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Watchdog Group Takes Google to Task in Times Square

Written on September 2, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, book, marketing

Consumer Watchdog’s InsideGoogle.com has something to say about Google’s disrespect for people’s privacy and they’re saying it at one of the busiest intersections in the world.

The group has purchased advertising space on a 540 sq ft Jumbotron in Times Square and they’re using it to blast Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt. The animated feature is called “Don’t be Evil?” and shows cartoon Schmidt spying on children from the innocent trappings of an ice cream truck.

In a press release, Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog said;

“We’re satirizing Schmidt in the most highly trafficked public square in the nation to make the public aware of how out of touch Schmidt and Google are when it comes to our privacy rights.”

The ad asks people to text the word Evil to 69866 to show their support. I guess “666″ wasn’t available.

“Don’t be evil” is Google’s unofficial corporate motto, but Consumer Watchdog says that Google isn’t doing a good job keeping the mounds of personal data they collect private.

Court says that Schmidt himself is clueless when it comes to privacy and quotes him as saying,

“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

Then there’s this, from a recent Wall Street Journal interview;

“[Schmidt] predicts, apparently seriously, that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends’ social media sites.

“I mean we really have to think about these things as a society,” he adds. “I’m not even talking about the really terrible stuff, terrorism and access to evil things.”

Really? When I started writing about this sign in Times Square I thought it was overkill. Now, I’ve now changed my mind.

John M. Simpson, director of the group’s Inside Google Project, suggests a “Do Not Track Me” list that would keep Google, or anyone from tracking your moves online.

According to a poll conducted on behalf of InsideGoogle.com, 80% of people in the US supported such a list. They also like the idea of an “anonymous button” that allows individuals to stop anyone from tracking their online searches or purchases and a ban on collecting data on minors.

All good ideas, but implementation and enforcement would be very difficult. The trouble is, it’s not just Google who is collecting and / or spreading private data. Schmidt was right about one thing when he mentioned the “youthful hijinks stored on their friends’ social media sites,” and then there are the drunken Facebook updates and the obscenity-filled blog post aimed at your ex.

Maybe, before we go throwing stones at Google, we should be looking at how much information we ourselves put online for all to see.

Not passing by Times Square anytime soon? You can watch the ad on YouTube.

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Watchdog Group Takes Google to Task in Times Square

Is There Any Room in Retail for the Small Business?

Written on September 2, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, book, marketing

At least once a week, my husband laments the loss of a mom & pop record store we had near our home. They carried mostly used albums and rock and roll memorabilia and a visit there was like hunting for treasure on the beach. If we go to eBay, we can find all those same albums and more but it simply isn’t the same as flipping through stacks of worn cardboard and finding a gem you didn’t even know existed.

It’s a sad fact that the small business is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. comScore is reporting that small business is down 5.6% over last year with those dollars going to the big box retailers we drive by every day. Usually we blame it on the economy, but the big boys are seeing a rise in profits, so why aren’t the mom and pop stores seeing it, too?

The National Federation of Small Businesses (NFIB) says that a poor economy forces prices down and small retailers simply can’t afford to take the same cuts as a Walmart or Target. The Gap can put a 50% off deal on Groupon but what’s a pet shop owner in Sheboygan to do?

Since small businesses can’t compete on price point, they need to compete in other ways such as service and community. Cake companies that create one of a kind masterpieces stand head and shoulders over anything you can buy at Costco. I have a clothing store that I return to again and again because the staff there takes the time to help me put together a look and they’re honest about what works and doesn’t. Try getting that kind of service at Walmart.

Creating a sense of community is also important for the small business. Sponsoring a local sports team, donating to local charities, participating in community fairs and events all help sway customers your way. We have a small chocolate shop that offers free candy making classes for kids once a month. The kids may burn through a few dollars in supplies but while they wait, moms consume coffee and snacks at full price.

When it comes to advertising, social media is the great leveler. Twitter and Facebook are virtually free to use and small companies don’t have to worry about jumping through legal hoops before making a statement online. Now that everyone is going “local” with Foursquare and Facebook Places, it’s the perfect time for small businesses to step up and get customers.

Do you have a favorite small business that is no more? Tell us about it.

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Is There Any Room in Retail for the Small Business?

Ping: Another Social Network …. Woo-Hoo!

Written on September 2, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

Yesterday, Steve Jobs announced Apple’s foray into the world of social networks with the iTunes centric Ping service. Maybe I am experiencing some social network fatigue, but despite this probably being a good idea, I am not sure just how people will jump in even if the “water is fine”.

The picture below hits the highlights of the service in that now familiar Apple announcement / press event look.

TechCrunch reports

It’s like “Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes,” Jobs says. “But it’s not Facebook, it’s not Twitter,” Jobs is quick to note — “it’s a social network all about music.” And guess what? It has 160 million users in 23 countries built in right away (Apple will presumably be opening it up to other iTunes users later). And it’s available on your iPhone and iPod touch — right in the iTunes Store.

Jobs notes that this feature is all about discovery. You can follow both artists and your friends. And you can be followed. With it, you get custom song and album charts to discover new music. And you can post your thoughts and opinions about your favorite music. Plus, there are 17,000 concert listing in the network.

If Ping gets any real traction this will possibly be the death blow for MySpace who has tried to claim the music space social network thing for a while now. Honestly, though, any prognostications about this service are really kind of silly. This is Apple after all and right now they appear to have the ‘Midas touch’ and considering how passionate people get about music there could be something here.

On a complete side note, I wonder how the makers of ping golf clubs feel today? Is there some way to leverage the fact that their brand name just got more popular than ever in an area that has nothing to do with their product?

Let’s take an informal MP poll. Are you going to jump into Ping with both feet? Would you consider yourself curious, indifferent or chomping at the bit? Ping us and let us know your thoughts.

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Ping: Another Social Network …. Woo-Hoo!

Facebook Fans and Brands: Not a Two-Way Street

Written on August 31, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

”70% of consumers who “FANNED” a brand on Facebook didn’t feel they’d given this company permission to market to them.”

This comes from a 2009 ExactTarget study that was revisited in their latest installment of Subscribers, Fans & Followers. The study says that most users saw “Liking” (as it’s now called) a brand on Facebook as a way to express their personal endorsement. An almost equal number of respondents (40%) said they “like” a brand in order to get discounts and promotions. 36% said they were looking for freebies.

Put the two thoughts together and you get a selfish bunch of Facebookers who want the goodies without having to listen to the pitch in return. This in itself isn’t surprising, as most people wouldn’t willingly sign up to receive daily advertisements if there weren’t a reward in it. But Facebook isn’t like an ad you see on TV or in a magazine. Facebook is about people and connections and developing a relationship – in other words, becoming friends. Friends accept chain emails from friends, they buy candy bars to support their friend’s little league team and they tolerate the invites to the home business sales party. The harsh reality is, that even though 2,000 people have expressed their love for your product by “liking” your fan page on Facebook, they’re not your friends. That means they don’t want you to come over uninvited.

So how do you get invited?

You have to get your brand to sound more like a person. The report states that the major reason people log on to Facebook is to connect with other people. So give them a reason to connect. Some brands do this by setting up charity efforts and competitions. Something as simple as asking fans to come up with a new flavor of ice cream will get people talking.

People also come to Facebook to have fun. Statistics show that 69% of users check in on the weekends and this is prime time for sharing links. 65% say they log on before or after work or school. If your social media person is working only from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, chances are you’re not making the most of your Facebook page. Engage Facebook users with late night games and quirky videos on a Saturday afternoon.

Who’s doing it right? ExactTarget says Oreo is one of the top players and a quick trip to their Facebook page will show you why. The first thing you’ll see is their Fan of the Week widget which directly includes their fans as part of their marketing. They also have games you play, a Pandora link for music, and even their updates are fun and quirky. This recent one liner: ‘Not all Oreo cookies are great swimmers. Who’s had an Oreo sink to the bottom of their milk?” has more than 3,000 comments. It’s deceptively simple.

If you want to learn how to turn Facebook fans into friends, check out the full report from ExactTarget then start thinking about new ways to engage and entertain the visitors to your Facebook page.

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Facebook Fans and Brands: Not a Two-Way Street

A Letter To Facebook From The Rest Of The World

Written on August 31, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object, book

Dear Facebook,
A couple of weeks ago you launched your new location service, Places. We all think it’s great and are really excited that you’re opening up the world of location to a whole new audience. We can’t wait to start finding new and exciting ways of using Places to connect consumers and brands. But we [...]



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A Letter To Facebook From The Rest Of The World

Angstro Buy, Shopping, Gaming Investments Point To Multi-Pronged Google Social Strategy

Written on August 30, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object

Last week Google acquired Angstro. The site has been described as a way to discover and organize information about individuals across various professional networks. Here’s how Angstro describes itself:
Ångströ represents the ability to hone in on highly focused, relevant news across professional networks. Where search engines such as Google and other news aggregator [...]



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Angstro Buy, Shopping, Gaming Investments Point To Multi-Pronged Google Social Strategy

Survey: Older Americans Flocking To Social Media

Written on August 27, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object, book

Teenagers have been grappling with a tough question lately: What do I do when mom tries to friend me on Facebook?
Well, you ain’t seen nothing yet, whippersnappers. There’s a new dilemma you better start thinking about: What do you do when grandma sends a friend request?
That’s more and more likely according to a new report [...]



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Survey: Older Americans Flocking To Social Media

Attention Internet Folks: Facebook Apparently Owns the Word “Book”

Written on August 26, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

In the category of “Why should this even surprise anyone?”, Facebook is working hard to shut down any social networking service that is incorporating the word “book” into their name.

Over at Wired magazine’s Threat Level blog it reports on a small start-up called Teachbook that is either delusional or just milking as much publicity as they can out of their moment in the muted spotlight of the Internet.

Social-networking upstart Teachbook said Wednesday it would challenge a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Facebook, which is demanding the teacher-oriented site remove “book” from its name.

This is a popular pastime of Facebook’s legal team

Facebook, in a lawsuit Threat Level reported on Tuesday, claims the term “book” cannot be used to name social-networking sites. The Palo Alto-based site claims Teachbook might dilute its famous name or cause confusion over which is the real Facebook.

Facebook doesn’t seem to be focused solely on social-networking sites, either. It leveraged its financial weight earlier this month to demand an upstart travel site to rename itself from Pricebook.

This seems so silly that it reminded of an ‘article’ that made me fall in love with The Onion way back in 1998. The title of the ‘article’ was “Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes”. If you would like to have some retro Internet fun go back and read it.

So should Disney be concerned that Facebook will try to set a legal precedent and sue them for using the Term “Jungle Book”? Will Facebook use its special powers to make its ownership of anything using the word ‘book’ retroactive throughout all of time with the claim that these companies should have known that Markie and the Zucks would exist in the future and rule the planet? Should Rudyard Kipling’s estate brace itself as well?

We are getting pretty close to the point where Facebook turns into Microsoft and starts to lampoon itself with stupid corporate tricks that make us mere mortals shake our heads and ask that popular Internet question “WTH?” (feel free to insert your version of this here but we try to keep a PG-13 rating here at MP).

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Attention Internet Folks: Facebook Apparently Owns the Word “Book”

Using Pot Leaf in Ads? Facebook Says You Can’t-abis

Written on August 25, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, book, marketing

Facebook has taken a stand on just what you can or cannot show in an ad on the social media service. Of course, their decision came a week after said ad was running. As a result, st least a short while it was OK for Facebook to take the money of the Just Say Now organization before it extinguished the campaign.

The LA Times reports

Pot leaves are easy to find on Facebook pages. But the nation’s largest social-networking site has decided they cannot appear in advertisements, prohibiting them as “illegal content.”

The policy was disclosed Tuesday after a national campaign promoting legalization accused Facebook of censoring political speech. The Just Say Now campaign said the popular website rejected its ads after they had run for more than a week. The ads featured the readily recognizable leaf and asked the website’s users to “sign the petition to President Obama to support states’ rights to legalize marijuana.”

“We’re not allowed to show the image of the candidate that we are advancing,” said Michael Whitney, with Firedoglake.com, a progressive blog that is part of the campaign. “That’s why we’re calling out Facebook for this really backwards decision.”

Apparently people in high places at Facebook took offense to the use of the a pot leaf in the ad as more than just tokin’ gesture (pun absolutely intended). They weren’t looking to lose advertising revenue though!

Facebook said it has not banned the ad promoting legalization, just the leaf. “We’d like to reiterate that Just Say Now can promote their campaign and petition through Facebook Ads as long as they use another image,” said Annie Ta, a spokeswoman.

The trouble is that the ad got twice as many hits (pun once again intended completely) as the same ad running with President Obama as the image. (Actually it said the ad was twice as effective but that’s not nearly as funny as hits, right?) Maybe they could use former President Clinton in the ad but since he didn’t inhale it may not be the best option either.

The whole incident draws attention to just how Facebook can be two faced about certain things. Apparently Facebook isn’t totally dead set against marijuana, just advertising it is uncool. Their official statement is

On Tuesday, Ta said the pot leaf was excluded because Facebook does not allow images of drugs, drug paraphernalia or tobacco in ads and then later said, “Our advertising policies prohibit the paid promotion of illegal content.” The policy bans tobacco ads. It says nothing specific about drugs or drug paraphernalia, but it indicates that ads cannot contain or promote “unlawful content” or “illegal activity.”

It’s at this point that Facebook uses some creative ‘wordsmithing’ because the decision is about ‘the paid promotion of illegal content’. As for all the pages on Facebook that use that same pot leaf and then extol the virtues of the herb?

Facebook has numerous pages that include images of marijuana leaves and buds, including some that are devoted to growing marijuana, which remains a federal crime. Ta noted that the website has different policies for its free users. One of the many responsibilities listed in that policy is that users “will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful.”

Self policing on Facebook? If there was ever an oxymoron that’s gotta be it! If you would like to see just how hard Facebook clamps down on the pot culture check out the NORML Fan Page. Gee, no use of pot imagery or selling of anything there, huh?

Sometimes you gotta wonder what the good folks of Facebook are smoking these days themselves.

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Using Pot Leaf in Ads? Facebook Says You Can’t-abis

Gap Deal Blitz’s Groupon Servers

Written on August 25, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

Last week, Groupon members got a great deal, $50 worth of clothing at The Gap for only $25. More than 440,000 subscribers took advantage of the deal and they did it so quickly, they temporarily stalled the servers at the popular new deal site.

Part of the reason for the huge influx was that it wasn’t just Groupon members who were clicking. Shortly after the deal was announced, the news spread over thousands of mommy blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. I came across more than twenty mentions of the deal during my usual travels around the web and it looks like I was one of the rare few who resisted. Still, I’d venture to say that Groupon got a lot of new signups that day.

The site, which is known for delivering hyperlocal deals, got its first big taste of stardom and Groupon President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Solomon is ready for another big bite. In a recent interview with Reuters,Solomon says that he’s not changing the business model. . . completely.

“There’s a lot of room to remain hyper-local, but . . . Gap is a testament to demand for the big guys.”

Unfortunately, the small company may not be ready for the big leagues just yet. Solomon says that the site takes a large amount of manpower. He knows that they’ll have to find a way to automate things if they want to pull in the big brands and still turn a profit.

The trouble may come if Groupon tries to grow too big too fast. It’s obvious that they didn’t anticipate the kind of traffic they got with The Gap deal and they’re lucky that they didn’t end up with a large outage as a result. Nothing frustrates a deal seeker more than hitting a page that won’t load.

What’s really interesting about this whole scenario is that for a year now everyone’s been talking local, local, local. So here’s a site that was created to fill that need and yet their first big, site breaking, wow moment is on a national coupon. It’s enough to make you wonder if any site can survive on just local alone.

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Gap Deal Blitz’s Groupon Servers