From a Galaxy Far, Far, Away.....

Coolest thing ever...  i want one

Twitter overload

Back on the 15th Jan i wrote my first post on "I Found This" looking at Twitter and how this could be the year for it to break into the mainstream.

At the time I didn't have any idea how quickly this would/could happen.... 

I am not sure what 'The Tipping Point" actually was although having Stephen Fry as (unofficial) Twitter envoy for the UK and specifically his interview on Jonathan Ross would appear to have had quite some impact.  

It would now seem that every DJ on Radio 1 (and i don't doubt most other Yoof stations) is talking about it and i didn't think that i would see the day that 'Micro-Blogging' would enter the UK mainstream media - could it be a contender for a place in the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary?.

As I mentioned in my earlier post the one thing that seems to be missing from the (commercial) success of Twitter has been some form of business model, something that i am sure has been giving Biz (Stone, Twitter's founder) some sleepless nights.

So, it appears that he has cracked it (or not!), an article i read this morning on Brand Republic quotes Biz as saying that he will introduce charges for corporations on Twitter "'We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them. We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts", although Brand Republic state that "he wouldn't be drawn on the level of charges."

A couple of interest bods are also quoted with Bob Pearson of Dell saying that "(their) instinct would be to go elsewhere" and Robin Grant from social media consultancy We Are Social suggesting that maybe that monetization could be introduced through display advertising and/or allowing companies to pay to access individual information.

Clearly for any business to be viable it needs to make cash and have a revenue stream that isn't just reliant on VC funding but this, to me, seems to be an odd way to go.

Interestingly Biz has mentioned "companies" and not "Brands", the thing with brands is where would you draw the line?, is a band a brand?, is a celebrity a brand? - i think that you argue this both way for each of these examples - so who would decide who pays or doesn't?.

From an acquisition/customer services perspective i can see why companies may consider stumping up some cash to stay involved in the conversation.  However if this (shortsighted?) plan spells the death of brands on Twitter could it kill Twitter entirely?... where else will the cash come from?  

If you look at Facebook they have moved away from ads being able to be inserted into their News Feed, we know that display advertising is becoming increasingly less effective and personally I don't know how individuals would respond to their conversation about the latest Nike trainers being met with a 'tweet' from JD Sports offering to sell them said trainers with 10% if they buy them now....

I guess time will tell.

T-Mobile's "Flash-Mob" Flashmobbed

There seems to have been a lot of debate since the new T-Mobile 'Life is for Sharing' ad aired during the Big Brother final a couple of weeks ago.

Like it or loath the ad it certainly seems to have got people talking (3,256,680 views on YouTube alone proving for once its not just the Ad/Marketing industries) and in some ways that itself could be considered to have made it a success . 

The fact that it wasn't a Flash Mob at all and was a carefully choreographed dance routine performed by professional dancers has appeared to have been overlooked by the average punter on the street.  So much so that last Friday evening at 7pm 13,000 people descended on Liverpool St to recreate the ad.

Whether or not T-Mobile would want to be associated with the station being closed for a couple of hours and people crowd surfing whilst naked is debatable but the fact that so many people were compelled to take-part and people travelled from as far away as Leeds to take part can not be underestimated.

60 Years of Onitsuka - Zodiac Race

Beautifully animated short-film from Amsterdam Worldwide to celebrate 60 years of Onitsuka Tiger.

I have to confess that i didn't know the story prior to seeing the film but it would appear that it is an ancient Japanese story on how the Zodiac calendar came to be..  thankfully the website has the  legend of the zodiac race, making of etc.  

The only thing is they don't appear to have finished it...  the 'explore the island' and share element are coming soon (hence why i have had to post the film itself from YouTube)..