Hollywood's Biggest Night Crashed Twitter!

The Academy Awards this year was a tipping point.  We have been toeing this line for quite awhile, blurring the lines between live television and social media.  But, Sunday, the lines were obliterated! 

Ellen DeGeneres hosted the #Oscars on Sunday and she went #Social #Media #Crazy!!!  And the great news is, it worked!  Not only was viewership up from last years (According to Nielsen data, viewership was up 6% to 42 million), but ENGAGEMENT (where we all know, holds the secret sauce) was also up.  How much?  So glad you asked!! According to Social Guide, during the telecast, 11.2 MILLION tweets were posted, which is a 72% increase from last year's activity! Now that is impressive!!

The MAIN reason for this just might be DeGeneres herself, and the genius "retweet" campaign she started for the selfie she took with Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts and just about any other A-list celeb you can think of.  That tweet itself was retweeted over 2 million times.  In a matter of hours after Ellen suggested, on air, that viewers retweet it, it became the most retweeted image EVER.  It also crashed Twitter's site for a bit!!

There is a bit of controversy, though, over if this focus on social media and engagement actually made for better television.  Many (including the Hollywood Reporter and Times) claimed the show was boring or dragged on too long, many referencing the focus on social media taking away from the live telecast.

What do you think?  Did you tweet along with the show or change the channel out of boredom?

Social Media Guard from CocaCola!

What do you get when you combine social media, humor and a not to animals?  You get my favorite ad of the week!

A funny new "product" that takes cues from a dog's Elizabethan collar that would protect people from too much social media!!

You might be surprised at who put out the ad: CocaCola! 

Now we won't get too much into the fact that if you can't check your mobile device with this "Social Media Guard", you would definitely have a hard time drinking a can of coke!

 

But that aside, this type of faux-product advertising has done really well in the past.  And while the "Social Media Guard" is not currently a real product for sale, I wouldn't be surprised if they started to produce one, mostly as a joke, pretty soon!  This has happened with several other products that originated from publicity ads.  For example, Staples' "Easy Button" is now available for purchase.  As is this "Inflatable Lunch Decoy" from Applebees!

 

Do you know someone who might need a "Social Media Guard"?

Best Social Media Moments from the 2014 Grammys!

Did you watch The Grammy Awards last night? Did your favorite artist win? The Grammys is HUGE on social media- definitely one of the most-tweeted events of the year. To this point, last night there were over 15 MILLION Grammy related Tweets! And we shouldn't let that get to our HEADS. Okay, that is a terrible attempt at a pun but it is strange to me how many of the tweets have to do with heads, hair, helmets and hats!!

Here we go:

HAIR:  If you watched Taylor Swift's lovely performance of her song "All To Well", you might have taken a quick break to the mirror to practice your own hair flip! Taylor's wild head flails landed her with massive amounts of tweets (many hoping her neck isn't sore today!) and even several Vine videos like these ones!!

HELMETS: Daft Punk, notorious for not showing their faces due to helmets and robotic wear, managed to go through the entire night fully donned in helmets and not saying an entire word! Needless to say, after winning four Grammys including album of the year, the Twittersphere had enough to say for the both of them! ,

HATS:  This might have been the most talked about article of clothing on Twitter last night. That means a lot too because the "style" chatter about the dresses and shoes and jewels and costumes was, as usual, plentiful. Pharrell's lovely hat. And while most of the Twittersphere laughed at it, Pharrell did fine for himself, never once missing a beat with this hat and also taking home two Grammys for Record of the Year and Producer of the Year. AND this hat gave us one of the BEST brand tweets of the night. Actually, I am going to go out there and say this might be one of my favorite brand tweets of all time.  It is relevant, current and SO tied into the company's brand that it almost seems too good to be true. Thanks, Arby's, for restoring my faith in branded tweets!!

What was your favorite GRAMMYs moment??

 

Super Bowl Sunday: Pick A Side!

Football fans across the nation are getting their TVs ready, their refrigerators stocked and their favorite team's jersey out in preparation for Super Bowl Sunday!  Let's add to that list this year and get the computers and mobile phones out because social media "Super Bowl style" is already in action.

An interesting trend is developing in social media this week as we lead up to the big game.   

Usually all the Twitter-sphere is focused on is how excited we are about the commercials!  Sure, maybe you get an occasional "GO TEAM" or "BEAT THE OTHER TEAM", but that's about it.  This year, even the potential postponement of the Super Bowl (yeah, yeah, this is being talked about but I'll believe it when I see it!) is being dwarfed by something even BIGGER.  Ever since Richard Sherman gave a heated rant about his game-winning play and deep-seated rivalry with Michael Crabtree last week, social media has been abuzz with harsh criticisms, witty memes and heartfelt defenses of Sherman.  This is feeding the pre-game social media chatter to be more and more about the actual game and its players!!

So this Super Bowl Sunday, you need to pick a side!  No, I don't mean about who wins.  I mean about social media's biggest debate: Richard Sherman, love him or leave him!  Your time to pick a side is dwindling, so to help you out, I've found you quick links to the most popular arguments on both sides.  Check them out below, and let us know your vote in the comments!

LOVE HIM  OR   LEAVE HIM

Couldn't Dr. King Have Gotten 140 Characters All To Himself??

It's kinda becoming cliche.  Every national holiday or big media event, brands tweet and try to supply relevant content about the day, mixed with a message about their brand.  Well MLK day was no different.  While there were less HUGE disasters, it seems like people are still struggling to get this right.  So, let's dig deeper into these struggles and cross our fingers that we can get it right next time!!

Struggle #1:  Squeezing yourself in, i.e. "The ME TOO!"

Example: PETA

Reason: Look, I am an animal LOVER.  Play me one of those Sara McLaughlins and I am bawling like a newborn baby.  But, newsflash, MLK day isn't about animals.  So why try to sneak your agenda in?  Can we not give Dr. King 140 characters to himself!?

Struggle #2: Making it about you, i.e. "The LOOK AT ME!"

Example: Canoe and Kayak Magazine

Reason: WHAT?! What does this even mean?  At least PETA was trying to tie themselves into the theme of hardship and struggle.  This is just lazy.  How does kayaking "honor" MLK? I don't understand.  If your content is not relevant to the day, try making it relevant to an experience.  This tweet would have made a lot more sense with "Celebrate the long weekend by checking out these dream sea kayaking trips."  Then, have a separate tweet to wish people Happy Martin Luther King Day.  Geez. 

Struggle #3: Trying too hard, i.e. "The NICE TRY"

Example: Chicken Of The Sea

Reason: This comes down to knowing your brand and having a consistent brand voice. Honestly, it's not a terrible effort by Chicken Of The Sea.  But, common.  I can't take this seriously!  The tweet seems like it is being spoken by your mascot, this blonde Barbie-like mermaid girl holding a magic wand.  So while a lovely quote, the tweet as a whole doesn't seem consistent with the lighthearted and quirky brand. 

Did you see any tweets you thought were worse than these?  Any that you particularly liked?

Commemorate 2013 Instagram Style!!!

A quick perusal through my Instagram feed this morning led me to one very awesome post.  A year in review!  A quick video of your most popular Instagram posts throughout 2013.  As soon as I saw my friend's video I was struck with social media envy and had to make one of my own.  

Well, it was easy and fun and now, (lucky you!) you can make one too!  Ready?

First, head to site Statigram.  Statigram is a great Instagram-tracking service, actually it is so great that it deserves it own general post.  But today, I am in a reminiscing mood (after all, its almost the end of the year!) so we are going to focus on one specific tool within Staigram, the 2013 Year In Review creator!

Statigram's site is very user friendly and by simply linking your Instagram account to the site, and clicking to make the video, you are done!  The videos can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to create, but you'll get an email with the video attached when it is ready.  

The montage starts with the first image you posted in 2013 and follows with the five most liked images from your account.  I loved looking at my 2013 Instagram highlights.   

If you want to a slideshow or video with more than five images, check out a few other apps that can create that: namely Everlapse or Flipagram.  These montages feature up to an entire year of images.  I prefer the highlight reel, but I've seen great examples of both!

Have fun looking at your year's highlights, and Happy New Year!!

Death By Twitter: #HasJustineLandedYet

Nothing kills the holiday cheer like another Death By Twitter.

You know, we’ve talked about the “Death By Twitter” rampage lately.  And a lot of the tweets have left us confused, wondering if reactions are overly emotional or if the tweet is, in fact, completely inappropriate.

Well, friends, every once in awhile someone tweets something that throws all confusion out the window- other than the thought of “What in the WORLD were they thinking!”.  That is the case with Justine Sacco and her tweet about Africa.  Warning before reading on, this is offensive.

Why?  Why would you EVER think that was okay to say?  Here’s the real kicker.  Not only is this totally inappropriate, but this woman KNOWS better.  Sacco was (yeah, I say WAS because she has since been fired) the PR executive for the Internet conglomerate InterActive Corporation.  You may not have heard of the company, but you’ve certainly heard of all the businesses they own including Match.com and Dictionary.com and Vimeo.  A PUBLIC RELATIONS EXECUTIVE! Wow.

So, Sacco has written an official apology.  She is “ashamed” and was “insensitive to the crisis”.  All the right things to say when apologizing.  But, I just need to share this one part of the statement that still irks me.  It reads: “Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand.”

WHAT?  No it’s not.  Sorry, Sacco but I don’t buy it.  There are epidemics that I have never witnessed firsthand that I would never, NEVER, be cavalier about.  Think about it.  I’ve never witnessed a massive flood or earthquake.  I’ve never witnessed mass starvation or poverty.  School shootings, hurricanes, the list goes on and on.  But my heart still goes out to those affected, though I am sure their pain is far greater than I may know.  So I don’t buy the whole “ignorance” claim here.  It just gets under my skin. 

Yet, in the redemption we find through the holiday spirit, some good can come out of this too!  Leave it to the Twittersphere to find a way!  A fake Facebook account under her name has been created where a post links to www.JustineSacco.com, which brings up a donation page for Aid for Africa.

I like that.  And I also very much respect the official statement of InterActive Corporation, who fired Sacco but spoke of forgiveness when speaking of her.  The company stated: “There is no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made and we condemn them unequivocally.  We hope, however, that time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core.”

It is good to see love and forgiveness reign in the end, huh?  After all, that is what the holiday spirit is all about.