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| Can Social Media Turbocharge NASCAR on TV? | | Friday, February 24, 2012 9:14 PM | Sam Laird |
|  When most people think of tech-savvy social media users, they probably don't picture fans of NASCAR. At this weekend's Daytona 500, though, social media will play a central role in television coverage of the event. Speed TV, which carries much of the Daytona 500 coverage and will broadcast Saturday's final practice round, has imported its Social Garage to a live sporting event for the first time. The Social Garage began last year at as a digital dashboard on the network's website to facilitate fan conversation with one another and broadcasters across Facebook and Twitter during coverage of an auto action. But for Daytona, the operation is taking physical form. It functions as an on-site social and communications headquarters of sorts at the race, said Laura Gainor of GMR Marketing, which helps with Speed's social strategy. Inside the space, Speed's social media team provides live updates, works on behind-the-scenes features and guides the online fan conversation. Any time a fan tweets with the hashtag #Daytona500, the message is streamed through the Social Garage, where producers and on-air talent at Daytona respond to questions and comments and converse with fans. And as top auto racing analyst Rutledge Wood interviews drivers at Daytona, he can see a feed of fan questions he can then ask on-air with an accompanying graphic to credit the Twitter sender. SEE ALSO: Pinsanity: How Sports Teams Are Winning on Pinterest "This is by far our strongest effort and the biggest dedication of resources by the network of integrating social media into what our producers and reporters are doing to provide our audience with a high level of interaction," Erik Arneson, Speed's vice president of media relations, said in an interview. When the network debuted the physical manifestation of its previously-virtual Social Garage at another car auction last month, viewer reaction and conversation was so positive that implementing it at Daytona wasn't a tough decision, Arneson said. NASCAR as a sport has had a rocky last few years on TV. Ratings increased last year by almost 5% for all coverage, but that followed three consecutive years of decline. But Arneson said Speed didn't see the same hits as other channels who broadcast the sport and that, while the Social Garage is a bid "make the network more sticky," it's also part of a natural evolution. Before social media became dominant, Speed viewers were encouraged to interact with broadcasts online -- for example, by having viewers guess the final selling price of cars at auction through the Speed TV website. Nonetheless, building a physical social headquarters at Daytona represents a significant step for the network, and one that Arneson said will definitely be considered for future live racing broadcasts. "When you do something like this on the level that we're doing it for Daytona, you have to step back and see what worked and didn't work, but I don't see it going backward," he said. "I think we crossed a major hurdle this year, and now with viewers there's an expectation that there will be higher level of interaction." Image courtesy of Speed TV |
| Best Western International Hotels Adds Facebook Booking [VIDEO] | | Friday, February 24, 2012 8:45 PM | Alissa Skelton |
|  Best Western International reservations are going where the customers are: Facebook. The hotel chain is the latest to let travelers book their stay on the top social media website. Hotel brands including Hilton and Trump have flocked to Facebook to cater to customer wants. Best Western's Facebook booking options allows the company to better compete in the hotel market. "More than ever, Best Western's customers are integrating social media into every part of their personal and professional lives," said Dorothy Dowling, Best Western's senior vice president of marketing and sales in a statement. "It's imperative that we answer the call from our customers to make it easy to research, book and share travel experiences through their preferred channels." SEE ALSO: How Hotels and Travel Companies Are Nailing Social Media Travelers don't have to Like Best Western's Facebook page to reserve a room, but the company has still garnered 251,480 Likes. To compare, Trump has 5,187 Likes and Hilton Hotel & Resorts has 242,396 Likes. Best Western has also had success with hotel booking on mobile apps. Which online tools do you prefer to use to reserve a hotel? Tell us in the comments below. |
| Pinsanity: How Sports Teams Are Winning on Pinterest | | Friday, February 24, 2012 8:13 PM | Sam Laird |
|  Quickly shooting up the social media pyramid, image sharing network Pinterest has gained a reputation for largely being a repository for photos of wedding dresses and floral arrangements, due to its huge female user base. But a budding trend shows that sports teams are hopping aboard the Pinterest bandwagon. Mashable spoke with marketing and engagement managers who say the network offers new ways to connect with and reward fans and provide different social opportunities. And they insist that Pinterest is not just a flash in the sports marketing pan. "With all the indicators in terms of buzz, I have a hard time believing it won'testablish itself as a major player," says Peter Stringer, the Boston Celtics' director of interactive media. Like most teams, the Celtics are very new to Pinterest, joining just in the past few weeks. A handful of other NBA teams have joined, too, along with some NFL and NHL franchises and a few college and women's sports teams. More than 20 Major League Baseball teams have joined, although only a couple have active accounts. The Celtics have the largest follower count so far, with over 1,000. Teams use Pinterest to showcase content from fans, display merchandise, create boards of photos from the past and present, and reflect team-associated culture and lifestyle trends. However, each team we spoke with is still considering the site's female-centric audience. "We're looking at it as if it's predominantly for women, but we're not treating it as if it's only for women." "What intrigued us initially was that the platform seemed to be dominated by women. We certainly thought it was a great way to engage with that demographic and offer a different type of content than can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+," wrote Nilay Shah, director of digital media for the New York Giants, in an email. Several teams feature boards solely to display women's apparel or team-themed recipes, but Shah and others said they see Pinterest as more than just a tool for reaching female fans. "We're looking at it as if it's predominantly for women, but we're not treating it as if it's only for women," says Stringer. The Giants have a section dedicated to their supporters' hearty tailgating culture. The Portland Trail Blazers have boards that collect team-themed wallpapers and photos of pets in Blazers gear. Most teams have boards displaying memorabilia and clothing for sale elsewhere online. Because Pinterest isn't a dialogue-heavy network and allows users to follow either a brand as a whole or just specific boards, teams are able to focus on particular niches of fandom. They're also able to share things that wouldn't be as feasible on Facebook or Twitter. "In '07 we were the first team to get on Twitter, and this feels similar to that. Success on Twitter didn't happen for about two years. Follower counts weren't in the tens of thousands at all until then." Melissa Marchionna, new media coordinator for the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, said constantly tweeting or sharing fan artwork on Facebook would likely become annoying to users. But a Pinterest board dedicated to Pens-inspired paintings and drawings, she said, "is a great opportunity to give back to our passionate, talented fans and showcase their work." In college sports, the University of Washington uses Pinterest to flaunt what it offers prospective student athletes. Boards called "Best 4 Years of Your Life" and "Seatown Swag" show off student culture and the university's prime location. Assistant athletic director Carter Henderson said the school created those boards in part because they noticed that collections themed around travel destinations were already popular on the network. Expect Pinterest's influence to continue growing. Multiple team representatives say they plan to promote their boards more on official websites and other networks as soon as this weekend. A Golden State Warriors representative says that the franchise is investigating Pinterest strategies in anticipation of joining. Similar scenes are likely playing out in the marketing offices of several different leagues. Dan Harbison, who directs interactive media and marketing for the Trail Blazers says he's reminded of a different social network that is now ubiquitous in the sports world. "In '07 we were the first team to get on Twitter, and this feels similar to that," he says. "Success on Twitter didn't happen for about two years -- follower counts weren't in the tens of thousands at all until then. We're stil in the very baby stages of Pinterest, but I definitely see it being a different network than can gain some pretty good steam in sports." Do you think Pinterest is a useful platform for sports? Let us know in the comments. And check out the slideshow below for some examples of what teams are doing on Pinterest. |
| YouTube's 4 Examples of Great Political Videos | | Friday, February 24, 2012 6:43 PM | Alex Fitzpatrick |
|  What makes a great political video? YouTube is attempting to answer that question by posting four of its favorites in a collection titled "Political Case Studies." The four videos are a mixture of videos from candidates running for office and issue campaigns. In the first video, a pro-union group called "We Are Ohio" used YouTube videos to fight against Issue 2, a law that aimed to limit the collective bargaining rights of hundreds of thousands of unionized public workers in Ohio. In the featured video, viewers watch a nurse, a teacher and a firefighter go to work in their communities, while a narrator says that people don't go into these fields to get rich, but "you do it because you care about your community." Issue 2 was not passed into law, thanks it part to social video. The next video is from StudentsFirst.org, a public education reform group. In the video, founder and former chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools Michelle Rhee takes questions and discusses issues about StudentsFirst and relevant policy. In the video selected by YouTube, Rhee explains why StudentsFirst is against "last in, first out" teacher layoff practices. Rhee's personality and charisma behind the camera makes her an excellent choice as the star of the organization's YouTube campaign. YouTube's third video is a prime example of how hilarious a political video can be if a candidate lets his or her team have a little fun. "2 Legit 2 Quit," which Mashable featured when it was released, is a spoof on an M.C. Hammer tune in favor of Ed Lee's run for Mayor of San Francisco. The video features The Hammer himself, includes cameos from a slew of tech stars, athletes and other local celebrities and is all-around funny. Finally, YouTube picked a video from Roger Williams' campaign for Congress. Entitled "The Donkey Whisperer," the video spoofs Dog Whisperer With Cesar Millan. Williams, a Republican is featured talking to a pack of donkeys, who represent Democrats. Williams accuses his hungry donkeys of "wanting a handout" and says "these donkeys don't live in the 'United States of France,' they live in 'the United States of America.'" Williams' video got 50,000 views in the first two days it was live. What do you think of YouTube's choices for great political videos? Sound off in the comments below. |
| Facebook Unfriending and Reputation Woes on the Rise [VIDEO] | | Friday, February 24, 2012 5:36 PM | Alissa Skelton |
|  Facebook users have to work harder to keep their friend count up these days. A majority of adults on social networking sites have no bouts with deleting former "friends." Women more than men are restricting their profiles, deleting comments and tailoring their profiles due to privacy and reputation concerns, according to a new Pew Research Center's Internet Project & American Life study. Researcher interviewed 2,277 Americans who were 18 or older on the phone to gain information about what the public thinks about social media privacy. They found almost 70% of female respondents said they have unfriended individuals, compared to 58% of men who also said yes. Overall, Facebook users are more cautious about who sees their information. About 58% choose to keep their profiles locked down with privacy settings, while only 20% of users maintain a completely public profile. About 19% of Facebook users keep their profile partially private. This may be due to the fact that many young adults -- doing most of the unfriending, untagging and deleting -- are looking for jobs. Businesses and companies, more than ever, are looking at Facebook profiles for first impressions of applicants. SEE ALSO: How to See When Someone Unfriends You on Facebook Facebook users are also monitoring what content is associated with their profile - 44% have deleted comments from their profile and 37% have untagged photos. Men are more likely than women to regret posting something on their social media profiles. Researchers believe profile pruning will continue to rise. Pew researchers believe this kind of research goes against mainstream ideas that say the public isn't concerned with online privacy. The numbers show "privacy is important" to social media users. The study also reported about half of people who use social media think managing privacy controls is somewhat difficult. College graduates are more likely to report difficulties with setting privacy controls than people with less education, Pew finds. Tell us in the comments if you feel like you are taking actions to make your profile more private by unfriending people, untagging photos and deleting comments. |
| Discovery Channel Adds Pop-Up Tweets to 'Gold Rush' Show [EXCLUSIVE] | | Friday, February 24, 2012 4:29 PM | Samantha Murphy |
|  Leading up to the season finale of popular mining reality TV show Gold Rush airing Friday night on the Discovery Channel, the network will be showing previous episodes with pop-up tweets from fans. Gold Rush -- which follows the ups and downs of miners in Alaska -- has become popular among social media users, with many posting comments on sites such as Twitter as the episodes air. The Discovery Channel is curating some of the tweets and editing them into related parts of the episodes. "With our fans taking to our fan site, Facebook, Twitter and GetGlue to share in the experience, we wanted to celebrate them by making their musings a part of the show," David Shackley, Discovery Channel's chief marketing officer told Mashable. The move is a part of a growing trend to make watching TV more interactive and social. Shows such as The Voice have incorporated tweets into its pre-recorded and live broadcasts. SEE ALSO: The Voice: How a TV Show Became a 24/7 Social Media Conversation | Science Channel Experiments With On-Air Tweets in Primetime The second season of Gold Rush has averaged 4.5 million viewers over the past 15 weeks and has become the top program for men on Fridays across cable and broadcast. The latest episode of Gold Rush airs on Friday at 9:00 p.m. ET, while two encore episodes of the show will run at 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET with added tweets. |
| How to Hide From Annoying Friends on Facebook Chat | | Friday, February 24, 2012 1:54 PM | Amy-Mae Elliott |
|  Are there people you're friends with on Facebook who you'd rather not chat with? The good news is, you don't have to. Facebook offers some handy advanced settings that mean you can control your online status before you sign into the chat service. Whether you want to chat in secret from the boss, hide from your annoyingly talkative cousin or only appear as online to one special person, we can help you out. SEE ALSO: How to Change Your Facebook Relationship Status Without Alerting Friends Take a look through our super-simple walk-through in the gallery above. Let us know in the comments any other Facebook Chat tips and tricks you've discovered. Thumbnail image courtesy of Stacy |
| 3 Things Retailers Can Learn from Mom and Pop Facebook Stores | | Friday, February 24, 2012 12:50 PM | Christian Taylor |
|  Christian Taylor is founder and CEO of Payvment and developer of the number-one Facebook ecommerce platform for brands, agencies and merchants, and the world's only Facebook Shopping Mall. Recently, Gap and J.C. Penney closed their Facebook storefronts because the retailers weren't seeing immediate traction. The move has sparked an interesting debate: whether Facebook commerce will actually take off. Clearly, we are still in the very early days of Facebook shopping, but there is already ample evidence that social commerce is thriving. For every big brand that's failed in its initial social commerce attempt, there are thousands of smaller brands that are killing it with Facebook commerce (F-commerce). Why have some large retailers stumbled with their initial F-commerce attempts, while many smaller retailers are seeing success? Here are three things smaller sellers can teach large retailers about Facebook commerce. 1. Start From Scratch The first mistake many large retailers make is trying to build custom storefronts that are essentially clones of their .com websites, when they should attempt to truly integrate their presences into the social fabric of Facebook. Smaller sellers have the advantage here; most don't already maintain big ecommerce presences, so they can start from scratch with a social model. Successful smaller sellers are also opting for commerce solutions that take full advantage of the Facebook platform, such as robust sharing, commenting and social expression features. They also typically have a smaller product catalog, which helps to focus sharing, promotions and wall posts, creating concentrated buzz and rapid fan and visitor growth to their storefronts. 2. Be Authentic Successful smaller sellers engage in active, authentic communication and dialogue with their fans and shoppers on Facebook. It's very compelling to talk to an actual jewelry designer about his or her inspiration, or to the creator of the sustainable t-shirts you found through a friend. The passion of the smaller seller and the direct, honest dialogue makes for lifelong customers that subsequently spread the word throughout their social connections. It's hard for a larger retailer's marketing team to replicate this authenticity within its Facebook presence, but it's possible. Start by picking the right person to manage your Facebook presence - and make sure he has the time and resources to drive robust interaction and conversation with your fan base. Or try featuring guest posts from a supplier or designer to drive more conversation, especially if that person has an interesting, authentic point of view and is willing to engage in some back and forth discussion. Finally, don't make everything about sales and deals -- there should be a balance between promotional posts and open-ended stories about the products you offer. 3. Join a Network Large retailers have typically created custom tab storefronts on their Facebook Pages, which focus on selling to an existing fan base. This "island" mentality might work for .com destination stores, where SEO and email promotions drive the bulk of the traffic, but it doesn't work very well on Facebook, where social discovery drives traffic and exposure to a broad swath of the social and interest graph is key. With a stand-alone store, you're only as good as your "graph." In other words, you're limited to your existing fan base when it comes to product discovery and social sharing. Plus, you're limited to relationship-based graphs rather than the possible interest graphs generated by broader community data. Smaller sellers that are part of a community dramatically amplify social discovery of their products. Examples of this include Pinterest and Yardsellr, each of which enables a seller to expose his or her products to a rapidly growing base of visitors connected both socially and through shared interests. The fact that some larger retailers have recently shuttered their Facebook stores doesn't prove that social networks lack potential as sales channels. Chances are, many retailers will continue to experiment with the potential of these powerful social platforms. When larger retailers move out of the .com paradigm and embrace a truly social model for their Facebook storefronts, they'll discover a huge opportunity for success. |
| Mashable mRank: What's Going Viral at the Oscars and Beyond | | Friday, February 24, 2012 12:11 PM | Robyn Peterson |
|  Which Oscars nominees are lighting up Twitter? Where's the groundswell forming on Facebook? Who's the toast of the blogosphere? Check out our new mRank social buzz leaderboard to find out what's most buzzed about at the Oscars right now, and keep checking back to see who's going from toast-of-the-town to roast-of-the-town. I'm happy to announce that we're launching Mashable mRank today to help illuminate trends on the social web at the Oscars, and bring data journalism front-and-center to our readers. Think of mRank as an uber-social version of the golfer leaderboard on the PGA tour, but mRank tells you what's buzzing (which topics) and where it's trending (Twitter, Facebook or the blogosphere). It's the kind of thing you can look at and instantly understand how the conversation on the social web is ebbing and flowing at any given instant, and then look back a little later, and see how things have changed. And, we're proud to say, that mRank is presented by Samsung, as part of a year-long partnership. Here are the key ingredients of mRank: Data, data and more data: Our partner, PeopleBrowsr, eats the Twitter firehose for breakfast, then moves on to Facebook for lunch, with a dinner made up of the blogosphere. PeopleBrowsr knows data. Then it's our turn: At Mashable, we put on our swimsuits and dive headfirst into that data, identifying trends and tracking them on a myriad of topics. Over the next year, we'll release a series of other mRank leaderboards on topics that we're passionate about, on subjects that we know are near and dear to you as well. So stay tuned for more. What's Data Journalism? Atoms, the itty-bitty kind, like to bounce around to their own little beats, but if you excite them with the right kind of energy, they erupt with photons, which can be focused by reflecting mirrors into a powerful beam of light (i.e., a laser). (The same kind that Han shot at Greedo, or the other way around depending on who you ask.) Isn't that exactly how the social web works? Someone tweets to the masses supplying the catalyst, others in the network get excited and tweet in response propagating the message, the overall conversation gains focus as its bounced back and forth on the social web, and before you know it, it's evolved into a laser-focused movement that has the power to change the world. The conversation on the social web matters. It's more than just a reflection of society; it has truly become an accelerant of culture and change. And it's vital for each of us to follow that conversation, but it's more complex than ever to clearly identify what's beginning to trend, what's going to become a movement, or even predict the next meme. More so today than in any other time, we live in a world overwhelmed with data. The social web gives off the kind of data exhaust we can all use as tea leaves for the future, if we could only collect and understand it. This age has ushered in a true rise of data journalism: We all need to know the numbers, and try to understand them. So head on over to our mRank Oscars leaderboard and let us know what you think. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, EdStock |
| Watch Paris Hilton's Bizarre Leaked Music Video About Drunk Texts, Sexting | | Friday, February 24, 2012 10:52 AM | Samantha Murphy |
|  Paris Hilton has a thing or two to say about drunk texts, sexting and Twitter. A video by the pop heiress has recently surfaced for a song called "Drunk Text" and... it's quite strange. Somehow, it's mesmerizing too. The song, which is more spoken word than actual singing, discusses a range of tech topics and provides her perspective on communicating in the modern age. The premise of the song follows Hilton as she hangs out at a club -- where she goes to "you know, dance with my bitches" -- and responds to various text messages throughout the night. SEE ALSO: Damn You Auto Correct Founder Picks 12 Funniest Texts Ever "It's a hot mess of misspelled obscenities," Hilton says in the song, referring to drunk texts. "No one is safe in the Twittersphere anymore. If you take the word sex and mix it with texting, it's called sexting. When you add drunk sexting, the words just don't make any sense." Although it was originally thought that the song was a part of Hilton's upcoming new album -- in which she is collaborating with various artists, including Afrojack, Flo Rida and LMFAO -- her spokesperson told Mashable that she recorded it a few years ago for fun. "We can confirm that the video leaked today is not part of Paris Hilton's new album," the spokesperson said. "This video was recorded over a year ago. The first single will be out in a few months, we will let everyone know when it's due for release." House DJ duo Manufactured Superstars -- who is featured on the song -- also weighed in about the video's origin: "Paris did this music video as a favor for us. It's not a part of her new album," Manufactured Superstars said. "This is an unfinished rough-cut, which was not ready for release. We're looking into what happened and removing the illegal copies from the web. We've heard some songs from her new record which are incredible and are really going to surprise people." The video was previously posted on YouTube and Vimeo, but it has since been removed. PerezHilton.com still has the video. Paris Hilton learns a valuable lesson by the end of the song: "This is the last time I will ever drink and text," she says. What do you think of the song? Also, do you think you could come up with a better song about texting? If so, send it our way. We'd love to hear! UPDATE: An earlier version of this post said that the song was released as a part of Hilton's new album. The above text has been modified to reflect that. We regret the error. Video courtesy of PerezHilton.com |
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