Content Strategy for the Masses

I often scroll down after reading a news story to see what comments people have, despite better judgement. There is a script you can run to remove the comments from some more famous Canadian news sites, but some online publishers such as World of Warcraft and the New York Times have taken to forcing those who comment to use their real names.

By removing the protective shield of a user name, the person tempted to spew angry and inappropriate comments will think twice before posting anything under their real name.

Ya, you’d think.

Where I work, I help out the marketing department with their social media campaigns. This includes guiding the coordinators through posting messages on Facebook. In this experience, having a user’s real name isn’t stopping “fans” from making unnecessarily angry, shocking and downright racist comments regarding the posts. In this environment, we not only see their names, but can easily click through to their profiles and learn all about them. They must know we now know everything about them and this is terribly wrong, right?

On the other hand, our Twitter account rarely gets these types of angry comments. It’s a love fest on this forum – and strangely, this is the place where users rarely use their real name. Why the difference?  On Twitter, we’re re-tweeting and engaging in conversation with the users whenever we can. On Facebook, we simply don’t have the resources in place to engage in these conversations.

It would be an interesting study to see why people get so angry when posting comments online, and determine if it’s the environment that’s encouraging this behaviour.  Do you think we get more angry responses on Facebook because we’re not engaging in a conversation with them? Or does FB provide a better sounding board for everyone to see their comments?

Or… if the anonymous trick fails, should moderators evolve from removing offensive posts into spokespeople, challenging and ‘calling out’ those who are unnecessarily troll-like?

Here’s a list of fun, cool things I’ve seen on my mobile of late – I have no professional connection to any of these items. I’m simply a nerd for cool apps. And since there are, at last count, 1,200,405,454,774 apps (approximately) on the iTunes store, tell me your faves too:

ARTS

- DJ Shadow launched an app not too long ago that has some fantastic community features and his latest music. This is a great example of what a band or any brand can do to generate mobile excitement with fans. The app encourages fans to take pictures from his tour and post them, chat about upcoming or current concerts, make comments about his uploaded music and see where his fans are across the globe. The only problem I found with it – and it appears to be a bug- is that it doesn’t turn off its locative services when you close out of the app.

- I downloaded the Amazon Kindle app for my iPhone. While the store doesn’t yet have the selection of Kobo, I appreciate Amazon’s approach to its userface. For example, I found this neato feature whereby it shows you the dictionary definition of a word if you press down on it with your finger.  And yes – this does mean I read books on my iPhone and no, it isn’t too small to read.

GAMES

- Cut the Rope is the new Angry Birds. Over 2000 5-star reviews in the app store and it’s now #1 in Canada.

- Singing Fingers lets you “finger paint with sound” and it comes from the MIT Media Lab. Drag your finger across the blank screen to create a colourful line, while also creating a sound. Play back this sound, create more sounds, harmonize with other parts of your drawing… it’s amazing.  This site explains it all.

LIFE

- Seth Godin’s app might make me look bad because he manages to update it everyday, but I can’t help but appreciate it for its simplicity AND the fact he manages to bestow something interesting each time I open it. I’m far too cynical for inspirational talk from “gurus,” but Godin somehow latches on to my brain and helps me rethink common approaches to everyday work.

- While I love the internet and my digital life, I cannot for the life of me use a calendar/to-do list online. I need to write my tasks in a Moleskine calendar or it’s too easy for me to click “dismiss.” Teux Deux, however, is the only app I’ve used that could potentially replace the pen and paper. It’s simple to use and clean.

Alright – tell me – what apps am I missing out on?

Today, a start-up company in Toronto called Fab Find decided to hold a sale for $10 iPads. It was an interesting way for the company to stand out amongst its many online coupon competitors such as Groupon. Unfortunately, this may have backfired.

Fab Find says 10 iPads were up for sale for $10, but talk on the very active Facebook group page suggests that number might be lower –  in the single digits. And those who did secure the $10 iPads aren’t owning up to their purchases – save for two: both from local media companies. The fact that few who wanted to could buy their $10 iPad while those who did appear to be from the ‘inside’ is a PR nightmare.

On top of that, the site kept breaking… or did it? Some Twitter comments suggested the site downtime was also part of the stunt as their staging server was working. Others are now contacting their server hosting company asking why there was downtime, making that company answer this PR game as well. Additionally, and for me most importantly, some people claimed to have entered in their credit card information only to be told the product was now sold out, raising sincere ethical questions.

Lots of people are claiming this stunt was a scam and as we all know, the loudest people on social media are those who complain. Between threats of sending this to the Better Business Bureau and claims of never shopping with them ever agin, FabFind.com is doing its best to respond – on Facebook and its Twitter account.

The fact is – I never heard about Fab Find until this sale… and their office is literally down the street from me. They’ll release their analytics tomorrow, but guaranteed they saw more traffic this morning than they have in the last month, at least. Anger about missing out on a $10 iPad may go away, but it’s their actions over the next few days that will speak to the long term success of this start-up. In fact, many of those people who are angrily leaving messages on their social media walls suggest there is wiggle room for Fab Find to make up for “misleading” their customers.

One great suggestion on Twitter – those who wished to buy an iPad for $10 may want to instead donate it to charity.

While it’s not yet a phenom in Canada, a number of apps are popping up for mobile to merge television watching with a social experience. Think of it as a Foursquare or Gowalla for the couch potato – you check-in, you let people know what you’re watching and you have the opportunity to earn badges as a reward. Additionally, these apps can recommend similar content to users based on the content that’s being viewed. Here are three that are getting some attention:

Get Glue is a social app that allows a user to let others know what arts and entertainment they’re consuming. Log in to this service, and you can let strangers and friends alike know what book you’re reading, TV show you’re watching, video game you’re playing, etc. There’s also a wine ‘check-in.’ Based on your check-ins, you get recommendations for other content you might enjoy. 

Miso is a similar app, but focusses on television consumption.  The TV show “Bridezillas” partnered with Miso to provide a unique badge and an opportunity to win a book to those users who checked in while watching an episode of the program.

Clicker is getting a lot of press – (ed note: I’m impressed they managed to get a .com account that’s a real word – not clickr.) The app works pretty much the same way – check-in, favourite shows, follow your fave shows, get recommendations on other shows and movies to watch. This app is getting particular attention because:

• It shows you how to access episodes online by free or pay (in the U.S.)
• It was used as an example of the applications that could be used when Google TV launches

These apps make it very simple to see what early tech adopters are watching, liking and recommending. Also to note - they’re great for people like me who don’t have cable to know what’s popular and trending.

If you love television, keep an eye on these apps. If you create television, these apps might end up on your marketing plan.

Better yet – sign in – become a part of the experience of turning your passive TV watching into a activity. Let me know what you think.