While it’s become increasingly necessary for companies to have a social media presence, many CEOs shy away from personal accounts in fear of costly social gaffes.
“Chief executives are under pressure these days to appear accessible and ‘authentic,’ but social media — with its demands for quick, unscripted updates that can quickly go viral — poses risks for top managers and the companies they represent, in the form of lawsuits, leaked trade secrets or angered customers,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
But according to former Medtronic Inc. CEO Bill George, who is now a management professor at Harvard Business School, “people want CEOs who are real. They want to know what you think… Can you think of a more cost-effective way of getting to your customers and employees?”
According to a recent report from CEO.com and the analytics company Domo, seven in 10 Fortune 500 CEOs have no presence on social media at all.
“CEOs who do mind their own accounts have to steer clear of bashing competitors, disparaging customers or opining on polarizing topics like religion and politics,” notes the article.
“When she trains executives on social media, Amy Jo Martin, CEO and founder of social-media agency Digital Royalty Inc., says clients are ‘fearful of sharing too much versus not sharing enough.’ She advises executives to give followers a glimpse, not a guided tour, of their lives.”
“People start out addicted to Facebook, and then become fatigued. On Twitter, they start out fatigued, and then become addicted,” tweeted The New York Times tech blogger Nick Bilton recently.
In Forbes, contributor Eric Jackson argues that this user interest threshold is true, and after years of being overshadowed by Facebook’s growth, Twitter will rise to the top while Facebook will fade away like MySpace.
Although the article notes Facebook leads in user base, valuation, revenues and IPO, Twitter has one distinctive win: “Twitter already has almost double the mobile revenue that Facebook has today, even though Facebook supposedly has 7x as many monthly average users. eMarketer says that Twitter will do $130 million in mobile ad revenues this year versus Facebook’s $70 million.”
Jackson says this is more important because the world is transitioning to mobile. Unlike Twitter which started as a mobile company — the 140 character limit is a carry-over from SMS limits — Facebook is based on websites and has had a hard time transitioning to mobile without feeling clunky.
“Advertisers will always want to corral users to go to their Facebook pages to keep that community within a walled garden the advertiser can study how they talk about their product,” Jackson suggests. “But, if the users don’t want to go there, they won’t go — and the advertisers will simply go where the users go and interact with them on their terms.”
Twitter has more of a “cool” factor and its interest graph is more valuable to advertisers than Facebook’s social graph.
YouTube wants to launch a new mobile music service that enables users to easily discover music via multiple categories, according to a new LinkedIn job posting.
The Google-owned video platform wants to create “new systems from the ground up that will generate millions of new music videos and surface YouTube’s music video catalog by artist, discography, and genre to users on mobile devices for the first time,” suggests the job posting for technical program manager.
YouTube has had some difficulty in the mobile space because not all of its content was available on its app.
“Previously, publishers were able to opt out of displaying their videos on mobile devices,” GigaOM explains. “Now, publishers can only block their videos from being displayed without ads — which means that a lot more monetized clips, including numerous music videos, are available on mobile devices.”
The site created its own iOS app after Apple’s YouTube app was removed in iOS6. The company must also compete with Vevo apps that separately run their own videos and advertising, even though Vevo is a YouTube content partner.
Even after OnLive’s difficulties, top cable and phone companies are looking to offer cloud gaming directly on televisions, sources say.
“If successful, Web-based games could accelerate a shift away from consoles, the industry’s main money maker for the past three decades,” reports Bloomberg. NPD notes that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo built a U.S. market worth $24.1 billion in 2011.
“Consumers are already dumping consoles in favor of games on smartphones and tablets, leading to a 39 percent decline in video-game hardware sales last month from a year earlier,” explains the article.
AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Cox Communications are all reportedly in talks to deliver video-gaming services. The sources also say that carriers are likely to start testing technologies this year for a rollout as early as next year.
“It makes perfect sense why they would want to go after this market,” says Mitch Lasky, former executive at Electronic Arts. “Streaming games use a ton of bandwidth and really benefit from good networks. But it’s a gnarly execution problem they’re trying to solve.”
“Carriers still have to get the technology in place,” the article states. “To stream games from remote servers to multiple devices simultaneously, they need to license virtualization technology. And to make the experience comparable to that of a console, they also must incorporate powerful graphics processors into their data centers, replacing chips used in consoles.”
According to consumer-tracking service NPD, television sets are now the most popular way to watch streaming video from the Internet.
“NPD says 45 percent of consumers report that TV is now their primary Web video screen, up from 33 percent last year,” reports AllThingsD. “It basically swapped places with the PC, which used to account for 48 percent of viewing but now represents 31 percent.”
At this point, NPD figures that only about 10 percent of homes have an Internet-enabled TV, but consumers are often streaming programming through devices such as their Blu-ray player, Apple TV and Xbox 360.
NPD’s general screen breakdown by device: TV — 45 percent, laptop PC — 17 percent, desktop PC — 14 percent, tablet — 1 percent, netbook — 1 percent.
Also according to the NPD report, Netflix is the most popular streaming service, with 40 percent of connected TV watchers using that service.
New Nielsen numbers reflect the continually shifting television viewing habits of Americans, as the number of U.S. TV households fell by 500,000 — dropping for the second straight year.
“We have had no household formation over the past several years, and I believe there is a modest amount of cord-cutting happening in younger households and in lower-income households,” notes Paul Sweeney, Bloomberg Industries’ director of North American research.
“To the extent that there is cord-cutting, over-the-top companies such as Hulu and Netflix are benefiting,” Sweeney adds. “These households then fall out of Nielsen’s total household mix.”
“Nielsen said it’s working with TV and advertising clients on what should constitute a TV home and how to account for new products such as tablet computers. It has already begun incorporating online viewing into ratings,” according to Bloomberg.
NBCUniversal, Comcast and HBO announced partnerships with Zeebox yesterday, a second screen app designed to augment the TV viewing experience.
NBC and Comcast join British Sky Broadcasting as investors in the startup, which launched in the UK last January and is now available as an Android, iOS and Web app here in the States.
The free app acts as a program guide that lets users know which shows are being viewed or discussed by friends. It also features Facebook and Twitter integration. Broadcasters can create a digital hub for programs that includes videos, games, polls, chatrooms and more.
“Like Shazam, it will extend its second screen experience to advertisements. Unlike Shazam, it will share revenue from enhanced commercials with all broadcasters,” reports Fast Company. “Adding a mobile component to a commercial can nudge consumers toward action (think ‘buy this now’ buttons) in a way that television ads can’t.”
For consumers, Zeebox replaces GetGlue as a means of sharing what you’re watching with friends — and replaces Google when you are searching for info about celebrities.
“Zeebox isn’t the most appealing second-screen product we’ve seen — it seems more like a mishmash of everything anyone could ever want to do in front of a television rather than a solution to a specific problem or desire — but by appeasing broadcasters, it has set itself up to be among the most popular,” notes the article.
Dish Network is in discussions with Viacom, Univision and Scripps regarding an over-the-top service that would deliver live cable TV via the Internet.
“Dish Network’s service would change the dynamics of the pay television business, breaking up the bundles that force customers to pay for channels they don’t watch,” reports Businessweek.
With a smaller bundle, the service would be priced lower than what consumers pay for cable TV. Dish would also be able to bypass sports, its biggest programming expense.
Sources suggest that Viacom might be willing to sell a smaller bundle of channels at a higher rate-per-channel than it does for full packages it offers to cable and satellite operators. The bundle would include Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
“The effort would mark the biggest attempt to create an online service with live cable channels, a break from the approach taken by Netflix Inc. and Hulu LLC,” notes the article.
“For Dish, the move would decrease its reliance on its satellite-TV service, which ranks second to DirecTV in U.S. customers. It also gives it a way to undercut pay TV competitors on price.”
It’s worth noting that pay TV operators including Dish and Time Warner Cable currently offer cheaper packages without sports, but they are not typically popular with consumers.
U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, PNC and Wells Fargo have been the target of cyber attacks this week from what is believed to be a group outside the country, says an unidentified U.S. official.
The attacks have flooded the bank websites with traffic, making them unavailable at times and disrupting transactions. The group is reportedly using a method known as distributed denial-of-service and has taken control of commercial servers.
“Such a sustained network attack ranks among the worst-case scenarios envisioned by the National Security Agency, according to the U.S. official, who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak publicly,” reports Businessweek. “The extent of the damage may not be known for weeks or months, said the official, who has access to classified information.”
“The nature of this attack is sophisticated enough or large enough that even the largest of the financial institutions would find it difficult to defend against,” suggests Rodney Joffe, senior VP at security firm Neustar Inc.
“The notable thing is the volume and the scale of the traffic that’s been directed at these sites, and that’s very rare,” adds Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and CTO of security firm CrowdStrike Inc.
Cybersecurity specialists who have been tracking the assaults say that by breaching some of the nation’s most advanced computer systems, the attacks have exposed the vulnerability of its infrastructure.
“If the financial industry, which spends more on Internet security than any other industry and has its largest and most extensive defenses, can’t handle this, it’s not clear whether any critical-infrastructure industry can,” notes the article.
Since the questionable call by replacement referees in the final moments of Monday night’s Seahawks-Packers game, the National Football League has been taking a beating on Twitter.
“According to social media firm NetBase, the NFL’s negative sentiment rating during the last 24 hours has come in at 76 percent,” reported Adweek at 2:30 PM ET on Tuesday, “compared to 27 percent it averaged this month through September 23. The data-point entails millions of messages on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other sites.”
Despite increasing negative sentiment noted around terms such as “NFL” and “refs,” league officials suggest they are more concerned about TV ratings than social media chatter.
But with everyone from players to President Obama posting frustrated tweets in response, experts are divided as to whether the NFL will be able to keep ignoring angry Twitter users.
“While social media helps cultivate and expose the amount of frustration, the reality is, the NFL brand is so strong, it is unlikely we will see a negative backlash of fan support in the coming weeks,” says Ken Wisnefski, CEO of WebiMax.
“I agree that it is a major mistake to have a wrong call especially in this fashion, thus there is an opportunity for the League and [NFL commissioner] Goodell to express their support for the quality of the product and work to resolve this immediately,” he adds.
“In addition to sharing new details about its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 OS, RIM used today’s BlackBerry Jam keynote to make an announcement about App World,” reported Engadget on Tuesday.
“The company just revealed that in addition to applications and games, the store will sell music, movies and TV shows — a move that brings it more in line with rival stores like Google Play and Apple’s App Store.”
This will likely please App World’s current 80 million subscribers. According to the keynote, “there are currently 105,000 apps in the store, with 3 billion downloads logged since the store’s opening,” notes the post.
Research In Motion also said new BlackBerry 10 apps will soon increase that total number, as the company will begin accepting app submissions on October 10th.
In a related Engadget post, a video demo shows BB10 running on a new Dev Alpha B handset with 1280×768 screen.
AllThingsD reports that when the new BlackBerry phones finally launch in 2013, it will be a significant challenge to take on the iPhone 5 in addition to new Android and Windows Phone devices. “RIM is touting the ability of the phones to offer better multitasking, and constant access to email and messaging, as features that will help the phones stand out.”
There are now such things as “smart” mirrors — ones that rely on sensors, cameras and flat-panel displays to function beyond the expectations of the traditional, reflective mirror.
“These ‘smart’ mirrors are melding with digital components to act as health-monitoring devices that measure vital signs, in-shop equipment to try on clothes virtually and displays to keep track of news and information,” details the Wall Street Journal.
One such mirror is the Medical Mirror, first introduced in 2010. Among other functions, it uses a camera “to measure a person’s pulse rate based on slight variations in the brightness of the face as blood flows each time the heart pumps,” notes WSJ.
Advanced digital mirrors are also being used in some retail stores to provide customers with “virtual fittings” of clothing. It analyzes the body, then suggests sizes, fits and brands for a person’s body type.
But is there a market for such devices outside of medical and/or retail markets? Would consumers ever have interest enough to buy some sort of technologically advanced mirror? That answer is unclear, according to designers and manufacturers.
Networking giant Cisco has started up a new team to “essentially re-imagine the way that onboard [car] systems connect,” reports Wired.
“We literally have reached out to every car company in the world,” says Helder Antunes, managing director of Cisco’s smart connected vehicles division. “What we would really like to do is to help standardize on the underlying networking platform and then allow them to innovate on the top.”
Cars use computers to operate digital devices like door locks, sensors or in-car televisions, but there isn’t a standard network for connecting these computers.
“The payoff would be a more connected car — one that can switch from 4G to wireless networks while simultaneously streaming a YouTube video to kids in the back without so much as a hiccup,” the article states.
“It would be a car that could get firmware updates over the air, and it would also be a lighter vehicle — one that used wireless connections and lighter Ethernet cables. In fact, Antunes thinks that a Cisco ‘Connected Vehicle’ could easily strip 70 to 80 pounds of cabling out of the car.”
Antunes’s team of 20 has already developed anti-crash systems using the Dedicated Short Range Communications car-to-car data-sharing protocol as well as prototyped a wireless system for police and firefighters. But the group may find it challenging to make their car network ubiquitous, due to the supply-chain complexity involved in developing automobiles.
European startup Brainient looks to “boost brand engagement and recognition” through interactive elements within online advertisements.
The company, which has enabled advertisers to tailor the same video campaign for computers, smartphones and tablets, is now taking interactive to a whole new level via the gesture-based Kinect controller for Microsoft’s Xbox.
Brainient CEO Emi Gal says now is the time for connected TVs. “Even though the Kinect technology has been with us for a while there wasn’t enough consumption on connected TVs in terms of video — and finally now we’re getting to the point where people are consuming video across smartphones, across online and across connected TVs more and more,” he tells TechCrunch.
Brainient has launched its first Kinect-enabled ad, which it is using as a showcase and a case study for the new ad technique. The ad is for the upcoming film “The Hobbit,” and it incorporates photo galleries and cast biographies, accessible with the swipe of your hand.
“By adding interactive elements to connected TV ads Brainient will be able to offer advertisers the ability to track brand engagement and recognition on the largest screen most consumers own — and the one they tend to ogle for longest,” TechCrunch writes.
Advertisers have historically targeted specific audiences and then sent their ads to TV shows with that same audience. Facebook jumped on this model, offering user data — gender, age, location, marital status, “interests” — to determine targeted audiences.
“All this extra data was supposed to be a gold mine for Facebook, and Facebook built up a huge ad sales apparatus to sell ads targeted with it,” Business Insider writes. “It turns out this whole tactic may have been a big waste of everyone’s time.”
Facebook has recently switched over to re-targeting, a strategy used by ad-sellers for years, which is much more valuable to advertisers — and much more profitable for Facebook.
Re-targeting has one crucial difference: intent. While targeted ads hope to entice viewers based on their perceived interests, re-targeting actually shows ads for products that users have already shown intent to buy.
The article explains how “cookie” software is downloaded when you visit product pages on retail sites. After you leave the site, you’ll see re-targeted ads of the items you’ve already investigated online — not just products that align with your Facebook “likes.”
The social giant sells re-targeted ads on the Facebook Exchange or FBX, where companies buy Facebook ad inventory and sell it to marketers using re-targeting.
“Zach Coelius, CEO of Triggit, one of the ad-reselling companies Facebook has invited onto FBX, says that return on investment for advertisers buying through FBX is so good, that if all of Facebook’s ad inventory were sold with re-targeting, instead of user data targeting, Facebook would be able to charge 3X the price it charges for ads right now,” explains the article.
“What’s truly remarkable is that inventory sold through FBX re-targeting uses ZERO Facebook profile data, and yet it is much more valuable.”
