5 ways Nestle could have handled their social media crisis better

Watching Nestle deal with their social media woes is once again a reminder of how caustic social media can be. A couple weeks ago, Greenpeace put a video on YouTube drawing attention to Nestle’s use of palm oil from companies that clearcut rain forests to plant palm tree farms, thus destroying the habitat of orangutans. Clearly upset by this video, Nestle had the video banned from YouTube. This move was the equivalent of knocking over a wasp’s nest while naked and then being surprised when you end up covered in stingers.

Greenpeace re-posted the video on their site and encouraged people to upload the clip en-mass to YouTube so they would have no hope of taking down all copies of it. From there, it spread to Reddit, Digg and Facebook where it really exploded. Facebook is where the drama really began. Greenpeace encouraged users to change their public photo to anti-Nestle slogans and parodies of their brand logos. When the logos began appearing on the Nestle Facebook fan page, Nestle posted the following statement on their page, “To repeat: we welcome your comments, but please don’t post using an altered version of any of our logos as your profile pic – they will be deleted.” When fans complained, the Nestle rep followed with, “Oh please...it’s not like we’re censoring everything to allow only positive comments.” That didn’t go over too well. 

Reactions to Nestle’s comments naturally ran the gamut, from dignified pleas to furious outbursts. Eventually, Nestle apologized for their behavior and stated they would make efforts to eliminate palm oil from vendors that are clear cutting rain forest by 2015.

This is another example of a large corporation going into the social media forum without having a clear plan of action for when an issue arrises. When you’re a corporation that has a long history of being on the wrong side of social and environmental issues, it is important to plan for controversy and have a plan that can be implemented when a stone is turned over. There are many ways this controversy could have been avoided. Here are five things that would have created a better outcome:

Don’t make it personal - If Nestle would have stayed above the fray and avoided singling people out, the conversation wouldn’t have become so heated. Instead, releasing a statement to address complaints would have diffused the situation without attacking anyone directly.

Open conversation - Facebook has a discussion section that provides the perfect forum for Nestle to address the problem and allow people to have their say without it spilling out into other areas and polluting their entire fan page. If they had engaged fans openly, they could have contained the outpour. 

Microsite - A microsite is a great way to promote a company’s initiatives and deal with controversy. Through a microsite, Nestle could show that they care about the environment and what they are doing to change their practices.

Give something back - Doing the above and then making a large contribution to a non-profit that protects the environment, or starting a fund raiser for an appropriate cause, would add weight to their claim of being concerned about the environment and show that it isn’t all empty promises . 

Ignoring the video - Greenpeace has a reputation of extremism (McDonald’s UnHappy Meals, attacking whaling boats, attacks on the fur industry). If Nestle had just ignored the initial video, the video would have made a small splash, but would have been largely ignored as people are becoming desensitized to Greenpeace videos. This isn’t the best solution, or one we would recommend, but if Nestle hadn’t gone out of its way to censor the video and bury the truth I wouldn’t be writing this post.


Social media can be a loving hand one moment and a sledgehammer the next. Any company going into social media should have a plan for when a marketing effort blows up in their face, or when something they would rather have remained hidden bubbles up to the surface. Nestle appears to have many skeletons in their closet and I’m sure this won’t be the last time we see them in the news because of questionable business practices. Hopefully, they’ve learned from this experience and the next time controversy arrises, they react more appropriately and work with their fans to find a solution. 

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.

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SXSW 2010 a bust for Twitter fans

 
Twitter unveils @anywhere, offering almost nothing new and avoiding the news everyone really wanted to hear

South by Southwest has become the launch pad of huge new social media services. Twitter and Foursquare both blew up after taking the city of Austin by storm. So this year, we were expecting some big news from Twitter. In particular, most of us were expecting to finally discover Twitter’s elusive plan on how they’ll monetize the service and make it a sustainable enterprise for the long term future.

But what we got was @anywhere. With @anywhere, you can easily follow people you read about on webpages and share articles or products you find with just a few clicks. You sign into the site you’re visiting with your Twitter ID and can then interact with Twitter without leaving the page. As Twitter CEO Evan Williams said during the unveiling at SXSW, “the big thing @anywhere does is reduce friction.” 

This should all sound very familiar since there were already loads of third party developers reducing the friction of using Twitter to almost zero. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, those “share through Twitter” and “follow me on Twitter” icons have been dotting thousands of websites for a long time and desktop applications have made it easy to share pics and links in a matter of seconds. A lot of people sitting in the packed auditorium durning Williams’ presentation thought it was familiar enough to walk out in the middle of the talk and Guy Kawasaki called out the presentation as “boring” during a later panel discussion. 

@Anywhere’s advantage is that it was created by Twitter itself, and as such may gain traction with more major sites than the third party apps, despite offering pretty much the same thing. And that, in turn, will expose Twitter to many new web surfers and potentially lead to a new surge in its user base. There are 13 heavy hitters partnering with Twitter so far though some, like YouTube, already offered Twitter integration: 

 

The service does add a minor improvement to integrating Twitter into the main content of websites and finding new people to follow you may have overlooked, and it may well lead to new innovations by third party developers who take it and find creative uses. But it’s a lot less than we’ve come to expect from the social media pioneer and leaves us looking toward the Twitter developer conference Chirp for the big news we’ve been waiting for. As there’s a presentation on Monetization scheduled, we’re thinking Chirp will be the big reveal that SXSW 2010 was not.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.

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Google hijacks your brand

  

Another landmark digital court verdict was announced this week and, big surprise, it involves Google.  The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled this week that Google could sell AdWords to anyone on any word. The issue at had was whether advertisers should be allowed to use the competition’s name as keywords.  Basically, if I own a Holiday Inn in Dallas, TX and someone else owns a cheap motel, they can buy ad words that are featured whenever someone searches for “Holiday Inn Dallas.” 

In this case, Holiday Inn is Louis Vuitton Malletier. The fashion giant sued Google in 2004 because companies selling knock off versions of their products were buying keywords that were trademarked by Louis Vuitton. They claim that Google not only allows people to freely trade on their brands, but also aids them in finding keywords to help knockoff brands infringe on their trademark. In effect, Google not only allows but facilitates people in hijacking of a brand for their own purposes. 

As YouTube videos, mock Twitter accounts, AdWords and Facebook fan pages become more popular, corporations are in danger of losing control of their brand and trademark. Incidents of brands being hijacked by others are growing. AMC ran into this problem with people creating character profiles for their series Mad Men. At first, AMC demanded that Twitter take down the accounts, but after heaps of bad publicity, they recanted and allowed the profiles to remain as long as they were working in the best interest of the series.

As the Louis Vuitton case demonstrates, trying to sue technology into submission isn’t going to work. But that isn’t to say there’s nothing you can do to protect your brand. Here are a few steps you can take to keep hijackers off your ship.

Register your brand/product name early on social media sites – Even if you never intend to use Bebo, Friendster, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube, it’s good to capture your brand’s name before others can. Most of these sites have a private function so you don’t have to make the account visible.

Track your brand buzz – Brand buzz has never been more important. Internet memes come and go so fast you have stay on top of what is being said constantly. It’s impossible to respond to brand jacking if you’re not aware that it’s happening. 

Conduct proper SEO for brand sites – Search engine optimization has become of the utmost importance not just for search engine ranking, but also preventing brand hijacking. If a website is on the first page of a search result, it’s less likely that third party sites can gain significant traction over the branded website as far fewer people click on the paid ads than the organic search results. But if your site doesn’t appear on the first page of results, you’re just asking for others to steal your traffic.

Buy misspellings of you brand name – People misspell words all the time online. So wouldn’t it be great if when someone misspelled your product’s URL, it still took them to the correct site? Purchasing common misspellings of your brand’s url and redirecting them to the correct URL will increase web traffic and make it much easier to get your site to the top of multiple search engine results.

Google’s pledge to “do no evil” has drawn a lot of skepticism over the past months, with the company pulling some self-serving moves. In their haste to make a buck/provide content/facilitate information, I don’t believe they are sitting on top of Scrooge McDuck’s money bin wringing their hands and contemplating on how they can make more money by screwing everyone over. That would put them on the level of a James Bond villain bent on world domination. Google is just capitalizing on the new possibilities of social media to connect people with the content they want in new ways, and new communication channels always involve some growing pains. They’ve certainly made some missteps and pushed the boundaries of infringing on people’s rights, but they’re no more good or evil than other big corporations.

The French case reminds us that when it comes to your brand, Google and social media have made due-diligence more important than ever. Corporations have to learn how to become nimble and adjust to the new online paradigm instead of sitting back, calling Google evil, and wondering why the world is passing them by.

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.

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Attack of the disgruntled employee: Nation1 vs. Ramsey MacFarlane

What happens when you don’t practice good business policies.

From Motrin Moms to Vermonster, social media is a great way to lash out against perceived wrong doing. This time former Nation1 employee Ramsey MacFarlane has chosen to air his displeasure with his former employer by launching a microsite and using Twitter. 

Nation1 is a music publicity and marketing company that has just expanded into London from Glasgow. The complaint site appeared on March 2nd and has garnered national attention within Scotland, even becoming the #1 trending topic for the country. A newspaper called The Drum has written two stories about the situation and the drama has struck a cord within the advertising and marketing community in the country.

Nation1 owner Andrew Grant responded through a blog post on March 5th. In his response, Grant raises some valid points, but misses the point altogether in other areas. Grant is very impressed at how quickly the microsite gained a following and how quickly Twitter spread the word. He’s right in his views about monitoring conversations, knowing your legal rights as a business and changing your passwords when employees leave if they have access to sensitive information.  

Sadly, he misses the core point of the issue at hand. He fails to propose how to address the complaint via social media. Instead, he uses an example in the post where a person complains that a home builder hasn’t completed his house on time and how Nation1 actively worked to bury the blog so it wouldn’t rank high on Google. He also recommends adding Non-disparagement clauses to employment contracts. These are all methods to silence and condemn open conversation. Not once does Grant suggest addressing the problem and making a change if necessary.

Instead of trying to hide a blog, it would create a more positive position for the home builder if they opened a conversation with the complaining parties and worked to solve their problem. Then when someone searched for their company and saw the blog post, they would see how the problem was rectified rather than just one person’s complaint of terrible service. 

In the case of the Motrin Moms and Vermonster, both Motrin and Monster Energy drinks opened a dialogue with their attackers and became heroes in the social media marketing world for addressing the problem. Andrew Grant’s strategy appears to be to circle the wagon’s and shut down any complaint as soon as possible, as though the act of finding fault with his company is blasphemy.

If you own a business, at some point you’re going to rub people the wrong way. It happens to the best of companies. It’s how you deal with complaints that makes all the difference. I have no way of knowing if Ramsey MacFarlane is telling the truth. He has 23 comments so far and many people have echoed his complaint. Grant has said he plans to sue MacFarlane and others in order to recoup losses. At the end of the day, Andrew Grant is impressed with social media’s power, but fails to grasp how to use it. As it stands now, Nation1 is a cautionary tale of how not to handle a situation.

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.

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How to get the most out of SXSW

 What started as a small music event showcasing unsigned musical artists is now a mega event that encompasses music, technology and film. For ten days in March each year, all eyes turn to the capital of Texas to find out what bands we should be on the lookout for, which films are truly groundbreaking and what’s on the forefront of web technology and video games. Past bombshells have included the breaking out of Twitter and Foursquare, the US debut of The Hurt Locker, and performances from the likes of Vampire Weekend, Yo La Tengo and Dolly Parton. With over 2,000 bands, 250 films and AOL, Chevy, Pepsi, and SoBe presenting the latest in technology in social media, how do you make sense of it all and keep track of what’s happening?

Fortunately, there are many ways to keep up to date on events, news and schedules. 

My.SXSW.com is the festival’s official planning tool. It lets you create a schedule and join groups. It’s a great way to keep track of what you’re doing. It also has an iPhone app that provides additional features like maps, news, and the ability to share information with other attendees.

After the success of last year’s Zeitgeist, PepsiCo re-enters the fray with SXSW Play. It allows you to listen to the MP3s of featured artists, watch trailers, listen to podcasts, navigate through the SXSW lineup, follow the buzz through the “Zeitgeist” button and more. This appears to be the one iPhone app to rule them all while attending SXSW. This is a great way to follow what's going on without being there.

AOL is working hard to become relevant again with their Lifestream app. Lifestream allows you to bring your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and AIM accounts together to better stay in touch with others attending the festival. While My.SXSW and SXSW Play keep you up to date with what’s happening, this app allows you to get in touch with people on the ground and to follow along if you can't attend.

Eventbrite has 51 events listed and lets you RSVP to events. This is a great way to connect to people before SXSW kicks off and can help you find events that you might miss otherwise.

Mashable has teamed up with Sony and Cliqset to bring you Austin Real Time. This is a database of people attending SXSW with links to their social media accounts. It’s easy to sign up and get connected with people via your Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Foursqare, Gowala, YouTube, Vimeo and Plancast accounts.

Don’t get lost in the shuffle of SXSW. With a little planning and forethought, you can be sure to not miss a hot event or fail to make important new connections. 

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Why the Oscars will fail at social media

 

A few years ago, there were two televised events that were guaranteed to be huge audience draws. One was the Super Bowl and the other was the Academy Awards. While the Super Bowl posted record numbers this year, the Academy Awards is having an identity crisis. In 2008, they saw an all-time ratings low and in 2009 there was only a 13% increase in viewership. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can feel their social relevancy slipping and the threat of the Oscars becoming the next Tony Awards scares the hell out of them. 

In an effort to stay more relevant, the Academy increased the Best Picture category from 5 nominees to 10 so that fan favorites like “Avatar,” “District 9,” “Up” and “The Blind Side” could get a best picture nod. The theory is that if you play to a wider audience, you’ll attract a younger, hipper crowd instead of the current median age of 49. 

The Academy launched their Facebook FanPage last week and it’s a good start connecting to the fans. They did a livestream of the Oscar Nominations there, as well as on various news sites. This is the first time they’ve ever allowed the nominations to be broadcast online. There are photos from past events, behind-the-scenes videos from this year’s ceremony and interviews with celebrities. Overall, it’s a good start for the Oscars attempt at using social media. 


To see how the Academy really feels about social media, take a look at the YouTube tab in their Facebook page. The tab links videos on YouTube to appear on Facebook, or it would if embedding of the videos was enabled. This is really where we see the chink in the Academy armor when it comes to social media. They want to appear to be social, but at the same time maintain control of everything. They want to keep tight reigns on all of their assets and, for a traditionally conservative organization, having a YouTube channel and a Facebook account must seem like cutting edge participation. 

When the big day hits, social media will be lacking in their plans. You won’t see a Twitter page where tweets about the presentation will stream, giving fans a chance to talk to each other. You won’t see a sponsored chat room where fans can gather to talk about the presentation. You won’t see the presentation live on their Facebook page. You won’t see an instant poll where the audience can vote before the award is announced, or a million other ideas that would tie in perfectly with the event.  

The Academy does more than just an annual broadcast. They have an education & outreach program, events and exhibitions throughout the year, as well as research and preservation programs. All of these are ripe for social media extensions to increase public outreach. 

People love movies – record breaking box office numbers are a testament to that. If the Academy took themselves a little less seriously and embraced the masses they so desperately desire, the Oscars could once again become the mega event it used to be and gain the popular respect it so dearly wants. 

Do you think they’ll be able to evolve and survive, or will they stagnate and sink? 

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The Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads of 2010

The Super Bowl is the time of year when many companies show the world their creative "A-game" and set the tone of their marketing efforts for the rest of year. 2010 showed a surprisingly solid batch of commercials during this year's Super Bowl. We wanted to take a moment to show you the best, the average and the worst ads from the 2010 Super Bowl.

The Best

Home Away Griswalds

The classic 80’s movie National Lampoon's Vacation gets an updating thanks to Homeaway.com. I don’t know what they do, but I want to go to the site to see the rest of the movie.

Coca Cola - Hard Times / Simpsons

Coke and The Simpsons, it’s the best match since The Simpsons and Butterfinger. 

Volkswagen - PunchDub

Volkswagen plays with the slug bug game and gives a great punch line.

Dr Pepper Cherry - Dr Love / Little Kiss

Kiss and little people. What could be better? Nothing, that's what.

Bud Light - Asteroid

Bud Light’s theme for the Super Bowl this year appears to be avoiding disasters through Bud Light. The world’s worst astronomers discover Bud Light makes it all better.

Google - Parisian Love

This ad does a great job of showing how Google is used in life. Surprisingly effective.

McDonald's - Play You For it

McDonalds revisits familiar territory with a new version of the classic Michael Jordan/Larry Bird commercial from the 90’s.

Snickers - The Game

Abe Vigoda and Betty White in the same commercial! Score one for Snickers.

Godaddy - Movies / Danica Patrick

GoDaddy.com doesn’t shy away from the sexist commercials but for once, they don’t just focus on women with large breasts.

Vizio - Beyonce / HDTV 

I don’t know what it will do but I want it.

The Last Airbender

It’s hard to believe that M. Night Shyamalan has a movie that anyone wants to see, but this trailer makes it look very promising.

The Average

Bud Light - Plane Crash

LOST has returned and Bud Light cashes in on the phenomena. 

Boost Mobile - Shuffle

Now here is something I never thought I would see. Mobile Boost dusted off the Bears Super Bowl Shuffle (one of the most embarrassing sports events ever) and made it fun. 

Cars.com - Timothy Richman

Fans of Wes Anderson should enjoy this little slice of life ad.

Teleflora - Valentines day/ Don Rickles talking tulips

Don Rickles makes everything better. 

Denny's - Chicken Warning

Good day to be an American (unless you have cholesterol issues). Bad day to be a chicken.

Doritos - Underdog

Doritors returns with their fan created commercials. Speak boy, speak.

Focus on Family - Pam & Tim Tebow

Anti-abortion group Focus on Family does a surprisingly good ad that isn’t political. It even has a little humor in it.

Shutter Island

Great trailer that reminds us that Scorsese can do horror just as well as gangster films.

Honda Accord Crosstour - Squirrel

I have no idea what this has to do with Honda but it sure is pretty.

EA - Dante's Inferno - Go To hell

Don’t know how the gameplay is, but it looks amazing.

The Worst

Coca Cola  - Sleepwalker 

A sleepwalker risks his life to get a Coke. It felt neither creative nor inventive. Coke has done so many great ads over the year, this one just felt lazy and uninspired.

Michelob Ultra - Lance

Lance Armstrong hawking beer just feels wrong.

Bud Light - Bridge Out 

Bud Light gives us a swing and a miss. There appears to be a small town of highly functioning alcoholics that would risk their lives by forming a human bridge to get beer. Why?

Bridgestone - "Your Tires or Your Life" 

What starts as a nice homage to Mad Max style films ends in a bit of misogyny. Fail.

Dockers - Wear the pants

Free pants not withstanding, watching a bunch of pudgy men walk around in their underwear is not good for anyone.

ETrade - Baby Girlfriend

The Etrade babies have over-stayed their welcome. Time to put them down for a nap.

Bud Light - Light House

I was waiting for that moment when the house crashed down around them because they drank out a retaining wall.

Monster.com - Fiddling Beaver 

I’m not really sure what they where thinking when they created this idea because a beaver that can play the fiddle certainly doesn't need help getting a job. It's pretty amazing all on its own.

Hyundai - Paint

Calling a Hyundai a beautiful work of art is really stretching the meaning of ”art”.

Dodge Charger - Man's Last Stand

I’m not sure if they are saying men are a bunch of slobs or women are shrews. Regardless, the Dodge Charger is here to straighten it all out.

CBS Late Show - Dave 

I don’t know how CBS did it, but having Dave, Oprah and Jay together watching the Super Bowl was comically awkward. For three people that are in front of millions on a daily basis, they couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable in front of the camera.

There you have it. The good, the average and the worst of the 2010 Super Bowl ads. What were your favorites and which did you think were the most ill conceived?

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The best Super Bowl ads of the decade

This Sunday is the ad world’s Christmas. The Super Bowl stopped being about football for most of us a long time ago (especially for us working in advertising). But it’s not just about catching the funniest ads during the game, now it’s seeing which gets the most hits on YouTube. 

So we decided to dig up our favorite Super Bowl TV spots on YouTube and get a bit nostalgic. Here are our favorite ads from each of the last ten years. 

2000 – The Cat Herders 

EDS shows us what the wild west would have looked like if it had been settled by a crazy cat lady.

2001 – Running of the Squirrels 

EDS claims the first two spots with another bizarre animal themed ad. 
 

2002 – Crazy Legs

Apparently, Levis jeans turn your legs into silly putty. 
 

2003 – Office Linebacker

The violence of football invades the office in this hilarious spot from Reebok. So funny we’ve embedded the long version.

2004 – Alien in the Office

Bloodthirsty aliens prefer FedEx. As if that wasn’t obvious already.

2005 – Fantasy Creatures Invade the Living Room

A father lies to his child so he doesn’t have to share his Emerald Nuts. But she has friends in high places.
 

2006 – The Dragon

A beautifully animated spot from United Airlines about the magic of flight.
 

  

2007 –Learning English

A group of immigrants learn the finer points of regional dialects from a Bud Light spokesman.
 

2008 – Magnetic Attraction 

Not many things are more satisfying than watching Justin Timberlake take a beating…except maybe Adam Sandberg randomly appearing in drag.

2009 – The Evil Plot

Alec Bladwin tells us how Hulu is taking cerebral gelatinizing to the next level. We don’t stand a chance.

Let us know if we missed your favorite. Go to The Duffy Agency website for an early peek at this year’s Super Bowl ads. Stay tuned for Monday’s full review of the highs and lows of Sunday's showing.       

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry. 

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What’s in a name? If the name is iPad, a great big joke.

Steve Jobs helped menstrual humor go mainstream. That’s probably not what you’re looking for when you launch a new product.

 

Apple has been grooming the public over the past decade. With the release of the iPod Touch and the iPhone, we’ve been subtly conditioned by Apple to use the iPad. From initial reports, using the iPad is just like using the iPhone, only bigger. With 75 million iProducts sold, Apple has a built-in audience virtually guaranteeing success. 

But that doesn’t mean they’re invulnerable. In 2009, we saw Tropicana redesign their brand and suddenly disappear from the market as people couldn’t find their distinctive logo. Gatorade changed their logo to a big “G” and fans were not amused. Now Apple has launched the iPad. For those of us not baptized into the Cult of Apple, it’s easy to sit back and laugh at the product and the somewhat unfortunate connotations the name brings to mind.

When it was still rumored, the iPad had lots of names including iTablet and iSlate (both of which would have been a better choice). It’s curious that Apple would pick a name that could so easily be mocked and linked with feminine hygiene products. In a blog post on the New York Times, Claire Cain Miller goes into detail about how women have cringed at the name. On Twitter, the word “iTampon” is more popular than “iPad”, with the hashtag #iTampon hitting the top spot for trending topics. Here are some of the funniest tweets: 
 

@celeva93: Uncomfortable cramping and bloating? There's an app for that 

@godispretend Steve Jobs, I'ma let you finish, but Moses had the greatest tablet announcement of all time. #itampon

@melizeche "I'm not buying an iPad. Period." #iTampon

@kathycacace: Okay, just one more. The iPad: protecting your data from embarrassing incidents. #iTampon 

@Johnpapa: "64 gig iPad will forever be known as the heavy flow model." #iTampon 

@Lymed: Does the Period Tracker app come free? #iPad, #iTampon

@NellMood: It's so beautiful when an electronics company finally becomes a woman... #iPad #iTampon

@vlvtjones: So will iffy Wifi coverage be called iSpotting? #iPad #iTampon

@DaniGray: You can do things with #iTampon that you just can't do with #iPad - like biking, horseback riding and swimming.LOL

@Knightd427: Please follow all safety precautions when applying iPad. Remember, iPad does not protect against STDs such as SYFY. #itampon

And then there was the obligatory “Hitler responds” video:

Someone even found a MadTV sketch from 2006 that featured an iPad from Apple, though it has a slightly different use.

Apple had to have known they were going to alienate women and become the source of ridicule for others. The connection is to obvious. The question has been jokingly asked, “Are there any women on the marketing team for the iPad?” You have to wonder if they were there, why didn’t any of them object? The good news for Apple is they have such a strong brand that most of the criticism will have no long term effects on the sales of the product, but if a weaker brand had released this, it would probably have sunk the product before it went out the door.

Early reactions to the iPad have been mixed. Gizmondo is giving it a big thumbs down but TechCrunch has been very positive. It’s too early to tell if the iPad will be the big hit Apple hopes it will be or if it will be another toy used by a few to feel more elite. In the meantime, there is a heavy flow of jokes to be made at Apple’s expense while we wait to get the product in our hands.

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media and won't shut up about Twitter.

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A complete list of Apple iPad features

Steve Jobs’ latest creation has the tech world in an uproar, but will it really revolutionize our lives?

 

The level of excitement surrounding the release of Apple’s newest product, the iPad, is normally reserved for the likes of Star Trekkers, comic book geeks and sci-fi convention goers. The Cult of Apple is strong among those that consider themselves to be hip and trendy. There are very good reasons for this fanboy behavior. Over the past decade, Steve Jobs has taken his company from the brink of collapse to one of the strongest and best known brands today, launching products that have helped shape our modern lives. Coming off a string of hits like iTunes, the iPod and iPhone, Apple’s iPad is sure to be a must have product.

The internet has been a buzz with rumor of what exactly this product will be and tonight the rumors can end. Jason Calacanis leaked many features earlier today through his Twitter account. Jobs has finally revealed his latest brain child and the list of features is even more impressive than we expected. 

• .5 inches thin
• 1.5 pounds
• 9.7 inch IPS display
• powered by 1GHz Apple A4 chip
• Available in 16 GB, 32GB or 64GB 
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• full capacity multitouch
• WiFi 802.11n
• Accelerator + compass
• Speaker
• Microphone
• 30 pin connector
• 10 hour battery life, with a month of standby
• resizeable apps
• runs all iPhone apps
• apps bought for iPhone can be transferred to iPad without additional cost
• iPhone SKD support the iPad
• built in iTunes store, YouTube and YouTube HD
• smooth iPhone like scrolling
• built-in calendar
• click through photos and email like iPhone
• change view screen from horizontal to vertical by movie iPad
• menus pop down from the top
• onscreen popup keyboard
• iPhoto access with Google geolocations tied in
• iTunes access is similar to the laptop interface
• GPS
• built in painting app
• live video within apps
• iBooks, Amazon Kindle like book reader. They have deals in place with Simon & Schuster, Penguin, HarperCollins, MacMillan and Hatchett Book Group.
• changeable font in iBooks
• iWorks redesigned for iPad
• iWorks apps will be priced at $9.99 a piece
• projector connection
• syncs to iTunes like iPod and iPhone does via USB
• $14.99 for up to 250 MB of data
• $29.99 for unlimited data
• free use of ATT WiFi hotspots
• iPad 3G models come unlocked and uses new GSM micro SIMs
• international deals by June/July
• pricing starts at $499 up to $699
• shipping in 60 days
• keyboard docking station
• Kindle like case can be used as a stand
• no multitasking
• no phone
• no camera
• no built in DVD player

Only time will tell if the iPad will be the next iPhone or the next Newton. All signs point to it being the former, but there’s certainly room for failure. It’s not a cheap piece of hardware (and there’s a bit of a recession going on, last I heard), and exactly what it’ll do for your average Joe to change their day-to-day life isn’t crystal clear. The iPod let us carry thousands of songs in our pocket. The iPhone turned mobile phones into mobile computers. What mobile need is the new tablet really satisfying? The need to carry an entire mobile entertainment center with us wherever we go?

If you’re planning on buying an iPad, leave a comment and tell us why you think it’s worth putting down your hard earned cash for when you’ve already got a laptop, an MP3 player and a smart phone. As for us, we’re still debating whether or not to join the fans camping out overnight to get one the day it’s released. Maybe we’ll see you there. 

APPLE FACTS:

250 million iPods sold

284 Apple Stores

50 million visitors last quarter

140,000 apps

3 billion downloads

50.6 billion in revenue last year

World's largest mobile device company

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Rumored Apple Tablet Features

 

The highly anticipated Apple Tablet/iSlate/iPad is being announced today.  Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis on his Twitter profile leaked some of the presumed features of the new device. He has been playing with one for the past two weeks. If what he says proves to be true, then Steve Jobs will once again have out done himself. But, the road to success hasn’t always been an easy one for Apple and their list of bombed devices almost out weights their successes. Jason lists the following features.

• connects to other tablets over wifi for gaming
• two cameras for video conferencing, one in the front and one in the back
• solar panel to help recharge the battery
• thumbpads on each side for mouse gestures
• fingerprint identification
• runs multiple apps at the same time
• OLED screen
• price will be $599, $699 and $799 depending on size and memory
• built in HDTV tuner and pvr
• wireless keyboard and mouse for TV

Fans have their hopes set so astronomically high there could well be a major letdown looming. But if it can do everything we're dreaming it can, maybe it will be that next leap forward.  We’ll have to wait and see what materializes later today. 

You can watch the big reveal at these sites.

Macrumorslive

Engadget

Gizmodo Live

Svenska Macworld

Slashgear

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Methodical Madness needs your vote

Methodical Madness closed out 2009 winning the blog of month for November. Then we were short-listed by Social Media Examiner along with 20 others for the distinction of the world's Top 10 Social Media Blogs. Our fellow finalists include a roster of stellar blogs like  Chris Brogan, CopyBlogger, Mashable , and Social Media Explorer . Winners to be decided soon by jury.

Methodical Madness is also short-listed with 12 other finalists on Fuel Line's Ad Agency Blog of the Year. Please VOTE before Friday, January 22. Below you can see the Fuel Lines poll results live. 

CLICK HERE to VOTE for The Duffy Agency

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How Twitter can (and can’t) change the world

Acting through Twitter helps, but it can’t end there

When a crisis hits, most of us feel a gut instinct to help. But most of us won’t go that far out of our way to do something. That’s exactly why Twitter has inspired such huge numbers of people to get involved in causes: they can contribute to a better world in 140 characters or less (or at least feel like they have). Millions have devoted their time and money to solving the world’s biggest issues. But for that effort to not go to waste, we need to get our feet back on the ground and accept that social media can’t solve the world’s problems by itself – it can only contribute to the hands on solution. Many of us seem to be losing sight of this.

Losing sight is understandable considering Twitter’s remarkable achievements. Within hours of the 7.0 earthquake rocking Haiti, Twitter was giving people a way to show the world images of the carnage and a medium to tell their stories. With the country’s infrastructure devastated, there weren’t many other options for getting the message out. And with that message spreading across Twitter like wildfire, millions opened their wallets to support relief efforts – including more than $20 million donated to the Red Cross’s text message campaign.

  

But while the donation is instant and simple, relief getting to the people is far from it. The mobile industry has regulations which delay the donations by 90 days, and the aid that is available is delayed in getting to the people due to a lack of rescue workers. In other words, there are great big on the ground problems that need people’s help which Twitter can’t solve, but aren’t getting due attention. The people in need are still facing a dire situation, but that is masked to some extent when we go on about the impressive amount of involvement that’s taken place.

The quake highlights both the inherent triumphs and shortcomings of what a Twitter campaign by itself is capable of. Social media efforts need to have comprehensive strategies – from your computer screen to the end result – to accomplish their goals. That probably sounds obvious, but how many people do you think write their tweet, feel like they’ve done their part and forget about the issue? Sometimes social media provides answers that are in fact a little too easy to be true, and leaves people feeling absolved of responsibility anyway. 

It’s still early days in utilizing Twitter in crisis response, and its ability to generate massive, global awareness within minutes of an event is already a landmark achievement in the history of communication. Never before have we been able to make so many people aware of a crisis so quickly, and then get them to do something. But we have to get real about what Twitter and social media can accomplish before they will truly change the world for the better. If action stops at the keyboard, it will only amount to a drop in the ocean. What you do out there in the real world is still what wins the day. 

Though it isn’t the whole solution, money is still desperately needed to save lives in Haiti. Check out our previous post to learn 10 ways you can contribute, including campaigns to send workers into the field.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry. 

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10 ways you can help the people of Haiti right now

Do your bit in just a few clicks

The devastation in Haiti is on a level scarcely imaginable for most of us. It’s made doubly nightmarish by the fact that Haiti is far from being one of the wealthier countries in the world. But millions of dollars are being donated through internet fund raising campaigns that allow people to lend a hand instantly. To make your contribution of desperately needed funding, check out the options below. And after you’ve made a donation, tweet a link to the organization’s site or write about it on Facebook.

Remember to be wary of giving money to an unknown group, as scam sites have popped up to take advantage of people’s good will, and every dollar counts as it will help provide desperately needed medical supplies and shelter. If you’re unsure about a charity group, check out the Better Business Bureau’s site dedicated to reviewing charity organizations.

Most of these sites suggest donation amounts, but you can enter whatever amount of money you have to spare. Every little bit will help.


Oxfam’s emergency response team (whose regional headquarters happen to be in Haiti) is working hard to provide water and sanitation services in the hope of stemming the spread of disease that usually follows this kind of disaster. More money means more clean water for the people.

Google Support Disaster Relief Google pitched in the first million dollars themselves, but there’s a long way to go in recovering from the quake. On their disaster relief page, you can quickly and simply submit whatever amount you want donated to either UNICEF, who are working to help children affected by the earthquake, or CARE who are sending rescue workers to the country. There’s also an interactive Google Earth map on the page that gives you a look at how badly the country was hit.

Doctors Without Borders are saving lives on the ground by providing emergency medical care. The donated money will help them supplement Haiti’s devastated infrastructure.

United Nations World Food Program is pooling resources to provide food for 2 million people affected by the earthquake over the next 6 months. Already the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, Haiti needs help more than ever to feed their hungry.

AMURT With a decade of relief work in Haiti under their belt, AMURT are organizing both staff members and teams of volunteers for relief efforts. Donations will help support the teams already there and fund additional teams being sent to Haiti.


World Vision has already sent 18 tons of relief supplies to Haiti. Help them send more by making a donation.

AmeriCares is raising funding for critical medical supplies and medicines, as there is an especially great need of them with a major hospital having collapsed.

Catholic Relief Services have a staff on the ground in Port-au-Prince. They are accepting donations of any amount to buy and distribute emergency supplies.

Direct Relief International is supplying their partner organizations working in Haiti with emergency supplies. More funding means more critical supplies will reach people.

You can also donate money through a text message. To contribute $10 to the Red Cross ‘s disaster relief efforts, send an SMS with the message “HAITI” to the number 90999. You can also make a $5 donation via text message to the Yele Haiti earthquake fund by texting “Yele” to the number 501501.

With a little help from each of us out here in cyberspace, the people of Haiti will be able to put their lives back together much faster. Feel free to add to our list of ways to contribute in the comments section.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry. 

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7 social media predictions for 2010

2009 was a great year for social media. Twitter went mainstream and Facebook dominated the world, replacing social networking websites that had a strong foothold in their country. As the world became more aware of social media and web 2.0 techniques, we saw some interesting marketing efforts from Pepsi, Fiat and Pringles, among others. With the new year upon us, let’s take a moment to look ahead at what we think will be the big game changers of the new year.

Micro communities - Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are the big impersonal dogs that dominate the social media world as we know it. People are starting to look for smaller, more relevant communities in the coming year. 2010 will see the rise of Ning, Xing and Linked In, as well as location based communities like Foursquare and Gowalla, which will be purchased and incorporated into Facebook and Google in 2011.

Facebook starts to slip - After obtaining the seemingly impossible in five years (350 million members), Facebook has justly secured their place as top dog in the social media world. There is no where to go but down from here. While expanding their functionality and destroying their credibility through poor decisions on how to handle user privacy, Facebook will lose members as users become overwhelmed with follow requests, app requests, security settings and a million other little things.

Google makes search more relevant - Google released real-time search at the end of 2009, but it’s not as refined as it could be. Google will continue to refine their search techniques based on the personal experience of the user. This means my search for a thai restaurant in San Francisco could be completely different from your search. Google rushed real-time search out in order to beat Bing to the punch, but expect it to be streamlined by the end of the year.

Gaming becomes more social - We talked about console gaming going social in our hugely popular blog post last month, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. 2010 will be a rebirth in gaming with games not just linking to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but by allowing users to create original content through them as well. Add to that online gaming companies like Zynga, Playfish and Crowdstar who are expanding the capability of their games. Also, expect mobile gaming to go to great heights with the iPhone and Android phones changing the way we envision mobile gaming.

Big Brother won’t have to watch us – we’ll do it ourselves - In our ever expanding need to feel relevant and hip, we now do what people a decade years ago would have viewed as implausible. Privacy isn’t an issue like it used to be. We now tell people where we are and what we’re doing every moment. Thanks to Foursquare, Google Geotagging, Gowalla and Britekite, we can automatically update our location without lifting a finger. Expect this trend to continue, and get much more invasive, before it gets better.

iPhone loses ground to Android - Sure, the iPhone is great, but it has one major drawback: it’s only available on one phone. Now imagine the same software that makes the iPhone great spread over several phones with cheaper price-tags. The Android has the potential to be a game changer in next gen phone development. With several phones coming out in 2010, the huge market share that the iPhone now controls will quickly erode.

Companies discover how to use social media - 2009 was the year that businesses discovered that the internet isn’t just a children’s toy any more. 2010 will be the year that companies finally start using social media as an important marketing tool and will devote more of the advertising funds to online efforts. 2009 saw some interesting uses of Twitter, Facebook and iPhone apps as companies dipped their toes in the pond. Now that they’ve explored a little, expect some interesting online campaigns.

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7 predictions for Twitter in 2010

The Christmas presents have been opened (thanks for the Kindle, mom!), the new year celebrated and the year in reviews written, so now it’s time to look ahead to 2010. As we wrote earlier, 2009 was a killer year for Twitter. But will 2010 see the micro blogging sensation continue to rocket upwards? Probably not, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Here are 7 predictions of what the coming twelve months hold in store for everyone’s favorite little blue bird.

1. Twitter will expand more aggressively outside of the US, but overall growth will drop off
Twitter is about as big as it ever will be in the US, so if they want their user base to continue expanding they’ll have to make a more significant push into Europe and beyond. It will gain millions more followers outside the US as new population groups discover its potential, but the overall growth of Twitter will never again attain the huge increases of the past few years. It will cease to be a pop culture phenomenon and hot buzz word, and start to find its long term place in the social media tool box.

2. The Twitter horde will get thinned out, leaving a more manageable core of users
Many people who jumped on the Twitter bandwagon will forget about it as they hop onto the next one. This wave of everyone and their sister being interested cresting and receding may end up being a good thing. Twitter has long been frustrating for people interested in using it because of the fluff-to-useful content ration being way out of whack. With users who are more focused and dedicated staying on while others jump off, that ratio may well start to balance out.

3. Innovative mashups will keep the excitement alive
The waning novelty of Twitter will be somewhat abated by the novelty of new mashup applications utilizing the service. By all accounts location based apps are the next big thing, and Twitter is sure to factor into many of these new creations. I’d expect to see features like having each Tweet tagged with your current location and creating a map of where you’ve tweeted from. But people smarter than me are sure to come up with far more clever uses.

4. Companies’ Twitter use will become more focused and get a budget
Companies will start to really get their heads around Twitter this year, having had time to let the idea of it sink in and its potential become apparent. What once struck them as a fad among kids has now proven an effective marketing tool in enough cases to change their minds and get them to put some money aside for running a Twitter campaign, and create the guidelines to do it well. But it’s the ones who got in early who will really start to benefit this year.

5. Better analytics will make Twitter a valid market research tool
The ability to use Twitter to listen in on targeted groups will keep getting more refined. Getting an intimate look inside the minds of the people you’re trying to talk to is invaluable, and with Twitter companies will be getting this at minimal cost. As companies accept more and more that Twitter is not just a toy for young people, they’ll see just how big a treasure trove of market insights it is – and develop the tools to mine them. 

6. Twitter will make more money than Facebook
The monetization of Twitter has already begun with Google and Bing paying for Tweets to appear in their search results. Twitter is certainly a long way from reaching Facebook’s level of profitability, but it has a big advantage over the social networking site as it’s much better suited as an information sharing and promotional tool. More companies will realize Twitter’s value and pay good money to incorporate it into their offer. And with real-time search results gaining ground as the search method of the future, Twitter has a lot of potential to become a hot commodity.

7. Twitter will get sold
It may seem a little premature to sell before it becomes truly profitable, but Twitter is probably valued higher right now than it ever will be. The surge of interest in it and growth have plateaued, leaving it’s future direction and focus up in the air. The time is ripe for one of the big boys to step in and give it just such a direction and future. I see Google, Microsoft or Facebook taking over Twitter and developing it as part of their service. Whether or not that will be a successful venture, well, time will tell. It’s going to be an interesting year.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry. 

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The year of the Tweet

Welcome to Twitter Tuesday. Every Tuesday we will post about Twitter. Stop by for advice and how to's for marketing professionals. Every other week we will post our AppQuest Edition featuring a review of twitter applications. 

5 reasons 2009 was Twitter’s breakout year 

As 2009 opened, Twitter was nothing new. It had been around since 2006, steadily growing its following, but the wave hadn’t had quite broken over the masses yet. That would soon change. A social network needs a certain critical mass of users to make a splash, and the events of 2009 would see Twitter eclipse that mark. According to Compete.com, Twitter had 3.4 million visitors in November 2008 and by November of this year, they had over 22 millions visitors. That’s a 676% growth from year to year. 

This was largely due to a natural ramp up of followers, but some big events helped vault it ahead. Its mass media status was confirmed when Taylor Swift thanked her Twitter followers in an acceptance speech at the MTV Video awards. David Letterman did a bit with Kevin Spacey about Twitter. Even CSI has used Twitter to help solve crimes. That’s about as much an official declaration of going mainstream as you can get. 

Also, Twitter was Google’s fastest rising search term in 2009 and “What is Twitter?” was Ask.com’s fourth most asked question (right after “How do I get pregnant?). 

So why was 2009 Twitter’s big year? Here are 5 ways Twitter made the transition to new media powerhouse in the past 12 months.

5. Twitter helped people find (and lose) jobs more efficiently 
As the recession deepened and unemployment spread, people looked to find a job any way they could. Twitter quickly proved its networking ability could be focused to find HR managers and info on available jobs. It also allowed people to get to know companies they were interested in in-depth by following its employees – an invaluable tool when applying for a job. For many people who didn’t know or care about Twitter, they suddenly had a compelling reason to try it out. 

But Twitter also made headlines for helping people lose their jobs. People learned to be wary of declaring their boss hatred on blogs and Facebook a long time ago, but most are still getting their heads around Twitter, and don’t realize they can get sacked in one incomplete sentence as their tweets spread beyond their followers. Cautionary tales have been around since before 2009, but the folks getting themselves into trouble expanded and got more high profile this year, as when NFL player Larry Johnson got himself cut form the Kansas City Chiefs for getting into an offensive bickering match with a fan. The crossover from private amusement to professional liability put Twitter in headlines in both traditional and new media, and tipped off bosses around the world on a new way to keep tabs on employees. So don’t say anything about your boss on Twitter you wouldn’t say on the 6 o’clock news. Seems a few people still haven’t caught on.  

4. People congregated on Twitter en masse to mourn the death of an icon
Almost immediately after the news broke that Michael Jackson had died, Twitter exploded with updates about his passing. Millions of people began sharing their grief and nostalgia for the singer, or simply tweeting “RIP MJ.”  This wasn’t surprising, as coming together to mourn is a basic human need. But the scale of the outburst was pretty surprising – conservative estimates claim that tweets about Jackson accounted for 30% of all activity on Twitter in the hours following his death, blowing talk of the Iranian election and the swine flu out of the water. The event turned Twitter into a platform for mass grieving and consolation, and showed how many people turn to Twitter first to share and comment on big news. It also revealed how Twitter is ideal for people to use in making themselves feel important, as publicly commenting on a huge event makes them feel involved. This is a large part of social media’s appeal, and something Twitter has taken to the next level. 

3. Twitter helped Iranians achieve freedom of speech
With communication channels being blocked left and right in Iran after the controversial election, Twitter became the primary medium of getting info out of the country to rest of the world. You know when the US State Department asks you to delay scheduled site maintenance in the interest of preserving freedom of speech, you’ve got a pretty powerful communication tool. The incident displayed Twitter’s ability to subvert government censorship and spread on-the-ground happenings in real time to a global audience. With talk of Twitter’s role being broadcast on CNN and TIME, many more people discovered the site and began to understand just how much potential it had to change how we receive information. 

2. H1N1 demonstrated Twitter’s efficiency of fear-mongering
The swine flu pandemic showcased Twitter’s power for both good and evil. Worried people around the world logged in to find the facts on the mysterious virus. Many regular folks and official organizations like the CDC obliged with good information. But they were largely overshadowed by the misinformation and irrational panic. That’s the thing about crowds – they have a way of taking fears, developing their own momentum and getting carried away. The Twitter community was no exception. Though Twitter offers a lightning fast tool to inform the public from a decentralized platform, the incident highlighted the dangers that come with it. It’s bound to draw flocks of people who feel the need to tell everyone that the end is nigh at the first sign of trouble and spread rumors as proof to thousands of unwary followers. If you think it’s crazy people trust Wikipedia for information, Twitter will probably make your head explode. But again, this is Twitter facilitating a basic human need to connect and share in troubled times, so it’s not surprising it took off so quickly, nor is it likely to slow down. Brace yourself.

1. Twitter officially declared the word of the year
To cap off the Year of the Tweet, Twitter was named the word of the year by the Global Language Monitor, topping the likes of “Obama,” “H1N1” and “vampire.” The list was compiled by tracking which words garnered the most attention across the Internet. Political events that shook the world, a panic inducing global pandemic and the death of the world’s biggest pop star could not top Twitter. If there was any doubt Twitter was a new media force to be reckoned with, it was washed away. 

Despite its rocketing success in 2009, Twitter is still sinking into our collective mind. Most people are still trying to get their heads around what it’s for and why they should care, much like they did in YouTube’s early days. It remains to be seen whether Twitter will become part of our permanent Internet furniture collection as YouTube has, but it’s certainly headed in that direction, and shows no sign of slowing down going into 2010. 

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry. 

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Is social media making any difference in Copenhagen?

Taking a look at what the slew of social media initiatives have, and haven’t, accomplished for climate change.

The world’s most powerful leaders have convened in Copenhagen to reach an agreement that will help save our planet from rising seas and violent hurricanes. But millions of people around the world are doing some convening of their own. Social media initiatives in support of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) have exploded, inspiring tens of millions of regular people to do their part with just a few mouse clicks. But how big an impact can a few mouse clicks really have? Quite a lot, but it depends how you use them.

There are dozens of sites dedicated to getting people to demand an agreement be reached at the conference, but a few big ones are leading the way. Hopenhagen is one of the simpler efforts, asking people to digitally sign a petition by telling the world what gives them hope for the future. More than 1.7 million people have contributed so far.

Another 440,000 people have signed a similar petition on Seal the Deal’s site, an initiative run by the UN. In true social media fashion, the efforts are not being confined to websites – Kofi Annan’s Tck Tck Tck organization has a successful Twitter, Facebook and YouTube campaign to go along with the more than 10 million people who have pledged support through their website. Most of the other organizations can also boast multi-platform efforts.

YouTube itself is running a joint campaign with CNN called Raise Your Voice. It’s aimed at raising awareness by having people submit call to action videos and questions that will be answered during a debate broadcast live from the conference center. More than 4 million people have visited the YouTube channel.

ActiveBE is also using a video campaign to raise awareness of the climate change issue, which is noteworthy because they are using the COP15 hype to highlight the little know fact that the leading producer of CO2 isn’t transportation or industry, but buildings. Hundreds have signed the petition to shed more light on this issue and thousands visited the site to learn more.

The number of supporters is unquestionably impressive – all told it’s in the tens of millions. In terms of spreading knowledge, awareness and enthusiasm, the social media initiatives have been a resounding success, and those things are instrumental in garnering support on a global scale. But whether these efforts are having any impact on the proceedings in Copenhagen is another matter. Barack Obama officially stated a month ago that no binding agreement will be reached in Copenhagen, but rather they hope to reach an agreement that shows strong “intent.” The social media campaigns all state that they exist to unite people in demanding leaders come to a binding agreement with specific targets. It’s unlikely that particular goal will be met, and there is no mention of what will be done with these signatures and followers after the conference. Generating actual change has been a recurring problem with social media drives, as when Twitter helped Iranians subvert government censorship, but ultimately didn’t change anything.

That isn’t to say the climate change efforts have gone to waste. Pushing for an agreement is only part of the goal – creating widespread awareness of the problem and enthusiasm to do something is just as a big a part of these campaigns. Millions of people have taken an active interest where they would have otherwise been passive observers, if they had noticed the conference at all. But the potential impact of these communities has been far from reached. With a different focus, they could be petitioning local politicians with concrete demands, raising money for renewable energy research or organizing more demonstrations like the UK’s Wave project recently did. Without real world action, social media initiatives simply make people feel like they’ve done their part without actually accomplishing anything.

The most telling question will ultimately be: what will these communities do if world leaders fail to come through? If the answer is nothing, their level of success will be limited to a brief awareness campaign in connection to the conference. But if they continue to mobilize people and affect real change, then Copenhagen could go down as the launching pad of something much bigger, even if the politicians themselves accomplish nothing.

How effectively do you think social media has been used at COP15?

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.

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Thank you everybody

Michael Gass over at Fuel Lines blog included Methodical Madness in his monthly Blog of the Month  poll for November. We were one of fifty-eight blogs nominated. Not only did we win, but we’re also the first blog to win from outside of the US. We want to thank everyone for voting for us. We were just honored to be included in such a great list of blogs. Thank you Michael for including us in your poll and a special thank you to everyone that helped make us #1.

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10 tips for taking your business into the Twittersphere in 2010

I feel compelled to say right off the bat that if you aren’t interested in genuinely engaging with your customers (spamming with links to your website or special offers does not equal engagement), don’t use Twitter for your business. But if you are ready to start a conversation about your company, it can be a powerful tool to develop your brand and add many loyal customers to your following.

These days if you aren’t using social media, you’re doing something wrong. Don’t believe me? Here is a list of companies using Twitter. The good news is you don’t have to have deep pockets like Starbucks, Coca Cola or American Airlines to successfully use Twitter. And up until a few months ago, it was enough to just be on Twitter. But these days you need to know how you're going to use it before entering the fray. To ensure you see a return on your efforts and that you get the most out of your energy, we recommend following these 10 tips for taking your business into the Twittersphere. Pretty soon you may just find yourself on lists like this.

1. Create a strategy. Ask yourself exactly what it is you want to get out of Twitter and what you're willing to give. Then put it down on paper. There are hundreds of ways to use Twitter: A listening tool to gauge sentiment about your brand or competitors; A tool to engage and converse; A podium to express your ideas and build a reputation as a thought leader; A forum to instigate debate; A medium to share news about your company or industry; A place to address customer service issues. There are many more, but only a few are probably right for you. Choose wisely.
2. Tune in to the conversation. You should start using Twitter Search right away to see what people are saying about you, your competitors and your industry. It’s free, invaluable consumer insight and it allows you to respond to complaints or compliments about your company. Listening closely will also help you get a feel for Twitter and its dos and don’ts.

   
3. Show that you’re human. Don’t be afraid to add your personality and opinions to the conversation or share things you find interesting that are related to what you do. Your tweets should sound like they’re coming from a person, not a marketing machine. By no means should you put your account on auto-Tweet and walk away or auto DM your followers. They really don’t appreciate it.

4. Have more than one tweeter. This will give your tweets extra character and will keep you covered in case someone falls ill or goes on vacation - it’s important to keep the feed going. But this brings up the issue of consistency. Make sure you have written Twitter tactical guidelines specifying the content and tone of your stream as well as your behavior on Twitter - this will ensure consistency and that you are always contributing to your strategy. 

5. Help solve people’s problems. Don’t just push your own interests and goals. Figure out what your followers need, and try to help them get it. This could be links to useful information, solving problems they have with your service or keeping them up-to-date on general industry news. 

6. Use 3rd party software to manage your account. There’s a lot of great software out there to help you refine info from Twitter into something easily manageable and highly effective. TweetDeck  is our personal favorite as it lets us organize followers, @’s, keyword searches and more into individual columns that can be taken in at a glance. Check out our previous post for more info on apps that help you manage followers. 

7. Make it useful when you do talk about yourself. You should use most of your tweets not talking about yourself, but when you do, don’t just push your name and offer out there. Give people useful advice, links, blog posts or cool pictures to make your message worth your followers’ while to listen to.

8. Follow people involved with or interested in your industry. Quantity does not equal success on Twitter. Creating a balanced ecosystem of following/followers that are all relevant to your industry and goals will give you the most back from Twitter. You’ll get valuable information and opinions and will be talking to the right people. 

9. Respond to people who @ you. This is fundamental for making your Twitter use a conversation and not just a stream of words flowing over your followers. Other tweeters out there are likely to @ you with questions about your brand or complain if they’ve had a negative experience. Make yourself more sympathetic and helpful by engaging with them.

10. Ask your followers questions. Racking your brain to figure out what new solutions your customers need? Just ask them. It can’t replace proper market research, but it can give you a quick, honest answer to what your targeted group of followers want from you. Why guess when it’s so easy to ask? See our earlier post about polling your followers to find the right polling tool.

Take your time getting to know Twitter and how it can fit into your business. Being patient in the beginning is better than immediately following hundreds of people just to try and boost your own following, and then pummeling them with loads of tweets. Finding the right people and the right, natural flow of conversation is the key to meaningful Twitter use and strengthening your brand.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry. 

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