Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Personalised Movie Clips
A new UK startup launches on Monday called BlinkBox. Users take pre-created clips from movies and television shows (the clips can be shortened by the user) and add a personalized message at the beginningThe clips can then be shared via a link, embed or mobile device. There’s a pretty deep catalog of movies and TV shows to view. The company’s business model is to pitch buying or renting the movie or tv show after viewing the clip. They’ve built their own (heavily DRM’d) platform for delivering this content to buyers, although it only works on Windows machines at this time.
Vizeum Digital Newsletter - September
Welcome to the September edition of the Vizeum digital newsletter where it’s all about user social networking; the tools that are at the forefront of digital media, capability and expression. From a Facebook siege to Hip-hop blogging, the digital world is building around us. This edition will illustrate the current trends in our digital environment.
It seems like the Facebook has them running scared.
A recent secret and confidential meeting between industry leaders and innovators was called by Google to help formulate a strategy to counter the popularity of users implementing applications onto their Facebook pages.
In a nutshell, Google will announce a new set of APIs on November 5 that will allow developers to leverage Google’s social graph data and ultimately google are planning to add a social layer on top of the entire suite of Google services.
Google is also considering allowing third parties to join the party at the other end of the platform - meaning other social networks (Bebo, Friendster, Twitter, Digg and thousands of others) to give access to their user data to developers through those same APIs.
However, news on the Facebook front;
Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy a stake in Facebook.
Reports in the Wall Street Journal say Microsoft is in talks with the world's fastest growing social network about a 5% stake, priced between $300m (£148m) and $500m (£248m).
Microsoft already works with Facebook as its exclusive provider of advertising in the US.
In a nutshell, Google will announce a new set of APIs on November 5 that will allow developers to leverage Google’s social graph data and ultimately google are planning to add a social layer on top of the entire suite of Google services.
Google is also considering allowing third parties to join the party at the other end of the platform - meaning other social networks (Bebo, Friendster, Twitter, Digg and thousands of others) to give access to their user data to developers through those same APIs.
However, news on the Facebook front;
Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy a stake in Facebook.
Reports in the Wall Street Journal say Microsoft is in talks with the world's fastest growing social network about a 5% stake, priced between $300m (£148m) and $500m (£248m).
Microsoft already works with Facebook as its exclusive provider of advertising in the US.
“Spark” Marketing empowers advocating Passionistas
Making consumers the voice of your advertising is not so much a tactic to be leveraged as it is an overarching strategy.
"Passionistas: The New Empowered Consumers," conducted by Yahoo and sponsored by MediaVest, discusses brand loyalty and advocacy in this engaged group.
The research found that one way for brands to generate discussion is through a spark, or messaging event, usually in the form of viral or consumer-generated media.
What is being seen is that these same empowered passionistas/consumers, will ingest these sparks, create user-generated content, and accelerate is appeal and audience.
Passionistas also seek information, the research found. For every minute typical Internet users spend on content, passionistas spend six minutes online with content related to their interests. The contingent visits particular Web sites related to their interest three times more often than typical users. Once engaged, passionistas become brand advocates, passing along information about products and services with which they share an affinity. Consequently, advocates also moderate situations where consumers criticise the brand of choice and strive to be the experts in their interest areas to friends and family.
"Passionistas: The New Empowered Consumers," conducted by Yahoo and sponsored by MediaVest, discusses brand loyalty and advocacy in this engaged group.
The research found that one way for brands to generate discussion is through a spark, or messaging event, usually in the form of viral or consumer-generated media.
What is being seen is that these same empowered passionistas/consumers, will ingest these sparks, create user-generated content, and accelerate is appeal and audience.
Passionistas also seek information, the research found. For every minute typical Internet users spend on content, passionistas spend six minutes online with content related to their interests. The contingent visits particular Web sites related to their interest three times more often than typical users. Once engaged, passionistas become brand advocates, passing along information about products and services with which they share an affinity. Consequently, advocates also moderate situations where consumers criticise the brand of choice and strive to be the experts in their interest areas to friends and family.
Mobile network Blyk launched this week in the UK
The network is available exclusively to 16-24 year-olds and is funded by ads, offering chatty youngsters up to 217 free texts and 43 free minutes a month. Users fill in a detailed form on registration, generating an updatable online profile, and are then matched to relevant brands and given the opportunity to interact with them through ads in the form of quizzes, special offers and questions which are free for users to respond to or access.Over 40 brands are already supporting Blyk’s offering, and the service is available for up to 4.5 million youngsters – two thirds of the people of that age group in the UK.
The decision to launch in the UK was taken because mobile-wise it’s a very advanced market. Blyk is running on the Orange network in the UK, which, the founders claim, will allow a control of users experience and offer advertisers real-time feedback into interaction rates for their ads. A tempting prospect, both for advertisers and those young enough to receive the free calls. The mobile market has had a recent resurgence with the much anticipated iPhone. The “revolutionary new mobile phone”, according to Apple is as much a technological advance as it is aesthetic; O2 are the network to run the phone in the uk.
The decision to launch in the UK was taken because mobile-wise it’s a very advanced market. Blyk is running on the Orange network in the UK, which, the founders claim, will allow a control of users experience and offer advertisers real-time feedback into interaction rates for their ads. A tempting prospect, both for advertisers and those young enough to receive the free calls. The mobile market has had a recent resurgence with the much anticipated iPhone. The “revolutionary new mobile phone”, according to Apple is as much a technological advance as it is aesthetic; O2 are the network to run the phone in the uk.
Writing, Sharing And Protecting Your Life’s Story
A new class of start-ups is emerging that is part blogging, part genealogy and part something unique. They are focused on the very long term - getting and then keeping customers for decades, and encouraging friends and especially family members to join, too. Once they’re hooked, they’ve spent so much time building content that they are very unlikely to ever leave.
They are focused on your life’s timeline - you add simple (or elaborate) stories and pictures and place them on a timeline, which can then be embedded into another website via a widget, printed in a book or turned into a DVD. The four start-ups we’re tracking in this space are Our Story , Story Of My Life , dandelife and My Family
Timeline stories can be milestone based or question based. An easy way to get started is by answering some of the hundreds of questions the site presents to you.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy family site to keep everyone up to date on what’s going on, it may be for you, but the family tree approach of Geni and My Heritage is a better way, in my opinion, to keep things organized.
They are focused on your life’s timeline - you add simple (or elaborate) stories and pictures and place them on a timeline, which can then be embedded into another website via a widget, printed in a book or turned into a DVD. The four start-ups we’re tracking in this space are Our Story , Story Of My Life , dandelife and My Family
Timeline stories can be milestone based or question based. An easy way to get started is by answering some of the hundreds of questions the site presents to you.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy family site to keep everyone up to date on what’s going on, it may be for you, but the family tree approach of Geni and My Heritage is a better way, in my opinion, to keep things organized.
Social shopping site Crowdstorm is set to go live next month
Crowdstorm mixes social networking with opinion power in an effort to influence people's purchases. It will contain user product reviews as well aggregated material from sites such as Stuff, Tech and TrustedReviews.The site, currently in private beta, began testing late last year.
Kelkoo founder and CEO of Broadband Genie Philip Wilkinson, is driving the launch. "The site currently hasa few hundred users just testing everything, but now we're almost ready to start a gradual roll-out and get more people involved. And letting it grow by word of mouth will let us know if, as a product, it fulfils a need," he said.
He added that he saw the site becoming a one-stop shop for consumers to get impartial advice and reviews of products.
Wilkinson also revealed plans to roll out a US version of the site later in the year
Kelkoo founder and CEO of Broadband Genie Philip Wilkinson, is driving the launch. "The site currently hasa few hundred users just testing everything, but now we're almost ready to start a gradual roll-out and get more people involved. And letting it grow by word of mouth will let us know if, as a product, it fulfils a need," he said.
He added that he saw the site becoming a one-stop shop for consumers to get impartial advice and reviews of products.
Wilkinson also revealed plans to roll out a US version of the site later in the year
I said a hip, hop, a click…
The global hip-hop community: twenty four million people between the ages of 19-34, from a range of nationalities, ethnic groups and religions.
Their collective spending power is £250 billion annually in the U.S. alone. Naturally, there are lots of online properties dedicated to Hip Hop but now the property is theirs
Users set initial interests (video, comedy, news, etc.) and get a set of pre-made modules. You can also add feed URLs directly, create multiple tabs, etc. All standard stuff, even if Global Grind has slightly edgier design than the others.
A lot of the pre-made content is directly related to Hip Hop, though, such as one that shows the most recent “beefs” or disagreements between rap artists
Whether it will provide an adequate forum of expression for the bustling rap scene, only time will tell.
However, niche blogs are looking like the tools to increase the scope of digital inclusiveness
Their collective spending power is £250 billion annually in the U.S. alone. Naturally, there are lots of online properties dedicated to Hip Hop but now the property is theirs
Users set initial interests (video, comedy, news, etc.) and get a set of pre-made modules. You can also add feed URLs directly, create multiple tabs, etc. All standard stuff, even if Global Grind has slightly edgier design than the others.
A lot of the pre-made content is directly related to Hip Hop, though, such as one that shows the most recent “beefs” or disagreements between rap artists
Whether it will provide an adequate forum of expression for the bustling rap scene, only time will tell.
However, niche blogs are looking like the tools to increase the scope of digital inclusiveness
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