Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Is Facebook Destroying Friendships?

Posted by Julie | May 3rd, 2010

There was an interesting article in Saturday’s NY Times called Anti-Social Networking?which raised the question whether Facebook was actually impeding kids’ ability to form real world friendships.

On the positive side, it was cited that kids tend to keep in touch and communicate more often and with more people through Facebook then they did in previous generations when you’d have to pick up the phone or actually get together in person.

It was also noted as an important means for shy kids to engage socially when they alternative is often no contact at all.

However, on the negative side, communicating through social networks can be more fleeting and superficial than in person (or even on the phone) contact and can’t really replicate the kind of bonds that are formed from spending a whole day shooting the breeze with one good friend.

From my perspective as a parent of a Tween, I found myself agreeing with many of the positive and negative points in the article.

But it also made me wonder whether Facebook was good or bad for adult relationships.

Keep reading »

Category: Social Media, Social Networking

Twipple: Using Twitter to Ripple Human Kindness

Posted by Julie | March 24th, 2010

I recently discovered twipple, a movement  that uses Twitter to spread and encourage random acts of kindness.

Here’s a short video about twipple featuring Cunning Creative Director Floyd Hayes. (This is an independent project from Floyd).

I love this idea!

A quick review of the most recent acts posted on their twitter page includes:

95: Give the gift of hard drive space and offer to back up a friends computer!

94: Call I.T support just to ask how they are. (They are people too…)

93: Call in a radio song request for someone sat near you in the office.

Keep reading »

Category: Social Media

The Wifi Free Wilderness

Posted by Julie | February 22nd, 2010

I had a great time on vacation last week in Vermont.

I think part of what made it so great was that for whole chunks of time each day I was able to completely unplug.

Not just metaphorically, but literally.

My cell phone didn’t work in the house where we were staying and most of my outdoor time (on the slopes, in the woods snowshoeing) I was also blissfully out of range.

I think we’ve forgotten how wired we are all the time…until we’re not.

And it’s amazing. Quiet, peaceful, and the world doesn’t stop turning or go  to pot, because we can’t be reached or can’t immediately respond to every email or text.

My only disappointment was that for the first time in all the years we’ve been going there, the house we were staying at had been wired for wifi access.

Keep reading »

Category: Finding Balance, Inspiration, Social Media

Steal This Chair, Please…The Results.

Posted by Julie | December 16th, 2009

A few weeks ago I wrote Steal this Chair, Please about an experiment by Blu Dot design and their agency Mono to see if people would “steal” chairs left on the streets of New York.

The results of the campaign were summarized yesterday in this interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal.

The purpose of the campaign was to put into practice Blu Dot’s philosophy of having great design reach as many people as possible.

Keep reading »

Category: Innovation, Inspiration, Social Media, Viral Campaigns

Social Media and The Red Balloon Challenge

Posted by Julie | December 15th, 2009

DARPAredHave you seen this? It’s so cool.

DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) tapped into social networking for it’s latest challenge.

The contest awards $40,000 to the first group to name the exact latitude and longitude of ten red balloons.

The ten weather balloons are scattered across the continental US and remain in the air for one full day. Contestants have a week to locate the balloons and provide the answers.

Since no one person can cover that much territory alone, the groups must rely on social media to help solve the mystery.

Keep reading »

Category: Social Media

Is Your Brand Friend-Worthy?

Posted by Julie | November 12th, 2009

As a follow up to my recent post on You Don’t Need a Social Media Strategy which seemed to hit a nerve (thanks for all the comments!) I wanted to delve deeper into the idea of whether your brand is ready to be social.

With all the talk of “friends, followers, and fans” it feels like high school all over again.

It seems like many brands are so focused on obtaining prom queen status, they are missing point.

They’re spending a lot of time obsessing about how to win the popularity vote and get the most followers and friends on Facebook and Twitter etc.

Instead, they need to step back and ask the very simple, but quite fundamental question:

“Does my brand have what it takes to be a good friend?”

If not, asking consumers to become your friend can actually back fire. Most of us already have more relationships than we feel we can handle. Don’t ask us to commit to another one unless you are sure you can deliver some added value.

Figuring this out whether your brand is “friend-worthy” is pretty similar to evaluating friendships in real life.

Here are 5 QuickTips to figure out if your Brand is friend-worthy:

I think they work for evaluating both human and the brand relationships.
Keep reading »

Category: QuickTips, Social Media

Steal this Chair, Please.

Posted by Julie | November 9th, 2009

chairMono (of Minneapolis) have created an unusual campaign for Client Blu Dot design.

They are putting 25 “Real Good Chairs” in key locations in Manhattan and hoping people will steal them.

That’s because each chair contains a GPS tracking device and has it’s own Twitter feed which link to the website.

The pick-ups are being filmed cloak and dagger style by a camera crew hidden in a van.

You can literally follow the journey of these chairs as they make there way through Manhattan and beyond (one, not surprisingly, has already ended up in Park Slope).

It’s gotten some interesting initial press including this piece in Fast Company.

Cool premise. It will be fun to see how it plays out.

That’s my point of view. What’s your twist?

What do you think of this campaign?

Category: Brand Experience, Digital Media, Inspiration, Social Media, Viral Campaigns

You Don’t Need a Social Media Strategy

Posted by Julie | November 6th, 2009

I am speaking this morning at the IABC Social Media Conference.

The topic of my presentation is “Leveraging Social Media to Build Brand”.

Here’s my overall premise (which might get me kicked out of the conference)…

You don’t need a social media strategy.

You need a brand building strategy.

…which you effectively activate using the most appropriate tools available (including in many cases Social Media).

If your goal is X amount of Twitter followers or Y number of followers on Facebook, I believe you are destined to fail.

It’s like stating your goal is to go to an Ivy league school, with no plan whatsoever on how to get good grades, or distinguish yourself in extra-curricular or community service activities.

If you want people to “friend” you then be an interesting, useful, fun, compassionate person.

In other words, be someone that most people want to be friends with.

At Virgin we’ve had a rather rapid learning curve on social media (and we’re still learning).

When I joined Virgin about 3 years ago, most of our brands were just beginning to dabble in this realm.

Now thanks to all the efforts of the crack teams at the various businesses, in the US alone we have 400,000 (and growing daily) friends, fans, and followers on line.

But I wouldn’t say we  have a formal Social Media strategy.

We have smart and creative people at each of the Virgin businesses that are focused on doing what they’ve always done- building great brand experiences and find clever and impactful (and cost efficient) ways to market them.

And they are doing this in many instances by applying Social Media.

And understanding and leveraging what’s so unique and powerful about this medium (e.g. immediacy and 2 way dialogues, etc.).

I  think a tunnel vision focus on Social Media is a bit dangerous.

I believe instead should focus on brand building and then leverage Social Media tools to accomplish this in new, exciting, and often measurable ways.

So here’s a brief summary on what I will be covering in my talk:

5 Tips for “What Works” in Social Media

1. CREATE BUZZWORTHY EXPERIENCES

I believe the best way to get people buzzing about you on line is to give them an experience that exceeds their expectations and is buzzworthy.

Virgin America is a great example of this.

From the moment you step on the plane you know that something is different.

Keep reading »

Category: Social Media

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