Eco-Friendly Digital Marketing Internship

Yeah, you read that right. It was announced today that Netflix is in talks to exclusively distribute a new show from David Fincher and Kevin Spacey. The show, a remake of the classic U.K. drama “House of Cards”, would be owned by Netflix and would be shown exclusively through them. It hasn’t been confirmed as to how much Netflix would have to pay to get this show, but they have offered to guarantee 26 episodes, or two full seasons, whereas most networks must see a pilot before even one season is greenlighted. This flexibility might be what gets the show for them. This would make Netflix it’s own network, and a potential competitor to some of the pricier cable networks like HBO and Showtime.

This has very exciting implications for the average consumer such as myself. I predicate this all with the assumption that they don’t raise their prices too much, but if Netflix expanded to having their own shows, as well as their already enormous library of past stuff, I might never need to pay for cable again. Also, for those of us who use Xboxes or Playstations to watch Netflix, when Hulu is added to the Xbox online marketplace there will be no need to pay the obscene prices for cable. Wouldn’t that be great?

This news will definitely affect the ever changing consumer entertainment industry. With the announcement of Facebook offering movies, and now this bombshell, it will be interesting to see what else will come up: maybe individual networks separate and become Netflix-esque online networks, or maybe Hulu modifies their site to show episodes the night they air. I don’t know, but it should be good for us.

Like Movies? Hate going to Blockbuster, or waiting for your Netflix movies to arrive? Disappointed in the limited selection of movies available to watch online? Well things are looking up.  Mashable announced today that Warner Bros. is making their movies available to rent online… through Facebook. Yeah, you read that right. Starting today, when you visit the fan page of some of your favorite Warner Bros. movies, you can not only “like” the movie, but you can also rent it and watch it right there. The rentals are available for the low price of $3, or 30 Facebook Credits, which are an online currency that buys you things on Facebook. At the moment the feature is only available for “The Dark Night“, but they are going to be expanding soon.

This is an interesting development for all of us 600 million Facebook users. It takes the already expansive user experience provided by the social media giant, and opens up a door that leads to a world of new possibilities. I would love to see Facebook to become a place that incorporates a Netflix + Hulu type video catalog that, with a low monthly price, can be available for use online and on other internet enabled devices (TV’s, video game consoles, etc.). Then they can add music and some proper games and I’ll never have to leave the site. Sounds good to me.

Charlie Sheen has officially gone crazy, but it seems that people are interested in his new found sense of self. He has set a Guinness World Record for the fastest time to reach 1 million followers on Twitter. It takes most celebrities way longer than 24 hours to reach the Twitter following in the amount of time that Charlie Sheen has. Between his recent interview and the constant partying that has led up to his infamous breakdown (although he claims he’s fine), Charlie has gained a loyal following. This loyal following could also be made up of the people who just want to see what he says and does next. To me, Charlie Sheen is spiraling out of control and it’s hard to avoid it hearing or talking about him. His life is much like that car accident that you cringe at but can’t look away.

I started following Charlie Sheen the first day that he created his Twitter account out of curiousity. When I first started following him, he had about 250,000 Twitter followers; I watched as the number skyrocketed every few minutes. It is mind boggling that within 24 hours, he has accrued over 1 million followers. I find Sheen’s current state somewhat sad and disturbing. As I watched him act erratically on his 20/20 interview, I admit I was amused, but who wouldn’t be amused at some of the things he was saying? This nonsense continues on Twitter as he tweets witty phrases about “winning” and “tiger blood.” The first tweet by Sheen was a picture of him and his “goddesses.” Charlie Sheen seems to be out of control right now and him having a Twitter can only make things worse by publicizing his life even more.

Social Networking on the internet has been around for a long time but in its earliest forms I remember MySpace was the place to go. It’s funny how things have changed so much, people join social networks to stay connected with their friends and family during all times of the day and just recently companies realized they can harness the power of social networking to connect on a personal level with their consumers, as if a giant rock fell from the sky and hit them on the head. Everywhere I go I see the Facebook logo in store windows. I was even driving on the road and to my surprise I saw a giant Facebook logo on in a gas station window. Marketing firms have been integrating social media into their services as a channel of communication and that is what it is. It all comes down to ‘Communication’ whether it is on a global scale fueling a revolution in Egypt or a company like Old Spice repositioning itself and connecting personally with its consumers. It is communication with a market segment of over 500 Million people and counting.

So where will it go from here and what will we see next? I hate to bring Google into this but we have to. Facebook has all of our personal information (demographics) and knows what we like (interests) but Google knows what we do on the internet, exactly what we do. I am sure that these places are selling our information to marketing firms as I write this, to be honest they kind of already offer some of it for free to the registered business accounts on their sites its called ‘insight’ and lets registered businesses know everything we do on their pages from the amount of time we spend on them to the items we click. I think as new technology continues to develop that social networking will become further integrated into our lives. Lets look at some examples. TV’s, Videogame consoles, and Smartphones have Facebook/Twitter apps now. I cannot wait until the day when I wake up and I can access my Facebook page from my refrigerator or better yet my toaster!!! People also start to think that since these websites are so popular that they will start charging money to register a simple user account. I doubt that would ever happen. Why would a website charge money to a consumer when it can charge money to the business trying to connect with that free user? It doesn’t make any sense, so it wont happen.  If you are wondering what else will happen on these websites just remember anything is possible because it is uncensored communication on a massive level… This is why I was not surprised at all when I found out Twitter was used to start and continue  a revolution in Egypt. Of course it was it is communication on a massive level between thousands of upset youthful Egyptians.

Ever wonder if your future employers check your Facebook to gain some insight on your personal life? A 2009 Harris Interactive Study surveyed employers using CareerBuilder.com and check out the shocking results: 45% of employers questioned use social networks to pre-screen job candidates; 35% of them chose to not hire a candidate based on what they found. In today’s world, one that revolves around social networking sites, employers are relying more and more on social networking sites for background information, but have no fear, there is a new program that can help you out!

One could probably assume that their Facebook is somewhat NSFW (maybe from the college years), but the new program, Socioclean, quickly rummages through your site and gives your the opportunity to delete whatever the program finds offensive or aggressive. If you give permission to run the program, Socioclean will scan your social profile (pictures, wall posts, comments and status updates) for 5,000 words and phrases that are racial, profane, drug-related or alcohol-related and display them in an organized fashion. Though the program won’t automatically delete the inappropriate information on your site itself, it will point out the specific words or phrases that should be deleted; you have the power to get rid of the information yourself.

I ran the program on my Facebook profile and received an alarming grade: F. The report actually said “Run for the hills! Requires immediate action!” After looking through the results one by one, I discovered that context is not taken into account. For instance, I wrote a post about a cocktail dress and the word “cocktail” was flagged for being alcohol/drug related. Also, the word “fire” is flagged because it is considered aggressive, so if a post references a bonfire, it is flagged as well. I think the program means well, but some of the words it flags are ridiculous.

This program is rather helpful to job seekers because it allows you to view the post and delete it immediately if you chose to do so. I’m not sure how the Facebook privacy factor works into this; my Facebook page is completely private, therefore, anyone who isn’t my friend can’t look at any of the information on my page. It’s a good idea to set your profile to private anyways, just to be safe. It is proven that employers actually do look at Facebook pages, so the best thing to do is to keep them PG!

(Photo taken from the previously cited Mashable.com article)

Facebook’s stronger integration with phones is a hot commodity these days. Two recent devices, the HTC’s Salsa and ChaCha, have launched, now equipped with a physical Facebook button. Facebook is also promising dozens more mobile phones will be similarly equipped throughout the year. Facebook has officially shot down the idea of an official “Facebook phone” but promise to help with a deeper integration with phone software.

Facebook’s own, Charles Wu, discusses the new changes in an official Facebook blog post. It appears that different providers will advertise the Facebook integration in different ways; Wu writes, “Some manufacturers will be highlighting Facebook as a part of their phones’ on-screen interfaces, and others will use our brand as an element of the device hardware itself.”

The new Facebook integration will allow users to access Facebook Chat on their phones without actually having to install a smartphone application. Wu also explains the deeper integration regarding your Facebook friends on your mobile phone, “When you make a phone call, the screen displays your friends’ status updates and photos, and even their birthdays.”

Phone software that is this integrated with Facebook is both good and bad. It’s great to have all your friends available at your fingertips, but, to me, Facebook is going somewhat overboard. So many people are addicted to the social networking site as it is, and it’s getting easier and easier to avoid face-to-face interaction with individuals. This integration does, however, allow people to be reached at pretty much any point and time, at least when they have access to their phone, and let’s be serious, that’s pretty much all the time these days. It’s going to be interesting to see how the integration plays out on the different phones. I’m anticipating the effect that the Facebook integration with the software on some phones will be somewhat overwhelming, while others will find the perfect balance.

So the ever-changing facebook has turned to a creative side by some of its users.  Since the social media site first launched in 2004 it has had more than a handle full of revamps made to the site. Which always seems to throw users for loop as to why the site keeps changing on them.  This most recent facebook change have left most facebook users upset once again, but other users have decided to take the most recent change as a creative outlet.  The new formatting allows users to see their profile picture and right next to are pictures that have been posted or tagged of that user. Which sparked some users to look at facebook as more of an artistic side.

images provided by: mashable.com

Another recent addition to the facebook addiction is the video profile, which is relatively new. This is for all those people who are consistently making tweaks to the profiles, editing the information that is being seen about them.  This can allow users pages and fan pages to be more interactive with their facebook friends. In order to make the change to your profile picture you need to get the new Facebook app, which allows you to replace your profile photo with a video. The only problem with this is that only people who have the plug-in to the app themselves will only be able to see the video. It’s a great new idea to create some edge to your facebook profile but at the moment it still does have some kinks.

A Facebook alternative for kids between the ages of 8 and 13 will be launching next week. This new social networking site, Everloop, is much like the actual Facebook site, with a few parent-friendly exceptions.

Perhaps the best thing about Everloop is that it requires parental approval to join. Parents are also able to choose to be notified about certain things that their children do on the site. Features such as instant messaging and friend suggestions can also be monitored, or even restricted by parents. Everloop contains many of the same features as Facebook such as photos, the “Like” option, groups, games, videos and even the option to change the background of your page. The site is maintained by the company to make sure that inappropriate behavior is not occurring. Everloop is even available to be used in schools because it complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a law that prohibits websites from collecting information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent. Children currently using Facebook under the age of 13 are able to create an account by simply lying about their birthday.

This new social media site is ideal; it allows children to be subjected to the world of social media without compromising their safety and privacy. Children can interact with their friends without parents worrying about them being exposed to some of the racy and inappropriate content that can be found on Facebook. I do wonder what is stopping older people that could be dangerous to children from signing up. How can the site actually know you are between the age of 8 and 13? There has to be some kind of prevention of this, otherwise it could be an easy target to pedophiles. We’ll have to see how the site runs when it has been active for a little while.

Children these days are very picky about what is “cool,” especially if they learn that the site is monitored by their parents. Everloop as been successful in convincing investors and partners of its worth, but the real test is kids. It’s tough to say whether kids will catch on to it, but social media sites are addicting and if Facebook can catch on, I’m sure Everloop will soon become a tween trend.

Social media is taking the world by storm. The influence is so prominent that it is reported that people are now using social media during emergencies. We have noticed lately that social media has been used in national and international crisis in the past few years, such as the political hubbub in Egypt, but people are actually using it to inform their social networking site viewers of personal emergencies.

A few years ago, two girls found themselves trapped in a storm water drain used their phone to inform Facebook of their emergency rather calling 911. This was somewhat ridiculous to authorities at the time, but researchers have found that social media can play a large role in emergency response. A recent survey shows that almost half of respondents said they would use social media to inform relatives and friends that they are okay in the event of some sort of disaster. The survey also reported that 69% of respondents think that emergency response agencies should monitor their social media sites to respond promptly to people in trouble. CDC Emergency and the American Red Cross are the top emergency agencies on Twitter; this allows them to quickly respond to people in need.

I think that the idea of using social media in emergency situations is an interesting topic, although there are both pros and cons. Because it is so easy to post on Facebook and Twitter, it’s more likely that people will abuse the sites. It also seems that the younger generations are more likely to update their Facebook and Twitter, so most of  the population of the older generations will not be taking part in this. On the other hand, people are constantly on social media sites from dawn until dusk, and it would take 2 seconds for anyone to receive word of an emergency, and in turn, attempt to help the person(s) in need. Facebook and Twitter sites take just seconds to update it is proven that these social media sites have actually helped in emergency situations. Let’s not get rid of 911 just yet though.

Michelle Obama recently voiced her opinion about the Facebook use of the Obama girls and it got me thinking as to what age is appropriate for the use of Facebook. Although Mrs. Obama doesn’t allow her children, Sasha, 9, and Malia, 12, to use Facebook for security purposes, she doesn’t think Facebook is something that they would need if they were permitted. I agree with Obama’s decision; children that young don’t need to be that involved with social networking sites.

When Facebook was first launched, it was strictly for college students. Facebook was easy back then; one profile picture with a simple layout that made it easy to post comments and write statuses (remember the “is…” before every status?!) My generation witnessed the evolution of Facebook, and the whining that ensued with every change. The Facebook layout now is more confusing than it has ever been, leaving most computer illiterate people left in the dark, or posting intended wall comments on statues and visa versa.

The fact that everyone with an email address can create a Facebook account creates many different issues. A person can be whoever he or she wants to be; stealing pictures of just about anyone and posing as that person to lure in his or her target audience. You may see a profile picture of a hot, younger guy, but who really knows what is behind that computer screen? A pedophile can pose as a younger kid on Facebook and lure in “friends.” Children every day meet up with people they meet on the Internet and are surprised to see who their real Internet buddy is, or even worse, they are abducted. Kids don’t realize the repercussions for their use on social networking sites because they are too naive. Many children post personal information on these different social networking sites without thinking twice. This information is easily accessible and can be used by the wrong people. I don’t think that people who are younger than high school need to be on Facebook. There are too many bad things that could happen and there is also really no point; kids can see their every day at school. I feel like such an old person saying this, but what ever happen to playing outside when you’re bored? Now, kids sit on the Internet or play video games for hours on end.

I have moved around a lot in my life and I have to admit that it’s nice to stay in touch with some of the friends and family I have had in other states, but the whole idea of the entire world being on Facebook just creeps me out.