Old Spice "I'm On A Horse" Commercial Raging Internet By: Meena Kar

Bet you're all glad I didn't find a Facebook article!!

Since the Superbowl, commercials that aired during the game have continued to make appearances on TV as well as the Internet. The highly popular Old Spice "I'm On A Horse" commercial has been viewed by nearly 6.5 million people since its first airing. I know that in a few of my classes I have watched it on more than one occasion via YouTube, but I can honestly say I have never seen it on TV, not to say that others have not.

Anyways, what this article states is that since this commercial has been viewed by so many people who first saw it during the Superbowl, it has continued to make a big impact on viewers as they talk about it through social networks and such. Kar says that this commercial actually provoked people to go out and buy the product (which is good being that its an advertisement trying to sell something! ) And, the commercial not only targets males, but it is also geared towards its female viewers and consumers since they do have a high percentage of buying the male products [for their loved ones].

I think it's great that Old Spice really got the attention of their audience and actually got many of them to go out and try their product because it shows that ADVERTISEMENTS REALLY DO WORK. This advertisement spread like wild fire all over the Internet and had so many people commenting about it that it brought sales up so much for the product and the brand itself. I guess being outrageous is a good way of gaining a following, and I think Old Spice shows that with their commercial advertisement. Good for them.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/old-spice-im-on-a-horse-commercial-raging-internet_100343745.html

"Twitter Ads Test Billion-Dollar Valuation" By Ryan Singel

Twitter Update: Advertising Services Coming to the Tweet Spot.

Another new edition to the social networking world. Advertising is growing on the Internet and placing themselves in the right spot, where the people are. People are checking their Twitter pages at every minute of every day. Who's saying what, who's doing what, etc. With 22 million users, why not promote some advertisements on this huge success? These advertisements are more like promotions for products, such as Starbucks who have jump started this new phenomenon. I went on Twitter to see how it shows up, and when you type Starbucks in the search engine, you see this (below) as the first search result.

They use this to promote a product or a service, then provides a link that brings you to their page. This is a great way of advertising because it engages the audience of certain types of products or services and helps attract more and more people to their sites. I know a lot of us get bugged by advertisements on the Internet (I do, SORRY) but, this is a way of luring these audiences into interests of what these promoted ads. are doing.

“The one thing we are most excited about is these are simply tweets, not ads,” Buzzo said. “There is one big difference between a promoted tweet and a regular tweet. promoted tweets must meet a higher bar — they must resonate with users. This means that if users don’t do the things with promoted tweets that would normally do with a regular tweet such as reply to it, favorite it, or retweet it and so on, the promoted tweet will disappear.”

So, that's a plus. If we aren't interested in these certain tweets, they will be non-existent. But don't refer to them as "Ads" to Twitter; they're 'promoted tweets', so get it right. I guess this is worth a try for Twitter. As this article ends, Singel adds that this will be the testing point to see if Twitter is worth all of its dough and can produce more than what they have now or if its just a place for people to vent their every single thought.

Read More http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/04/twitter-tests-worth/comment-page-1/

" Privacy 2.0: Give a little, Take a Little" from The Economist print edition

In recent time, social networking sites have given the option to let users keep their profiles and information private. As we see on Facebook, these days, we can block basically anything we want from anyone we want to. Some may find this annoying at times when they are trying to FB 'stalk' (you all do it, don't deny it!) and see that someone has made their profile completely private and you have no way to access their page. But, as we approach graduation, we are looking for jobs, and since Facebook has become so widely popular, almost anyone can set up an account and search your name, in which it's better that we keep our Thursday-Saturday night pics unavailable. So, I guess these privacy settings can be a big help for people our age while we are in search of jobs and career opportunities.

But, in this article, we find that many people are using the privacy settings more and more these days, because they don't want everyone in the world to get a peak at their personal information. Most people use this site to connect with their past (i.e. adult users). With this new rage of privacy settings comes a slight downfall for advertisers. Advertisers use peoples information to collect data for their "behavioral advertising", which lets them track peoples activities on the Internet without them knowing. As we all know and can see when we log on to our Facebook accounts, advertisers are sponsored on the right side of the page. They use key words from our profile pages in order to find advertisements that best suit our likings. If we have our pages set on private, the advertisers have no way of collecting the data needed in order to put these advertisements up.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook creator, advertises a free service with a small price. The cost for this service is "the idea of targeted advertising"; the more information you put out, the better they can get advertisements out. The more profit they make, the happier the advertisers are. But, how happy are you with your information being put out there, when you aren't too keene on the idea in the first place, for the benefits of pesky advertisers? Eh.

http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15350984

"Facebook Will Allow Users to Share Location" By Nick Bilton

I know, I know. Another blog about Facebook. It has literally taken over my life. Another improvement (or is it?) to Facebook will begin starting in April. A new status updater is coming to the Facebook world, and this status seems a bit more intrusive. In the next month, Facebook will be adding a new application of sorts, we will be able to post our current location, or get to see the current location of our FB friends. Eh. No thanks. 

With this new addition to the highly popular social network, you can post to your friends or whoever else you want to see, where you are. I think I have seen something like this recently on there, but maybe this is something different. Anyways, the same rules apply. The privacy policy will allow you to chose who you want to see this status and who you don't. This article states that with the 400 million FB users, 50% log in once a day, while 100 million use their mobiles. The FB team takes into consideration the feedback that its users have, their 'likes' and 'dislikes', which is why they are taking their time with this new design. Google and Twitter both have added this type of application to their sites as well. 

I don't know about you guys, but I feel like this is getting one step closer to stalker-nation. I mean, really, do we need this? I think people complain about how Twitter seems to invasive with the constant updates of what people are doing or thinking, and now on Facebook we get to actually see where you are in the world!? I just don't understand. I don't know how this is all going to fold or what it will look like, but I definitely feel that it is unnecessary. 

What are your thoughts? Should we start a group to stop it? 

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/facebook-will-allow-users-to-share-location/?ref=technology

Is the IPhone the New Ad Frontier? By Om Malik

As the IPhone becomes more and more popular, and more inventive, the application world is growing. Since the IPhone came out, the Apps store has become the new thing. People downloading apps for things that you would never think a phone would have. In this blog Malik writes, he explains that many people are selling their Apps to the Apple store which has become widely popular, and even those who are giving their apps. for free are making a very good name for themselves. Now in this world of the mobile Internet, a mobile advertising company, AdMob has produced a free ad-supported application. 

AdMob has teamed up with many well-known names such as Herbal Essences, DirecTCV, and CBS News, just to name a few. With this new App. these brands will be promoted through the IPhone. This new idea of the advertising through mobiles is becoming a hot ticket for these agencies, and will help boost sales and recognition for these already popular names. (In this Blog, Malik states that he has only did research on this through 1 company working with some brand advertisers, but there is time to tell whether this is a hit or not) 

I think that the IPhone has become such a craze ever since it came out, why not have an App that supports click-through advertisements. It gets brand-names out, and helps remind people of their products and such.  With the craziness technology has produced in the last 5 years or so, you might as well get on the band-wagon and start using these mobile's as a gateway for advertising strategies. People are always using their phones, they check their email on their phones, Facebook on their phones, play games on their phones (thanks to all of those great apps!), go on AIM on their phones, the list goes on. Networking these brand-names through this new App is a smart way to attract consumers. SO many different people use the IPhone, so their interests may latch on to this advertisement application. I think that this could make way into a new world of advertising.

http://gigaom.com/2008/09/08/is-iphone-the-next-ad-frontier/ 

Water-Cooler Effect: Internet Can Be TV'S Friend- By Brian Stelter

"You've Got A Friend In Me" ....How many of us in our day-to-day ritual of Web surfing and TV surfing do this surfing simultaneously? I know I do! I sit on my computer as I watch E! News or re-runs of The Office. I am actually doing exactly that, right now. When Internet came along, people thought it was going to be the end of Television. We can watch movies, listen to music, chat with friends, do our homework, all at the same time when we use our computers and browse the endless amounts of Internet site. It is the greatest creation ever made. I seriously, honestly, truthfully, do not remember life without the Internet. How sad.

In this article, we find that, alas! The Internet and TV go hand-in-hand. With the Internet at the tip of our fingers we can find out the latest information about show/series and games (such as the 2010 Olympics) and award shows (Grammy's, Oscars, Emmy's, Golden Globes). What is great is that we can chat with our friends and fellow Internet junkies about what is going and surprising events that have happened. Stelter writes in the article that NBC aired the Golden Globes on the East Coast and West Coast at the same time, which allowed everyone on the Internet to gab about it at their leisure. This is a first for something like this to happen, and I have always wondered why they would not air things at the same time. Since the Internet is all of the rage these days, and sites like Facebook and Twitter are always in use, East Coasters could spoil endings of a show, like LOST, or the ending of a football game for the West Coasters.

In the article it goes on to say that although spoilers can happen due to the Internet chat rooms, FB and Twit, people still want to view something for themselves. If you see a status on Facebook or a Tweet on Twitter that says, "OMG! I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BACHELOR!!" That will set off people to say, "What HAPPENED??!" And they will want to see it themselves.

I do not think that it is shocking that ratings have shot up for TV because the Internet has advertisements about anything and everything. You see an advertisement for the new season of Gossip Girl and you cannot wait for it to start; The advertisements keep popping up and they remind you of your favorite shows, games, etc. which makes you tune into the boob tube. I think that it is great that Television and the Internet can bring people together and they can bring on more viewers and new viewers, because once something is out in the open and is being talked about, it attracts people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/business/media/24cooler.html?hp

Von Furstenberg: 'Beauty is health', By: Tom Evans

Magazines and advertising have a big influence on the way people, especially females, view themselves. Every magazine on the newsstands usually shows a beautiful woman posing with her hair and makeup done to the 9 and she is usually pin-thin; but is what we see what we are 'supposed' to be? No, because in the article, Valerie Boyer, a French Lawmaker states, "Today we are forced to imitate bodies that do not exist, and this affects people, especially women." I completely agree with this statement because every magazine cover you see has been touched up. They want us to believe that this what this model or actress or singer looks like, but they have been retouched, their eyes, their lips, their necks, their arms, their legs, their stomachs have all been altered to make them look 'perfect'.

I find that the media, whether it be high-fashion advertisements, magazine articles, television programs, commercials etc. no matter what, always promote that thin, thin, thin is in, in, in. No matter how many times people say: "Love yourself, love who you are, every one is beautiful", the truth of the matter is that what we see in the world is that thin is always beautiful and we should all be just that. (Not my feeling) We are forced to believe that we need to be a stick to get somewhere in life.

In this article, fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg believes that there should be no censorship when it comes to magazine and advertising photos. I however, disagree. I am on Boyer's side, the French legislator, who believes that all photos that have been altered in any way should have some type of disclaimer telling the consumer that these have been touched up and this is not the actual photo or body of the person. Advertisements affect people in every aspect of life, from what we listen to, eat, wear, drive, anything and everything. With this law, we know that these photos have been tweaked and that it is not the real thing so we don't have to feel that bad about ourselves.

I think Von Furstenberg contradicts herself as she says, "Beauty is health -- health, beauty," she added, "My whole philosophy in life and in my work and everything is to enjoy the woman that you are and to believe in it." If she believes in that, then she would not have her photographs tweaked to falsely advertise her designs or models. She does not believe in the law of censorship. She also states, "The pictures, the snapshots that you take of your family -- you crop them, you take something away. That's just part of what we do automatically" But the pictures we crop and adjust of our families are not being plastered all over the world, they are for our personal use and I do not agree with how she makes the comparison to the high-fashion advertisements. The advertisements which are tweaked that are covering our newsstands are sending bad messages about self-image, not our family photos.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/02/10/fashion.photos/index.html?iref=allsearch