My Hyperlocal Community

As print publications continue to fold in the face of a struggling economy and penny-pinching advertisers, the internet has become the triumphant vehicle for delivering news. It's quicker, more easily updated, and more cost effective than print. And with the emergence and popularity of social media, consumers are now broadcasters, commentators, and reporters. They're 'reporting' on news that's most relevant to them, and in many cases, this means news that affects where they work, play, and live. While this information may only be useful to some, its extreme relevancy makes it very meaningful, and is being referred to as hyperlocal news. Hyperlocal content is helping build communities of people who are interested in the same information.

To understand just how interested people really are in hyperlocal content, I've decided to leverage Twitter to report on my own neighbourhood, using the intersection where I live as the landmark for my community. My new Twitter account will be a barometer to not only measure what traction I can gain through Twitter, but to understand what level of engagement I can achieve with my own neighbours. I am fascinated with the idea of the web changing how we live and the relationships we form.

Stay tuned for updates on how my Twitter community develops.

Magpie - An Alien Strain In The Twittersphere?

If you begin to receive Tweets from friends that seem contrived, or maybe a bit too much like a sales pitch, it might be because those friends have been recruited into Magpie - an ad network created for Twitter.

As we all await the big idea on how Twitter will finally generate ongoing revenue, Magpie is certainly attempting to demonstrate proof of concept - a pilot, if anything, to test the waters. The model is simple - get avid Twitterers, presumably with lots of followers, to allow advertisers to embed their own messages into their Tweets from time to time. It's important to note, that Magpie is not affiliated with Twitter - it is a separate entity, leveraging the Twitter platform as an advertising arena.

While Twitterers won't be able to review and approve ads that are sent out from their Twitter account in advance, Magpie does allow members to tag each ad with their own disclaimer - written by the member to distinguish genuine Tweets from Magpie ads. And there is money to be made! Magpie offers four different models to their members: Pay-per-Sale, Pay-per-Lead, Pay-per-Click, and Pay-per-View.

The question remains, if users don't tag their Magpie ads with a clear customized message, how many of us will mistake a brand message for an honest Tweet? And if we do, does it matter? As Magpie picks up steam, there's a chance ad Tweets could outnumber those from our friends. Here's hoping we all still find true value in the person to person exchange, and that the organic discussions Twitter seems to facilitate won't be disrupted by the Magpie model.

For more information on how Magpie works, visit their FAQ page.

Pass The Popcorn

Big news from YouTube this week - it was announced that the site will be launching a new section, dedicated to television episodes and feature length films. This is a huge departure from the user generated content model the site originally evangelized, including the 'Broadcast Yourself' tag line it still maintains. Given the fact that Google owns YouTube, coupled with the staggering traffic the site generates, we had to expect they would continue to innovate the monetization strategy.

This change will position Google to attract significantly more advertising dollars within the entertainment vertical. Google is also working with Universal Music to stream music videos from VEVO. It's reported the two companies will share ad revenue from this venture. As of now, Google hasn't indicated that users will have to pay for these services.

While the obvious driver behind this innovation is revenue, you can't argue that it's pushing the web in exciting directions. But you also have to wonder, if primary social media sites are eventually converted to brand channel sites, will the opportunity for consumer generated content diminish in the shadows of business plans? Twitter has yet to unveil their own revenue model - one way or another, the site needs to generate dollars, but hopefully, not to the detriment of the user base, who has found a tremendous freedom and community in it's application.

How Brands Can Wrangle Bad Press On The Web

Domino's Pizza was recently thrown into a media storm after two employees filmed themselves doing not so nice things with a food order being prepared for delivery. They posted the video on YouTube (no longer available) and it spread like wildfire. No need to explain how something like that can leave deep wounds in the brand impression.

To their credit, Domino's acted quickly. Within a few days (and over one million YouTube views later) the video was removed, the company created a Twitter account to address the issue, and they recorded and posted a message from its chief executive on YouTube.

Since any online consumer has the ability to discuss brands in the public realm, reputation management will become an increasingly growing area of practice. In the social networking space, reputation management is the evolution of traditional PR. What's most important is that brands find their voice. The recent Amazon ordeal resulted in the brand being harshly criticized because of their 'silence'. They remained quiet for days, with no response to the millions of comments being made online from their consumers.

We can't expect brands to be infallible, but we should expect them to participate in the dialogue in social media spaces. Kudos to Domino's for facing an embarrassing situation head-on. It will be interesting to see how brands perfect the art of reputation management in an uncensored online universe.

How The Web Makes The World Feel Smaller

It's interesting to take a step back and consider what the internet has done to the world. News travels at lightning speed, and there are no borders preventing the news from reaching far corners of the earth. We're all exposed to individuals and information we would have otherwise never known about.

A great example in recent days is Susan Boyle, the 47 year old, unemployed woman from a Scottish village, who made huge waves after some unexpected stellar singing on 'Britain's Got Talent'. Before she stepped onto that stage, she was, and likely would have remained, unknown to the world. Today, thousands of articles are being written about her - collectively, her videos on YouTube have been watched millions of times!

While this kind of fame may only last moments, it's still a special feeling to get a glimpse into the life of someone you previously didn't know existed. Susan Boyle may be in Scotland, but when you see her sing on YouTube, and you read her interviews on dozens of websites, it really does erase geographical borders, and the world feels that much smaller.

Power To The People - The Amazon Example

It's old news by now that Amazon has been slaughtered this past week after all adult (a.k.a gay and lesbian) titles disappeared from their bestseller lists. Only 57,310 books affected, but, hey, who's counting? Probably the loads and loads of Twitterers, who made the tags #amazonfail and #glitchmyass rank highest in Twitter popularity for days.

I won't continue with the reprimand of Amazon - they say it was a 'cataloging error' - who am I to disagree?! Well, I'm part of what appears to be the most powerful generation ever. A generation of people, young and old, I might add, who have found a voice in the digital world. A generation of individuals who are using social networking sites to broadcast their opinions across the globe. And in doing so, they are finding power in collective thought - power in their published words - power in the simple ability to share their points of view.

Power to the people. Word.