DOUG SCHUMACHER

experience designer + writer

apple

Creativing :: iPhone’s mobile ad platform, Facebook is #1, and Farmville has peanuts for profits

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Tweet of the Week

I’m kind of sad that @BarackObama isn’t having more fun with Twitter. I’d like to see him retweet a Kardashian.

iPhone 4.0 OS’s iAd Ad Platform

Jump straight down to the iAd section. While it makes business sense to see in-app advertising as different search-based advertising, I find Jobs’ plan of replicating the TV viewing experience on the iPhone rather disconcerting. Isn’t TVs pervasive in-your-face push advertising something that drove a lot of people to online content in the first place? And what makes him think that they’ll have the tolerance for anything close to that level of intrusion in a mobile experience, where I’m paying a lot more for usage than I am with my cable service.

I realize the developers can probably set their own level of ad saturation, but then again, so have the networks.

And lastly, I don’t agree that mobile devices aren’t about search. 30% of searches on Google are already local, and my guess would be that search will be just as prevalent on mobile devices as desktops.

Facebook Reaches Top Ranking in US – Hitwise

Nothing short of remarkable, and perhaps most interesting that their business model is about as 180 from Google as could be. Instead of providing sheer utility at various online touchpoints, like search, maps, email, etc, Facebook has made an engagement play — typically the biggest challenge online — and is beating everyone at fundamental traffic stats. What’s more, they’re not only pulling amazing visit numbers, but in January 11% of all time spent online was spent on Facebook, according to these Compete numbers.

The Apple-Adobe War Escalates: Using Flash to Build iPhone Apps Banned

I get how Apple might not want to support Flash, but I don’t get why they keep slamming the door on the developer community. I can’t imagine that a company can continue this forever without serious backlash, be it direct in the form of product boycotts, or indirect in the form of someone else with a more open system (ahem, Google) taking them to the mat. If you doubt that anti-Apple sentiment is building, read the comments at the end of the article.

It’s Peanuts: Farmville Reaps Brand Placement – Advertising Lab

Considering Farmville now has over 82 million monthly active users, the idea of a nut company sponsoring a peanut crop is a smart strategy. There isn’t much info on the execution, but seems like an idea that would be hard to screw up.

6 Ways Brands are Using Social Media For Real-World Action

Good social media-driven case studies that are an inspiring and insightful read.

5 Years Ago Today the Web Mashup Was Born

Google Mashups are usually a great visualization of database-driven marketing solutions, so they’re usually pretty insightful. What else is interesting is how quickly this exploded after the first one launched. Much the way things happen online when an obviously good idea drops.

Facebook Limits Status Updates To 420 Characters

Curious how much the business world is changing? Imagine any of the most talked about companies 30 years ago making a pot joke out of one of their primary feature settings.

The Top 10 Most Watched Web Series, March 2010

Interesting overview of the most popular web video series’. The not-so-secret formula? A kids show presence with a much more adult tone to the episodes.

Photoshop Content-Aware Fill Demo “PatchMatch” (Video)

This is a remarkable demo of PS’s ability to clean up and even add missing elements to photos. All in a very automated way. The day of completely digitally-generated movies and commercials may seem like a long way off, but then again, seeing leaps in technology like this demonstrate that aspects of it are remarkably within grasp.

Creativing :: How the iPad will change computing, The future of gaming, and a 70s music vid way ahead of it’s time

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Tweet of the Week

Past tense of ‘bing’: If bing is like ping then it’s ‘binged’. If it’s like sing, it’s ‘bung’. If it’s like bring, it’s ‘bought’.

Starbucks Listens to Customer Request for More Sizes | Starbucks Coffee Company

This was my favorite April Fools prank. Starbucks again showing the best way to battle brand backlash is to not let it throw you off your game.

How the Tablet Will Change the World

The more I read about the iPad, the more impressed I am by Apple’s vision. I’m also enjoying the battle of the titans between Apple and Google. And while I generally favor the open system approach of Google, Apple’s been providing value through a far more consistently better user experience for the masses of users who never really care about doing their own Google Maps mashup.

10 Apps We’re Excited to Try on iPad Launch Day | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Another post in the topic du jour. To a lot of people, the gap between a laptop and an iPhone experience seems like a small niche. True, almost all apps demonstrated here can already be done on either of those two devices. But looking at these large images and realizing that they’ll be delivered in the tight interface of the Apple app system, and you can see why this is going to be a very different computing experience.

NYT: Data Show Best Corners to Hail a Cab in New York

This article hits on several interesting points. The use of data to create a more fluid society — think traffic management or urban planning. Also, the release of this data as an app means the loop comes around and future data could reflect how this data was reacted to. And lastly, this is all about mobile and location based services; probably the strongest tech meme going.

Jesse Schell’s mindblowing talk on the future of games (DICE 2010)

A great presentation on the current and future state of gaming and how it could be worked into seemingly every facet of our lives. Watch this video and get 10 bonus points.

Amazon Filler Item Finder – Get Free Shipping on Amazon.com

Since opening up customer reviews in the mid 90s (to the howls of critics), Amazon has refined and redefined the online commerce business. This is right in line with their trend. A tool that shows you a range of products which will fill that last $3.11 you need to add to your order to get free shipping. Brilliant!

YouTube – Prisencolinensinainciusol

Remarkable video from the early 70s. The song from Italian singer Adriano Celentano is actually a parody on what English sounded like to him. Thus the rather odd title. It actually looks and sounds more like someone trying to take a funk hip hop group and send them time traveling back three decades.

Creativing :: YouTube tips for goin’ viral, Big Brother on Facebook, and new media units when you fly

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Tweet of the Week

“Orkut for Android?” Nice. If they just added pro sports, scrapbooking, and Ron Paul, I’d finally have my perfect “Who Cares?” engine.

Five Keys For Creating Viral YouTube Titles

Interest in creating viral videos will probably be around for a while. These simple tips are well worth the quick read. I also found the video for creating a “Tim Burton” look with makeup surprisingly interesting.

Digital Marketing: YouTube Opens Up Overlays – Advertising Age

I still say the YouTube deal will ultimately play out (and pay out) well for Google. With the level of usage still going through the roof, and Google wanting to get their text ads in every nook and cranny of the Internet, this video-based version of Adwords is right out of their play book.

“My Mom’s On Facebook” Song Goes Viral

From somewhere between Twisted Sister and Save By The Bell comes this video that’s trending upward. Not sure what qualifies as ‘going viral’, but at 250k views in a couple days, it seems headed there if it isn’t yet.

Attention, “Star Wars” Fans: The iPhone Lightsaber Duel is Coming

So I’ll admit to downloading the first Lightsaber iPhone app. And this bluetooth-based multiplayer version certainly ups the ante. Sold!

Facebook, The Tool Of Big Brother?

The idea is simple. Govt agencies like the FBI and DEA are using Facebook to lure and track suspects across a number of potential infractions. On the surface, it’s almost funny to think that some FBI agent could be posing as a cute girl to lure a criminal into confessing something stupid online. Of course, if it goes beyond the FBI and some ‘stupid criminal’ to monitoring general citizen activity, that presents another picture. And while the intent may be different between those two, the basic activities are identical. More privacy regulation fun ahead.

The Current State of Twitter [INFOGRAPHIC]

Sometimes I like data just for the way it’s presented. These charts are a lesson in info design. It’s also interesting to note how the majority of Twitter users have posted so few times. I’d guess squatters are making a fairly big impact, but still a very high percentage of “users” rarely use it. Also interesting is the days of the week. It still looks like a heavy workplace distraction that spills over into the commute home or drinks after work.

Google TV: Five Burning Questions – Yahoo! News

I don’t usually like speculating on things too far out in the future. As Wired magazine once said, It’s virtually impossible to predict technology more than 6 months out. But this article brings up some great scenarios to consider, and involves speculation on the future of advertising. I also think the idea of Web-capable TV will probably happen fast. I could almost see people forgoing home computers, and bridging the gap with mobile phones and a Web-enabled TV.

New Ad Opps Abound at Airports, in the Air – MarketingVOX

If you fly much, you likely noticed the increase in ads popping up everywhere; from security bins to seat trays. The new interactive displays are not only showing up at airports, but in downtown areas as well. Triggered by motion (the one’s I’ve seen), they’re a fun technology, but I haven’t seen them really used that creatively yet. Opportunity alert!

4 New APIs: a Job Search API, a Movies API, a Book Metadata API, and an API for Researchers

A short article about some new APIs. Keep up on these. They’re the backbone of innovative marketing solutions of the future.

Creativing :: Free ebooks correlate to printed sales, Social media crisis lessons, and the first ChatRoulette campaign

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Tweet of the Week

There are pretty much just two writer moods: “I am a GOD!” and “I suck!” Today, Minions, I am a GOD!

Free ebooks correlated with increased print-book sales – Boing Boing

A similar correlation has been shown in the music industry between file-sharing and volume of music purchased. I’m sure there’s a similar correlation between YouTube and TV watching (a la “Lazy Sunday”). The takeaway? If you have something to say, lay it out there. If it’s valuable, people will want more.

3 Crisis Survival Lessons for the Social Media Age

Case Studies are often the best way to learn. While these aren’t full of deep stats, reading about these 3 situations will decrease your odds of repeating them.

We’re Not In Kansas Anymore. Well, We Are — Google, Kansas.

While their tactic may not be all that tight, I think strategically Topeka is dead on to be in hot pursuit of Google’s broadband ISP service. It will have a positive impact on education, attracting businesses, and overall economic efficiencies. But next time, hopefully they’ll call in a good creative shop to help with the execution.

Google Kansas II: Duluth Strikes Back [VIDEO]

A shot back across the bow of Topeka. It’s nice to see people across the US so excited about broadband. This also demonstrates how people everywhere are taking marketing into their own hands. Google-style, you could say.

Is Content King? Then Distribution Is Crown Prince – Advertising Age

A lot of good points about content and the distribution of that content. It seems to me that right now, there’s more emphasis on distribution. Everyone and their mother setting up social media distribution points and trying to game the search game. While not really offering distinct content of any sort that’s being pushed through those channels

Those Hooves? That’s the Sound of the Internet Search Apocalypse – Advertising Age

SEO is quickly becoming a system too easily gamed. I have to think this will end someday soon. The question is, will Google end it on their own, or will one of their competitors end it by offering a better product, or will government step in? Stay tuned.

How Lionsgate Plans to Take on ‘Twitter Effect’ for ‘Kick-Ass’ – Advertising Age

The technology behind this is about integrating the conversation streams across Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. This makes a lot of sense from a brand management and social conversation standpoint. In the comments, you’ll find some good counterpoints about loss of cohesion in the conversation, but I’m not sure it’s any worse than most YouTube threads for movie trailers. If anything, my issue is that the brand’s presence in these threads seems to heavy-handed.

Adverblog: French Connection brings Chatroulette into its Manifesto

If there’s any question about the need for speed in today’s marketing climate, consider this UGC campaign based around ChatRoulette for French Connection. A simple, quickly-deployed UGC campaign that leverages a rocketing trend.

Amazing iPhone » Time warp your iPhone 3GS video with Slowmo app

This actually looks pretty cool.

Creativing :: Tweet of the Week, the iPhone sandwich, and Facebook vs. Google

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Tweet of the Week

PEW SURVEY: By 2012, every object in America will have its own Facebook page and an unnecessary laser pointer.

YouTube – iSandwich 4G

Found this pretty funny. Not sure I’d want to taste it, but it’s a visual treat. Wait until the end for the CG gag.

MediaShift . Best Online Resources for Following 2010 Winter Olympics | PBS

This list is an interesting scan simply because of the range of content around the Olympics. No really unexpected, but a good overview at the numerous angles from which online content can approach a subject.

30 APIs Used in 7 Days: Bing, Facebook, Flickr, Google, Netflix, Salesforce.com, Twitter, YouTube

Despite mashups having been around for a while, I feel there’s enormous untapped potential. Especially as social networking and mobile are going to generate treasure troves of data previously unavailable in any form. This list is heavily concentrated on data and web tending apps, which is no doubt a big topic right now.

Foursquare Responds To Please Rob Me: Please Shut Up

Contrasting the closed, symmetric network of Foursquare with the open, asymmetric network of Twitter.

Ajaxian » I Can’t Believe It’s Not Flash

A Flash trashing, followed by a lot of rebuking in the comments.

The Future of Flash, on FarukAt.eş

Faruk’s been writing about Flash, and it’s pending demise. But here he reconsiders the value of Flash, with a possibility of it becoming a big potential mobile play. Flash does offer development speed, but there’s always been that nagging stability thing. And I don’t think consumers will tolerate phones crashing to any degree that they’ve dealt with it on computers.

Pre-Roll Video Ads Still Hated, Here to Stay – Advertising Age

A nice overview from someone who both dislikes the pre-roll but also derives revenue from it. I agree with his assessment that branded sponsorships are going to be the real value for content developers — essentially creating a brand experience with less up front risk for the sponsor.

Farmville About To Cruise Past 80 Million Users

Some interesting findings in the numbers. When looking at active users, the shorter the time of reference (daily, weekly, monthly), the lower the growth rate. That should indicate a lot of people are trying it out out of curiosity, but not hanging with it for long. Consider that active daily users is 31m, only up from 27m a year ago. So it would seem they’re drafting Facebook’s continuing rocket trajectory of new users. Granted, 31m is still a lot of people. But I think it’s indicative of how these social games will play out. Friends pulling friends in, everyone dabbling for a bit, and then on to the next new thing.

Is Facebook Becoming More Important Than Google?

There’s been a lot of recent talk about Facebook’s growing search influence. And no doubt that searching Facebook is going to increase in both frequency and intent. But as this article points out, a lot of the behavior isn’t understood at the moment, so it’s difficult to say what’s correlation and what’s causation.

Creativing :: Tweet of the Week, Fake Steve Jobs on the iPad, and Seth Godin taking his own medicine

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Tweet of the Week

I like to imagine Jonathan Ive and James Dyson — tank-topped, schnapps-drunk, and enthusiastically slap-fighting over who’s fancier.

Official Google Blog: Search is getting more social

Sometimes a video is worth 1,000 blog posts. This one does a great job explaining the immediate appeal and potential power of their social search. In personal tests, I didn’t find it all that, but then neither was YouTube on day one. But the potential is screaming obvious. And I found it a glaring reminder of how far ahead of everyone Google is in search. Tried Facebook search lately? It feels like you’re dealing with a big, dumb, AI terminal. As my network and the topics it covers expands, this could be a remarkably powerful focal point for searches across anything from a restaurant to a good doctor. Google’s biggest obstacle here is Facebook blocking their content from Google search. If I were to pick a winner at this point, I’d say Google because this is far more advanced search-wise, and I like the idea of the net they’re casting going well outside one site (although Facebook Connect could be just as effective).

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : Tablet Part Two: The true significance of the Tablet

The blend of humor and insight at Fake Steve Jobs never fails to inform and entertain. It’s been said before that the iPad is the newspaper industries last hope for survival. And this post delves into how Jobs wants to redefine the multimedia experience. I also like his unrestrained assault on the Kindle. I’ve always been a big fan, but this week has really exposed it’s vulnerability, imo.

The iPad’s Threat to Advertising – IABlog

Think iPad will save the publishing and ad industries? Here’s a good contrarian viewpoint.

Unhappy Hipsters

The captions Dwell Magazine never published. Funny parody.

Has Twitter peaked? – CNN.com

If I owned Twitter, I’d be far more interested in the overall usage stats than just uniques. I understand the importance of uniques for overall growth, but reading most of the complaints, it’s not that the service offers no value, but rather it’s the perceived lack of filtering. People will eventually figure out lists, and other ways of filtering the data. And Twitter’s open source approach should continue to ensure that a very large community of developers and entrepreneurs will continue to find new ways of expanding Twitter’s utility. That said, you never want to see your unique’s dropping 😐

CQ: The Test Of Your Potential For Cross-Cultural Success – Forbes.com

On the surface, this may seem like one more way to have to compare yourself to others. But I definitely think multi-culturalism is pretty lost on much of the US. Even in the advertising world — where we tend to think of ourselves as pretty open and aware — we’ve seen enormous blowups from ads where no one bothered to consider that anyone outside of their own cultural boundary could have access to the communications. This is worth a read.

Seth’s Blog: Why write a book?

Seth Godin certainly takes his own medicine. This is the announcement on his blog for his latest book. Not crazy hype. Not even a small cover shot of the book. Just an intriguing headline — which surely stopped a good percentage of those who’ve ever thought about writing a book — followed by his usual thoughtful way of viewing things below the surface that stops most people. And all very consistent with his brand.

Vanishing Point motion artwork | The Glue Pot

Motion artwork video from visual artist Takuya Hosogane. There isn’t much info here or on his site about the methodology, so I’m assuming it’s all directly his design work, and not generated algorithmically through the sounds.

Charlie Simpson, 7-Year-Old, Raises $160,000 For Haiti

Shows that you don’t have to be a major corporation to generate buzz in social media. You just need a great story.

Creativing :: Holiday shopping madness video, social media gains advocates, and iPhone news

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Chaos inside Walmart during Black Friday 2009 [VIDEO]

Absurd chaos going on here. You’d think a gun was fired. People in some parts of the world must see this and think this entire country is insane.

Frosty the Inappropriate Snowman Mashup Creates Controversey

The video this references to has been pulled. What I like here is that the mashup was done by CBS. That means that CBS was mashing up artwork they didn’t have the rights to? And the networks are trying to put a stop to YouTube? At least for a brief moment it seems they stopped acting like legal bots and started acting like real human beings.

AT&T CEO Wants iPhone Users to Limit Usage

This is little short of mind-boggling. Just as the mobile industry a really taking off, AT&T’s De la Vega steps in and tries to threaten everyone with tiered pricing. He should read his history. The Web tried this very unsuccessfully in it’s early days. Consumers heavily restricted their use out of concern for unexpected high monthly charges. More than anything, I’m surprised that he can’t see how anyone in the mobile space should benefit from increased usage. That data they point to is interesting though: Their 3% smart phone users consume 40% of the data. I just don’t like their solution of punishing their best customers. What other industry does that (besides the music industry)?

Chrome Extensions for Mac Coming Soon

I just installed Chrome on my MacBook Pro, and am very impressed with the speed over Firefox. Extremely noticeable. But I do miss the ability to have plugins — something I used a lot on Firefrox. So this is good news to me. If you haven’t tried Chrome for Mac, though, i’d definitely give it a spin

Twitter Bombs and the Real Time Tweets on Google Results Page

I, like many others, have noticed a lot more Google Alerts search traffic. And much of it is from Twitter activity. This report could certainly explain why that’s happening. It could also be pushing up posters who happen to use a common Google search term. I can’t imagine this will last long. Way to easy for brands to drop the Twitter bomb. And you know they will. In fact, I’m sure the marketer behind the shaking belly ads is at work on that right now.

It’s Official: Auto Ads are Shifting Online

Some pretty convincing data on the increasing use of social media by the auto industry. What I find most interesting is that it’s the dealers, at the local level, that are really taking advantage of this. Here’s a great stat from a Nielsen report: “Auto dealerships dropped their overall ad budgets 27%, but increased internet ad spends 45% in the first three quarters of 2009, compared to the same time period in 2008.”

Social Media Influencing 28% of Shoppers

An early indicator of the influence of social media on consumer shopping behavior. And while I agree this is real, I’m surprised that the gap between those who say they check product reviews and those who say they are affected by social media activity is as narrow as it is. Really, I thought the majority of people would be regularly checking product reviews on sites like Amazon. Interesting that only 13% of people claim to make use of that information to inform their purchasing decision. Maybe it’s the lower price point merchandise they’re not so concerned with.

Seth’s Blog: The reason social media is so difficult for most organizations

Social media is a process, not an event. This is a big distinction, and actually something I addressed earlier this week at the iMedia Summit. So I couldn’t agree more. And company’s that want to treat social media and branding like an event, or a product, are in for an unpleasant surprise.

Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies of 2009

What I like in this article is how they emphasize the mediums that establish credibility. This is a principle concept that’s coming up a lot in branding. And whether they refer to it as credibility, authenticity, or being genuine, it’s the same principle. You can’t just shout messages at people the way you once could. They mention these trends were big in 2009, and should be for 2010 as well. I’d say they can extend it out a lot longer than that for many of these mediums.

iPhone App Lets You IMDb on the Go

A good review of the iPhone app on Mashable. This is probably one of the most logical apps you could want, as especially among young people, a lot of movie-going decisions are out-of-home.