These are dark times indeed
What is this blank imageless content you may ask?
It is the image of censorship; a representation of many websites that shut down and went black January last month.
The blackout occurred at midnight on Wednesday 18th through to midnight Thursday as a protest against the proposed anti-piracy legislation in the US. In this included big internet database moguls such as Wikipedia, Reddit, and Twitpic; symbolizing what will happen to content accused of copyright infringement.
This legislation is currently known as SOPA. Now, most of you would have heard of SOPA by now and that SOPA equals bad. But how many of you actually know what it is?
In a nutshell, SOPA, or “Stop Online Piracy Act” is a new legislation which gives power to both major corporations and the government to pull the plug on websites that they accuse of copyright infringement with neither a trial nor court hearing – just like that *snap*. You can read the bill in detail at this handy website because it’s worth giving it a read to know what we’re all protesting for once.
Obviously the legislation is aggressively backed by Hollywood and record labels. I mean, why wouldn’t it be? Let’s be honest, the movie and music industry have never been particularly pleased about losing their business to sites such as Limewire, Napster, Megaupload and its sister website Megavideo, which have both been shut down since.
Just last week did I try to access Megavideo (not that I stream videos against Hollywood legislations) to no avail, only to be greeted with this very official notice
Most will know what Megaupload and Megavideo is, and if not, *tut tut* you were not using the internet to its full capacity. They are file sharing sites best known for hosting one of the biggest online library of movies and TV shows appreciated by most and especially those without the luxuries of television. Although walking a fine line between enabling piracy and profiting from it, they have always been quick to the mark when taking action in response to piracy accusations by taking down any relevant files. However sadly, this will not be the case anymore as Hollywood media companies urge the FBI to seize it along with adjacent websites. Nevertheless, will this actually limit the number of internet piracy?
According to this very “official” chart, computer says no.
In retrospect, should we be pleased with Anonymous, the last bastion of digital anarchy for their hands on retaliation strategies? At the end of the day, for the ones who protest, it’s not about losing a legacy of free movies and data but about how big corporations can shut you down and condemn you to jail time without warning. It’s about a future where the internet is not a free space to roam and learn. Wikipedia stated on their “blacked out” webpage – “imagine an internet without free knowledge”, and the reality is pretty grim.
Thoughts?
2012 Digital PR Trends: Generation Overshare
2011 saw mass sharing in the social media age bringing new meaning to the term ‘information overload’. As Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive of Facebook, said at the f8 developers conference last year “Our development is guided by the principle that every year the amount people want to add, share and express is increasing”.
What Facebook, and brands too, are witnessing is the trend for digitally savvy consumers disassociating themselves from the enjoyment of the moment to record it. You could see this at any live event or concert last year – the masses of people with their phones/cameras held in the air, lighting up the crowds like a sea of stars as they record away for posting on Facebook or YouTube. The trend now and more so in the future, isn’t about going to an event and having an experience but defining yourself by telling and showing others you were there.
2012 will see this trend grow and develop, and experts at Trend Watching.com predict the growing manifestation of Frictionless Sharing this year. Brands like Spotify and The Guardian already benefit from its success, allowing consumers to passively share what they are listening to and reading (via automatically sharing on your Facebook profile). This is said to be taking over from the influence and power of the ‘Like’ button, giving consumers the developing concept of an automatically curated social web.
The prediction for 2012 is for brands to embrace social sharing – pandering to the consumer desire to use content and experience as their wallpaper of daily life and broadcasting it to their network of contacts. Brands know that leveraging this power will be increasing important as the year goes on. We’ll have to stayed tuned to find out if it does.
Measuring a blog’s success
These days, most businesses have a blog, and those that don’t – well, they are likely to be considering it. It’s a vital tool to help promote both a business and that business’s expertise in its industry. A blog allows for demonstration of thought leadership and the chance to actively engage with key stakeholders.
While all of this is true, a blog is pretty much useless if its performance is not being measured. Writing a blog a week may well be bringing in the viewers, but if you aren’t measuring, quite simply, you don’t know. So what are the best methods for measuring a blog’s success? Here are our tips:
Measure Visitors
It sounds obvious, but a blog is only as good as the amount of people reading it, so you need to be measuring. It is important to monitor the different posts to see where improvement is needed and which have been the most successful. If the most viewed blog posts all follow the same themes, this is a formula worth sticking to. Perhaps a video garnered the most attention, so incorporate that into posts going forward.
Measure Feedback
A blog doesn’t have to (and most likely won’t) result in a sale, but it can and should result in conversation. The whole idea of a blog is to provide a platform where your business can engage with existing or potential customers, industry bodies or the media. The more comments, feedback and questions a post receives, the more it shows the blog is spreading. Therefore, so is your business. Ask questions in your blog, open the conversation up for discussion. Just be sure to monitor the feedback and reply to any comments.
Measure Subscribers/Followers
Admittedly, it is hard to gain subscribers, but this is a great measure of success for a blog. The more followers, the more people who trust what you have to say and are, more than likely, spreading the word to others. Measuring how many people follow your blog provides a solid indicator of the quality of your blog and the impact it’s having.
While this is just a brief overview, it should help to understand the benefits of a blog and how those benefits can be exploited for maximum effect. The more information you have on how, when, why and what on your blog is being viewed, the better you can make it in the future and the more positive impact it will have on your business.
One to Watch for 2012: The Social TV Convergence
There was a time, a long long time ago before the internet, The X Factor and Pringles existed, when the phase ‘water-cooler moment’ was coined. This was a moment of community and shared experience, where the tele-visual event of last night was watched by the majority so they could be involved in the conversation. Then, as time passed, the number of channels grew and digital recorders such as Sky Plus and online catch-up sites like 4oD and iPlayer evolved, and the relevance of the event diminished to a point where advertisers withdrew and ratings dropped.
Now, however, an online revolution is changing all that, it’s no longer the water cooler but the social media moment, and it happens live, as the programme is broadcast. Suddenly a two screen revolution is under-way as internet access and multi-platform applications such as Twitter and Facebook are used in unison with the television to analyse, discuss and ridicule the exploits of soap characters, reality ‘stars’ and world events. No longer does it take any great effort to access the social media platforms for the average viewer, of a certain demographic, has mobile phones, tablets and laptops at their sides while they watch TV. There are even services like Zeebox springing up that embrace this trend and give users a one stop social media stop.
This is a sign of the future where all forms of media channel (YouTube, ITVPlayer and Sky TV) are viewed within a web environment that is not confined to the window of that company. So what does this mean? Well, for the consumer it means more feedback which could lead to better programming but also more power to those who air their views. For the businesses involved, the broadcasters lose control over image but have more metrics by which to show value to advertisers and these advertisers will no doubt be the target of the social media platforms collecting opinions.
Google+ for Business: Exploring the Digital PR opportunities
Google+ now offers a social networking service for brands prompting thousands of businesses to set up profiles. However, to optimise brand exposure, businesses need to understand what differentiates Google+ from its competitors and tap into its full potential.
Although it looks quite similar to Facebook, there are some features which really set Google+ apart. One of the greatest advantages of the new social networking service is its integration with Google Search. Google Search provides brands with exposure to a search base allowing access to reportedly 50% of global websites. Furthermore Google+ enables brands to streamline social media content easily across multiple platforms including Android, Google Chrome and YouTube. This could offer exciting opportunities to businesses to improve audience engagement and explore innovative ways to create and distribute marketing content.
To make its service more appealing to brands, Google+ launched its Direct Connect feature, which makes it simple for users to find and follow brands on Google+ by just typing a “+” sign in front of the name of the brand on Google Search. Another step towards strengthening the integration with Google’s search engine is the brand verification procedure at the initial registration stage. As Google+ permits the registration of multiple users with one brand name, it allows organisations to appear at the top of the search results by verifying their brand identity and linking their profiles to the company website.
As Google+ is looking to further integrate with the rest of Google’s products, the appearance of the website and its features are going to change. At the CrushIQ conference this week, Google’s spokespeople announced that they were planning to integrate Google+ with AdWords and enable multiple administrators to handle the brand pages on the website.
A further integration with products like Google Shopping and Places could open exciting opportunities for brands and advertisers to deliver micro targeted campaigns based on users’ interests, location and shopping habits. This has huge potential for brands. Furthermore they will be able to tap into Google+ features such as Circles and Hangouts to segment their Google+ followers and create targeted campaigns for engagement.
However, as social networking websites emerge almost on daily basis, a question is beckoning of how many social media profiles users can tolerate? With 40 million users worldwide Google+ is still far behind Facebook and Twitter in terms of popularity among brands and consumers.
To expand its reach, Google+ have to differentiate itself from its competitors and get the most of its integration with Google’s products to create an innovative, intelligent and pervasive social media product.
