Grounded In Reality

NY Times posted an article on Sunday called ”Grade-school Girls, Grown-up Gossip“ taht that discussed the influx (and ease) on information available to the children growing up during this Internet Age.

Although the article is predominately focused on how these tweens view the actions of celebrities, there are some facts:

According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, the death of Anna Nicole Smith, on Feb. 8, constituted 9 percent of news coverage the week she died (she died midweek). That same week, 8 percent was devoted to the 2008 campaign and 3 percent to the Super Bowl. Pew also found that in the two days following Ms. Smith’s death, “nearly a quarter of the news from all sectors (24 percent) was devoted to this story, and fully half of cable news.”

One of the worst examples of this is that when Anna Nicole’s name is mentioned above, the NYTimes links back to ALL the coverage they produced, obviously contributing significantly to the Pew research.

With that kind of saturation, how is a kid NOT supposed to read about Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton?!?!

It has been 36 hours since the Technorati refresh and my team has been generally pleased with the new, speedy Technorati.  Here are some observations:

• Use search.technorati.com (or s.technorati.com) for a targeted blog-only search and, more importantly, to have the ability to filter by authority.  The authority filter, which has been removed from the general user interface, is a useful tool to narrow down the universe of blog posts to the most influential bloggers.
• The authority filter can also be exposed when using Advanced Search.
• Text and image ads are taking up more real estate—an opportunity for clients to execute smart keyword and banner ad buys, particularly when there is a spike in the news or search volume.
• To perform a keyword search within a select group of blogs: Sign into your Technorati account, create a list of Favorites, and use the search function to find posts (from a pre-defined list of blogs) that contain your keywords.  This is not a new functionality, but I noticed that I can no longer force an RSS feed for this search.  I’ll need to look for a workaround.

Lastly, check out the Technorati Kitchen for new stuff that the Technorati team is cooking up, particularly microformats.

Google has quietly rolled out a GPS-enabled, mobile version of Google Maps.  As an existing user of Google Maps on a mobile device (and a perpetually lost traveler), I can attest to the ease and intuitiveness of the mobile version.  Enabling GPS functionality provides a “You Are Here” functionality and, most importantly for marketers, a new channel for presence advertising.

Imagine receiving opt-in offers for a latte on your BlackBerry® when you walk by a participating Starbucks (a GCI client).  Show the barista the digital coupon and enjoy a cool drink to ease your travels.

Granted that this is an early adopter technology as majority of mobile devices are not GPS-enabled, but the BlackBerry® 8800™ is a good example of the new wave of mobile devices with in-built GPS.

Watch for a refresh of StarWars.com tomorrow when Lucasfilm releases 250 clips from the six “Star Wars” movies for fans to mash up.  (Yes, this means that you’ll finally fulfill your wish of terminating Jar Jar.)

Given his reputation for protecting his intellectual property, embracing consumer-generated content is a big step forward for George Lucas—he previously sued a Maryland company for making “Star Wars”-like light sabers and sued rapper Dr. Dre for using the audio boom at the start of the “Star Wars” films in his album “2001.”

This is a perfect birthday gift for fans as the “Star Wars” saga turns 30 this year.  Additionally, StarWars.com will host and aggregate hundreds of videos—some previously unreleased and some already on fan sites such as AtomFilms.com—as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations.

Goodwill to the “Star Wars” fan base aside, this is yet another brilliant marketing move by Lucasfilm to breathe new life into the “Star Wars” brand and make it relevant to the next generation.

ps: The rumor mill has it that Lucas is thinking of a new “Star Wars” movie, set at the time of the Old Republic, when the Jedi regained control of the galaxy from the Sith Lords.  I hope he doesn’t direct it.

I had a recent conversation with a friend this past weekend about the new SUV taxis that were adorned with “Yahoo! Green Taxi”-lit signage.  Of course, the conversation continued to assume that NYC taxis started using hybrids and the new signage would tell you which ones made the switch. 

Today (literally and figuratively), Mayor Bloomberg put all assumptions to rest:

The mayor announced the new plan this morning on the NBC News program “Today,” saying it would entail gradually phasing out the roughly 1,200 Crown Victoria taxis that make up about 90 percent of the city’s fleet. As the old Crown Victorias are retired, they will be replaced with hybrid vehicles that run on a combination of gasoline and electricity and provide nearly double the fuel efficiency.

Under the new plan, the number of hybrid vehicles in the fleet will grow to 1,000 by 2008, and will increase by 20 percent every year until 2012. The new hybrids will have a fuel efficiency of about 25 miles per gallon, far exceeding that of the current Crown Victorias. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, Crown Victorias — although roomy — get only 10 to 15 miles per gallon on congested city streets. A cabdriver can pay as much as $100 a day to keep the tank full.

It is definitely good to see, I will admit.  The article mentions using Toyota Prius, Toyota Highlander Hybrid and Ford Escape, but I have only seens Fords, so far.  I also would like to know how Yahoo! got this sweet marketing deal.

…and when will we see the GPS systems, so my cabbie knows how to get through Brooklyn?!?!

NBC Nightly News did an interesting story last night on real-life churches, synagogues and mosques that are establishing a presence in Second Life.  The question now: Is virtual religion real religion?  Many people find the religious experience in Second Life to be gratifying and powerful; opponents argue there’s no substitute for real, face-to-face connections.

MySpace is in the news again.  The company announced today it will provide data on registered sex offenders who use the site to eight state attorneys general.  It will be interesting to hear what’s reported.  This will surely fuel further debate about teen use of the site and access in public places like schools and libraries.

The race to provide ‘on-demand’ TV in the UK is really heating up. Out of the major networks (that means no set-top box required), Channel 4’s 4oD was the first to market in December 2006 and has already claimed one million viewers watching a total of 20 million programs since it was launched. Although I understand from the Guardian’s Kate Bevan they still have to smooth out some compatibility issues.

Hot on it’s heels is the BBC iPlayer (sorry Katie Green another non-Apple lower case ‘i’ user to add to the list). The new service is located on the BBC and allows viewers to catch up with programs from the previous seven days and store them on a computer for 30 days.

This is all good for the UK consumer and means that we no longer have to wait or miss out on the programs we want to watch. However, in terms of marketing and general awareness, there’s still a lot to do.

I think the digital area is still riddled with unnecessary jargon and at the moment a lot of the messages are still aimed at ‘early adopters’. For the needle to really move we need to make things a bit more tangible. For example, I’m not a soap fan but most people in the UK probably don’t know that they are only ‘two clicks’ away from watching Coronation Street whenever they like…

If you are trying to get your head around what the UK networks are up to right now it’s worth checking out this well researched and, almost, impartial run down courtesy of the BBC.

For those with a pathological desire to square the circle or just have a serious aversion to ‘hype’ why not try out one of Ofcom’s beautifully crafted documents on digital TV. Sleep well.

Check out the latest social networking application called Fidg’t by Santa Monica-based PROTOMOBL. It brings together all your different social networking tags, profiles, friends’ lists and conversations. Similar to Trillion and Pidgin (formerly Gaim) that integrated different chat applications under one roof, Fidg’t makes it easy for users to control and manage their online social life.

The Fidg’t Visualizer is a cool application that needs to be downloaded and works with Macs, PCs and Linux platforms. There is a central magnet where you type your query or tag. There are white bubbles that represent individual users and networks. The magnet is then drawn towards groups and users who are discussing the tag.

The user interface looks protoplasmic and very edgy in an extraterrestrial way. Apart from its cool looks and fun features, most exciting to me is the fact that it could act as the ‘little black book’ for the media community. You now have access to a central nerve control station of people coming together, talking and sharing ideas. Sounds pretty cool to me!

 Check the video of the Fidgt presentation at Innovate! Europe 2007 fromYouTube… 

A shout out to Skype for a full day to make free global computer-to-landline calls on Mother’s Day, May 12.  If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, call your Mom for free between 5 a.m. EST on May 13 to 4:49 a.m. EST on May 14 for up to 200 minutes per computer.

The promotion is well covered by MacWorld, Gizmodo, Engadget, and The Boy Genius Report (a popular mobile blog).  But why only 6 diggs and no Techmeme mention (yet)?

It is true that no promotion can be made viral (people get to decide what is viral) but one can certainly make it easier to be viral: mention it on the Skype blog; offer a “e-mail this” button on the promotional page; conduct proactive outreach to international student networks on Facebook, travel blogs, foreign language sites and forums (based in the U.S. or Canada); and shoot a brief video touting the offer–if done “right,” users will share it.

The first two are low cost and shouldn’t break the bank.  Plus such a great Mother’s Day promotion ought to sell itself in terms of justifying marketing spend to promote the brands.  (Intel is a co-sponsor.)

Bonus factoid: Mother’s Day is not, as known in popular lore, invented by Hallmark.  Mother’s Day was a call by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War to unite women against war.