We all like to get prizes, especially if we don’t have to do much. That is the concept behind Prize Monkey. Prize Monkey was being shown off at CES 2012, when Nick Dimeo, host of F5 Live stopped by to find out what it was all about.

Prize Monkey is a kiosk, but instead of working like a normal kiosk, it interacts with your phone. A monkey ask if you want to play, if you answer yes then it sends a message to your phone. Hit the right answer and the Prize Monkey kiosk produces a prize. There is no application to download or install. Each monkey acts a little differently and can be programmed for a specific demographic. It is being marketed toward social campaigns, promotional campaigns, loyalty programs, product sampling and more. Managers can build the campaign they want based on the demographic they are going for with the dynamic campaign tool provided. It has in-depth metrics and analytic tools built right in. Prize Monkey is an example of a product that is shown at CES that is being marketed toward businesses and not directly toward consumers.

I am curious to know if anyone has seen or used a Prize Monkey Kiosk? How well did it work, was it fun to use? If you are a business or social group who installed a Prize Monkey kiosk did it work for your business?

Interviewed by Nick Dimeo, Host of [F5 Live]((http://www.plughitzlive.com/radio/1-f5-live-refreshing-technology.html)

apple

Apple sold more than 4 times what they normally do on Black Friday – was said in a report on 9to5Mac. But here we have Cyber Monday, and Apple is back to full price. Are they missing on another record sales day?

It was the first time in a long while that Apple put discounts on their products like that. But this Black Friday, they broke the norm and gave discounts on Macbooks, iMac, iPods and iPads. The best deal out of the lot was the Macbook Air, which was $898. A 16 GB iPad was discounted to $450. What was really missing was the 4S discount (which I would have updated iPhone if there was a $30-50 discount).

However, after Friday, the prices jumped back up to their original amounts. While stores like Best Buy have some great discounts in accessories, the only deal tablets will be anything but Apple.

Is a One day a Year Sale for Apple Good or Bad?

This is the true question: Would Apple continue to have 4x the sales if they would have participated in Cyber Monday? What about Saturday or Sunday?

No matter what, this Cyber Monday will continue to bring some great deals. Microsoft’s $299 Dell computer is already sold out. Amazon Cyber Monday will have computer accessories go on sale all week.

Black Friday Weekend Brings 24% increase

The numbers are coming in and there is a 24% increase this year. 14.1% comes from mobile devices. This means people are using their smartphones and tablets to buy gifts. Of course, it’s a lot different than having that old Pentium computer in the den and slow internet connections. Best part is you could shop while lying in bed, so the kids wouldn’t peek and see the cool stuff your getting them.

So now the question is: Will Cyber Monday be as fruitful as last year? They stole the crown in 2010 for the busiest shopping day of the year. Now that people have had a whole weekend to get some great deals, will Monday continue to overshadow, or be overshadowed?

Tuesday is Eco-Day in Cyber Week?

A lot of retailers are using the whole week to make deals. Last Saturday was “Shop Local” day, which people were encouraged to visit the Mom-and-Pop shops. Tuesday is Eco-Day, buying items that are green in nature. No word if Wednesday and Thursday are going to get categorized.

So we could be having a great holiday season, but we are far from over in shopping. A lot of deals are to be had, so keep your eyes out. CyberMonday.com is a website to watch for today, but CyberWeek.com will be on the case all week long.

Today Ford announced their latest advertising initiative, which involves the gaming world.  No, you won’t be able to play Angry Birds in your car via Sync, that would likely prove dangerous.  What Ford is doing is branding their vehicles in video games, and it’s actually not something new.  They have been at this for a while, beginning in 1995 with Sega Rally, but they are now making a more concerted push.

While gamers seem locked into their virtual worlds, they are surprisingly aware of the products that appear in those worlds.  And driving games may be one of the genres where the gamer is most aware of the product.  After all, the gamer in a car race is keenly aware of the car he or she chooses because it may make the difference between winning and losing.

“We’ve realized that gaming is something that many people have grown up with and helps define who they are,” said Brian Mcclary, with Ford’s Social and Emerging Media team. “Ford has gained positive exposure and popularity because we put our products into the right games while giving something back to the gamer.”

Ford is doubling down their efforts now with the release of Forza Motor Sport 4 (released 10/11/11) and Need for Speed The Run (to be released 11/15/11).  They have found that allowing their vehicles to be used in-game gets them more brand recognition and more positive feedback, which translates to more potential customers.  Here are the numbers that they provided from their study.

36% increase in brand rating

28% increase in purchase consideration

39% increase in brand recommendation

45% more gamers agreed Ford Focus is fun to drive

It’s good to see Ford continue to “get it” with their innovation to keep them on top in an ever-changing digital world.  Their partnership with Microsoft for the Sync system and the forward looking advertising with gaming and even with supporting podcasts is something many other old-world companies should take note of.

If you are a gamer, you can check out Forza Motor Sport 4 in the Xbox Marketplace and NSF The Run at the EA Need for Speed website (you can pre-order now).  You can view a trailer of NSF below, but it’s not completely family safe (language).

If you are thinking of developing a mobile app, particularly one associated with a brand name, then you’ll want to read Deloitte’s latest research into killer apps. In less than a dozen pages, it has some great data, mini-case studies and plenty to think about.

Here are a few of the nuggets:

• 45% of smartphone owners download an app at least once per week.
• but less than 1% of the apps associated with a “brand” have been downloaded a million times (which seems to be the metric for success in the app world).

If you want your app to succeed, there are two broad areas that do well – “time killers” and “utilities”. Games are good examples of time killers but Audi and Volkswagen’s driving games are some of the few that have done well. In the utility space, Kraft’s iFood Assistant has also been a hit.

Looking at apps that do well and are successful, these typically employ five functions to engage the user – portability, the accelerometer, sophisticated touch screen use, location-based services (GPS) and the camera. Using these are no guarantees of success but they certainly help.

Of course, it helps if you know your user. Deloitte has broken down iPhone ownership by employment type revealing three big groups:

• 25.2% – Professional and higher technical work
• 22.6% – Manager and senior administrator
• 19.3% – Clerical

In the end, Deloitte reckons that there are four ingredients for branded app success.

1. Offer useful functionality
2. Know how to manipulate app store ratings
3. Target the platforms used by the brand customers
4. Use additional smartphone functionality

The full report can be downloaded from Killer Apps – The Promises and Pitfalls of a Smarter World.

Sean and Lynn from Recom Technologies demonstrate the programmable LCD video name tags. The name tags use OLED screens and have two gigabytes of internal memory that can be accessed via USB. The video name tag sells for $198 and can be purchased from their website.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and Esbjorn Larsen of MrNetCast.com.

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Ah, my once-beloved Dish Network account – the thing I once thought I could never do without; the budget monster that consumed $100 per month, month after month, year after year. I agonized for months over the idea of simply killing it before finally pulling the plug.

It’s been the better part of a year since I put the budget-busting beast to rest and cancelled the account. Dish Network itself seemed to want to throw up as many roadblocks as possible to get me to change my mind. They wanted the LNB module off of my roof, in addition to the two receivers. I had 30 days to send the units back in the packing boxes they sent or they would make me pay full price for them.

I was able to talk the guy out of forcing me to climb up on my roof to retrieve the LNB, and I was able to get the two receivers sent back to them within the 30 days of cancellation. However, somehow they had in their billing system I had three receivers, not two. They sent return packaging for three units. I spent time on the phone with them to make sure this discrepancy was resolved, and they assured me it was.

Ooops, not so fast! A month or two later I got a letter from them stating I still owed them for a receiver and they intended to hit my bank account for the amount. A phone call to them resolved the issue and I haven’t heard a peep from them since.

How has life been without all of those channels? $ome part of me hate$ to admit it, but I haven’t missed it at all. I’ve got an Intel Mac Mini set up as a DVR for local over-the-air HD broadcasts, as well as a Netflix account and several other Internet-connected set top box viewing solutions.

Observations

A very large percentage of TV programming is marketing presented as content. Much of what passes for entertainment depicts multitudes of dysfunctional drama queens assaulting and insulting the people around them. The more dysfunctional they are, the more likely it is the marketing messages will seep into the mesmerized minds of the audience. Even if one isn’t watching commercials, product placement and even behavior placement abounds. Viewers are being programmed to buy certain products, as well as behave in certain ways.

Think you can’t do without cable or satellite TV? Think again. I was paying $1,200 dollars a year for Dish Network. Multiply that by just 5 years and that’s a whopping $6,000 dollars for the privilege of being shaped and influenced by marketing messages so I would spend even more money.

Let’s go one step further. For many people TV is an addiction. These people are crack dealers in disguise. How else could it be that they can continue to raise their prices and people continue to pay ever more?

Let’s be honest. The vast majority of cable TV programming is less than worthless. Could that $6,000 dollars been better spent on higher-quality programming? Of course it could.

Dave Baarman presents Fulton eCoupled Wireless Power (ecoupled.com). They have systems for wirelessly powering things such as cell phones and even systems using conductive ink for “smart packaging” that actually lights up the packaging when placed on a special conductive grocery store shelf. You are going to be blown away by where this is headed. Listen to the full interview and post commentary to get some insights into where ecoupled charging and what symbol to look for when you are purchasing electronics.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Tom Newman of The Fogview Podcast.

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I love these tilt-shift films which make everything appear in miniature and some of you will recall Sam O’Hare’s “The Sandpit” from earlier in the year. This new film was produced for Whistler Blackcomb ski resort in Canada by Mike Douglas of Switchback Entertainment and it continues the fun. Music is “Passed Out” by White Apple Tree.

Whistler Blackcomb – XXS from Switchback Entertainment on Vimeo.

Every year Vitrue announces the top 100 social brands to show which ones are grabbing mindshare.  It does this by analysing online conversations across social networks, blogs, micro-blogs, photo and video sharing sites. Basically it captures what people are talking about on-line.

It’s a pretty good bellwether for the movers and shakers and unsurprisingly, consumer electronics come out very well.Of the total 100 companies listed, 30% are consumer electronics, followed by fashion and retail with 20%. Transportation finishes the podium places with 17%.

Of course, entry in the list is no guarantee of success. I would imagine that a brand getting lots of bad publicity could score highly as well.

But if you want to know what the Top 10 brands are….

1.    iPhone
2.    Blackberry
3.    Disney
4.    Android
5.    iPad
6.    Sony
7.    Apple
8.    MTV
9.    Coca-Cola
10. Samsung

One thing you’ll probably notice is that brands don’t always directly relate to companies.  Apple manages to get three times into the top 10 with Apple, iPhone and iPad. iPod “only” managed to get to number 15.  Another thing I noticed was that the social networks themselves didn’t seem to qualify – there’s no Twitter or Facebook – and I can only assume that this is part of the Vitrue’s algorithm.

However, it’s fun to do some comparing….Apple is in at 7, Microsoft is at 31.  There’s a little cluster of cars at 11, 12, 13 with Ford, Mercedes and BMW.  The Xbox at 17 seems to be trumping the Playstation and the Wii at 26 and 28 respectively. Coca-Cola (9) thrashes Pepsi languishing in at 80. Nike’s (24)  not too far away from Adidas (34).

Check it out for yourself at Vitrue’s blog. Where are your favourite brands?

One of the classic methods of marketing centers around the idea of bundling; i.e. getting people to pay for lower-quality merchandise by pushing sheer quantity over quality. This strategy isn’t always successful, but when it works it can work brilliantly.

When I was a teenager growing up in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, music was sold via vinyl records. The “hit” songs were played on the radio, thus creating artist familiarity and product demand. Radio stations of the day would sometimes play the “B” side of the record but most often they only played the “hits.” In other words, they weren’t playing the “misses” on the radio.

In a stroke of marketing genius, however, someone somewhere got the idea to bundle the musical misses and missteps on the “B” side of the vinyl records. When 33-RPM records came along, this trend was amplified because there was more room than ever. Make consumers think they were buying not only the artist’s latest hits, but throw that filler material in there too. Sometimes with certain artists the filler material could be brilliant too. However, most of the time it was just filler material.

This strategy mostly worked until digital recording and playback techniques, combined with the Internet, caused massive changes in the way people manufactured, discovered, marketed, and purchased music. For a variety of reasons, today people tend to only want to buy what they consider to be the very best “hits” from services such as iTunes, and there’s little to no market for the “filler” misses.

The same marketing concept has been used via bundling to get people to pay for “filler” cable TV channels. Want a “good” channel such as Discovery, TLC, or History? Sorry sir, that sandwich only comes with pickles, mustard and horse radish – take it or leave it.

What consumers often fail to realize is that substantial portions of their cable TV and/or satellite bills are paid directly to bundled channel providers that they probably never watch. Bundled mediocrity gets rewarded.

Why are you mindlessly paying good money for bundled channels you probably don’t know the names of? Stop rewarding bundled mediocrity. Turn off your cable or satellite subscription. I promise you – your heart won’t suddenly stop beating. The world won’t suddenly come to an end.

Adam Curry is a clever guy. Back in 2004 he was working on the concept of podcasting. Now he is pioneering smartphone apps.

About 6 months ago, Adam Curry came out with a free iPhone application called “The Big App Show.” Each day, day in and day out, Curry records a new video of himself demonstrating an iPhone app.

The Big App Show is now available for Android. The concept is the same, except with the Android app the apps Curry demonstrates are obviously for Android and are available in the Android Marketplace.

The Big App Show is a very witty app that really takes advantage of the power of Android and iPhones. Curry is adding value by demonstrating the apps right on the screen as he talks rather than giving dry descriptions. He puts out a new app video on both the Android and iPhone platforms every day of the year.

Bravo Adam! I think you are on to something!!!

Jim Louderback the CEO of Revision3 who I respect a great deal, has made some frank comments in an article on Adage about the Viral Video Advertising space. In his opening statement he makes this assertion.

“Online video creators, advertisers and producers have an unhealthy fascination with viral videos, and that obsession is dragging down the entire industry. Why? Because viral videos are, at their core, no better than a fluffernutter white-bread sandwich, delivering little or no value to anyone.”

I am sure his frustration, follow the same frustration I have when I talk with media buyers. Most are hung up on a shortsighted strategy of going after viral videos because it has coolness factor. While at the same time 99.9% of the media buyer advertising market is ignoring serial content which as this sites readers, listeners and viewers know are followed by very loyal audiences!  When I meet with media buyers their age tells part of the story, most are under 25 and have had 1-2 years of media sales experience. Sadly most of the media buyers refuse to acknowledge the value of predictable episodic content. Instead they pay $4.00-$6.00 cpm for YouTube Videos. They do not understand that the dedicated audiences, with money to spend on products and services, listen and watch the media shows like we represent that reach 10′s of millions of loyal fans each month.  Jim’s shows at Revision3, and those I represent at RawVoice are ROI Goldmines that most media buyers ignore. Jim hits it home in this comment.

“Ten predictable episodic shows that deliver a consistent 100,000 views an episode is far easier to plan for and monetize than a channel that has a one-in-100 chance of catching fire — and a 99-in-100 chance of bombing.”

The last comment I am quoting  is something I have been hammering home for the past 6 years, yet most of these media buyers refuse to consider new media in their buying plans. They ignore what new media content can deliver for them. We get lucky once in a while and convert buyers to our side of the fence.  I had a media buyer recently say “wow new media (podcast) advertising is hitting a home run for us” she could hardly believe the ROI numbers. Why do you think our Advertisers have been with us for 6 years? You would think some of these media buyers would clue into what new media is delivering. Jim’s comment ring home here.

“Viral videos may be bad for creators and publishers, but they are actually worse for advertisers. Your typical viral video gets passed around, yes, and drives a lot of views. And yes, those can translate into impressions for an advertiser. But as we’ve seen at Revision3, advertising associated with viral videos has only a small fraction of the impact of an ad that runs inside, or alongside, an episodic video program. We’ve seen tremendous results from putting brands next to our long-running episodic programs — those with real communities, high comment-to-view ratios and predictable views.”

In my opinion Media Buyers need to wake the hell up and start spending their clients money in a way that deliver real returns versus throwing spit balls against the wall hoping that they stick. We have millions of listeners / viewers ready to support sponsors of their favorite shows.  Is it not about time that companies wake up and start spending money responsibly. Go over to the article and read his full commentary, it is worthy more discussion in the near future. I am hoping it will wake some of the major brand media buyers up.

If you are a media buyer and want to see what new media can deliver for you, I would be happy to put together a media plan for one, or all of our 6000 shows that will make you a hero at the office!

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) July 12, 2010

Podcasting industry leader RawVoice has recorded a phenomenal 31 percent increase in revenue for the second quarter of 2010, which ended July 1. The increase reflects new advertising buys on 27 percent more shows within the RawVoice family, including Blubrry and Tech Podcasts Network and other network partners compared to the first quarter.

“Advertisers are confident in us delivering a healthy return on investment,” explains Todd Cochrane, RawVoice CEO and host of Geek News Central. “Advertising with RawVoice enables them to expose their brand to audiences that are consuming media on a variety of devices in the home and on the go.”

Audience growth was fueled by the increased quality and quantity of podcasts available within the RawVoice community — Blubrry.com alone has more than 5,500 shows available for advertising — and expanded media accessibility on multiple platforms. “Our strategy of multi-platform distribution is exposing new audiences to our content creators on venues that accommodate their lifestyle needs,” Cochrane said.

Digital media content technology enables viewers and/or listeners to subscribe to, receive and consume their favorite podcasts how they want, when they want on any number of mediums, including the Internet, over-the-top boxes such as Roku, Apple iOS and Google Android-based smart phones.

“Advertisers are accessing exactly the audience that they want,” Cochrane said. “We are the only advertising medium that can guarantee they are reaching their target audiences.” Viewers and listeners in turn gain exposure to great products and services matched to their needs. The end result is that hosts are able to sustain and grow their shows “ultimately resulting in more ad deals for our content creators,” he said.

The RawVoice Generator network services measure a show’s reach through its media statistics platform, helping creators to monetize their shows and guaranteeing that advertisers reach their delivery and branding goals. “We get direct input from content creators on their audiences and we can cross validate that data with listener and viewer survey data,” Cochrane explained. “Without this trifecta of data, we would not be able to execute such large campaigns effectively.”

As Quarter 3 gets under way, Cochrane is confident the advertising and audience growth will continue to the benefit of media creators. “We are continuing to focus on multi-platform distribution for the shows that are part of the network,” he said. “The show producers are reaching millions of people monthly. We want to continue to take the lead in finding ways to help content creators maintain sustainable incomes for their shows.”

About RawVoice Inc.

RawVoice offers media producers an easy, efficient means to get media online and measure audience behavior. The RawVoice Generator is a configurable, customizable, user-friendly media platform that combines the power of podcasting and new media with social networking. The RawVoice Generator lets you push content to portable and home media devices, such as iPhones, Roku and Boxee. RawVoice’s Integrated New Media Statistics analyzes downloadable and streaming media. It’s easy to use, powerful and flexible.

Brands: RawVoice Generator, RawVoice Media Statistics, PowerPress Podcast Plugin, TechPodcasts.com, Blubrry.com, TravelCastNetwork.com, ProMedNetwork.com

Get ready for a world where everything is on demand and à la carte. Traditional broadcasting is going to change whether it wants to or not. Marketing will be forced to change in profound ways. As a result, content-making will also go through a major metamorphosis.

Marketing and traditional broadcasting have long had an interesting relationship that has had a potentially detrimental effect on the quality and quantity of available content. Television in particular has long been known as “a vast wasteland.” If one thinks about how this lowest-common-denominator programming can exist, the realization emerges that anxious, aggressive television advertisers have often been willing to sponsor junk programming content to capture passive viewers. In the pre-Internet world of broadcast TV, people would surf channels in order to find what was often the least-boring programming. Also because of the hypnotic potential of this type of TV watching, many viewers were willing to sit in front of virtually any programming without really caring about what they were watching, using TV viewing itself as a sort of nightly drug. Marketing messages get programmed into viewer’s brains, but more importantly using this type of passive TV viewing as a drug has definite detrimental side effects to both the individual, the family unit, and society at large.

After a few months of agonizing, I recently cancelled my Dish Network account. I was already a Netflix customer and was watching more stuff from Netflix than I was from Dish Network, so it has been a remarkably easy transition.

There are differences. One of the differences is that I’m now forced to choose what I want to watch when I want to watch TV. Being forced to choose necessarily forces me to choose something I find personally interesting. The net effect is I’m making a conscious choice of my television influences. Of course, another difference is that streamed Netflix content has no ads.

Hulu.Com offers streaming content with ads, and recently started offering an inexpensive monthly premium streaming content option, which also has the added benefit of vastly expanding the list of devices they will stream to beyond the desktop/laptop computer to include media extenders and cell phones. Like Craig’s List cannibalized the local newspaper ad business, Hulu.Com and similar emerging streaming services are going to further cannibalize the now-breaking and broken broadcast TV model. I say this not to blame Hulu and other services as I believe this push for choice has been well underway for a long time and these emerging streaming services are simply accelerating it.

The ad-supported content will be forced to change because the programming must be appealing-enough to consumers to get them to choose the particular content. Non-ad supported content will continue to have a market but will be forced to appeal just the same to induce consumers to choose that content.

The Motorola Droid (X in this case) is once again sticking it to the iPhone.  The last time it was Verizon, but now Motorola itself is getting in on the Apple-bashing act.

Remember all of those Verizon ads surrounding the launch of the Droid?  Well, today Motorola themselves took out a full page ad in the New York Times making light of all of the recent bad press surrounding the iPhone’s antenna problems.  You know, the one Steve Jobs called a non-issue?  The one where his advice was “just avoid holding it that way“?

Motorola’s response to that?  In their ad, referring to their antenna, they say “The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like”.

Now, I’m not an iPhone owner, and I am not a hater either, but I love a good jab when I see one.  And, this (Android vs iPhone) is shaping up to be a great battle in which the real winner will be all of us consumers.  Every shot taken gives the other one the incentive to improve.  Competition is good, and when it’s humorous it’s even better.

When will the insanity in banner advertising stop. Over the past couple of weeks every time I visit CNN.com or MSNBC.com I get assaulted by the biggest most annoying banner ads I have ever seen.

This complete disregard for the readers experience tells me that the companies involved know nothing on how to properly engage audiences.  I have never used ad blocking software but ads such as these are driving me towards installing ad blocking software for the first time.

I sure hope the media properties are getting a premium on these sorts of ads because the goodwill that they are losing is significant.

It has been a busy week for Twitter, not to mention a controversial one. First on Wednesday of last week Evan Williams, the chairman of Twitter announced that they had purchased Albeit the company that owns Tweetie. Tweetie is one of the most popular twitter clients on the Iphone. Then just a few days later, Twitter announced that they were going to start monetizing Twitter by introducing what they call promoted tweets. At first they will show up only if you are searching for a specific product . However, eventually they will become apart of the normal Twitter stream.

Evan Williams said they purchased Tweetie, because they wanted to alleviate user’s confusion, when the user looked for a twitter applications in the Itunes app store. While this maybe true I don’t believe it was the real reason they brought Tweetie.  I suspect that the announcement that they are placing promotional tweets within the Twitter stream is the real reason they purchased Tweetie. Promotional tweets will not roll out to third application until later and the revenue will be shared. Which meant without the purchase of Tweetie, and other apps for Blackberry and Android, Twitter’s only guaranteed revenue flow would have been the Twitter web site. If you look at a typical user’s stream most of them are coming from third party applications and mobile devices. Twitter needed to have an official app for all the major mobile devices including the Iphone, Blackberry and Android to widen where their revenue pool.   The interesting thing is will third party apps developers join forces with Twitter or go more toward paid ad free models and where does Apple fit into the equation.  I don’t have the answers to the questions, but I pretty sure things are going to be interesting in the app development community for the next couple of months.

Yelp is a social media review site. User of Yelp write reviews on business that they use and go to. It is an application that I use occasionally myself especially if I go to a new business. This can be a win for both businesses and the consumer. However, I have seen several articles about businesses “who are suing Yelp for unfair and unethical conduct in promoting, marketing and advertising its website as maintaining unbiased reviews” is unlawful.” .

The lawsuits, indicate that businesses who do not agree to pay Yelp to advertise on their websites have had favorable reviews removed from Yelp. If this was just one report, I would toss it off as sour grapes. However there have been a smattering of similar complaints across the country. The story is basically the same, the company in question was getting mostly good reviews on Yelp. They then get a call from Yelp offering them the opportunity to buy monthly advertisement when they decline the offer, their favorable reviews were removed or dropped off greatly.

As a user I hope this is not true. I depend on Yelp to tell me if a business is worth using or going to. If I am getting reviews that are being manipulated by Yelp, then it is useless to me. It also doesn’t make sense as a business decision for Yelp. Review sites like Yelp depend on consumers believing that the reviews are based on all customer feedback to the site, both positive and negative. If it was ever confirm that Yelp was manipulating the data, that would mean the end for them.

Yelp, says its simply a misunderstanding how the process is done. Unfortunately,some businesses try to game the system, creating fake reviews to build up their reputation. Yelp watches the reviews using both a computers and individuals to catch and remove false reviews. However if businesses can prove that Yelp is manipulating reviews against those businesses who do not advertise with them, then Yelp is in trouble. As I said before I hope this lawsuits have no merit, I will definitely be waiting for the results.

]]> http://www.geeknewscentral.com/2010/03/21/trouble-with-yelp/feed/ 0 http://www.geeknewscentral.com/2010/03/17/consumers-brands-and-social-networks/ http://www.geeknewscentral.com/2010/03/17/consumers-brands-and-social-networks/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:26:03 +0000 Andrew http://www.geeknewscentral.com/?p=11606

If you are retailer and want to build your brand, social networks are where you need to be, says IDC in a new report.  According to it, Web 2.0 is creating opportunities for competitive advantage with the top 10 social networks having over 1.3 billion members.  Yes, there’s plenty of people who live on more than one network but that’s still a pretty big number.

IDC says, “Social networks, blogs, price comparison Web sites, and the likes can all be used by retailers of all kinds and sizes to attract and influence customers, to study demand patterns, to improve brand reputation, and, finally, to provide customer support.“  I’d certainly agreed with the latter – I think we’ve all heard the stories about certain companies responding to individuals who have tweeted about problems they’ve had with products.

It also notes that the social networks are a great source of information about customers and what they’re saying about products, whether it’s the retailer’s or a competitors.  For those of us in the space, this isn’t exactly news but for companies looking in and wanting to get value out of their investment, this is going to be important.

Obviously, it’s taking time but if the big consultancies are now able to produce reports with hard data regarding the benefits of social media, the money will start coming into the social / new media and out of traditional media.

The full report costs money but you can read the press release for free.

Rumors are circling that Apple is proposing an online TV media subscription model.  For just $30/month you could possibly have access to the archive of syndicated shows and the new shows as they come.  Later in the day I read of a favorite tutorial site, which shall remain nameless until I do a proper review, was bumping its fees to about $15/month.  Many of my favorite podcasts have donation links on their site for $2/month or so.  Please understand, I am a believer in paying for labor.  I am just beginning to wonder when this evolving online monthly subscription model will break.

Some people believe a service like Apple’s would get rid of the need for Cable or Dish and save some money. I don’t see that.  The streaming system is not ready for the high-def load and most people will keep the Cable and Dish for their instant viewing.  For those that jump into the online media, how many monthly payments do you want to sign up for?  I just can’t keep signing up for more monthly payments.  The inflation on monthly tech and media services is getting pretty high.

Cable and Dish consolidated traditional media into a monthly package.  What about online media?  It will forever and always be a mix of traditional and common man media.  How many packages can I pick up?  One traditional media package, ten small media packages, one cell phone media package. . .  A revolution in content delivery is underway and will continue to occur, I just wonder where and on what there will be a price tag.

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The truths:

1. News is moving online.  People want instant access to news without waiting until the next morning or afternoon.
2. The recession has caused a terrifying drop in printed advertising causing a quick but low profit move online.

The conclusions:

1. Local news companies must move to quick unabbreviated news online that incorporates local business advertising.
2. Local businesses must move online with a web presence that brings both foot traffic to the brick and mortar store as well as an online business.

An example:

The Fargo Forum moved to a CMS and used their site extremely well during the recent flood.  The site is not necessarily as polished and easy to navigate as Foxnews.com, but a good start in the online news business.  However, the prime advertising real estate on the site is for Forum operated sites.  Sites that local businesses can join and participate/advertise in.  Really they are ads for the Forum classifieds (i.e. Homes, Apartments, Cars, etc.)  There are really very few ads for individual businesses.  And once you visit the the business you may or may not be greeted by a discount or sales offer.  This must change if local news and businesses are going to make the transition.  The Forum is definitely in the game and making progress but it has room to grow.

The online move of news could force more and more local businesses to develop a true online presence.  It may not mean an online store, but it will mean an online version of what they would have had printed in the paper.  Additionally, they can have the equivalent of an entire sales flier for the price of an online click-through ad.  Could this mean a resurgence for web developers as local businesses must build dynamic CMS sites?  I believe that the local news agencies and businesses that catch on to this partnership and market will rediscover the advertising gold mine.  The early bird will get the worm.

Recently Disney bought an estimated 30 percent stake in Hulu.com, bringing the streaming giant even closer to world domination, and adding to the credibility of its online-based television distribution force.

It is clear that Hulu.com and its partners have invested large sums of money into developing and funding this new media distribution center, yet anytime someone tries to bring this content to the general public and make it easy to use, they seem to go out of their way to hurt their own investment.

Take Boxee for example, they have developed an easy to use interface that collects all of the online media sources into one place for users of a broad range of operating systems. Instead of embracing and thanking them for this improved user interface and social media integration, Hulu’s partners demanded that Hulu take steps to ensure that their content wasn’t available on Boxee’s system.

Their chief concern according to many tech analysts is that the major media companies make more money from standard broadcast commercials than they do from online advertising. This sounds to me like the classic question of “What came first the chicken or the egg?”

It would seem logical to me that the best way to improve the value of your product for advertisers would be to reach as mainy people as possible. In a time of economically hardships such as these I would expect that advertisers, like any other business, would be looking for the most bang for their buck. I would state that online distribution is a much better advertising proposition for today’s market, for one simple reason. if I’m watching something I’ve recorded on my DVR equipped cable box, there is zero chance of me watching an ad. If I’m watching Hulu or one of the other major media online outlets that have built-in mandatory ads, I’m almost guaranteed to watch it unless I need to get up and refill my drink or perform another mundane tasks typically reserved for commercial breaks.

As it stands now, television has went from the world of ad supported shows of the 1960′s to the DVRed shows with no commercial breaks of the 21st Century.

Feel free to comment or rate this with the links below or I can be contacted at jparie@gmail.com.

A couple of years ago I was making good money each month with Google Adsense, enough so that it made sense to keep the codes running on the website. Then suddenly the revenue dropped, and it no longer made sense to have the Google ads running on the website.

Traffic to the website was climbing month to month, the content was largely the same yet I had no explanation for why the ads were no longer making money. So I pulled the banners.

Upon the launch of the new site design I decided to try Google Adsense again on a test run to see how it went. All I can say is that you don’t see the banners anymore for good reason, as earnings on Google Adsense was ridiculously low.

I am wondering if other bloggers are seeing the same drop in ad dollars running Google Adsense. I have been hounded by some ad networks to run contextual ads within the content but I really hate those types of ads.

Thankfully my podcast sponsors help keep the lights on, and allow me to hire bloggers that contribute here on Geek News Central. Google on the other hand was not even good enough for a cup of starbucks coffee.

Recent Microsoft ads have attacked the image and value of Macs.  Whether the commercials are real or scripted, or if the product purchased truly compares is a mute point.  For several years the “Get a Mac” ads have poked, prodded, and mocked PC users.  Now for once, Windows is doing a decent job of marketing revenge.  You win one you lose one.  Take it like a grown up all of you fellow Mac addicts.  We had this, and more, coming.  We should at least recognize good marketing when we see it.

The point of marketing is to create a logical and emotional attachment to a product or service.  Apple is perhaps unmatched in marketing and product presentation.  Microsoft has struggled as of late.  It’s Jerry Seinfeld & Bill Gates productions were beyond a flop.  Now the giant of Microsoft finally snapped out of it’s marketing funk with a sequence of commercials that actually have a little traction.  The emotional response finally went in Microsoft’s favor.  A long awaited ovation from the crowd can be heard.

Apple has said very little about the ads, other than simple statements reaffirming the “value” of their products.  Kudos to them.  After all, the recently released Forrester Research user experience report sings the praises of Apple pretty loudly. Calm down Mac users.  Let the fur on your neck settle, and your claws recede into your paws.  Macs are doing well and the operating system is an amazing fit for more and more people.  Apple HQ is staying pretty silent and so should we.  Let Microsoft have their moment.  They earned it.  Everything is going to stay the same. Even the price of my next Mac.  Expensive.  Ah yes, life goes on.

The other day I reinstalled a machine: A VIA chipset motherboard. I had to get the Video, audio and other drivers. I went to VIATechnologies, which then shuttled me to VIA Arena – where the drivers were held.

What I was surprised to see was the site was littered with Ads. We’re not talking about a Google Ad on the side. Ad after ad after ad.

I selected a link I thought was a VIA driver detection program. It turned out to be a 3rd party program that wanted me to PAY to download. I went back and finally noticed the ‘(SPONSOR)’ note.

I went back to the page and tried to find my drivers. It wasn’t that easy: Actually took me a few different tries. I eventually found the drivers which I installed.

I understand if a company decides to put an invasive ad on the the site. Maybe a Google ad on the bottom or a sponsored link exchange. However 22 ads encompasing the company’s website?

What’s worse is that I fell for a sponsor program. What would a non-IT person do? Most likely they would buy the software because they think VIA requires them to have it. Then VIA gets a portion of that sale which means you are giving VIA more money.

VIA needs to re-think their site. Like I said, I don’t mind ads. However, turning the whole page into one big ad is annoying and, in a way, deceptive. I know for sure I won’t be looking toward VIA motherboards if I have to build a new system for someone.

Reaching outside our community. We have had huge success with our Advertising campaign from Citrix Online. In a few days RawVoice is going to be launching a new ad campaign and I am looking for a few more podcast for the ad buy the criteria is quite specific but a perfect match for some shows.

This campaign will be from Mid February through end of June. I have posted the podcast show requirements on the RawVoice Blog. See the details here

USAToday is reporting on a high school teacher in San Diego, who has started selling advertisements on his test papers in order to pay for printing costs for his class. He felt it was the only way to subsidize the costs of printing for his classroom; his budget is $300, but his printing costs about $500 per school year.

Most ads, at this point, are pretty innocuous. Inspirational messages from parents top the list of ads, but ads have also been bought by local engineering firms and an orthodontist.

What concerns me about this is that this marketing gives advertisers access to children. Our children are the most vulnerable to advertising, without the maturity and life experience to weed out the obnoxiousness that is advertising. I can block advertising when my kids surf (ad blocker plus for Firefox) and keep the television watching to a minimum, but if my kids are getting advertising at school on their tests and homework papers, I have absolutely no control over that. While I would trust that the teacher would not allow questionable advertising to be printed on his test papers, when it comes to the almighty dollar, often greed trumps good sense.

I can appreciate the teacher’s ingenuity, but I think there is probably a better way. If he only needs to make $200, couldn’t he have had a small class fundraiser that targeted the parents, who should be supporting their kids’ education anyway? I have to think this teacher went too far.

Ever time I see someone quote Alexa numbers it makes me sick to my stomach. The reason is that their numbers are far from accurate.

Last week I had a client email me looking to advertise on one of my properties. He sent me a advertising figure that I quite literally laughed at. When I replied that the rate was about 15 times lower than what we normally charged he replied with a Alexa chart.

I followed up with some screen shots from my Google Analytics account, and the client said it was impossible for the numbers between Alexa and Google Analytics to have such a huge delta, and actually semi-accused us of fudging the numbers.

I wrote off Alexa a long time ago, sadly many people still do not have a clue that their numbers are pretty far from being even reasonably accurate.

Faulty Alexa data ends up hurting small companies like mine because this gives agencies the ability to negotiate with bad data. I think though the Agencies know it’s bad data and they use Alexa data points when they can as they know they can strong arm companies into lower advertising rates and get away with it.

I read a blog post by Louis Gray this morning that said that “Most Bloggers Don’t Deserve Any Ad Revenue” honestly I was pretty surprised that he would advance that type of a discussion.

One of the tenants I have lived by is that if a person wants to earn money for their writing or media creation then they should explore all avenues to do so.

While I realize that a site that is not well followed will likely not make a lot of money, many bloggers are happy to have enough money to buy a few new gadgets or have take the wife out for dinner.

My advice to Bloggers want to earn some money, be realistic on what you can earn and then go out and work your tail off to get a sponsor that matches your content. [Louis Gray]