Collaborative and Distance Communication Tools: Skype For A Purpose

Skype For A Purpose

There is no doubt that Skype or Skyping has taken off. It is a great tool that allows people to communicate through video chatting from different continents or just next door. You can use it for personal reasons or educational reasons but one of the main keys is to use it for a specific purpose. As with any tool in social media if you don’t have a good reason or purpose to use it, the effectiveness of the tool is not utilized. This is especially true within education. Many younger classes throughout the world have used Skype to connect classes from different countries. Teachers are now saying they should not do this unless actual things are being taught and education is continuing to be on the forefront of the conversation. Check out thisarticle I found confirming this point.

Another phenomenon starting to take place is clubbing fromhome via Ustream or Boiler Room. I have to admit I have never heard of this and I think it is quite sad that sitting on your couch watching people party is your idea of a good time but hey at least you won’t be driving home under the influence (trying to find some positives here…). However, you could use services like these to check out a party before you go to see if it is worth your time. As always, technology is amazing and things will continue to come out of the woodworks that will be able to connect people throughout the world together.

Viral Videos: A New Sensation

Viral Videos: A New Sensation

Times are changing, videos are easily shared and laughter is common with unique, strange, and even sketchy videos of people these days. Marketers are using viral videos to capture thousands of impressions within hours and some times even minutes. As I was reading articles on viral videos I found one that talks about some of the lesson’s learned from viral videos in 2010.  Click on this to see the article and all the videos associated with it!

My favorite things mentioned in the article are these:

The Local TV News is a Breeding Ground for Viral Stars – as in Antoine Dodson and his “hide your kids, hide your wife” video. Or the strange Leprechaun in the South.

Stop-Motion Animation More Popular Than Ever – some things never die! 

We Like To See Unique People Being Themselves – Pants on the ground! Need I say more… Ok, I will. For some reason watching strange people do stupid things is funny and brings some sense of satisfaction to us, mainly laughter.

Brands Get Serious About Viral Quality & Innovation – Old Spice is one of the leading companies in this effort. Lots of views, strange commercials, but people remember Old Spice.

Source: Top Viral Video Marketing Lessons From 2010 http://www.reelseo.com/viral-video-lessons-2010/#ixzz1aUtWCJiY
©2008-2011 ReelSEO.com Online Video Guide 

Another great article on viral videos: http://techcrunch.com/2007/11/22/the-secret-strategies-behind-many-viral-videos/

This article may be four years old, but it shows not only where viral videos started but the core goal of getting to the most viewed page is still the main goal. Most of the points are the still relevant today.

Location Based Services – A Marketer’s Dream

It took a few years for some consumers to adopt location based services but nonetheless it has taken the social media world and marketing world by storm. Google latitude, Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, just about every avenue of social media has some version of recording where you are when you post a message or check in to an event or at a certain location.

According to an article I found on Mobile Marketing Association’s website they believe location based services “are advertising or marketing services that use specific location information for delivering the right message to the right person at the right place AND time.” (http://mmaglobal.com/articles/location-based-services-%E2%80%93-marketer%E2%80%99s-dream)

Marketer’s have utilized these services and it is paying dividends by the boat load. With nearly every household having at least one smart phone, people are using location-based services whether they know it or not… thank you Google.  The problem however is many people with these phones do not know what location based services are or how to utilize them. Another article I found did a survey to find out exactly what people thought about these services. The results are quite stunning.

“Most smartphone users are unaware of these apps or do not know what they do, according to the survey. About two-thirds of the smartphone users in the White Horse survey do not use LBS (60.1 percent, or 266 of 437 respondents), and 72.6 percent of this group either ‘don’t know about’ any of them or ‘know about them but don’t know what they do.’” (http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/9531.html)

Look for marketer’s and location based services to continue in creating awareness of these services and how users can utilize them to make life easier and fun. Foursquare as easily had the lead in these services and they offer deals at certain locations, a point system with quality check ins, mayorships when you have been the most frequent visitor that month, etc.