What We're Reading | Socialympics, #ExilePitbull and Twitter Lurkers
Photo from Geek Chic
Andy: Independence Day, like many holidays, is a day that many bloggers might struggle with — Do I post content? Do I not? Will anyone even be reading it? — but our friend Jillian at Geek Chic makes a good argument that perhaps Fourth of July is the ideal time to be writing and blogging. ‘How? Why?’ you might be asking yourself and to that she answers: with Pinterest. Pinterest is the new Google for crafters, cooks and anyone with time to spare and using Pinterest to leverage holidays like Independence Day to further drive traffic to your blog isn’t such a bad idea. Of course, you have to leverage the holiday with something relevant, not exploit it. It’s quite simple, and a brilliant idea.
Brooke: Most people love Christmas or Halloween or Valentine’s Day, but this girl’s favorite holiday is the 4th of July. It’s always been a day surrounded by family and friends, watermelon and bbq, surf and sand. However, this year will be the first year (in 24 years) that I will not be home to watch the grand finale across Kiawah Island. Although this leaves quite the pain in my heart, at least I have these memories well documented, and you should too! With the most popular social media sites centered around pictures, you’re going to really need to beef up your firework photos. I recommend these firework photo tips for iPhone and Android users when you’re celebrating this Independence Day. Things change, especially in social media, but as long as there are fireworks on the 4th of July, this girl is happy.
Susan: There are just over three weeks until the Olympics and we’re excited! Good news for social media addicts: this will be the first Social Media Olympics, or “Socialympics.” In the four years since Beijing, use of social networks has soared. This Olympics will be tweeted and Facebooked like no other. The Olympics is working to protect their sponsors from nonsponsors trying to cash in Olympic fever, enacting provisions for social media. Additionally, athletes also face restrictions, and some have already gotten into trouble. It will be interesting to see if organizers will be able to enforce the restrictions once the Games are underway. Stay tuned!
Ashley: When you run a contest through social media, marketers often let Fans vote on ABC to encourage engagement and channel growth, which often works. But what marketers often forget is when you give Fans the power to vote, you give them, well, all the power. Most recently displayed in the Energy Sheets campaign featuring music superstar Pitbull. Energy Sheets is promising to send Pitbull to the Walmart store that gets the most Facebook Likes by July 15. So what have Fans done? Created a movement to send him to the most remote location possible, Kodiak Alaska. Fans are promoting it on Twitter with the hashtag #ExilePitbull and so far, it’s working. The Kodiak Walmart store’s Facebook Page has over 60,000 Likes, more than six times the population of the town!
Amanda: Have you ever found it odd when someone on Twitter has a large number of handles they follow, yet has never Tweeted a word? With Twitter becoming a more used search engine for real-time information, the idea of “value” in users is changing greatly. No longer is the inactive Twitter user someone to disregard. In fact, Ted Rubin is saying to “embrace” the Twitter lurkers. According to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, there are currently more than 100 million active users on Twitter. Of those users, half log in daily, yet only 60% of them have Tweeted in the last 30 days. Meaning, if you disregard the so-called “lurkers,” you are missing 40% of the Twitter population that may actually care about what you have to say.