Wolfstar Consultancy
Friday’s social media round up
If you’re calming down for the weekend, take a look at what Wolfstar has gathered together for our social media round up.
Is Obama more social media savvy than you?
We all know President Obama’s a pretty smooth customer when it comes to his public profile and here’s five reasons why he’s bang up to date when it comes to all things social media. From Google+ hangouts at the White House to instagramming his way through a campaign trail, Obama’s got it well and truly sussed.
Smartphone carved out of organic Bamboo
If you’re getting bored of the typical plastic phones, try out these cool ones made out of organic bamboo – and they’re coming to the UK!
Facebook to be floated on the stock market
All you need to know, here.
Higher education and social media
An interesting infographic to demonstrate social media usage in higher education.
If this doesn’t make you want to work for Twitter, then we’re not sure what will…
Have you ever seen a person fly? These RC planes are a great illusion.
That’s it for this week, enjoy.
Sink or swim as Facebook goes afloat
The latest news coming from the social media giant has revealed that the company is to be floated on the stock market, seeking to raise $5bn (£3.16bn).
At just eight years old, Facebook has been hugely successful and many financiers have waited on tenterhooks for this opportunity to have a snoop at its books. With phenomenal growth, profits of the company quadrupled to $1bn in 2011 with over 845 million users registered worldwide.
What’s interesting to see are the comments from the company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg. In a letter released to the media, Zuckerberg states: “Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected.
“We think it’s important that everyone who invests in Facebook understands what this mission means to us, how we make decisions and why we do the things we do.”
A nice quote and cute mission statement, but is it realistic to ask this? Surely those looking to invest serious cash will be big players in the investment sector holding little regard as to what the company’s aim is, but more so for how much money it’s likely to make them.
Many are sceptical of Facebook’s decisions to float, the so-called ‘dot com bubble’ still comes under heavy scrutiny and you only have to look at other networking sites such as MySpace and Friends Reunited to see that this success may not last forever.
One thing that could potentially affect Facebook’s popularity is its decision to make the ‘timeline’ feature compulsory for all its users. With only a few days left for people to delete all the moments of their past they thought were buried deep in their Facebook history, it’s going to be interesting to see what impact the change will have.
One thing’s for sure, if the stock market launch goes ahead at the rumoured price then Zuckerberg’s share would be worth around $24bn, making him the 14th richest person in the world…
…next round’s on you then Mark?
Friday’s social media round up
We can’t quite believe it’s the end of January already, but as we gaze out of the window on this rather miserable Friday, the warm weather of summer still seems so far away.
Enough about that doom and gloom, here’s the social media round up from the Wolfstar team with a few links you may find useful and some amusing ones thrown in there.
So no one trusts government leaders or CEOs anymore, who knew?
This week Vocus has released a report outlining the key media trends of 2012. The report explores the latest media developments and how best to integrate them into your PR or marketing strategies.
A great content filter that looks at the people you follow, filters the content they share and presents you with interesting nuggets from your networks that may be of interest for you to re-share. It’s still in Beta at the moment but you can request an invite to join.
Mars is facing an investigation from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over its recent twitter campaign featuring celebrities such as Rio Ferdinand and Katie Price. The campaign received a massive backlash on Twitter and is being investigated as it did not clearly state that it was promotional activity. Follow the feed@SnickersUK.
With the Facebook timeline becoming compulsory for all in just under a week, Mashable has pulled together the 15 best cover photos. If you haven’t made the switch already, here’s some inspiration.
We couldn’t resist sharing this one with you. Mashable’s helped us out a bit and pulled together the five funniest viral topics of the moment. They certainly kept us occupied for a while!
That’s it from us, have a great weekend all.
Givaudan’s iPerfumer app continues to develop in 2012
Wolfstar has been working with Givaudan, the world’s largest fragrance company, on the launch of its fragrance recommendation app, iPerfumer, which has been listed in The Sunday Times as one of the top 500 apps in the world for 2012.
As part of the launch of iPerfumer2, a new version available for iPhone, we produced a creative animation for consumers to explore and learn about the app. We thought you might like to see the finished product.
The first version of iPerfumer launched in 2010, and iPerfumer2 has been developed initially for iPhone with production currently underway for the Android version. The improved usability and search facilities of iPerfumer2 have been inspired by the comments and suggestions of the iPerfumer community, and aim to provide a perfect pocket guide to fragrance.
iPerfumer2’s key elements:
- It’s easier to use
- Better user interface
- Multiple profiles
- Improved recommendation engine
- Share a ‘wish list’ with friends and family
Check out the video and let us know what you think.
An intern’s time at Wolfstar
By Lucy Haines
My two-week placement came to a close last week so I thought I’d share a little of what I’ve learnt and the fun I’ve had with the Wolfstar team.
For the last two weeks, I’ve been working with the London team helping out as much as I can and getting as much PR and social media experience as possible. When I began my placement, I knew Wolfstar were a PR agency that focused on social media and digital engagement; however, I don’t think I truly realised the true power digital engagement holds.
My time at Wolfstar has shown me there is much more to digital engagement than a few blogs and social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and more importantly that it’s happening now! Before my time at Wolfstar I would of adopted the usual – ‘social media is the way forward,’ but my time here has shown me its not the ‘future,’ it’s happening now!
Wolfstar know digital engagement, and are smarter than usual PR agencies, as most will adopt basic levels of social media in their campaigns such as a few Facebook likes, or a few Twitter updates. The Wolfstar guys use social engagement to build and maintain relationships, as they have a nuanced understanding of the digital world.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been involved in the traditional PR stuff that I am used to, such as conducting research for clients such as Sony Ericsson, pulling together ideas and writing and editing. This is all great experience, but I think the most worthy thing I have learnt whilst being at Wolfstar is the importance of social media, and just how crucial to a measurable communications strategy it is.
During my time here one of the guys was lucky enough to travel to Las Vegas for CES, so I researched CES and what was on show this year. The gadgets unveiled were so advanced, it really showed me how cutting-edge today’s technology really is.
I’ve really enjoyed my time with Will and Ant in the London office, even though Ant has been seriously suffering from jetlag this week due to his Las Vegas travels – it’s a hard life.
Working with Wolfstar has given me a real insight into digital engagement in PR – and how to use it successfully.
My aim is now to further my social media knowledge and keep up-to-date with the digital space as, like I said, it’s happening now, and I don’t want to be left behind.
Friday’s social media round-up
Yes, we know it’s been a while since the last social media round-up but we’ve been busy living it up at CES! But hey, we’re back now and we’ve been trawling the web to find you cool sites from the world of social media. Enjoy.
Going Google-Free: The Best Alternatives to Google Services on the Web
While we increasingly rely on Google services, trusting them to stick by their ‘Don’t be Evil’ mantra, many have been left disgruntled by the changes to Google search recently. So what are the Google alternatives?
Ticketmaster’s New Facebook App Recommends Concerts From Your Listening Activity
If you find it a bit tedious searching for upcoming gigs and events in your area, Ticketmaster’s new Facebook app might be the answer to your problem. The app pulls your music activity in from your Facebook profile and recommends concerts you might be interested in, the perfect solution for all you music lovers.
You may already be aware of Crowdbooster, and use it to manage your tweets or content on your Facebook page. It is a great tool for scheduling content to go out at a specific time to reach your audiences ensuring you reach them at the best times.
Brilliant stuff from The Guardian this week as it ran its own version of Wikipedia during the SOPA blackout.
Ain’t no party like a Facebook party
Facebook, the club, is set to open next week in the Brazilian Amazon, yes that’s right! 30 year-old founder Humbert Camacho is launching a club that is set to have the same concept as the social networking site. Club goers will be able to share experiences, photos and socialise with others all in the midst of some of the region’s best DJs. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘jungle music’, doesn’t it?!
A few of us finally got out invites through for Pinterest this week and we’re absolutely loving it! Definitely a worthwhile tool for consumer brands too, especially those targeting women. Some interesting stats released this week revealed that 70% of Pinners are female, as well as a reported 3.3 million users logging more than 421 million page views so a huge audience to target.
Photo courtesy of NiccoIA
The decline of the SMS
By Nathan Neeley – Intern at Wolfstar
Although not strictly a social media, SMS (short message service) has become one of the most used communication forms in modern day society since the first text was sent in 1992. In 2009 alone, over 1.5 trillion text messages were sent and received.
Now this is all set to change after a recent Forbes report announced mobile network providers have seen a huge decline in the use of the service. As technology has advanced and mobile phones have become internet ready, many people are using OTT (Over The Top) services instead. OTT refers to services provided over the internet, rather than a mobile network provider’s own network.
Some of the most popular and well-known internet-based services are BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and more recently, iMessenger created for iPhone users. Although some of these services have come under recent scrutiny (Blackberry Messenger was heavily linked to the riots in August 2011. It operates as a closed network so the authorities have no way of overseeing the content that’s sent and received by its users) there are more than 45 million active BBM users worldwide.
It’s not surprising that the use of SMS messaging has declined. There are many advantages that these OTT services have over SMS, such as:
- The ability to send as many messages as you like without incurring extra charges as you would do with text
- The option to create group chats allowing you to speak to several people at once
- The facility to share files such as pictures and videos for free.
However, the downside to these services is that you can only communicate with others on the same brand handset that you’re using. This is where chat apps such as the new ‘WhatsApp’ have an advantage. WhatsApp offers the same service to its users as BBM or iMessenger, however it’s a cross platform service available across all major smartphone models, including the incredibly popular Android. Many similar services have also been launched such as Ping Chat, Kik Messenger and others.
It’s clear that SMS is in dramatic decline and this could lead to massive repercussions for network providers, one of which is loss of revenue. How are the mobile network providers going to adapt to the change? Will network providers come out with their own internet-messaging service? It’s definitely something to keep an eye on in the near future.
Viva CES Vegas!
There’s perhaps nothing quite as clichéd as sitting in an Italian restaurant on Las Vegas Boulevard listening to Tony Bennett. I go from rags to riches….
An advert for one of the four different nightclubs (!) in our hotel proclaimed: “Las Vegas – grab your 15 minutes of fame… every night”. This slogan stayed with me and I thought about it on the flight home as I reviewed my time in Sin City. Las Vegas is a city built on clichés with bright lights, casinos, momentary debauchery and painted smiles. There’s little substance and the glitzy veneer veils an expanse devoid of any real soul.
The same can be said of some the recent ‘innovations’ in tech over the past few years. For me, at its simplest, consumer tech has always been the ‘enabler’ or ‘facilitator’ – making my life easier by allowing me to be more productive, efficient, reachable, connected and stimulated…. pieces of plastic that merely serve a purpose.
There was something collectively different about this year’s CES and the majority of showcased products. Whilst the technology encompassed all the things I mentioned, it went further and seemed to deliver above and beyond an efficacious remit. The focus was on the experience the technology provided, whether it be access to content across multiple devices via the cloud, a rich life-like 3D viewing experience, in-car entertainment that’s more than just music or real life enhanced by digital integration.
So, this is the point where I detail what last week’s CES tells us about 2012 in tech. Well, I think we’ll see a convergence from products simply serving a single, useful purpose – they’ll do that and more to provide an integrated, richer experience.
However, the real standout from the show is that there wasn’t one. There was nothing drastically innovative; a few media outlets including Slash Gear seemed to think the same thing. They, and others, argue that large trade shows are on the way out, and when you think about it – why would large brands demo their real pioneering consumer offering amidst a sea of other brands previewing their stuff? From a communications perspective, if I was releasing a new product I’d divert and draw the focus towards an isolated unveiling in order to maximize the exposure. I’d quite like to hear your comments on this debate below!
Anyway, that looks like a rather negative assessment of what was a bloody good four days in the desert oasis.
Can I go again next year Tim? Pretty please?
CES Fashionware with Wolfstar and Sony Ericsson
Thursday 12th January, 7pm Las Vegas: Wolfstar supported Sony Ericsson with social activations for Fashionwear, a catwalk show at CES designed to showcase the latest wearable tech and concept garments.
Over 300 attendees were present including global media, such as ABC News, and leading representatives from the technology industry.
On show from Sony Ericsson was the new products announced at CES, SmartWatch and Smart Wireless Headset Pro. Our model also wore a garment chosen from the LiveView Design Project (created by Wolfstar). This was a motion responsive cycle jacket, plugged into the SmartWatch, which allows the wearer to indicate simply by moving their arms.
The jacket’s creator, Alastair Leighton Crawford from London College of Fashion, was in attendance at the show with the Sony Ericsson team.
Follow the Twitter at @SEAccessories for the latest updates from the show.
Latest gadgets straight from CES
By Lucy Haines – Intern at Wolfstar
So the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is now in full swing and I have been looking at the latest wacky and quirky gadgets to be announced. I’ve come across a fair few that grabbed my attention, ranging from wireless baby scales that connect to your iPhone to Beiber fever in Vegas!
Yes, you did hear me correctly, Justin Bieber was at day two of CES to promote Tosy’s new entertainment robot, ‘mRobo’, a little fella with a speaker in its belly that dances along with the tunes it plays. The robot is humanoid but folds down into a more compact size for use as a portable speaker system. It’s quite a cool little device with novelty value in the somewhat saturated portable speaker market.
Take a look at Justin Bieber revealing the ‘mRobo’ here.
The second device that grabbed my eye is also a speaker system. This one doesn’t dance or come with Justin Bieber promoting it, though it can make a splash in your pool. The ‘Splash 100’ is a spherical Bluetooth waterproof speaker that comes from Behringer – a German pro-audio company. It will allegedly have a 230-foot range and deliver 3.5 hours of sound from its rechargeable battery. Sounds like the perfect bit of kit for me to sing along to while floating in my private (imaginary) pool.
Next up is the smart baby-scales. Made for iPod, iPhone and iPad, the scale is the first to use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Smart connectivity for tracking the weight of babies and toddlers. Created by French design company, Withings, the smart baby scales are estimated to be for kids up to age 8. Withings boast that parents will soon be able to access their child’s numbers from any of their connected devices and update them instantly on Facebook or Twitter. I know I would be more likely to share my child’s weight than my own on Facebook!
Finally, the headphones that don’t actually go in your ear. The Aftershokz earless headphones buzz your cheekbones by sitting on the back of them and use bone conduction technology to deliver the sound. It seems like a clever idea for runners, as the problem with traditional headphones is that you can’t hear anything else when you’re out and about. Hopefully these nifty little things will be the solution!
A plethora of well-known names have been unveiling their latest gadgets, computer technology, smart phones, cameras, and much more at CES this year. I for one have been on the edge of my seat waiting for the next exciting announcement and this year has not disappointed!
The Wolfstar pack is in Vegas for CES
Wolfstar is in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show, otherwise known as CES.
CES is perhaps the biggest event in the consumer tech calendar with all the world’s major companies using the show to unveil new products for the forthcoming year. The likes of Microsoft, Samsung, Philips, Nokia and Panasonic will all be present hoping to make this year’s technology headlines.
Wolfstar is in Vegas with Sony Ericsson, as part of Sony’s huge CES stand. Chris and Anthony are collecting the latest information on Sony Ericsson’s new products including the cool new HD handset, Xperia S, and awesome accessories including Xperia Smart Tags and the Smart Wireless Headset Pro.
The Wolfstar team are also interviewing games developers for up-coming launces of Xperia PLAY games and creating exciting rich content for Sony Ericsson’s social media streams.
Also with the team is a student from London College of Fashion, Alastair Leighton-Crawford. Alastair will be showcasing his wearable tech concept created in conjunction with one of Sony Ericsson’s latest products, the SmartWatch – a touch screen Bluetooth device which allows you to control your phone handset from your wrist. The concept was created as part of last year’s LiveView Design Project.
His concept will be showcased at a wearable tech fashion show in The Fashion Show Mall, Las Vegas, on Thursday evening (Friday 2am UK) along with Sony Ericsson’s latest Android phone accessories. The team will be posting blogs, photos and video from the event as they go.
Wish the guys luck!
Social media round up
As we were all getting back into the swing of things last week, we thought we’d brighten up your Tuesday with our first social media round up for 2012.
Some great insight into use and adoption by companies in different global markets.
10 Ways to Refresh Your Digital Life for the New Year
Just in case your digital life needs a bit of a refresh in 2012.
Social media restriction for game makers
Strict social media guidelines have been set out for the 70,000 Games Maker volunteers for this year’s Olympic games. To manage privacy levels, volunteers have been told not to mention any details about their role, location, athletes, celebrities or dignitaries.
The disadvantage of a flat screen TV, you can’t always see when someone’s trying to steal one. Nice viral for LG.
Levi’s uses Instagram to crowdsource stars of next campaign
Could this be a way of finding those ‘real people’ to model the next campaign for Levi?
A quick summary of some startups to watch over the coming year.
15% of those aged 16-24 turn to social media first for customer service
An interesting look at how social media is revolutionising the customer service industry. Organisations need to ensure they have their customer service channels covered before they can even begin to look at using social media for brand development.
New technologies unleashed at CES
Finally, as we head over to Las Vegas for CES, here’s some information on a few of the technologies to be unveiled at the event.
Let us know any cool things you’ve seen which can top our selection, and we’ll be back with our usual Friday round up next week.
Wolfstar’s social media resolutions
It comes as no surprise that our first week back in the Wolfstar office starts with a few new year’s resolutions from the team. Not just any old resolutions, mind, these are our social media resolutions for 2012.
Unlike others, usually made on a bloated stomach and likely to be forgotten by the second week of January, we’re putting our resolutions into the blogosphere so everyone can see we’re not cheating!
Filiz, our lovely intern, is hoping to improve her personal online presence by setting up her first WordPress blog. Having found a few blogs up her street, Filiz is eager to get cracking on her own and will use it to discuss relevant news topics and trends from within the public relations arena.
Next up is Jen, who’s decided that this year is all about quality over quantity. She’s aiming to make better use of social media tools in order to track relevant, influential and inspiring blogs. By limiting what she adds to her tool of choice, Bloglovin’, Jen is aiming to pinpoint the blogs that really engage her, rather than ending up with too much irrelevant content to digest.
Account manager, Anthony, is hoping to turn more of his tweet meets into real-life interactions, following up online introductions with face-to-face meetings and developing relationships further with his followers.
Chris will be providing the soundtrack to 2012, having decided to venture into the world of Spotify Social. As well as this, he’s also going to be looking into Facebook’s developments for its business pages to see what new features are going to be useful for clients in the next 12 months.
For me, the newest Wolfstar recruit, I’m looking to discover some new online tools that’ll make life easier in 2012. I’ve already been given a few suggestions from the team, one that’s particularly caught my eye is Pinterest, an online pinboard that lets you collate the things you like and share them with others.
One thing’s for sure, we could all do with a little less online procrastination and it looks like Google Chrome has answered our prayers with Stay Focusd. This new tool allows users to add a list of sites and specify how much time you’re allowed to spend on them each day. There’s also a ‘nuclear’ option, which allows you to block all access to your listed sites for a set time…pretty handy when you’ve got a deadline to meet!
There’s also Nanny – again, part of Google Chrome – which allows you to track how much time you spend on certain sites, as well as being able to restrict your access to them.
So now that we’ve shared our resolutions with you, it’s time to get cracking! 2012 looks set to be an exciting year, we’ll be sure to keep you posted on everything that’s going on at Wolfstar HQ.
Happy new year from all the team!
And please let us know what your social media resolutions are?
Friday’s festive social media round up
This week’s social media round up includes a few festive treats to get you in the Christmas spirit…if you’re not already that is.
Tech entrepreneurs reveal their favourite holiday songs
Oldies but goodies in here for a Christmas sing-along.
A few of the best hangover cures
With the festive season being one of overindulgence, a good hangover cure is much needed. With talk of a miracle pill going on sale in the US and heading this way in the next year or two, we still need to rely on the old favourites, here are a few of the best.
A little weird, but quite entertaining…
Enough said.
Hope you all have a great Christmas and Happy New Year!
China and the long tail
Having spent the last two weeks in and around Hong Kong, it’s impossible not to be struck by the sheer size of the shadow in which it sits. You can’t go a week in the West without reading or hearing some incredible new stat about China. More graduates than we have young people, more honours students than we have students, more “x” than we have “y” and so on.
After a while you become almost deaf to the constant refrain but then you visit, and you see the size in action, and all of a sudden it becomes very real.
During the flight on my way out I re-read “the long tail” – it’s one of those books that, for a short while after reading it, somehow forces you to look at the world through its perspective and in doing so you begin to realise the significance of the stats we are so used to reading.
The long tail model splits markets into “heads” (blockbuster films, hit records, best sellers and the like), and tails (the rest). The significance is that time and again, the stats compare Chinese niches (or sections of the tail) with western “heads”. What’s more, in almost all cases, the Chinese niche is bigger than the western mainstream market.
This isn’t a post about how awesome the size of the Chinese market is. What interested me was the extent to which observations of the growth of China could help us understand the shape of new and emerging markets here in the UK. In a world where “hits” are becoming less and less powerful, what shape does a new (or newish) market take naturally? The answer in relation to China is much as expected. A depressed head and elongated tail represent the enormous cultural diversity (so it’s more difficult to make a hit) and the increased economic viability of niches (because they are bigger).
I say “much” as expected because, whilst it does follow a pattern, I expected a more dramatic alteration. The problem with China as a long tail market clearly isn’t production or distribution, it’s abundantly clear (from even the briefest of looks at the Pearl River Delta area), that China has these elements nailed. The problem is in filtering. In order to shift demand down the tail you need to provide people with the means to locate these niches and, from what I saw, this isn’t absent but it’s no-where near sophisticated enough to deal with China’s abundance of supply-side resources.
Why is this on the Wolfstar blog? It struck me that the existing filtering system, primarily based on personal social networks, will, over the next few years be dramatically overhauled as the rise of social media begins to break down the barriers between China and the rest of the world. (Even the great firewall is showing signs of cracking). When that happens the established western economies will suddenly have to deal with a new market. One that is constructed from a million niches, and niches won’t necessarily be small any more. When you work from a big base, even a small percentage can represent a huge number.
Social media’s growth has gone hand in hand with the realisation by big business that niche’s matter and if (huge if) agencies in developed online markets can be ready for this, there is a massive opportunity.
Friday’s social media round-up
The Wolfstar team has collaborated this week and we’ve put together a few cool things found online…
Here goes:
13 Tech Companies and Products That Went Under in 2011: A summary of the tech companies that struggled to survive 2011, from the HP TouchPad to the beloved book store, Borders.
projeqt: Tell a story with pictures with this cool real time story monitoring site.
Talkin’ ’bout my generation… Great article and stats on Generation Y in the context of employability, tech smarts etc…
The state of the blogosphere: The changing state of blogs, including some interesting stats on blog usage and how people should ‘Live to Blog’.
Top 5 Tech PR Stunts of 2011!: Bringing you the best tech-related PR stunts of 2011 from around the world.
Mountain Dew and VW create Facebook Timeline artwork: Now brands have to wait for the new Facebook Timeline, some are taking it into their own hands and releasing cover photos in alternative ways.
RSAnimate: The surprising things that motivate us.
And finally, a light-hearted video to end the week…Babestation Parody
It’s our office party tonight. Wish us luck and have a great weekend!
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