ETC’s immersive media head Phil Lelyveld presented a session describing the organization’s third Immersive Media Challenge — this one with a 5G twist. “The challenge is to ask students and recent graduates to come up with an idea for an engaging experience that is impossible to build now that should be possible to build in three to five years,” he said. “It’s not a hackathon. If you can build it in three to five years, you should probably start building it now. If it’s longer than five years, it’s Fantasyland.” Continue reading HPA Tech Retreat: ETC Immersive Media Challenge Explained

Fable Studio’s “Wolves in the Walls,” a VR adaptation of a Neil Gaiman children’s book, won a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding innovation in interactive media. The player is in the role of an imaginary friend for the CG child Lucy and uses VR goggles and handheld motion controllers to join her on an investigation of strange noises in the house. Lucy is also the first “virtual being” to win an Emmy, according to Fable co-founder Edward Saatchi, who defines that as a digital character with whom you have a two-way relationship. Virtual beings are growing in popularity on social platforms such as Instagram, where some are becoming digital influencers. Continue reading Already Internet Celebs, Virtual Beings Get First Emmy Nod

Computer-generated influencers have arrived. The glamorous all-digital Miquela Sousa (also known as Lil Mequela), which was created by Los Angeles-based startup Brud, has been the star of an Ugg advertising campaign, appearing on billboards around the world. Brud believes it can create CGI social media stars that are easier to manage and monetize than human celebrities. It’s not alone in its efforts; Soul Machines, which has debuted dozens of digital humans, is launching its Digital DNA platform to make it easier to create virtual avatars. Continue reading Computer-Generated Photoreal Influencers, Avatars Are Here

Instagram stars excel at making their beautiful lives seem effortless, but according to one such professional, Meghan Young, it’s harder than it looks. Social media influencers who go pro receive money from companies whose products they endorse. That such a career even exists is due to billions of users eager to consume aspirational content and advertisers eager to reach a young demographic. Marketing agency Mediakix estimates that companies will spend $1.6 billion this year on Instagram influencers alone. Continue reading Instagram Star: What It Takes to Build and Maintain a Career

Online influencers have become an important feature of social media, and marketers have learned to take full advantage of them, analyzing follower engagement and applying analytics to understand ROI. Over time, influencer-focused marketing has revealed that even the biggest influencers don’t necessarily translate to sales. However, a number of compelling trends are emerging: brands are finding that the followers of nano-influencers are often more engaged, numerous influencers are discovering success with their own product lines, and residential spaces ideal for an Instagram aesthetic have proven effective for marketing. Continue reading The Rise of Nano-Influencers and Other Social Media Trends

Children and preteens are shopping online, and retailers are advertising directly to them. Retailers are leveraging Snapchat, YouTube Kids and other mobile apps to target children and preteens more likely to be on their smartphones, tablets or laptops than watching television. Nine-year-old Isabella Colello described how she shops online and puts items in her cart, which her father can browse through and purchase — or not. “It’s so much better than going to the mall because there aren’t that many places to shop anymore,” she said. Continue reading Retailers Use Apps, Social Media to Reach Children, Preteens

Snap is instigating a move to “separate the social from the media” on Snapchat, which, in part, will be represented by an interface redesign that distinguishes between Snapchat friends and professional content creators. Creators who have large followings, including so-called verified Snapchatters, will now, for the first time, have access to a variety of metrics, including engagement, demographics and story views, by year, month or week as well as how long viewers spent with each story. Continue reading Snap Offers Metrics for Creators to Avoid Exodus to Instagram

Devumi is a company that sells Twitter followers and retweets to celebrities, politicians, businesses, overseas governments and anyone else who wants to become a digital influencer. According to the results of a New York Times investigation, the company has an estimated stock of 3.5 million automated accounts and has provided its approximately 200,000 customers with more than 200 million Twitter followers. The revelation comes at a time when big tech companies are in the spotlight for deceptive news and outside manipulation. Continue reading Company Offers Twitter Followers, Bots That Retweet for a Fee

Snap Inc. just unveiled a remake of Snapchat that, thus far, has been identifiable for its posts that disappear after 24 hours, smaller social circles and human editing and curation. In its new incarnation, Snapchat separates the social and media into two parts. On the left side of the app, users will see chats and stories shared with friends. On the right side, they’ll find content from DIY creators, publishers, celebrities and Snap-curated content. Part of the reason for the redo is Snap’s disappointing user and revenue numbers. Continue reading Snapchat Redesign Aims to Curb Fake News, Boost Revenue

Facebook is developing a metered paywall to drive viewers to subscribe to source publications of stories posted on Instant Articles. The move is in response to the social media platform’s tense relationship with publishers, who are losing viewership of stories on their own websites, as well as revenue. While sources say that discussions about the paywall are in the early stages, and testing won’t begin until October, Facebook is currently introducing a new analytics tool for publishers. Meanwhile, Amazon is now paying publishers and digital influencers to post to its new commerce-centric social network Spark. Continue reading Facebook Develops Metered Paywall, Debuts Analytics Tool

YouTube is where 1.5 billion people go every month to watch videos for more than an hour a day, and influencers such as brothers Jake Paul and Logan Paul have millions of followers and draw in lots of digital ads. Facebook makes it easier for videos to go viral, but hasn’t had much success in getting viewers to watch videos for more than a few minutes. In an effort to do so, Facebook has turned to live sports, making its own programs and a handful of stars who crave Facebook’s enormous reach more than YouTube’s monetization. Continue reading Facebook Vies With YouTube for Digital Influencer Content

The Influencer Marketing Council recently launched to create consistency and best practices for digital celebrities who work with brands. The Federal Trade Commission requires influencers who incorporate brand products in their videos or promote corporations on such social platforms as Instagram and Twitter to disclose that the posts are in fact advertisements. But celebrity Andrew Fitzpatrick (aka 80Fitz) reports the current lack of consistency over disclosure practices or hashtags that label the content. Continue reading Digital Influencer Marketing Group to Develop Best Practices

The real-time series “@SummerBreak” is the biggest hit on social media that you probably never heard of. The fact that largely unknown shows draw massive viewer numbers is one of the key characteristics of what many are now calling digital native content. Digital influencers and online celebrities have spawned profitable media empires and some of them have parlayed that to play a role in more traditional media. Many, however, are happy to stay in their online universe where viewers are family and the paychecks are hefty. Digital native content was the subject of a CES panel this week. Continue reading Digital Native Content Appeals to Brands, Creatives, Viewers