ImaginativePRO Blog

FOURSQUARE ROLLS OUT FIRST TRUE ADS WITH CHECK-IN POP-UPS

True ads have arrived on Foursquare — but, as you'd expect, there's a twist. The social network focused on check-ins and recommendations is now rolling out full-page ads in its mobile apps, according to AdAge. There are limitations, however, so don't expect obtrusive banner ads. Instead, the new ads pop up immediately after a user checks in at a particular location, and they'll either offer a relevant suggestion or coupon. For instance, Captain Morgan is one of the early partners on board and its ads will recommend you order a Captain and cola, for instance, when you check-in to a bar. Another ad detailed today offers a coupon at Toys 'R' Us when users check in to related locations, like a playground.

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Foursquare has been very careful about how it monetizes. The company has amassed a sizable user base of 35 million, but skeptics have long questioned how Foursquare could effectively monetize its service. Last year the company introduced promoted updates, which operated much like Google AdWords. The sponsored posts would show up when users searched for a place to go, and advertisers would pay Foursquare if users clicked through. Foursquare also works with businesses to offer coupons and other promotions. All of the different types of ads, including the ones introduced today, focus on relevancy. To-date that has helped the company make sure ads don't scare away users, but as the Foursquare dives in to full-page units we'll have to see if it can pull off the same feat.

COMMENTARY:   In a blog post dated January 29, 2011, I had a lot of fun poking fun at Andreesen Horowitz, the giant Silicon Valley venture capital firm for their investment in foursquare, and was especially critical of foursquare CEO and founder Dennis Crowley for being so slow in developing a sustainable business model and monetizing its users.  

In a blog post dated April 29, 2011, I was very critical of the entire location-based social network industry for its failure to generate significant revenues, lacking sustainable business models and increasing the potential for stalking because other users would know where we were and what we are doing through our mobile phones.    In a blog post dated March 15, 2011, I reported that USA Today estimated that the entire LBSN industry had generated only about $43 million in revenues.  Since April 2011, Facebook Places has been essentially shutdown, Gowalla was acquired by Facebook and the site shutdown, Loopt was acquired by Red Dot for its mobile patents then promptly shutdown, and other smaller LBSN's are having problems raising venture capital, forcing several to shutdown.  In short, I said that the LBSN industry was headed for a "train wreck."  Well, it now appears that my predictions are coming through.  The only survivor, if you can call it that, is foursquare, with its reported 35 million worldwide users.

In April 11, 2013, after weeks of speculation about doom and gloom for the cash poor location-based social network, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported that foursquare had raised $41 million through a loan from Silver Lake.  No valuation was given because no stock was acquired. The capital will be used to beef up its sales force from 10 to 40 begin ad monetizaton through the aforementioned popup ads as users check-in.

foursquare better use this latest round of funding wisely and generate substantial revenues. Andreesen Horowitz is already on the hook for $50 million in VC funding, and probably wondering when they will see a return on their investment.  I estimated foursquare's basic operating expenses at about $20 million, so this financing gives the company about two years to develop a sustainable business model.  

As foursquare enters its fourth year in business, it continues to receive a lot of flak.  Some claim the company’s userbase had stagnated; others claim that the company lacks a sustainable business model.

After denying the negative user base claims in an interview with TechCrunch on April 29, 2013, Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley went on clarify that they do have a business model in place — in fact, March was their biggest revenue month to date.

"I think there are a lot of people that think we don’t know how to generate revenue, that we aren’t generating revenue. This is wrong… We’ve been building merchant tools all along. We’ve seen revenue growth every month, and March was our biggest revenue month so far."

As for how that revenue is coming in:

"We’re signing six-figure deals with national merchants. We’ve already got a million merchants claiming their business page — we can just say ‘Would you like to spend $50, $100 dollars to drive X number people into your store?” These aren’t just ad impressions they’re paying for. We only count when we actually bring people into your store."

Alas, Dennis declined to comment on just how much total revenue Foursquare expects to see in 2013.

He said.  

“We’re a private company, so we don’t have to disclose our master plans to you, but we’ve set ambitious goals for the year, and we’re very much on target to hit them.”

Then he added.  

“The numbers aren’t huge yet, but they’re starting to come together.  The smartest people we talk to… they can understand what we’re doing. There’s a reason that all four of our original investors are back in.”

But what’s Foursquare’s long-term goal here? Will they eventually go public? Will they sell?

"We never really comment on exit strategy. The way we think about it: we spent 4 years building an amazing company. While we’re still working out exactly what this product can do, we’re in this sweet spot where people are finally building this hardware that you wear on your wrist, that you wear on your face. [That's perfect for us.] We can continue to operate as an independent company."

Of course, talk of increasing revenue won’t really change the public perception of Foursquare, which has seemingly soured in the past few months. Crowley attributed the recent flack they’ve taken to the idea that Foursquare is going through a “hazing stage” — the same hazing, he says, that companies like Facebook and Twitter had to go through — with the most vocal hazers basing their views on out-of-date perceptions:

"I think there’s a lot of people that still think of us as the 2009 Foursquare, with points and badges. We still have those things, but the biggest haters are the same people who haven’t opened the app in 6 months. The stuff we’re doing now — [the social algorithms, the predictive functionality] — it’s rocket science."

In March 12, 2013, Anil Dash (Co-Founder of Activate) interviewed foursquare CEO and founder Dennis Crowley before a live audience at SXSW 2013 on how location-based services have evolved, and what the decade ahead looks like. 

 

Courtesy of an article dated July 16, 2013 appearing in The Verge and an article dated April 29, 2013 appearing in TechCrunch

MICROSOFT DROPS PRICE OF SURFACE RT TABLET, HOPES TO INCREASE SALES, THEN WRITES-OFF $900 MIL IN SURFACE RT CHARGES

Microsoft CEO and co-founder Steven Ballmer at the unveiling of the Microsoft Surface RT tablet on June 19, 2012 (Click Image To Enlarge)

When Microsoft announced its Q4 2013 earnings Thursday, it included a jaw-dropping $900 million charge related to its Surface RT.

The charge comes just days after Microsoft cut the price of the Surface RT tablet by $150. Since its release in the fall of 2012, Microsoft has struggled to get users to understand the value of the Windows RT-based tablet. Meanwhile, the company has had much more success with the Surface Pro.

During its earnings call, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said that the price decrease will "accelerate Surface RT adoption and position us for better success."

A year ago, when Microsoft unveiled Surface (see below), it looked like it might be a great product — something that would allow Microsoft to compete directly with the iPad and Android tablets.

 

One year later, Surface RT is responsible for nearly $1 billion in charges and Windows 8 has failed to take off with consumers.

How did we get here? Why did the Surface RT fail?

A Confusing Name and a Confusing OS

The Surface RT — and Windows RT in general — continue to be tremendously confusing products to consumers. Back in April 2012, Mashable Tech Editor Pete Pachal lamented the terribleness of the Windows RT name. He was right.

Not only is the name problematic — the fact that Windows RT still contains the non-Artist-Formerly-Known-as-Metro interface is jarring too. With Surface RT, Microsoft could have gone with the "Microsoft design language"-only interface, eschewing the regular desktop. This would have been a nice differentiator between the Surface RT and Surface Pro. Instead, you had two systems (and operating systems) that look the same and run some of the same apps, but aren't the same.

 

I had an interesting conversation on Twitter with some of my fellow tech writers about the branding behind Windows RT.  We all agree that it has remained a significant barrier for consumers because some Windows apps will work, but older so-called "legacy" apps won't.

It's possible that with Windows 8.1, Microsoft could fix some of these problems and make the difference between Windows RT and Windows 8 more clear. By the time that happens, however, will anyone care?

Microsoft is already having to do a lot of backtracking with Windows 8.1. I'm not sure if even a price cut can be enough to convince buyers to try out a Surface RT.

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Where Are the Apps?

It's ironic that apps — one of the areas that x86-versions of Windows have dominated the competition — is one of the biggest problems facing the Surface RT.

In short: There aren't enough apps built for Surface RT available within the Windows Store. The 60,000 apps available in the Windows 8 store pale in comparison to the ~400,000 iPad specific apps in the App Store.

In all of its advertisements around the Surface RT or other Windows RT tablets, Microsoft likes to play up the idea that a Windows RT tablet is better than the iPad because of its ability to work with Office documents and show more than one app at once.

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Putting aside the fact that Office 365 is almost definitely coming to the iPad — the problem with those ads is that they highlight the app gap. Where is a music creation tool a la Garage Band or the new Logic Remote? Making fun of the ability to play Chopsticks on a piano would be a lot funnier if the only "competing" app for Windows RT wasn't a basic virtual piano.

I frequently check out the app selection on the Windows RT tablet we use for testing purposes and I'm always saddened by the lack of apps, especially when compared to the iPad.

With a regular Windows 8 tablet — such as the Surface Pro — you can get around some of these app limitations because it will also run any other Windows app. That's not the case with the Surface RT.

To top it all off, the Surface RT doesn't even have access to Outlook (unless you use the web browser). Yes, Microsoft is remedying that problem with Windows 8.1, but did no one learn from the disaster that was the BlackBerry PlayBook? Building a tablet even remotely aimed at "business" users without a native email client is just sad.

A Better Alternative Exists

Of course, the biggest problem with the Surface RT is that it exists alongside the Surface Pro. While the Surface RT is a product that seems to be looking for a market — not quite a tablet but not quite a full laptop either — the Surface Pro can run all the same apps as the Surface RT and legacy Windows apps. It also has better add-ons (including a stylus), a faster processor and more memory.

Meanwhile, Microsoft isn't the only player in the Windows 8 tablet space. Asus, Samsung and Lenovo all have their own Windows 8 tablet or convertible notebooks at various price points.

Samsung and Asus are also introducing tablets that can use either Windows 8or Android. You know, so the adult in you can enjoy the Windows apps and the kid in you can access the vast world of Android apps.

Whither Surface?

In hindsight, it seems telling that Microsoft's hardware partners have largely stayed away from Windows RT. Early on, one might be able to ascribe hesitance to adopt Windows RT as payback for Microsoft becoming a direct competitor.

The complete disinterest by the market, however, shows that maybe there was more to it than that. A year ago, I predicted that the de facto Windows 8 tablet experience would be a Surface experience.  I'll concede I was wrong with that prediction — in large part because no "de facto" Windows 8 tablet market really exists.

The Post PC world is certainly upon us. The problem is, it doesn't seem to include room for the Microsoft Surface.

Let us know why you think Surface has failed — or why you think it can still succeed — in the comments.

COMMENTARY:   In a blog post dated June 19, 2013, I called the Surface Tablet with Windows 8 "awesome" and had what it took to become an "iPad-killer."   It now appears beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was a very bozo and premature prediction on my part.  

With only about 40 million computer users of all type adopting Windows 8, I now think that the failure of the Surface tablet (both RT and Windows 8 versions) to dominate both the iPad and Android-based tablets, has more to do with the lack of interest in the new operating system, and less with the design of the tablet itself.  I have often marveled at the beauty of the new Surface tablet.  The Microsoft designers did a great job.  The design effort was almost Apple-like.  This goes to show you just how difficult it can be to disrupt industry standards (Android and iOS).  

Some where in graduate school I learned that the cards are stacked against you when it comes to disrupting an industry standard, especially one that is so widely adopted as are iOS and Android. Microsoft has tried to disrupt the browser market with BING, but Google still dominates browsers.  HP, Samsung, BlackBerry and other small vendors have tried to disrupt the tablet market and failed miserably.  Only Amazon with the Kindle Fire and new Kindle Fire HD tablet line has been able to make a dent, albeit a small one, in the tablet market.   

In short, any new tablet with a different operating system standard has to be so darn good in every possible way, that it leaves no doubt in the consumers mind that it would be a mistake not to upgrade.  You must also have mobile apps.  Lot of them.  The new tablet also has to run older apps.  However, in Microsoft's case, the new Windows RT and Windows 8 are so completely different from Windows 7 and XP that users are simpy not going to make the jump because this means leaving all their favorite legacy apps in the dust.   It takes a lot of panche to convince developers to develop new apps for the new operating system, and Microsoft is finding this out the hard way. 

So who's winning the mobile apps war?

On March 3, 2013, ABI Research estimated mobile users will download 70 billion apps in 2013 – 58 billion to smartphones and 14 billion to tablets. As one put it, that’s over 10 apps downloaded per human being on Earth!

Given the sheer pace of change in the mobile market today, you may be wondering – just how many apps are there now in each of the major app stores? And how do these counts compare with one another? Well, wonder no more.

Here’s ABI Research's updated inventory of apps available on Android, iOS, Windows, and Blackberry (some are official, some are estimates as reported):

• Google Play/Android is estimated to have 800,000 apps (Jan. 4, 2013)
• Apple iOS App Store recently reported 775,000 apps (Jan. 7, 2013)
• Windows Phone Marketplace is up to 125,000 apps (Oct. 25, 2012)
• Blackberry World is now up to 70,000 apps (Jan. 30, 2013)

Courtesy of an article dated July 19, 2013 appearing in Mashable and an article dated March 5, 2013 appearing in Pure Oxygen

'TWINKIES', THOSE DELICIOUS CREME FILLED CAKES ARE BACK ON GROCERY STORE SHELVES AFTER AN 8-MONTH HIATUS

After an 8-month hiatus, Twinkies snack cakes return to store shelves today, made under new ownership and with a slightly different recipe that extends their shelf life by about three weeks.

Also returning are Ding Dongs, CupCakes and the rest of the Hostess snack family, now owned by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulous & Co. The firms bought the brands for $410 million when Hostess abruptly shut down amid labor band financial troubles in November.

Hostess brands lineup includes Twinkies, CupCakes, DingDongs, Donettes, Fruit Pies and HoHo's (Click Image To Enlarge)

While the Schiller Park bakery once owned by Hostess is again making the cakes, the 15,000 union workers that were once employed are gone as are many of the jobs there. 

The reduction there mirror the smaller scale of the whole Hostess company. When it is fully staffed in three months, it will have some 1,800 employees in the United States, Hostess President Rich  Seban said. Previously, the workforce was more than 10 times that. The number of bakeries for Hostess products has slimmed down to four from 11 since last year's shutdown.

Hostess bakery factory workers on strike (Click Image To Enlarge)

To herald the comeback of Twinkies, the Kansas City, Mo., company's new owners are spending "several million dollars" on a marketing blitz using social media, Vine videos, billboards, building walls and a website called Prepare Your CakeFace. Street teams are handing out T-shirts and "I Saved the Twinkie" buttons. A food truck is visiting county fairs, music festivals and other locations.

Wal-Mart, in an attempt to get a jump on the expected rush, said it stocked certain stores with Twinkies on Friday, with all its other stores in the contiguous U.S. selling the treats Sunday — a day early.

One of the last shipments of Twinkies made by Hostess Brands was unpacked at a Jewel-Osco grocery store in Chicago on Dec. 11. Hostess has sold the snack brand and four others for $410 million. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Hostess has an ambitious new business strategy in place for Twinkies: "to be sold wherever candy bars are sold," Seban said.

 Seban said.

"We want to capitalize on the nostalgia of the brand, but we also want to make sure we're relevant to this generation and not just the generations of the past."

Twinkie marketers are entertaining proposals to sell the treats at sports stadiums, with continental breakfasts at hotels, at movie theater concession stands and on cruise ships.

And, the company has plans in the works to update its snack cake line to include products that are more appealing to younger consumers, lighter on the calories and possibly gluten free. Don't rule out new treats flavored with peanut butter or packaged in bite-sized portions, said executives at Hostess

The new Twinkies' have some differences from the original tried and true formula that fans have come to know and love. The snack's shelf life has extended to 45 days, almost three weeks longer than the 26 days the former Twinkie was supposed to stay fresh.

COMMENTARY:   I will be several weeks before Hostess ramps up production to produce meet the demand for Twinkies, CupCakes, DingDongs, Donettes, Fruit Pies and HoHo's.  I was at Safeway earlier today, and they still did not have Twinkies in stock.   Look forward to seeing them on the grocery shelf.  

Courtesy of an article dated July 15, 2013 appearing in the Chicago Tribune 

 

HOW BABY BOOMERS USE THE WEB, SOCIAL NETWORKS, AND MOBILE DEVICES

Baby Boomers and seniors now spend more time online than watching television, according to a report by Ipsos and Google.

On average, seniors and Boomers (defined in the report as those age 45 or older) spend 19 hours a week online, but they spend 16 hours watching television. Their online usage also far outpaces time spent listening to the radio and reading newspapers/magazines.

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Below, additional key findings from the report, Reaching Today's Boomers and Seniors Online, which was based on an online survey of US adults.

Information-Gathering

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• The Internet is the top source for gathering information on topics of interest for Baby Boomers and seniors, outpacing television and print media by a substantial margin. 
• News and weather is the most popular type of information accessed by Boomers and seniors online (66% accessed in the past month), followed by shopping (57%), coupons/discounts/daily deals (45%), food information (44%), and games (43%).

Online Video 

• 54% of Boomers/seniors watch online video, compared with 65% of the general population.
• YouTube is the most popular video site (used by 82% of Boomers/seniors), followed by Facebook (43%), Netflix (23%), and Hulu (23%).
• The top motivations for viewing online videos include being entertained (63% of respondents), watching funny videos (51%), relaxing (44%), and staying up to date with the latest news (40%).

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Social Networks

• Facebook as the most used social network, with membership on par with that of the general population.
• Common activities seniors and Boomers engage in on social networks include following groups/organizations (55%), posting/watching videos (40%), supporting causes (26%), and joining groups (23%).
• Social networking sites are used by the majority of Boomers (71%) and seniors (59%) daily. 

Mobile

• Mobile usage is still developing among Boomers and seniors: 29% use a smartphone regularly (compared with 48% of the general population), and 19% regularly use a tablet (compared with 25% of the general population).
• Those who use mobile devices engage in a variety of activities, including looking for information, making purchases, and visiting websites of interest.

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About the research: The report was based on a 15-minute online survey of 6,100 US respondents (5,100 Boomers/seniors age 45+ and a general population control cell of 1,000 people) conducted in March 2013.

COMMENTARY:   Finally the Boomers are catching up with everybody else by relying on the Internet as a source of information and news.  They also spend more time online while at home than watching TV.   And Baby Boomers are also adopting mobile devices like tablets.  I knew many of them were using ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle, but it now looks like they are adopting the latest tablets as well.

Courtesy of an article dated July 18, 2013 appearing in MarketingProfs 

THE SEVEN SUCCESS FACTORS OF SOCIAL BUSINESS STRATEGY

Social media has a problem and it needs to be addressed now.

The truth is that a majority of social media strategies employed by some of the best brands out there aren't linking activity to business goals and results. This practice is creating a divide within companies where social media is undervalued and largely misunderstood as a viable and formidable business tool or solution.

As a result, resources, budgets, and the ability to scale social media across the organization is incredibly hindered. More importantly, without considering business goals and priorities, strategists with the best intentions around social media may wind up creating dissonance among decision makers, making it more difficult to make the case for social in the long term.

In a comprehensive social business research study with Charlene Li, my colleague at Altimeter Group, we uncovered some pretty surprising realities about the state of social media strategy within enterprise organizations...

• Only 34% of businesses feel that their social strategy is connected to business outcomes.
• Just 28% of companies we studied feel that they have a holistic approach to social media, where lines of business and business functions work together under a common vision.
• A mere 12% are confident they have a plan that looks beyond the next year.
• Only half said that top executives were “informed, engaged and aligned with their companies’ social strategy.”

While our research results were initially distressing, we aimed to outline a path to help strategists better understand how to not only align social strategy with business objectives but also how to transform social media into a full-scale social business initiative that evolved along Six Stages of Transformation. Charlene and I concentrated our research on the common traits of B2B and B2C companies that successfully overcame common trials and tribulations to effectively become fully "converged" social businesses where social was now a way of business.

Charlene and I proudly announce that our findings are now available in the newly released            7 Success Factors of Social Business Strategy.   In 100 pages, we help you learn how to align social media strategies with business objectives to deliver real results and ROI. Additionally, you'll learn through best practices and a detailed checklist how to define an effective social strategy, create alignment across the organization, and use that strategy to support and measure overall business success.

What are the 7 Success Factors?

There's a difference between a social media and social business strategy. Social media are the channels where information and people are connected via two-way platforms. Social media strategy defines programs specific to networks and the corresponding activity within and around each. Altimeter's definition of a successful Social Business Strategy (SBS) is one that aligns with the strategic business goals and has alignment and support throughout the organization.

You don't need to get the book to learn what the most advanced companies learned to prioritize. Following are the 7 aspects each shared to successfully champion and scale social media through the organization and earn executive support along the way...

One – Define the overall business goals.

Explore how social media strategies create direct or ancillary impact on business objectives. What are you trying to accomplish and how does it communicate value to those who don’t understand social media.

Two: Establish the long-term vision.

Articulate a vision for becoming a social business and the value that will be realized internally among stakeholders and externally to customers (and shareholders).

Three: Ensure executive support.

Social media often exists in its own marketing silo. At some point, it must expand to empower the rest of the business. To scale takes the support of key executives and their interests lie in business value and priorities.

Four: Define the strategy roadmap and identify initiatives.

Once you have your vision and you’re in alignment on business goals, you need a plan that helps you bring everything to life. A strategic social business roadmap looks out three years and aligns business goals with social media initiatives across the organization.

Five: Establish governance and guidelines.

Who will take responsibility for social strategy and lead the development of an infrastructure to support it? You’ll need help. Form a ‘hub” or CoE to prioritize initiatives, tackle guidelines and processes, and assign roles and responsibilities.

Six: Secure staff, resources, and funding.

Determine where resources are best applied now and over the next three years. Think scale among agencies but also internally to continually take your strategy and company to the next level. Train staff on vision, purpose, business value creation, and metrics/reporting to ensure a uniform approach as you grow.

Seven: Invest in technology platforms that support the greater vision and objectives

Ignore shiny object syndrome. Resist significant investments until you better understand how social technology enables or optimizes your strategic roadmap.

It’s time for businesses to get serious about social and that starts by taking social, its promise and its ability to impact business outcomes and customer experiences, seriously.

Photo: Getty Images

COMMENTARY:    Congrats to Charlene Li and Brian Solis for publishing this new book.  

Brian Solis is a Principal Analyst at Altimeter Group. Brian works with businesses on new media strategies and frameworks to build bridges between companies and customers, employees, and other important stakeholders. Additionally, he specializes in change management to help businesses (and the leadership team) introduce new media resources, systems and processes, and management layers to effectively embrace and excel around the connected customer. As a result, CRM Magazine named Brian as an influential leader of 2010. Brian is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. His latest book, Engage, is an award-winning reference guide for businesses to build, cultivate, and measure success in the social web. A digital analyst, business strategist, and futurist, Brian has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, and culture. Brian’s ideas and perspectives are often cited in the press, including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and many other business, technology, and mainstream outlets.   

Charlene Li is founder, current Managing Partner of the Altimeter Group and the author of The New York Times bestseller Open Leadership. She is also the coauthor of the critically acclaimed, bestselling book Groundswell, which was named one of the best business books in 2008.

Courtesy of an article dated July 17, 2013 appearing in LinkedIn

STATES WITH 'STAND YOUR GROUND' OR 'SHOOT FIRST, EXPLAIN LATER' GUN LEGISLATION

The tragic shooting death of Florida black teenager Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman clearly illustrates the "grey areas" harbored within "Stand Your Ground" gun laws.  

Stand Your Ground gun laws allow individuals to legally use a gun  in self-defense if they feel sufficiently threatened by another individual.  Critics of these Stand Your Ground laws often call them "Shoot First, Explain Later" laws and for good reasons.  In the Trayvon Martin case, the prosecution failed to prove its case, but all this case did was raise more questions concerning Stand Your Ground laws.  

• Is it lawful or even right for any person to pursue or follow another person simply because he believes the other person is suspicious looking and he believes that person is likely to commit a crime?
• Wouldn't you feel threatened if you were being followed or pursued by a stranger? There was no evidence that Martin had committed a crime.  Trayvon was not in possession of burlary tools or carrying stolen property.  Trayvon Martin was unarmed.   He was walking back home along the same path he always took when returning from the store.
• Didn't Trayvon Martin have a right to stand his ground and question George Zimmerman as to the reason why he was being pursued?   
• Did George Zimmerman violate Trayvon Martin's civil rights by profiling him based on the color of his skin?  In voice recording that Zimmerman made with the 911 operator, there is strong evidence to suggest that Zimmerman clearly believed that blacks are troublemakers because they wear "black hoodies," always come out "late at night" and  always "get away" with crimes they commit.  This was clearly a case of violating an individuals civil rights based on racial profiling.    
• Don't Stand Your Ground laws have the potential to create needless confrontations because the individual armed with a gun feels enpowered to contront someone else based on assumptions they make about that person that maybe entirely wrong?  The result is almost a "wild west" mentality.   What I am saying is simply this -- Why go looking for trouble, or create a needless confrontation, when you don't have to, especially when there are no substantial reasons or evidence to do so. Isn't it better and safer to leave this matter in the hands of the local police?   

Comparison of justifiable homicides in states with "stand your ground" laws before and after the stand your ground laws were passed.  Notice that more people were killed after the laws were passed.   This is clear evidence that stand your ground laws empower gun owners to kill rather than avoid confrontations (Click Image To Enlarge)

The State of Florida vs George Zimmerman case clearly shows the difficulty of convicting an individual for murder in a Stand Your Ground case in the absence of witnesses.  In fact, several jurors who voted George Zimmerman not guilty of murder, said that the Florida's Stand Your Ground laws needed changes to protect the victim as well.   Trayvon Martin is the only person who knows what actually happened that night.  Unfortunately, Trayvon Martin is dead. He is not around to provide his side of the story, and because of this, we will never truly know what happened that night over a year ago when an unarmed young man was simply walking home from the store.  

Checkout this infographic created by the Huffington Post to determine if your state has Stand Your Ground laws in force.

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Courtesy of an article dated July 18, 2013 appearing in Visual.ly 

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRISM: A CHEAT SHEET FOR THE NSA'S UNPRECEDENTED SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM

Since September 11th, 2001, the United States government has dramatically increased the ability of its intelligence agencies to collect and investigate information on both foreign subjects and US citizens. Some of these surveillance programs, including a secret program called PRISM, capture the private data of citizens who are not suspected of any connection to terrorism or any wrongdoing.

In June, a private contractor working for Booz Allen Hamilton leaked classified presentation slides that detailed the existence and the operations of PRISM: a mechanism that allows the government to collect user data from companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo, and others. While much of the program — and the rest of the NSA’s surveillance efforts — are still shrouded in secrecy, more details are coming to light as the public, as well as its advocates and representatives, pressure the government to come clean about domestic spying.

The What

What the hell is PRISM? PRISM is a tool used by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to collect private electronic data belonging to users of major internet services like Gmail, Facebook, Outlook, and others. It’s the latest evolution of the US government’s post-9/11 electronic surveillance efforts, which began under President Bush with the Patriot Act, and expanded to include the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) enacted in 2006 and 2007.

There’s a lot we still don’t know about how PRISM works, but the basic idea is that it allows the NSA to request data on specific people from major technology companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and others. The US government insists that it is only allowed to collect data when given permission by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Why is PRISM a big deal?

Classified presentation slides detailing aspects of PRISM were leaked by a former NSA contractor. On June 6th, The Guardian and The Washington Post published reports based on the leaked slides, which state that the NSA has “direct access” to the servers of Google, Facebook, and others. In the days since the leak, the implicated companies have vehemently denied knowledge of and participation in PRISM, and have rejected allegations that the US government is able to directly tap into their users' data.

Both the companies and the government insist that data is only collected with court approval and for specific targets. As The Washington Post reported, PRISM is said to merely be a streamlined system — varying between companies — that allows them to expedite court-approved data collection requests. Because there are few technical details about how PRISM operates, and because of the fact that the FISA court operates in secret, critics are concerned about the extent of the program and whether it violates the constitutional rights of US citizens.

CRITICS HAVE QUESTIONED THE CONSTITUTIONAL VALIDITY OF PRISM

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How was PRISM created?

As The Washington Post reported, The Protect America Act of 2007 led to the creation of a secret NSA program called US-984XN — also known as PRISM. The program is said to be a streamlined version of the same surveillance practices that the US was conducting in the years following 9/11, under President George W. Bush’s “Terrorist Surveillance Program.”

The Protect America Act allows the attorney general and the director of national intelligence to explain in a classified document how the US will collect intelligence on foreigners overseas each year, but does not require specific targets or places to be named. As the Post reports, once the plan is approved by a federal judge in a secret order, the NSA can require companies like Google and Facebook to send data to the government, as long as the requests meet the classified plan's criteria.

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Who is responsible for leaking PRISM?

Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old intelligence contractor formerly employed by the NSA, CIA, and Booz Allen Hamilton, confessed responsibility for leaking the PRISM documents. He revealed himself on June 9th, three days after reports on PRISM were published; in an interview with The Guardian, Snowden said, “I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things,” and claimed he was motivated by civic duty to leak classified information.

Edward Snowden an NSA, CIA and Booz Allen Hamilton intelligence contractor leaked information about the NSA's PRISM surveillance system.  Snowden fled the U.S. and is now in Moscow, Russia via Hong Kong waiting for a permanent safe haven (Click Image To Enlarge)

Snowden left the United States prior to leaking the documents in order to avoid capture, taking refuge in Hong Kong — where he stayed until June 23rd. With the assistance of WikiLeaks, Snowden fled Hong Kong for Moscow, and has requested asylum in Ecuador, Russia, and other countries. He is still residing in a Moscow airport, waiting to be granted asylum.

Surveillance systems like this one are located in cities throughout the U.S. (Click Image To Enlarge)

What does the NSA collect?

While PRISM has been the most talked-about story to come out of Snowden’s leaks, the disclosures have shed light on a vast array of NSA surveillance programs. Broadly speaking, these can be split into two categories: “upstream” wiretaps, which pull data directly from undersea telecommunications cables, and efforts like PRISM, which acquire communications from US service providers. One of the slides in the leaked PRISM presentation instructs that analysts “should use both” of these sources.

NSA programs collect two kinds of data: metadata and content. Metadata is the sensitive byproduct of communications, such as phone records that reveal the participants, times, and durations of calls; the communications collected by PRISM include the contents of emails, chats, VoIP calls, cloud-stored files, and more. US officials have tried to allay fears about the NSA’s indiscriminate metadata collection by pointing out that it doesn’t reveal the contents of conversations. But metadata can be just as revealing as content — internet metadata includes information such as email logs, geolocation data (IP addresses), and web search histories. Because of a decades-old law, metadata is also far less well-protected than content in the US.

NSA Programs Collect Two Kinds of Data:  Metadata and Content  

A leaked court order provided by Snowden showed that Verizon is handing over the calling records and telephony metadata of all its customers to the NSA on an “ongoing, daily basis.” Mass collection of internet metadata began under a Bush-era program called "Stellarwind," which was first revealed by NSA whistleblower William Binney. The program was continued for two years under the Obama administration, but has since been discontinued and replaced with a host of similar programs with names like “EvilOlive” and “ShellTrumpet.”

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How does the NSA collect data?

Many crucial details on how and under what circumstances the NSA collects data are still missing. Legally speaking, surveillance programs rely on two key statutes, Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) and Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The former authorizes the collection of communications content under PRISM and other programs, while the latter authorizes the collection of metadata from phone companies such as Verizon and AT&T. However, multiple reports and leaked documents indicate the statutes have been interpreted in secret by the FISA intelligence courts to grant much broader authority than they were originally written to allow. They also indicate that the FISA courts only approve the NSA’s collection procedures, and individual warrants for specific targets are not required.

An analyst starts by inputting “selectors” (search terms) into a system like PRISM, which then “tasks” information from other collection sites, known as SIGADs (Signals Intelligence Activity Designators). SIGADs have both classified and unclassified code names, and are tasked for different types of data — one called NUCLEON gathers the contents of phone conversations, while others like MARINA store internet metadata.

Leaked documents show that under the agency’s targeting and “minimization” rules, NSA analysts can not specifically target someone “reasonably believed” to be a US person communicating on US soil. According to The Washington Post, an analyst must have at least “51 percent” certainty their target is foreign. But even then, the NSA’s “contact chaining” practices — whereby an analyst collects records on a target’s contacts, and their contacts’ contacts — can easily cause Americans to be caught up in the process.

The rules state the analyst must take steps to remove data that is determined to be from “US persons,” but even if they are not relevant to terrorism or national security, these “inadvertently acquired” communications can still be retained and analyzed for up to five years — and even given to the FBI or CIA — under a broad set of circumstances. Those include communications that are "reasonably believed to contain evidence of a crime that has been, is being, or is about to be committed," or that contain information relevant to arms proliferation or cybersecurity. If communications are encrypted, they can be kept indefinitely.

NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland (Click Image To Enlarge)

So, what now?

In the weeks since the PRISM documents leaked, a widespread international public debate about the United States government’s surveillance and spying programs has engulfed the NSA, Congress, and the Obama administration in controversy. While outspoken supporters of NSA surveillance in Congress and the White House —including President Obama — have defended the legality and necessity of the programs, some US lawmakers are pushing back. In June, a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a bill that aims to rein in the problematic legal provisions that give US intelligence agencies nearly unfettered authority to conduct warrantless surveillance on domestic and foreign communications. Several other lawmakers have introduced their own measures, but legislative reform is still in early stages.

Meanwhile, a diverse coalition of interest groups and private organizations are directly challenging some of the NSA’s surveillance programs in court. On July 16th, a broad coalition of plaintiffs sued the US government for “an illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet electronic surveillance,” in which the NSA scoops up all telephone records handled by Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint in the US. Separate suits brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the American Civil Liberties Union are also in the works, but the government hasn’t responded to the allegations in court yet.

The companies at the heart of PRISM’s controversy are also acting out, but the specific details regarding their involvement in government surveillance on US citizens is still unclear. Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and others have stepped up pressure on the government in the past month to declassify the process which compels them to hand over user data to the government. In an impassioned plea made by Microsoft on July 16th, the company’s general counsel Brad Smith said: “We believe the US constitution guarantees our freedom to share more information with the public, yet the government is stopping us.”

Finally, there’s the group of people most affected by PRISM and its sibling programs: the American public. On July 4th, “Restore the Fourth” rallies in more than 100 US cities protested the government’s surveillance programs, focusing on electronic privacy. It’s not clear if public outrage will result in reform, but thanks to the dramatic actions of a young intelligence contractor, we now at least have the opportunity to discuss what the US government has been hiding from the public in the name of national security.

COMMENTARY:  In a blog post dated April 28, 2011, I told my readers about the National Security Agency (NSA), and what goes on inside that super-secret agency.  For a long time, the U.S. government told Americans there was "No Such Agency," and that it would never use the NSA's intelligence gathering capabilities to spy on and gather information about Americans. However, along came the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center, and over 3,000 Americans died -- the worst death toll on America since the attack on the U.S. Navy fleet in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by the Japanese.  

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A lot has happened since 9/11.  Shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center,  George W. Bush formed the Department of Homeland Security and signed into law the USA Patriot Act of 2001, which allowed the federal government unprecedented powers to protect Americans against terrorist attacks and gather intelligence on terrorists and "persons of interest," including unwary innocent Americans.  

The act, as a response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, significantly weakened restrictions on law enforcement agencies' gathering of intelligence within the United States; expanded the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions, particularly those involving foreign individuals and entities; and broadened the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts. The act also expanded the definition of terrorism to include domestic terrorism, thus enlarging the number of activities to which the USA PATRIOT Act’s expanded law enforcement powers can be applied.

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On May 26, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011, a four-year extension of three key provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act: roving wiretaps, searches of business records (the "library records provision"), and conducting surveillance of "lone wolves" — individuals suspected of terrorist-related activities not linked to terrorist groups.

From broad concern felt among Americans from both the September 11 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks, Congress rushed to pass legislation to strengthen security controls. On October 23, 2001, Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner introduced H.R. 3162 incorporating provisions from a previously sponsored House bill and a Senate bill also introduced earlier in the month. The next day on October 24, 2001, the Act passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 357 to 66, with Democrats comprising the overwhelming portion of dissent. The following day, on October 25, 2001, the Act passed the U.S. Senate by 98 to 1.

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Opponents of the law have criticized its authorization of indefinite detentions of immigrants; the permission given law enforcement officers to search a home or business without the owner’s or the occupant’s consent or knowledge; the expanded use of National Security Letters, which allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) to search telephone, e-mail, and financial records without a court order; and the expanded access of law enforcement agencies to business records, including library and financial records. Since its passage, several legal challenges have been brought against the act, and Federal courts have ruled that a number of provisions are unconstitutional.

Many of the act's provisions were to sunset beginning December 31, 2005, approximately 4 years after its passage. In the months preceding the sunset date, supporters of the act pushed to make its sunsetting provisions permanent, while critics sought to revise various sections to enhance civil liberty protections. In July 2005, the U.S. Senate passed a reauthorization bill with substantial changes to several sections of the act, while the House reauthorization bill kept most of the act's original language. The two bills were then reconciled in a conference committee that was criticized by Senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties for ignoring civil liberty concerns.

The bill, which removed most of the changes from the Senate version, passed Congress on March 2, 2006, and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on March 9 and 10, 2006.

The Role of Social Networks In National Security

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In a blog post dated January 26, 2012, I told my readers about the FBI's plans to develop a social network monitoring system to track our social media activities.   Internet users already post a huge amount of personal and private information about themselves online, especially on their social network profile pages.  For the Department of Homeland Security tapping into the the vast amount of information available on social networks was a no-brainer  

The Central Intelligence Agency has also joined the FBI in tapping into the huge amount of data we post on social networks.  In a blog post dated January 26, 2012,  I told readers that Facebook was basically a front for the CIA.   Can there be any doubt?  If you are still skeptical, checkout this video and listen to what CIA Deputy Director Christopher Sartinsky had to say about the value of Facebook to the CIA before a Senate national security subcommittee.   

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In January 2012, Facebook appointed Erskine Bowles, president emeritus of the University of North Carolina and a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, to its board of directors.  Mr. Bowles replaced former Clinton Chief of Staff Daniel Pineta, when President Clinton appointed Pineta as CIA Director.  Pineta later served as CIA Director under George Bush and briefly under President Barack Obama.  If there is any doubt that the CIA has tightened its grip around Facebook, just look at this picture.    That's right, it's President Obama reminding Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is the boss.

Facebook CEO and Co-Founder hopnobs with President Barack Obama at a dinner of Silicon Valley executives during his second term campaign (Click Image To Enlarge)

Courtesy of an article dated July 17, 2013 appearing in The Verge  

 

TESLA MOTORS ELON MUSK'S WILD NEW IDEA: 'HYPERLOOP', A FASTER-THAN-PASSENGER JET PNEUMATIC TUBE TO SHUTTLE PASSENGERS

Elon Musk, CEO and founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX

This whole transit system would be impossible to crash, always available on demand, way less expensive than current travel options and, ideally, solar-powered.

Tesla Motors (TSLA) CEO and co-founder Elon Musk started off his week on Monday by tweeting an announcement that, from anyone else, would have sounded like a tease for a bad sci-fi movie:

“Will publish Hyperloop alpha design by Aug 12. Critical feedback for improvements would be much appreciated.”

If you still think electric cars or rocket ships are cool, you haven’t been keeping up with Musk. His “hyperloop” is a proposed “really rapid transit system” that he says will be able to get a passenger from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a half-hour. That would mean travel at 800 miles per hour, or about twice the speed of conventional  aircraft.                         

Artists concept of a futuristic ET3 high-speed pneumatic tube transportation system might look like (Click Image To Enlarge)

He has been a little vague on how this works, except to say recently that the concept is “a cross between a Concorde, a railgun, and an air-hockey table.”
 
Also, he says it will be impossible to crash, always available on demand, way less expensive than current travel options and, ideally, solar-powered.

Artists conception of an underground passenger terminal for the futuristic ET3 highspeed pneumatic tube transportation system (Click Image To Enlarge)

Remember, this isn’t Donald Trump talking trash. This is Elon Musk, who has already changed the nature of money, as a co-founder of PayPal, the electronic payments system.
 
Since selling PayPal to eBay (EBAY), Musk has served as CEO of SpaceX, which is in the business of building rocket ships and spacecraft. The company, which he co-founded, is now under contract with NASA to service the International Space Station.
 
Of greater interest to today’s investors, though, is Musk’s role as co-founder, CEO, and CTO of Tesla Motors, the venture that is proving that building all-electric vehicles can be a profitable business.
 
We’ll find out how profitable it is right now on July 22, when Tesla announces its earnings results for the second quarter. The stock, which just made a splashy debut on the Nasdaq-100 Index (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX), has zoomed from $25.52 to $133.26 in a bit less than a year.
 
That’s the kind of price increase that makes for warnings about a bubble market.
 
But Musk says Tesla is just getting started. His real goal is to produce electric cars at an increasingly economical price. The first Tesla model, launched in 2008, was a roadster with a base price of about $70,000.
 
At an event for Tesla owners over the weekend, Musk said the company hopes to ship 800 Model S vehicles per week by the end of 2014. It has added a third model, the Model X, a crossover between a sedan and an SUV, and has plans to produce a minivan to appeal to the masses in a couple of years.
 
If you think this is sufficient innovation for an entrepreneur who is, after all, only 42 years old, wait until he unveils his plans for what he calls “the fifth mode of transportation,” alongside trains, planes, cars and boats.
 
Speculation is rife about what exactly this mode of transportation could be. Blogger Brian Dodson, who really is a rocket scientist, explains how he thinks it might work, based on the sparse information available.  
 
In short, it sounds like the hyperloop might be a kind of pneumatic tube for people.  Musk has to be one of the few people on Earth who could suggest such an idea without getting laughed at.
 
Ironically, the concept, like that of an electric car, isn’t new. Pneumatic tube systems, which use compressed air to move objects through a tube connecting fixed points, are still in use in some industries, but were more common in the late 19th century. In their early years, there was speculation that the technology could be used to transport people, but nobody ever proved it.
 
Musk hasn’t promised proof at this point, just an “alpha design.” But he has said that he will make the design available as “open source,” and that he will not seek any patents for it.

COMMENTARY:    Elon Musk has incredible entrepreneurial vision which I have often compared to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.   Tesla Motors, a producer of technologically advanced, brilliantly designed and award-winning all-electric cars he founded  in 2003, and Space Exploration Technologies Corporation or SpaceX, which he founded in 2002, has achieved incredible success by being the first commercial space company to build a fully-recoverable, multi-stage space rocket, the Falcon 9, and cargo and passenger carrying spacecraft, the Dragon spacecraft.  In 2012,  NASA awarded SpaceX a contract to develop and demonstrate a human-rated Dragon as part of its Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program to transport crew to the ISS. SpaceX is planning its first crewed Dragon/Falcon 9 flight in 2015, when it expects to have a fully certified, human-rated launch escape system incorporated into the spacecraft.   

So far, both companies are doing very well and achieving much success.  The Tesla Model S all-electric luxury sedan has received rave reviews from car experts, received Trend's 2013 Car of the Year, 2013 World Green Car of the Year,  Automobile Magazine's 2013 Automobile of the Year and in May 2013 achieved the highest score awarded to an automobile by Consumer Reports in 2013.  Consumer Reports said.

"It performs better than the entries from any other car company."

With all these accolades, Tesla Motors, in spite of racking up record operating losses, is loved by Wall Street.   Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock has skyrockted from $33.87 at the end of 2012 to its current price of  $116.16 as of 10:17 a.m., July 17, 2013.   Yes, Tesla Motors stock has risen to bubble-making proportions, but interest in the stock has not waned.   So far today, TSLA has risen +7.29 or +6.29% since the opening. 

Elon Musk appears to be making all the right moves at both Tesla Motors and SpaceX.  Clearly, Tesla's all-electric vehicle technology is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, but the Company has been criticized for producing vehicles appealing only to celebrities and snobbish affluent buyers.   Elon Musk knows that in order to achieve higher revenues and justify its lofty stock price, his cars have to appeal to larger audiences.  In a blog post dated February 14, 2013, Elon Musk unveiled the Model X, a electric crossover between a sedan and SUV.  The Model X will compete in the high-end mainstream SUV market.  Prices will be in the Model S territory, or about $49,000.  A fourth model, aimed at a lower price point and wider audience, would likely be announced in 18 to 24 months says Musk.  That vehicle will compete in the mid-to-highend electric vehicle market against models from Nissan, Toyota, and the Big 3 Detroit automakers.  

SpaceX is racking up one success after another.  Its Dragon spacecraft recently delivered its first shipment of cargo to the International Space Station, and appears to be on schedule to begin delivering NASA space astronuts to and from the ISS within two years.  

Elon Musk has already boisted that SpaceX could be sending astronauts to the planet Mars within 10 to 15 years, and this new idea of a pneumatic tube to shuttle passengers between Northern and Southern California at faster than commercial jets is another example of this.

Elon Musk is very flamboyant and boisterous, but I would not crossout any of these ideas.  Who would've thought that SpaceX would eventually replace the Space Shuttle, and transport payloads at 30% lower than the Shuttle.  These ideas are going to take a lot of capital, so I have a feeling that a SpaceX IPO is not out of the question withint two or three years.  Stay tuned. 

Courtesy of an article dated July 16, 2013 appearing in Minyanville and an article dated June 3, 2013 appearing in Core77

HOW BRAND MARKETERS ARE APPROACHING MOBILE MARKETING FOR 2013

 

Over 60% of marketers integrate mobile into their marketing mix, and nearly half (48%) plan to run specific campaigns directed to mobile users in 2013, according to a recent report by Chief Marketer.

Mobile marketing budgets increased in the last 12 months for 31% of survey respondents, the study found. Still, less than 10% total marketing budgets are allocated to mobile for 68% of the marketers surveyed.

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Below, additional key findings from the report, which was based on a survey of more than 650 B2B and B2C marketers.

Mobile Optimization

• Optimization of email messages for mobile devices is now generally standard, with 76% of marketers reporting that they optimize for mobile viewing.
• However, only 40% are connecting those email campaigns with landing pages optimized for mobile, and just 39% measure how many of their email opens occur on a mobile device. 
• Also, only 15% of marketers run a mobile-specific website. 

Mobile Display Advertising

• 40% of marketers have no plans for mobile display advertising in 2013.
• 19% currently run mobile display ads, and 16% have plans to do so in the next year.

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Mobile Apps

• 48% of respondents either already have one or more mobile apps, or plan launch at least one in 2013.
• For those with plans to create apps this year, iPhone (92%) and Android devices (80%) are the most popular platforms.

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Mobile Commerce 

• 51% of survey respondents sell products or services directly over the Internet, but only 26% are currently involved in mobile commerce. 
• A transactional mobile site is in the plans for 23% of respondents in 2013.

Measurement

• 28% of respondents said they know how often their customers are using mobile, and on what types of devices, and can segment based on that activity.
• 20% have no direct mobile knowledge of their audience, and base their mobile marketing decisions on third-party research. 

About the research: The report was based on a survey of 666 marketers conducted by email from April 10 to May 13, 2013. Respondents identified themselves as B2B marketers (48.9%), B2C marketers (18.6%), or as part of a company that targets both (32.5%).

COMMENTARY:  666 marketers?  That's some scary number.   LOL

Courtesy of an article dated July 16, 2013 appearing in MarketingProfs

 

SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES FOR PLACING RICH MEDIA ADS WITHIN THE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWSFEED

 

According to a study by Nanigans, ads that appear within a users Facebook newsfeed deliver an average increase in return-on-investment of 197%, compared with those on the right hand side of Facebook. And, comparatively, the News Feed had an average of 17.1 times higher CTR and 51 percent lower CPC than the Facebook sidebar.

 This may be a tired analogy, but stick with me for a moment: There is something magical that happens when you mix a variety of bland, or even bitter ingredients (flour, baking soda, cocoa powder…) with a little sugar and bake. Who’d ever think it would turn into something altogether different — and wonderful. Brownie anyone?

Reaching social consumers happens in much the same way. Who would have ever thought that when you mix your company’s product or service, a rich video, and Facebook’s News Feed (or other social stream) it too would result in something altogether different — and wonderful? Proven results anyone?

But, daily organic posting isn’t marketing. We can’t expect sustained value at scale without applying the full set of resources and creativity of marketing to the challenge of reaching and converting social+mobile consumers. Additionally, marketers must go beyond native post types (photo and video, for example) and bring the power of rich media to the stream.

Not long ago, the idea of advertising a product or service in the social stream was considered taboo, and yet today it’s a technique proven to drive engagement and amplification.   If getting consumers to discover and engage with your brand in the stream is so powerful, how does it all come together? It just takes three simple steps:

Step 1: Assemble your ingredients

Identify which products and/or services you plan to promote to your social customers. Pick a product or collection that’s worth talking about and sharing. Focus on items for which you can build up exclusivity, anticipation, or urgency. For example, products that have a story or you can wrap into a compelling package such as early access, exclusive fan-only products, limited edition or limited time all work very well.

Pick campaigns for which you have compelling and copious creative and content. If all you have are the photos from your website, pick something else.

Simultaneously, determine which audience you plan to target. Social audiences can be fragmented and specialized; “micro-segementation” is the here to stay; and having a basic profile of the audience you’re looking to reach is essential.

Step 2: Develop your campaign and posting plan

By developing your campaign and posting plans in tandem, you’ll be able to integrate rich content that helps move social consumers down the path to action. Rich interactive posts drive discovery and enable social and mobile consumers to explore more deeply without leaving their social context. Plan a pre-, launch, and post-campaign strategy by designing multiple posts and publish with a pre-determined cadence to achieve optimal results. Use media dollars to spike reach and amplification at the beginning of each phase and make sure that your campaign is equally rich and effective on smartphones by making the design responsive and keeping any videos and/or forms you choose to use short.

When it comes to social rich media campaigns, here are three typical approaches. The first is supporting a large brand or product campaign consisting of both off- and online components. For most brands, one to two very rich posts a week is the right rule of thumb. For this approach, marketers should dedicate budget to promoting specific posts that appeal to a large, general audience.

The second path is to build buzz or excitement around a new product launch or event. For these post campaigns, marketers should increase spend as they get closer and closer to the event, sustain the spend through the launch period and then end the campaign. Posts should be more social and viral in nature. Marketers traveling down this path should commit to promoting at least two to four posts every week.

The third path is a more sustained campaign either focused on a category or audience. A four month push around baseball apparel during the season, for example. For these post campaigns, marketers should allocate a quarterly budget to promoting consistent post types that are focused on engagement and/or product exploration — such as weekly deals, weekly curated collections, a series of Web videos, etc. Marketers traveling down this path should commit to promoting a post a week for a sustained period.

Step 3: Don’t skimp on the storytelling

Content and interactivity are the most important factors driving discovery and engagement. While there are a whole host of statistics about the significant impact video has on consumer confidence, likelihood to purchase and more, what is important here is how to create content strategies that drive these outcomes from the social stream. Not an easy task.

Storytelling formats that work really well in the social stream use brand and product stories as the foundation, adding details to carry consumers from one step to the next. Consider stories focused on the people behind your product, how it is made, why consumers choose your product, or simple how-to videos.

Short-form storytelling can also be remarkably effective in social. One minute videos or short audio interviews for example, can work quite well. Simple, useful interactivity should be at the heart of your strategy, with simple forms, easy to understand calls to action and sharing that is straight-forward and familiar. A note of caution: unlike e-mail, for example, linear storytelling across multiple posts does not work well in the stream. It’s almost impossible to ensure that an individual will see two of your posts so it’s essential that each post is self-contained. Each post can link to the other stories, or even contain the previous stories but never assume someone has seen any of your content before.

Marketing in the social stream will only continue to grow in importance as social networks mature the breadth and depth of social stream capabilities and look to sideline traditional right rail advertising. The capstone of all of this is that early research indicates consumers actually prefer the combination of rich, interactive content mixed with storytelling in the social stream. As these trends converge, it will be incumbent upon us all to be expert not just in social marketing, but in stream marketing that helps consumers discover and engage with our products and brand.

Marko Z Muellner is senior director of marketing at ShopIgniter and has been a digital marketer for more than 18 years. He has spent his time learning how digital marketing is applied at nonprofits, international digital agencies, dot-com startups, global sportswear and beer companies, and a top-tier Web analytics and optimization company. He can be reached at via e-mail at [email protected] and via Twitter @markozm.

COMMENTARY:   Without a doubt, rich media ads have been delivering increasingly above-benchmark results for advertisers (see the rich media ad performance metrics infographic below), often boosting engagement rates to three times that of traditional ads! Rich media ads are attracting a growing share of marketing budgets worldwide, and have become such a powerful ingredient in marketing recipes that the IAB has even adopted a new set of ad units called "Rising Stars." These and other brand-friendly rich media placements tap into the latest animation technologies to provide a richer canvas for creating highly impactful brand experiences that reach and engage quality consumer audiences.

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Social networks offer marketers the chance to engage their audiences in an informal yet meaningful way, leveraging their real-time social interactions to become part of an authentic, relevant conversation. Social sites like Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter are tailor-made for bringing brands and consumers together. Social media advertising has been proven to boost engagement, so much so that research firm BIA/Kelsey predicts that social media advertising revenue will grow to nearly $11 billion in 2017, up from $4.7 billion in 2012 - an 18.6 percent annual growth rate. 

So what happens when marketers integrate two of the most successful, engaging forms of advertising? The result, unsurprisingly, is engagement of super power strength! Combining an extremely compelling ad format with an authentic, personal communication channel results in consumers who are more open to engaging with brands, bring friends into the conversation, and complete calls-to-action like clicking through to websites and pressing "Add to Cart."

Rich Media Ads Very Effective On Mobile Devices Reports Celtra

In April 2013, Facebook reported that 751 million users, or nearly 70% of its reported 1.1 billion users worldwide, accessed their accounts on a mobile device.  So what type of rich media ads work best on mobile devices?   Celtra, a mobile marketing agency, analyzed the results 170 ad campaigns they designed for clients using rich media ads by type of device, ad format and mobile platform and came up with the following results.

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Brands Must Deliver Ad Experiences That Blend Into The Overal User Experience

With the increasing focus on native placements like Promoted Posts and Tweets, it remains imperative that brands deliver advertising experiences that seamlessly blend into the user experience, while offering content that is both relevant and compelling enough to stand out in the feed. And, as social networks offer up increasingly bigger canvases for brand advertisers, there's a growing opportunity to capitalize on rich media ads that include videos, product showcases, photo carousels, and more - all within a social, shareable environment. The challenge then is a catch-22 - brands must blend in yet stand out all at the same time!

The key to delivering this tall order is in leveraging social data to create even more resonant and powerful campaigns. The best social media marketers are great talkers, but even better listeners. An individual's likes, needs, opinions, and interactions - all readily available in real time across social networks - can tell a complete consumer story and enable marketers to determine the best way to reach that person and nurture a relationship. With the right tools to filter through the onslaught of social actions and chatter, advertisers can pinpoint and target niche audiences that are ripe for engagement and conversion, and then use rich media to tell the right story with sight, sound, and motion.

For instance, imagine a Promoted Post from an auto brand that displays the vehicle's features via video while playing heavy metal music; an individual who has posted frustrations with the car shopping process on his Facebook wall and lists Pantera and Iron Maiden as favorite bands on his profile would be likely to respond favorably to that ad. Or, envision a news feed placement showcasing an interactive closet full of designer clothes available on consignment, targeted toward moms who shop at Walmart but love Versace. The possibilities are endless.

Rich Media Ads Placed In Game Apps Report Great Success 

Interactive games have also seen great success on social media, and "advergaming" has come a long way since the cheesy old days of flashing banner ads offering a free iPod if you hit the dancing monkey. Rich media posts inviting social media users to play a game or take a quiz and share the results are a great way to both engage a consumer on a personal level, but also encourage them to spread the word to their friends.

Ultimately, social media marketing leverages the fact that users are willing and happy to engage and take action in a fair exchange of value, and precisely targeted rich media ads give consumers what they want in return: relevant, compelling, entertaining, and useful content. By combining social media insights and rich media innovation, brands can enjoy increased user engagement, consumer loyalty, and - you guessed it - social ROI.

Facebook Newsfeed Ads More Effective Reports AdRoll

According to a new one billion-impression ad study by retargeting giant AdRoll, news feeds ads have a massive 21 times higher clickthrough rates than standard web retargeting ads and an incredible 49 times the clickthrough rate of Facebook’s right-hand side ads.

On June 27, 2013, AdRoll president Adam Berke told VentureBeat's John Koetsier:

“A year ago we were having the discussion that Facebook doesn’t work, and GM is pulling its ads.  Now we’re having the conversation on whether this rivals Google!”

News Feed ads sit, as the name suggests, right within the flow of the feed of social news that Facebook users come to the site for. Sold via Facebook Ad Exchange, the ad units enable brands to target consumers who have previously visited their sites — hence “retargeting” — which enables advertisers to merge the intent graph (what people want) with a social site (Facebook). They’re larger than Facebook’s right-hand-side ads, and they’re qualitatively different in very significant way.

Berke says. 

“Facebook hit on a winning combination from a direct response perspective by fusing two things. They combined the power of programmatic advertising with Facebook’s own secret sauce — this native environment which is very engaging.”

In other words, even though News Feed ads are sold programmatically via the Facebook Ad Exchange, they’re also social entities. News Feed ads are likeable, shareable, and commentable, and as such, they’re embedded into the fabric of what makes Facebook Facebook in a way that no other ads are. They benefit from viral effects, which means great ads will get great earned reach as well as paid, and the fit into the news feed in a very natural way.

Plus, Facebook only sells one of them per user per day.

The combination of all that adds up to crazy metrics that you just don’t see in today’s highly competitive advertising landscape. While AdWords advertisers scrape and claw for a percentage increase here and a fraction better there, News Feed ads are providing almost 50 times the clicks per ad compared to Facebook’s right-hand side ads and 21 times the clicks of standard web retargeting ads. That translates to massively lower costs: 79 percent lower cost-per-click compared to web retargeted ads, and 54 percent less cost than Facebook’s right-hand ads.

That’s important, because Facebook needs to compete with other advertising channels such as search and e-mail that have resulted in higher-value customers in the past.

While the clicks are so high that conversions are slightly down, overall that translates into 77 percent lower cost-per-action compared to web retargeted ads and 45 percent lower cost than other Facebook ads. That’s pretty impressive data. But it’s what AdRoll was seeing right from the beginning in April when Facebook launched the new ad unit.

Berke told VentureBeat.

“It didn’t blow our mind because we had anecdotal feedback from advertisers about how they were performing.  From day one our clients were telling us it was working.”

As tempting as it is, the comparison to Google might be a little unfair, however. As Berke says, News Feed doesn’t have the scale of AdWords, and advertisers will still need to use multiple advertising methods to achieve the kind of reach they need. And if Facebook was tempted to increase the number of News Feed ads, the likelihood is that their effectiveness would diminish.

But by merging programmatic buying and social signals, Facebook has created a categorically new advertising world.

Berke told VentureBeat.

“It’s the first time we’ve seen those two big trends come together.  And the fact that they came together in a very symbiotic way is really exciting.”

Now we know why Facebook put ads in the news feed. And now we have a clue how Facebook is going to monetize its massive web and mobile audience at something at least approaching Google-like levels.

Demand For Rich Media Ads By Brands Forecasted To Be High During 2013

Once more, rich media advertising units are garnering headlines, this time thanks to a new survey out from Jivox which found that a majority of brands are interesting in adopting dynamic rich media ad units through 2013. The report indicates that dynamic rich media ads could see increases of up to 70% this year.

All may not be sunshine and roses for those brands adopting or increasing their use of these units, however, as the report also shows that most (88%) feel rich media campaigns are 'somewhat' to 'very' stressful to execute the campaigns well.

Diaz Nesamoney, CEO and founder of Jivox said.

"From our survey we found the desire for highly engaging dynamic rich media ad formats has greatly intensified as more brands realize the opportunity to dramatically improve ad effectiveness.  At the same time, the influx of mobile devices has created new challenges and frustrations for advertisers. These findings show that we need to move to the next generation of ad platforms that are adaptive, real-time and more efficient - only then can we alleviate some of the stress that traditional rich media causes."

Some interesting takeaways include:

• 51% of ad agencies report increased demand (clients) for dynamic rich media
• 42% of those running rich media across screens/platforms say the process is 'painful'
• 66% say they would recommend more rich media campaigns if costs, production time lessened
• 31% say they 'almost always' delay campaigns because of either creative changes or ad production issues

Of those already using dynamic rich media about half say it takes up to two weeks to complete ad production successfully; 40% say it takes longer than three weeks to complete production.

Meanwhile, those who haven't already adopted rich media say the costs to produce these types of ads are too great.

Courtesy of an article dated June 21, 2013 appearing in SmartBlog on Social Media, an article dated May 15, 2013 appearing in ClickZ and an article dated June 27, 2013 appearing in VentureBeat and an article dated March 6, 2013 appearing in BizReport