But does it actually do anything that Facebook and Twitter don’t do? Will it? Does it matter? We’ll see if people get onboard soon enough. It’s hard to bet against Google and its many successful launches. But there has been one PR set back already. That is, whether the technical openness they want from the platform could be in opposition to the private nature of our email in-boxes.

The initial launch version of Buzz automatically published Gmail users email networks without seeming to have any sensitivity to interpersonal issues arising from this. Needless to say this led to a lawsuit and various tweaks to the service. We will have to see if this controversary harms Buzz or if perhaps other teething problems arise. Either way, it has brought the issue of personal information access to the worlds attention. There is a huge general move towards transparent information share and Buzz is just the latest device to push the boundary of what defines ‘private’. It seems likely that many of us will opt into this service too. We probably just needed to feel like we have a choice.

After a massive amount of pre-release press and chatter, Apple’s iPad launches today. The companies successful track record with new tech - and particularly the iPhone -means various media industries are nervously watching the launch and public reaction.
Sitting somewhere between a fancy phone and a small laptop, the touch-screen device is more portable than a laptop but sits in a no-mans land that has never taken off with the public before. But it’s hard to write Apple off - despite a few notable failures in the past.
Depending on price, this new device could at least annihilate the competition in the burgeoning virtual book market led by Amazon’s Kindle. But not just that… the iPad will likely mix smooth internet use with video, music, books and… newspapers?
The rumour is that online newspaper formats will be very suited to devices of this type. In this way the timing could be perfect for a publishing industry that has been hit hard by advertising drop off and by having to put all content online for free. The idea being that subscription for online broadsheets might sit well with a device of this sort.
Either way it’s all very exciting! With new tech like this it’s likely that the results on will be a little different to that which is predicted. One thing we can be fairly certain of… based on previous Apple launches, it seems prudent to wait for the 2nd generation model before buying.

That’s $1,300,000,000! Now, movies have taken money of a similar amount previously, but Avatar has a few differences. Firstly it did it in 17 days, that’s the fastest any movie has ever grossed a billion, and secondly it’s done it with a story about blue aliens and a smoking Sigourney Weaver. This raises the question does it have the legs to top Titanic?
Titanic was a timeless story millions went to see over and over again, can Avatar bring people back? People are suggesting the heart warming story and groundbreaking visuals what is going to do it, but what do you think? The high gross is fuelled by 3D and IMAX sales, which are naturally higher than regular tickets, but will it beat the $1,848,813,795 Titanic made? Either way James Cameron is laughing all the way to the bank!

The ever interesting Ars Technica recently put together a great article commenting on how Hollywood might, ‘plan to keep prices up as movies go online’ there’s some neat graphs and interesting insight, particularly, on how, whilst Blu-ray has plugged a bit of a whole in the market, disc sales are still dropping and digital is rising.

Of course, studios can charge for digital downloads, they already do, but the real battle comes in when looking at the increasing number of digital rental services, and streaming services. With the expansion of services like Netflix and Epix, bandwidth increasing, and consumers fine with the concept of ‘watch once’ it’s going to be an interesting time to see how Hollywood keeps the price up, in the same battle that music has been fighting for years now.

It’s that time of year and Razorfish have released their annual study into how technology is changing the way consumers engage with brands. They have included the full data set from their ‘Brand Experience Study’ for us all to review and as with the last few years it’s brought up some really interesting results.

This year, for multiple just reasons, it’s largely focused on Twitter and Facebook and the findings have been a hot topic across marketing and social media blogs alike. The main piece of data a lot of people are particularly interested in is that whilst 1/4 of people on Twitter have followed a brand, 40% of them do so solely to get exclusive deals. They also show that out of the ‘connected consumers’ interviewed, a massive 40% had connected with a brand on Facebook.

What does this mean for brands? Well, it would seem to mean that Facebook and Twitter are being used by people to do the job that a lot of ‘industry types’ are selling in, that is, ‘connecting with brands’. Even if it is largely around offers and deals, for a brand it can still act as a channel to engage with people when the time might call.

Readwriteweb have a great breakdown in their usual, easy to absorb yet thorough style if you want more info.

Oh and just because it’s very cool, you can grab yourself a real prop from Dunan Jones’ Moon by getting involved with their Ebay auction site, a real life size GERTY is up for grabs!

]]> http://uk.waytoblue.com/into-the-blue/case-studies/32-questions-and-1000-connected-consumers-2/feed/ http://uk.waytoblue.com/into-the-blue/into-the-blue/32-questions-and-1000-connected-consumers/ http://uk.waytoblue.com/into-the-blue/into-the-blue/32-questions-and-1000-connected-consumers/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:29:10 +0000 admin http://uk.waytoblue.com/?p=158 It’s that time of year and Razorfish have released their annual study into how technology is changing the way consumers engage with brands. They have included the full data set from their ‘Brand Experience Study’ for us all to review and as with the last few years it’s brought up some really interesting results.

This year, for multiple just reasons, it’s largely focused on Twitter and Facebook and the findings have been a hot topic across marketing and social media blogs alike. The main piece of data a lot of people are particularly interested in is that whilst 1/4 of people on Twitter have followed a brand, 40% of them do so solely to get exclusive deals. They also show that out of the ‘connected consumers’ interviewed, a massive 40% had connected with a brand on Facebook.

What does this mean for brands? Well, it would seem to mean that Facebook and Twitter are being used by people to do the job that a lot of ‘industry types’ are selling in, that is, ‘connecting with brands’. Even if it is largely around offers and deals, for a brand it can still act as a channel to engage with people when the time might call.

Readwriteweb have a great breakdown in their usual, easy to absorb yet thorough style if you want more info.

Oh and just because it’s very cool, you can grab yourself a real prop from Dunan Jones’ Moon by getting involved with their Ebay auction site, a real life size GERTY is up for grabs!