During a Social Media Week 2012 panel at JWT on Tuesday, Jennifer Creegan, General Manager, Brand Advertising Business for Microsoft Advertising and Brant Barton Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer for Bazaar Voice announced an ad platform partnership dubbed “People Powered Stories.”

Recent research by Microsoft’s Bing shows that consumers trust sources outside of social networks when making purchasing decisions – mainly online reviews. Based on this research, Microsoft will soon introduce a new ad format for brands and publishers aimed at providing consumers with the purchasing information they need, when they need it – all around the web. Think Facebook sponsored stories outside of the Facebook domain.

In order to do this, they’ve enlisted the services of Bazaar Voice, a “a Software as a Service (SaaS) company that turns social media into social commerce by enabling authentic customer-powered marketing.” In simpler terms, Bazaar Voice is the preeminent source for customer reviews, powering the review platforms for many of the top Global brands.

Starting soon, Microsoft’s ad publishers will have the option to activate this new type of targeted display ad featuring a brand message and highlighted consumer reviews. The initial test campaign was for Windows 7 and was targeted at college students. The ad ran across Microsoft properties that offered audience targeting capabilities to assure college students would see the Windows 7 reviews at sites they visited frequently online..  The results Microsoft reported back were impressive:

• Ad believability increased 20 points above the market norms for technology ads
• 6.3% lift in purchase intent
• 13.5% lift in unaided brand awareness

Example of "People Powered Stories" creative

Despite the encouraging sales pitch and test results from Microsoft and Bazaar Voice, there are some still some pending questions about the product. For example, will consumers trust that the advertiser and Bazaar Voice are serving up authentic customer reviews? Bazaar Voice prides themselves on this very concept, but consumers tend to be wary.

Further, there isn’t any connection to the social graph within the ad unit. If someone decides to click on the ad, they can’t easily share what they’ve learned with their own social graph. Although Microsoft is trying to “go beyond the like,” it is important to recognize the importance of the social graph and layer it across all media properties.

Finally, the quality of review curation remains to be seen. The reviews will be contextual, based on the interests of the consumer being targeted. But will this targeting have as great of an impact as Yelp’s “highlighted reviews,” which take the most mentioned terms in a database of reviews and bring them to the forefront? That might be a feature that is integrated in the future, but in the Windows 7 example, reviews weren’t curated in that manner.

Leave a comment if you’ve come across any of these ads yet, or what you think of the idea.

Customer Service: An Overview

Customer service (CS) is one of the fastest emerging social technology solutions that brands and consumers are demanding. CS is rapidly transitioning from traditional call centers and native websites to the social space – as a result vendors are scrambling to fill this need.

Vendors range from traditional call centre technologies building out social solutions (e.g. Parature) to social CS startups and even social media management systems rushing to add CS product features (e.g. Sprinklr and Radian6).

Social Customer Service Technology

Brands are demanding solutions that mimic the traditional call center with product features that include: ticketing, real-time conversation tracking, incoming and outgoing volume, speed to answer, workflow tracking, FB and Twitter support, flagging, team analytics, governance and permissioning user logins, audit trails, voice chat, geo-targeting, CRM integration and more. Building out platforms to meet these demands will require at the very minimum, dedicated CS product teams, and preferably, dedicated social CS companies.

Social CS is today where SMMS vendors were 24 months ago. Over the next 6 months we are going to see the market flood with CS vendors and SMMS vendors who build add-on CS features. At some point, the market will be consolidated (just as we saw 15 years ago with web CMS technology). Winners will be those who gave it everything they had.

Why Social CS?

Outlined below are the top reasons why brands need a CS strategy and technology solution:
• Consumers no longer want to go through automated phone systems and customer service waiting lines.
• The social space is where consumers are spending the majority of their digital time.
• Brand Facebook pages and brand Twitter handles are currently flooded with CS support chatter. Opening up alternative hubs for CS, whether it be a dedicated Facebook tab or CS Twitter handles allows brands to use the pages for engagement and interactive promotions.
• Leads to faster and more effective CS response times.
• Moves from reactive CS to proactive CS i.e. CS embedded within social allows brands to listen to cues and concerns from customers before they blowup.
• Improvement of brand sentiment and social health.
• Above all, it leads to satisfied customers!

There are a number of brands tackling the Facebook CS hurdle with significant success. Below is a snapshot of Walmart’s Facebook CS tab:

Walmart’s CS Tab on Facebook

Walmart’s tab takes consumers complaints off the main wall and enables consumers to: ask questions, share ideas, report a problem and give praise.

Be sure to also check out: Facebook CS on Rosetta Stone and Nike.

Michoel @Twabbi

Social Media Week’s Creating Music for the Social Web panel, hosted by SoundCtrl, took place this morning at Hearst Magazines, the Art & Culture Content Hub for this week’s events. Pitchfork Media President Chris Kaskie kicked off the morning with a keynote speech, where he talked about Pitchfork’s role as a kind of music discovery curator.

In the evolving world of music, where listeners are not only discovering songs and artists through their friends, but also through automated listening processes like Pandora, Pitchfork is using social media in conjunction with its website as a means of maintaining contextual relevancy and trustworthiness for its fans.  Kaskie pointed out how the definition of “music ownership” is changing, and that some day he’ll leave his kids with “logins to cloud accounts and not record collections.” And while it isn’t Pitchfork’s responsibility to figure out how musicians can continue to generate revenue in light of this change in music consumption, he feels it is Pitchfork’s responsibility to cover music that their audience is interested in.

At present, Pitchfork finds that Twitter and Tumblr are two social media networks that augment their audience’s music discovery experience–as platforms to have conversations (Pitchfork.com does not allow user comments) and also to find content that is re-contextualized from Pitchfork.com.

Creating Music for the Social Web

The panel included a range of industry professionals: Jessie Kirshbaum (Nue Agency and SoundCtrl), Maura Johnson (Music Editor at Village Voice), Josh Deutsch (CEO at Downtown Music), Asher Roth (rapper) and Chris Kaskie (President at Pitchfork Media).

The panel, lead by Josh Deutsch, discussed the role that the web has played in the music business. Asher Roth, the only musician on the panel, gave insight into how the musician is tasked with not only creating music, but also navigating the social space in a way that is effective and efficient. Because, as he remarked, it seems that right now there are “so many tools…I just need a knife and a fork.”

Creating music for the social web, however, can be a liberating process. The creative freedom that comes from being unbound by the expectations and constraints imposed by traditional record labels can be a major reward for an artist. Kaskie also pointed out that although there are many record labels doing great things, today people don’t pay as much attention to record labels. The production, distribution and success of an artist all come down to the audience’s interest level in the music and the artist. Fans are often artists’ greatest promoters, taking it upon themselves to tweet, share and blog about the music.  So in essence, all musicians are on the same playing field. There are varying degrees of popularity and production quality, but because musicians now have the ability to create and release songs from their bedrooms, critics like Pitchfork, will treat the music the same.  To quote Maura Johnson, “If the craft is there, it’s there despite the business side.”

Take-Aways From the Panel

The social web continues to create opportunities for musicians. Artists need to be able to find out what works for them. They must be mindful of focusing on those networks that will help achieve their specific goals. As Josh Deutsch answered when asked what the top things an artist should know to get their music in front of the right music curators and editors, “it all depends on who you are as an artist and what you want to accomplish.”

Social Media Week 2012 NYC started strong on Monday morning with a keynote by David Eastman, CEO of JWT America and a thought-proving presentation by Ann Mack, JWT Director of Trendspotting. Both Eastman and Mack touched on the fundamental shift in the ways consumers are connecting with brands, while providing marketers with ways to prepare for potential pitfalls that lie ahead such as “Facebook Fatigue, “de-teching” and “hyper-personilization” pushback.

Eastman discussed the perils of lazy social marketing (the false notion that “nobody ever got fired for marketing on Facebook”) and the importance of tapping into consumer passion points. Much to the delight of seasoned social media professionals, Eastman urged brand marketers to have genuine conversations with customers – if messaging is uninspired or boring, people will doze off. And this doesn’t only apply to what happens on social media channels. Eastman argued that “social” media should roll up into digital and any other form of media, even suggesting that next year’s “Social Media Week” should just be called “Media Week.” Mack would later support this by touching on the opportunities that exist with social commerce and integrating interactive screens in brick and mortar retail.

Eastman also didn’t shy away from sharing strong opinions on hot button items such as Facebook’s frictionless sharing and the rapid growth of Pinterest. Engaging social experiences are key, and to Eastman, Facebook’s frictionless sharing almost feels like spam. In his words “sharing should be active, otherwise it is meaningless.” As for Pinterest, he recognized that “pinning” has hit the mainstream, but isn’t sold on the long-term value. To Eastman, “over-pinning” is something to look out for – Pinterest might make it hard to separate what people really care about, the same way “over-friending” on social networks has devalued friendship.

Ann Mack followed with a lively presentation touching on social media trends to look out for in 2012 and beyond. As she said, “conspicuous living” has reached an all-time high. Between social media, the advancement of mobile technology and location based services, there is a radical transparency in all of our lives. This way of life is actually leading to social angst, a result of FOMO (fear of missing out). “Radical transparency remorse” (did I really tweet that last night?!) is becoming more prevalent and people are starting to become wary of the opt-out data culture that companies like Facebook have embraced. All of this can lead to “Facebook Fatigue” and eventually “de-teching” a very real concept that will only grow stronger as fledgling social networks such as Google+ and Diaspora gain more mainstream exposure.

Mack also warned about user pushback against “hyper-personalization” while discussing what she called “The Filter Bubble.” From ads on Facebook to news stories curated through Zite all the way to search results from Google Search Plus Your World, personalization has become the norm in our digital world. In a recent JWT study, 69% of respondents stated that they felt this tailored content was useful, but 79% said they’d prefer to see things through an unfiltered lens. Meanwhile, 86% were curious about what is being left out when content is tailored to them. “Reengineering randomness” by providing different POVs and serendipity is a trend that has caught on with social services such as Meetup.com, Grubwithus, Yobongo and Turntable.FM. Consumers will continue to expect personalization, but also want the option of randomness – it’s a delicate balance.

Both Eastman and Mack made it very clear that none of this is going to end “social” commerce – it will only enhance it. Human beings are wired to socialize and will continue to do so with the means they are provided. The key for brands and marketers is to create a message that drives people to socialize and overlay the social graph across the digital experience. Brands should use social as a driver for good, advocate for opt-in instead of opt-out data and should experiment with social commerce, collaborative consumption and digital integration at retail.

You can follow Ross on Twitter @RossSheingold and on Google+ http://gplus.to/RossS

In just a few days, the Big Fuel office will be opening our doors to hundreds of New York’s hyper-social elite for Social Media Week!  Social Media Week is one of the world’s most unique global platforms, offering a series of interconnected activities and conversations around the world on emerging trends in social and mobile media across all major industries. This time around, Social Media Week will be taking place in 12 major cities: Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Miami, Paris, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington D.C. – and right here in New York City. The conversation will be centered around the theme of empowering change through collaboration: reflecting on the global impact of social media and its role as a catalyst in driving cultural, political, economic and social change.

What’s even more exciting, is that Big Fuel will be the Global Hub – the conference’s global headquarters – for all things global and social. In addition to a fantastic lineup of speakers who are scheduled to hit the Nokia stage throughout the week, we’ll have a number of cool interactive installations. Here’s what you can expect when you stop by the Global Hub:

• Blogger/Press Lounge
• Information Booth
• Whole Foods Snack Cart
• Nokia Agora Data Visualization
• Official Global Livestreaming
• Work/Recharging Stations
• Nuru Project Gallery
• Social PIX Photobooth
• Daily Happy Hours

And we’ve also pulled together an exciting schedule full of thought leadership and entertainment like you’ve never seen before! Here’s a preview:

• Keynote interviews by The Guardian
• “Digital Fireside Chats” with Jon Bond
• Meet the Afropolitans party
• Movie Screenings with gourmet popcorn

You can access the full schedule here: http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/hub/global

Finally, we’ve called up a couple of our very good friends to join us on the Nokia stage throughout the week, and want YOU to join in the conversation with us! Here’s the complete schedule of Big Fuel sessions going on this week. We add new panelists everyday, so keep checking back for updates, and don’t forget to register for your favorites!

BIG FUEL SESSIONS

Monday 2/13: Global Social Media Listening (1:00pm-2:00pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=1854

In order to create personalized content that will effectively engage and inspire consumers, it all starts with listening. Brands need to know what people are saying, where they’re saying it, and why. But what if you’re a huge global brand with audiences all over the world? Understanding the nuances that vary from culture to culture requires a specialized approach. These are some of the topics and issues we’ll address in this panel discussion:

• What are the best tools for global social listening?
• How real-time is global social media listening?
• How can global brands activate on these insights?

HOST:
Cathy Taylor, MediaPost

PANELISTS:
Patricia Gottesman, Crimson Hexagon
Yoram Greener, Big Fuel
Sarah Long, Syncapse

Tuesday 2/14: Social Love – The Future of Social Media and Relationships (1:00pm-2:00pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=1855

The social web has had a profound impact on the way we connect with each other. It’s affected our friendships, our relationships with our families, our professional networks, and even our love lives. People are discovering romantic partners in a whole new way, and social networking continues to play a major role after a relationship has ensued.  We’ve rounded up the top dating sites to discuss the modern love story: how we discover each other, how we connect, and how social media affects our relationships – for better or for worse.

HOST:
Danielle Gilardi, Big Fuel

PANELISTS:
TBA

Global Influence (Wednesday Feb. 15, 1:00pm-2:00pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=1857

You’ve built a global community around your brand – but how do you activate your community members? Enter the influencers: high-impact individuals whose expertise and advice is trusted among the community. This discussion will cover the following topics:

• How do you define and identify an influencer?
• What are the various influencer metrics?
• How can a brand approach and then work with influencers?
• What are some best practices for running a global influencer program?

HOST:
Ben Luntz, Big Fuel

PANELISTS:
Joe Fernandez, Klout
Funk Master Flex, hip hop DJ, rapper, musician and producer
Samir Balwani, Stylecaster

Thursday 2/16: How to Build a Global Facebook Architecture for a Global Brand (1:00pm-2:00pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=1856

A singular Facebook page with global appeal, or multiple Facebook pages with local appeal? When it comes to crafting your brand’s global Facebook strategy, it’s important to understand your options and how to effectively manage multiple presences that speak to each unique community. What approach best helps you achieve your global brand goals? Whether it’s driving engagement, raising awareness, or building community, representatives from an agency, a brand, and the Facebook platform talk about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to building a global Facebook architecture.

PRESENTER:
Devrin Carlson-Smith, Big Fuel

Friday 2/17: Future of Social Technology (1:00pm-2:00pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=1897

Social media is fueled by brands, content and consumers, but its DNA is technology. Human culture is advancing at the speed of social technology innovation. However, to engage audiences and increase marketing ROI, marketers need to react to the rapid and complex changes in technology. With an accurate adoption of social platforms marketers will meet the consumer in the midst of a human culture wave – increasing engagement, branding and social ROI. Join us as we share with you a forecast of social tech trends – topics will range from humanizing social technology, social media management systems, social commerce, social TV, social gaming and how these will affect marketers, brands and consumers.

PRESENTER:
Michoel Ogince, Big Fuel

JON BOND’S DIGITAL FIRESIDE CHATS

An ad industry visionary and thought leader, Jon co-founded Kirshenbaum & Bond, considered the first modern integrated agency. Kirshenbaum & Bond was also perhaps the original “word-of-mouth” agency, which was its positioning at its inception in the late 1980s. Now, Jon leads Big Fuel, the world’s largest social media agency. Join Jon in intimate 30-minute discussions with some of the top industry personalities who speak candidly about the topics that matter most to social media’s future.

Monday 2/13: Patricia Gottesman, Crimson Hexagon (12:00pm-12:30pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=1853

Patricia Gottesman is the President, CEO and Director of Crimson Hexagon, a vanguard social intelligence company built on an IP platform developed at Harvard University. Crimson’s patent-pending analytical software interprets the most extensive repository of past and current social media posts available for analysis today, as well as proprietary and market data to provide real-time answers, correlation, and contextual insights into opportunities and risks.

Tuesday 2/14: Joseph Jaffe, crayon (12:00pm-12:30pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=2233

One of the most sought-after consultants, speakers and thought leaders on new marketing, Joseph Jaffe is President and Chief Interuptor of crayon, a mash-up of 5 key areas: strategic and creative agency services, consulting, M&A Advisory, thought leadership/custom publishing, and finally training/education. crayon’s clients include The Coca-Cola Company, GSD&M and SpiralFrog.

Wednesday 2/15: Joe Fernandez, Klout (12:00pm-12:30pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=2234

Joe Fernandez Co-founded Klout, Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Joe co-founded Evalulogix, helping over 5000 school districts meet special education reporting mandates for compliance with NCLB and IDEA. He attended University of Miami and Oxford University and serves as Director of Klout, Inc.

Thursday 2/16: John Winsor, Victors & Spoils (12:00pm-12:30pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=2235

John Winsor is a leading strategic marketing and product innovation thinker known for his work in collaboration, co-creation and crowdsourcing. He is respected author and CEO of Victors & Spoils, the world’s first creative agency built on crowdsourcing principles. Before V&S, Winsor was the VP/Executive Director of Strategy and Innovation at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, helping the company become the a highly awarded advertising agency. Using strategy and academic-based market intelligence tools, Winsor helped some of the country’s most progressive companies learn from key voices in their communities through methods he gleaned from his years as a journalist.

Friday 2/17: David Hirsch, Metamorphic Ventures (12:00pm-12:30pm)
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=2236

David is a digital media veteran with over 15 years of business development and operational experience with web services companies. He specializes in developing sales, organizational and operational strategies for entrepreneurs and helping build the necessary partnerships for success. He is a managing partner at Metamorphic Ventures in New York City, joining Metamorphic after eight years at Google. He helped open Google’s New York office and was on the founding team that launched Google’s advertising monetization strategy and execution. Pursuant to helping hire and structure the regional sales teams, he co-founded Google’s Vertical Markets Group and was responsible for building and managing an all-star team that provided marketers and publishers with industry specific expertise.

On Wednesday, Facebook filed it’s initial public offering for $5 billion dollars in initial funding. Working for a social media agency means being well-read on the latest social news, so I knew it was happen. I knew what it meant to Facebook’s business, to the ad industry, and to its users. The story itself didn’t interest me.  That was until I came across an article by Josh Constine of Techcrunch. In it, he spoke of Facebook’s revenue growth strategy – specifically, the rollout of using behaviors through Facebook’s open graph apps – and that’s what really got me excited.

Facebook open graph apps are any applications, either on smartphones or online, that you connect to Facebook to access your basic information. The apps then share any action that you perform in them to your network on Facebook. What’s key in these apps are the actions that people take in them, which advertisers would be able to use to better target consumers.

Here’s how it works: If you were to use Spotify, an online music player that connects to Facebook, and play Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne, this would post on your Facebook profile. This action would also be recorded by Facebook, and available to advertisers. If this were one of your most played albums, advertisers could then reach out to you with better targeted ads, like an offer to buy tickets for a Jay-Z concert in your area.

The reason why I care about this is because the behavioral data offered through the ads used in these apps provide a wealth of insight for what fans want on owned brand social channels. Using the example previously stated, assume 80 out of 100 people who bought tickets through Facebook’s new open graph ad system, an 80% conversion rate. Since this is better targeting using behaviors rather than social interests on a Facebook profile (incorporated into the old ad model), it’s also assumed that this would perform better. We in the social media world could then sync this into our owned channels for creating more relevant content (such as in the Jay-Z album) to drive higher conversions in our page’s transactions.

However, the problem lies in Facebook’s system of splitting the paid media of targeted ads from owned media of branded pages, there’s no exception for data here as well. It’s highly likely that data for advertisers will only be shared with advertisers. As the digital landscape matures, marketers are beginning to see how owned and paid social can feed into one another. Overall, it’s my hope that once the stock is offered, and the new ad targeting systems roll into effect, all digital professionals will have access to this data in a way to create truly relevant social channels.

Image used via guardian.co.uk

I meet a lot of interesting people through Twitter. It’s my favorite social network. And I love hosting Twitter parties. But yesterday I met someone that blew my mind. Shenikwa Medlock, also known as Cedar Hill Mom, attends about 36 Twitter parties a week. Yes, you read that right, 36 parties a week! She’s won an apron, cutting boards, bracelet, and magazine subscriptions from some of the parties she’s attended.

But Shenikwas doesn’t just love Twitter because of Twitter parties, Twitter has been a great problem solver and support system. Shenikwa is a SAHM of four children, one of whom had a severe speech delay and moderate articulation issues. She sent out a tweet that connected her with a mom who helped with all the ins and outs of getting her daughter the care she needed, dealing with the different agencies and how to get her placed in the public school system. She attributes the information she got from Twitter with saving her family from bankruptcy in dealing with her daughter’s challenges. A private school education ($54,000 a year not including books and fees) would have been upwards of $65,000-$70,000 a year. The private therapy is $50.00 a day with a 5 day minimum (not including any miscellaneous fees). Private therapy is 2 hour (round trip). Multiplied over a week it’s 10 hours commuting a week. It just wasn’t an option. Financially…it would have been a hardship.

But I’m not done with the Twitter stories and Shenikwa.

Shenikwa’s family lives in the Dallas area so they naturally love football and watch football. Every couple of years Shenikwa and her family host a big, blowout Super Bowl party for about 40-50 people. (She has a very big family.) At this year’s event, Chevy sent out a tweet asking for fans to share their ideal Super Bowl ingredient for a great party and using the hashtag #SBParty. And Shenikwa’s tweet was chosen.

On game day Shenikwa and her family were surprised not only with enough party ingredients for 50 guests, but that they arrived in the back of a brand new Chevy Silverado and presented to her by Chef Guy Fiere.

If you want to connect and congratulate Shenikwa, you can find her on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and of course, Twitter. “I’m on them all the time on my mobile. My husband hated it. It drove him crazy. Now he’s a little bit cooler about it, and he’s not giving me such a hard time about it.”

I love how 140 characters truly has the power to change lives.

A Sizzling Startup

Pinterest is a two-year-old social bookmarking site with a visually-pleasing “virtual pinboard” interface. Users collect photos and link to products they love, creating their own pinboards and following the pinboards of other people whom they find interesting.

Pinterest’s growth has been exceptional; in fact, larger than Facebook experienced at the same age. In December 2011, the sizzling social site generated 11 million uniques and recently became the top traffic driver for retailers. Like many individuals in the tech, social, media and startup space, everyday my news-feeds are flooded with Pinterest’s current and potential success stories. Most recently, they were presented with the award for Best New Startup of 2011 at the Crunchies Awards.

What Sets Pinterest Apart

Through the lens of social technology there is something very powerful about Pinterest: They are conquering territory no other entrepreneur or startup has come close to: harnessing the power of images for brands.

Other social networks have attempted to leverage photo sharing but the results have not proven successful:

• Flickr – one of the world’s first and largest social photo networks, has failed to build technology that brands can fully utilize. Sure brands have Flickr pages, but it’s just a dumping ground for their content. Open social network product features such as friending, following, content redistribution, advocacy and gaming have not been built into the platform. Perhaps this is because it landed in the hands of Yahoo. I have no doubt that Caterina Fake could have done significantly more.

• Instragram, Color and other mobile photo sharing applications are not fertile grounds for brands to engage consumers through images – at least in the present we are not seeing brands rush to leverage these networks.

• YouTube mastered the power of videos, Facebook with content, advocacy, advertisements and gaming, Twitter with realtime conversations, and Foursquare geolocation, but no-one has fully harnessed the power of images.

Pinterest is pioneering the fusion of image hosting technology with social product features and are the leading destination where brands can engage with consumers through photos.

Pinterest for Brands

Brands are capitalizing on the Pinterest platform – even running promotions and competitions. Brands include, GAP, Whole Foods, Martha Stewart, Better Homes and Gardens and the Travel Channel have all started to utilize the network.

Whole Foods Engaging Fans on Pinterest

So what’s in store for the social network in the near future? Three of my predictions:

• Official brand pages
• Integration with SMMS vendors – opening the door to content strategy, management, publishing and analytics.
• Social commerce – specifically a method for transactions to take place within the Pinterest platform

I have established contact with Pinterest and they currently do not have official brand-agency programs or teams – however they have made it clear it’s coming. I can’t wait!

Michoel (@Twabbi).

You know those serendipitous moments when your mobile music player, while set to shuffle, happens to play just the right music for your mood and environment? It’s as if the player knows where you are and which music could possibly enhance your experience. Those instances seem to happen by chance (well, that and your apparently brilliant taste in music). But what happens when the artist intends for those moments to occur–for the music to augment your experience in a particular environment?

Over the past few years, musicians have been experimenting with location-based services (LBS) as a marketing tool to target local ads and promotions. More recently, however, we’ve seen apps integrate music and location so that musicians are able to connect with their listeners to create a more personalized listener experience. For instance, apps like SoundTracking and Herd.fm allow bands and fans to upload, discover and share new music (and photos) based on their locations.

Taking this concept of music and LBS to another level, is a Washington D.C.-based band called BlueBrain. They recently created their second location-based album/app called Central Park (Listen to the Light) that augments the listener’s reality based on location (their first app of this kind was released in May 2011 for D.C.’s National Mall).

For their latest album/app, BlueBrain created an app designed to be listened to in a specific location–Central Park. First, the user downloads the app/album to their iPhone or iPad. Then, according to the app description, as the user moves through the park, the app “tracks their location via the iPhone’s built-in GPS capabilities; the melody and rhythm of the music varies in accordance with the user’s path.” The album/app builds on the rich layer of metadata surrounding the user’s location (i.e., route, speed, topography) to create a unique experience every time–a kind of Choose Your Own (Listening) Adventure.

Watch this short documentary to learn more about their process:

As I see it, BlueBrain has upped the game for LBS usage, allowing this technology to brings awareness into a space that not only connects the listener to the music, but also connects the listener to their environment. It will be interesting to see where artists take this concept of integrating art with LBS. This pairing is clearly an emerging opportunity for the music industry, opening up a whole new world of possibilities to create more personalized and note-worthy experiences for listeners.

What do you think of this marriage of music and LBS? Do you like the idea of having your music adapt to your surroundings, or are you content with playing what you you want when you want it, knowing that it’s not going to change in the process?

(Photo via Washington Post)

Can those fleeting, intangible tweets of ours really fuel positive social change? Social media professional and entrepreneur Harrison Kratz founded Tweet Drive to do just that. By striking a balance between real-world and virtual-world community building, he has rallied philanthropists across the country to hold toy drives and charity events for underprivileged children around the world. Harrison’s 2011 efforts resulted in 3,500 toy donations over 37 events, in addition to raising thousands of dollars for local charities.

Learn how Tweet Drive took flight in a mere 14 months by reading my following interview with Harrison.

MH: What inspired you to create Tweet Drive, and how have Twitter’s unique capabilities enabled this initiative to recruit such a large national base of donors?

HK: In 2009, I organized a small toy drive for my local homeless shelter. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. The next year, I wanted to do more and saw social media as a way to really spread this cause on a larger scale. Our goal has stayed consistent: bring holiday cheer and positive change to underprivileged children through the tools and culture of social communication.

Twitter has given all of our champions, advocates, and volunteers a platform through which they can be heard and enforce positive change within their own communities. We continue to operate without any monetary donations or funding, and Twitter has been our driving force of conquering that aspect and empowering everyone who wants to get involved.

MH: What made you choose Twitter as your philanthropic vehicle? Why not choose a platform where you can provide more consolidated background information and news about your cause, displayed all in one place?

HK: While having a core platform displaying background information is really important, I realized from the beginning that we needed to operate as swiftly and loudly as possible. Twitter gave us a way to do that. It helped those who wanted to get involved to communicate quickly and to as many people as possible. I knew Twitter was where we could build a community in the least amount of time.

MH: What have been some of your greatest success stories while running Tweet Drive?

HK: There have been a lot of great stories, but when I look at what embodies Tweet Drive it is our Houston and Seattle events. They have built incredible communities and haven’t just done a lot for Tweet Drive, they’ve created a culture of giving back in their communities. That is what we strive for with all of our events.

MH: How effectively do you feel Twitter can strengthen people’s relationships with social causes? What sorts of appeals does Tweet Drive usually use when trying to connect with potential donors – emotional, moral, logical?

HK: I think Twitter can strengthen a person’s connection to a cause but its really only a gateway and there’s a lot more to it. Social causes that are the most successful provide both real life experiences and content that inspire donors to give back. You need to utilize these tools and experiences to convince that they’re not just donating but actually making a positive impact on the world.

MH: How do you believe Twitter’s ability to raise awareness differs from its ability to foster genuine activism? Basically, I’m comparing sustained action in the real world versus the virtual world. Consider, for instance, the highly regarded Malcolm Gladwell article written for the New Yorker last year entitled “Small change: why the revolution will not be tweeted.” Gladwell argues that while social media platforms like Twitter can raise awareness among loosely connected networks, they cannot prompt significant action and dedication beyond the computer screen. He believes that for social movements to incite real-world change, participants must have real-world relationships with one another and operate within a hierarchy of defined leaders. Alternatively, social media operates by loose connections and lateral structures. Based on your experiences, how accurate do you find Gladwell’s argument?

HK: He is 100% right. That is why I make an effort to go beyond Twitter and have as much of a personal connection as possible with my volunteers, partners, and event attendees. I understand the power of a community, and it is my job to build it any way I can in both the real world and online.

MH: If you could give one piece of advice to fellow socially just, socially connected activists, what would it be?

HK: Use your voice and understand that social media is only half the battle. When you start understanding the culture of being social, you can start to inspire positive change in the real world.

Harrison Kratz is the Community Manager for MBA@UNC, the new online MBA program from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He sticks to his entrepreneurial roots as the founder of the global social good campaign, Tweet Drive. Feel free to connect with him on Twitter, @KratzPR.

This is the story of a dilemma that fellow, city-dwelling digital natives MIGHT be able to relate to. I was flying solo in a neighborhood of New York City that I don’t typically spend much time in, and I needed to find a good place to grab a late afternoon lunch. It was past the typical lunch hour, so eyeballing prospective establishments for hustle and bustle wasn’t really an option – they were all empty.

Where did I immediately turn to help discover a suitable lunch spot?  My trusty smartphone and the limitless supply of innovative and intuitive apps – something I’ve realized have become almost a sixth sense in various different situations.

My first step was to pull up the Foursquare app and its “explore” feature (no, I don’t keep Foursquare’s “radar” on – it’s a battery drainer). When using this feature near Big Fuel HQ, some awesome recommendations show up, based on where my colleagues have been, how many times they’ve been there and what is popular on Foursquare. When I’m in a popular neighborhood, similarly helpful friend-based results will show up.

In this case, however, I was on the Upper West Side of Manhattan – more of a family friendly neighborhood, and one that not many of my existing Foursquare friends frequent. Foursquare’s explore feature did its best to pull in options that are “popular on Foursquare,” but they didn’t carry as much weight as a recommendation from a friend with similar interests. Foursquare’s closed network and smaller base of users wasn’t up to this task.

Next, I decided it was time to cast a wider net of restaurant reviews via the Yelp app – I really didn’t want to settle for a place I had been before, or waste time and money on a mediocre lunch. When I’m at home on my computer, Yelp.com is my go to place for food reviews.  It is integrated with Facebook connect (allowing me to clearly see my friend’s opinions), but is also open to reviews from the entirety of the interwebs unlike Foursquare’s closed network of friends. Location services is used efficiently, so even if I don’t know where I am, Yelp will find me, and find a restaurant that I’ll enjoy. Finally, Yelp’s “review highlights”  for every restaurant allow me to quickly see important information or recommendations for that particular venue.  Yelp’s mobile app offers many of the same features, including block-level filtering, really helping to drill down nearby options. I was even able to mess around with many levels of filters, including different food types, best rated, etc.

But here’s where the frustration set in. By the time I had efficiently set all of my filters, I was getting cold, feeling a little silly standing in the middle of the sidewalk messing with my smartphone and more hungry than ever. I should have started out with the Yelp app and not wasted time with Foursquare in this particular neighborhood. In the end, I took the “safe route” and grabbed a sandwich from Lenny’s – a chain of lunch spots that operates in nearly all of New York City’s neighborhoods and that I had eaten many times before.

This lunch adventure led me to a bit of a realization – I can’t be the ONLY human being becoming increasingly reliant on my smartphone. Are we progressing (or regressing?) to the point where a large portion of society EXPECTS digital technology to act as a seamless extension of our brain? I demanded instant gratification in the form of a lunch recommendation and I expected my smartphone to deliver. There were definitely “apps for that,” but it took a bit of toggling and optimizing – I wanted it to be even easier.

Across industries, digital technologies are resulting in higher levels of efficiency that simply didn’t exist even a few years ago. Nearly 40% of all mobile users have smartphones and that number continues to rise rapidly. At the same time, smartphone users are having trouble finding the apps they need. According to a recent survey conducted by T-Mobile, 32% of smartphone users feel it is difficult to find the best application for them. Mobile apps have come a long way, especially following the explosive growth of iOS and Android, but it’s still surprising to see how few mobile app developers truly understand what users are looking for.

Soon, success and failure in the mobile app world will depend on developers building a user experience that is simple and intuitive – something that will use an advanced technology to make a process more efficient. A natural extension of our brains.

You can follow Ross on Twitter @RossSheingold and on Google+ http://gplus.to/RossS