This week ESPN pulled an article from its website about LeBron James, which has caused quite a commotion. The story, written by Arash Markazi, is about James’ recent adventure in Las Vegas, which includes the line, “The more you hang around James, the more you realize he’s still a child wrapped in a 6-foot-8, 250 pound frame.”
The article was published by ESPN.com then quickly pulled down, but not before search engines and others were able to capture the content. At first, many speculated the James’ business team was behind the spiked article, as a similar situation happened last summer, when someone from James’ camp confiscated a video tape of James’ getting dunked on by a college basketball player. Video of the play was eventually shown when someone else had the move recorded on their personal camera.
ESPN has also received criticism for airing James’ hour-long special, “The Decision,” which blurred the boundary lines between the news organization and James (and was simply done in poor taste). This has also lead many to believe ESPN has a vested interest in James’ reputation, which could be another reason for the spiked article.
ESPN has published a statement in regards to why the article was pulled:
ESPN.com will not be posting the story in any form. We looked into the situation thoroughly and found that Arash did not properly identify himself as a reporter or clearly state his intentions to write a story. As a result, we are not comfortable with the content, even in an edited version, because of the manner in which the story was reported. We’ve been discussing the situation with Arash and he completely understands. To be clear, the decisions to pull the prematurely published story and then not to run it were made completely by ESPN editorial staff without influence from any outside party.
Markazi also released a statement of his own, about his reporting:
I have been in conversations with ESPN.com’s editors and, upon their complete review, understand their decision not to run the story. It is important to note that I stand by the accuracy of the story in its entirety, but should have been clearer in representing my intent to write about the events I observed.
Questions have also been raised about a possible suspension for Markazi.
This blog post was contributed by Alison O’Leary, who works in Racepoint’s UK office.
After a week working with Irdeto (a Racepoint client) out of their Beijing office, I’ve come back with a different view of the great Chinese firewall. True, my broadband speed was pretty slow, I couldn’t access Citrix from my hotel room at all and trying to get onto Twitter actually crashed my laptop, but it’s not the picture of doom and gloom painted by much of the Western media.
Yes, Western companies are having to abide by Chinese censorship requirements, with Google the most talked about case in point, and we all know the Chinese government operates the world’s most extensive system of Web monitoring and filtering, but social media is really making a difference to its overall impact.
China already counts the world’s biggest Internet population, at 470 million users – already more than double that of the USA – and consultants BDA China predict that Internet users will reach 800 million by 2014. And those users are making the most of it. According to a recent report, the Chinese are twice as likely to use chat and three times more likely to micro-blog, blog and use video conferencing than American users. The Netpop Research study shows that mainland Chinese citizens are “more likely to share information broadly and openly.” Something of a surprise given the country’s censorship has been such a topic of contention. Nevertheless, the study estimates that up to 92 percent of Chinese netizens use social media, meanwhile, only 76 percent of US netizens do the same.
What really came across when talking to Chinese colleagues and ex-pats during my time in Beijing though was the huge popularity of bulletin boards. There are 117 million of them in China and it is here that many of the population express themselves, sharing often contentious news and views. Some deliberately translate everything in English so that stories can disseminate at a quicker rate before being found and censored. Check out www.chinasmack.com as an example. When you add the 221 million blogs and 176 million social network users who also use these platforms to spearhead criticisms of many companies and spread ideas and news, it’s clear to see the game changing impact social media is already having.
As time moves on it will be interesting to see how things develop but one thing’s for sure, with the world’s largest Internet population grabbing the social media gauntlet, the great firewall of China has the hardest job on earth trying to keep control of it.
Over the past 1-2 years group buying has absolutely taken off. While Groupon started the mainstream trend, many other companies such as LivingSocial and BuyWithMe, have sprung up across the country and in specific regions and/or cities.
While a decade ago group buying was often limited to farm stands and fresh produce, these sites have the potential to change consumer behavior and is a major win for individually owned businesses – which now have an easy avenue to attract hundreds or thousands of new customers. Depending on what restaurants offer deals, people going out for dinner will modify their plans to obtain a 50 percent discount on their meals – especially considering some very nice restaurants are participating in group buying. The same goes with other types of businesses.
For consumers, group buying is an avenue to try some place new for half the price (most of the time). Or, if it’s a personal favorite, they can get a discount next time they are at the store.
Just recently the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston offered $6 for admission (down from $12) on Groupon. Over 9,000 people purchased this deal, which brought in nearly $55,000 dollars within a couple days. Then there are activities people wouldn’t usually try, but major savings pushed them over the edge. Example number one: a recent Groupon deal for skydiving ($149 down from $235) netted $357,000.
These sites have also been very careful to add in social elements so that buyers can broadcast their purchases on Facebook and Twitter, to share the deal with friends and colleagues. Furthermore, sites offer referral bonuses, so that people are enticed to bring in new group members.
These group buying often consist of meals, spa treatments, hotel packages, golf outings, museum tickets, and more, and as group buying continues to make its way mainstream, Groupon and other group buying companies will be forces to provide more specific regional offers. For example, Boston offers will soon need to be divided between downtown Boston, the north shore, south shore, Metro West, and Worcester area. This is because the audience for these offers is growing, and demands (both from consumers and businesses) will become even more specified and group buying evolves.
We’ve been talking a lot about Facebook this week. The site hit 500 million users on Wednesday and has become a sheer force in our digitally obsessed society. Earlier this spring Facebook made the “Like” button universally available across the world wide web, not just on their own site. Brands and businesses have incorporated the “Like” functionality into their own websites to visually demonstrate customer support. While there was a great deal of buzz about the expanded reach of the “Like” button, there has also been a storm brewing around the concept of a “Dislike” button.
I for one would like to see Facebook add a “Dislike” button. If I can express my support for something so easily, why can’t I express my opposition or distaste? There are nearly 3.2 million people that agree with me who belong to a Facebook group called “Dislike Button.”
There are a few obvious reasons why Facebook has held off: first, there is potential for bullying and hurtful use of the proposed “dislike” button. While I would like to think Facebook users are capable of using the “dislike” button wisely, I am sure there are users that would be abusive.
A second reason is highlighted in a new column by Mashable founder and CEO Pete Cashmore for CNN. In his most recent column, Cashmore explains that the “dislike” button opens door for users to negatively impact the brands and businesses that use Facebook for marketing and promotions. He writes:
“Facebook will never add a Dislike button because it would damage the company’s relationships with brands, businesses and web publishers — these groups are essential for building both web traffic and ad revenue.”
While Cashmore makes a strong point that Facebook does not want to alienate the primary source of its revenue, Facebook has also been known to respond to strong user feedback.
Who do you think will win this debate? Are you on team Like or Dislike?
Today Facebook announced that it has reached 500 million users in just about six years of existence (it’s hard to imagine how we kept tract of friend’s birthdays before Facebook).
Facebook also launched Facebook Stores, which shares personal user stories from around the world.
Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, posted a video announcing today’s news (watch it below).
Over the past few months the “cool” thing to do has been to complain about Facebook. There was an uproar over privacy settings, ongoing criticism about advertising, and now the American Customer Satisfaction Index reports that Facebook ranks terribly low in customer satisfaction.
First, privacy. I’ve used Facebook since the fall of 2004 and consider myself a typical user. I have never had any privacy issues with Facebook, as I actually took the time to carefully go through Facebook’s privacy settings and set them. No, it’s not one click of a button, but it allowed me to customize privacy settings for groups of people, and even specific users – which is exactly what I wanted. This whole process took about 5 minutes, and I went pretty in-depth. Complaining that it will take 5-10 minutes to manage privacy settings is like complaining that your seat belt doesn’t automatically buckle when you go into your car. Take the time, and make sure everything is done right.
Second, advertising. Almost every single site has advertising – or sponsors. It’s their way of making money. If you don’t like the advertising, overlook it. Besides, the video clips played during shows on Hulu is so much more annoying then Facebook ads.
The funniest part of advertising and sponsor complains is that for years and years, Facebook was attacked for not having a solid revenue strategy in place. Now that they are making money from advertising, their advertising model is attacked. It’s a no-win situation.
Third – the customer satisfaction survey. MSNBC’s headline yesterday was, “Facebook hated as much as airlines, cable companies.” Seriously? Airplanes are so bad these days that airlines are adding Wi-Fi so passengers are able to go on Facebook during their flight in hopes of making it through hours of stale air in a cramped seat. And cable companies are trying to enhance their offerings by integrating Facebook! To me, it sounds like Facebook is wanted…
Old Spice has launched a new social media campaign using Old Spice Man, who is actually former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa.
Following a successful television commercial campaign which began during the Super Bowl, Old Spice took Mustafa to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and is now making personalized videos.
Hustafa has already made videos for social media personalities such as Kevin Rose and AdventureGirl, and is also replying to specific tweets from various Twitter users. One person even asked Old Spice Man to propose to his girlfriend.
While this social media campaign has already attracted a lot of buzz, it’s still a very new initiative that is quickly building momentum. There is no doubt that Mustafa will be in high demand for personalized videos going forward, and Mustafa recently told ABC News that he can product 100 videos a day, with help from Old Spice’s advertising agency.
This campaign should be a launching pad for other businesses looking to capitalize on social media, and it would be a surprise to see other companies follow suit (such as the Miller High Life guy).
In a recent blog post, Socialnomics author Erik Qualman shared updated figures on Twitter’s presence in the online search game. Twitter has officially edged out Yahoo! and Bing in number of monthly searches. See graphic below:
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Twitter founder Biz Stone shared that Twitter now has over 800 million search queries per day, which is a 33% increase from the last time he shared search figures in April (2010).
On his blog, Qualman writes, “We have indicated all along that Twitter & Facebook would be bigger search competition for Google than Yahoo and Bing. The fact that this is coming to fruition so soon is astounding. Social search and social commerce are becoming reality and it’s a great thing to see. Keep in mind we haven’t even mention YouTube and its social search activity.”
To the people who say social media is a fad, or that these sites are unimportant for business I say, think again. Consumers are searching for your products and services on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and if you are not there, they will find another provider.
Even though the NBA hasn’t had a basketball game since June 17th, the league is attracting more attention then any other sport right now, thanks to the 2010 free agent class, which is lead by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
While Bosh and Wade have been publicizing their free agent experience over Twitter and YouTube, no one has taken advantage of the media quite like James, who often refers to himself as King James.
Yesterday James launched a Twitter account which has quickly attracted approximately 250,000 followers, despite only have three tweets (none of which reveal anything interesting). James also launched his own website, which appears to be strictly for announcing his free agent decision.
However, in the most ego-stroking move of all, James’ camp has contacted ESPN to arrange for an hour-long special from 9:00pm – 10:00pm ET tomorrow during which he will make his announcement (which is being called “The Decision”). While ESPN will strike ratings gold with this special, it’s also an example of why the network is unable to cover James’ and his buddies without bias. Simply put, ESPN uses this young group of attention-seeking players as much as they use ESPN. This results in large staged events like tomorrow’s news conference, and constant attention to non-stories like James’ elbow “injury” during the playoffs which miraculously disappeared following the Cavs’ loss to the Celtics.
When people across the country sit down at 9:00pm tomorrow to learn where James will sign his next contract, many will do so with a sick feeling in their stomach, knowing that James has been able to use mainstream and social media to manipulate them, and that ESPN is willing to do anything for “The King.” However, the viewers will be there, which is enough to make James happy (as he lives for the attention) and the NBA happy (as it has never received this much attention during the off-season). However following the announcement, there will be one city of people that love James, while the rest of the country criticizes him for his large ego and inability to win just one game in the NBA finals during his first 7 seasons in the league.
Infographics are quickly becoming a media and public relations industry buzz word / topic. Why you ask? Two major reasons. As corporations continue to shift into their role as media companies and content curators, they’re realizing the opportunity to package interesting data to the media and consumers in new ways. More importantly, media organizations and editors are now focusing on finding new ways to engage their readership. Infographics happen to solve both of these problems by packaging data in a way that makes it both engaging and easy to read.
A few weeks ago I sat down with Sam Whitmore of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey for Racepoint Group’s video newsletter to discuss how brands and agencies can leverage infographics and why they’re becoming the “new slide shows” for media outlets desperate for engaging content. While Sam cautioned that infographics aren’t B-roll (most media outlets like to play a role in building them), he did pass along some interesting insight into how PR practitioners and marketers can leverage the media’s interest in this new category of content.
For more insight on infographics, along with the latest news and trends in marketing, PR and communications in the technology space subscribe to Racepoint’s “The Point: Tech Edition.
