written by teens ranging from 11-15, was founded by Lur in 2009 and is great site which shares news and reviews on technology from a youth’s perspective.

The article that actually caught my attention was from July, but I found it too entertaining and impressive to not share. 30+ Funny & Weird Twitter Applications give us a application-by-application rundown of Twitter’s most entertaining (yet mostly useless) add-ons.  If you have a couple of minutes, I highly suggest you read through the entire list, but below you can find my favorite 4 apps taken from Lur’s list:

Track This lets you track your UPS, Fedex, USPS or DHL package via Twitter.  Each time the package changes locations, Track This will notify you of its whereabouts.  No more waiting by the door for the UPS guy to arrive!

Foamee is Twitter’s answer to online flirting.  That special someone will be notified that you have purchased them a drink, but the kicker is, you’ll have to actually meet up with them to redeem it.  The sender or receiver can then confirm they actually purchased/claimed the drink, so all of your Twitter friends can see you are a (wo)man of your word.

Overheard.it is a personal favorite of mine, as it reminds me of one of my favorite pre-Twitter/Foursquare websites, Overhead In New York. Users anonymously tweet about silly things overheard throughout their day.  Great for a giggle or to pass time waiting for the bus.

TwitterMosaic I find really fun (especially as my News Feed was recently flooded by “My Year in Status” posts).  It compiles a collage of all of your Twitter friends and lets you drop the picture onto mugs, t-shirts, bags, etc.  Next Christmas, Twitter Mosaic mouse pads for everyone!

Finally, my least favorite application.  But only because it thought I was a dude.

When I graduated college, one of my main concerns was how I was going to be able to keep up with all of my friends and family. How would I ever find time in my super busy schedule to call or see all the people I used to have tons of time for? “Facebook Stalking” soon became the most resourceful way to keep tabs on the people in my life. Although e-stalking my friends was easy, I couldn’t help but wonder how social media sites would increase or decrease my social relationships with others in the real world. Why even pick up the phone to call a friend to ask how work is going, when you can see through their Facebook status that they just got promoted? Spend enough time online and before you know it you know everything about everyone, even those who you don’t know!

Some believe that an excess of social media can cause isolation from the real world, but a new study by Pew Internet and American Life Project suggests that social media users are just as social as those who are not frequent users. The study suggests that people who use social media to connect with others not only have a larger network of people to discuss with, but a more diverse network as well. The study claims social media users tend to be more involved in their communities, most likely because online networking raises awareness of events and opportunities they may not have heard about otherwise.

After reading the results of the study, I couldn’t agree more. Through Twitter and Facebook I have met a variety of amazing people from all different types of backgrounds. I guess it pays to be computer geek after all.