Ford Fiesta Movement Youtube channel

Here's the link to the Ford Fiesta Movement Youtube channel.  It has several videos posted by people using the car.

Crescent Heights

In the year since I last lectured on this topic,  Crescent Heights has been taken down, and its online production company GoTV, appears to have been acquired by a company called Phunware.  Phunware apparently focuses on content for mobile devices, but it still lists P & G among its clients.

Have it your way again

Although the slogan is almost 40 years old, Burger King has never abandoned "Have it your way."  It informs their Whopper Freakout viral campaign:

It also headlines the company webpage: "Have it your way."

Old Spice Grover

This is an example of a commercial going viral.

Old spice Grover

Here is an example of a commercial that has gone viral.

Qwikster dies quickly

It looks like Netflix will not go forward with their plans to spin-off and rebrand their DVD division as Qwikster.  I actually got this news in an email yesterday sent from Netflix, addressing me as "Robert."  Of course they know me so well, except they don't know that no one every addresses me as "Robert," twice.
Perhaps their decision is due to customer complaints, perhaps it is due to the fact that they didn't secure the domain name for Qwikster; in any event, it has proven to be a PR disaster for the company.  Netflix used to be viewed as a tech-savy brand, but the now the brand is tarnished.

Whole Foods New Media mix

The Whole Foods company has integrated all of their social media into a single porthole.  From this site, you can read their blog, what Youtube videos and listen to their podcasts.  In other words, the site provides example of how this specific corporate is using new media.

Big Brother

Here are a couple of stories about the way Facebook is being used to track our behaviors.  Mobiledia reports on a study of how college students' Facebook posts may indicate which students are at risk for "alcohol dependence."  The report raises the possibility that colleges may use Facebook to track student drinking behaviors.  Although the article suggests that colleges can adopt strategies that would not violate their students' privacy, how this information might actually be used is still uncertain.

The story also mentions that federal regulators (specifically the FTC) have approved the use of social media data to screen job applications.  This practice used to be a legal grey area, but not any more.  Finally, here is a story on Forbes.com about the extensive use of this practice by companies.  Back in 2010, Microsoft Research released a study indicating that 70% of employers rejected candidates based on social media data.  Now Reppler has released a study with similar findings.  Reppler is a company that makes its money by cleaning up the people's social media accounts so that they are more professional, and attractive to employers, so  . . .  there's that.

Blog measures

Here are the links to several blog measurements mentioned in the reading:

Technorati

Alexa

BlogPulse

Digital Influence Group

Oh, what a feeling! Toyota!

Here's a post that appeared on Gawker about a Toyota viral campaign that went wrong.  As you can read, the campaign attempted to "punk" people into thinking they were being stalked by a criminal via email.  Somehow this was suppose to generate buzz for the Matrix.  The campaign was targeted to "20-something males," but a woman was unknowingly signed up for the campaign by a "friend."  She is now suing Toyota, and a judge has ruled that the company may be guilty of fraud in how it represented the campaign in email exchanges.

Types of blogs.

Wil Wheaton dot Net is an example of a diary blog. Kotaku.com is an example of a topical blog, focusing on video games. Talking Points Memo is a political advocacy blog, with a decidedly liberal slant. BoingBoing.net is a link blog, and it links to a variety of digital material.

Cap'n Crunch is alive and well

Looks like the cereal has not been discontinued, although Daily Finance ran the story back in March. The product's webpage also alludes to this story. Notice too how Cap'n Crunch is now on Facebook and Twitter, and I should add that almost every Twitter post includes the word "Crunch." At least the Cap'n knows how to stay on message.

Online presence

Here is another story posted on CNN.com, that links to CareerBuilder.com; it discusses some of the issues I have raised in class. In particular, it mentions how employers use social networking sites to gather information on job candidates, and that a significant number (35%) have decided not to hire a person based on the information they have found. The article also mentions that having no web presence is also a red flag to employers, and it offers some tips on how to improve your web presence.