Atlas Calendar, Klout Q&A, Rating Your Contacts: the Social 6 for 5/8/13
Welcome back, me! It's been my longest break from releasing a Social 6 ever, but for good reason, between prepping to go away and then going away to Munich for the International Health Forum. I'm back in the swing of things, and today seemed like a great day to start back up, with a terrific post from Patrick over at Contactually, Klout's plans to become a more robust platform, and a pretty strong debut from Atlas, the new smartphone-oriented calendar/scheduler. Here's your Social 6:
#6: Hotel Tonight Wants You to Snap Photos of Your Hotel Room (Selfies Not Encouraged) (AllThingsD)
#5: Pre-Roll Ads Will Soon Know Where You've Shopped Online (Ecommerce Times)
#5: 3 Ways To Measure ROI For Social Customer Service (Likeable Media blog)
#3: Atlas launches to reduce the stress of scheduling, helping you organize group meetings on the go (The Next Web)
#2: Not everybody is created equal! Rating your network to get the most of it for your business (Contactually blog)
#1: Klout dips into Q&A and local commerce with launch of new questions feature (GigaOM)
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Fotobar, 2013 Predictions, and Apple+Waze: the Social 6 News Roundup for 1/3/13
Welcome back, and a happy 2013 to all. This is the first Social 6 of the new year, which means we'll likely see plenty of 2013 predictions over the next few days. We have a few of those today -- including one by yours truly -- but also rumors about the excellent mapping app, Waze, possibly on Apple's acquisition list, Polaroid's innovative Fotobar stores, and the best health-related apps to kick off the new year with. Here's your Social 6:
#6: Polaroid to launch Fotobar stores designed to print photos from our smartphones (The Next Web)
#5: 2013 Prediction: Suffering from Information Overload, Consumers to Say No to Mediocre Content (SocialFresh)
#4: The Best Health And Fitness Apps For Your New Year’s Needs (TechCrunch)
#3: Rumor: Apple May Buy Crowdsourced Mapping App Waze (Search Engine Land)
#2: Will Twitter Become The ‘De Facto’ Communication Tool For World Leaders In 2013? (Mediabistro)
#1: 7 Bold Predictions for Social & Mobile in 2013 (Going Social)
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My (next) 6 Top Cyber Monday Deals
Since that first post regarding Cyber Monday deals was so popular - actually more popular than the posts I actually put considerable thought into, go figure! - I thought I'd share 6 more great deals I'm considering:
- Clarins (one of my favorite beauty brands) has a pretty sweet gift with purchase ($133 value) with a $75 purchase. Code: CYBERM.
- Audible.com is offering up another 50 books for $4.95 in addition to the collection they already have up. Check it out if you're into audiobooks (I love them) - some pretty great stuff!
- Verizon has a Samsung Tab 2.0 that was $350 down to $99.99. Guess we know what they need to move inventory on...
- Another one of my favorite beauty brands, Philosophy, has a $90 gift with purchases of $75 or more, plus up to 50% off on certain products, plus free shipping. Yikes. Sorry, credit card limit, you have to go up a bit, please.
- If you know someone who likes movies and don't want to put too much thought into a gift, Fandango is offering gift cards at standard value - but purchase and you'll be entered to win movies for a year.
- If you've ever been to a J.Crew Factory store, you know they generally have pretty good products - and now their .com is 50% off everything and free shipping (no minimum) with code YOURGIFT.
And a bonus, but it's not really a deal per se: check out this email campaign by Quirky in honor of Cyber Monday. Great brand, great products - and a great Cyber Monday campaign.
Happy Shopping!
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Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Fashion-Tech, & Libel: the Social 6, Weekend Recap Edition
I wouldn't blame you for relaxing and staying off of the Internet this weekend, assuming you were exhausted from Turkey Thursday and Black Friday. Still, there's plenty going on out there, so I'm collecting some of my most heavily clicked & shared links from this past weekend. Here's your Social 6:
#6 Sorry, Beliebers: ‘Gangnam Style’ is now the most-viewed YouTube video *ever* (Mashable)
#5 Libel Case That Snared BBC Widens to Twitter Users (New York Times)
#4 Going For “Pretty First” Is Wrong: A Designer’s Take On App Development (TechCrunch)
#3 My Top 6 Cyber Monday Deals (JeremyGoldman.com)
#2 [Op-Ed] The Problem with Most Fashion-Tech Startups (The Business of Fashion)
#1 Black Friday sales online top $1 billion for 1st time: comScore (Reuters)
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My Top 6 Cyber Monday Deals
Some of my favorite brands and sales for this Cyber Monday:
- Anthony Logistics for Men has a 30% off of everything deal running from Sunday at 1pm EST to Tuesday at 9AM EST.
- 6PM has some amazing deals for shoes and clothing from brands like Converse, Cole Haan, The North Face, and more. If you haven't checked out this site, I'll wait. It's seriously my shopping mecca.
- StudioPress (one of the best places to purchase Wordpress themes) has 40% off of everything, ending at 5pm PST on Monday. You need to log in to take advantage of the deal, which is a small price to pay in my humble opinion.
- If you're a big pet person like I am, Chewy.com has 3000 items discounted as much as 50%, with the deals starting at midnight.
- Allure Magazine promises me to check my inbox tomorrow for savings of up to 85%. On what, I have no idea, but 85% sounds good to me, vagueness aside...
- Gap.com is running its Cyber Monday now until the end of Monday. Use code CYBER for 30% off. Use the same code at Athlea or Piperlime for 20% off.
What deals (if any) are you guys taking advantage of this Cyber Monday?
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Facebook Promoted Posts Top the Social 6 News Roundup for 10/4/12
Is this the most awe-inspiring Social 6 roundup ever? Certainly not. I'd never lie to you guys. That being said, yesterday's social shares did elicit quite a few clicks & shares, most notably related to monetization of the Spotify platform, and Facebook's rollout of Promoted Posts, which could turn out to be a game-changer....or could wind up being a sidebar in a "History of Facebook" book. We'll see.
Without further ado, your Social 6 roundup of news & views:
#6: My 7 Favorite Social Media Tools To Up Your Game (Business 2 Community)
#5: A Social Media Marketing Paradox? (ResidualRx.com)
#4: Looks like the iPad Mini is in production (PC Magazine)
#3: ShoeDazzle Picks Up Another $6M As Founder Brian Lee Gets Back To Work As CEO (TechCrunch)
#2: Can Spotify's App Platform Make Rock'n'Roll Profitable Again? Ask Blur (ReadWriteWeb)
#1: Facebook's Promoted Posts launch in the US at $7 a pop (TechCrunch)
The Social 6: Key Stories of The Last 24 hours, 8/17/12
#6 A $12-Million-A-Month iOS Game? NaturalMotion Has It With CSR Racing
Benchmark Capital-backed NaturalMotion has announced that its high-profile game, CSR Racing, is now surpassing $12 million in monthly revenue. If that’s the case, that would be the most any iOS game has hit to date, and illustrates the potential market opportunity here.
#5 Case Study: Salon Keeps Customers Coming Back With Wacky Rewards
Stephanie Miles tells why salon customers that go to Red 7 Salon keep coming back for more after they receive rewards. Really useful Street Fight article if you run a brick & mortar location.
#4 The Hulu Dilemma: How Private is Your Video Playlist?
While I’m very far from a privacy advocate, in that I personally tend to make things public by default online whenever possible, this article outlines the challenges associated with considering anything private online when it’s stored on a third party’s server. Nancy Scola writes a strong ReadWriteWeb article on how Hulu is dealing with a class action suit relating to privacy, and how your private playlist may be private to your friends, but not to data miners.
#3 HTML5 Gaming Gets Another Contender With Goko's New Platform
Another gaming piece today! HTML5 gaming gets a new cohort of startup contenders. Kim-Mai Cutler delivers a great article on TechCrunch explaining about Goko, a Redwood City-based company that may make it easier for game developers to publish HTML5 games. This looks like a pretty strong platform; I’d recommend keeping an eye on Goko.
#2 Little Black Bag Stows Away $8 Million in Funding for Social Shopping
Another social commerce company, Little Black Bag, has raised $8 million dollars to fund. Tricia Duryee writes for All Things D saying the inspiration came from a Japanese New Year's Day tradition. Yet another sign that social shopping startups are red-hot.
#1 Meet the Guys Who Started Stanford's Facebook in 1999
Jesse Draper posts a video on Mashable from back in the day. Believe it or not, Stanford shut down “The Facebook” in 1999 because of safety precautions. Interesting piece to check out, and wonder if the founders ever think “what if?” I can related: I created smithfacebook.com for my business school, the Robert H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland, back in 2005/2006 or so – so I can completely empathize and wonder what might have been!
The Social 6: Key Stories of The Last 24 hours, 8/10/12
#6 Facebook turns to its army of users to report phising attacks using new public email address
Facebook's success unfortunately makes it a target for phishers and scammers. Matt Brian writes a great article on TheNextWeb explaining how Facebook is turning to its users to cut down on Facebook-related phishing. Solid move for the company to get the rise in phishing under control.
#5 Are RIM and Samsung Ready to Do the Deed?
Richard Adhikari writes a nice article on Ecommerce with details about how Samsung and RIM might be getting in bed together, either through a licensing agreement or flat-out acquisition. In my mind, RIM’s value isn’t going to go up anytime soon, and a deal would be a step in the right direction for the struggling firm.
#4 Where Apple's Boy Genius Went Wrong
During the Olympic coverage, Apple aired three ads that they thought could have helped sales, but they’ve been reportedly pulled from the air pretty quickly. Chris Maxcer delivers a great E-Commerce Times article explaining why the ads were pulled, and how an advertising powerhouse like Apple went wrong.
#3 Chick-fil-A: Stop Trying to Control the Conversation
Another strong E-Commerce Times piece! Christopher J. Bucholtz outlines where Chick-fil-A went wrong in its support of gay marriage. If you’re following my writing or my tweets, you know I think Chick-fil-A is 100000% within its rights to support its brand values, but the shifty way they managed the fiasco from a PR perspective is what really got to me – and many others.
#2 If a Google Employee Dies, Spouse Gets Half Pay for 10 Years
I wrote my upcoming book Going Social based on not just being sociable with your customers, but being good to them in general. When you think about it, some of your most important customers – or constituents – are your employees. This piece outlines how amazingly good Google is to its employees. It’s not just free food and fitness classes anymore: the death benefits extended to employees are pretty impressive. Samantha Murphy of Mashable goes into good detail in this piece.
#1 Pinterest Drops Invites, Now Open to Everyone
This past Wednesday, Pinterest announced they have removed their invite-only strategy towards increasing membership, and are now open to anyone with a pulse. Yet another sign Pinterest is looking to go mainstream in a major way. It will be interesting to see how adoption rates go up – or not – as a result of this move.
The Social 6: Key Stories of The Last 24 hours, 8/8/12
#6 The Pitfalls of the Unmanaged Customer Experience
What makes your brand, ultimately, is the experience you give to your customers, not just the product you actually sell them. Yes, we all know this. No, most companies still don’t adhere to this somewhat important rule. Malcolm Carlow writes for E-Commerce Times, and provides some nice, high-level advice on customer service.
#5 Bingo! Facebook Gambles On Games Using Real Money, Not Credits, To Engage Users
Facebook hasn’t had such a good time in the news lately, as I’m sure you’re aware. However, Facebook is rolling out something that could be minor game-changer. Ingrid Lunden, writing for TechCrunch, says not only is this a new way to interact with people but you can win real money! It’s only in the UK for now, but it will be interesting to follow this and see how much traction this gets.
#4 Instagram & foursquare Photo Contest Boosts Engagement Across Social-Mobile Platforms
Interesting case study: Barney’s Beanery ran a two-week photo contest across all its locations and offered prizes such as $100 gift cards and much more. According to Moment Feed writer Joergan Aaboe, Barney’s Beanery sees 66 percent increase in photos taken and tagged to their locations relative to Facebook and foursquare check-ins.
#3 FAQ: Why did Google buy these companies?
Jon Gold, writing for NetworkWorld, gives a rundown about Google's history of acquisitions, and how each one has fit into the company’s strategy. Overall, I'd say Google has acquired pretty intelligently, acquiring expertise where they were lacking.
#2 Why Apple Should Buy Foursquare
Do you believe Foursquare is just another app? At the moment it doesn't have much room to grow, according to many; even though I’m a big fan of the app, usage is nowhere near some other social platforms. However Jon Mitchell writes for ReadWriteWeb and says Foursquare would be a perfect fit to be purchased and embedded into Apple’s iOS strategy.
#1 Facebook Introduces Mobile Ad Unit to Promote Apps
Mobile is becoming an increasingly important part of going social, and Facebook simply won’t be competitive if it can’t find a way to monetize mobile media. Given that, only a few weeks after the debut of its first-ever ad unit for mobile, Facebook is releasing a new mobile unit in beta, so that app developers can better promote their apps.
Guys, read my lips, this is the start of something pretty major.
The Social 6: Key Stories of The Last 24 hours, 8/7/12
#6 Underemployed? Social Networking Can Help
Most people agree that having a job is better than not having a job. Social networking can actually be of great assistance for those among us who are underemployed. In this helpful Mashable piece, Sudy Bharadwaj outlines how social networking can help.
#5 ShoeDazzle Steps Up Fashion E-Commerce Competition, Adds 1M Users In July And Now Has 13M
According to Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch, ShoeDazzle picked up 1 million new users in the month of July, bringing the total number of members up to 13 million. Kim Kardashian is one of the backers of this trendy website. Expect to hear more from ShoeDazzle over coming months; their strategy is sound, and their brand is clearly resonating with consumers.
#4 I Want To Be Like Mitt; So I Bought Thousands Of Twitter Followers
John Talty reports, in a well-written International Business Times article, that Mitt Romney had been averaging 3,000 to 4,000 new Twitter followers per day for much of July, but in one three-day period -- July 21-23 -- he Romney amassed more than 130,000 fans, strongly indicating that his handlers are purchasing followers. The question the Romney campaign needs to ask itself is, are purchasing followers who might not ever support the candidate in November worth it?
#3 So you think you're an early adopter? Find out just how "early" with this site
Have you ever wondered how early you joined a social platform in relation to other users? It’s kind of cool to find out if you were one of the early adopters that helped popularize a site and made it a big deal. Drew Olanoff (one of my favorite tech reporters) writes for The Next Web about a new tool that will help you figure out how much of an early adopter you really are.
#2 Be A Bitch On Email, Or Be Email's Bitch
Do you ever get over 100 emails a day? If you’re one of these people, you must hate emails. Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with them. This TechCrunch article (by Jordan Crook) argues for a more efficient world when it comes to email in this piece.
#1 Why people hate Klout, and how to fix it
A lot of you found this piece interesting: Klout, the leading tool for measuring influence, has often been criticized for its lack of transparency and accuracy. In this Econsultancy piece, Sam Dwyer offers up some ideas how Klout, Kred, and PeerIndex can fix their business models.
