Social Media use in NZ

Unlock the Bond in you

Coke continue their tradition of creating inventive and highly social campaigns, pegging their latest effort to the release of new Bond flick Skyfall.

Take a look at the below and let me know what you think in the comments.

NZ's Digital Universe

Roy Morgan held an event in Auckland last week to go through the findings of their latest research. It painted  a picture of New Zealand that is increasingly going digital, with nothing short of a revolution well under way.

Here are the top findings from the report:

1) Smartphone penetration and mobile internet is growing rapidly. 

Today, 68 percent of Smartphone owners use their mobile phone to access the internet and internet access via mobile phone has increased by 99 percent in the past 12 months.

2) Social media is used by the majority of New Zealanders

Over half (56 percent) of New Zealanders use Facebook in an average four week period. This equates to approximately two million New Zealanders aged 14+. Even more people use social media, if you include other growing platforms such as Google+ (up by 20 percent in the past six months), LinkedIn and Twitter. 

Twitter (which allows anyone to be a publisher and build an audience) is still an early adopter phenomenon. Only six percent of New Zealanders visit Twitter in an average four week period, but its growth continues and has in fact increased by 31 percent in the past 12 months. 

3) 27 percent of smartphone owners use their mobile for social networking

Given the growing prominence of smartphones, it is not surprising that social media use on mobile phones is growing so fast. 11 percent of smartphone owners in New Zealand visit Twitter in an average four week period. 

4) Digital media is quickly growing 

There are so many ways people can now access and read the news – via the printed edition, PCs, Tablets and Smartphones. Digital newspaper consumption, which has increased 112 percent in the past five years, is driving the total masthead readership of newspapers. 

Computer tablets like the iPad, which are now accessible to over half a million (570,000) New Zealanders 14+, allow readers to view a digital version of the newspaper in high resolution. 

5) Like print, television has new competitive threats (and opportunities)

YouTube is now used by 39 percent of New Zealanders 14+.

Of interest, the group most likely to stream video content is men aged 18-24 years, with seven percent of these young men never watching commercial television. This clearly demonstrates that some consumers cannot be reached with video content in traditional mediums but are embracing new forms of video or visual entertainment.

6) TV broadcasters have been quick to reach and embrace new digital platforms

Traditional television networks, however, have been quick to react and embrace new digital platforms. We are seeing them create social TV experiments and deliver greater audience engagement by linking TV programmes with the power of the smartphone and social media. 

7) Online shopping is now mainstream. 

Most of us are surprised to learn that Trademe is now one of New Zealand’s largest shopping outlets. Roy Morgan data shows that two million New Zealanders 14+ visit Trademe in an average four week period. Comparatively, 1.95 million New Zealanders shop (buy something) at the Warehouse in the same timeframe. 

With $5.6 billion spent in online shopping by New Zealanders in the last year, it’s clear that the internet, and the increased prevalence of smartphones and tablets, is impacting the way we shop and therefore the very fabric of retailing in New Zealand. 

8) Online payment systems, like PayPal, are increasingly being used by New Zealanders when they shop online

Almost one in five (19 percent) New Zealanders are using fast-growing online payment systems like PayPal while 30 percent are using credit cards online. This also means that banks and credit card companies are facing new competitive forces that didn’t exist a few years ago. 

9) The digital universe is not just impacting the way we shop, but also the way we pay our bills. 

36 percent of New Zealanders 14+ have gone online to pay household bills in the last 12 months, while only 10 percent pay with cash and 17 percent with a cheque. 

With the advent of the digital wallet – e.g. Google Wallet and the new iPhone iOS6 operating system – consumers will become more reliant on internet payment mechanisms and less reliant on traditional modes of payment such as cash and cheques. 

If you want to read the whole report, you can do so here

New ASA guidelines for social media use

New Zealand advertisers have averted the need for regulation of commercial messages on Facebook and Twitter.

The Advertising Standards Authority has issued guidelines short of a formal code for social media.

The move aims to make advertisers aware of potential issues regarding social media and head off complaints like those decisions against social media advertisers for VB Australia and Nike in the UK.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau, which represents online advertisers, contributed to the new guidelines effective from January 1 which will cover Facebook, Twitter and all social media.

But the clearest change of rules will be for Twitter users and advice that people who are paid to tweet should declare their affiliation.

The guidelines say that from January 1 they will have to add the hashtag #ad - making it clear the tweets are advertisements and subject to the ASA jurisdiction.

ASA chief executive Hilary Souter said everybody who received money from advertisers was not obliged to include the hashtag #ad.

"It's not black and white," she said.

There had been no complaints about undeclared advertising on social media in this country.

IAB general manager Alisa Higgins and leading social media consultant Michael Carney said they could not estimate the amount paid for tweeting but that it was widespread in New Zealand.

The chief executive of the Association of New Zealand advertisers, Lindsay Mouat, said the guidelines made it clearer for advertisers paying someone to endorse brands. "That is something that has tripped up some advertisers internationally."

Facebook charges $7 for personal promoted posts - what do you think?

Facebook announced on Wednesday U.S. users will now be able to promote their personal posts to friends for a fee, but the news is being met with mixed reactions.

Although testing first started in New Zealand in May and has since rolled out to more than 20 countries, those in the U.S. can now pay to make sure your network never misses a big update in your life, from a baby announcement to an event you’re organizing. But each promoted post will cost you $7.

Take part in the poll below to tell me what you think of it...

Mercedes lets #YouDrive

Social innovation is at an all time high and campaigns integrated with social media are the latest incarnation exemplified by the new Mercedes-Benz #YOUDRIVE Twitter campaign, which will let fans help shape the ending. Ever the innovator on digital, Mercedes-Benz is up 10 percent in Interbrand's just-announced 2012 Best Global Brands report.

TV viewers in the UK will ‘drive the action’ of a three-part story about the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class to be shown this weekend during commercial breaks in "The X Factor." A cat and mouse caper features a young music star (played by Top Boy actor Kane Robinson) aided by a female accomplice attempting to secure a secret gig that authorities are keen to close down.

Different scenarios give viewers the chance to ‘steer the action’ real-time in scenes shot on the streets of Portugal by Anthony Dod Mantle, whose movie credits include D.P. on Slumdog Millionaire.

“Our strategy is led by the way consumers now interact with advertising,” stated David George, Marketing Director, Mercedes-Benz UK. “People no longer want just to listen to brands, they want to interact with them, that’s critical.”

Twitter data showing the percentage of viewers who voted for each outcome will be integrated into the final ad and viewers will be directed to a custom YouTube channel, to view the ads and create their own. The campaign runs through December 2, and includes cinema, press and outdoor, and a promoted Twitter campaign next weekend to promote the activity.

Why it works...

One of the key drivers for social media is the human desire to play god. We all like to exert control over our world and to feel like we are able to influence outcomes and other people. That's why this sort of campaign is such an alluring proposition. Mercedes aren't just asking people what they think of their brand, they're actively allowing them to create that brand's image. But cleverly, they're not really having to give up much control to do it.

I think we'll see more and more of these types of campaigns over the coming year as brands work out how best to use the power of social media to empower their brand ambassadors.

Facebook not clicking for marketers

With Facebook's stock down over 40% since their May IPO, they have embarked on an aggressive campaign with the aim of persuading the market that their revenue streams are viable. There has been much debate recently as to the efficacy of Facebook advertising, something that Facebook's execs are keen to defend.

In order to prop up their stock valuation Facebook have been forced to be more overt about their advertising placements. It's clear that more of the platform is for sale now than has ever been and regular Facebook users will have noticed the increased presence of sponsored posts in their newsfeeds, both on desktop and mobile. But the fact of that matter is that people don't click on them as much as they do on traditional digital adverts.

The most recent figures I've seen have the average click-through-rate for an ad on the internet at around 0.1%. Facebook currently delivers a CTR of half of this at 0.051%. Google's ad network on the other hand delivers four times the average click through with 0.4%, making Google's advertising a huge eight times as effective as that of Facebook.

It's pretty hard for Facebook to argue with these numbers, so instead they've tried to move the goalposts. After arguing for years that their platform is about engagement, influence and conversation, they now want to move away from using clicks as a metric and instead concentrate on the efficacy of Facebook as a reach and awareness platform.

This seems somewhat disingenuous to me. I heard Paul Adams, Facebook's own Global Head of Brand and Design and one of the leading thinkers on the emerging social web, talk specifically about how platforms like Facebook will mark the end of distraction mass advertising as we have traditionally known it. He talked about the billboard as an example of a dying advertising format as it was designed purely to distract people from doing the thing they should be concentrating on doing. He talked about the TVC as an example of marketing arrogance, putting up a barrier in front of what the consumer really wanted to get at. And most of all, he talked about engagement being the real king.

Where have these mantras disappeared to? Concentrating on Facebook's potential as a reach and awareness platform by placing adverts in the centre of people's newsfeeds is doing exactly what a billboard does. It is putting a barrier between the consumer and what they want to be doing. And it's not engagement.

I'm sure there are some good reasons why Facebook advertising doesn't get the same click-throughs as Googles. Firstly, on Facebook a user is looking to socialise. They're not shopping or searching for products or services in the way they might be when exposed to a Google ad. But changing the numbers to suit the story can't be the right strategy for correcting this. If Facebook want to make their advertising more attractive, they need to make platform changes that allow those ads to appear in greater context. Perhaps putting such weight on the advertising being in social context simply doesn't work.

I talked some time back about Facebook being on the brink of plucking defeat from the jaws of victory. That prediction may have been somewhat facetious, but one thing's for sure, their future is looking less certain than it was a few years back.

The changing face of news

Andy Carvin: "I get uncomfortable when people refer my twitter feed as a newswire. It’s not a newswire. It’s a newsroom. It’s where I’m trying to separate fact from fiction, interacting with people. That’s a newsroom."

Flickr photo of Tunisian protests by marcovdz

July 6th 2005 - I found myself stuck beneath the armpits of revelling Londoners as thousands celebrated the announcement that London was to host the 2012 Olympic Games. It was one of the great moments for my home city and one I'll never forget. Sadly, the following day was to prove even more memorable as four coordinated bomb attacks brought London to a standstill.

At that time I was working for GMTV as an interactive producer. I took a camera down to Trafalgar Square on the day we won the Olympic bid and we ran a picture gallery on the GMTV website, alongside an appeal for viewer photos from Trafalgar Square and their messages of congratulations. We also had a poll asking whether Brits were happy that London won the bid - believe it or not, it was not universally supported.

The following morning I was in the GMTV gallery when news of a problem on the underground hit the wires. At first it was being reported as a probable electrical fault. Within minutes we had a line to the Met Police and Transport For London as news of a second Circle Line problem and another on the Picadilly Line filtered through. Scrambling to get reporters in place and phonos with spokespeople, we broke the news to the nation that London had become a target for a series of co-ordinated attacks.

Just seven years ago, as two of the biggest stories in London's recent history broke in the space of two days, the public relied entirely on news publishers to get their information. Could you imagine if those two stories broke in London now? How would you learn about it first?

It's more than possible that the answer to this is through social media. At 1.30pm on July 6th, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr and more would have been full of pictures of Brits draped around the Union Jack, videos of M People blasting out "Search for the Hero", messages to friends and family declaring "I was there", jokes, pithy commentary, informed opinion and celebrity endorsements. The nation would find out about the story simply by virtue of the fact that their ears were open. It would be difficult to avoid the conversation.

On July 7th, this would have been even more pronounced. The Twittersphere would have been full of chatter the minute the first explosion was heard (though unlike South Korea, there is no internet access on London's Tube). People would have been jumping on Facebook to let their friends know that they were okay - I had to call all my family members individually - and to share pictures and videos taken on their smartphones.

So does this mean that the importance of traditional media is dwindling? Simply put, no. While traditional news organisations are to an extent losing control over the message, they are more important than ever. 

The problem with social media (and the citizen journalism output that goes hand in hand with it) is that it is entirely unregulated. The job of a journalist is to report verified facts. So the job of contemporary news telling, at least in part, is to become a social curator. While a news publisher may no longer be the first voice in the news conversation, they need to be the first trusted voice. It's a semantic difference, but one that could spell success or defeat for news organisations.

News should no longer be thought of as a product. It is now an always-on and collaborative process. News publishers need to listen as much as they speak. And then they need to filter the pertinent from the noise. They should enable the news consumer to find what's important to them quickly, easily and always accurately.

Reddit's coverage of the Toronto shooting a month ago makes for interesting reading and a possible glimpse of the news output of the future.What is unique about Reddit's style of storytelling versus traditional journalism it that it is an uneditorialised aggregation of updates available from those involved in the incident.

Fact checking is available to the reader right from consumption, thanks to the inclusion of links to the sources themselves. And while it may be somewhat difficult to read at first glance, it actually includes context that no other news publisher had when it was published. It included hard-hitting tweets from people attending the party about the potential for violence before the shooting even occurs. It also used messages posted by those involved to talk about the shooting being part of a possible gang war, including links to individual tweets from people threatening more violence. There were tweets and YouTube videos posted by members of a gang that one of the victims was apparently associated with.

Thanks to the curation of updates from those intimately involved in the story, there is more depth and context to this narrative than any other mainstream new publisher was able to produce. Ultimately, that makes for a more human story and that's extremely powerful.

Journalists need to stop seeing themselves as gatekeepers of information and start to look at journalism as a collaborative effort involving all kinds of different sources. Those who learn how to make use of all these tools will end up producing better journalism. They'll end up producing stories with greater depth and context. They'll end up telling stories that resonate more deeply with their readers on a base human level. And news publishers who have these journalists on board, will end up winning in the war of the changing worlds.

Aussie Court Rules that Facebook is Advertising

But are you really?

The world of social media is an ever evolving one and as brands work out how to best use new technologies to create word of mouth around their products, the goal posts are endlessly being moved. Never more so than in Australia, where this week a landmark court case has made companies sit up and take notice of what is being said on their Facebook pages in ways that they never have before.

The Australian Advertising Standards Board this week ruled that Facebook is an advertising medium, and as such, that company pages must comply with pertinent codes and laws. So far so good. However, one ramification of this ruling is that a company would not only be responsible for their own page posts, but also for any public posts that appear within their page environment. What this means is that any consumer posting sexist, racist or factually inaccurate information on branded Facebook pages are no longer a nuisance, they are a legal risk.

Brands have long argued that Facebook isn't an advertising medium, but rather a networking tool that facilitates interaction between the customer (or consumer) and the brand. However, the Australian Courts disagree and so now brands will have to ensure that the only content that appears on their page is content that they would be happy to distribute on other advertising platforms. A quick look through much of the user generated commentary on branded pages and it will become clear how far this is from the current position.

So what will this mean for brands? Well, brands will have to resource their pages accordingly to ensure that every incoming piece of user information that makes it onto the page is read and verified for legal compliance. They will have to react quickly to anything that is inaccurate or that falls foul of advertising standards. Whether this means deleting or simply putting the record straight is yet to be seen. And how quickly the law will expect this retraction to occur is up for debate.

The question is whether or not brands will bother to do this. I think there's general acceptance that using social media to produce positive digital word of mouth is beneficial to a brand. However, if this positive word of mouth now has the potential to put the brand at risk of legal issues, some may consider it too risky or high maintenance and revert to more traditional media through which to generate social buzz. Alternatively, we may simply see a move to restrict the consumer voice through these social channels, which would negate the whole concept of social marketing.

What is for sure is that brands can no longer afford to take a hands-off approach to what consumers are saying on their pages. If you build it, they will talk. And not listening to that talk is no longer an option.

It's important to note that this ruling has been made in Australia and does not apply to New Zealand... yet.

NineMSN "Jump-in" to social TV

The convergence of television and social media is accelerating at an ever increasing rate, the latest evidence being the launch of ninemsn’s new app Jump-in.


The app, which is now free on the App Store for the iPad, turns TV viewers into active participants while shows are on air. 

Jump-in’s debut coincides with the London 2012 Olympics and features a range of interactive content to keep users up to date with the Games.

Users of Jump-in can see the Nine Network’s full Olympics schedule, set reminders, comment on events, check-in to shows, follow Olympic hashtags on Twitter, check the medal tally and watch video highlights.

See below for screenshots of the app in action.


My Verdict

The first thing to strike me is that ninemsn have gone down the same route as Yahoo!7 in creating an entirely new brand under which to house their app. Yahoo!7 used Fango, ninemsn have created Jump-in. I wonder if this shows a slight lack of confidence in the consumer perception of their masterbrands. Creating new platform specific brands serves to distance the second screen experience from the masterbrands (Yahoo!7 and ninemsn), something that could damage those brands in the long term if the consumer doesn't connect the two in their minds.

I haven't yet a chance to play around with the app itself, but from the screenshots it would appear that the navigation relies on an EPG format. The decision to make the architecture consistent with the way that a viewer would navigate through their TV listings is a clever one. Firstly, it ensures that it is intuitive to the target audience, television viewers. Secondly, it strengthens the bond in the viewer's mind between the app and the television screen, partially offsetting the distancing I talked about in the last paragraph. Creating an integrated and consistent experience across the different screens is vital for a second screen application to work.

In terms of the actual offering, there doesn't appear to be anything radically new here. There is no evidence of any audio-recognition or automatic synchronisation of content with the first (television) screen, so it is left entirely to the user to create their own journey. The integration of Facebook and Twitter in the application allows the viewer to share their opinion, but there's no aggregation of ongoing conversation as far as I can tell so this doesn't really create a dialogue, rather a one-way correspondence. I can't see what value this offers the viewer over and above simply using Facebook or Twitter.

While there is the ability for msnnine to publish extra background content, there doesn't at this stage appear to be anything truly interactive like polling, voting, games etc. It all feels a little bit "broadcast" rather than personalised and tailored to the specific screen. This may just be the case at launch though and I'm sure there will be scope to provide a more interactive experience in future iterations.

In summary, the app looks thoughtfully branded and well designed. The question will be whether they can truly tap into the personalisation, conversation and gamification consumer needs by designing captivating experiences for the platform. Time will tell.

 You can check the TV schedule across different broadcasters and set reminders...

Check in, find out more and add programmes to your favourites...

Tweet or post to Facebook about the show you're watching...

The app will include interactive content around key news events...

How the internet became everything...

I've just discovered a great infographic from Orcon and I was going to take the trouble to write out the key findings from it, but then I thought I should post the whole thing and let you make your own mind up.

25 million uploaded photos per month in a country of 4.5 million people. Sounds like a lot to me...

New life in Google+

Have Google finally found way of breathing life into their seemingly terminal social network Google+? Well, possibly. Just possibly.


This morning, the first evidence of some potentially deeper integration between Google Search and Google+ was spotted in the UK. A new option in the search results that showed up next to the URL, displayed a “Share” link.  Upon hitting the button, users are prompted to share directly to Google+ from the results pages.  The result is included as a link and users are given the ability to add a comment:

This is the first time that Google have integrated their full "sharing" function within their search results and could spark a take up of the social network among Google's search users. And as we all know, there are plenty of those.


This is the first time that Google+ has really found a way of differentiating itself from Facebook by leveraging their core search asset. Time will tell whether or not it's enough to drive a change of consumer behaviour, but it's certainly an intelligent move for a company desperate to tap into Facebook's 900 million strong population. 



Google’s Product Manager Sean Liu confirmed that this is an official product rollout. He wrote:


"Starting today, we’re rolling out a new experiment to show a Share link in Google search in place of the +1 button, making it easier for you to share a great website with your friends. Now when you click the Share link next to a result, you can add a comment about why you found it useful. You can then choose if you want to share it publicly or just to your Circles and it will post to your Google+ stream, making it easier for you to share directly from the search results page. This will appear for those searching in English."

How Facebook works - the mystery of EdgeRank

I've realised that sometimes I talk about the intricacies of the social and anthropological drivers of social media without actually stepping back and making sure that everyone understands how the platforms themselves function. So here's a very brief explanation of how Facebook works and what it means to brands.

As I'm sure you'll all know, Facebook is social utility that allows people to create an online identity through which they can build connections to their friends, family, associates, campaigns, businesses and brands in which they're interested.

Most of the activity within Facebook happens within the News Feed. This is a constantly updating list of stories from the friends and pages that a user chooses to follow. A story is anything that happens in Facebook that creates an update - this can be a new post, comment, like, share or any action within the platform. Facebook calls these updates "Edges".

The average NZ FBer has 203 friends and follows at least one brand. That means their News Feed contains a lot of updates. So Facebook has worked out a way of making sense of these updates to ensure that a user gets the information that they would be most interested in at the top of their feed. This is called "EdgeRank".

EdgeRank orders "Edges" (or stories) according to three values - Affinity, Weight and Time Decay. It's important that brands understand how to make EdgeRank work them so that they can get into users' newsfeeds.

Affinity is how close the user is to the generator of the "Edge". Affinity is built by repeat interactions with the brand's posts - the more often they interact with brand updates through liking, commenting, sharing, clicking etc, the higher the affinity value. It's therefore important that brands only post what they think their users will be interested in. Every post that isn't of interest and therefore doesn't get engagement reduces this affinity rating.

Weight is dictated by the type of "Edge" that is created. The easiest way to think of this is that the longer it takes to create the post, the greater the weight. So a photo or video post carries more weight than a text or link post. A comment carries more weight than a "like". Don't get confused by this - it doesn't mean we should be writing essays. The length of the post is not important, it's the type that makes the difference.

Time Decay is the most self-explanatory of the EdgeRank values. This is simply how old the post is. An Edge has a fairly short lifespan, so it's important that brands only post when their audiences are likely to be active on Facebook.

It's important to understand that thanks to EdgeRank, a branded page will never reach 100% of its "likes". In fact, the proportion will often be fairly low and one of the metrics that a brand should use to track its success on Facebook is the interaction rate (number of interactions per post per thousand fans). This is a good way of tracking how much of your audience actively engages with your content and therefore whether you're posting the right content at the right time.

Here's a good infographic I've found explaining how EdgeRank could apply to different situations:

This could change our world...

Isn't it amazing how prescient science fiction can be? Do you remember the computer interfaces in Minority Report and the way Tom Cruise was able to pull pieces of content around on a screen simply by swiping his hands? We now all take it for granted that we can do that on tablets and smartphones, but even that relies on touching a screen and allows only a two dimensional interaction. 


Well Leap Motion is about to change all that. An amazingly clever little gadget, when this is released in December it will allow users to interact with content in a 3 dimensional space in front of their monitor. This means you'll be able to produce three dimensional images, moves things around and navigate through content with just fingers or any other objects you care to pick up. The possibilities are boundless.

Take a look at the video below for a clearer picture. There are desktop mice all over the world fearing for their future...

Social Media Sets the UK News Agenda

Social media is the news source of choice for Britain’s under 25-year-olds.

According to the first Reuters Institute Digital Report, 43% of people between 16 and 24 get their news from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook rather than search engines such as Google.

Over 45-year-olds’ use of social media for getting news pales in comparison to the younger demographic — just 11% say they get news from the social web. For 33% of British people over 45, search engines are the online method of choice.

Between different social networks, Facebook is the most popular place to share news. More than half (55%) of people share news on Facebook, beating email, where 33% of people share, and Twitter, where 23% of people share. Few people responded that they share frequently to Google+ or LinkedIn.

The report’s editor, Nic Newman, found that Europeans are generally less interested than Americans in sharing news or engaging otherwise digitally.

As far as what they like to read goes, UK readers are more interested in science and technology news (23%) than business and financial news (19%).

This clearly makes for interesting reading for organisations in which news distribution is key. All news outlets will have to find new ways of reaching their audiences to keep up with consumer behaviour. It's a move from news as a product to news as a process. Where traditionally news has been dictated by production and distribution within a one-size-fits-all methodology it is now an always-on, transparent and collaborative process.

This is not all bad news for traditional media companies. While there may now be a need to change workflows to ensure that consumers are included in the process, there are benefits to the new news environments. Traditionally news content has had a short shelf-life. Now, value is being found in the archive as consumers find that timeliness isn't the key driver for conversation, but rather quality of content. Shareable, engaging, entertaining and interesting news remains that for a longer period.

There's an argument that being first is no longer the key objective - rather it's being the first credible and accurate source. News brands are becoming curators rather than creators and it's only once this transition has taken place that news organisations can make the most of the new news platforms.

Where do you get your news? Search engines, media outlets or social networks? Take part in my online poll here

Heineken Second Screen app

Second screen genius...

Okay, I confess - I'm a huge football fan. And I mean that in the British sense. In other words, "soccer". Which probably makes me slightly biased about the below example of second screen innovation. However, over an above the application being based around the world's greatest sport, there is plenty to applaud in this brilliant activation.

Firstly, it proves that there is a place for brands in second screen and social engagements. Heineken are plastered all over this app, but they never feel like they're distracting or irritating. Instead, they supply the user with an engaging experience that evokes a positive emotional response to the brand.

Secondly, this is a great example of consumer led second screen engagement. It doesn't try to change viewer behaviour, it just taps into the existing behaviour. Football fans (trust me, I know about them) have always watched the game making predictions like "here comes a goal" or "they'll win this easily". This app simply let's them do that, in a really fun way, with a competitive perk and communal experience.

The consumer and the content comes first - the platform is just the method of delivery.

Fairfax and Channel 4's Scrapbook

Fairfax goes “digital first”

Fairfax, who this week confirmed job cuts and the introduction of pay walls for their Australian sites, have announced a "digital first" publishing strategy which will see "greater sharing of editorial content across geographies and across platforms." As digital content consumption continues to attack traditional media, we’ll see a lot more publishing and content-based business adopting the same approach.

The figure back up Fairfax’s strategic position. In the last social media update I asked you how you first heard your news and 38% of you said you heard news first on news websites. Fairfax is targeting you.

Interestingly, 11% of respondents said that television was their first source of news against 15% who said social media and 23% radio.

Channel 4 launch “Scrapbook”

Channel 4, who have long been considered digital innovators in the UK, have launched a new service on their site allowing users to collate articles they're interested in into an online scrapbook. The service is imaginatively entitled Scrapbook and you can take a look at it for yourself here.

http://scrapbook.channel4.com/

I honestly think that Channel 4 have dropped the ball with this. While it's nicely designed and easy to use (as you'd expect) I can't see what the consumer need is for such a service. Creating quick and easy links to articles and sites of interest is already perfectly achievable through simple in-browser bookmarking. The distinct lack of sharing options puts this in stark contrast with Pinterest which has similar functionality but allows you to create "boards" that you can share with your friends and in turn browse theirs. This seems to fulfil the human need for sharing ideas, creating a sense of identity and creating communities through shared interests in a far more social sense than Scrapbook.

Would you use Scrapbook? Let me know by taking part in this quick poll...

http://poll.fm/3rqqp

Facebook must let users opt-out of sponsored stories

It's been a tough couple of months for Facebook and now a ruling in California has forced them to give users more control over which of their actions can be promoted in Sponsored Stories. A lawsuit claimed it was illegal under Californian law to use people’s names and images along with advertisements without compensating them.

Facebook have agreed to create a way for users to view which of their interactions have been displayed in Sponsored Stories and take action to opt out of these being shown further.

The change could have a negative impact on Facebook’s advertising business, which increasingly relies on Sponsored Stories over traditional ads that do not include social context of what a user’s friends Like. Sponsored Stories have higher clickthrough rates than other ads on Facebook, especially when they are displayed in News Feed or on mobile devices.

This is a really interesting precedent to set. While I can't see this ruling having a huge impact on the effectiveness of sponsored story ads in the short term, if further territories choose to challenge Facebook’s current stance on the use of user data it’s more than possible that more concessions could be necessary in the future.

For anyone who’s not sure what a sponsored story is here’s a good example…

Social TV is here to stay

The Social TV movement has arrived… and it’s here to stay

On-screen promotion of Twitter handles, hashtags and Facebook pages is nothing new. Increasingly viewers are now seeing the promotion of network specific and show-specific second screen apps and are being invited to take part in contests that incorporate elements of social interaction. But for the first time, we have proof that the message is hitting home.

A recent US study run by Accenture found that 64% of consumers recall the social prompts they see on television. That’s a staggeringly high figure, but when you see the amount of TV related applications currently available through Apple’s App Store or Google Play, it perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise.

Every day the number of start-up Social TV companies increases, with offerings from reward mechanism, to check-in, access to exclusive content and conversation aggregators allowing you to interact with your friends in real-time.

But are they getting it right? I gave a presentation to the Technology team on Wednesday in which I talked about the need to remain consumer focussed in the face of so much technological potential. As I’ve said before, the future of television will be architected by producers who understand the need to create meaningful experiences. So what will Social TV really mean?

Well, in my opinion it will consist of three key themes – conversation, personalisation and gamification.

The conversation of television is nothing new. However, it is increasingly public and with services like Trendrr, increasingly accountable. Our challenge is to harness the natural talkability of television and turn it into something empowering. We need to create a sense of community and shared experience. We need to allow them to give and receive recommendation to and from their friends and increase the volume of our show brands around the digital watercooler.

The personalisation of television will be hugely important in retaining viewers and creating loyalty. This is the sense of putting our consumers at the centre of what we do. Our content must feel like it’s aimed at the individual viewer, make them feel like it’s all about them. It should be relevant, it should be their stories, told in the way they want them. And it should reflect their views and empower them to contribute. Viewers have always wanted their voice to be heard, but it’s only now that they have the means through which to do it. In 1990 the BBC received 1 million pieces of viewer correspondence. In 2010 they received 10 million… per day. Viewers want to be listened to. More than that, viewers now expect that they will be.

Gamification is the fun stuff! This simply means giving our viewers the ability to have fun with our content. The Voice’s 5th Coach Game is a great example of this, not only giving viewers a fun application to play with, but actually allowing them to influence the outcome of the show through it. It also rewards the viewer the more they play. It taps into the consumer desire to participate, to feel like they are part of the process. This is a communal, tribe-building experience and in the coming months, we’re going to see networks across the world getting more and more creative about how they use platform extensions to increase engagement with their shows.

However they do this, they will need to be focussed on the consumer and their emotional needs. Second screen activity will need to be seamlessly integrated, highly engaging and rewarding.

Easy eh?

Google are having a laugh…

Google has applied to take control a plethora of new domain names, including .LOL.

It has also announced that it has submitted applications for .google, .youtube and .doc and in explaining its decision, it cited “interesting and creative potential.”

On a side note, there's an interesting peculiarity about domain name registration. When the internet first came into being, all countries in the world were assigned a country code top level domain. The UK got .co.uk, New Zealand got .co.nz etc. The Polynesian island nation of Tuvalu were the big winners, getting the domain .tv. Unfortunately, they weren't aware of the real value of such a domain and leased it to Verisign for just US$4million per year. Estimates suggest that it was actually worth about 50 times that figure.

This week’s poll…
Thanks to the 30 of you who took part in last week’s poll. That’s a 600% increase on last week and at this rate, it’ll be an NZ-wide census by early 2014. A reminder of the question… do you have a television set in your home that is connected to the internet? Here are the results:

This week I’m asking… how do you normally hear your news first? Take part by clicking here 

Social media brings Eurovision to life…

For the non-Europeans among you, here’s a brief introduction to the weird world of the Eurovision Song Contest. Eurovision is a competition to determine the best song across the continent. It dates back to 1956 and in many ways was the precursor to Pop Idol, X Factor and The Voice. At its peak during the 70’s and 80’s it featured acts such as Abba, Sandie Shaw, Celine Dion and Brotherhood of Man. An eclectic mix I think you’ll agree. In recent years it has seen a decline in popularity and has ceased to make a ripple in the European cultural landscape. Until now...

In yet another case of a live event driving huge levels of engagement across social media, Saturday night's show peaked with over 25000 tweets per minute. While this cross-continental volume is a drop in the ocean when compared to the 50000 votes per second X Factor receives in the UK along (at peak), this is still a huge shot in the arm for a waning brand.

See the image below for a timeline of Twitter chatter...

Weekly digest 25th May

Short and sweet this week because we’re all tired of hearing about Facebook’s IPO. Well, aren’t we?

Last week’s poll results… and this week’s poll

Thanks to the handful (literally) of you who responded to last week’s poll. 100% of those who took part answered that they did not trust Facebook to keep their information private…

This week, I’m asking you to help me with a bit of research. So… here’s the question: Do you have a television set in your home that is connected to the internet?

It’ll take you 10 seconds to answer, so please take part here:

http://poll.fm/3q5oo

Facebook launches a Camera app

The $1billion purchase of Instagram starts to make sense as Facebook have now launched their own camera application that is eerily similar to Instagram. Facebook Camera, which is now available in the App Store for free, dramatically improves upon the photo capabilities offered by Facebook’s main apps.

It’s currently only available for iOS owners (sorry all you Androiders) and will allow you to upload multiple photos and apply filters in much the same way as Instagram users will be familiar with. This really highlights Facebook’s swift move to mobile and Mark Zuckerberg has made no secret of prioritising mobile integration. Worryingly, he hasn’t yet worked out how to monetise the mobile users and until he does, investors will be concerned that Facebook’s already sliding share-price won’t pick back up to IPO levels.

I find it interesting that Facebook have clearly decided that they have too much functionality and too many strings to their bow to attempt to harness them all in one application. I actually think this is a good idea. Due to the limited screen size available to mobile applications, navigation needs to be extremely intuitive and therefore the site architecture not too deep. Splitting the Facebook offering into separate apps enables them to keep the user experience simple and highly targeted.

Even really bad television is social…

Watching television and movies precisely because they are so bad is not a new phenomenon. However, now it is becoming something of a sport on Twitter and you can join in using #hatewatching.

Negative social buzz may not be a good thing, but “hate watching” is an entertaining activity — driven by short and imaginative Twitter wit — and by extension it could drive a little viewership on its own under the umbrella “all publicity is good publicity.” That certainly seemed the case during the premiere episode of The GC, with social buzz driving increased ratings during the course of the show. However, ratings have since dropped indicating that such negative-driven spikes in viewing will not be sustainable. In the end, content is still king and quality is important.

Health warning – while “hate watching” may seem a harmless activity, it can also lead to disillusionment and anger if channelled in the wrong way. Steer clear of Michael Bay movies and anything starring Danny Dyer and you should be fine.

This week’s pretty picture…

Weekly digest 18th May

Is Facebook a fad? And do you trust it?

According to a recent poll, half of Americans think that Facebook is nothing more than a passing fad.

An Associated Press-CNBC poll conducted between 3rd and 7th May this year found that half of all Americans considered Facebook to be nothing more than a passing fad.  In addition, 50% of those polled thought that the likely asking price for shares in the upcoming IPO was too high.

Take a look at the infographic at the bottom of this page for a response to this. If you think Facebook isn’t worth its $100billion valuation, it might make you think otherwise.

Respondents were split (43% in favour, 46% against) when considering whether Facebook would have long-term success.

59% of all those surveyed did not trust Facebook to keep their information private; just 13% showed significant trust in the company.

And 83% of people claim to hardly ever or never click on an advertisement on the site, along with 54% who don't feel at all safe buying goods or services from Facebook-hosted links.

DO YOU TRUST FACEBOOK TO KEEP YOUR INFORMATION PRIVATE? Take part in my online poll here:

http://poll.fm/3pk9e

Shazam gets off to a good start with ITV

Last Saturday saw the launch of Shazam-enabled advertising on ITV in the UK. It has been hailed a great success by the “media discovery provider”, with around 50,000 viewers using the Shazam app to tag adverts during special commercial breaks in the Britain’s Got Talent final.

Viewers who had the Shazam app on their smartphone were invited to enter contests to win tickets to summer festivals from Pepsi MAX and an Olympic Ceremony package from chocolate manufacturer Cadbury by tagging adverts.

Here’s a quote from Simon Daglish, Group Commercial Sales Director at ITV: “We’re thrilled that the first UK Shazam-enabled ads achieved this level of interaction in Saturday’s amazing Britain’s Got Talent final - proving there is a real appetite from consumers to go deeper with quality content including spot advertising. We’re very excited about talking to all our advertisers about this exclusive new opportunity to drive real-time engagement with their brands.”

This needs to be put in some perspective though. While 50,000 sounds like a good figure, the BGT final averaged an audience of 11.9 million. So actually, the engagement rate with the Shazam ads hovered around the 0.4% mark. When you scale that down to normal schedule ratings, the figures start to look pretty small. When you then transpose that to the far smaller New Zealand market, they become smaller still.

Mediaworks have been running a similar project with local suppliers Pluk. They have so far had around 50,000 downloads of the app, however engagement rates have remained extremely low.

My feeling is that these second screen advertising extensions will only work in the context of value-added second screen engagement around our own shows. Globally, second screen solutions already exist that allow viewers to engage with shows while they’re live on the air and then serve up advertising extensions timed to coincide with the linear advertising on the television screen. This makes much more sense as a consumer proposition and is a huge motivator for broadcasters to get some control over the second screen.

Background…

I’ve realised that not everyone will know of Shazam so I thought I should explain. It is basically the audio equivalent of a barcode reader. As a smartphone application, it is able to recognise the unique audio patterns of millions of audio tracks, from songs to pre-programmed tv shows and adverts – in fact, anything with a unique soundtrack that has pre-programmed into the Shazam database - and then serve up content specific to that pattern.

Everything you ever wanted to know about mobile use in New Zealand…

I had to share this site with you…

http://www.ourmobileplanet.com/en/graph/?wave=wave2&age=all&gender=all&active=country

CBS launches “CBS Connect”

Social TV continues to mature and become the main web strategy for major TV networks. CBS.com has just launched CBS Connect, “a new social hub connecting fans with each other and CBS stars.”

The site will be a single destination where they will aggregate content from Twitter and Facebook across all of CBS’ programming. The new platform is aimed to allow fans of CBS shows to connect even further with the stars of the shows. This is CBS taking their social TV offerings to the next level and they’ll be using Skype, one of their launch partners, to hold live chat events.

This is yet another example of a global broadcaster reimagining the way their viewers interact with their programming. I was involved in a similar project with ITV, aggregating social conversations around key shows into a system we launched as ITV Live. The idea was to use social media as a conduit between ITV and the viewer, strengthening the relationship and closing the gap between the two. The stronger the bond, the more brand loyalty and advocacy, and ultimately the higher the ratings.

I’m currently working with Tom Cotter on putting together a proposal for something similar here. TVNZ has utilised a social stream aggregator in the past with Grandstand (around the Rugby World Cup) and while that wasn’t perfect, a catch-all solution that covers conversations across all our programmes may have more traction. I’ll keep you updated.

In the meantime take a look at CBS Connect here.

Facebook add apps and negative sentiment feedback to their Insights tool
Earlier this week, Facebook introduced app ratings and negative feedback metrics to their in-built insights tool. The idea is to give developers and brands a better understanding of how users respond applications within Facebook.

Interestingly, Facebook already use these metrics to decide what apps will appear in users’ newsfeeds and also what will be promoted in their recently announced App Center. Having transparency of these metrics will empower brands to tweak and improve their apps to gain more reach within the Facebook platform.

The new app ratings dashboard in app insights will show how users have rated an app on a scale of one to five stars. Admins can view ratings as absolute numbers or relative percentages across different demographics, including age and gender, country and locale.

So for the first time, we’ll be able to produce applications like “Shortland Street Lookalikes” and “The Revenge Game” and know exactly what different demographics thought of it. I’m all for being able to learn as we go along, so this can only be good news for us.

While we’re talking Facebook apps, Method Studios are currently putting the finishing touches on our new Facebook competition entry form. This will allow us to run a competition entry application within any of our brand pages to capture names, email addresses and (if required) even photos and videos. It should be a fun and rewarding way of engaging our viewers. If anyone wants any further details, feel free to give me a shout.

New Zealand are ahead of the game… again
Once again we appear to be Facebook’s testing ground. Following the rollout of Timeline, which happened in New Zealand a month before the rest of the world, we are now privy to another Facebook development that can’t be accessed anywhere else.

Controversially, NZers now have the ability to pay to highlight your own personal post. In the same way as page’s sponsored stories, users will now have the ability to pay a small amount (likely to be $0.80) to ensure that their post makes it into all their friends’ newsfeeds.

It calls into doubt Facebook’s long-term promise never to charge users for using their platform. Opening up a pay option means that users may soon be competing with each other to spread their news among their social circles. And that may make the platform untenable for users unwilling to part with their petty cash.

My hunch on this (purely subjective) is that this will never see the light of day in other territories. Facebook recently drew up a document entitled “35 things that could destroy our company”. Spreading updates to newsfeeds based on how much a user spends on it could well be one of these things. I do wonder if Facebook are on the brink of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The below infographic seems to be a far more sensible approach for Facebook to take to justify its IPO valuation…

Interesting picture of the week

Weekly digest 11th May

The future of TV is multi-screen

I’ve been working recently on pulling together some top lines around the future of TV. The real buzz term at the moment is Social TV and there’s general acceptance that this will be the next stage in the ever-accelerating changing face of television.

However, while people seem to accept that Social TV will be the content proposition of the future, nobody really seems to understand what it means. Simply throwing Twitter hashtags on screen or incorporating a throw to Facebook won’t cut the mustard for much longer.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve witnessed a massive convergence of screens – think how different your television, personal computer and mobile phone used to look just a few years ago. Now you can watch videos, listen to the radio, email, Skype, browse the internet and most importantly communicate with others on any of those devices.

And it’s the proliferation of communication technologies across all these screens, being driven by the explosion of social media, that’s changing the way audiences consume television programming. More than ever, we need to think of a television programme as an event. It is this event that will drive conversation, engagement and ultimately create meaningful entertainment, and it is therefore this event that we need to ensure is alluring, remarkable (in the true sense of the word) and ultimately shareable.

Here’s a great quote from Twitter’s director of media partnerships: “Twitter lets people feel plugged in to a real-time conversation. In the future, I can’t imagine a major event where the audience doesn’t become part of the story itself.”

That’s probably the most important thing to recognise. We no longer tell the whole story through our programming. We now start the conversation through the “event” we broadcast in our schedule. That’s just the start of the storytelling. Our audience then brings its own values to shape, contextualise, socialise and customise the story in their own unique way. They now are a crucial part of the story, whether we like it or not.

So viewers now have a different relationship with the programme they’re watching. We need to think about what this relationship with the storylines, characters and elements looks like. Equally, we should be thinking about the relationships being forged between viewers themselves. And finally we need to think about what those relationships specifically look like on each screen.

How does the show develop a relationship with its audience on mobile, tablets, online and on-air? Only by cracking all of these screens will we be able to innovate in an ever changing landscape.

As Brian Solis says: “It takes vision. It takes creativity and imagination. It takes innovation. Most importantly, it takes the architecture of experiences to engage, enchant and activate viewers across multiple screens.”

Although… not everyone agrees

While the two-screen experience (TV and handheld or laptop) is the predominant platform for social TV interaction now, Jordan Bitterman (the head of social marketing practice at the global digital media shop Digitas) thinks that viewing and social interaction in the future will be integrated into one screen.

This is an interestingly contrasting opinion considering the swathe of consensus for a multi-screen future. It will be fascinating to see how producers utilise the dynamic potential of internet enabled television though. There is no reason why interactive engagement mechanisms can’t be integrated into a single screen experience. I just wonder whether broadcasters and content producers will be able to persuade digital natives to aim their full attention at just one screen. Without incorporating all screens, there’s the risk of a broadcaster losing their audiences to competing content/communication across other devices.

The BBC launches a second screen strategy

The BBC is going to use companion screen apps to enhance the enjoyment of programmes but also introduce audiences to what can often be a wealth of programme related information and interactivity online. The broadcaster will launch its first companion screen app this September in the form of a play-along game for Antiques Roadshow, a gentle Sunday night affair where the public bring family treasures for experts to analyse and value. The BBC is harnessing the fact that most viewers already try to second-guess the experts with their own valuations. You will be able to play the game whether you are watching live or on-demand.

It’s interesting that the BBC have chosen a programme aimed at an older demo to with which to launch this functionality. Traditionally we think of second screen engagement as being the preserve of Generation Y or C, but it’s clear that the Beeb don’t buy that. Time will tell whether they’re right or not and I’ll keep you updated in September.

The BBC clearly believe that show-related companion activities on smartphones, tablets and even the PC are a way to explore new creative opportunities. Ownership of the applications themselves will lie with the production teams - this is crucial. The production department will drive the format, while the technology development team will help them realise their vision.

The future of television will not be dictated by a social media strategy. It will be shaped by programme producers with a genuine desire to create meaningful experiences for their audiences.

Interesting picture of the week

Weekly digest 4th May

The GC trends on Twitter

No doubt about the most talked about show of the week. TV3’s ‘The GC’ has become New Zealand’s most talked about show on Twitter, with six of the country’s top trending topics and even making it to the global list. Over 10,000 tweets were sent about the show which, if nothing else, goes to show that Twitter is a viable platform here. Much of the conversation has been negative in tone so without sentiment tracking, it’s hard to know what value TV3 would have got out of this chatter. TVNZ is about to launch with a social media monitoring tool called Brandtology which will empower us to monitor the sentiment of conversation around our own launches giving us more insight into social engagement than simple volume.

Interestingly, the high volume of conversation on Twitter has also been mirrored on Facebook, with The GC page has receiving almost 10000 likes so far. However, that’s only about a thousand more than the “Cancel the GC” Facebook group. Speaking of which, image of the week has to go to this artistic impression of the experience of watching the show…

LinkedIn buys SlideShare for $119 million

The world’s largest professional network LinkedIn has bought one of the world’s largest professional content sharing networks. LinkedIn currently has 161M members while SlideShare attracts 29M unique visitors per month. Together they’ll have the power to connect professionals to each other through either social interaction or content.

TVNZ can utilise both these platforms to strengthen our trade and employment brand as well as to strengthen connections with other brands. On an individual level, SlideShare is a great way of discovering and spreading professional knowledge. If you don’t use either platform, feel free to give me a shout and I’ll happily take you through them.

Facebook is all action

Facebook announced on Wednesday that their long awaited “action links” are now available. This gives developers the ability to create custom actions within Facebook beyond the “like” button. So now we could have an “add to playlist” button or a “watch this” button around our video content.

If we want to get playful with this, there’s nothing stopping us using other verbs like “hate” or “eat” – you can see how these might fit with our soap villains and recipes (I think it’s that way around). Regardless of the creative application, there’s definitely scope for us to use this to place our content in more of a genuine social context.

Social media is an extension of entertainment and used to listen, rather than speak
A recent Hollywood Reporter study in the US suggested that 88% of people consider social media sites to be entertainment. Among Generation-C respondents (Connected Generation of digital natives) the two favourite pastimes are viewing social networking sites and listening to music, finishing ahead of watching TV shows, movies, or video clips, or instant messaging.

Multitasking also seems to be the method of choice when people do choose to watch the telly, with 79% of those surveyed reporting that they log onto Facebook while watching television. Overall, when asked how they participate in social media, 67% reported listening to and reading what others say, while just 33% said they express thoughts and opinions.

15% of Twitter users seek journalists and reporters, compared with only 9% of Facebook users, and actors are sought on Twitter by 41% of users, versus 32% of Facebook users.

This backs up my belief that people choose to engage with brands and causes on Facebook, whereas on Twitter they seek a more personal connection. That makes Twitter a great fit for harnessing the power of our on-screen talent and work is going into this in a news context as we speak.

NBC makes politics a game

In America, NBC and msnbc.com launched the NBC Politics iPad and iPhone app and while it features political news and video (which are really mandatory offerings), an interactive game lets users take on the pundits and play their own election scenarios.

Political junkies start with a blank battleground map or pick from NBC’s current projection or past election results. The name of the game is to predict which states will fall — or will likely fall — to Obama or Romney, to total 270 electoral votes for the win. Users can test out different scenarios, play along with NBC News experts and create personalized outcomes with the chance to see their map on-air or online. They can then share their maps with their friends and there are rewards available for those who come closest to the real outcome.

The NZ market may makes such offerings unviable in the political arena, but this is a great example of a network thinking outside the box and creating content that is specifically tailored to the platforms on which it will appear. Social content needs to be involved, fun, shareable and remarkable, not just a straight duplication of traditional broadcast content. NBC have done that brilliantly with this app and we should think about how we can do the same around our key properties.

Interesting chart of the week