Each week, I compose a newsletter for our team that includes a series of links about current events and trends in the worlds of technology, social media, mobile, communications and marketing in order to keep our wider team up to date on changes, newsworthy items and content that might be useful in their jobs. These are those links.
If you have additional links, sources or ideas that might be helpful, I'd encourage you to add some via a comment below or tag me in Google+. And if you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links in the This Week in Social Media Magazine.
International protests documented on social media, when employees – and customers – go bad, worldwide media spending statistics, the 5 questions that nag social media marketers, why your fans don’t like your Facebook updates, what Bing has in store, video, video, video and more - it's This Week in Social Media.
Industry
- Employee behavior - good and bad - has the ability to reach millions like never before. Here are two examples of how that played out last week for Dunkin Donuts (good) and Wendy's (bad).
- Both the ranting customer at Dunkin Donuts and the Wendy's employee were fired. The lesson: if you represent a company, the content you create - even if ranting about another business - reflects on your company.
- A global study found that more journalists are embracing social media (except for Germans)
- And it’s a good thing too - the majority (68%) of milllennials get their news from social media, but 66 percent of millennials don’t trust the news
- Brazil has joined Turkey and Singapore as the latest country to turn out masses of citizens at protests, with social media documenting it. #ChangeBrazil is trending; this Vine video of the crowds in Sao Paulo has been shared thousands of times and captures the scale of the protest.
- The auto industry needs to focus its efforts on millennials to keep momentum going. It's a long-term play.
- Gini Dietrich takes a look at five questions that nag social media marketers - with a reminder that it's not about getting good at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube - it's about doing the job you've always done with new tools available to you.
- Worldwide ad spends continue to grow, although some regions have slowed due to economic issues. But the highest-spending regions are not the same as the fastest-growing.
- While content is important, it's the sharing of that content that matters. Here are three keys that open the door to massive social sharing of your content.
- Why don't fans like your Facebook updates? Some tips to power through.
- DreamWorks Animation struck a deal with Netflix to supply 300 hours of new TV programs for the streaming service.
The Platforms
- Facebook's Instagram announced that it will be adding video. This is seen as a direct hit against Twitter's Vine offering, with additional elements including 15 seconds of video, filters, clip editing functionality, image stabilization, cover image an more. Here's a handy comparison of the two services side-by-side.
- At this time, Twitter's only counterpoint is that Vine will have more features.
- Confused about what to do on Twitter? Here's a handy list of 10 essentials of Twitter etiquette.
- Amazon has launched a service that allows Facebook friends to chip in to give Amazon gift cards for birthdays, directly challenging the Facebook Gifts feature.
- Yahoo is supposedly acquiring Qwiki, an app that turns photos, sound and video clips into short movies.
- Why Bing matters more than you think for SEO - Facebook, Siri and iOS 7 come into play.
- A reminder on the benefit of businesses acting more human on Facebook.
Legal/Regulatory
- Some lawyers have a sense of humor with regard to online discourse.
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| Credit: Tom Fishburne |
Metrics/Measurement/Big Data
- In case you missed it last week, the Social Media Measurement Standards Coalition has developed a set of standards supported by a number of industry organizations. The standards are open for comment through July 31.
Content
- With the brand voice taking precedence over hard selling, this LinkedIn executive explains why content marketing matters more than ever.
- When it comes to content, if you don't fully tell your story, others will fill in the blanks - sometimes with misinformation.
Bookmarks/Read-Watch-Listen Later
- Advocates and influencers - these are the same, right? Wrong. Influencers have large followings while advocates have smaller followings. Which should brands focus on? The answer depends on what you're trying to accomplish, but the case can be made that advocates have a greater impact.
- Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak with some candid comments in this video on the NSA's PRISM program, the new features of the iOS 7 and more.
Commentary
It's all about video this week. Facebook/Instagram unveiled a significant (to Instagram) improvement of video in addition to still imagery. Twitter already hinted earlier this week that they would be making improvements to Vine, their short-form video sharing app. And Yahoo is acquiring Qwiki, an app that pulls together images, video and sound to create short movies. What are we to make of all of this?Developers have created a number of good apps for photography and videography. It stands to reason that increasing the features and functionality of existing apps makes more sense than creating yet another app for the same purpose. After all, Yahoo owns Flickr, which has had the ability to upload video for quite some time; and you've always been able to upload video natively to Facebook.
The difference now is creating functionality that specifically serves the need of a more visually-oriented society. If anything, our communications and marketing skillset is being challenged by more visual media. It's not enough to just write well; you have to be able to tell that story with images or video. And here's why the improvement to Instagram and the like matter: http://instagram.com/p/ay7kS_Dk7B/
The difference between traditional video and the new apps. #InstagramVideo by @scottmonty
We're all going to need to fine tune our skills and hone them more to visual storytelling. These tools leave us with fewer excuses for adapting. Are you ready?
Image credit: Chris Blakeley (Flickr)