The newest social media dating app craze amongst the younger crowd is called Tinder. It finally gives college kids an easy way to find an quick hook up for the night. Personally I do not have the app but from what I can see from roommates and other friends it has become quite popular in the past couple months in Athens, GA. The app is a dating website that creates matches with other people solely based on looks. All you have to do to get a Tinder profile is log in with your Facebook, download three or four pictures and fill in your name and gender and you are done. It uses your location to find people in the area that could be available for possible matches. When you search for matches all that shows up is the person's first name and the pictures that they downloaded. When you click the picture you can scroll through the pictures that they have and see whether or not you are attracted to them. If you are attracted to the other person you swipe right and a green check pops up that indicates you liked them, however they have no idea. If the other person ends up liking you back then Tinder will notify you that you two are a match. Thats when the fun begins! You can now message this person anything you want and see if they respond. You can hear anything from pick up lines right off the bat or just a simple hello. Some people are very up front about their purposes on Tinder and why they messaged you, others will beat around the bush a little at first. Either way the only thing I have seen come out of Tinder are late night downtown hookups and some pretty funny conversations.
Tinder has become the new social media "dating" craze throughout young adults, but I don't see this app lasting very long. I think people (girls mostly) will realize how creepy it is and the fad will slowly subside when some new app pops up. But for now Tinder is on fire through out college towns and spring break destinations so have fun everybody! Happy Tindering!
Here's a list of "The Unwritten Rules of Tinder" written by Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/02/unwritten-rules-tinder_n_3689441.html
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
SXSW
Earlier this month the South by Southwest festival happened in Austin, Texas and boy was it a great one. For those of you who do not know what South by Southwest (or SXSW for short) is, it is a festival that happens once annually that celebrates the best and newest trends in music, film, and interactive technology. They have everything from guest speakers, trade shows, and mentor programs, to games, awards, and comedy performances. The one downfall of this event is that it is QUITE expensive to attend. The cheapest badges are around $500 and that only gets you into a limited amount of events. Some badges can even go all the way up to $1695. Seeing as how I am a broke college kid I did not have that amount of cash to dole out for this event (although I image it will be worth the money someday). So instead I had to hear about the festival second hand through a mentor of mine, Todd Copilevitz. He is a partner at J. Walter Thompson in Atlanta, GA and specializes in Digital Strategy. Todd has been coaching a group project that I am currently working on for the UGA Digital Marketing Competition and has been a tremendous aid and has given us insights into the industry that I had never known before. I had the opportunity this Monday to go into the JWT office in Atlanta and sat down with Todd and an associate of his, Breanna Rotell, and spoke with them a little about the SXSW festival. The story that he told me that I found most interesting was about the game that Pennzoil had set up this year in Austin. Pennzoil had teamed up with Nintendo and created a go kart track in order to set up their own real life Mario Kart game. What they did was hook up GoPro cameras to the top of the go karts along with attaching an RFID sensors to each kart so that when they drove over markers on the track it gave them power ups or hurt the speed of their kart. I found this to be a great marketing event because it got people engaged with things that almost everybody loves ( go karting and Mario Kart). It also allowed people to upload their videos of them racing from the GoPro and share them with their friends. I know I would have loved to have raced around on that track with my friends and definitely would have shared the video afterwards through Facebook or Instagram.
Here's the SXSW article on the event:
http://sxsw.com/interactive/news/2014/dont-miss-pennzoils-mario-karting-reimagined
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRmqlrlP2m4
Here's the SXSW article on the event:
http://sxsw.com/interactive/news/2014/dont-miss-pennzoils-mario-karting-reimagined
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRmqlrlP2m4
Sunday, March 2, 2014
What's Up with WhatsApp
About two weeks ago Facebook acquired WhatsApp in a block buster deal. The app allows users to communicate with people all over the world for very limited charges ($1 a year). It's also the only widely used app that has more engagement and a higher percentage of people using it daily than Facebook, according to Mark Zuckerberg. This was probably motivation enough for the Facebook creator to acquire the app and add it to his portfolio of potential cash cows. However, WhatsApp currently is mostly used internationally and is much less known here in the United States. It is going to be tricky to try and increase usage in the U.S. where we seem to be more cut off from other countries. The EU creates a need and a natural market for Europe, because people are able to travel and communicate more easily than we are able to in North America. Another problem that might arise is that WhatsApp currently does not have ads and the CEO says that he is happy with the current subscription model and that "monetizing is not going to be a priority for us". We'll see what Zuckerberg has to say about that. The Zuck bought WhatsApp for $4 billion in cash, $12 billion worth in shares for WhatsApp, and $3 billion in restricted stock units for employees and founders. I would assume he would like to see some cash flow come in from that kind of an investment. I know I'm anxious to see what he has in store for his newest acquisition.
Here are the founders of WhatsApp enjoying the fruits of their labor:
Here are the founders of WhatsApp enjoying the fruits of their labor:
Nick Bilton
The founders of WhatsApp right now. (cc: @MikeIsaac) pic.twitter.com/8CzbbZpAoK
Monday, February 17, 2014
R.I.P. Flappy Bird
On February 8, 2014 Dong Nguyen, the creator of the newly
popular app “Flappy Bird,” announced over Twitter that he would be taking the
game down for good. Nguyen had been on social media throughout the day
explaining his decision and what would be happening in the next 24 hours. His
reasoning was bizarre but respectable. He explained, “I can call
‘Flappy Bird’ is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I
hate it.”
There was immediate outrage and support for Nguyen, seen
through the 45,000 followers he gained following his tweet about the shutdown;
however, many people, including myself, are still reeling from this quick
decision.
I downloaded this game a couple of weeks ago when it began
gaining fame. Since then I have experienced my fair share of the addictive
aspects of the game. My roommates and I have been in a constant battle to see
who can navigate the warped pipe maze to achieve the highest possible score
before nose-diving to failure.
I can empathize with Nguyen who became addicted to his own
game, losing sleep and socialization. But contrary to this negative, it is
estimated that he was making over $50,000 a day. It takes a lot of guts to shut
down a moneymaker like that, but he did it.
For those of you who have downloaded the game, keep on
flapping. For the many who may never experience it, you are the lucky ones… Or
are you?
Flappy Bird, you lived a good life. You may have brought
disappointments, but you also brought triumphs. Thank you for the distractions
from work and school and also for bringing us together and giving us goals, as
worthless as they may be.
We will never forget you.
5/24/13 – 2/9/14
Monday, February 10, 2014
Olympic Fan/Athlete Interaction
The olympics are more interactive now than they ever have been. In the past the only way fans could interact was through viewing it on TV or sending fan letters. Of course if you were lucky enough to go and view it in person then there were a plethora of other options. With the advances in digital media, and most importantly social media, fans are able to interact with their favorite athletes from anywhere in the world. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook allow all fans the opportunity to message their favorite athletes and with them luck in their events, congratulate them on a win, or just show their overall country pride.
I myself can say that I try and keep up with how the USA is doing in medal count each day and watch the highlights of as many events as I can. Twitter has made it easier for me to keep up with these highlights now that I can wake up and see what happened the night before. I wake up each day and check the USA medal count (which is slightly lacking at the moment) and then try and figure out which of our athletes won gold medals the night before. Even on days when I don't have time to watch any events on TV I can always keep up with the twitter updates on my phone and stay current on the latest news.
One of the coolest new things I have seen through twitter is the Olympics Athletes' Hub. It basically compiles all Olympic news and allows you to select the different athletes, teams, and sports you want to follow. It tells you what is trending and gives you the leader boards each day. It basically is the place I now go to get all of my Olympic news on the days events. In fact I am on it currently and just saw a spoiler for an event that will be on TV tonight. I won't give it away, but USA wins :) GO USA!
Here's a link to the Olympic Athletes' Hub
http://hub.olympic.org/desktop
Monday, February 3, 2014
Super Bowl Ad: #EsuranceSave30
In case you were not aware the Super Bowl happened last night, and it was quite a thriller! Or maybe not... It was a blow out by the end of the first half. As the game grew more and more boring most people began paying more attention to the the commercials during stoppages in the game. However, the commercial that created the most social media buzz came directly after the game. Esurance grabbed the first commercial slot after the Super Bowl and apparently saved a lot of money in doing so. The average commercial during the game costed $4 million. In Esurance's commercial the actor is sitting with a pile of cash and says that they saved $1.5 million by taking the commercial spot right after the game was over, as opposed to having one during the game. He says that Esurance will be giving away the $1.5 million to a lucky winner. All you have to do is use the tweet using the hashtag #EsuranceSave30 by 1:00 AM on February 4th and you will be entered to win the $1.5 million they saved. According to Adweek there has already been more than 3 million tweets using the hashtag and I am sure many more are to come before the deadline tonight. This commercial clearly stole the attention of most every one watching and I am sure annoyed many of the advertising directors of the other commercials who paid top dollar during the game. When you offer $1.5 million up for grabs you are likely going to steal the show. I myself see it as a cheap ploy that may boost current social activity for Esurance, but in the end will not create loyal customers for their service. If their goal was to boost immediate conversation and buzz they sure did accomplish that. I would be curious to see whether or not it helps them out in total sales in the long run. My guess would be no...
Heres a link to the commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCPzdDVCN8Y
Heres a link to the commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCPzdDVCN8Y
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Social Media Recruiting
This past week I read a particularly interesting and slightly disturbing article on ESPN about how fans are now able to interact with recruits more than ever because of social media. It is currently against NCAA rules for fans to interact with any possible recruits because they want people to offer them any unfair incentives to attend a particular school. After all it is the coaches who are paid to do all the recruiting for us fans right? If the schools wanted our help they would pay us too. I love following all the recruiting news regarding UGA football as much as anybody but when I heard what some fans were doing to try and entice players to come to their school I was shocked. Twitter and all the other social media sites now allow fans to interact with recruits on a daily, and even minute by minute, basis. The article I read talked about a fan that saw on twitter that a recruit was getting ice cream some where and showed up wearing his team colors and talked to the recruit about attending his university. The recruit said that it was very uncomfortable and really creeped out his girlfriend at the time. Understandably. Other equally disturbing incidences have occurred to other recruits. One of the most popular things that I have come across is deranged fans wanting to name their next child after the recruit if he chooses to attend their school. Umm thanks, but no thanks. Do they really think that offering to do that will make that recruit any more like to attend choose their school? One fan even tried to get a player to go to USC by saying that he would kill himself if the player did not commit. He later went on to say that he was kidding and that he has kids at home and would never do that. To that fan I say THEN WHY DID YOU SAY IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. What a messed up thing to kid about. Most fans out there know the lines that they should not cross, but clearly there are some that are willing to do WHATEVER it takes.
Here is a little snip-it of a USC fan trying to get the #9 high school player in the country to commit to USC. There were many many more tweets by this fan, but I figured this would get the point across.
Here is a little snip-it of a USC fan trying to get the #9 high school player in the country to commit to USC. There were many many more tweets by this fan, but I figured this would get the point across.
@AdoreeKnows the next Percy Harvin! How about being better than, Percy Harvin! How about just being, the Great Adoree Jackson of USC!@AdoreeKnows C'Mon SWEET PEA,stay home & do, USC. The city of L. A., will forever love you & you will be a, " USC Great & an Olympian!" Cmon@AdoreeKnows Team Up, Come Up! Fight On!@AdoreeKnows Fight On, Eat On! Go USC! Trojans never die!@AdoreeKnows I can't wait until,you're on Madden, one day! It's going to happen, Brodie! You're phenomenal, Ajax! Fight On!
Darryl Revels
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