Emerson Social Media #ESM

Maximum Effect 3

by Justin Bourguignon

There’s a video game coming out called Mass Effect 3. Have you ever heard of it? Ring any bells? Publisher Electronic Arts seems almost desperate to make sure you have, as they have been marketing the game all over the place. From a new trailer premiering during the ratings-mammoth AMC series The Walking Dead, to Facebook apps granting lucky players early access to the demo released over Xbox Live (the demo itself being another marketing device, obviously), it seems that they’ll leave no rock unturned as they prepare for the blockbuster release date. It may seem a little unusual, considering the Mass Effect games have been huge industry hits both critically and commercially, so you wouldn’t think anyone has to worry about Mass Effect 3 slipping under the radar, but, hey, I don’t crunch the numbers.

The latest, most surprising publicity stunt seems to be flying OVER the radar, in one sense. EA has announced they will be giving a few lucky, web-savvy fans a chance to own the game a week before anyone else. How, you ask? I’m GETTING to that, so shut it, already! Man.

Six weather balloons will be launched into space. They will leave from San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Paris, London and Berlin. Attached to each balloon will be one copy of the game. That’s right. Six copies of the sci-fi action-RPG will, appropriately enough, be floating around in space. The balloons will have GPS trackers that fans can follow through the official website. There, they can try to track down the Identified Flying Objects and race to be the first ones to reach them as they touch down on Earth soil. First to get it, first to keep it. The race will be on.

Fans will likely be rampantly checking the website through their mobile devices as they race to catch up to the balloons, while real-time coordinates are listed and the HD camera attached to the package snaps photos or video as it floats through the atmosphere. It’s a clever, relevant and ambitious attempt to stand out from the typical social media marketing strategies and try something new. As the writers of Trust Agents might say, it’s about “Making Your Own Game”, as no one else has done this before, and it’s only possible with today’s technology. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a fist-fight or two break out though when two people lunge at a copy at the same time. Or to see a whale get conked on the head with a game it can’t play without a game console. Or, y’know, fingers.

The first balloon launches on Thursday from San Francisco. Game protagonist Commander Shepard would be proud. ~~Maybe a little confused.~~

Super Mash Bros. New Album Released on Facebook

By Lana Atamian

Ever since Oct 2010 when Radiohead released their album “Rainbows” free on their personal website, aspiring artists all over the world have been releasing music free over the web. And, now that Facebook has been allowing artists to give their music out free to over 750 million people, great artists like Super Mash Bros. can continue to push their albums out to the public, giving the upcoming artists the recognition they need to start booking tours.

So do yourself a favor and download Super Mash Bros. new album “Miley High Club” and if you like what you here, feel free to download their other two albums, “All about the Scrillons” and “F**K Bitches, Get Euros.”

And if you’re really a fan, make sure to post a comment on their page telling them to come to Boston because their asking for suggestions as to where they should play next! There are 988 comments thus far, and not many say Boston, so let’s get them to come! Comment Here: http://www.facebook.com/sprmshbros?ref=ts

By Markus Garcia

Twitter truly breaks down boundaries. Last week my Social media class set out on a mission. Our Mission to get former Red Sox’s pitcher Curt Schilling to come be a guest speaker for our class and talk about he uses social media. However instead of conducting Mr. Schillings PR representative my class took to twitter. All at once my classmates and I tweeted at Curt Schilling asking him to come and talk to us and to show our unity we all used the #relieveourprof. As we flooded Curt Schillings twitter with requests local news medias began to retweet us, even a hotel in Boston offered Mr. Schilling a free room in their hotel if he agreed to speak with us. Most surprisingly within two hours Curt Schilling tweeted back at us saying “Ok, I hear you guys! Have to check timing, but flattered you asked!” Let me repeat that within two hours Kurt Schilling one of Boston’s biggest sports athletes said he would check to see if he would come and talk to my class. If we had gone through his PR Agent there’s a chance we never would have been replied to. That’s what makes Twitter and these other social medias so great. It allows people to go straight to the source they want to talk to and it can be about anything. THey could write and tell someone they had a great game, they are upset with a company’s product, or they can complain about something that was said…it allows them to go directly to the source.

Most recently ESPN faced a crisis when one of its former employees wrote a a derogatory Slur regarding Jeremy Lin and another incident when an ESPN Anchor said the same derogatory slur in an interview with an NBA analyst. Immediately after the statement was made Twitter exploded attacking ESPN for its word choice.

This is the type of world we live in now. The moment that something happens that we don’t like or don’t agree with happens we can make our voice heard. Or if something amazing happens say a game winning three we can hit the internet and let our reaction be seen and even talk to those who are sharing this experience. Twitter has allowed people from all over the world to connect with each other and create a common voice.

Utilizing Your Twitter Background

By: Jamie Pekunece

Thanks to the use of social media, companies are able to start a conversation with their followers and access customer feedback every second of the day. With Twitter handles and hashtags, those customers are sharing their opinions left and right, and it is up to the companies to keep tabs on their online reputation. The smarter companies know that they need to their tweets to engage their followers and keep them interested in what they have to say, otherwise they can be unfollowed with a swift click of the mouse.

What some companies may not realize, though, is that they can use more than those 140 characters to reach out to their followers and promote their brand. With the help of some websites, they can customize their Twitter backgrounds to add to the experience that they are trying to give their followers. In an article on The Daily Egg, author Kristi Hines lays out the best ways to “layout” your background to best utilize your Twitter account. Below are a couple of the highlights of her suggestions and the company’s who use them.

Show off your product.

Why not show them what you got? For the company that sells a physically tangible item to consumers, figure in a clear, beautifully executed stock photo of your best selling or newly released item into your background. It can create an impulse need to acquire whatever it is that you sell, and serves as a reminder to your followers what it is that you offer them.

Show them who they are talking to.

A lot of brands have decided to show who’s behind the computer by featuring names and quick bios in their backgrounds. The benefits of doing this are that it adds a personal touch to what can be a faceless company. It makes interacting via Twitter feel more than just communication through technology, and allows people to feel more comfortable in who they are speaking to.

Brand your background as you would your official website.

You design your company’s website with graphics and logos, so applying the same style to your Twitter background only makes sense! Keeping with the same theme as your official website, design your background in a way that goes with the brand image so that all your followers and anyone looking for your handle knows immediately that this is the official account of your company.

If you and your company want to customize your Twitter background, check out some of the sites below:

Linsanity!

By Stephen Selnick

#Lindestructable. #Linittowinit. #Linception.

New York Knicks point guard sensation Jeremy Lin has seemed to literally come out of nowhere; but like it or not he has the entire attention of the sports loving community on him. This new found fame has translated to social media as well, the once barely known Lin now boasts almost 500,000 followers on twitter. His page shows his Catholic beliefs, he even quotes scripture in his description beneath his handle.

Added attention means added pressure from the media and fans, and twitter is a place where athletes can deal with both. Unlike many athletes (mainly football and basketball players) who like to run their mouths or make controversial statements for sometimes millions to see, Lin has done the opposite. Number 7 has used social media to thank his fans, and show his excitement for his opportunities. He even levees blame on himself for a recent Knicks loss, saying “9 TOs wont get it done…gotta learn from my mistakes and move on to the next one. See you guys sunday!”.

Lin is the nice guy that twitter needs… a slot that Denver Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow has been trying to fill since his ascent into a starting spot with his current team. Both have very open religious beliefs and express their clean lifestyles over the social media waves. Tebow has over twice the followers of Lin, but what sets Linsanity apart from Tebow Mania is his quality of play; as long as that stays high, there’s a feeling that the nation’s attention will focus on #Linning for a long time.

Lady Gaga Creates New Social Media Site For Fans

by Garret Siegel

Lady Gaga, an avid supporter of anti-bullying campaigns, LGBTQ rights, and of course her fans. That’s why she is developing littlemonsters.com, a social networking site for her own “Little Monsters”.

The site has similar qualities to tumblr, in which fans can post pictures they’ve made and videos to watch; along with Facebook-esque aspects that can be seen on Facebook, like bios and private messaging features.

Right now, littlemonsters.com is on a Private Beta, with only about 7,000 members. Being one of them, I’ve had the chance to explore the site and learn it inside and out. Over the past few weeks, Gaga herself has been visiting the site, posting pics she’s taken of herself with her webcam, and even sketches made in microsoft paint. One of the things that attracts music lovers to Gaga is how she treats her fans, and interacting with them is something she does quite often. Gaga has been utilizing the private messaging feature to respond to her fans from simple “Hello”s to “I may be using ‘Scheiße’ for something special soon x”.

Last week, the site launched its chat feature which allows group chatting between Lady Gaga fans, and even the engineers of the site to give feedback on the Beta before it’s launch to the public.

One of the engineers I had the pleasure of talking to says the site has approximately 93,000 applicants requesting access to the Beta, and expect more to apply for site access once it’s officially launched.

Moonit: the astrological matchmaker

By: Lana Atamian

Moonit, a social compatibility engine that uses astrology to help users gain insight into finding romantic, platonic, and professional relationships, is now being used by people of all ages as the new “online dating” site. Working with Facebook, Moonit’s creators were able to intergrate a tool called “The Matchmaker.” This tool doesn’t only allow you to find romantic matches, but it also helps to determine compatibility for regular friendship, as well as business relationships by using the names, genders, and birth dates of both individuals. If you type this information into the site, or import the info from your Facebook page using Facebook Connect, you will then be given a match assessment that includes a percentage rating and a comparison paragraph, discussing the pros and cons of your match ups. So just as any astrologist would use the stars or use zodiac symbols to look for compatibility between people, so does Moonit…and whether or not you take astrology seriously, it’s still fun to see what the stars say about you and your potential lover.

Now Moonit’s algorithm performs a full birth date analysis to make sure your compatibility score is perfectly accurate, and over a million people have joined over the last two years. You can download the application on your computer, as well as your iPhone—and it only takes a few minutes to set up a profile and then send someone a nearby request to connect by searching for their Facebook username. Once you accept their connection request, you get your compatibility results immediately and it’s 100% free for both parties!

There are also plenty of other tings to do on Moonit, like collect relationship stickers that say things like “Wedding Bells,” “Wingman,” and “BFF,” which help tell you who you should date, who you should hang out with, who you should go out partying with, and who you may marry. After connecting with people online, you can also begin conversations by messaging each other right in the application, just as any other social messaging site. This allows you to also meet new people, or help you connect with people from the past that you never made friends with before.

Pretty soon, you’ll be able to see when your Moonit connections are nearby and reconnect with them at any time! So stay tuned and sign up on Moonit.com now! Check me out at http://moonit.com/i/Lana.Atamian

Chris Brown and Rihanna are pulling the rug from out under us!

By Suekuen Hua

Is it just me or are Chris Brown and Rihanna all over your gossip and news feeds too? Does anyone else smell a little bit of a conspiracy… Or at least a huge publicity/marketing scheme in the works? From my Twitter to Google Reader, I’ve been reading about their celebrity drama nonstop for the past week and I’m starting to think they’ve got a brilliant plan on their hands. Let’s break it down from the beginning.

So as well all know, CB beat the crap out of Rihanna four years ago during the Grammy’s in 2008 — I think we all know how that ended up… Well, this year’s Grammy’s was the first time he’s been back since; and low and behold, he performed twice and won the award for the best R&B album of the year. Obviously, this angered a lot of people, such as Amanda Lambert.

Then I start hearing all this nonsense about CB showing up to Rihanna’s birthday party last week on Valentine’s Day and them getting all lovey dovey (after making everyone sign a confidentiality agreement, of course).

And now, they’ve simultaneously dropped their new collaborated singles on Twitter. Yes, at the same time. Ironically enough, Rihanna’s song is actually called, “Birthday Cake” and consists of CB saying some pretty racy things in his lyrics.

I mean to me, this is such an obviously celebrity publicity scheme to hype up their new singles. Right? Anyone else? Well, at least Perez Hilton agrees with me. He just calls it something a little bit different.

I’m not going to go into details about the songs, because it’s not exactly setting a good example for those struggling from domestic violence and I don’t want to make any social commentary on how messed up this collab really is… so if you want details on the songs or want to listen to them, click that last link.

As annoying as Chris Brown and Rihanna are, through all the drama, they’ve got something up their sleeves or at least their publicists do. They are either brilliant and will be reaping the awards through sales of the songs or just ruined their clients’ careers. Who knows? Only time will tell.

Instagram 2.1 Updates

By: Jessica Peck

Last week our beloved photosharing social media app, Instagram, released a new update with a few brand new features. One feature is called, “Lux,” a button that when clicked gives your photo an extra boost of color along with lighting more parts of you photo to show more information. If your photo is seemingly a bit dark, with the click of Lux the photo will be slightly lightened. The new button is featured on the new layout design of the editing page.

Here’s an example of Lux in action:

Before

After: Lux added

Along with the new Lux button, Instagram also revamped their entire interface as well. According to Instagram’s blog, the idea behind the new interface is to make the app even more easier to use by simplifying the look of the app. The creators also threw in a new type of filter called, “Sierra,” which adds vintage-like quality to your photos.

With the new version up and running now for at least a week, there’s no doubt been some reactions to the revamped design and overall new features.

Some users on the iTunes store had mixed emotions about the app and the new updates stating:

“Love this app but the recent update is horrible. It’s like it took 2 steps back. Primitive design… change it back please,”

and

“The new update is awesome! UI is incredible, and going through pictures has become so much faster!”

What do you guys think? Are you a fan of the new features or do you want the old Instagram back?

(source: http://blog.instagram.com/post/17391329491/update-whats-new-in-version-2-1)

Barack Obama, Hipster-in-Chief

By Ying Wang

While candidates duked it out during the Iowa caucus in January 2012, President Barack Obama’s campaign made the surprise move of joining Instagram, an important decision that could affect the outcome of this year’s election. In many ways, this is a social media match made in heaven. President Obama, who has a long history of being social media savvy, is already acquainted with photo-sharing sites like Flickr in addition to other platforms like Google+, Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter. However, this move to join Instagram will be the first time the President will use a mobile-only platform.

Instagram, which launched in 2010, is an iOS-exclusive application that allows users to take photos with their iPhone’s built-in camera and then transform the pictures using the free custom-designed filters (retro effects, grainy black and white, adjustable tilt-shift options, etc.) Instagram users then have the option of adding a caption to their new photo along with geotagging and the ability to share their creation on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare, Posterous, or via email. Despite the application’s relatively short lifespan, it has grown exceedingly popular, with more than 15 million users and 400 million photos uploaded. It gained further attention in 2011, after Apple named Instagram the “iPhone App of the Year.”

President Obama’s decision to jump on the Instagram bandwagon signifies the continued relevance and importance that social media is serving in his campaign. In 2008, he set himself apart from his opponents by being the first presidential candidate to throw out the old campaign model and embrace and successfully utilize social media.

He didn’t rely on voter lists, phone banks and direct mail to reach his public, but instead placed his trust in social media platforms and technology to create a more personal connection with voters. Instagram fits perfectly into the President’s ideology. It offers the average user (and voter) the opportunity to peer into a more private and candid side of President Obama and his campaign.

Above is the first snapshot the President uploaded on Instagram. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at him speaking to Iowa caucus goers via video link.

While the people at Instagram are pleased with the extra attention and corresponding download increase, Obama’s latest social media outreach isn’t without its problems. Fore instance, there are a number of Instagram users who disapprove of their new, fellow photographer-politician and are taking to the comments section to voice their dismay with his policies.

“Is that a picture of you signing away our rights? I hope they lock your ass up on terrorism when you leave office,” is an example of a post by one irritated user.

As of right now, Instagram does not offer high profile users like President Obama the option of moderating his comments section. It’s unclear whether Obama’s campaign team would even be interested in moderating individual comments given it’s laissez faire approach on his Facebook page.

Campaign staff currently run the @barackobama account, which saw an influx of 30,000 new followers just two days after its launch. The campaign staff have also invited followers to contribute by posting their own photos of the campaign trail using the hashtag #Obama2012.

It’ll be interesting to see how influential Instagram will be in swaying voters to reelect President Obama. Social media already helped him win one election, but will posting artsy candid pictures help get him into the Oval Office again?