Posts Tagged ‘ Trendspotting ’

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Points of View is our blog dedicated to exploring the critical corporate communications issues of the day through insights and videos of Fortune 500 business and communications execs, industry insiders and our team.

SXSW: Back to the Future of Digital


March 11th, 2011

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It’s that time of year again when our “live music capital of the world” (Austin, TX) decides to multitask and become the temporary epicenter of all things film, music and digital. Being based downtown, we welcome the SXSW visitors to our neighborhood and can’t wait to get out and mingle with some of the best, brightest and most innovative companies in the industry.

SXSW has developed a reputation in recent years for being the hotspot for startups to launch their products and innovations, particularly pertaining to social media, digital influence and distribution. In 2007, SXSW witnessed the launch of Twitter, then in 2009 Foursquare emerged. It then proceeded to grow at an unprecedented rate for internet-based startups. Last year was expected to be the year of location-based services, however, no one company managed to gain significant traction and emerge a head of the crowd.

My prediction for 2011? Location will finally become the driving force it has been striving to be for many applications and services. Foursquare has already been creating buzz around advanced location based services within their product, possibly offering coupons and more control for their enterprise customers. But will they remain king of the location based applications? Or will they be swept aside by the next big thing to hit digital media since 2009?  Gowalla is also trying to become a major player, as they have partnered with Mashable at SXSW.

We will be watching closley and will follow up next week with our favorites from the festival and the companies we think you should watch into 2011. In the meantime follow our team members as they tweet their way through the festival:  @ReneeFrancese, @PaulWalker, @AustinBNelsen, @BrittanyAguilar and @JeffRobertHunt

Cheers and welcome to Austin!

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Grant Toups

Trendstream Study Finds Consumer Trust in Social Networking Contacts on the Rise


January 13th, 2011

Trendstream, the UK-based digital consultancy, has released its 2011 Web Index, available here.  It provides a thoroughly interesting, in-depth look at the evolution of social media engagement that observes a growing trend toward social networks and users as qualifiers and distributors of “professional” content, with individual content creation on the decline. I wanted to take a minute to point out one thing that really jumped out at me.

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While trust about products is generally rising (not surprising given the continuing economic recovery) nearly half of those surveyed scored their social network contacts as a level 4 or 5 (where 5=strongly trust).  The number for newspapers … about 3%.

I’ll avoid the temptation to wear my “student of the social web” hat and opine on the larger meaning of the results. But if there is one takeaway that strikes me as incredibly important to corporate communications groups as they plan out 2011, it’s this: there is a profound shift underway as consumers tell us where they get their most trusted advice, and it must force us to ask a serious question.  Are our strategies and tactics evolving as rapidly as our target audiences?

View the full report below:

Welcome to Social Entertainment – Annual Report 2011
View more presentations from Tom Smith.

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PulsePoint Group

The Weekly Pulse: 1/12/11


January 12th, 2011

Every Wednesday we are going to recap the previous week’s POV posts. Check out our first installment of the “The Weekly Pulse:”

1/4: “Checking In” at Locations is so 2010: If you pride yourself on snagging the best deals, be sure to check out, or rather “in,” to your favorite brands. “Checking in” is no longer restricted to physical locations. Today, people are checking into their favorite books, movies and of course brands. It’s just another way to define yourself via the web or your phone.

1/4: PulsePoint Group Corporate Communication Index Series Part 3: Deeper Role: Bob Feldman, partner at PulsePoint Group, provides commentary on the firm’s recently released Corporate Communication Index Study. This is the third in a series of videos where he provides insight into the findings. Be sure to check out his first and second video.

1/5: Mobile Matters More in 2011: The Consumer Electronics Show is about to kick-off in Las Vegas and industry watchers are expecting hundreds of exciting, new gadgets to wow tech lovers. Most of these new “consumer electronics” will probably fall short, but a few will inevitably spur major attention and revenue.

1/10: Your Social Media Agency Walks the Walk… But Can They Talk the Talk?: It’s important to select a strong social media agency because your agency will:

  1. Help you integrate your social media program into the larger marketing or communications plan.
  2. Train and build the skills of your internal team.
  3. Get the most out of increasing social media budgets.

1/11: Twitter Goes Casual: Twitter users frequently abbreviate and misspell words in order to adhere to the 140-character limit. A new study from Carnegie Mellon University shows that there are regional differences in how users choose to shorten words.

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Renée Francese

“Checking In” at Locations is so 2010


January 4th, 2011

If you pride yourself on snagging the best deals, be sure to check out, or rather “in,” to your favorite brands. “Checking in” is no longer restricted to physical locations. Today, people are checking into their favorite books, movies and of course brands. It’s just another way to define yourself via the web or your phone.

Mashable cites five main reasons people use location-based applications as: serendipity, game dynamics, as a personal diary, for sharing experiences and to score deals. A personal favorite of mine is deals, which is how most brands increase consumer interaction. What gets you to check in?

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From Mashable:

Within the spectrum of social media, the act of sharing essentially amounts to a desire to personally define ourselves to others. In the age of the social network, there are an almost infinite number of options for creating that personal definition on the web. Checking in is just one of the newer ones.

“If a tree falls in the middle of the woods but no one is around, does it exist?” Or the digital edition: “If you visit your favorite bar at Santacon and never check in on Foursquare, did it ever really happen?”

There is an art to checking in and a way to make it part of your online identity. Below, we walk through some of the obstacles and best practices for doing it right. Read on and let us know what tips worked for you in the comments below.

Location, Content, Brand

This all began with location but has shifted to allow users to check in to TV, movies, books and finally to brands. Each of these additional options allows us to personally define ourselves by answering the following questions: Where am I? What am I watching/reading? What am I buying?

While each of these choices from location, to content, to brand allows for an additional layer of sharing, they also each call for an additional level of activity from the user. It’s not enough to visit a restaurant or watch a TV show; we now must announce to the world that we’re doing it.

Read more


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Grant Toups

Segmenting Audiences on the Net: Pew Segments Internet Usage by Age


December 22nd, 2010

A recent Pew study on internet usage by age paints an interesting picture.  A few of the key findings:

  • The age gap, where millennial usage far exceeds that of other groups that were identified in 2009, seems to be shrinking.
  • Email and search still reign supreme, so for those of us who predicted email was dying, perhaps we shouldn’t be editing its obituary just yet.
  • Depending on just how old you are, that friend request from mom or grandpa isn’t a fluke. The 74+ age group represents the fastest growing segment of social media users, quadrupling since 2008.
  • While traditional blogging seems to be undergoing a redefinition based on the emergence of Twitter, Facebook status updates and the like, the emergence of video represents perhaps the biggest shift in content choice, rising 14% in adult internet usage.

This infographic from Pew outlines the key findings.  The complete study can be found here.

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(more…)

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Renée Francese

The State of the iOS App Store


December 17th, 2010

App of the Day has broken down the current iOS app landscape. I was pleased to learn books beat out games as the top category for apps in Apple’s marketplace. However, I was not surprised to learn 85% of apps are for the iPhone. Check out some of the other interesting stats on Mashable:

The people over at App of the Day have crunched the numbers and, using data available from Apple and other sources, have broken down the iOS app landscape. They have also created an elegant infographic to visualize the data. Some of the results might surprise you.

“Using a variety of sources including Apple’s RSS feeds and search APIs, we put together a collection of data that we then analyzed to produce the infographic,” founder Jordan Satok explained to us.

According to App of the Day’s analysis, 67% of applications in the App Store are paid apps, and 50% of all apps (not just paid applications) cost less than $3.00. The vast majority of these apps are for the iPhone — a whopping 85% are iPhone-only, while another 8% are “universal” apps for iPad and iPhone

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Brittany Aguilar

2010 Pop Culture as Presented by Social Media


December 16th, 2010

We are approaching the close of 2010, and we’ve seen a lot. Luckily for those of us with short memories, Google and Twitter have created microsites so we can re-live the year’s top topics. Google’s site shows the top searches and Twitter’s shows the top trending topics of 2010.

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The most searched topics in the United States on Google in 2010 were:

  1. iPad
  2. Chatroulette
  3. iPhone 4
  4. World Cup
  5. Justin Bieber
  6. Myxer
  7. Facebook
  8. Groovseshark
  9. Glee
  10. Mocospace

There are certainly some surprises in that list. Overall, products and services are searched most often. Apple dominated with two of the top three searches. Of the list, only the World Cup was an event, and even it could be classified as an entertainment service.

(more…)

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Bob Feldman

Engagement Has Become the Business World’s New Currency


February 12th, 2010

Originally Published PR Week, February 12, 2010

The impact of social media on how business is run is just starting to mainstream in corporate America. I’m not talking about online promotional campaigns; I’m taking about the very heart of how business is conducted.

The consequence is a redefinition and reframing of how a company and its various stakeholders relate to one another and the impact each has on one another.

Call it “The Engaged Enterprise.” Engagement is the new currency. It suggests an authentic, dynamic, deeper relationship in which conversation and business ideas are shared up, down, and sideways.

In the Engaged Enterprise, stakeholders have deeper relationships with the company. Stakeholders actually talk to one another. Their voices are heard, respected, even acted upon in exchange for their loyalty. The result: The enterprise is smarter and more engaged with their constituents leading to better decisions and deeper, longer-lasting relationships.

Some examples? Consider these three: (more…)

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PulsePoint Group

IPR’s 2009 Distinguished Lecture: Jon Iwata, IBM


December 2nd, 2009

Jon Iwata, SVP of communications and marketing at IBM, gave the following speech on the future of the communications profession at the November 4th 2009 Institute for Public Relations Distinguished Lecture Series at the Yale Club in New York City.  If you weren’t at the event, you should check it out; it’s a compelling read for anyone keeping their finger on the pulse of the PR profession.

“Toward a New Profession: Brand, Constituency and Eminence on the Global Commons”

Good evening, everyone.

I am honored by the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I have long appreciated the research and education work of the Institute for Public Relations. And when I think about those who have preceded me at this podium over the years, I am humbled.

As anyone does who is invited to step up to this podium, I went back and read a number of the speeches of those who have appeared here over the past 10 to 15 years. And what struck me was that they were all, in one way or another, talking about the same thing: a fundamental shift in the world, in the nature and status of organizations and of business itself, and of the implications of all of that for our profession. (more…)

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PulsePoint Group

Bill Margaritis on most the important trends in the PR profession


November 3rd, 2009

Bill Margaritis, incoming Page Society president and Corporate VP of Worldwide Communications and Investor Relations at FedEx, on the major trends in PR/communications.

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