Home � � Mashable: Latest 27 News Updates - including “What’s the Value in a Brand Name?”

Mashable: Latest 27 News Updates - including “What’s the Value in a Brand Name?”

Posted by Ashim Adhikari on 5:07 AM // 0 comments

Mashable: Latest 27 News Updates - including “What’s the Value in a Brand Name?”

What’s the Value in a Brand Name?
Web Shames Magazine for Plagiarizing Blogger’s Article
A Foursquare For Beer Lovers
Steve Ballmer Sells $1.3 Billion Worth of Microsoft Shares
Jimmy Kimmel Calls for National UnFriend Day
“U.S. News & World Report” Goes Digital-Only
An Inside “Look” at Showtime’s New Voyeuristic Series
Fashion Line Gets an Interactive Twist with Microsoft Tags
WordPress Adds Feature for Embedding Tweets
It’s Alive: Xmarks Back From the Brink
Kina Grannis Curates: Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week
Why Location Apps of the Future Will Do Much More Than Checkins
The Evolution of Mobile [COMIC]
How News Organizations Are Generating Revenue From Social Media
Google Android Turns 3
Social Media Weddings: 4 Tips From the Pros
Checking In to Gap on Facebook Could Get You Free Jeans
iTunes Ping: Millions of Users… Only 2,000 Artists?
10 Reasons Every TV Exec Needs to Start Tweeting
Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters
Bank of America and Citigroup Consider Ditching BlackBerry for iPhone
Apple Announces Mac Pro Server, Kills Xserve
BBC iPlayer App Arrives for BlackBerry
Ted Baker London to Unveil Twitter-Operated Styling Studio
5 Must-Follow Non-Profits Making a Difference With Social Media [Mashable Awards]
HOW TO: Calculate the ROI of Your Social Media Campaign
This Morning’s Top 3 Stories in Tech and Mobile
Dell to Offer Its Employees Venue Pros Instead of BlackBerrys

What’s the Value in a Brand Name?

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 11:38 PM PDT

Companies invest a lot of resources, including time, talent and capital, in an effort to procure a positive status in the minds of potential customers. But how much value do companies really derive from cultivating brand names?

According to Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business, a brand’s value is simply about the extent to which it can sell its goods and services at a premium price.

Damodaran presented on valuating brands at Friday’s L2 Innovation Forum. He noted that many marketers mistakenly attribute product quality, styling, service and reliability to a brand name’s value, when all brand value ultimately comes down to is pricing power.

“If you as a company tell me that you have a brand name, I’m going to ask you a question: ‘Do you have the power to charge a higher price for the same product?’” Damodaran said, “If your answer is no, I don’t think you have a brand. You may think you do, but I don’t think your brand has any value.”

To prove the value of brand names, Damodaran compared two companies making similar products: Coca-Cola and Cott, makers of RC Cola. “Soda is water with a bunch of sugar and a lot of crap thrown in. You can put whatever you want on the outside of the can, but there is really no difference between a cola and another cola. You may say that Coca-Cola tastes different — that’s what 100 years of playing with your mind does to you,” he stated. The cola business, then, is all about branding, not the product, he stated.

Damodaran valued Coca-Cola’s business at $79.6 billion, while the value of Cott was limited to $15.4 billion. To figure out the pricing premium, he simply subtracted Cott’s value from Coca-Cola’s value, arriving at a $64.2 billion total worth for Coke’s brand alone. That’s about 80% of the company’s value. Damodaran noted that the key number driving the valuation is the companies’ operating margins — Coca-Cola’s margin is 15.57%, while Cott’s is 5.28%. The typical company has an operating margin of 5-7%, so Coca-Cola’s margin is phenomenal. The bottom line: If Coca-Cola suddenly lost its brand name tomorrow, its operating margins would drop to around 5.28%, and it would lose $64.2 billion of value.

Wouldn’t we all love to have brand names as strong as Coke’s? Of course. The problem is getting there. Damodaran provided four insights into the core of branding that every marketer should keep in mind when pursuing a valuable brand name.

1. A Brand Is the Most Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Damodaran argued that brand name value is the “most sustainable competitive advantage known to business.” In Coca-Cola’s case, branding accounts for 80% of its value. Founded in 1886, the company is still going strong, with about the same brand personality.

He cited a study that looked at how long brand names endure. The top five brand names in 1925 were compared to the top five brand names in 2000. Three of the five brands survived the 75-year period. Damodaran asked, “How many competitive advantages do you know of that last 50, 60, 75 years?”

2. Luck and Serendipity Are Just as Important as Advertising

“Advertising can help, but it can’t be everything,” stated Damodaran. “In fact, I would argue that if you look at the value of brand names, the way they make it is a mix of some advertising, a lot of luck, and being in the right place at the right time.”

In an e-mail interview after his presentation, we asked Damodaran to elaborate on this concept that luck and serendipity are just as important as advertising. He responded:

“Take any of the big brand names of recent years: Crocs, Ugg, Under Armour… If you trace back their success, it cannot be because they came in firing on all cylinders. It was word of mouth, helped by networking (in this case among teens) and becoming fads… I am sure that there were other brands that were just as worthy that never made it.”

As the old adage goes, timing is everything.

3. Brand Value is an Illusion

As clearly demonstrated in the Coca-Cola example, branding is an illusion. Damodaran calls this the “Coca-Cola Corollary,” saying that taste doesn’t matter. “Taste is irrelevant here. It is an illusion,” he declares.

For marketers, he suggests, “Preserve the illusion.” When you mess with the illusion, you’re messing with the basis of how your brand is perceived. Damodaran pointed out the 1985 “New Coke” campaign, in which Coca-Cola rolled out a cola with new ingredients, replacing the original formula. This new formula was based on very expensive consumer research, which proved the new formula tasted better.

Although the tests said it was a hit, it turned out to be a marketing horror story. Receiving great backlash, Coca-Cola reintroduced the “original formula” and branded it as “Coca-Cola Classic,” learning that it wasn’t the taste that consumers wanted, it was the intangible emotional connections they felt with the brand.

Also relevant is the “Tiger Woods Corollary.” “If you mix your brand name with another brand name, watch out, especially if it’s a personal brand name,” he said. Do you think Nike foresaw any problems when it associated itself with Tiger Woods? I’m sure the flood of media coverage of his less-than-pious lifestyle was a complete surprise to the marketing reps at Nike.

“If you tie your brand name to celebrity brands, then you’ll essentially ride up with them, ride down with them, and you won’t control the brand name,” Damodaran said.

4. Even Valuable Brand Names Lose Value

If you have a valuable brand name, Damodaran recommends, “Don’t assume that value is going to stay intact forever. There are companies that have dissipated back into remnants… If you have a valuable brand name, hold onto it; preserve the image.”

Continue to nurture your brand’s image, “the illusion” as Damodaran would call it. Sometimes, the image is more valuable than the product itself.

What are your thoughts on the value of a brand name? Add them in the comments below.

See Damodaran’s full presentation from the L2 Innovation Forum below:

Images courtesy of Flickr, mleaks, dominicspics, kaibara, Edyta Materka TheTruthAbout

Reviews: Flickr

More About: advertising, brand, brand management, brand marketing, brand name, brand value, branding, business, coca cola, Coke, famous brands, MARKETING, small business, value

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Web Shames Magazine for Plagiarizing Blogger’s Article

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 10:36 PM PDT

Old media often bemoans the copy-and-paste habits of bloggers and self-professed citizen journalists, alleging that the “re-reporting” they do is more akin to plagiarism than journalism.

Smarting under these kinds of accusations, the blogosphere eagerly took up a story writer Monica Gaudio posted to her blog Wednesday evening in which she described how a for-profit print magazine called Cooks Source published a 5-year-old post she had penned for the blog Gode Cookery. The article was published without Gaudio’s permission.

A friend who had seen the article wrote to Gaudio congratulating her and asking her how she had gotten the article published in the magazine, which has a circulation of about 20,000. “This was news to me, as I hadn’t ever heard of this magazine before,” she said.

According to Gaudio, she contacted the editor of Cooks Source to inquire about the article (which is about the history of apple pie) and how it managed to appear in the magazine. At one point in the exchange, Gaudio said, the editor asked her what she wanted, and Gaudio replied that she wanted an apology to appear both in the magazine and on the magazine’s Facebook Page, as well as a $130 donation (a sum that equates to about $0.10 per word of the piece in question) to be made to the Columbia School of Journalism.

The editor, who said that she has three decades of experience editing for The Voice, Connecticut Woman Magazine and other publications, responded that since everything on the web is considered “public domain,” Gaudio “should be happy we didn’t just ‘lift’ your whole article and put someone else’s name on it,” a common occurrence on college campuses and elsewhere, she notes. She goes on to say that the article “was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than it was originally.” In fact, she says, “We put some time into rewrites, [therefore] you should compensate me!”

As it has with other incidents of private injustice — such as the case of Mary Bale, a.k.a the “Cat Bin Lady” — the web sounded its displeasure loudly, flooding the magazine’s Facebook Page with thousands of derisive comments (apparently, the original Facebook Page was hacked and the magazine has since been forced to relocate) and Twitter with the hashtag #CrooksSource.

But Cooks Source might have more than one blogger and angry Facebook and Twitter users to worry about. Further investigation has revealed that a number of other articles and recipes in Cook Source have been plagiarized from other sources, such as Food Network, Martha Stewart Living and NPR.

What do you think? Is Gaudio’s — and the web’s — reaction justified by the editor of Cooks Source’s response to Gaudio?

Image courtesy of Flickr, squacco

[via PC World]

Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter

More About: blog, blogger, blogosphere, cook's source, copyright, facebook, journalism, magazine, media, public domain, social media, twitter

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A Foursquare For Beer Lovers

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 09:31 PM PDT

This post is part of Mashable's Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Untappd

Quick Pitch: Untappd, a new mobile web application that enables beer drinkers to share beers, beer-drinking establishments and feedback about beers with friends and other beer enthusiasts.

Genius Idea: Untappd is basically Foursquare for beer lovers. Rather than checking in at a location per se, you check in with what type of brew you are enjoying. You can also attach the physical location of your hops-flavored concoction.

Untappd is a mobile web app. It works on iOS, Android, webOS and BlackBerry 6.0 and higher. What we really like about Untappd is that despite being a mobile web app, it could easily pass for a native app.

Graphics, animations, pop-up notifications and navigational structure are all akin to what you see in native apps like Foursquare or Gowalla. The app is also quite responsive and can use your location.

Untappd uses Foursquare’s mapping API for business names, which makes checking into specific locations a snap. You can also push your checkin back out to Foursquare. Like other location-based social sites, you can earn special badges based on when you check in, where you check in and what kind of brew you declare as part of your checkin.

What makes Untappd different from just a “Foursquare with beer badges” concept is that you can comment on what beers your friends are drinking. You can link your Facebook and Twitter accounts to find your Untappd friends, see what they are drinking and then comment or toast that drink. The app also shows you beer recommendations and shows a list of what beers are currently trending.

The website for Untappd lets you comment or toast others’ entries and view your checkins and badges. You can’t check in via the website; instead, Untappd wants you to use the mobile experience.

We really like how Untappd integrates with Foursquare for its checkin process, because it makes it easy for Foursquare fans to adopt. You can also choose to post your beer-flavored checkin to Facebook or Twitter.

We love the user interface. Seriously, this is one of the most well-done mobile web apps we’ve seen. We also appreciate how easy it is to check in, search for beers and even add beers to the database of drinks.

As niche social sites go, Untappd is very well executed and offers a good value-addition to an already popular social network.

There is some real potential for Untappd, especially if bars or breweries want to get involved in any sort of location-based deals promotion. How cool would it be to get a listing of happy hour specials or weekly promotions? We think any brand that paired Untappd with happy hours would have something really special.

If you’re a beer drinker, you should give Untappd, well, a tap! What are some of your favorite location-based mobile apps? Let us know.

Under the Camera’s Watchful Eye

Ali Cobrin

Filming under nontraditional conditions has been quite the experience for Look’s cast and crew — and for Cobrin, it’s actually been easier in some regards. She says there was “no cheating” the way there is while acting in front of a typical camera setup.

“You’ll have a mark or a dot on the [camera] lens,” she explains. “And you’re telling this dot, that you love them. It’s crazy.”

Meanwhile, Cobrin says acting in Look felt similar to acting in theater — except it felt even more real because there was no actual audience involved. While it could be challenging because it wasn’t possible to edit around bad reactions caught on film, she also found it a lot of fun.

“Me and the girl that plays my best friend — we had a couple of scenes in a school, we’re in the school bathroom,” she says. “They put up cameras like surveillance cameras, the mics are all hidden, the crew’s outside the bathroom. Every time they’d cut, we’d be like, ‘Did we hear a cut?’”

On Cyber Safety

Computers

Cobrin doesn’t feel too differently about the amount of surveillance cameras that are out there, though she is somewhat troubled by the dressing room statistic at the beginning of this piece. But she said she’s become more careful with her online accounts — especially because of features like geotagging on Facebook and Twitter.

“I see people linking in to each other and checking in to places that they’re at. Their phones are telling each other where they’re at,” she said. “So it’s like you don’t even have to be very motivated to be able to stalk someone. It’s so simple.”

As a result, Cobrin is now careful about when she makes certain updates to her accounts — if she’s taking pictures of art while walking down a city street, she’ll wait awhile to post the photo to Twitter. This is quite different from the way characters, like Molly and Hannah, on Look behave.

“They’re very average, everyday high school students that are definitely victimized by social networking and the Internet, filming themselves everywhere they go, whatever they do with their friends,” Cobrin says.

Starting a Conversation

The Conversation

Cobrin has never had as many discussions about her other projects as she has about Look. Few people actually ask her about life on the set itself. Instead, they end up asking questions about whether it’s possible for someone to tap into another person’s webcam or if 16-year-old mall security guards really do zoom in on funny things they see.

According to research conducted by the show’s crew: Yes, they do.

“Something ridiculous happens, they’re taking pictures of it, uploading it to YouTube,” Cobrin says. “Or they’re showing it to their friends. It’s out of control.”

Nonetheless, the show never explicitly states whether the watchful eyes of Big Brother (security cameras and the like) and Little Brother (social media sites) are good or bad. But 21-year-old Cobrin, who’s been using sites like MySpace since the fifth grade and Facebook since it first opened up to high schoolers, says it allows viewers and actors alike the opportunity to do some thinking.

“I’ve never as an actress felt like I got the same thing out of a show that the audience will, which is cool. When I watch any work that I’ve done, I feel too close to it to be that observant,” she explains. “But this immediately pulls you out, because to watch it — it’s like subconsciously, you feel like you’re not supposed to be watching it because it’s just really voyeuristic.”

Cobrin can’t fully decide if society’s attitudes toward heavy surveillance and social media will change anytime soon, but she notes that these technologies have only recently become so increasingly widespread.

“Look the movie doesn’t involve so many things like Twitter and Facebook and YouTube,” Cobrin says, pointing out that YouTube didn’t even really exist at the time that the filmmakers were putting the project together.

“It’s hard to comprehend that a movie that is three years old is so dated compared to a show, which is also really exciting about the show because it’s so current.”

Look airs Sunday nights at midnight on Showtime. The first four episodes will marathon this Saturday, November 6, from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Images courtesy of Evan Wexler, Flickr, Pablo Ruiz Muzquiz, Tommy Ga Ken-Wan

Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Internet, Mashable, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube

More About: ali cobrin, Showtime, showtime's look, social media, surveillance video, television, tv, twitter, youtube

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Fashion Line Gets an Interactive Twist with Microsoft Tags

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 02:41 PM PDT

The garment tag has been given a modern, interactive twist, thanks to New York-based fashion designer Rachel Roy. The designer has printed Microsoft Tags, Microsoft’s version of the QR code, on the tags attached to the pieces in her latest capsule collection for Macy’s.

Shoppers can use the Microsoft Tag Reader app (available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile and J2ME phones) to scan the codes to pull up a short video (like this one), in which model Jessica Stam — who collaborated with Roy on the collection — discusses why she likes the piece and offers suggestions for styling it. A different video is attached to each item; there are four videos in all.

Roy, who cites video overlay and mobile commerce as the two trends in fashion and technology she is most excited about, says that she decided to use Microsoft Tag over other barcode products, like QR Codes and Stickybits, because it offers more ease and flexibility than its peers. “You can print them onto anything, even fabric, which is very exciting,” she says. “I [also] like how, unlike other 2D codes that are associated with a permanent URL, Microsoft Tags can be updated and reused with different content. Plus, since the Microsoft Tag works on all major phone platforms, many people are able to read the tag and see the video content,” she adds.

The fashion industry has taken kindly to 2D barcodes as of late. W and several other Conde Nast fashion titles have incorporated Microsoft Tags into their editorial and advertising pages. Allure gave away $725,000 worth of beauty products via 39 embedded Microsoft Tags in its August issue, a campaign that netted 444,579 scans in sum. Most famously, Calvin Klein replaced three of its iconic billboards — two in downtown New York and one on Sunset Boulevard in L.A. — not with another racy montage of scantily clad models, but with a bright red QR code under the words "Get It Uncensored” this summer.

2D barcodes enable marketers to offer functionality beyond that of a typical display ad — whether that’s a print ad in a magazine, a banner ad on a website, or a billboard on a freeway — and to measure the reach of those ads more effectively.

How do you respond to 2D barcodes in advertising? Do you scan them or ignore them?

Reviews: Android

More About: fashion, MARKETING, microsoft tag, microsoft tags, Mobile 2.0, qr code, QR Codes, rachel roy

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WordPress Adds Feature for Embedding Tweets

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 01:42 PM PDT

Months ago, Twitter released a clunky tool called Blackbird Pie for embedding tweets in blog posts. Today WordPress has radically simplified and improved tweet embedding with a new feature, also named Twitter Blackbird Pie.

Beginning today, WordPress.com users simply need to copy a tweet’s URL and paste it on a line by itself to embed it in a blog post.

Pasted URLs are converted into full tweets, which means these embedded tweets look as good as screenshots, but include the link back to the tweet, a link to the source and a retweet option. The new feature will also save users time — letting them avoid the much more manual process of snapping screenshots of tweets.

Twitter’s own Blackbird Pie feature is nice in theory, but not exactly convenient to use; tweets embedded this way also lack the style of the original tweet. In reworking the feature, WordPress keeps the style and rich content of the tweet intact, but eliminates the friction from the process.

WordPress modeled the new feature after a plugin for self-hosted blogs by the same name.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock

Reviews: WordPress, iStockphoto

More About: blackbird pie, blogging, twitter, Wordpress

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It’s Alive: Xmarks Back From the Brink

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 12:37 PM PDT

It looks like cross-browser, bookmark syncing service Xmarks won’t be going out of business after all.

Just over a month after announcing that the service would be closing its doors and shutting down operations come January 2011, the company has announced that it is in the final stages of selling Xmarks to a new owner who is focused on keeping the tool running smoothly.

Xmarks announced the news on its official blog, noting that exact details can’t be revealed just yet, but that the service is alive and “things are on track for a ‘new and improved’ Xmarks.”

The Xmarks blog says that the Xmarks service will evolve into offering free and premium components. Details about what will be included in the premium offering are promised to come at a later date.

A premium offering is actually one of the plans that Xmarks initially rejected when trying to find ways to make its business profitable. It was only after the user outcry exploded following Xmarks’s announcement that the service would end that the company decided to test potential user interest in a premium model of service. The initial goal was to get 100,000 users to “pledge” that they would spend $10 to $20 per year on Xmarks service.

Although Xmarks didn’t meet that goal — only 33,000 or so members pledged support — within 10 days of the pledge, it became clear that it probably wouldn’t have to. Press reports of the service’s closure, the Xmarks Pledge and user anguish on social networks opened the door for new acquisition offers. Xmarks stopped sending e-mails to users about the shutdown and didn’t even bother to promote the pledge. Now with the final buyout almost complete, it looks like users will be able to continue to use the service — although some of the best features will potentially come at a price.

The saga of Xmarks is pretty interesting because it flies in the face of the notion that with enough users, you can find a way to make money. Xmarks has more than 2 million users, but it wasn’t able to monetize without charging directly for services. The service is valuable — the users love it — the data is presumably valuable, but aside from directly charging users, there just wasn’t a way to make the business scale.

Underestimating Value

As a long-time Xmarks user, I’m relieved that I won’t have to come up with some ridiculous duct-taped rsync pseudo-replacement for managing my bookmarks. Xmarks as a product has value, and I think that its value was underestimated and minimized by the Xmarks team.

Looking back, I think that Xmarks and its investors saw the product’s primary value as bookmark syncing. When the product first debuted as the Firefox extension Foxmarks, this was true. However, once Mozilla Weave (the precursor for Firefox Sync) entered beta, that value was greatly diminished (not to mention Google Chrome’s auto-sync ability). Instead, what made Xmarks different — what made it valuable — was its ability to work across browsers.

To be sure, this isn’t a feature that is valuable for every user — most users stick to one primary browser. Incidentally, most users also only use one primary computer, which calls into question the relative value of bookmark syncing period, but I digress. However, for those users that do use multiple browsers, Xmarks is utterly unique in what it offers.

To use myself as an example — I regularly use Safari, Chrome and Firefox on my various Macs. Xmarks is the only way I can keep all the bookmarks in sync without going through a lot of hassle. I also like to have specific browser — and even machine-specific — profiles. For instance, there are bookmarklets that I have on my bookmarks bar that I don’t want to appear in Safari because I have an extension or designated toolbar. There are also some localhost bookmarks that are specific to certain machines and that I choose not to sync.

Admittedly, I’m not the average Internet user, but I’m willing to bet that there are more users who want a way to granularly keep their bookmarks synced across browsers — without having to resort to writing really messy shell scripts and futzing around with rsync — than Xmarks expected. I’m equally sure that some of those users, including myself, are willing to pay for the service.

Whether that user base will be enough to sustain the company under its new owner isn’t clear. At least, however, we’ll get a chance to find out.

Reviews: Chrome, Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet, Safari, Xmarks

More About: bookmark synchronization, bookmarking, browser add on, web services, xmarls

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Kina Grannis Curates: Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 12:31 PM PDT

This week, oh desk-bound dilettantes, we’re tapping yet another YouTube celeb to help us round up a herd of intriguing vids for you, the fidgeting masses lurching toward the weekend. This week’s curator? Kina Grannis, who has chosen the theme: How did they do that?

In case you’re unfamiliar with Grannis (for shame, get thee to YouTube), she launched to Internet fame after winning the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest for her song “Message From Your Heart" a couple of years back (she was making vids for a while, but the contest brought her to the attention of the mainstream). The song aired during the Super Bowl, and she scored a record deal (she later went indie).

Grannis has kept up with her YouTubing, and there are a ton of songs up for your listening pleasure at present.

Check out “Message From Your Heart” below, and then read on for more “OMG?! WTF?!”-esque vids.

Kina Grannis, “Message From Your Heart”

HOLLERADO, “AMERICANARAMA”

Kina Grannis: Greg Jardin (the director) is some kind of genius. We worked together on my “Message From Your Heart” video a few years back, but nothing could’ve prepared me for this new video. There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to even understand how one would go about thinking of an idea like this, let alone planning it, shooting it and making it look amazing… it makes my head hurt. I’m just glad that there are people in the world that have the brains and patience to make these kinds of videos.

Guys Backflip Into Jeans

Erica Swallow: This is an oldie but a goodie, and I just can’t get over it. Kudos to this guy for being awesome. and kudos to Levi’s for the viral video.

Amazing Roger Federer Trickshot on Gillette Ad Shoot

Lauren Indvik: The real mystery is how the dummy managed not to flinch.

Two-Handed Great Sword

Emily Banks: Chop a bucket of water in half? Split copper pipes? Off with the toes of cowboy boots stuffed with steaks? It’s no mystery really: Cold Steel. Maybe the real mystery is how these guys managed to keep such straight faces throughout the whole nine minutes.

David Blaine: How I Held My Breath for 17 Minutes

Christina Warren: Lauren and Adam stole mine — OK, second choice — this is actually a TED Talk from January I think — one of my favorites. David Blaine talks about how he learned to hold his breath for 17 minutes.

World’s Smartest Dog Jesse Performs Amazing Dog Tricks

Amy-Mae Elliott: How Heather manages to teach Jesse such great tricks is beyond me. I can understand how you can train a dog to sit, but getting a canine to comprehend you want him to blow bubbles out of his nose in a bowl of water — just one example from this amazing video — takes some special skills.

Dog Meringue Dancing Champ

Emily Banks: I can hardly get my dogs to sit and stay, let alone dance the meringue. For that matter, I don’t even know how to do this dance.

World Freehand Circle Drawing Champion

Brian Dresher: The math geek in me is a fan of this teacher who draws a freehand circle one meter in diameter in about two seconds. Jump to the one-minute mark to see the “magic.”

Ace of Cakes: Back to the Future Cake

Brenna Ehrlich: I can’t even make cake from the mix…

Reviews: Internet, YouTube

More About: favorite-youtube-videos, music, pop culture, video, youtube

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Why Location Apps of the Future Will Do Much More Than Checkins

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 12:17 PM PDT

Sparkle is new location platform launching today from Location Labs that enables developers to more easily build sophisticated location-based iPhone and Android applications by tapping into Sparkle’s geolocation technology.

Sparkle’s platform for application developers allows for the location and identification of any handset, provides geofencing and messaging technology, offers support to control voice, data and SMS services for handsets, and can even detect mobile phone motion and velocity — a feature that could be used to auto-disable texting while driving, for instance.

The Sparkle platform will allow applications with geofencing technology, such as Neer, to become more readily available for iPhone and Android owners, and more practical in function. Geonotes can be automatically delivered to mobile users when they enter or exit certain areas; SMS messages can be auto-fired to friends when nearing their houses; parents can set up location-based controls for their children; and automatic social networking updates can be configured for certain locales.

MayorMaker and TweetMover are two iPhone applications already using Sparkle, and they serve as excellent proofs of concept. MayorMaker leverages the platform’s geofencing technology in conjunction with Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter APIs for automatic checkins at users’ favorite venues. TweetMover is an iPhone game that automates Twitter updates and rewards status badges as you move about a city.

Location-as-a-service is a growing industry that includes a number of service providers such as SimpleGeo and the Twitter-owned Mixer Labs, which provide developers with plug-and-play tools they can use to build feature-rich, location-aware applications.

Still, technology is playing catchup with these advanced applications of geolocation, a topic Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley addressed in a recent interview. Widespread consumer adoption of these technologies is likely still a few years out, but the Sparkle platform will help serve as a catalyst for developer ingenuity.

Image courtesy of Flickr, emilychang

Reviews: Android, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Sparkle, Twitter

More About: geolocation, location, location labs, sparkle

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The Evolution of Mobile [COMIC]

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 11:45 AM PDT

There’s an old theorem that posits that if you line up an infinite number of monkeys in front of an infinite number of typewriters, at some point, one of them would produce Hamlet.

We’re not so sure the same laws apply to monkeys using iPhones, since that darn auto-correct feature would likely turn “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern” into “Rose, my pants are gold and stern.”

Still, we couldn’t resist playing with the idea of checking in from the wilderness.

This comic was illustrated by Kiersten Essenpreis, a New York-based artist who draws and blogs at YouFail.com.

Are you all thumbs when it comes to virtual keyboards? Let us know how you fare in the comments.

More Comics from Mashable:

- 15 Great Geeky Web Comic Strips [PICS]
- 5 Funny Social Media Web Comics [PICS]
- The Trouble With Check-Ins [COMIC]
- 6 Free Sites for Creating Your Own Comics

More About: art, cartoons, comic, comics, foursquare, funny, humor, iphone, mashable comics, Mobile 2.0, web comics

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How News Organizations Are Generating Revenue From Social Media

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 11:15 AM PDT

Though social media has proved itself an effective tool in helping journalists gather news and connect with their communities, a pervading question among the skeptics still remains: Where’s the money?

As social sites like Twitter and Facebook build their empires and seek to remedy their own financial instability in the hope of turning profits, news organizations are experimenting with ways to monetize their social media presence and leverage the social web to complete an online revenue puzzle.

The revenue is there, but the social web won’t necessarily solve that puzzle. "There’s no silver bullet," Jim Brady, the general manager at TBD.com, said at the Online News Association Conference last week. "There’s just shrapnel, pieces of revenue." Brady, who launched TBD.com this summer, said display ads are certainly not the future in revenue for news and that it will come from multiple revenue streams. News organizations have certainly been experimenting where they can to get revenue in pieces, from mobile applications to launching group buying sites. Here’s a closer look at some of these efforts.

Self-Serve “Real Time Ads”

Much of online advertising consists of static display ads that are sold based on a CPM ad model, a varying price per 1,000 impressions. An advertiser delivers an ad design that then rotates with others on the site. What if small business advertisers could change the message of that ad in real time?

That’s the idea of Minnpost.com’s Real Time Ads, which essentially use customized widgets that pull in messages from an advertiser’s Twitter, Facebook or YouTube accounts. Local businesses can buy the widget space for a specified amount of time, instead of a CPM model, and are able to update the content whenever they’d like, making each message timely and perfect for a daily deal or promotion.

It is especially useful for local business. Even if they don’t have a social profile or an RSS feed to attach to the ad, they can update their ad by e-mailing a new message to their account, said Karl Pearson-Cater, director of operations at Minnpost.com — a non-profit news organization that relies largely on donations.

“Advertisers love real-time ads. The biggest benefit is how easy it is to get set up and how easy it is to maintain,” Pearson-Cater said.

If real-time ads work for Minnpost.com, Pearson-Cater said they can help adapt the platform for other publishers as well. In the past few months, he said they’ve begun to see a significant revenue stream. They now have approximately $15,000 in annual contracts using real-time ads.

At Yahoo! News, Anna Robertson, director of social media and original video, said they’re considering sponsorships around social widgets on pages as well, or another form of sponsored modules. It’s likely that this form of advertising will become more prevalent across news sites.

Revenue Share

At TBD.com, Brady and his team are leveraging a network of blogs to sell distributed ads. When they come to advertisers, they’re able to sell ads across a network of 196 blogs, which they share 35% of the revenue with. It’s a win-win for TBD and its partners that get revenue they may not have gotten otherwise.

Another approach, of course, is being on the receiving end of social partnerships or revenue sharing. YouTube, for example, shares revenue made through AdSense and publishers can have Promoted Videos run on their page. And as of late, YouTube has become even more sophisticated in making money off of copyright infringers, sharing revenue with the original publishers.

In-stream Advertising

On websites, display ads coexist beside content on a page. But more and more content is becoming part of the social news stream. Users are becoming more accustomed to receiving and digesting information in a stream format on Facebook, Twitter and other sites that display updates in real time. Because people often engage the content in the social space and may not even come directly to the site, monetizing social media off-site is just as important, said Mike Orren, president and founder of Pegasus News in Texas.

"The thing that hasn’t been figured out is how to do so without alienating the social media audience that seems generally trained to disdain ’sponsored’ postings," Orren said. But of course, that could change.

It’s also important to set clear user expectations of what’s what. Robertson from Yahoo! News said if done effectively, while protecting "church and state," it can be a good option. She said it’s up to the news organizations to be transparent about what is an ad and what’s content in order to protect journalistic integrity.

Twitter has begun releasing several products to monetize its service, including Promoted Tweets, which are sponsored messages that are featured within a user’s stream. However, news companies have experimented with selling in-stream messages to advertisers and sponsors. The Austin-American Statesman experimented with selling sponsored tweets for $300 per day for two tweets. And according to the paper’s social media editor Robert Quigley, who had to approve the tweets before they went out, followers found them non-intrusive.

In fact, sites like Ad.ly work with advertisers who buy sponsored messages that appear on their participating partners’ Facebook Pages, Twitter accounts and mobile and site widgets. Its partners include a slew of celebrities like Kim Kardashian and publications like TIME.com.

Laura Heck, director of business development at TIME.com, said more publishers are starting to experiment with this format. At TIME.com, Heck said they’ve recently begun to offer advertisers access to its 2.2 million Twitter followers and 165,000+ Facebook fans for sponsored messages. Heck said they’ve put strict rules in place for the type of messages they will feature, frequency, etc., to make sure it doesn’t hinder the user experience.

Selling Traffic and Amplification

The ROI for news companies putting resources to build their social presence has often been a more "engaged" community of readers, a notion that is too often measured by a sheer increase in traffic referrals from social sites or more time spent on site. Many defend social investment by showcasing an increase in traffic, traffic that can then, hypothetically, sell more ads.

Ken Doctor, author of Newsonomics and news industry analyst at Outsell, said social networks have become the fastest growing source of traffic referrals for many news sites. For many, social sites like Facebook and Twitter account for 10% to 15% of their overall referrals, but are number one in growth. The results are even more heavy on social for news startups like CapitalNY, Doctor said, who get 40% or more of their traffic from social. And of course, the quality of these referrals is often better than those readers who come from search. They yield better conversation and are more likely to become regular users of the site, he said.

Though many news organizations have driven traffic organically, The Washington Post recently bought #Election as a "Promoted Trend" on Twitter, which then highlighted its tweet above others using the hashtag in Twitter conversation, likely resulting in a big increase in referrals from visitors who came across the Promoted Trend above all others in the Trends sidebar.

“When we talked with Twitter about the idea, we thought it was a great opportunity to be innovative, go to readers and highlight our content front and center with Twitter's vast and engaged audience,” said Katharine Zaleski, executive producer and head of digital news products. “The idea wasn't just to sponsor The Post, but rather, we chose a broad hashtag, probably the broadest for elections, to be able to aggregate the best election tweets from multiple sources and not just us.”

But perhaps more importantly, social amplification has become part of the sell. On top of the site metrics and reach, advertisers want to now know how the content will be amplified off the site with social media. Such is the case with content sponsorships. If an advertiser has its name on a piece of content that they sponsored, they also want to know how many times it was retweeted, shared on Facebook, dugg on Digg, etc. For example, TIME worked with an advertiser on a "Stay Connected" package, which included leveraging social features on TIME.com and its social networks.

Making Ads More Social

Advertisers have begun trying to make ads more social by adding a Facebook "Like" button within the frame or a stream of tweets that make the ad something that readers can interact with. It’s a light-weight way to get users to engage with and even sometimes share advertisements with their social networks while helping advertisers increase their one-to-one relationship with readers by growing their own social following, said Heck from TIME.com.

"Ads are increasingly becoming more social as we’re giving users the ability to engage with and share the ad content," Heck said.

The idea of course is that users are far more responsive to content recommended by their friends or personal connections rather than content from a branded account or page. At TIME.com, Heck said they’re working on identifying ways to include advertiser branding within shared content. But the details of that formula have yet to be worked out.

Leveraging Social Site Real Estate

Though display ads may not be the future, they can be simple to integrate on social sites. News organizations like TIME and more recently the Silicon Alley Insider have sold their Twitter backgrounds as a social display ad.

Similar to readers landing on TIME.com and being exposed to display ads on the site, Twitter users landing on @TIME on Twitter were also exposed to a display ad in the background. Thinking creatively and putting effort to sell those spaces can make them more valuable by adding another spot for display inventory.

What’s Next? Personalized Social Ads

The start and glimmer of what’s possible with personalized and more socially targeted ads has been the result of news organizations like The New York Times and others selling advertising that specifically targets readers who came to the site through Facebook or Twitter. Twitter itself has targeted its Promoted Tweets in the stream based on relevancy, though it is sometimes tied to a Promoted Trend.

News organizations could take advantage of building structured data to better target their advertisements to readers, and perhaps even making advertisements more useful. Of course, this already takes place at a lot of organizations. At Pegasus News, Orren said its entire business model centers on using structured data to customize display ads with all of its content being tagged using a hierarchical taxonomy of more than 3,000 local topics and geography. But, he said, the company hasn’t yet figured out how to take that offsite or to open the flow of data between its sites and the social web, while at the same time respecting privacy.

Doctor said he sees social media optimization as a driver of audience and engagement, and that engagement getting monetized through targeting, rather than blasting social marketing pushes. Being able to get more sophisticated in targeting individuals and specific communities will make monetization efforts easier.

Social media, which effectively has infiltrated all corners of the web, has great potential in not only bringing in revenue but also making ads more useful to readers while also satisfying the needs of advertisers aiming to effectively reach the public. The social web can change the way we think about ads, by making them social and personalized to create utility for the user.

Robertson, from Yahoo! News, said we’re just at the beginning of this space. Yahoo acquired Citizen Sports close to a year ago and it’s done a good job of bringing in revenue attached to social media streams. Yahoo is working to scale some of the concepts to news, Robertson said.

"This is still a fairly new space with a lot of opportunity for news organizations and brands to experiment and innovate," she said.

More Social Media Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Most Engaged Brands in Social Media
- 5 Winning Social Media Campaigns to Learn From
- HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your Business Facebook Page
- 5 Huge Trends in Social Media Right Now
- A Field Guide to Using Facebook Places

Reviews: Connected, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, news

More About: advertising, facebook, future of journalism, in-stream ads, minnpost, News, personalized ads, real time ads, Search, SMO, social media, tbd, twitter, washington post, yahoo news

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Google Android Turns 3

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 10:28 AM PDT

Today marks exactly three years since Google and a slew of hardware and carrier partners officially announced the Android mobile operating system.

It was almost a year after that before the first major Android handset was released – the G1 on T-Mobile – and not until late 2009 that the Motorola Droid, complete with an aggressive ad campaign, catapulted the platform into the mainstream consciousness.

Today, a wide variety of manufacturers are producing Android phones, and they're sold on all major carriers in the U.S. In fact, in aggregate they're now outselling those running on Apple's iOS, with recent numbers putting Google's share of the mobile operating system market at nearly 20%.

With variants of the Android operating system now being extended to other platforms like tablets, Internet-connected televisions and even automobiles, we can only see it getting more pervasive in the years ahead.

Three years ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, "Our vision is that the powerful platform we're unveiling will power thousands of different phone models." Three years later, it appears his company is very much on the way to doing so.

Reviews: Android, Google

More About: android, Google, Google Android

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Social Media Weddings: 4 Tips From the Pros

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 10:18 AM PDT

The Wedding Tech Series is supported by Blue Nile's “Ring It. Sing It. Contest.” One lucky couple will win a perfect proposal in New York City. Enter by November 16 at Facebook.com/BlueNile.

wedding Your wedding planning strategy — as with most things — can either be helped or hindered by your use of social media.

“While there are great reasons for using social media to plan your wedding (convenient! fun! easy!), since social media is so often used for marketing, it can be difficult to find the line between using the tools to effectively organize your wedding and treating your wedding like another Twitter hashtag publicity campaign,” explains Ariel Stallings, the author of popular wedding blog Offbeat Bride.

In other words, it might be best to discard any plans to incorporate your wedding’s Twitter hashtag into the ceremony. There are, however, many ways that social media can be a boon to brides- and grooms-to-be during the planning process. We spoke with professional wedding experts to see how they use social networks to get their jobs done (tastefully).

1. Get in Touch With Vendors

As you plan your wedding, you’ll likely hire a team of vendors. Creating the right ream is important, and social media makes it easy to see vendors’ work and get recommendations from wedding veterans. For one thing, most vendors keep their social media channels more up to date than their websites or brochures.

“Facebook business pages are a great way to see the most current work or projects of a vendor,” says Jolyn Saramaga, a wedding planner at Nuance Occasions in Alberta. “After all, websites are often updated a couple times a year, blogs may be updated a couple times a year, whereas Facebook Pages and Twitter feeds can show what a vendor is working on that day.”

Stallings says that she sees a similar trend with photographers. “Many wedding photographers are slowly abandoning their more static portfolio sites and opting to use their blogs and Twitter feeds as their primary marketing,” she says. “This makes it easier for couples get a much more immediate sense of the photographer’s most current work.” Stallings recently launched a vendor listing section on her blog that incorporates vendors’ Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and blog feeds.

In addition to providing the latest glimpse into the work of potential vendors, there are also online opportunities to get the scoop from the brides and grooms who have used a particular vendor in the past. Visit sites like WeddingWire and bridalhood to read reviews on your local vendors before you decide to hire them.

2. Communicate With Guests Before the Wedding

Tara Buchanan, an event planner at Ebe Events and Entertainment who has helped plan hundreds of weddings, says that she doesn’t necessarily see many brides sending out Facebook invites for their weddings. But she does, however, think social media can have a classy place in your pre-wedding communication with your guests.

“A lot of people make either a Facebook Page or a wedding site where they put all the details of the wedding,” she says.

Keeping the lodging and travel information, registry information and information about the wedding party in one online place can help guests make their plans for your big day. If you use a Facebook Page or another wedding website that has a message board, it can also help them coordinate with each other.

Some popular free tools for creating a wedding web page include The Knot’s wedding websites and WeddingChannel.com. Buchanan suggests that one way to announce your wedding page might be to include it on your save the date notices.

Twitter can also be useful for cultivating a community of guests before your big day. Stephanie Hunt, who provides B2B tech consulting for wedding professionals, says she could see a bride creating a hashtag in order to converse with guests as plans unfold.

3. Get Inspired

“I’ve used [social media] to follow my mentors and see the weddings they are working on,” Saramaga says. “…For brides, it’s a great way to follow your wedding inspiration makers — see their ideas and adapt it to your own creation.”

Do you admire the work of a wedding planner you could never afford? Is there a vendor who works in another city who you wish worked in yours? Follow him or her on Twitter to get ideas that you can incorporate into your own wedding.

Wedding blogs are another great place for inspiration (most of their authors are on Facebook and Twitter, too). Some of our favorites include Once Wed, Always a Blogsmaid and Junebug Weddings.

4. Share Your Memories

Social media can be a great way for you and your guests to share photos, videos and memories. Here are four ways you might go about coordinating the effort:

Ask your photographer to share photographs on Facebook: If the photographer takes a minute to tag you and your betrothed in a Facebook album, you can easily share the photos with your guests.
Ask your guests to give their photos a particular tag on Flickr: That way all guests will be able to see each others’ photos — even if they’re not Facebook friends.
Live stream your wedding: Guests who can’t travel will still be able to witness your big day if you use a service like Live Vows or webcastmywedding.net.
If you can’t wait to upload your photos, don’t: The Eye-Fi card makes it possible to upload your photos as you take them. Provided that your venue has wireless, you can update a Flickr account, Facebook, or any of 23 other sharing sites as you click.

Series Supported by Blue Nile

The Wedding Tech Series is supported by Blue Nile's “Ring It. Sing It. Contest.” Enter to win a New York Dream Proposal and diamond engagement ring (to propose to her in New York on November 29 live at the NASDAQ MarketSite), or a personal song performed by Green River Ordinance. Visit Blue Nile or download the Blue Nile iPhone app to find the perfect jewelry gift this holiday season.

More Social Media Resources from Mashable:

- 12 Tech Toys for a Geeked-Out Wedding
- Top 10 Wedding Dance Videos on YouTube
- HOW TO: Plan a DIY Wedding Using Social Media
- 30+ Online Tools For The Perfect Wedding
- HOW TO: Plan a Wedding on the Web

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hidesy

Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, iStockphoto

More About: Blogsmaid, eye-fi, Junebug, marriage, Offbeat Bride, social media, wedding, wedding planning, Wedding Tech Series, Wedding Website

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Checking In to Gap on Facebook Could Get You Free Jeans

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 09:24 AM PDT

Gap plans to give away 10,000 pairs of jeans to those who check in to any men’s and women’s Gap U.S. retail location using Facebook’s new Deals feature, which allows users to earn special discounts when checking in to different businesses via Facebook Places on their smartphones.

After checking in via Facebook Places (which can be done through Facebook’s official iPhone app [iTunes link] or by visiting touch.facebook.com if you’re on another web-enabled device), participants will need to show their checkin to a Gap employee for a chance at a free pair.

This is just one of a number of mobile and social media-based campaigns Gap has launched in recent months to get shoppers into its stores. In August, Gap partnered with daily deals site Groupon to offer $50 worth of Gap merchandise for $25, selling 441,000 Groupons in total and smashing previous sales records in the process. Gap also offered 25% discounts to all shoppers who checked in to a retail location via location-based social network Foursquare that same month.

What do you think of the promotion? Do you plan to stop into a Gap store today for a chance at a free pair?

Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare

More About: Facebook Places, fashion, gap, MARKETING, Mobile 2.0

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iTunes Ping: Millions of Users… Only 2,000 Artists?

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 09:06 AM PDT

Two months out of the gate and Ping is “growing fast” — according to an e-mail sent out by the service to users this week. Still, despite its “millions of users,” the music-flavored social network apparently only has 2,000 artists.

Back when Ping launched, we wrote that there seemed to be no directives on the site as to how bands could get in on the action. At that time, only big acts like the ever-popular Lady Gaga were featured on the site, which was launched as a way for music fans to interact with both other fans and artists. Indie bands were noticeably absent, and, in fact, couldn’t even figure out how to get on the site (there were no tangible directions to be seen).

Since then, we spoke with Jeff Price, founder of music distributor TuneCore, who told us a little bit about how the vetting process works when it comes to getting bands on Ping.

Basically, Apple has to go through distributors like TuneCore and CDBaby, who broker the process of getting Apple info on bands and the necessary URL to set up an account. Sound like an arduous process to you? It is. But as we said a few months ago, Apple has a responsibility to make sure that every artist page belongs to the actual artist — or someone representing the artist. Hence the vigorous quality control.

Apple even published a band’s guide to Ping about a month ago to help musicians along with the signup process, but the guide focused more on aesthetics — which doesn’t help much if you’re still waiting on approval.

Frankly, the fact that only around 2,000 artists have since been added to the service makes us question how successful Ping will be in the long-run. Yes, again, it may have millions of users, but who are these users going to interact with (aside from each other)?

Since the launch of the service — and the on-again, off-again integration with Facebook — many have been saying that Ping needs to hook up with Mark Zuckerberg’s baby in order to survive. That would certainly help when it comes to accruing fans, but when it comes to bands, Facebook integration isn’t going to do much.

Back when Ping launched, people heralded it as a “MySpace Killer.” While MySpace may, in fact, be in the process of killing itself, it’s not because Ping has dominated it. Still, if MySpace does throw in the proverbial towel, there will certainly be a hole to fill when it comes to artists showcasing their work. We’ll see if Apple is able to streamline and expedite its process so that this could be possible.

Reviews: Facebook, MySpace, Ping

More About: apple, itunes, music, myspace, Ping, social media

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10 Reasons Every TV Exec Needs to Start Tweeting

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 09:02 AM PDT

Craig Engler is the general manager and senior vice president of Syfy Digital. He'd love to talk you about TV or Syfy, answer your questions and hear about what you had for lunch. You can look him up on Twitter at @syfy.

I tried using Twitter three separate times before I figured out how truly useful it can be. The first time was early on, when no one I knew was using it, and I had no idea what I was doing. I tried searching for friends and followed a few random feeds and thought, “Meh, what's this possibly good for?”

My second jump into Twitter was after the initial big wave of hype hit. I decided I should rejoin to figure out what I missed the first time. This time around, I found that Twitter was flooded with people randomly talking about their day (and their meals — people really do love to talk about food on Twitter) and again I thought, this is definitely not for me.

The last time, and the one that clinched the deal for me, was almost by accident. I wanted to see what people were saying about the finale of our hit series, Battlestar Galactica. I was looking at Facebook and on our own Syfy message boards, and the feedback wasn't keeping up with the pace of the show. I wanted to see instant, real-time reactions. So I wandered over to Twitter.

That was in March of 2009, and I've been an avid, daily user of Twitter ever since. I definitely got what I was looking for, but also learned much more. Yes, people were talking about the show, but many of them had misconceptions about it. They thought it was canceled (actually, the creators chose to end it). They thought we'd never air more Battlestar again, but we already had a two-hour movie in the works.

I jumped into the fray to clear things up and to thank our viewers personally for spending years watching the show. I ended up having great conversations with fans, answering more and more questions about all of our shows, and I decided to stay this time.

I've also gotten a few other TV execs to use Twitter, and I think anyone in the business who has an interest should definitely consider joining. If you’re a TV exec, here are 10 reasons why you should join the Twitterverse.

1. Because It Empowers Viewers

One thing that's true about TV (but almost no one thinks is true) is that viewers, advertisers and TV executives all want the same thing: good shows that a lot of people watch and last for years. Once viewers understand that you’re on their side, and you get a chance to explain why things work the way they do, it empowers viewers to help you be successful.

For instance, using Twitter, I can quickly and simply explain that creating a letter-writing campaign to save a show is probably not going to be effective if you're only writing to us. After all, we're already making the show and we already want it to succeed. It's not us you need to convince; it's other viewers. Once people understand that, they usually redirect their efforts in a way that actually helps them get what they want — more of their favorite show.

2. Because Perceptions Can Kill You

In the absence of information, people tend to come up with their own ideas of why things happen or don't happen, especially when it comes to TV. For reasons I never quite understand, this usually turns into conspiracy theories about why shows get canceled. (The most perplexing theory to me is that we never liked a particular show and wanted it to fail, which seems odd because, if that were the case, we would never had made it in the first place.)

A great example here is when we recently moved some shows from Friday to Tuesday nights because Tuesday has become our best performing night in the history of the network. Invariably, some viewers decided we made the move to "burn off" the series. When we explained this was a move of confidence in the shows, it changed the perception from a show we were "killing" to a show we believed in.

3. Because You Can Instantly Clear Up Rumors (Good and Bad Ones)

When perception goes astray, it can turn into rumor — which the Internet is great at creating. Two rumors I debunk on a regular basis are: We canceled shows X, Y and Z, and; We're picking up shows X, Y or Z that someone else canceled.

My favorite rumors to debunk are the ones where people think we canceled a show, when in reality that show ran on another network. (For the record, we did not cancel Firefly. It aired on Fox.)

4. Because You Can Watch Live With Thousands of People

Until Twitter came along, it wasn't possible to get live simultaneous feedback from thousands of people around the country just by visiting a website. Now it's commonplace — and thoroughly fascinating. I can tell if that joke we all worried about in the new episode was funny or not, if a complicated storyline made sense, etc. It's an endless stream of feedback that you can dip in and out of.

5. Because It Gives You Instant Feedback on Everything Else Too

Whether I ask a question, or make a comment, or post a link to a promo, I get instant feedback. And by “instant,” I mean within a few seconds. Is that new promo working the way we thought it would? What do viewers think of our iPhone app? Did everyone follow our latest timeslot change? You can sample an enthusiastic audience any time of day.

6. Because It Puts a Face on Your Decisions

It's one thing to say, "Let's move the show from Friday to Tuesday." It's another to hear, "Watching your show on Friday nights is a family ritual at our house. Please don't take that away." Sometimes seeing the faces and hearing the voices of people who are affected by your decisions makes you rethink what you're doing or how you're doing it.

7. Because It Shows Viewers We Care about TV

I get thanked all the time by viewers who are shocked (SHOCKED!) that people who work at the network actually like the same things about TV that everyone else does. It's easy for people to lose sight of the fact that most people who work in the TV industry do it because they love TV. We are not, as the Internet consensus seems to think, cynical MBAs out to make a buck.

8. Because People Want to Know Someone Is Listening

Sometimes people just want to know someone over here is paying attention to what they're saying. On Twitter, when I see someone say something really negative about our network or one of our shows, I usually write to them. Nine out of ten times they write back saying how much they love our network and that they were just venting because they thought no one was listening. We are listening.

9. Because Viewers Know More About Watching TV Than TV Executives

I'm not talking about the TV business. I'm talking about actually sitting down and watching TV. I learn things every day from our millions of viewers about how and why they watch TV, and what they are (and aren't) looking forward to. It's particularly fascinating and useful to hear about how people use social media while they're watching TV (like, ahem, tweeting from their laptops), or why they watch their favorite shows on other platforms besides television.

10. Because It's Fun

The thing about TV is that it's entertainment, and it's supposed to be fun. I have a lot of fun talking about TV with my followers, and not in the "I goofed off on Twitter all day" kind of way. I mean in the "I shared the awesome things I get to work on all day with 50,000 of my closest followers" way, and the "I just talked to 50,000 people about why they liked (or didn’t like) last night's new episode" kind of way.

What other benefits does Twitter offer TV execs? And for the TV lovers out there: Do you use Twitter to communicate about your favorite shows? Leave your comments below.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- What to Consider When Building an In-House Social Media Team
- 5 Tips for Marketing Online to an International Audience
- 8 Ways to Reduce Your Site's Bounce Rate
- 4 Ways to Improve Ad Performance on Facebook
- 9 iPhone Apps for Managing the Recruiting Process

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, Ailime, ginosphotos, and Flickr, D.Reichardt

Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Internet, Twitter, iPhone, iStockphoto

More About: executive, executives, List, Lists, social media, television, tv, TV executive, twitter

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Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 09:00 AM PDT

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Bank of America and Citigroup Consider Ditching BlackBerry for iPhone

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 08:51 AM PDT

This is turning into quite a bleak Friday for RIM. After Dell’s announcement that it would offer its employees Venue Pros instead of BlackBerrys, Bloomberg reports that Bank of America and Citigroup are considering making a similar switch from BlackBerry to iPhone.

This is more proof that RIM’s BlackBerry is losing its once tight grip on the corporate mobile market, as more and more corporate customers are getting used to new smartphone platforms such as iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7.

Citing three people familiar with the plans of Citigroup and Bank of America, Bloomberg claims the companies are testing software that should make the iPhone secure enough for internal messaging. One source says the banks are also testing Android smartphones, and that the goal of this move is not to replace the BlackBerry altogether, but to give employees a bigger choice of devices they can use.

Bank of America, Citigroup, and Apple declined to comment, while RIM senior vice president Jeff McDowell said RIM’s number of corporate subscribers is on the rise. "The opportunities for both corporate-issued and employee-purchased smartphones are growing. RIM provides the best overall platform for chief information officers to address both scenarios without compromising security or manageability," McDowell told Bloomberg in an e-mail.

Speaking at a recent Apple earnings call, Steve Jobs said Apple has made major inroads in the corporate world with both the iPhone and the iPad. He also took a jab at RIM, claiming "it's going to be a challenge for them to create a competitive marketplace."

Disclosure: BlackBerry is a sponsor of Mashable.

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Apple Announces Mac Pro Server, Kills Xserve

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 08:39 AM PDT

Apple made a number of announcements Friday pertaining to its server market strategy, the most significant of which is that Xserve, its rack-mountable server solution, will be phased out beginning January 31, 2011.

At the same time, a new system was introduced to the Apple Store, called the Mac Pro Server. The server comes with an OS X Server unlimited license and is powered by an Intel 2.8GHz Quad-Core processor with 8GB of DDR3 memory. While the Mac Pro Server is on the lower end of the Mac Pro spectrum, it comes with substantially more horsepower than the Mac Mini Server.

Nevertheless, given its form factor, it’s likely that the Mac Mini Server will become the primary focus of Apple’s server strategy. Since the Mac Pro Server is boxed in a tower, it’s not conducive to the rack mounts found in many server environments.

Companies like Macessity stepped in long ago with rack mount trays for the Mac Mini. With Apple walking away from the Xserve [PDF], the question is whether it will begin offering its own rack mount for the Mac Mini Server.

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BBC iPlayer App Arrives for BlackBerry

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 08:34 AM PDT

The BBC had made its iPlayer website accessible to BlackBerry users for quite some time, but now UK BlackBerry users have an official app that they can use to catch up on radio and television broadcasts while on the go.

The BBC has offered official apps for Nokia’s Symbian platform and an iOS-optimized website since 2008. Earlier this year, the BBC also introduced a BlackBerry shortcut app for its mobile website. The iPlayer website is also unofficially supported on Android 2.2 using Flash 10.1.

UK users can download BBC iPlayer for BlackBerry from the BlackBerry App World. The app is free and works on BlackBerry Storm 2, BlackBerry Bold 9700 and BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphones.

The app will work over 3G, but for optimum experience you’ll want to use Wi-Fi. We’re not in the UK so we can’t check to see if the app allows you to download programs for offline consumption — as you can with the Symbian app — but we’re assuming this is a streaming-only application.

BBC journalists are currently striking over pension plan changes, so if you’re looking for news content on your BlackBerry, you might be stuck in reruns for the next 48 hours.

Disclosure: BlackBerry is a sponsor of Mashable.

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Ted Baker London to Unveil Twitter-Operated Styling Studio

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 07:58 AM PDT

At 2 p.m. ET on Friday, Ted Baker London will open the first live, Twitter-operated styling studio.

Over a two-hour period, a rotating selection of seven U.S. fashion bloggers will use a live video stream and Twitter to direct hair stylists, makeup artists, runners and models to create a number of different looks from 450 pieces of Ted Baker’s Autumn/Winter 2010 collection. Spectators can follow the styling session, which takes place at Ted Baker’s headquarters in London, live on takeonted.com and on Twitter by following @ted_baker.

Viewers are also encouraged to tweet in their own styling suggestions with the hashtag #takeonted. The best ideas, the company promises, will have a chance of winning a prize.

We think this is a clever promotion to raise awareness of Ted Baker’s clothing line among fashion bloggers and their readers, and is sure to boost the follower count of Ted Baker’s Twitter account, which currently sports a little less than 600 followers, as well. This marks the first big social media promotion we’ve seen from the company.

What do you think of the campaign? Do you plan to tune in to the live styling session this afternoon?

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5 Must-Follow Non-Profits Making a Difference With Social Media [Mashable Awards]

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 07:41 AM PDT

As part of the ongoing Mashable Awards, we’re taking a closer look at each of the nomination categories. This is “Must-Follow Non-Profit.” Be sure to nominate your favorites and join us for the Gala in Las Vegas! Sponsorships are available. Please contact sponsorships@mashable.com for more information.

non-profit image When it comes to social good, the name of the game is creating or inspiring change, and often with limited resources. That’s why social media is so important for non-profit organizations. By allowing organizations to reach more people with less money, social media has become an integral part of the non-profit toolbox.

Groups are using social media a variety of ways, from raising money to engaging with constituents on personal and meaningful levels. The most important thing social media offers for non-profits, though, is a highly effective channel to spread awareness about their cause. "Having 10 million people is more important than $10 million," Change.org founder and CEO Ben Rattray told Mashable recently. "For advocacy you need to mobilize people, and the web helps you mobilize people like never before."

There are any number of worthy non-profit organizations utilizing social media in new and interesting ways; below are five that caught our eye this year as must-follow groups. Please share in the comments any other non-profits you think deserve a follow and nominate them for a Mashable Award.

1. Brooklyn Museum

More than just a great art museum, the Brooklyn Museum is one of the most social media-savvy organizations on the planet. From a mobile website that lets visitors tag items in the gallery (which, in turn, helps to organize the museum’s vast, 94,000-record online collection) to a Foursquare account that offers tips for things to do in the neighborhood and rewards mayors with special parties and other offers, the Brooklyn Museum is hip to the latest social media trends.

What’s really great about the museum, which can also be found on Tumblr, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, is that the staff is not afraid to innovate and try new things. They’re constantly testing out new social platforms and innovating new ways to use their current social media accounts. They even share the code behind some of their best ideas on GitHub!

2. Sesame Street Workshop

Sesame Street Workshop is the non-profit organization behind the beloved children’s classic television series Sesame Street, among others. And despite being 41 years old, these cats — er, Muppets — really know social media.

You can find your favorite Sesame Street residents on Twitter and Facebook (characters like Elmo, Big Bird and Oscar have their own Pages). Where the Workshop really excels, however, is YouTube. Sesame Street Workshop has made its biggest social media splash on YouTube, with exclusive content that often features celebrity guests and frequent parodies of other digital media memes, such as the Google search stories or the Old Spice Guy, that prove the people behind Sesame Street know their stuff.

3. WildlifeDirect

Founded in 2006 by noted African conservationist Dr. Richard Leakey, WildlifeDirect aims to save endangered animals in Africa. The organization helps local conservation groups around Africa raise funds, awareness and support for their conservation projects.

WildlifeDirect can be found on many of the usual social media networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, but where it really shines is blogging. The organization has set up an active blog network of more than 100 field blogs penned by conservation groups across Africa. The blogs are one of the main drivers of donations to the conservation work that the organization supports, but they also offer a fascinating look into the struggle to save endangered species in some of the most diverse and threatened areas on Earth.

4. Kids Are Heroes

Founded in 2008 by Gabe O'Neill and his then 9-year-old daughter, MaryMargaret, Kids Are Heroes is a non-profit group that has the admirable goal of inspiring children to get involved in the act of giving back. The website offers profiles of more than 100 kids who have at a young age (some as young as 5-years-old!) had a meaningful impact on their communities and the world — whether by training diabetic service dogs, donating books to low-income families, or raising millions of dollars for out-of-work war veterans. The organization’s message is loud and clear: Kids can make a difference.

Along with the inspiring stories, the Kids Are Heroes website allows children to send “shout outs” to one another, and the group maintains active and engaging Twitter and Facebook accounts.

5. Darius Goes West

Darius Weems and the Darius Goes West project is a force to be reckoned with. Afflicted with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) — a genetic degenerative muscular disease that killed his older brother — Darius and 11 of his friends set out six years ago to travel across America with the ultimate goal of getting Darius’ wheelchair customized on MTV's Pimp My Ride. The group filmed that trip and turned it into the much-celebrated documentary film, Darius Goes West.

Six years later, Darius Goes West has become a movement — non-profit vehicle to raise money and awareness for the search for a DMD cure that now seems so tantalizingly close. Darius, who continues to defy the odds, recently turned 21 years old and the Darius Goes West crew continue to come up with innovative ways to spread their message and raise money using social media. From raising money through Facebook widgets to inspiring people to do crazy things in the name of charity, Darius Goes West is a must-follow cause for their innovation and unflappable humor.

What’s Your Take?

Which non-profits should we absolutely follow? Let us know your picks and recommendations in the comments below or nominate them for the Mashable Awards.

The Mashable Awards Gala at Cirque du Soleil Zumanity (Vegas)

In partnership with Cirque du Soleil, The Mashable Awards Gala event will bring together the winners and nominees, the Mashable community, partners, media, the marketing community, consumer electronics and technology brands and attendees from the 2011 International CES Convention to Las Vegas on Thursday, January 6, 2011. Together, we will celebrate the winners and the community of the Mashable Awards at the Cirque du Soleil Zumanity stage in the beautiful New York New York Hotel. The event will include acts and performances from our partner Cirque du Soleil Zumanity. In addition, there will be special guest presenters and appearances.

Date: Thursday, January 6th, 2011 (during International CES Convention week)
Time: 7:00 – 10:00 pm PT
Location: Cirque du Soleil Zumanity, New York New York Hotel, Las Vegas
Agenda: Networking, Open Bars, Acts, Surprises and the Mashable Awards Gala presentations
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From a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil is now a global entertainment organization providing high-quality artistic entertainment. The company has over 5,000 employees, including more than 1,200 artists from close to 50 different countries.

Cirque du Soleil has brought wonder and delight to nearly 100 million spectators in 300 cities on five continents. In 2010 Cirque du Soleil, will present 21 shows simultaneously throughout the world, including seven in Las Vegas.

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HOW TO: Calculate the ROI of Your Social Media Campaign

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 06:45 AM PDT

Jamie Turner is the chief content officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine for BKV Digital and Direct Response. He is also the co-author of "How to Make Money with Social Media" now available at fine bookstores (and a few not-so-fine bookstores) everywhere.

First the bad news: If you're going to calculate the ROI of your social media campaign, you're going to have to know math. That may come as a disappointment to people who thought social media was only about accumulating Twitter followers or monitoring Facebook "Likes," but it's true. The future of social media is about math, metrics and monetization.

The problem is that most companies aren't doing an effective job of measuring the value of their social media campaigns. In fact, a recent survey by Econsultancy found that 47% of the companies it surveyed said they were "not able to measure" their campaigns and that "the jury is still out" on the value gained from their social media investment.

If you're one of the people who isn’t measuring your social media campaigns on an ROI basis, you're setting yourself up for failure. Here are some tips, advice, and a little bit of simple math to get you on the right path to ROI success.

Understand the Value of Your Social Media Campaign

According to the Direct Marketing Association, if you run a direct response campaign and spend $1, you'll typically generate $10 or more in return. They know this because they've been tracking the transactional data from direct mail, paid search, direct response TV and other campaigns for more than 50 years.

But what if you're new to social media or new to the world of direct response metrics and don’t have that data or experience? What should you do then?

Fear not. There's a solution. It involves understanding the 3 categories of social media measurement as well as a simple formula that will help you calculate the ROI of your specific campaign.

The 3 Categories of Social Media Measurement

There are hundreds of different ways to measure social media, which makes it kind of difficult to wrap your mind around. To help with that, social media metrics can be broken down into three different categories.

Quantitative Metrics: These are the metrics that are data-intensive and number-oriented. You can really get overloaded with different metrics here, so the trick is to pick the key metrics that most influence your business and not get bogged down with the rest. Those metrics might include unique visits, page views, followers, demographics, frequency, bounce rate, length of visit or just about any other metric that's specifically data-oriented.
Qualitative Metrics: These are the metrics that have an emotional component to them. For example, if 75% of the people who mention your product online call it "cheap" and only 25% call it "inexpensive," that's a qualitative metric that has an impact on your business. There are several companies that provide in-depth analysis of the qualitative metrics online. Some of these include RapLeaf, Nielsen and Adobe Online Marketing Suite.
ROI Metrics: In the world of social media, all roads should lead to ROI. After all, during business hours, social media isn’t just about being social, is it? We're doing it to make money. And if you track what percentage of people you converted from a prospect to a customer on your e-commerce site, or how many people you converted from a prospect to a client on your B2B website, then you'll be able to measure the success of your social media campaign on an ROI basis.

Break Out Your Thinking Caps for Some Math

The most important formula in social media is your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). In a very basic sense, Customer Lifetime Value is the amount of revenue a customer will bring to your company over the course of their lifetime with your brand.

So, for example, if you're a lawn care company and you know that a typical customer spends $80 per month with you and that the average customer stays with your company for 3 years, then your Customer Lifetime Value would be $80 x 12 months x 3 years = $2,880.

Once you know your CLV, you can decide how much you'd like to invest to acquire a customer. This is called your Allowable Cost Per Sale. Many people use 10% of their CLV as a starting point for their Allowable Cost Per Sale. In the example above, your CLV is $2,880 and 10% of your CLV is $288, so your Allowable Cost Per Sale is that number: $288.

Putting Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to Work

To keep things straightforward, let's assume that the lawn care company relies exclusively on direct mail to acquire new customers. Since a typical response rate for a direct mail piece in the lawn care industry is 0.5%, and since it costs about $1.44 to create and send a direct mail piece, you know that you have to send out 200 direct mail pieces to acquire a new customer. Here’s how the math works out:

Number of pieces sent: 200
Cost for printing and postage: $1.44
Total cost to send 200 pieces: $288
Response rate: 0.5%
Customers acquired: 200 pieces mailed x 0.5% response rate = 1 new customer

See how that works? For every $288 spent, the lawn care company gets 1 new customer.

Let's take it a step further. If you're a large, national lawn care company, you might spend $2.8 million on your annual direct mail campaign. By using the math above, you know that every year, you'll gain about 10,000 new customers from your $2.8 million direct mail campaign. (Remember, you'll also lose thousands of customers each year from ordinary churn, so let's not all go out and start lawn care companies based on the math above.)

Now, let's assume that your CFO (or your CEO or CMO) wants to test the validity of a social media campaign. In order to do the test, you might slice off 10% of your $2.8 million direct mail budget and use that for a social media campaign. If you know that your $2.8 million direct mail campaign generates 10,000 new customers, then you also know that 10% of that (or $280,000) should generate about 1,000 new customers via direct mail.

That's the pivotal number: 1,000 customers. After all, now that you know the math around your direct mail campaign, you’ll understand that your social media campaign has to match that in order to be considered a success.

In other words, you have $288,000 to set up, launch and run a social media campaign that needs to generate 1,000 new customers per year.

What You’ll Need

You'll need a Facebook Page –- no problem. You'll want a Twitter page –- again, no problem. And you may want to create a series of videos for a YouTube channel –- a bit of work, but also not a big problem.

You'll want a mobile application, since prospects and customers are beginning to expect them. And you'll want to develop a monthly e-newsletter with lawn care tips to stay in front of prospects and new customers. (Yes, I consider e-mail marketing a social media tool.)

The most important part of the campaign, however, is a series of landing pages on your website designed to capture prospects and help convert them into paying customers. The landing pages will be designed specifically around the social media campaign, and they'll need to have Google Analytics, Eloqua or Adobe Online Marketing Suite installed so that they can track traffic and conversions.

The key point is that all of your social media programs –- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. –- should drive people to the landing page on your website where you can convert them from tire kickers (prospects) to paying customers.

Looking at the program outlined above, it's easy to see how quickly your $288,000 social media budget can get used up by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, mobile applications, e-newsletters and landing pages on websites. All that said, it's very realistic to assume that a campaign of that magnitude would generate 1,000 new customers each year. Better still, it may generate 1,100 new customers or even 1,200 new customers.

Remember, all you have to do is to generate 1,001 new customers in order to march into your CFO's office and show them that social media can provide a positive return-on-investment.

See? Math isn't that scary after all.

The Bottom Line

We've covered a lot of ground here: the three categories of social media measurement and the single most important formula in social media. But the bottom line is that, as businesspeople, we don't use social media to be social, we use social media to grow our business. And if you use the program outlined above, you'll be able to prove the value of social media on a campaign-specific, ROI basis.

Good luck. And keep me posted on your success stories. I'd love to hear more about how you're using social media to grow your sales and revenue in the comments below.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Optimize Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
- 4 Ways to Improve Ad Performance on Facebook
- What the Future Holds for B2B Social Media Marketing
- 5 Proven Strategies for B2B Social Media Marketing
- What to Consider When Building an In-House Social Media Team

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl, blackred

Reviews: Facebook, Google Analytics, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto

More About: advertising, allowable cost per sale, campaign, clv, customer lifetime value, investment, MARKETING, money, ROI, social media, social media campaign, social media marketing, trending

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This Morning’s Top 3 Stories in Tech and Mobile

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 06:10 AM PDT

Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world. We're keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.

Dell to Replace Employees’ BlackBerrys with Venue Pros

In a competitive move against Research in Motion, Dell CFO Brian Gladden announced that Dell plans to replace 25,000 employees’ BlackBerry smartphones with models of the company’s new, Windows Phone 7-based smartphone, the Dell Venue Pro. Dell will then work to help other companies make the same switch.

Skype Video Calling Comes to Mac

Skype has finally released a beta version of its much-discussed and enhanced 5.0 application for Mac, which introduces group video calling to Mac users for the first time.

Google Instant Comes to iPhone and Android

A beta version of Google Instant, a new search offering that lets users search as they type, is now available on many U.S. iPhone and Android mobile devices.

Further News

In response to critics around the world, YouTube has removed content from Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who many believe was responsible for inciting violent terrorist acts.
The world's largest mobile enterprise, China Mobile has joined the Linux Foundation as a Gold Member.
Blogging platform Tumblr released overhauled versions of its iPhone and Android apps Thursday night, bringing the full range of functions of Tumblr’s desktop dashboard to both mobile operating systems.
PepsiCo has launched a new Facebook application that encourages Pepsi drinkers to commit to recycling their used bottles and cans, and recruit their Facebook friends to do the same.
Hulu has announced that invitations are no longer needed for its premium service, Hulu Plus, which has been in an invitation-only preview period since it launched this summer.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59

Reviews: Android, BlackBerry Rocks!, Facebook, Hulu, Skype, Tumblr, Windows Phone 7, YouTube, iStockphoto

More About: android, blackberry, dell, Dell Venue Pro, first to know series, Google Instant, iphone, RIM, Skype

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Dell to Offer Its Employees Venue Pros Instead of BlackBerrys

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 05:49 AM PDT

Dell will supply 25,000 employees with its new Windows Phone 7-based smartphone, the Dell Venue Pro, instead of BlackBerrys, Dell CFO Brian Gladden said in an interview.

Although it should save Dell 25% in mobile communication costs (mostly by getting rid of Blackberry servers), the switch is not just a cost-saving move.

“Clearly in this decision we are competing with RIM, because we’re kicking them out,” Brian Gladden said, adding that the company wants to offer a service that will help other companies make a similar move.

“I’m not sure I care as much about the devices as the services. There’s a services opportunity that we think is even bigger,” he said.

The move is definitely good news for Microsoft, which can use a kick start for its Windows Phone 7 platform, as it recently began to play catch-up with iOS and Android. And if you’re worried about Android-loving Dell employees, you can sleep peacefully: Dell plans to offer an Android-based smartphone at a later date.

Reviews: Android

More About: blackberry, dell, Dell Venue Pro, Mobile 2.0, smartphone

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Mashable: Latest 27 News Updates - including “What’s the Value in a Brand Name?”

Mashable: Latest 27 News Updates - including “What’s the Value in a Brand Name?”

1. A Brand Is the Most Sustainable Competitive Advantage

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6. Because It Puts a Face on Your Decisions

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