Twitter Chatter During the Super Bowl (Interactive Graphic)

As the Steelers and Cardinals battled on the field, Twitter users across the nation pecked out a steady stream of “tweets.” The map shows the location and frequency of commonly used words in Super Bowl related messages.

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Photo.net Photo Of The Week On Digg!

Photographer: Ilia Shalamaev

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Keurig Coffee Gets Social

Keurig coffee machines are great.  I was first introduced to the Keurig single cup coffee system five years ago at an office.  I was taken back how great it was to have a single cup brewed just for me.  I got one for home.  We got two for NameMedia when we opened up shop.  Everyone loves the Keurig for the fresh brewed taste and the choices of coffee, tea and even hot chocolate.  We have introduced Keurig to several of our family and friends and reaction is always positive.

JeffBennett.Org is a blog that is all about social media – how it is expanding, the influence it is having on society and the opportunities for brands to connect to consumers via social media.  My belief is that social media sites are places where brands can listen, learn, engage, trial and sell products.  There is a new paradigm for advertising in the making here and it is very powerful.

At NameMedia we operate a network of social media properties that serve very targeted enthusiasts and audiences across several categories:  photography, crafting, gardening, gadgets, astrology, outdoor sports, and more.  We are working to expand the content on our sites, growing our audience, stimulating active conversations and engagement with the content, and we are focused on integrating brands in a respectful manner.  Social media sites are an ecosystem and participant, audience and monetization must all work together.

One interesting case study of this includes our  Splitcoaststampers  site. which serves the paper crafting category and is the market leading site for stampers.  Splitcoaststampers enables content to be created via blogs, message boards, comments, and features a large and rich gallery of it’s members work.  The demographic for the Splitcoaststampers membership and audience is over 90% female.   Splitcoaststampers has always integrated endemic brands on it’s site and we are expanding programs for the larger crafting industry to reach this base.  There are other brands who are near-endemic that would like to target this demographic as well.

At times on all of our sites there are posts/threads that extend beyond the targeted category of that site.  This occurred in the last month on Splitcoaststampers around the topic of coffee.  A member was looking for advice on  how to make a good cup of coffee.  Other members and audience jumped in and offered their advice on how to make the best cup of coffee.  An overwhelming favorite emerged and that was the Keurig single cup coffee machine and offerings.  Check out the thread and overwhelming number of posts here.

This is a great opportunity for a company like  Keurig, who wants to target the demographic that are members and the audience of Splitcoaststampers, to listen, learn, engage, trial and possibly sell products.  Keurig has got involved to do just this.  Keurig collaborated with the Splitcoaststampers team to keep the thread going and offered to give away a premium Keurig system to members of the Splitcoaststampers community.  This could be the beginnings of a much more powerful relationship that could be spawned between Splitcoaststampers members/audience and Keurig.

Keurig is no stranger to social media or the blogosphere.  Keurig has been featured for years now on Blogpire’s Single Serve Coffee blog.  This is a great resource on all things single serve coffee.

It is powerful to see how social media and brands can unite to bring value to the membership, brand and audience as witnessed in this case.  There is much more to be done as well as we go forward.

Digg To Host Online Forum With U.S. House Leader John Boehner

The Digg community is interviewing Republican House Leader John Boehner this Inauguration week! CNN Political Editor Mark Preston will pose the most popular questions as submitted and voted by you this week.   You can submit submit questions for the forum with Congressman John Boehner athis link.

Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in Tech Dark Ages

If the Obama campaign represented a sleek, new iPhone kind of future, the first day of the Obama administration looked more like the rotary-dial past.  Team Obama has some work to do to bring the White House into the present.  This team maximized their use of cell phones, the Internet and Social Media to earn the right to serve in the White House.  Their contiuned use of these present day tools to manage and communicate with the world is essential.  Read more of this interesting article published in the Washington Post.

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Miller High Life will have 1-second Super Bowl Ad

MillerCoors wants to use the valuable Super Bowl platform for an ad.  Spending $3m on a thirty second spot goes against the brand message that it has been trying to establish itself though.  To be true to the brand MillerCoors will premier a one-second ad for its Miller High Life brand during the Super Bowl broadcast Feb.   The spot will focus on the brand’s current campaign that features the burly High Life delivery man who aims to reinforce the brand as a “good, honest beer at a tasty price.”

To build anticipation for the debut of the one-second ad, which may not air in all parts of the country, High Life has launched 1 Second Ad Web Site that features several of the one-second ads that didn’t make the cut, as well as a 30-second teaser ad that begins airing later this week.

Pretty creative way to leverage the Super Bowl platform, stay true to the brand messaging, demonstrating fiscal conservatism in this economic downturn and I bet driving a lot of “buzz” about the Miller brand.  Very cool.

Inauguration Day Was Big For Social Media

The CNN-Facebook integration was seamless and powerful.  It was great to watch one of four video feeds from CNN and then share the expoerience with my Facebook friends.  Reports vary but there between 15-20 million “plugged” in the CNN-Facebook feed.  Check out these additional stats:

1. 600,000 status updates posted through the CNN.com Live Facebook feed

2. Facebook averaged 4,000 status updates per minute during the broadcast

3. 8,500 status updates were posted during the first minute of Obama’s speech

4. “Millions” of people logged into Facebook during the broadcast

Another amazing statistic is the 2 Billion people from around the world watching, listening or plugging into U.S. Presidential Inauguration.

Wow!

As the clock was striking noon in Washington, the social media movement that the Obama team had built under Change.gov was being integrated into a new Whitehouse.gov.   The AP notes that the site has retained some of the historical info and navigation features from former President Bush’s era, but there are major upgrades, including a blog and pages outlining the Obama administration’s goals and policies. In the first blog post, White House director of new media Macon Phillips explains some of the ways the administration will use the site to communicate, noting that video and photos from the inauguration, and Obama’s first days in office will be posted soon.

CNN-Facebook Homerun For Innauguration

You have to check out what CNN-Facebook are doing today for the Internet.  I watched the ads all weekend and was trying to envision it.  If you are a Facebook member go to CNN.Com and click on this promotional unit.  You will be prompted for your Facebook login and then you are in.  You can watch one of four CNN live feeds and communicate with your Facebook friends during the coverage.  Very powerful integration of social media and traditional media.  What a day in Washington.  A sea of people from the Capital to as far as you can see.  This coupled with the millions around the world watching on TV and through great applications like CNN/Facebook and you have democracy at work.  Wow.

Lego to Launch Digital Cameras and MP3 Players

Lego, the Danish toy maker, has revealed plans for an entirely new product range — digital cameras and music players.   We are big fans of Lego – great quality for so many years.   At first thought this sounds a bit of a stretch to me for the brand, however, in this world digital experiences are coming earlier and earlier.   Rather than let Wii release a Lego-killer maybe this is step one in a more expansive strategy.

Lego, a family-ownded firm based in Billund, Denmark, was established in 1932.  It has won legions of fans for its simple, snap-together building brick system that allows children to make everything from cars and boats to planes, spaceships and castles.  The new product line will be aimed at children aged between seven and 11.  These products might appeal to older gadget fans as well.

Worcester Academy Covers Innauguration With Social Media

Students from Worcester Academy, in Worcester, Massachusetts, have descended on Washington, DC with the mission to cover the Presidential Inauguration.  Students in all schools are joining Facebook.  Many schools are going beyond this to integrate the practice of using social media tools to publish and share information.  At Worcester Academy, teachers David Bill and Pete Smith have been working with social media technologies and identified the significance of it’s increased use during the election.   I have blogged about the incredible advantage President-elect Obama had with his campaign using social media in the campaign.

There are eleven Worcester Academy students in the nations capital armed with cell phones, Flip cameras and iPod recorders to aid them in reporing to the world on the historic nature of this Inauguration.  All the media including the interviews collected will be done using both audio and video will be accessible via the trip website.  The students will be posting video via YouTube and Qik, images on Flickr, audio via podcast on the group’s website, and Twitter throughout the entire trip.  The students will also report back to Worcester Academy via Skype order to update the school on the inauguration and to provide everyone an opportunity to see what the social media reporters are experiencing.  To follow the students before during and after the Inauguration, visit http://wainauguration.org.

What a great experience and excellent use of social media to capture and share this historic event with the world.  Watchout networks, the next generation from Worcester Academy, are on the scene.