The answer is not yet, but the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” applies arguably now more than ever. With smart phone adoption allowing consumers to document their lives visually (according to Nielsen, 44% of US consumers own smartphones, extending to 64% of 25-34 year olds) and social platforms fostering the sharing of pictures and videos, communication is increasingly becoming more visual. As evidence of this growing trend, we’re getting more pickup and commentary in our influencer outreach efforts, and higher engagement rates on Facebook and Twitter when we include pictures or video.
Greg Verdino, who has done, and is doing, a lot of great work, recently posted "Ten reasons why Twitter is like Second Life." While I agree that the hype is at similar levels, I think there are key reasons Twitter will succeed, and they more than outweigh Greg's concerns.
Early in my career, I heard a very senior executive make the statement “All online marketing is, at its heart, direct marketing” (he was, and is, in direct marketing). [...] I know that exec was wrong, and I hope I don’t have to wait another 7 years to prove it.
The recognition that delivery and response aren’t the be-all and end-all of marketing is the first step in saving the industry, and here’s hoping that it comes from our industry in not too long.
A new report from Yahoo! and MediaVest describes the behavior of a group of consumers called "Passionistas." With only the press release to go on, I'm assuming what sets these consumers apart from brand "evangelists" is overall involvement in an interest versus a specific manufacturer. The stats that they released are interesting. I'm assuming what sets these consumers apart from brand "evangelists" is overall involvement in an interest versus a specific manufacturer. The stats that they released are interesting:
Local bloggers are growing their audiences by leaps and bounds, with restaurant reviews, local events, community news, etc., and smaller businesses are usually a key component of the neighborhood.
Areas such as international news and government access are ones that it will be difficult/impossible for bloggers and citizen journalist to replace, and the larger papers will continue to grow their value based on that.