Digital Marketing: Shaping User Generated Content

      

          This blog examines the website for Conspiracy For Good (CFG), an advocacy website.  I will be evaluating the website based on the user experience of the immersive media offered by the website, its strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement and discussion.  I will also propose a new advocacy campaign with a selected target audience. 

CFG: A Case Study

The CFG website is a user participation website whose goal is to use user generated content to shape an advocacy campaign that “empowers its audience to take real-life action and create positive change in the world,” ("Conspiracy For Good", n.d.).  This is done primarily in two ways: one allows you to participate in the story by sharing your experience with a “Conspiracy For Good,” on the website in order to generate an online grass-roots type of crowd-sourcing, the second is using the website as a resource to direct you to where you can participate in real life where users can “...follow the story and build a community that focuses on changing the world for the better, one person and one action at a time,” ("Conspiracy For Good", n.d.). 

I would have to say that I do believe the CFG campaign is a piece of immersive media.  I believe so because it involves the participation of the end user, because it also involves more than one of the senses, i.e. vision, audio, and tactile, and because the content does not remain static.  Also, the CFG campaign asks users to interact with and expand the original narrative.  This is definitely what Rose (2011) indicates immersive media should be. As Rose points out, immersion is not just what is happening but what has happened and what will happen (Rose, 2011). 

            CFG has utilized many tools that give it great potential to drive user generated content, primarily the website. For example the initial splash page is media friendly, is aimed at a younger audience which I find to be appropriate as the younger audience is more likely to be familiar with the technology and process of user-generated content. Also, the initial page urges participation by providing only a few choices on the home page – which drives traffic to its user-generated content areas and instructions for participation.  Another strength is a solid mission statement; I believe it is important to have a clear attainable goal when being involved in advocacy.  The mission statement is very clear and attainable, “As part of The Conspiracy For Good you will join a collective of thinkers, artists, musicians, and causes, creating a unified voice to fight the forces of social and environmental injustice,” ("Conspiracy For Good", n.d.). 

            This well though-out mission statement lays the foundation for the narrative that underlies the CFG campaign.  I mean who wouldn’t want to join a collective of thinkers, artists, musicians, and causes, creating a unified voice to fight the forces of social and environmental injustice?  The mission statement also closely aligns with, for example, the “London Experience,” action campaign in which people of all walks of life are asked to participate in solving a social injustice – ultimately with both online and offline activities. 

            The CFG campaign also did a great job of seamlessly integrating immersive and AR technologies, like the snap-picture identification in the London Experience, to assist the members in achieving their goals.  This provides a close tie-in to the participant’s online activities closing the gap that separates online and offline activities that are the hallmark of traditional online advocacy campaigns. 

            The CFG campaign does have some weaknesses.  For example, it does require internet access, a smart phone, transportation and time and a willingness to participate – all at the expense of the user – so in a sense its market is limited (albeit not by much these days). Also the website does have some weaknesses – while the splash page is nice to look at and is good at driving traffic to different channels but it also obscures the overall goal of the project.  When I looked at the splash page I thought it was going to be more along the lines of a fancy fan fiction website, and it took me while to figure out what the aim of the project was and how to get involved and I took it more as being designed like a game making it seem less serious than their stated goal.  It is also lengthy to setup and become a contributing member. 

            If I had to work on the next iteration of this project, I would choose to add and focus on a section where people can nominate themselves or others for awards or badges given out by the website as recognition for action in social advocacy.  These awards and badges can become part of the story.  I would also want to encourage more user interaction and would post achievements and other ways to connect through the CFG website and your profile rather than directing traffic to other social media sites. 

            The production would primarily be to establish a timeline of “conspiracies,” for good to show forward progression of achievements by users, and a way to look back at others past “conspiracies,” and comment on them.  Also, by adding a nomination system and awards we are providing an altruistic motivation to get involved while also creating more interaction between users, which will improve the overall content on the site.  This type of reciprocal acknowledgement has been proven to work well, LinkedIn for example allows you to endorse other people’s skills, and in return people endorse your skills – this creates an atmosphere online that mimics real life interaction. 

            The target audience for this iteration would be an older audience, perhaps ages 30-55, people who either have money or time to donate to social advocacy.  Also, the process of recognition through awards is more appealing to an older audience than just being part of a viral advocacy story which is what is offered now.  I think the improvement would be in increasing the age group that is being targeted.  While there is a digital divide that exists between older and younger audiences proper targeting of media can help close this gap and expand the reach of this advocacy campaign. 

References

Conspiracy For Good. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.conspiracyforgood.com/

Rose, F. (2011). The art of immersion: how the digital generation is remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the way we tell stories. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Is Video Still The King Of Media Formats?

     Is video the killer app, no, but perhaps a better name is required. I think video is not the killer app but it should be considered the “App That May Never Die.”  I think that there will always be a special place for video and video sharing websites, pictures are worth a thousand words and videos worth millions, as long this model stays the same video will be too valuable to die and will in fact thrive.  Video sharing websites will stay around because they allow us to share video content relatively anonymously and outside of our social circle.  As more and more of our lives become online, there will remain value in being able to share video content outside of our increasingly involved online lives, however small the need may well be.


      Another reason that video is the app that will never dies is its value to the news industry.  As a journalist I have seen how much the world of journalism has been impacted by the use of video, especially user-generated videos.  Think about the Arab Spring – would we have been able to effectively seen what was going on in those country without ordinary people capturing video of the happenings?  Sites like YouTube are often at the center of this axis between people capturing raw images and platforms that give them a voice. 

     

Because of the power of YouTube to freely allow the exchange and posting of videos, without framing or editing them, gives it a powerful platform to hear voices and opinions of the many and the few.  Also, because of this news sometimes happens first on YouTube.  A somewhat sad example of this is that we recently had some sicko shoot up the university downtown area here in Santa Barbara.  The twisted killer didn’t send his sick manifesto to the media – he posted it on YouTube.


      YouTube and other video sharing sites provide a place where people can interact about the videos, exchange ideas and culture and represent their respective opinions or views in a form of social discourse, (Burgess & Green, 2009).  This adds to the power of video and its ability to persist.


      One of my favorite new websites that has continued to carry the torch for video and also fit it into the new social paradigm is the website Vine.com.  Vine is “a mobile service that lets you capture and share short looping videos. Like Tweets, the brevity of videos on Vine (6 seconds or less) inspires creativity,” (Sippey, 2013).  Sites like this show the flexibility of video and video sharing sites to be flexible and bend to current trends without going away.


References:

Burgess, J., & Green, J. (2009). YouTube:  Online video and participatory culture. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press

Sippey, M. (2013, January 24). Vine: A new way to share video | Twitter Blogs [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://blog.twitter.com/2013/vine-a-new-way-to-share-video


Video journalism and digital storytelling | Guardian Masterclasses | theguardian.com. (n.d.). Retrieved July 10, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-masterclasses/video-journalism

SEO Update: Google To Rank Mobile Friendly Sites Higher

SEO Update: Google To Rank Mobile Friendly Sites Higher
(Great My job Just Got Harder)    

     Great so my job just got harder.  Google has finally announced that it will be ranking websites higher that have been determined to be more mobile friendly.  How do they determine this?  Well there are some criteria that Google will use (at least what they will tell us about). 

     For example, mobile friendly sites must meet certain criteria like text size, amount of space between links, and whether content fits across a small screen. Google doesn't want to leave people to far behind so there is some direction from Google about why they wanted to do this and how you can adapt to the new algorithm.

     Not sure if your site is mobile friendly or not - take the mobile-friendly test online; if you don't pass, Google has some guidance on how you can change your site.  For me this means that I will have to be extra careful when advising the site design and architecture I advise to my clients.  Fro example, simple features like scroll bars (a mainstay for handling large text content on pages) - which look pretty on websites but doesn't do much for the mobile crowd while go the way of the Dodo.   

     But make no mistake - Google generally will ruthlessly enforce these criteria  - but perhaps this is a good things as increasingly web traffic is from mobile or tablet sources.  For example, most of my clients have mobile web traffic between 46-55%.  This is likely to cause a major shift on overall design - since the choices are between designing two versions of a website or one version that is mobile friendly.

    

This might be hard for some sites that have a tried and true format - for example Wikipedia did not pass the mobile friendly test nor do some other major sites.  It will be interesting to see what happens to web design in the next 6 months to a year. 

    

Will Augmented Reality Penetrate Social Media?

Will Augmented Reality Penetrate Social media?

I would have to agree with this statement for a bunch of reasons.  First, the technology is finally catching up with AR devices in such a way as to be more effective by eliminating hardware issues in past AR devices, errors like: skipping, bad graphics and causing vertigo.  Another reason is that the enormous growth of online social interaction has shown that people have no problem sharing themselves socially online.  AR technology and its associated applications have the ability to allow people to expand their social landscape- which is appealing especially to Gen X and Y’ers.  

Another reason is that people can easily create and use avatars effective with AR technology.  Online site Smeet, for example, “is a unique 3D online world in which users can style and customize their avatar, chat in real time with other users, and play online games,” (Smeet, 2014). Sites like Smeet.com and others, which provide platforms for 3D virtual reality interactions with others already show a trend towards an AR dominated online social world.  What is so appealing about being able to create an avatar and then realistically (or close to it) live out an online life is that participants are free to express themselves or be whom or whatever they want?  

                One of the strengths of these new platforms is that you can create an online presence customized to whatever you want.  Also, the virtual games are more flexible in that your presence or avatar can be altered or changed based on a whim.  When Nintendo released the 3DS system, it was the AR technology that immediately made it in demand. 

However, the only holdback was that the technology still had a little ways to go, one of the weaknesses of this new gaming, (ENGLOBE, 2011). Some of the other weaknesses include the fact that some of the AR technology is still not available to people on the wrong side of the digital divide.  Also, these sites promote online contacts and can have an effect on someone’s ability to learn real life skills.  Unless of course, like in the movie Surrogates, we just get up and plug in everyday, it’s a little creepy to think about some of the possibilities of where AR technology will take us.  

References:

Virtual world, online world to play, chat and flirt in 3D | Smeet. (n.d.). Retrieved July 6, 2014, from http://en.smeet.com/virtualworld

ENGLOBE. (2011, April 19). Mobile Gaming vs Portable Games Consoles: the case for Nintendo 3DS. Retrieved July 6, 2014, from http://arblog.inglobetechnologies.com/?p=290

How Do You Harness Consumer Participation?

How Do You Harness Consumer Participation?

I think this is a tough question to answer, especially in the light that Jenkins characterizes some of the case studies he reviews.  Most of them – he says – embrace this convergence of consumer participation only to provide a synergy with their current business model.  Saying “Extension, synergy, and franchising are pushing media industries to embrace convergence, (Jenkins, 2006, Loc. 402). So I would have to say that I think it’s possible for companies who do not partake in participatory consumerism to be able to compete like others. 

Jenkins points out that the most successful campaigns that involve consumer participation have small “knowledge communities,” made out of mutual interests and that still generates in a cycle that starts with the media producer, (Jenkins, 2006). I extrapolate from this that there are companies and campaigns that will profit from participatory consumerism, but others may not, and may not be able to compete just fine.  

           

But that being said, large companies are in fact moving towards user-generated content and participation to expand their brands.   For example, the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl,” campaign which utilized user-generated content to create a free ad platform that has now become a big part of their overall marketing strategy.  The campaign consisted of a contest that invited people to create and upload their own Doritos ads. The winners would have their ad run during the Superbowl and win cash. This kind of campaign shows that very large companies can and will embrace participatory communication to leverage their brand and create a platform to make money, as a marketer, that where I am always looking. Frito-Lay executives have said this campaign was successful at creating a free marketplace for ads and has been one of their most success recent marketing campaigns, (Burstein, D. 2012).  

            I think it comes down to knowing who your audience is.  I think a smart media psychologist would take into consideration whether or not this type of marketing is suitable for your company or campaign.  

References:

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture. New York, NY: New York University Press.

Burstein, D. (2012, February 3). 5 Lessons In Participatory Marketing From Doritos' "Crash The Super Bowl" And CMO Ann Mukherjee | Co.Create | creativity + culture + commerce.

User Generated Content: Fan Fiction

As Rose points out, the new “web 2.0,” which is defined more by user interaction like how “Something as simple as making a hyperlink, when it’s done 24 hours a day by billions of people, creates a structure of information that's not directed by anyone - but as amplified by tools such as Google - is shaping our society,” (Rose, 2011 P.187).  However, the very fact that user-generated content is not controlled by anyone is the key-hole through which user-generated content can be unlocked and fall apart.  

            Several types of media come to mind where user-generated content just doesn’t seem to work.  For example reviews of products and professionals online are often skewed and can do actual harm to a professional or product reputation.  There is a reason Amazon only lets you review a product you have bought or that Angie’s List charges you to view reviews of people – it’s because there is always one person who had a bad experience, or just has an axe to grind and gives a bad review.  Also, people tend to only feel the need to review a product if they have a bad experience and are less likely to do so when they have a good experience.  In this case user-generated content can be dangerous.  

            I think fan-fiction/non-fiction is one of the most promising areas of user-generated content.  Sure, there are certain types of fan fiction that may not have the social significance of others.  But lets take for example fan fiction on President Obama, sites like: (https://www.fanfiction.net/search.php?keywords=romney+obama&ready=1) and (http://obamafic.livejournal.com/) provide a platform for users to generate content like a blog but also move stories forward by predicting or suggesting new narratives for political events and ideas.  It also provides a digital forum for the exchange of ideas, which is the basis for democracy – would the French Revolution have happened without the free-speech in cafes?  Jurgen Habermas would say no.  

References:

Rose, F. (2011). The art of immersion: how the digital generation is remaking Hollywood, Madison      Avenue, and the way we tell stories. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Obama Fanfiction. (n.d.). Obama Fanfiction. Retrieved May 22, 2014, from http://obamafic.livejournal.com/