Orange have launched a Facebook-based competition which asks their fans to play a version of roulette with Facebook ‘likes’. Players are presented with two ‘like’ buttons, if they click on the right one they get rewarded with prizes, if they click the wrong one, their status is updated with a very un-cool & uncomfortable ‘like’ such as ‘Sarah likes’ YMCA, rotten eggs, shell suits or sweating. Play….if you dare.
Facebook updated its strict contest guidelines this week, stating that all contests must be hosted on a Canvas Page or Page Tab created inside Apps on Facebook. Contests must include a “release of Facebook” for every participant as well.
Along with that change, Facebook has placed a long list of restrictions on how contests are staged on the social network. Important reading.
While mobile has dominated the headlines over the past few years, another movement is under way in the living room —Internet-Connected-TV. Just as DVRs and on-demand programming have become the standard, soon we won’t be able to remember our TVs before they were web-enabled. This is a great piece, which covers off the trends & how we might evolve our use of TV in the next few years.
Leading up to the season of chocolate eggs this year, animal welfare company NOAH in conjunction with advertising agency Publicis Frankfurt stocked a very different type of vending machine all in the name of animal rights.
Hoping to highlight the exceedingly uncomfortable living conditions of battery-caged hens, the German equivalent to PETA created the Egg Machine and positioned it at the Frankfurt city centre. Stocked with live chickens users who interacted with the machine did not receive a chicken, or even an egg, instead the vendor distributed coins which detailed the four different farming systems of hens and eggs.
I was a terrible student. I’ve always believed that the current school system is a mess & entirely focused on repeatedly beating kids over the head if they don't conform to an unrealistic, standardised version of academic ability crafted 100 years ago. Hence I spent my time rebelling to the best of my ability.
Thankfully, there is now a growing consensus amongst educators is that creativity and conceptual thinking abilities will be the most important skill-sets of the future. A new project called “Imagination: Creating the Future of Education and Work” reconciles the differences between traditional education and this new school of thought. Lessons include some positive ways that teachers can implement social media and elements of gaming to entice learning amongst students.
11 minutes of time well spent.
Ever had the urgent need to tag the Coke can you’re holding in that beach picnic picture on Facebook? Well, now you can, as the social network has added the ability to tag Pages in Facebook photos. Starting this week (although the feature does not appear to be live yet), users will be able to tag Pages for Brands & Products as well as People (more options coming soon) in their Facebook photos.
Tagged photos will appear in the Photos tab of a Page, rather than on that Page’s Wall, and anyone can tag a Page — even if a user hasn’t “Liked” it. This move could definitely be beneficial to certain brands. Imagine if people started tagging themselves wearing, say, Levi’s jeans. All of those snaps would then go to the Levi’s Facebook Page and result in free advertising.
A surprisingly high number of branded YouTube channels are sparingly updated and have few followers. Meanwhile, a handful of brands don’t appear to have branded YouTube channels at all.
The following brands demonstrate why they are missing out on a big opportunity. A YouTube channel doesn’t have to merely be a vehicle for new commercials. It can house games, behind-the-scenes stories and, best of all, a new, visual way to interact with your fan base.
The biggest problem with Netflix is that movies cannot be downloaded--only streamed. For city slickers used to underground subway rides or travelers racking up frequent flyer miles, that's a huge headache: no reception means no Netflix. At the same time, the biggest problem with iTunes is that movies can only be downloaded--and not streamed. For those looking to watch movies instantly on the go on a variety of devices, this can be quite a pain: gigabyte-size space requirements, long download times, and the hassle of transferring content from gadget to gadget.
Today, at Google's I/O conference, the search giant launched a movie rental service in its Android Marketplace which addresses some of these core consumer frustrations with Netflix and iTunes. The solution, as Google explained Tuesday, is in the cloud.
Google’s long-awaited music service, Google Music, is in an invite-only beta stage, but the company has released a video highlighting some of the most important features.
The offering focuses on storing your music in the cloud, keeping everything synced automatically across devices (as opposed to locked by Apple) & it can even create instant playlists (without the Genius nightmare of purchased music only). Looks great!
International fashion retailer Topshop set up a virtual fitting room in its flagship Moscow store last week, an experimental move for the retailer.
The fitting room, which was built by Russian agency AR Door, uses Microsoft Kinect and augmented reality to let shoppers try on clothes without going into a fitting room. A built-in camera recognizes a human body and superimposes a 3D model of a garment; users can switch clothes using simple gestures, powered by Kinect.
Two social media heavyweights — Lady Gaga and Zynga - will partner for GagaVille, an offshoot of FarmVille.
GagaVille, a uniquely designed neighboring farm to FarmVille, that sports unicorns and crystals, according to Zynga, launches May 17. GagaVille visitors will get a first listen to unreleased songs from Gaga’s album Born This Way, available May 23. The full album also comes bundled as a free download when you buy a $25 Zynga game card at Best Buy.
