Abrams Research Blog

For today’s post, let’s first take a trip back to London, 1910:

“Mary Poppins: Now! Shall we get on with it?

Jane: Get on with what?

Mary Poppins: In your advertisement, did you not specifically request to play games?

Jane: Oh, yes!

Mary Poppins: Very well then. Our first game is called ‘Well Begun is Half-Done’…

Michael: I don’t like the sound of that.

Mary Poppins …otherwise entitled, ‘Let’s Tidy Up the Nursery’”.

Michael:  I told you she was tricky!”

Ah the British… so neat, so orderly, so astoundingly capable, with a clever phrase and an affected accent, to make something so ordinary and unpleasant sound so intriguing. So who better than the practically perfect Mary Poppins to personify the recent decision by the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to clean up internet advertising practices and regulate marketing and brand activity on social media websites?

The ASA, governed by a set of codes called the Committee of Advertising Practices (CAP), regulates the content of advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing in the United Kingdom. Since the advent of social media, however, the ASA has received numerous complaints about the quality and content of online advertising, the majority of which has been outside of its jurisdiction.

Until now. Starting in September 2010, an amendment regulating TV, press, poster and radio ads will extend to all other form of marketing communications. This means that all advertisements seen on the internet, notably on Facebook and Twitter, will now have to be “responsible, legal, honest and truthful”, just as they are in television commercials and magazine ads. Somewhat more controversial: marketing claims on third party and corporate websites will also be subject to ASA regulation, hypothetically grounding misleading advertisements before they are launched.

In the end,  the new regulations will be designed to ensure that the ads don’t offend or mislead, notably regarding the laws related to the marketing of alcohol, gambling, auto, health and financial products.ASA effectively describes the extension as a “direct and sensible response to people’s concerns about the protection of consumers and children online”. Rightfully so—the internet, though invaluable, is a proven tool for those looking to defraud. Although there remain several months until implementation, many eyes will be turning toward England to see if they can succeed where, up to know, everyone else has more or less failed: making the internet a proper place to advertise.

Courtesy of UK Marketing News and Click Z

Sorry, kids. If you thought that friend request from your mom was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet. According to a 2009 study by the Continuum Crew communications firm, last year saw a “dramatic rise” in the amount of time your parents and grandparents spend using the internet and social media platforms. Gone are the days of “facespace” and the “webernet”; that vast generational gap may not be growing as quickly as we think. Bad news for the teenage set, but great news for almost anyone else.

The shift in media consumption that Generations Baby Boomer (1946-1954) and Jones (1955-1964) are currently undergoing is a product of the realization that news coverage is readily available through the internet, often at a speed, depth and breadth unavailable from traditional media sources. Though younger generations have unhesitatingly embraced this idea for more than a decade, older generations have, until recently, relied upon the mediums of their youths—newspapers and television networks.

However, this last year has shown a remarkable change in direction. In Continuums’ study, the number of Baby Boomers reporting an increase in internet use rose 24 percentage points between 2008 and 2009, and a majority indicated that the internet, as opposed to the cell phone, is now the media service they would be least likely to give up. Even more telling: the majority of these users have only joined in the last six months.

Why is this sudden upward trend so important? Such a qualitative shift in the way these generations communicate, conduct business and manage information will have an enormous effect on global marketing and information systems.  As the Baby Boomers begin to integrate social tools into their daily lives, their collective identity—social identity and purchasing power included—will be shifted and poised to be redistributed.  They will undergo a Millennial Generation-like transformation, adapting to today’s standards for information dissemination as they begin to trust and depend upon internet tools for a growing number of quotidian activities.

For businesses, this shift in attitude presents a glorious opportunity for redefining and reaching out to targeted demographics. As Lori Bitter, President of Continuum comments, the “aging of America is shaping global marketing trends, and no one is fueling the zeitgeist more than Boomers, who are craving great brand stories and a reason to align themselves with a brand.” If wise, businesses will jump on the bandwagon, risking the forfeit of some image control for the chance to impress a new (and rather unaffected) demographic with astounding campaigns, customer service and corporate transparency. But they should hurry—Baby Boomers have not yet incorporated their younger counterparts’ demands for only brand accessbility, if only because they don’t know they should. If trends continue as they are, however, this period of opportunity will not last for much longer.

[Courtesy of CNBC and Conan O'Brien]

It’s the age of cyber-crime, and has been ever since Sandra Bullock starred in The Net circa 1995.   Criminal prowess has only grown since then, with sophisticated hackers threatening the safety of all, from personal bank accounts to government informational systems. It would seem counterintuitive, then, for the United States military to embrace social media platforms, which are infamously noted for their ever-evolving (i.e., highly vulnerable) security regulations. Yet, with Friday came the announcement that the military will install a default policy allowing access to social media networking sites from non-classified military computer networks.

What does the new policy entail? All military units will be required to open access to networking sites, and any restrictions must be temporary. For the Army and Marines, which currently enforce restrictions and/or bans against most social networking sites, blanket regulations must be lifted. However, the policy leaves discretion to unit commanders, who, if uncomfortable with social networking, maintain the right ‘defend against malicious activity’, which will ultimately involve restricting access according to preference and circumstance (special operations, etc).

The military, it seems, recognizes that Web 2.0, ubiquitous in the civilian world, needs to be a part of military life. David Wennergren, Deputy assistant Secretary of Defense, argues that the military must “recognize the importance of balancing appropriate security measures while maximizing the capabilities afforded by 21^st century Internet tools.”  This decision has been championed by social media advocates who cite the advantages of staying connected— promoting information exchange across organizational boundaries and with mission partners, strengthening the connection between military executives and soldiers, and enabling deployed troops to contact loved ones at home.  Admiral Mike Mullen, current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has a twitter feed with more than 16,000 followers. Likewise, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that he envisions the pentagon interacting with young military members, many of whom, due to their age, are already inclined to use social media in their non-military time.

However, critics raise a number of valuable points. Citing information leaks, the opening of gateways to hackers and a potential overload of the Defense Department’s network, critics bring to light the very real possibility of  serious security risks. Especially with today’s technology, where seemingly harmless information can be passed throughout a network with ease. Yet Wennergren is confident that the addition of social networking to the list of acceptable forms of communication will not endanger military operations and employees, stating “you can’t just have the policy be that you’re going to block access to MySpace. Because there are 10,000 ways people could still compromise a mission — by making a phone call, or sending an email.” True. Even though there do exist qualitative differences between posting a picture on Facebook and making a phone call to your spouse.

In the end, social media integration is a valuable addition to any endeavor, especially when the organization relies on strong human and informational connections. The steps the military has taken are commendable, and may prove to open up valuable channels of communication. However, it appears that social networking amongst military ranks may have a short/ erratic life-span. Not because social media itself will prove to be dangerous, but as a result of deep-seeded distrust of any information-sharing device amongst among older military generations. An understandable mistrust, granted, but one that may hinder progress.

After the launch of Google Buzz and your personal information’s unexpected debut into high society, you may be tempted to conclude that February has not been the best of months for social media. But rest assured, Google is Google and with enough consumer ire the kinks will be worked out and your focus will eventually shift back to where it should be, on Google Logos.

In the meantime, there has been some good news for Twitter. The best being, of course, that the Dalai Lama now has a Twitter account. So with the Vatican, the Dalai Lama (and as of February 22, Lil’ Wayne) all official members, the implications of this exponential growth become clearer. According to the Neilson Company’s recent report, social media use has grown 82% in the last year alone. Twitter boasts 50 million messages a day, up from 5,000 in 2007. Someone is obviously paying attention.

It seems that the Baby Boomers and Generation Xers of all sorts are realizing what later generations have had ingrained into their cortices since childhood—that the internet is the most efficient tool for doing almost anything, especially marketing to the masses. Take a look at these numbers: In 2009, a study by the Society for New Communications Research and Financial Insite found that 22% of Fortune 500 companies have a corporate blog, 86% of which link directly to a Twitter account, representing a 300% increase since 2008. Furthermore, 35% of Fortune 500 companies have active Twitter accounts, as do 50% of the Top 100.

This knowledge has (unsurprisingly) spread as far as the U.S. Congress, where more than 200 members have Twitter accounts. Some use it to update the public on their latest opinions/ congressional debate, others… other things (“I’m pulling for Broken Arrow’s own Danny Cahill on Biggest Loser. I know he can win it!! If you aren’t watching, tune in now!” Rep. John Sullivan, OK). But partisan debate and reality TV aside, Congress and corporate America is learning the most important lesson: people are online, and they don’t want to look at text on your website. When a debate is raging, or a promotional deal beginning, people want to know in real time. They want to read what you have to say, share it, and respond. And complain. Because without complaining, some things might never be changed for the better (Google).

Oh, Apple App Store. So beautiful, so hated by your peers. Who wouldn’t envy your seamless integration with multiple devices, inviting interface, and free applications? But it’s understandable—everyone loves to secretly (or not so secretly) hate the person at the top, especially if they actually deserve to be there.

Which is why it’s not surprising that the rest of the mobile applications world has schemed to cook up a new plan of attack. That’s right, 24 mobile giants will be teaming up to form the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), an alliance to create a global marketplace for non-Apple users.

At this point, it’s possible that one half of your brain may be screaming “Too many cooks in the kitchen!” while the other stands frozen in terrified awe. Could U.S. carriers and device manufacturers such as Verizon, Sprint and AT&T and Samsung, as well as international partners like Orange, Vodafone and state-owned (I repeat, state-owned) China Mobile possibly agree on a single mobile applications platform? Not to mention, an applications marketplace where developers will have to adjust for countless devices, carriers and operating systems?  If possible, the collaboration could result in one of the most profitable undertakings ever.  But could a union whose members are intrinsically programmed to destroy one another truly last? Many think not.

The task will undoubtedly be difficult, and the alliance’s mission quite lofty. On their website, the WAC states its aim is to “unite a fragmented marketplace…based on openness and transparency to the benefit of all”, a goal perhaps better suited for a less competitive industry, like elementary school bake sales. But unlike those bake sales, the WAC has an estimated customer base of over 3 billion. And anyway you look at it, 3 billion users is one number Apple simply can’t match. So to the WAC, any attempt at reaching a percentage of this market may be worth more than no attempt at all. Even with everything—and this everything includes quite a lot— that could go wrong.

[Courtesy of Reuters and Arstechnica]

The Oscar Army

Watch out, Jersey Shore; The Academy Awards isn’t going down without a fight.

It’s 2010 and everyone knows the Oscars have been losing steam for years. With the advent of reality TV, YouTube and TiVo, the world of exclusive, self-congratulatory, 4-hour telecasts simply can’t compete. The show sank to its lowest ratings of all time in 2008, with the 2009 broadcast barely scoring any better. And really, who can blame the audience, when the best clips are available online later that night?  Anyone would rather watch a 4-hour marathon of something else—Jersey Shore, SVU, Ace of Cakes, etc. But this year the Academy Awards may have a couple of final tricks up its sleeve.

To anyone remotely tech-savvy, why the Academy Awards had not yet chosen to integrate social media (real-time blogging, Twitter updates, Facebook pools and polls) into its online presence will remain one of the best guarded secrets of all time. Yes, the awards show is meant to prestigious, conservative in choice, and loyal to the tradition of old Hollywood. We know. But what’s the point of remaining traditional if no one will watch?  And quite honestly, the Academy Awards could not have an easier time; the hardest work has already been done for them. Fans have conducted local Oscar pools for decades. The interest is there, it simply needs to be expanded upon.

What will the next level include? It’s not entirely clear. According to executive producer Bill Mechanic, producers this year are aiming for 20% of their end-goal, which will not include Facebook or Twitter feeds. Current applications do include trivia games, mobile alerts, and a message board, very much reminiscent of the internet circa 2000. As the social world drives itself faster and faster, I’m unsure whether “something is better than nothing” can truly apply here.

Like any business attempting to make waves, the Academy Awards will need to achieve three goals—attract a live viewing audience, create a memorable experience and leave a lasting impression. The first is somewhat done—the large number of popular (read: non-traditional) choices for Best Picture has already created quite a stir amongst purists. But to secure the young demographic, who with their Twitter-length attention spans will watch the opening monologue and Best Picture Award (if anything at all), producers might have to risk a leap into the deep end.

[Courtesy of AdAge]

The Real Thug Life

It’s official: Twitter is the reincarnation of 7^th grade.

When I was in middle school, I desperately longed to be one of the cool kids. You know, the ones who sat in the back of the room, “working” on their group project, but actually listening to the Bloodhound Gang’s take on human biology through headphones hidden in their sleeves and a CD player hidden in their desk. Instead, I used that 45-minute period to actually work, fearing a bad grade or some other repercussion. And in the end, we all got As and I threw my book through a window.

As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one. But somewhere around 11^th grade, I hit a happy medium. Leaving both groups behind, I wondered what would eventually become of them. Fast forward to a decade later: they’ve been found. Their place of residence? Twitter.

Twitter has become that middle school classroom, where the serious look down on/ignore the class clowns for doing exactly what they so want to do themselves: have fun. Today’s serious students, or “Twitterati”, use Twitter for noble means: reporting on breaking news, media atrocities, social issues and daily deep thoughts. Sarah Palin’s latest gaffe? Check! Rachel Maddow’s thoughts on the Tea Party? Definitely. But to their chagrin the cool kids, partly reincarnated as the popular #thuglife contingent, have done it again—daring to ignore the rules, using Twitter innovatively, and finding new ways to beat the system.

The premise is simple. The Thuglife contributors tweet the “ ‘baddest’ thing they’ve ever done, as like a thug”. For example, @radiomuzik_twan writes, “Just gave the lady at Mcdonald’s a Canadian coin and got away with it.. #thuglife.”  Or another twitter user , “You stole money from your mom’s purse and when she caught you and asked about it you said #Thuglife.” The tweets are meant to be funny, and the best are often retweeted, allowing Thuglife to dominate the Trending Topics list on a regular basis. Just like how the popular kids use to dominate back in the day.

So what can we learn from Thuglife and the like? That technology will always evolve, and those who follow the rules will not always end up on top. And when the ultimate goal is to be widely read, anything goes. The popularity of Thuglife also shows us that people like to have fun, no matter time nor place. Those wishing to take advantage of social-media platforms for business purposes would do well to learn this lesson fast—there’s a huge audience of inner 7^th graders out there, longing to be cool and waiting for the next best thing.

Courtesy of AdvertisingAge

Courtesy of A&E

Would you pay a one-time charge of $100 to use a job-networking site? $10? How about $15,000? OneWire, a New York job-networking start up, bets that you will. Well, that a Wall Street firm will. With more than 61 firms and 40,000 individual candidates already on board, the counterintuitive notion of a business paying for services currently offered for free elsewhere may not be so far-fetched.

Until now, LinkedIn has been considered the dominant force in the world of job-networking, providing professionals with a platform to expand their business contacts. So what strategic innovation could be causing such a stir? OneWire claims that LinkedIn-inspired sites, by requiring individual users to search for job opportunities rather than streamlining the process and focusing on corporate recruiters, are simply approaching the situation from the wrong direction.

OneWire’s aim—to ‘take the search out of the job search’—allows recruiters to search for candidates based on data the applicants themselves provide. However, this data may only be selected from a predetermined number of answers, allowing recruiters to locate candidates who fit their criteria. OneWire is furthermore completely confidential—no identifiable information is released to potential recruiters until the candidate himself chooses to do so. It seems that finally, in 2010, the days of ineffective privacy measures are coming to a close. If only Facebook could establish something so user-friendly.

However, the most innovative and intriguing aspect of OneWire’s approach is undoubtedly its ‘Bounty Hunting’ feature. (Fun fact: Actual bounty hunting is only legal in the United States and the Philippines. Take from that what you will.) Recruiters who fail to find a candidate can send a bounty notification to ‘nearly-successful’ applicants, who may themselves know candidates for the position. If the secondary candidate is successful, OneWire awards a bounty to the hunter. You don’t have to be an entrepreneurial genius to know when a star initiative crosses your path. Who hasn’t secretly dreamed of being a bounty hunter—tracking down criminals, fugitives, and Wall Street employees for a living?

President Brin McCagg is so confident his model will work that he predicts the death of sites like LinkedIn, as well as any similar search software. McCagg also states that he would happily refund a recruiter who fails to locate a desirable candidate within a few days, after a number of search intiatives.

Although McCagg bases his confidence on recruiter interest and impressive investor enthusiasm ($17 million from 67 investors to date), it would be unwise to underestimate the power of those ambitious former Wall Street executives and their need for spending money. If OneWire began to take off and I were a certain bounty hunter with my own show on A&E, I might start researching some other career options myself.

[Courtesy of Business Insider]

Image courtesy of Facebook

A-Level students in the UK have caused quite a stir early this week by staging a protest on the popular social networking site – Facebook. On their group, over ten thousand disgruntled students have been making death threats to shrews of all sorts. Now comes the obvious question – why? It seems that for the A-Level students who spent the past six months preparing for the A2 Biology unit 4 exam, feel that the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance exam board unfairly placed questions on the exam that the students were told they would not need to prepare for.

The textbooks of the AQA specifically stated that there will be no mention of certain topics, such as Spearman’s Rank. But students were shocked when they sat down to the test and found these topics not only included, but that important topics, such as genetics, were omitted. Instead, they found questions asking them about shrews, faunagoo, and other outlandish topics. The Facebook group was not only a venting outlet for disgruntled students, but also mobilized all its members to send in letters and e-mails to the AQA expressing their dismay and demanding a retest in February or March.

The official statement from the AQA spokesperson was that they acknowledged that the students were angry and that they did not get a chance to express what they learned. The AQA is now considering its response regarding this matter, as it is the first time so many students used social media to put pressure on an educational institution. The AQA made a good move in acknowledging the anger of the students, but its silence so far has driven the already irritable mob further in their rage. On Tuesday, January 26^th, the group numbered three thousand members, and doubled its size to over eight thousand by Tuesday afternoon, and to over ten thousand by Wednesday. This is a significant portion of the students who sat for the exam, which numbered under twenty thousand.

What should the AQA do? Opening up a dialogue with these students is very important, especially in the information age. The AQA needs to address the concerns of the students and to engage them in reassuring that their concerns and fears have been noted, and that steps are being done to investigate and remedy the situation. And this needs to be done in the forums where students are expressing their concerns.

For some students, the prospect of getting into the right universities means the world to them. To see this snatched away from them by forces beyond their control, coupled with the mistrust, are the underlying causes of their discontent. The AQA could have handled this matter with a lot more openness and accessibility between the institution and the public. While the fate of both the AQA and these students remain to be seen, it would be of great interest to see how this will play out.

On a lighter note, some more creative students expressed their anger through humor, and drafted a fake exam paper.

Thoughts of the Catholic Church often elicit images of decorated robes, chalices and stained-glass windows. But priests wasting away hours updating their Facebook profiles? As of May 16th, college students may not be the only ones constantly hitting refresh to see if friend requests have been reciprocated. In a statement released January 24^th for World Communications Day 2010, Pope Benedict XVI challenges his ministry to welcome the technological age with open arms—all in the name of promoting dialogue between Catholics around the world.

From a leader who, in 2009, felt it necessary to remind us that the internet may also operate under aliases like “the digital arena” and “cyberspace”, recognition that a passive Internet presence will not satisfy the “digital generation’s” unquenchable thirst is quite a step in a new direction. Pope Benedict recommends the use of images, videos, animated features, blogs and websites to spread the Catholic message.  With the Vatican already present on YouTube, Twitter and promoting an iPhone app, the Catholic Church appears well on its way to digital stardom. And although we most likely won’t be seeing a compilation of funny papal outtakes with Cypress Hill’s ‘Insane in the Brain’ as its soundtrack, we can expect greater outreach to the youth of local parishes and those traditionally disconnected from larger communities.

Not one to lose focus, Pope Benedict goes further reminds his ministry that priests should stay true to Christianity’s central message, attempting to be “less notable for media savvy than for their priestly heart… [giving] soul to the fabric of communications that makes up the Web”.  Though seemingly unnecessary in 2010, this cautionary message may for the priests be warranted. Remember all of those other projects that were finished when you first created your Facebook account in 2005? No, and neither do we.

What can be learned from the Pope’s message? When one of the world’s oldest institutions jumps on board, it seems more than understood that social media platforms are here to stay. Like all other social groups, the Vatican will attempt to use social media for what it does best—reaching out to others and mobilizing followers.  So go ahead, check out your local parish’s blog and Twitter account. However, if you decide to friend your local priest, do make sure you have a grasp on those new Facebook privacy settings.

[Courtesy of CNet]