"I'm 13 and none of my friends use Facebook"

I've been sent this article from Mashable a couple of times, and I think it's very persuasive - she's a great writer - but...

- Yes, Facebook has become more complex in the past few years, but that's because (I think) it's trying to do all of the top 20 things comScore says people do on the web - mail, messaging, videos, photos, events, music, news, search, and more.

- Facebook has reduced the visibility of games, much to the detriment of people like Zynga, but that may be a deliberate attempt to have fewer younger people (especially people under 13, who have to lie about their age to join, as many kids have done)

- 13 year olds may grow into it, when they and their friends organise more events of their own, get engaged, have families and so on.

- Facebook is probably more interested in 33 year olds than 13 year olds; most 33 year olds I know live their lives on the site.

This is a very good discussion of the article, and also this is something I wrote about social networking 7 years ago, saying that basically the cool kids will always find new bars to go to.

I think Facebook's strength is that they appeal to the mass, not the cool kids.

But they also have the cool kids through their purchase of Instagram.

How videos go viral on Twitter

There's a good piece on the Twitter blog about how 3 videos went viral on their site.

The three they look at are Ryan Gosling Won't Eat His Cereal, NASA's Space Oddity, and Bodyform's Real Beauty Sketches.



I think 'Ryan Gosling is the most interesting, because it was on Vine, and so will have been almost entirely spread by Twitter.  It's interesting that it was seeded out to two very popular accounts Best Vines Ever and Vine Loops, and then people re-shared from them - see a video of the spread below:



At the end of the post they produce these 4 conclusions:

"1. Twitter users love video
Tweets containing video have strong engagement rates, with 42% likely to retweet, reply, or mention brand Tweets that contain a fun or interesting video.

2. Videos are easily shareable
Videos integrate seamlessly into a Tweet, and every Tweet is instantly shareable. Make sure you devise a hashtag to organise the conversations around the video campaign and messages.

3. Promoted products amplify your reach
Use Promoted Tweets and Trends to help surface and amplify your message. Combine with interest and keyword targeting to hit the right audience.

4. Get creative with Vine
Vine lets you create six-second looping videos that are instantly shareable on Twitter. And if you really love it you can Re-vine!"

See also these two posts on how things happen on Twitter - momentary massive trends on Jan Moir & Jessie J

Best Vines - a 'Fast Show' for YouTube

I know that there are lots of these videos out there, but this is a great compilation, effectively a Fast Show for YouTube, with more ideas in a minute that almost any other YouTube video, and a very high hit rate.



Via The Next Web

Relaunching Bebo

This video is hilarious.  Whether or not they can relaunch Bebo, this is so much more engaging (I think) than the one Myspace made for their relaunch.



It was made by Rubber Republic who make Bodyform's The Truth video, and you can kind of see the similarities in self deprecating humour.

General Electric's #6SecondScience Fair on Vine

More and more people and companies are finding fun things to do in six seconds.

The most recent is GE who are holding a Six Second Science Fair - just show them a fun experiment as a Vine, and they will re-tweet the best ones.

Some of the best so far (many done by GE as examples)



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The competition closes on the 15th, and I'll try to update this with some of the best

They've also leveraged their Buzzfeed partnership to create this content

(It also ties in well with my 'Education' trend from last year)

End Marmite Neglect

A very clever new campaign, which is also attracting complaints...



One of the issues that lots of FMCG companies have (apparently) is that their products are stuck at the back of the cupboard, unused, and this deals with this in an amusing (though potentially tasteless) way

See more at the main campaign page here & on Facebook

Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post

Yesterday Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post, paying $250m for the newspaper (but not the building its in, or related companies like Slate).

It's easy to be snarky about this, as some have been, for example this commenter on Metafilter:

"Honestly, I think newspapers have traditionally been vanity projects for wealthy families. It's just new wealthy people owning them, now."

& also to make jokes about 5 star reviews, 'You might also like The Anchorage Daily News' etc.

Without going into my rant about newspapers (short version - they are very good at defining their audiences, and clustering people of similar interests), from the largely positive coverage I think a number of things are interesting.

Given that Bezos has said that changes need to happen:

"There will, of course, be change at The Post over the coming years. That’s essential and would have happened with or without new ownership. The Internet is transforming almost every element of the news business: shortening news cycles, eroding long-reliable revenue sources, and enabling new kinds of competition, some of which bear little or no news-gathering costs. There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy. We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment. Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about – government, local leaders, restaurant openings, scout troops, businesses, charities, governors, sports – and working backwards from there. I’m excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention."

What sort of ways could he bring his expertise to newspapers?

Henry Blodget in Business Insider (which Bezos also has invested in) lists 4 ways in which the business is similar or complimentary to Amazon (to be clear, the investment is from Bezos personally; it's not been bought by Amazon)

1 - Both Amazon and WaPo are in the content production & distribution business

2 - Both have businesses based on subscribers

3 - News attracts lots of eyeballs - these people could then be sold to

4 - Both are in the local delivery business

I've always thought that there was huge potential to do something radical to create a new model for newspapers, or do something to save them as organisations.  Now maybe we have someone with the right skills and ways of thinking to do both.

Augmented Reality with the Ikea catalogue

It's a pretty irritating ad, but it gets the idea across well!

Acura on Snapchat

This is slightly odd.  Acura sent a Snapchat video of their new NSX Prototype car, revealing the new shape, to the first 100 people who followed them on Snapchat.



Someone managed to get a copy of the video (I'm sure Acura aren't that angry) and posted it on YouTube.

See more here.

I like how people are coming up with unusual ways to use Snapchat!

Katy Perry knows how to sell an album

I think it says lots about comms strategy that Kary Perry is using a physical photogenic object to announce her new album.

Yesterday she tweeted:

Find the #PRISM semi, take a picture and I'll RT you. Don't worry, Los Angeles is just the first stop on the map.
— Katy Perry (@katyperry) July 30, 2013

People love a retweet!

This is the #PRISM truck, as tweeted by fellow musician & celeb Adam Lambert:

Yes @katyperry this is crazy!! Love it! pic.twitter.com/Muuj3j4awO
— Adam Lambert (@adamlambert) July 29, 2013

& another sighting, RT-ed by Katy Perry:

And here you go! “@NayV: @katyperry I am so excited for #PRISM here you go!!! I see you :) follow back? pic.twitter.com/faDSh2pYiq”
— Katy Perry (@katyperry) July 30, 2013

Here are some pics on Instagram tagged #PRISM

It's an example of how marketers are using photogenic objects and photo opportunities to get their messages spread, in the age where everyone has a camera in their pocket - see my earlier blog post here about optimising for Instagram, and this one about photo opportunities

Also, compare this with how Lady Gaga announced Born This Way in 2011 - just a picture of herself for others to share

Update - a day later it's getting parodied, which I think adds to it:

Katy Perry Prism lorry spotted winning Grand National pic.twitter.com/NZccG8e0UV
— Popjustice (@Popjustice) July 31, 2013

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Katy Perry Prism lorry spotted in Wales pic.twitter.com/Kp8QZ0k8in
— Popjustice (@Popjustice) July 31, 2013

Toyota RAV4 x Nat Geo

A good content partnership in the UK to celebrate the 125 years of National Geographic, from my colleagues at Isobar UK.

On the Route125 site Dan & Seb, a father and son, are cataloguing their trip around the UK, and elsewhere you can see lots of links for other things to do for active, adventurous people.

There are also lots of videos on the YouTube channel, for example



Lots to explore - very well done!

The Daily Mail's Femail Fashion Finder

The Daily Mail has just added a new and potentially very lucrative feature - the Femail Fashion Finder.

For some stories you can now hover over an icon in the picture, and buy what the person in the photo is wearing.  See an example here.

It shows the original item that the celebrity is wearing, and also offers cheaper versions, although as you can see the cheaper versions often look nothing like the original.

It's really just an online version of the staple 'get this look' feature in magazines, but this makes it much more easy to use.

It's also interesting that the Mail are doing this themselves (although I suspect it's actually through a third party), which I think is part of a larger commerce trend, for example Yelp offering takeaway food deliveries directly.

Build an audience, then think of ways to monetise.