Posts Tagged social networks
Unvarnished, a new website where people rate people; advancement or trollfest?
Unvarnished is a site that allows people to review people anonymously. We think this is an extremely negative event with dangerous ramifications. The web allows engenders a type of sociopathy in some people which has led to an increase, and maybe a pride in, trolling. (Are there paid trolls?) Reality TV provides tutorials on how to be mean spirited delivered by “troll” role models. In addition, any savvy web user knows that people will take time to write bad reviews more often that people will make the time to write good reviews. In addition our experience is that most negative reviews are a result of some disappointment with a product or service rather than the product or service failing in some disastrous way.
That’s not the least of it. If sites that allow people to post reviews of other people take off; how will that affect someone’s willingness to make controversial statements that may need to be said? What will it do to controversial people? For example, would you be less willing to tell the truth (after all you might the crowd) if you knew that negative reviews of you could be posted on social networks, and that you had no control over them?
Even further, could a person take you hostage or bend you to their will by threatening to post negative reviews about you?
Would we eventually be forced to become a moving mass, a cud chewing crowd of people living in fear of being different? (Don’t want to chance ruining my reputation)
Don’t tell us about how physically expressive society has become with tattoos, nose rings, and fixed gear. If a large group of people adopt a look it loses its power and is no longer an example of “freedom”. We’re reminded of the black and white pictures of Chinese Communists wearing the same “look” in their clothing choice(s) and on their faces.
Molly Wood at cnet wrote what we consider to be a “fair take” on the situation here.
Jessica Guynn with the LA Times give an overview of the feedback about the site here.
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Social Media, Trend Tracker on April 1st, 2010
Simple Redesign Doubles Social Sharing: 5 Insights
SUMMARY: Getting website visitors to share your content on social networks is a great way to boost traffic. But what’s the best way to promote social sharing to your visitors?
Find out how a travel insurance company doubled the amount of content visitors shared on third-party networks with a simple site redesign. We offer five insights they gleaned from this simple, eye-opening test.
World Nomads sells traveler’s insurance in 150 worldwide markets, and relies heavily on user-generated content to attract visitors to the site. Some 8,500 travel bloggers have published more than 55,000 stories and 600,000 images through the team’s platform.
The site’s blogs are free to create, and this content provides a wide funnel to introduce visitors to the company — typically through travel-related searches. But social sharing is increasingly helping them fill their funnel.
“We recently noticed that people were getting far more connected in their social media lives and their social networking, and we just did a tiny little redesign in how our share tools were displayed,” says Christy McCarthy, Community Manager, WorldNomads.com
A simple redesign — making social sharing a more prominent option — doubled the amount of the site’s content shared through social networks like Facebook and Twitter. If you’re offering social sharing tools on your site, you may have a similar opportunity to increase usage.
Here are five insights about how to encourage sharing that McCarthy and her team gained through the test:
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Social Media on March 2nd, 2010
eBrand Media CPA/CPL campaigns increase advertiser profits while decreasing acquisition costs!
eBrand Media, through its agency division, eBrand Interactive, manages lead generation (CPL) and cost per acquisition (CPA) campaigns for a large roster of Tier 1 advertisers. However, eBrand Interactive is a full service online advertising agency. It is not an affiliate. We’ve spent many millions of dollars refining an advertising formula that delivers superb traffic which is superior to any affiliate network in that our campaigns produce premium conversions, at a greater ratio, with reduced declines and chargeback’s.
The CPA/CPL division was created to take the next step in the optimization of our clients’ advertising efforts. The two main elements in the successful generation of sales that hit your targeted metrics are the quality of the advertising and optimization of the program. We have the ability to scale campaigns to a high volume when successful. We’ve worked with, and continue to work with, some of the largest B2C and B2B advertisers online.
In a very real sense, your company will benefit from “second mover” advertising. Other companies have done the testing through us, and as a result, your company won’t have to spend precious budget trying to find placements that convert. We’ve learned which advertising converts into new clients and which advertising burns through money.
To be clear we’re partnered with superior Tier 1 portals, publishers, networks, and databases. We can target your offer to the right audience geographically, demographically, and behaviorally. Every person will have given permission through a double opt-in process. Your audience will have given permission because of a genuine interest in, or a need for, your offer.
With eBrand Interactive you can rest assured that your brand will be placed in front of the premier audiences and that a conversion will lead to a greater life-time value. We’ll target people who match audience criteria in quality sites like iVillage, About, Yahoo, and Baby Center, among others. Your offer will only be shown once to a consumer and we never incentivise people to respond to an advertisers offer.
Our targeting process consists of 1600 data points on consumers including demographic, geographic, transactional and behavioral data. We will place your offer in front of the most relevant consumers. Every time a consumer submits to your campaign, our targeting engine will optimize in real time to find similar consumers to show your campaign to.
Lead Generation Campaigns (for E-commerce Sites Too):
We’ve created, launched, and successfully manage, double opt-in, lead generation campaigns for many nationwide brands. These companies continually seek to keep their e-mail data bases fresh with new sign-ups so that they have volumes of virgin records to market to, and because eBrand Interactive CPL campaigns often convert at a rate which beats their targeted CPA.
Posted by eBrand Media Public Relations Department in Advertising, Marketing, eBrand Media on October 20th, 2009
When a blog isn’t enough: expanding customer interaction with a branded social network
SUMMARY: Social media helps marketers create more interaction with their customers. But sometimes, adding a single element — like a blog or a forum — isn’t enough.
Read how an outdoor sporting goods brand used insights from their blog to create a social network for their customers. They share their thoughts on the value of social media to consumer brands, and offer advice on designing a network and promoting it in multiple channels.
Mountain Hardwear has a core customer base of devoted outdoor enthusiasts, says Phyllis Grove, Marketing Director. Customers are die-hard hikers, climbers, and outdoor winter-sports enthusiasts, who also want to discuss the apparel and gear that Mountain Hardwear provides for their adventures.
In March, Grove’s team added a slew of social media features to the site, giving Mountain Hardwear’s fans all the tools they need to interact there. They named their social network Expedition Republic.
The new network has increased membership, the level of user engagement, and the amount of content and discussions happening among customers. Those results make Grove confident that Expedition Republic is boosting the brand’s connection with its fans. (Since the site does not sell directly, it is difficult to measure whether the new social network is lifting sales, Grove says.)
Posted by Tom Polanski in Social Media on June 11th, 2009
Facebook phishing attack sought passwords
By Suzanne Choney
A Facebook e-mail phishing scheme was discovered early Thursday among users of the popular social networking site who may have inadvertently clicked on a fraudulent Web link included in a Facebook message to them.
The bogus link took users out of and away from the real Facebook to a fake Facebook site, where they were asked to log in again, giving their passwords, which may have been captured by those behind the scheme.
Facebook said e-mails with the fake link were blocked within the first few hours of being sent out, and that those who may have fallen for the ruse have had their passwords automatically re-set “so that any data the bad guys have becomes useless very quickly,” said company spokesman Barry Schnitt.
Users who did bite on the phishing lure will receive an e-mail from Facebook notifying them that their passwords have been re-set.
One version of the e-mail went like this: “Richard sent you a message. Subject: Hello. “Check 121.im” with “121.im” as a Web link and fake Facebook page.
The phishing scam grew rapidly because accounts that were compromised “immediately sent out hundreds of messages, all with the same content, with the same link,” Schnitt said. He said it is “too early to tell” how many of Facebook’s 200 million users were affected by the scam.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Facebook on May 14th, 2009