Facebook just rolled out a Fan Box Widget. This is basically, as Facebook puts it, “to gain more fans and share your Facebook updates.”
All it takes is embedding the code on your site, so big companies or musicians or …. dog groomers could easily take advantage of this.
To me, this is Facebook’s response to the huge uptick of people and companies embedding their Twitter feed onto their sites. Companies like Zappos have made this a huge part of their community interaction and company transparency initiatives.
This should be a great way to easily create a gateway for brands to socialize with their audiences. Also, there’s a potential to include it or embed it with a product launch release/microsite and to drive fans of individual products (like a new handset, for instance). We at Harold’s Kids will experiment on how to get this going on our blog! To be continued . . .
A la the inauguration, CNN has partnered with Facebook to stream coverage of Michael Jackson’s memorial alongside commentary from Facebook. It’s going on right now, join the conversation here: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=100639101957&h=S-ADC&u=fwrDx&ref=nf
Screenshot of Facebook status stream accompanying CNN's live broadcast
*Sigh* It’s true. BUT my mom has one, so I live vicariously through hers! That counts right? She has shown me some pretty cool apps, such as word scramble games. However, what I want to show you is this:
Oh, and, for the record: I have a BlackJack II; it’s pretty darn cool. I have a holster for it. That’s right – a holster. I wear it. Engadget may not like holsters, but Obama and I think it’s cool.
I came across this via @TreeHugger (one of the top – and my fav – green blogs out there) on my Facebook status updates and was inspired to post. So Michael Pollan, of Omnivore’s Dilemma fame, is apparently helping publicize a new documentary that he appears in, Food, Inc. I recently caught a live interview with him on KQED (local public radio in SF)’s “It’s Your World” segment, which I tweeted about. But today his publicizing takes a social media twist: he’ll be live chatting on Facebook about food and food politics.
Michael Pollan (via @TakePart)
It’s getting a TON of buzz on Twitter already. (The TakePart site this is posted on, by the way, is really cool and seemingly has great presence on social media sites).
I think this is a really great idea. We actually came up with a similar idea in a brainstorm for a client project (that was later cut, unfortunately) and I still think it holds water for client work. Instead of flying all your execs out for a (boring) press conference, why not invite attendees to listen to a webcast broadcast via Facebook/Twitter/choose-your-own-platform, and allow attendees to chat/respond via these vehicles?
I think it’s an awesome idea. Have you proposed something similar? How did it go?
Mean time, I will be listening to Pollan’s latest take on the food revolution today at 3pm PDT!
We recently launched our own @haroldskids handle to support this here little ditty of a blog, and it’s been a blast thus far. You might’ve noticed our tweets streaming on the column to your right. We’re a collection of B-M authors and try our best to denote who’s doing the tweeting by using the carrot symbol (^), followed by our initials. So follow us and we’ll follow you back. Unless you’re naughty spam, of course. But then again I guess if you were naughty spam you wouldn’t be reading this, so…
Here at B-M Chicago we’re toying around with using the #ChiBM hash tag for office-related tweets, agency/city news, events, company softball games and, perhaps best of all, following people we see every day but had no idea were on Twitter! So far we count 23 Chicago tweeps a tweetin’. Now that that’s said and done: B-M San Francisco, throw down! (Hint: #SFBM)
B-M Boston now has its own handle. Yesirebob. Somehow they managed to carve out time for this as they grew three-fold over the past year. Check them out today at @BM_Boston.
In June Harold Burson visited the San Francisco office and was very enthusiastic about our social media/blog/Twitter presence and told us to keep up the great work. So with that — keep up the great work, kids! Cool beans.
The Bay Area – and San Francisco, specifically – is no stranger to high-tech movie production with the likes of LucasArts, Pixar and Dreamworks churning out feature films that use massive computing power and performance. But a new musuem opening in SF’s Presidio (where LucasArts currently resides) in October will offer a glimpse into cutting-edge movie-making of the past – via Walt Disney’s mastermind – before the PC was used in the process.
…we were introduced to innovations such as the 13-feet-high Multiplane Camera and the optical printer. The camera rises through two floors of the museum… Its use was perfected in Snow White, allowing several layers of artwork to be moved past a camera… giving a 3D effect and also allowing different parts of the picture to move in and out of focus. The optical printer takes two films and combines them, allowing real-life pictures to be merged with animation, such as in Mary Poppins.
The FT also opines: “[The Museum] is likely to lead to a reassessment of [Walt Disney] as a great innovator and visionary than movie mogul.”
Here, here. Cool stuff. AND, seems like a huge opportunity for social media engagement. Whether Facebook applications and trivia or games, a Google Earth live tour of the museum, videos galore and Twitter updates on museum specials, guests, etc. (like the California Academy of Sciences in SF), this consumer-facing campaign could do very well. Will look forward to seeing what Disney rolls out as they get closer to launch!
So how should we respond when a video surfaces on a channel like YouTube that doesn’t intend to damage our brand, but to celebrate it?
Such is the case in this recent video from Bang-yao Liu, a student at the Savannah College of Art who used 3M Post-It Notes and some rather clever stop motion animation techniques to create his senior art project, a stunning video shown here:
Sure, just the attention this video has already generated is no doubt a big success for the company and they should be thrilled. But why not take it a step further by engaging with the video’s creator and the thousands of people who have responded so favorably to it? Why not:
Reach out to Liu and politely request an opportunity to create a behind-the-scenes mini-documentary that illustrates how he created the video? (My first reaction to the video was probably the same as yours: “How the heck did he do that, and how long did that take?!” I’d definitely watch a short documentary. Wouldn’t you?)
Launch a contest encouraging other artists to create similar videos? Perhaps the winning video is incorporated into an upcoming ad campaign?
From what I can tell, 3M hasn’t yet taken any of these steps.
I’ll turn it over to you. What am I missing? How else should 3M capitalize on this opportunity?
Thanks for clearing up the confusion, AP Stylebook folks!
As some of my coworkers can attest (shout out to @simpliciano!), I’m a huge fan of learning the AP Style way. Spreading the enthusiasm, I’d like to share a note that just came into my inbox. : )
An AP Stylebook Online entry has been updated.
Editor’s Note: The Twitter entry has been corrected to say that to tweet as a verb and a tweet as a noun should be lowercase.
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Twitter
A community-based message-distribution system that allows users to post continual status updates of up to 140 characters detailing their activities for followers. The verb is to Twitter or to tweet. A Twitter message is known as a tweet.
haroldskids
Jes
briannawoon
ctinrg
dwendland
amycook
elderheather
sharih013
mdritti
mcubeta
heatherkmack
mikepilarz
kevingallagher
hronner
jodyander
christinebenton
When a video surfaced on YouTube in April featuring Domino’s employees 
confusion, AP Stylebook folks!
