UK tourists sent home after jokes on Twitter

While getting ready for a vacation to the United States, Leigh Van Bryan tweeted a couple of jokes about his upcoming visit, including that he had plans to dig up Marilyn Monroe’s grave and destroy America. Once the tweets were seen by Homeland Security, Van Bryan and travel partner Emily Bunting were detained upon arriving in Los Angeles.

The two were held on suspicion of planning to commit crimes. The pair was reportedly questions for five hours, after which they were put on a van and held overnight. After spending over twelve hours in separate holding cells, they were put on a flight home.

Twitter to begin censoring tweets by country

On Thursday, Twitter announced that it would begin censoring content on the site on a country-by-country basis. Twitter said on the official Twitter blog that “As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some will differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others will be similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain content…”

This announcement was met with outrage from many, along with many planning to boycott the service. But actually, Twitter has always had to remove content that is illegal in one country or another. Twitter used to have to remove content globally.

The plan is completely reactive, meaning that they will withhold specific content, if necessary, in response to “a valid and applicable legal request”. Twitter is also aiming for complete transparency, building in a way to “communicate transparently to users when the content is withheld, and why.” When content is withheld from a certain country, users in that country will see an alert box in place of the tweet or account. Twitter also created a new page for users for find notices relating to Twitter.

McDonald’s latest #McFail

McDonald’s found themselves in hot water on Twitter over the summer when some folks played a “McHoax”. Well now the company is trying to recover from another social media disaster. Last week, McDonald’s ran a Promoted Trends campaign on Twitter, promoting the hashtags #MeetTheFarmers and #McDStories.

The campaign was supposed to promote the farmers McDonald’s gets produce from. But the #McDStories hashtag was quickly taken over by critics of the company’s food. I think Forbes put it best: this is an example of “when a hashtag becomes a bashtag“.

The hashtag was quickly taken over by people bashing McDonald’s and perpetuating stereotypes about people that eat there. People mentioned bad service, bad food, health disorders, and drug use…hardly the kind of content McDonald’s had in mind when they paid for the hashtag to appear as a Promoted Trend.

After about 2 hours, McDonald’s pulled the campaign. The next day, McDonald’s tried again by launching another hashtag: #littlethings. The responses were much more positive, such as “a good cup of coffee in the morning.” The fiasco shows all companies  how much thought must go into launching a campaign on Twitter.

I’m pretty sure content is the most important part of a video marketing strategy, am I right? No matter how hard you market your videos, people won’t share it if it’s boring. That is a fact. When people talk about a video marketing strategy they always say things like: ‘It needs to be unique and engaging’—blahblahblah–Ok we get it, but what exactly does that mean and how can I do it?

So let’s go over the basics of video content:

Length: Your videos should range between 2-3 minutes. That really isn’t a long time, especially if you add an intro and outro. So not only do you have to be clever and creative, but you need to do it in a short amount of time so you don’t lose your audience’s attention. Focus on the message you are trying to convey and say it in the least amount of words as possible.

Uniqueness: It’s always a good idea to check out what your competitors are doing. Scan to see what’s being said on blogs and vlogs. Make sure you aren’t contributing the same style and type of content–but if you are, make sure you’re doing it better.

Engagement: You hear this word a lot, but what does it have to do with video? When establishing engagement, you’re basically narrowing the gap between you and your audience/customers/user base. Having your users contribute content or ideas, or giving them any sort of spotlight or stake in the content also establishes engagement and ultimately makes them feel a part of your network.

Value: Make sure your audience is walking away with something, whether it be a laugh, information or a tutorial –it needs to make an impression. If you are able to positively touch your audience, they will be more inclined to not only remember who you are and revisiting your site, but also share with other people.

Other posts in this series:

Video Marketing Strategy: Introduction

Video Marketing Strategy: Production

Pinterest is a social network of virtual bulletin boards where users can organize images and videos from across the web into collections, called pin boards. While it’s technically still invite-only, it’s not hard to get your hands on an invitation and becomes incredibly addicting.  While some still believe it to be a place for DIY-ers and brides-to-be, brands are finally showing up and doing a lot with it.

1. Show who you are. – Show your followers who they are following and could possibly do business with sometime. There are endless ways to do this. One idea is to pin pictures of your team, as we have done. This is a great idea for businesses that may not always interact with their customers face-to-face, as it matches a face to a name and/or voice.

You can also pin pictures of your work environment, especially if it’s unique! Lastly, pin pictures and videos that convey the mood or atmosphere of your company. For example, pranks are a big part of the eZanga culture. We have created a board to pin pictures and videos of pranks we have played in the office as well as prankspiration for the future.

2. Pin what you do. – While obviously you should be pinning focused content related to your niche, don’t stop there. You are a part of an entire industry, and both you and your followers need to be informed about it. Pinterest is great for learning since so many of us are visual learners. You’ll be surprised at how much information you can learn from the infographicsthat are pinned.

You can also post pictures and videos of your own products as long as you balance out the self-promotion with other content.  Pinterest even has a price feature, where if you type a currency symbol with an amount into the pin’s description, and it will add a price “flag” to the image (click for example) as well as list it in the “Gifts” section of the site. Supplement promotional pins with pins of related products, useful tips for your product, etc.

3. Involve your followers. – As always, people need a reason to follow you, so give them one. The reason can be anything from exclusive discounts and coupons to witty comments. Different ways to involve your followers include offering discounts and holding contests, crowdsourcing boards to allow followers to contribute pins, and offering commentary on what your followers pin, either through repinning or commenting.

For more ideas and inspiration, follow eZanga on Pinterest!

Other posts in this series:

• 3 Ways to Interact on Facebook
• 3 Ways to Interact on Twitter
• 3 Ways to Interact on YouTube
• 3 Ways to Interact on LinkedIn
• 3 Ways to Interact on Tumblr
• 3 Ways to Interact on Google+

Twitter acquires Summify

Twitter has acquired Vancouver-based startup Summify, a service that creates daily summaries of news content from your social networks, including Twitter. The service aggregates the most popular links shared among your social connections and delivers them either via iPhone app, email, or web. The service announced in a blog post that they have disabled new user registration and will stop delivering their summaries, which are my favorite emails to receive every day, in the next few weeks. Five members from Summify will be joining Twitter’s growth team in San Francisco, but how the platform will be used is still a mystery.

Users take to Twitter to discuss SOPA blackout

We’ve already written about the blackouts to oppose SOPA that took place on January 18, but Twitter was not discussed. Since the internet had a few thousand less functioning websites than usual, of course people took to Twitter to talk about it. While Facebook did not go dark, Mark Zuckerberg did want to share his opinions on the legislation, and did so in a Facebook post. But he then brought his Twitter account back from an almost 2-year coma:

Tell your congressmen you want them to be pro-internet. My Facebook post is here: facebook.com/zuck/posts/101…

— Mark Zuckerberg (@finkd) January 18, 2012

There were also several Trending Topics about the movement, including #factswithoutWikipedia and “Stop SOPA and PIPA”. There were also students confused as to how they were supposed to do homework without Wikipedia, which also shows how incredibly reliant we can be on such sites. Several other sites have posted funny tweets from the blackout, such as  The Huffington Post, Laughing Squid, and Gawker.

After fumble, 49er receives death threats on Twitter

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver and punt returner Kyle Williams has been receiving death threats on Twitter after fumbling the last punt of the championship game. The fumble put the 49ers’ opponent, the New York Giants, in position for a field goal that led to a win in overtime and a trip to the Super Bowl. Tweets included harsh words such as “I doubt I will ever forgive kyle williams”, but some were much more serious, such as this one: “Kyle Williams better keep one eye open… Im gonna bust both that dudes kneecaps see if he ever plays in red and gold again.” His father, Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams, told ESPN “it certainly makes you question our culture of sports.”

Yesterday, January 18, 2012, can be called the day the web went black, as thousands of websites went dark to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill that experts say would change the functionality of the Internet forever. SOPA is accompanied by the Protect IP Act (PIPA). According to SOPAstrike.com, over 75,000 websites across the web participated in the blackout yesterday, including big names such as Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, and Wired.

Here’s how some big names protested:

• Wikipedia blacked out all English-language pages for 24 hours and added a splash page with information on the bill and how to contact your representatives. According to the Wikimedia Foundation, over 162 million people viewed the splash page and at least 4 million people used the page to look up their Congressional representatives.

• Google protested the legislation by censoring the image on the home page and creating “End Piracy, Not Liberty,” an online petition that has at least 4.5 million signatures.

• Reddit protested by shutting down for 12 hours on January 18. During that time, visitors to the website found information about the legislation and how to take action.

For screenshots of what websites looked like during the blackout, take a look at the slideshow below.

How individuals can protest:

• BlackoutSOPA.org allows you to change your profile picture on social networks to protest the legislation. Choices include adding a “Stop SOPA” banner to your existing profile picture, covering the picture with “Stop SOPA,” or blacking out your profile picture completely. Over 80,000 people so far have used the site to change their profile picture.

• Paul Tassi at Forbes created an image for people to post on Facebook that would show what the Internet could look like if the bills pass.

• Mashable posted an article showing how to use Pinterest to protest SOPA. Protestors have created pinboards of black images, effectively blacking out the pinboard and bringing the blackout to the Pinterest feeds of your followers.

• People everywhere turned to Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks for information, to share their own opinions, and speak out. As usual with the internet, statements ranged from serious to hilarious.

But it doesn’t end there…

SOPA protests weren’t exclusively online. The New York tech community took to the streets of New York City. Approximately 1,500 people gathered at the offices of two Senators who support the bill, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. One speaker was Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit.

So, how did it go?

• Twitter announced that more than 2.4 million tweets were sent between 12 a.m. and 4 p.m. yesterday that were related to SOPA. Several Trending Topics throughout the day were SOPA-related, and Mark Zuckerberg even took to Twitter for the first time in almost two years.

• Wikipedia experienced increased traffic, even with no English-language content available (without extra work)

• According to a Mashable article, the personal contact pages for several senators were not loading, probably due to all of the encouragement to contact your representatives on blackout pages.

• The blackout may have even changed the minds of a few members of Congress, who withdrew their support of the bill

 What it looked like the day the web went dark

America’s First Lady joins Twitter

Michelle Obama joined Twitter on January 12, adding more social media power to Obama’s re-election campaign. Like her husband’s Twitter account, it will be managed by campaign staff with occasional tweets with personal signatures. Tweets from the First Lady herself will be signed “-mo”, similar to tweets on President Obama’s Twitter account signed “-bo”. She’s already amassed over 360,000 followers, who she acknowledged in her first personal tweet:

Hi, everyone, and thanks for the warm welcome. Look forward to staying in touch with you here. -mo

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) January 12, 2012

The account has only posted 12 tweets so far, with topics ranging from health care to Martin Luther King Jr. to her recent appearance iCarly, a kid-friendly sitcom on Nickelodeon starring Miranda Cosgrove, which includes a “random dancing” segment where Michelle busts a move!

Ochocinco makes up for 2 years of ignored tweets

Florida college student Victor Gonzalez tweeted his way to see the NFL playoff game between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos. Gonzalez had been tweeting to Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco for two years and never received a response from him. When he tweeted Ochocinco again to point this out, the NFL star decided to make up for it by inviting Gonzalez to last Sunday’s game. Ochocinco took care of Gonzalez’s travel to Foxboro and hotel stay as well.

Ashton Kutcher gets Punk’d by hacker and vows revenge

Add another person to the list of people tweeting from Ashton Kutcher’s account besides Ashton Kutcher: a hacker. Over the weekend, his Twitter and Foursquare accounts were hacked. The hacker seemed to want to add steam to rumors about a romance between Kutcher and Lorene Scafaria.

A fake tweet read: “First official sleepover with my girl @lorenescafaria so maybe breakfast with everyone next time! (@ Lorene’s House)”, with a link to a Foursquare check-in with a map showing Scafaria’s house.

Kutcher caught on and removed the tweets. But thanks to Foursquare (which Kutcher owns shares in and promotes), Kutcher also caught the hacker’s physical location. He has now vowed to find the hacker, tweeting “I’m coming for you my friend” with a link to a map showing the location, and “You hacked my Foursquare and I now know your address. Whoops…This is gonna be fun.”

Earlier this week eZanga released an introduction to our Video Marketing Strategy Series which highlighted why video should be your competitive edge in 2012. The first part of the series discusses the production quality of your videos. But first you must ask yourself, is this something you should do in house or outsource?

If you want to outsource these efforts, the average rate for a corporate video usually runs about $1000 per finished minute. If you want to test drive the positive effect video has on your business model first, this may be the route to go. However, if you decide video works, I suggest you hire someone (or a team depending on your company size) in house to implement a successful video marketing strategy. Not only will they have the advantage of knowing the business model, product/services, but they will always be on site to create each video as needed.

That being said, our very own Video Marketing Specialist, Mike Pfeifer, will be co-authoring our Video Marketing Strategy series. Here’s a list of equipment Mike put together for the beginners who are ready to get their video marketing efforts up and running:

Camera- Duh! But choosing the right camera for your needs is very important in video production. If you’re not totally vested in the video marketing idea, it’s always safe to start basic. Mike suggests anything that can shoot HD. In short Mike says, “If you pump enough lighting into it, the footage will look good.” The budget range for a good camera is usually anywhere between 600-1300 dollars.

Mike uses a DSLR style camera. In the past three years this type of camera has become a pretty common buzzword. Independent filmmakers are using DSLR cameras, which are capable of shooting video along with still images. If you check out eZanga’s more recent promotional videos on our YouTube channel, you can see the difference in quality with the DSLR. For some pointers, Mike suggests Philip Bloom’s tutorial with DLSR cameras.

Audio- 50% of your video relies on the quality of sound. Although audio is recorded on your camera device the quality is no where near as good as if you used an audio recorder.  Here is a perfect example of the difference.  Mike’s recommends the Zoom H1 which is about $99, which we use in house.

Lighting- This probably is the most overlooked and underrated ingredient to video quality. Light is everything. Let’s put it this way, if you had the absolute best camera in the world with poor lighting, the video would look…  :/   Yea, that about sums it up. Here’s another great tutorial from Philip Bloom’s website where Eve Hazelton with Underwater Realm discusses the basic techniques of lighting a subject.

Editing- The software for video editing is pretty important as well, since it pulls everything together. Mike says if the budget is there, you should spring for the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium, which runs at about $1699. It may seem a bit pricey, but it’s at the professional level (with a steep learning curve). If you’re looking for a more basic software go for Apple’s Final Cut Pro X which is relatively cheaper coming it at $299.99. This software is very user friendly and has a smaller learning curve.

There you have it, production in a nut shell. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments section and Mike will answer them.

Other blogs in this series:

Using Search, plus Your World

Google Search now has two modes: global and personalized. Global search presents results as if you were logged out of Google and Google+. Personalized search results show:

• Listings from the web, some of which may be boosted either because of your past search behavior or because of your social connections
• Public Google+ posts and photos from G+ or Picasa
• Private or ‘limited’ Google+ posts and photos that were shared with you

You can switch between modes using the toggle in the top-right, underneath the search box. You can also opt-out of personal results completely by going to the Search Settings page while logged into Google.

Features

Google’s blog post introduces three new features of the personalized search:

• Personal results – Personal results show relevant posts shared with you on Google+ as well as photos from Google+ and Picasa. You can see public content, content shared with you, and your own posts and photos.
• Profiles in search – When typing in the search box, Google will use autocomplete to display Google+ profiles, similar to direct connect for brand pages. The autocomplete predictions will be for users you are connected with as well as prominent users. The results page will offer a fast way to add the users to your circles if you are logged into Google+.
• People and Pages – When you search for a topic, the results page will include suggested Google+ users “who frequently discuss this topic” and buttons to add them to your circles right from the results page.

Reactions and Concerns

The fact that Google Search, plus Your World doesn’t bring in content from other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter has become a major concern. Twitter even released a statement saying:

“For years, people have relied on Google to deliver the most relevant results anytime they wanted to find something on the Internet.

Often, they want to know more about world events and breaking news. Twitter has emerged as a vital source of this real-time information, with more than 100 million users sending 250 million Tweets every day on virtually every topic. As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results.

We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.”

Google responded on their Google+ page noting that they had a deal to display results from Twitter in the past, but over the summer the deal expired and Twitter chose not to renew the agreement. Google says that they are open to consider including data from other networks but does not have access to it now.

A privacy watchdog group, the Electronic Privacy and Information Center (EPIC), also believes that the new features raise privacy and antitrusts concerns and is considering filing a letter with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Do you like the new search features, or will you be “going global” from now on when you search?

For the second year in a row

The award ceremony is being held tonight, January 12, at the Drexelbrook in Drexel Hill, PA from 6:00-9:00 PM. eZanga.com CEO and CFO, Rich and Beth Kahn will be attending. Check out what Rich had to say about eZanga  in SmartCEO’s most recent magazine featuring the Future 50 winners.

It’s simple: People are lazy. No one thoroughly reads anymore– they skim. We are living in a world where information and communication is done quickly, efficiently, and as easily as possible. If someone clicks on your site to find massive amounts of informational content, chances are they will be quick to leave. Don’t get me wrong, you still need the content (it is king…and hey, I’m writing and you’re reading, right?) but you need a supplementary medium– i.e. video.

Since the YouTube boom, people are placing a huge amount of attention to video marketing. It’s the best way to reach a large audience in the most engaging fashion. People are making money, becoming famous (or infamous), going viral, teaching, sharing, interacting, and so much more! Video hosting sites, especially YouTube, allow you to connect with people who find what you do interesting. It only makes sense to turn video into your own business model.

Over the next week, eZanga will go through the necessary ingredients of a successful video marketing strategy. We will discuss:

Production: Quality is key!  You need the right lighting, camera and editing skills to produce professional videos.

Content: The video content needs to be engaging, unique and must facilitate some sort of conversation with your audience.

Marketing: Research! Figure out who you are targeting, the correct way to SEO a video, and a continual effort to building relationships and establishing a strong network.

Analytics: Not sure if you’re doing it right? The only way to find out is to monitor your results. You need to know how to read your feedback.

Stay tuned for the video marketing basics!