Inside the Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog

BLINQ Media White Paper Questions Social Media Myths

Today, BLINQ Media just released a new white paper that’s very academic (read: you need a high school education to read it) but still accessible enough for marketers invested in marketing through Facebook and other social media channels.

I’ll share some highlights below, but it’s important to note that this is a first step. This shouldn’t be seen as universally applicable to all Facebook applications and social media campaigns. The data is from a single application developer, albeit one that recorded 9.1 million users and 117 million actions. Data for gender and ages should vary based on the nature of applications, and much of the data should stem from the nature of this application.

It is a good start though. Produced in conjunction with the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative, it gives a snap shot of application power users and the lifecycle for application usage. Consider the graph below, available on Flickr, showing precisely how the small number of power users on the right side account for most of the interactions:

 

Other report highlights, from the press update:

• A small percentage of the users accounted for a large percentage of the activity. For example, only 6% of the users were responsible for 56% of the activity.
• Not all users are in the 18-24 age bracket as assumed: The top 50% of high activity users of the social media app were 32 or older, while the lower app activity users were predominately 32 and younger (80%).
• While females represented the largest group of application users (73%), 54% of the men were more likely to be heavy app users.
• The majority of users (70%) took over 30 days to respond to a gifting request. Acceptance activity picked up after 30 days and continued until 132 days later.

Widget Monetization Panel at Social Ad Summit

Hooman Radfar, Clearspring
Heidi Henson, RockYou
Sam Wick, Userplane
Ben Pashman, Gigya
Kevin Barenblat, Context Optional (moderator)

Definitions of widgets?

Moderator: I'm an advertiser and I want to do business with you. What am I buying?

Userplane: They built a platform and they want to add community elements. They use us to help make it distributable. We're B2B focused. Widget strategy can take advantage of audience that's already out there.

RockYou: We're distributed media network, 70 million users, also created extended ad network of independent ap developers. LIkeness Quiz - people can see how compatible with their friends. Can create custom quiz like for Indiana Jones - top 10 favorite scenes from Indy movie.

Clearspring: Can advertise within widget - ESPN, Fox Sports, etc. Can help brands advertise within other brands. To go more deeply, we help them build their own widget distributed within their own network.

Gigya: First, there's a widget to be built - advertiser, developer, or us. Our currency is the install. Certain # of installs to specific audience. Advertising's about audience. Upside to widget: advertisers aren't locked in to specific platform. Won't be one or the other for long.

RockYou: Widget is still contained in a certain area, a little different experience of gauging user interaction. They work with PointRoll and others. On ad network, 2x interaction level. Users don't click through as much. Some new metrics may be needed.

Clearspring: There's a space in the ecosystem for everyone. You should get different performance on ads on new platform vs. old.

RockYou: There's no singular solution for brand advertisers. Creating own app can make sense.

Worked with Context Optional for Microsoft app, Office Poke.

Userplane: There are ways for companies to create value so we can provide brands with what they want in targeted environments.

RockYou: Fits with behavioral targeting aims, where users are voluntarily saying their interests, who interests them, what's important to them.

Gigya: As distribution increases, monetization increases.

Moderator: If I'm a media buyer, how do I know who I'm targeting?

Clearspring: You absolutely know. Look at traditional media - pass along effect. You don't know who's seeing it, etc. Power with widgets is measurability - what network it's on, how many people interact with it, how it's shared.

RockYou: Can target by demographics but also by affinity, like speed racing app for people who have affinity for cars.

Baa Humbug: A Sheepish Poke at September 11

There are many great ways to remember the terrorist attacks of September 11 if one chooses to do so. This morning, I watched a bit of the World Trade Center memorial service on the local cable station NY1 where I heard the name of a college friend who was killed.

Once I got to the office, I got an email alert saying, "You've been SuperPoked!" with the text, "____ has remembered 9/11 with you. Check it out!"

What?! This same app lets you take any number of virtual actions with friends, like blowing a kiss, or b!*$% slapping (that's how they write it) or throwing an octopus (yes, that's a real one).

I'm all for people choosing to remember or even not remember the tragedies in any way that best suits them, but I was surprised to see the imagery for the 9/11 remembrance SuperPoke. With the backdrop of the American flag, it shows a sheep (the application's mascot) bowing its head before a candle, with a clip from "God Bless America" playing in the background.

This one pokes me the wrong way. What about you? Am I too uptight about this? Does it also irk you in some way?

Google's Video Speech Recognition Baby Steps

It's about time.

Google's finally starting to use speech recognition for video search. I still don't know why it hasn't just acquired Blinkx and owned the market. Compared to YouTube, Blinkx would be a bargain, and they could monetize it better.

Anyway, the rollout could hardly be more limited. It's only for political speeches, and worse yet, you have to add a Google Gadget to even use it. Find out more on the official Google blog. I've only tried it briefly and it works well enough, but it's hardly pioneering. For another good video search example, see what Reuters Labs is doing with Viewdle's face recognition technology, or check ClipBlast, VeoTag, or Pixsy.

Thanks to my colleague Izzy for the link, originally in the Atlantic Monthly.

SocialVibe: Widgets That Save the World

Finally, I've signed up with SocialVibe. I was inspired by a recent press release I received last week, even one of those barely personalized ones, which goes to show that good content is often all that matters. [An aside: I tried writing this post before and Flock crashed on me. I have to save drafts more often. Please tell me Firefox 3 will be more stable. Flock's recent funding may be too late.]

Here's an excerpt from the release:

In response to these tragedies [in China and Myanmar], SocialVibe.com, a new way to make a difference for charities online, is establishing a cause called Disaster Relief that will enable SocialVibe to quickly mobilize fundraising efforts when a global or regional disaster strikes. SocialVibe.com's Disaster Relief (http://www.socialvibe.com/charities/22#) launches today on the homepage and as the featured cause of the site. SocialVibe.com "Points " earned by selecting Disaster Relief will be allocated to charities within SocialVibe making a difference for Asia.

The gist with SocialVibe is that you sign up for a cause, pick a brand to sponsor it, share this widget, and earn points for the cause.

I'd be curious to hear some case studies on how well the marketing works, and what the brands are even trying to get at here. Is it just some cause marketing branding play?

I also wonder how much of a rush there is for consumers to put more ads on their profiles, which is basically what these widgets are. Yes, widgets are a form of self expression, and people do have their favorite brands. Interestingly, this is the second social site I've tried lately where I've been asked to list my favorite brands; the other is SocialSpark.

Still, there is the potential for one of those win-win-win-win-win..... types of deals.

One nit: it wouldn't let me update my school. I'd try to click save and it wouldn't do anything.

I also don't mean to get overly critical. There are lots of things I like about it. Very easy signup, smooth design, and the 'points' system (not unlike the Spock Power at Spock.com) gives some sort of motivation to do more. The membership upgrade from Gold to Platinum is very clever, where you have to spend a few minutes filling out more info about your interests to better target brands.

In any case, here's the code for my SocialVibe widget. I chose Perrier as my sponsor for two reasons: 1) I drink it sometimes, namely when I'm visiting the in-laws in Dallas, and 2) I felt like this older-skewing brand might need some extra love.

Widget Standards Wiki Launched

Chad Catacchio just launched the Widget Standards Wiki at widgetstandards.org.

It's interesting, just the other day a client was asking us for such standards as they developed their own widgets, and it's still one of those gray areas. Google has some information for gadget developers, but no specifics on sizing. If the right people contribute enough, this could be a great resource for developers, and in turn for marketers.

MadKast Post Sharing Live

Thanks to the writeup on TechCrunch, I'm now using MadKast to make it easier for anyone to email, save, and share any posts here. The green share button is now at the top of every post. For the many readers of this blog who blog yourself, it took less than a minute to add for TypePad (the same's true for Blogger), and it will only take slightly longer if you have to paste in the code manually.

If you do want to try it out (even to email a post to me or yourself), let me know how it works for you so I can stick with the widgets that work.

WashingtonPost Issue Coverage Tracker Widget

This is a great widget execution, one that's worth spending a bit of time with. The one thing that's missing, which it screams for, is a way to compare candidates, so I can see whether, for instance, Obama or Clinton is included in more healthcare coverage.

Web Widget Optimization

If you want some great feedback on a blog post, try writing about widgets, Rene Descartes, or both. It's not so much the volume of responses today that's enlightening - it's the quality of them. On MediaPost's blog, I'm taken to task for my muddling of French and Latin (and Bill Hilton's totally right - thanks for that). Another reader wrote in, "Actually, if Descartes were alive I think he'd sue you for slander" (the respondent later noted he was just having fun).

The best letter, however, came from David Benfell:
"On what grounds do you claim the insight as to what Descartes would or would not have done, today?  I've seen a few self-aggrandizing columns since I subscribed to MediaPost e-mail newsletters, but this has to take the cake for being the most supremely arrogant."

On that note, however literally you care to read the column, I welcome your feedback. The column continues in the extended entry.

Web Widget Optimization

If Rene Descartes were alive today, rather than saying “Je pense, donc je suis” (“I think, therefore I am”), he might say, “Il est, donc j’optimise” (“It is, therefore I optimize”). By that same reasoning, if Monsieur Descartes were alive today, instead of emerging as both the Father of Modern Philosophy and the Father of Modern Mathematics, he’d be trying to figure out how to optimize Web widgets — the next frontier of search engine optimization.

With Newsweek and others calling 2007 the Year of the Widget, then it will also invariably be the year of Web Widget Optimization (WWO). First, let’s get on the same page as to which widgets we’re talking about.

Widgets, alternatively called gadgets (by Google), applications (by Facebook), badges (by people who like the letter b), and other terms, provide a way of syndicating any form of digital content imaginable to other Web sites. Google refers to them as mini-websites. Blog publisher TypePad calls its widgets “bling for your blog.” Jai Shen, co-founder of widget developer RockYou, told Reuters that widgets are a form of self-expression.

There are three key types of widgets, with important distinctions among them (I’ve also included this as a table on my blog):

Three Types of Widgets

Tomorrow's column on Web Widget Optimization runs the risk of getting way too mired in definitions In light of that, I've included a lot of the definitions and benefits of different types of widgets in this table. I welcome your feedback on it, and you're free to include it in your own presentations if it's relevant. Click the image to view the full size.