November 28, 2009
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I'd like to hear your nominations for the best mobile applications that empower consumers. I'm not talking about quick-hit mobile campaigns. I mean real applications that are of long-term value to consumers and create loyalty by surrounding people with information.
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| Josh Bernoff | |
People are discussing drugs and treatments all over net, from WebMD to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors' Network.
But pharmaceutical companies can't encourage or participate in this activity in any way. In one case in my research, a pharma company employee begged me to take down a reference to a site her company had sponsored -- the logo was right there on the site -- even though the company had provided an unrestricted grant and did not influence content in any way. This level of hypocrisy is absurd, and serves no one.
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| Josh Bernoff | |
What hit me about this year's winners were that they prove that excellence in social media can come from anywhere.
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| Josh Bernoff | |
We conducted an experiment -- we did an interview via Twitter last week. As one of our spectators, rrupinski, commented: "Interesting experiment -- but like watching conversation by telegraph." I found the content interesting, but the delay between when tweets are entered and when they appear made this challenging. Twitter has the reputation of being real-time, and it is a very immediate medium, but measured in minutes, not in seconds.
Anyway, as a Groundswell blog reader you get to see the results neatly packaged up for your reading pleasure, below. (This is basically a transcript, but I've made edits to assemble sentences together, fixed spelling, and removed irrelevant comments. But you can still see the abbreviated Twitter style showing through.)
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| Josh Bernoff | |
As I continue my Social Netiquette investigations this question comes up over and over again. No less than the New York Times weighed in, but not in any definitive way.
There are countless netiquette sources that say it's rude to take a mobile phone call in a meeting, and you should turn your phone off. But this advice dates to when phones were used to make calls. Now you could be checking e-mail or sports scores, or you could be checking something relevant to the meeting on the web or taking notes.
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| Josh Bernoff | |
Once a person is signed up (and anyone can -- it's part of the Google toolbar), he or she can comment on any page and see comments from others on those pages. Google uses an algorithm to decide which comments go at the top. And Google, not the site owner, decides which content must be taken down because it's inappropriate.
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| Josh Bernoff | |
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| Josh Bernoff | |
Look where the textbook business is now. It tried to keep those profs happy, but the students, powerless as dogs, had to deal with bloated, $120 or $300 books they'll use once. So they rebelled, creating a burgeoning used-book market. The textbook guys are scrambling to create electronic versions, but those clever students with their digital skills have the edge. This is not going to end well for the textbook companies.
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| Josh Bernoff | |
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| Josh Bernoff | |
Do you know their names?
Here's a conversation I often have with marketers:
Josh: Who are your best customers?
Marketer: Women with a child under 4. [Or "People with assets of at least $1 million." Or some such.]
Josh: No, I really mean "Who are your best customers?" What are their names?
This Advertising Age and JWT white paper explores what multiple generations of American women want when it comes to family, work and life in the 21st century, decades after the women's liberation movement.
Too-Cool Apple Now Finding Itself on the Receiving End of Competitor Ridicule
Advertising Age Honors the Top Brands of the Year -- and the Brains Behind Them
Marketing Side Was 'Out of Control' He Says
The carmaker won handily in our reader poll, besting Walmart, McDonald's, Lego and Amazon
The Video Story of Dallas' Marcus Graham Project
2010 America explains what you need to know about the biggest consumer market-research project of the decade: the 2010 U.S. census. Demographics expert Peter Francese, author of this highly readable Ad Age white paper, analyzes what the census will reveal about the changing face of consumers.
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