After years of blocking their contestants from online outreach to fans, American Idol has released a statement saying that they will allow contestants to communicate via their “Idol-managed” Facebook, Twitter and MySpace pages.  Sounds like a fantastic idea, but how will it change the competition?

Here are a few things I will be watching out for:

1. The influence of social media on the outcome
   As the Top 24 is narrowed to 12, we should see indication of popularity by visiting each participant’s social media site.  Can you imagine how much influence each site will hold as fans of the show try to rally their friends and family to support each contestant?  However, a new dynamic may enter as fans might become complacent and not vote if they see that their favorite has millions of supporters on their sites.
2. Each contestant’s ability to rally fans
   It will be interesting to see how each contestant uses their outlets to rally support.  This year’s winner could be decided on an artist’s ability to engage with fans to drive votes. A contestant’s social media savvy will be exposed.
3. Additional pressure on the contestants
   There is no doubt that each contestant feels pressure from the judges and live audience.  Will comments that critics place on the forums create more anxiety for the singers?
4. How much will Idol manage the forums?
   The true beauty of social media is unfiltered, transparent conversations.  I will be interested to see how much Idol allows.

Every year American Idol hooks me somehow, and now with this new dynamic, they have done it again.  How do you think the new social media policy will change the competition?

If you’re like me, in the first hour I used Google Wave, I thought…”eeh. Kinda cool, but I don’t need another thing to check, why not just integrate these features into Gmail? Well, I pretty much got my wish and more with Google Buzz. Now I’m not sure if it’s what I wanted. I think the integration of social media and multimedia-email-like-objects could be cool. I could talk about the potential positives with this new google product, but I think those are pretty easy to see, here are some potential aspects I don’t like:

(If you don’t know what google buzz is, here is a video. In short, its Facebook and Twitter meet gmail. It will be in every gmail account, whether you ask for it or not. (but you can turn it off if you want))

Social Integration

I don’t know if I want / need another digital social touch point. I already use Twitter and Facebook. I don’t see myself abandoning them anytime soon. So right now gmail serves a pretty specific purpose for me right now, it’s my email. I’m not totally keen on the idea of inviting the whole world into my inbox.

Privacy Concerns
If you’ve activated buzz you’ll notice it’s already set up people to follow. Ditto for others. This article put it best “The problem is that — by default — the people you follow and the people that follow you are made public to anyone who looks at your profile.
In other words, before you ever touch any settings in Google Buzz, someone could go into your profile and see who are the people you email and chat with most.”

Must Google run everything?
To me Google feels a bit like the robber-barrons of the 21st century. Right now I have 1) a gmail account 2) an igoogle account 3)p google blog 4)a google phone 5) a google voice account 6) a google reader account 7) a google checkout account 8 ) a google wave account 9) a google picture account (picasa) 10) it’s my interne browser,  its also 11) my text and video chat client and of course, my  12) search engine.  Thats 12 prety major things, and who knows what I forgot. Twitter, Facebook and Apple are among the few major players I still interact with that aren’t google. Do I think google is pure evil like some people do? No. But I feel like I should be cautious. If they do turn out to be pure evil I don’t want them to be in control of everything I come into contact with, no matter how convenient it is.

I’m pretty set in my ways. Right now I like my social media with my social media and my email with my email. Can I resist or will I be fully dragged into the Googlesphere. I guess only time will tell.

(This was originally posted at Digital Pivot before being reposted here and at my website, but I did write it)

Remember when waiting by the mailbox for snail mail or running towards the ringing sound of your home phone were the only ways for someone to reach you?

In the past few years, I have become increasingly addicted to the fast connections of the latest technology. And while I’m usually not the first to embrace opening myself up to the possibility of having thousands of people being able to reach me, there is something thrilling about receiving communication in a variety of mediums at any given time.
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Upon a recent trip home to visit my parents, I was made aware quickly that I needed to “unplug from the world,” as my mother stated.  After receiving the ‘mom stare of death’ I plugged in the blackberry and vowed not to even look at the computer. The weekends conversations revolved around all the ways communication has changed over time. I mean, my dad can remember life without a home phone (and color televisions, but that’s another story.) Life pre-computer or ever, *gasp* pre-blackberry just isn’t something I like to fathom, nor do I have to.

After thinking about the many ways someone can someone reach me, (leaving out the obvious smoke signals, search light, sky writer and occasional flare) this became a fun challenge. I’m slightly embarrassed to share this list, but here it goes: 

- One can dial me at work, on my cell phone or even the dinosaur landline at home.
- Remembering the office fax machine still works, one can send me a fax.
- Anyone can peck out an email to me at one of my three personal accounts or at work.
- If you’ve got the digits, anyone can text me or even BBM me.
- Professionals can network with me through an email via LinkedIn.
- If I’m online, one can IM me either through Gmail, AOL or Spark.
- Friends and acquaintances can write on my wall, IM me, message me, comment on a photo or include me in a note on Facebook.
- One can reply to a tweet via my Twitter account and even direct message me there.
- If found while visiting cyberspace, one can comment on my blog.
- And, finally, if you’re feeling old-fashioned and have a spare stamp, you can pen me a letter and send it to my home or work.

Twenty-four ways I can be contacted – almost all without someone leaving a seated position. So….why haven’t I heard from you?

If you’re like me, and most of your Twitter interaction is done not through accessing the twitter.com website, but by using one of the many applications out there that utilize their API, you might not have noticed their new home page.  The obvious enhancements are 1) focusing on search instead of signup and 2) showing trending topics by minute, day and week.

Has Twitter decided that they’ve exhausted the people who will sign up just to see what the “new” social networking hype is?  I would assume enabling first time users to the site to be able to immediately access the vast amount of information, updated constantly, would draw more to sign up.  After all, 69% of adults don’t really know what Twitter is.

This is an interesting step that Twitter couldn’t have taken before it had critical mass.  This is a step away from the social element of Twitter and a step toward the “news” element.  Prior to this, someone who wasn’t “plugged in” to any social networks would have had no reason to join Twitter.  Now, with millions of users agreeing on what is popular (vs. just your friends updating you with what they’re doing), those who have previously been only RSS users will (Twitter hopes) gravitate toward Twitter.  Interestingly, but not surprisingly, there does not appear to be an easy way to get Twitter Trends via RSS (although there are those trying to make these “easily” accessible…examples here and here using Yahoo! Pipes).

So, spread the word, and hopefully expand your social network further.

I still remember where I was when I heard about Elvis Presley’s death – in the car with my cousins.  The DJ came on the air and reported, “Elvis Presley is dead,” and then proceeded to play a song.  By the time I heard the “news” he had likely been gone for several hours.  Likewise, when Dale Earnhardt crashed and died I heard the news from a neighbor involved in the racing industry about 2 hours after his crash.  When Michael Jackson died the world knew literally within minutes.  The tweets were flying before his body had left the home.

Companies spend countless hours (years!) building their brands, but when news breaks, are they ready?  Crisis communication plans are one of those things you hope to never use, but nonetheless you must have.  In this age of instant “news” you won’t have time to gather your team and spend days, or even hours, painstakingly planning every word.  You need to have a plan for getting your side of the story out.  Silence may be golden, but in crisis communications it can also be deadly.

Most crisis plans are never used, even when a crisis arises, but by having gone through the process, and by having a plan you’ll be well ahead of the game.  By getting well-thought out messages out to the market, even if no more compelling than “we’re looking into it,” can by a brand valuable time.

Tweet, you’re it!

So little of advertising is still advertising. But fortunately ideas are still ideas. I’ve collected a few examples here that show off some creative ways that ambient and social media have been used. These are brands that have gone beyond the standard Facebook product page or the CEO Twitter account to bring some creativity back to marketing.

Coffee Company PowerPoint Slide

This coffee company in the Netherlands offered a free cup of coffee to students who slipped a Coffee Company slide into their PowerPoint presentations. Pretty cool to have a word from your sponsor in the middle of your slideshow.

Terminator Salvation Twitter game

This nicely executed movie promotion enticed Twitter users to watch for tweets from @resistance2018 which contained fill-in-the-blank puzzles, word jumbles, and trivia. Players could rack up points by “decoding these transmissions” in a reply tweet.

Papa John’s Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is one of the most notable new media tricks around. It’s a way of getting a users webcam to trigger a 3-D animation on screen. It really gives you the illusion of a hologram. (Is that redundant?) Papa John’s, GE, and Mini are some of the brands who are already making use of it.

Green Works Reverse Graffiti

This eco-friendly mural was created for the launch of Green Works, a 99% plant-based cleaner. San Francisco’s Broadway Tunnel was the filthy backdrop for the artwork of indigenous plant life, which was cleaned with the product. Pretty amazing product demo.

Milky Way Movie Theater Line Barrier

Although it’s questionable whether or not this was produced, it’s still a really fun idea—a great example of why it pays to think about where your target spends time.

Flea Spray Mall Floor Graphic

This giant floor decal lets the foot traffic on the ground floor of an Indonesian mall become the fleas on the dog. I do wish they had rotated the dog image 180 degrees so he wouldn’t look like a pork chop. And the line could be better. But still-great idea.

Iams Frisbee

While we’re on the topic of dogs, take a look at this cool giveaway from Iams dog food. To promote the healthy and strong dogs message, they created these plastic frisbees to look like 10kg weights to be distributed at dog parks.

STA Travel Facebook Page

Few brands with Facebook pages support their fanbase the way this student-focused travel agency does. They give their page a human voice with lots of interaction, contests, giveaways, etc. Plus, they constantly create incentives for users to become fans, which, when they do, ripples through the networks of Facebook friends.

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There’s still so much discussion around marketing through social media and making the most of limited media budgets. We will have to not only master these media options, but continually find new touchpoints as well.

Let’s remember to send a postcard to our old friends Print and Television—let them know we’ll still visit from time to time.

On having a comment regarding Twitter.

I joined, I followed, I’m on the fence.

On the fence as it relates to my chosen profession versus my preferred means of personal interaction. As a marketer, what an amazing time to be in the business!!  The explosion of social media brings new ways to communicate with your audience.  Gone are the days of the cookie cutter approach and three month lead times.  Think of the most outlandish idea and it can be implemented within days (or at least most clients think so)!!!

Yet, when I think about “tweeting” on an individual level, I don’t get it. Talk about random!    And half the time I just don’t get it.  Posts just seem to be the minutiae of day to day life.  Do I really need to know what you are having for dinner?  But then again we have become a society of voyeurs where reality TV, the latest celebrity gossip and horrific tragedies captures our attention.

Now I’m sure there is a niche who loves to communicate activities minute by minute, in broken sentences and a shorthand language.  I for one am not convinced that on a personal level “tweeting” will have the following and staying power some other forms of social media do, i.e. Facebook.

So is Twitter to become a lasting component in the marketing tool box or a just fad catapulted to greater fame by Oprah joining the fray?  And is it really a viable communication outlet for individuals or the next big wave in promoting all types of brands?

Twitter has blown up on the social media front, so no wonder every brand and their grandmother is joining!  Nielsen reported it broke 7 million monthly unique visitors in February, and Google News reported on March 13 that 40,920 news stories citing the microblog were published within 1 hour.  However, there are some guidelines that should be set when using it as a marketing tool and not a “social updater.”  This is not a tool used for a quick sell.  It’s used to build and cultivate relationships.

In your bio, be completely transparent about who your company is and who will be posting; even what you hope to get out of the experience.

Find relevant people to follow…most likely they will follow you back.  This will help conversations.

At first, you should relax and sit back.  Read conversations going on around you.  Slowly engage in these conversations and then as you become more confident you may start conversations on your own related to your business.

Be responsive!  And, always give back more than you were asked.

Don’t be overly enthusiastic…too many companies are trying to sell stuff right out of the gate.

If you’re part of an agency representing a brand, let the brand’s employees do the tweeting.  They are the ones closest to it.

In my short life on Twitter (@joshfahey) I’ve had the unfortunate displeasure of following several extremely annoying people and I stereotyped them accordingly. You may or may not have experienced people like these, but believe me they are out there. Some are based on the content they post and others on how they use Twitter. You may be one of them. You may be a mix of two or more. Either way I hope reading this makes you appropriately self conscious when Tweeting in the future.

The Reteewter

You rarely start a tweet without an RT because you rarely have anything original to say. You simply scan your followers tweets and regurgitate what you think is interesting for your own followers. RTs are fine. Just not for every post. If I wanted to see what all of you the people you were following were saying all of the time, I’d just follow them myself.

The Never Tweeter

Oh Never Tweeter, you build up my hopes for interesting and entertaining tweets only to let me down. You may be a celebrity (@TinaFey) or the President of the free world that has built up several thousand followers and led us on with hilarious and informative tweets only to stop and never update your account! Or you may just be a new user who heard they should be on Twitter. You signed up said something like “I don’t get this Twitter thing.” Your friends were hopeful you eventually would, because they like you and are interested in what you have to say, but every time you think about it you think, “maybe later” or “I don’t have time for that” or even worse “Facebook is better.”

The Over Tweeter

If only the world could have more of you. That’s what you must think. Perhaps you get paid by the tweet or just can’t stand the 140 character limitations, but whatever the reason you’re always blowing up my Twitter feed. Important messages, things I actually care about and good friends are quickly pushed down the page. Replaced by pictures of your face, or you dogs face, or an annoying animated gif that repeats every two seconds, next to the electronic drivel that logs the minute details of your life. Details that I’m convinced you must believe will one day be preserved in your own presidential library.

The @ Tweeter

You light up my Twitter feed like an AOL chat room from the late 90’s. You either don’t know about the DM feature or ignore it with reckless abandon. You’ve got something to say about everything other people are saying and you want everyone to see it.  You would gladly substitute 9 Twitter posts for a 30 second phone conversation. While the @reply is great for the occasional comment, rebuttal and even a little back and forth conversation, your blind comments like “@somedude That was sick, yo!!!” really makes me want to stop following you.

The Link Tweeter

No one can read the news or do a Google search like you can, that’s why the world needs you to find these articles, videos and pictures and put the links in your tweets. Why have your own thoughts or ideas when presenting me with someone else’s is so much easier? If only someone could hire you to scour the web for these hidden gems of knowledge you so easily find.

The Promo Tweeter

You’ve got a new blog post, ooh. You’re at a book signing, cool. You’re on TV tonight, wow. You’re having a sale, oh boy! You’re giving the keynote at the All About Me Conference….I don’t care. I followed you because I thought you might be interesting, but when realized your sole purpose in life was to be a constant shameless self promoter I quickly stopped following you. Maybe if I was a 12 year old girl and you were @mileycyrus or the @ OfficialJoBros I might be interested,but after a while, nomatter who you are, most people just don’t care.

The Fanboy Tweeter

Of all the people in the world, no one likes _______ as much as you. I know because that’s all you ever tweet about.  Day in and day out: the rumors, the concept drawings, the trailers, the conventions, the countdown, the opening day, the midnight sale, the reviews, the rebuttals, the comparisons, the rants about the inferiority of competitors, the rave about the superiority of your obsession, the dissection, the fixes, the patches, the upgrades, the mods, the new uses, the alternate uses, the toys, and on and on.  I used to like ________, but if it turns people into you I can do without it.

I’m one of these fools, what do I do?

If you find that more often that not you are one of these people then you should do us all a favor and click here. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to: be a fan, retweet, self promote, link to an interesting article, have a conversation and get excited and have several tweets at a time, but when one of those things defines your twitterness expect to be unfollowed, because you’re really annoying. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m going to post 3 consecutive tweets with a link to this blog post that I wrote.

I’m young enough to have been a part of social media for a long time now. When I signed up for Facebook you still had to have a .edu email address. Since then I’ve signed up for Linked-In, Digg and Twitter and others. And Big Brotherness aside, I like what they do for me. I stay connected with friends, family and colleagues and get a constant stream of news and information. Being so connected, you might think I’m a huge proponent of social media as a way of shaping brands and pushing products. Well, I wasn’t and I’m still skeptical but something happened recently that may be changing my mind.

I started following @IndyTalk on Twitter. @IndyTalk is the official Twitter account of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  I’m really into racing, and especially the Indy 500. I’ve been to 14 of the last 15 Indy 500’s.  So I thought, why not?

It’s the 100^th anniversary of the speedway this year, so I’ve been getting tweets with links to old pictures and articles about the speedway as well as plans for the race this year and even stuff about NASCAR races at other tracks. All stuff a racing geek like me is interested in. I don’t click on everything, but about a quarter of the time I do.

All cool, but nothing too special so far right? But then a few Monday’s ago a coworker who’s been going to Indy twice as long as I have came into my office and handed me a flip-book.  It was from the speedway, and when you flipped it you saw the footage of a car crossing the finish line in the first Indy 500. He won it, along with some other schwag because he was the first to answer a trivia question on Twitter. Apparently @IndyTalk asks one trivia question every Monday at 4:00PM and the first to answer wins some Indy related prize. I’ve been glued to twitter every Monday from 3:55 to 4:05 since.

I’m such a fan of Indy Car racing and the speedway itself, that I didn’t notice what was happening for a few days. A brand was making a connection with me through social media. You might think, so what, but it’s really pretty significant, and it made me realize a few things:

1) Social Media can work.

I’ve seriously been considering not going to the race this year, with the economy like it is, it’s an extra expense that’s easy to justify cutting. But the continued connection to the brand has me thinking about it more often. And the more I think about it, the more I want to go.

2) When it’s done right it doesn’t seem like marketing.

I like the brand. I want to know what’s going on. When you’re engaged it doesn’t feel like they’re trying to sell me something.

3) Social Media is big but it’s quiet

I figured out the reason we may not be hearing the huge success stories out of social media is because they’re stories like mine. It’s not like a TV campaign or a billboard that everyone sees. It’s these little connections between brands and brand fanatics that are doing the heavy lifting in social media.

So yes, for the first time that I know of a social media campaign (or ongoing engagement) targeted toward me was a success. But I think this points out how difficult it can be to reach someone who isn’t fanatical about your brand through social media. I’ve been engaged in social media for years and finally someone figured out how to get through to me, and only because I wanted to make that connection.  I’m still skeptical about what social media can really achieve, but I’m convinced that most every brand has a following and if you’re not providing an outlet for engagement for your biggest fans you could be missing out.