What If Foursquare Check-ins Determined Oscar Winners?

Now that Oscar night has come and gone, the tidal wave of movie-related articles from around the blogosphere should start to subside. Of course, that will be after everyone posts their Academy Awards reactions to the online masses.

And while I'm glad that there were no surprise winners (longtime front-runners The King's Speech, Black Swan, and The Social Network deservedly took home a lot of the Oscar gold), I found an interesting infographic on TechCrunch this morning.

The infographic shows the movies with the most check-ins during their opening weekend, as well as the movies with the most check-ins by males, females and couples. This begs the question:

What if Foursquare check-ins determined Oscar winners?

Simply put: it would be different. Very different.

The top three checked-in movies last year for males were:

• Iron Man 2
• Kick-Ass
• Inception

For females, the top three checked-in movies last year were:

• Twilight: Eclipse
• Harry Potter
• Sex and the City 2

And lastly, the top three checked-in movies last year for couples were:

• The Social Network
• The King's Speech
• Gulliver's Travels

Notice anything peculiar about that list? Aside from the surprisingly stereotypical gender skew, only 1/3 of the movies on that list won any Oscars at all. And whether these results are do to the age demographic using Foursquare or statistical anomaly, this list is exactly why the have professionals choose the best movies of the year.

Video Post: Closing the Book on Borders

Reactions to the announcement of Borders declaring bankruptcy last week ranged from a yawn to panic about the entire bookstore retailing industry. Many are wondering what possible effect this could have on Barnes & Noble, Border's biggest competitor. Given Barnes & Noble's shaky financial situation, there's no guaranteeing what will happen, but I look into that and more in this week's Daily Axioms Video Blog.

The Ghosts of Vistas Past

We are unlucky enough to have an HP computer in our office that still uses the now obsolete Microsoft Vista operating system. This is a product that proved to be fatally flawed and is now replaced by the much improved Windows 7. Why does anyone care? Because these poor computers originally equipped with Vista are still around and people actually try to use them! Ha!

We had a out-of-town visitor to Axiom today with a relatively new Dell laptop with....you guessed it, Vista. I spent the better part of a morning trying to dig down into the internet settings to get the thing to connect to our network. A procedure that takes about two minutes on our Macs. And don't even think about trying to set up a printer...you will regret you even tried. And of course whatever you try to do, you get about a dozen warnings that all life as we know it will end if you allow a perfectly safe application to download.

If anyone out there is still using one of these computers, please, please do yourself a favor and upgrade to Windows 7, or better yet, buy a Mac.

Archos Climbing Its Way Out Of Tech Obscurity

Archos has been around a long time, but unfortunately was cast into the shadows of the technology world from line after line of disappointing products hitting the market.

But over the last year, things have started to turn around for the once-struggling tech company. There was an article today about Archos' financial growth in both the U.S. and Europe. And we're not talking small, steady climbs, because the revenue increases are over 200% here in America and over 110% overseas.

The Archos turnaround boils down to two things:

1. Archos bet early and bet big on tablets. Before all of the talk right now about Honeycomb, Samsung's Galaxy Tab garnered all of the press. But even before that, Archos was trying to make waves in the budding tablet market with several budget models.
2. Archos tried to carve out their own niche in the tablet market by offering a lower price point without sacrificing too much quality. While obviously not the best, Archos tablets are a fairly solid budget option.

Taking that Wal-Mart style approach paid off for Archos, because despite being the butt of many jokes (like Wal-Mart) they successfully sold many lower-end products (like Wal-Mart) for a substantial profit margin (like Wal-Mart).

Amazon Launches Video Streaming Service

In January I wrote about Amazon buying a popular European movie streaming service, and how many of us were assuming this meant Amazon would soon be entering into the video streaming business.

Apparently "soon" meant about a month, because Amazon has officially released a video streaming service for their prime members. Although a prime membership on Amazon costs $79 per year, the video streaming service is free, which is a great additional feature.

For those debating whether to go with Netflix, Hulu or Amazon for their streaming needs, that $79 per year makes Amazon the cheapest of the three, at about $6.60 per month.

The downside of Amazon's service right now boils down to two things: clunky navigation and less titles than their established streaming counterparts.

However, I expect Amazon to tweak their system a little bit over the next couple of months, and this is a big first step for the online retailing giant in gaining a solid foothold in the Netflix/Hulu video streaming conglomerate.

32% of Local Businesses Use Facebook Places

Due to its low price point (free), Facebook is obviously a route that many small, local businesses have wanted to pursue in a still-recovering economy.

But Facebook-adoption rates among those local businesses is actually much higher than I would've guessed, with a recent MerchantCircle report showing that 70% of local businesses are using the world's largest social network.

While 70% may not seem like a completely overwhelming number given how prevalent Facebook is nowadays, it's still a 20% increase from last year. That's a significant jump, and a sign of where small business marketing priorities are.

Another interesting stat from the report is that 32% of local businesses are utilizing the Facebook Places check-in feature, while 9% use Foursquare. At first glance, this appears to be simply Facebook Places outpacing Foursquare. However, I see two takeaways here:

1. Facebook's stature and popularity are paving the way for new users to enter the location-based arena, making Facebook Places a desirable option for location-based marketing.
2. Marketing and business interest in location-based marketing is much larger than general consumer interest. All of the statistics I've seen on location-based networking point to an adoption rate right around 5-8%, which is less than the usage rate by local businesses and much less than their use of Facebook Places.

All in all, this is great news for location-based networking as a whole. If the numbers in this report are correct, about 40% of local businesses are utilized location-based services. So although the general population isn't using it as much, that number could grow.

Axiom is Hiring!

Axiom is looking for a social media manager that has the experience to create online campaigns and the management skills to execute them flawlessly. The position will focus on video production and social media relations. Responsibilities will include:

• Brainstorming and campaign development
• Managing a small team of interns
• Develop blogger and online journalist relationships
• Create new online metrics for results reporting
• Account management and daily client contact
• Manage Axiom Marketing Communications social media strategies
• Write and distribute traditional press releases, media alerts and fact sheets as needed
• Travel to relevant blog conferences to create and solidify relationships
• Plan, coordinate and execute events

Think you have what it takes to join the Axiom team? Get all of the details here to apply.

Video Post: Texting Still A Titan

With the prevalence of social media, you'd think that Twitter and Facebook would easily be the most-used feature on smartphones. However, based on a recent Deloitte report, that's not the case. In fact, the study found that far more smartphone users texted than trafficked social media sites. I look into this and more in today's Daily Axioms Video Post.

Oreo's Chances at World Record Not Wayne-ing

Yesterday Oreo announced their plan to break the Guinness World Record for most Facebook likes in 24 hours. It wasn't necessarily huge news, mostly due to the fact that it's a social media-based record rather than a cookie-based record (World's Largest Oreo? Count me in!).

Oreo worked closely with Guinness, who set the bar at 45,000 likes for the 24-hour period. Oreo was easily able to beat that mark, ending with 114,619 likes for their single post. Guiness awarded them with the record and Oreo was officially recognized on Guinness's website.

Seems pretty cut and dry right? Wrong.

Unfortunately for Oreo, the record does not come without a much-publicized caveat, thanks to rap superstar Lil Wayne, who decided to try and break the same record at the same time as Oreo. 

The issue is that Lil Wayne crushed Oreo's 114,619 likes by getting over 500,000 likes of his own. This means that Oreo still did break the record, but they only held it for about 4 hours.

The other side to this is that Lil Wayne didn't register with an official Guinness World Record adjudicator, so the record may or may not be counted. However, Guinness addressed the situation on its blog, saying:

We are, however, aware of Lil Wayne’s attempt for the same record which is currently ongoing. Guinness World Records will review any applicant’s evidence once they have completed their attempt, which in this case is at the end of the 24 hour period.

What that means has yet to be seen, but we should hear in the near future. The other big takeaway is that while promoting a social media record attempt online is usually a good idea, you run the risk of others trying to one-up your efforts.

HTC Spices Up the Mobile World Congress with a Pair of Facebook Button Phones

Remember that whole back-and-forth drama over HTC's possible Facebook phones? A couple of weeks ago I covered that mess in my Daily Axioms video post, promising to revisit the story if and when there are new developments.

Now that the Mobile World Congress I mentioned in the video post has kicked off, we have those developments. One of the early surprises from the first day of the MWC is a pair of smartphones from HTC. The phones (dubbed the ChaCha and Salsa...seriously, that's their names) don't boast a ton superior features, but they do have one especially interesting component: a dedicated Facebook button.

It's a compelling feature to add to the mid-range phones, but I'm surprised they didn't integrate the feature with their more powerful devices. Hopefully that won't affect the performance of the Facebook button, because I do think it could be useful for slower phones (i.e. mine) that make social sharing more difficult.

But there's a second component to this story, and this one comes straight from Mark Zuckerberg. When the rumors of a possible Facebook phone surfaced, Zuckerberg quickly dismissed them, saying very clearly that Facebook was not developing a phone. Now, a few weeks later, Zuckerberg claimed at the MWC that there will be "multiple" Facebook phones coming this year.

It's quite a turnaround from those earlier rumors, but it appears we can all expect to see more Facebook integration with mobile devices in 2011.

Black Hat SEO Leaves Black Mark on JC Penny

With the millions upon millions of websites out there, the challenge that businesses face is no longer to simply have a website, but to have that website show up as high as possible in search queries.

That glaring need has led to a slew of companies and services offering search engine optimization. Most of these SEO services are completely legitimate (referred to as "white hat" services), but there are many that resort to shady and ethically questionable tactics. The latter, called "black hat" services, essentially pad traffic numbers and spam their way to higher search results.

This seedy SEO underbelly doesn't garner a ton of press, mostly because of the fact that regardless of the negative implications, it isn't technically against the law. However, poor SEO practices can have very bad consequences. For instance, there was an interesting story in The New York Times on Saturday about JC Penney falling into the black hat SEO trap.

What happened is that a third party SEO service the retailer hired spread thousands of links that all redirected back to JC Penny's site. And because link-backs are a major component of SEO, JC Penney quickly rose to the No. 1 result for practically all of their product lines, from jeans to bedding to home decor. They beat out larger retailers and online shopping giants like Amazon. In fact, if you searched for a specific brand, you were more likely to see JC Penney than the brand's own website.

Many of the sites that had the JC Penney link backs weren't relevant to JC Penny's target demographic or product market, and many weren't even active websites.

While not illegal, search engines like Google and Yahoo have zero tolerance for black hat SEO tactics like this. And when the Google Gestapo (I doubt that's the official title, but I think it works) found out, they manually readjusted JC Penney's search standings...to the 6th or 7th page.

JC Penney claims they had no idea this was all going on, and promptly fired the service once the story broke. However, the damage was done to both their online presence and the company's reputation as a whole.  This situation also serves as a reminder to those looking to boost their SEO to take the time to carefully screen out the questionable services and stick to increasing their organic website traffic.

Video Post: Dawn of a New Day for Online Video?

In this week's Daily Axioms video post, I look into a recent ComScore report showing that Hulu is still getting twice as much online traffic as five major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW) combined. More importantly, I discuss what this may mean for the future of online video and whether or not we'll continue to see more and more professionally-produced content with Hulu and Netflix.

Did Groupon Drop the Ball with Their Super Bowl Ad?

What would the Super Bowl be without a social-media fueled frenzy? And since this year's halftime show was too boring to cause any wardrobe-malfunction-type lashing by the online masses (I'm sorry, but Fergie singing Guns N' Roses? No thanks), it was up to some poorly-planned commercial to anger viewers.

Groupon did just that with their recent ad campaign featuring celebrities pleading for a charitable cause before abruptly pitching the daily-deal giant. People were not happy about Groupon poking fun at causes such as saving the rainforest or raising money for Tibet.

The CEO of Groupon took the blogosphere to defend the company, saying that the intention was to mock themselves and not the causes. He also pointed out that Groupon does give money to various causes, including those mentioned in the ads.

Maybe Groupon approved the ads knowing the amount of press they'd get based on the backlash? Maybe there just wasn't enough concept testing beforehand? Maybe it's as simple as a disconnect between the company's intention and how it was received. However, intentions don't mean much in the online space, because people are going rail against a company they feel is in the wrong regardless of what the company intended. 

Personally, I've seen the ads and even though I'm not necessarily offended by them, I don't see how Groupon could think the commercials are in any way self-deprecating. But controversies like this are a perfect example of why you really need to have a grasp on your audience's perceptions of your ad campaigns.

Here's to the German Automakers

OK, there's no secret to the fact that I'm a car nut; willing to spend all my disposable income on the latest and greatest with four wheels, preferably from the Fatherland. Needless to say, I was thrilled that some of the best ads during last night's Super Bowl were the ads from BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen.

Chrysler, which is now controlled by the Italian automaker Fiat, had an ad showcasing the Detroit heritage of their revamped Sebring, the Chrysler 200, which I thought was less than convincing. Let's not forget Chevrolet. They had several ads and even sponsored the FOX show Glee after the game, turning it into a giant non-stop commercial. My favorite was the transformer ad shown during the game.

One of the two BMW ads really struck a cord with me, since it made good fun of Americans' perceptions of diesel engines (I bought a VW TDI last summer), showing a diesel truck driver and an ancient Volvo station wagon spewing acrid black smoke and then showing a sparkling clean 3 Series motor away with its Advanced Diesel engine.

I loved the Mercedes ad that showed the wonderful heritage of the brand, with famous models coming 'alive' and meeting up with the new models. Of course, everyone's favorite is the VW ad for the 2012 Passat (See Steve's blog from last week) that features a little boy as Darth Vader...shouldn't it have been Luke Skywalker?? Oh, well, it was cute and simple, which is all you can hope for during the Super Bowl, when we're saturated with multiple images and messages. The teaser ad for the upcoming Beetle was awesome as well.

As Steve mentioned, what's most interesting is that VW previewed their ad in full on YouTube before the game, and garnered plenty of interest before the ad even aired. It shows the power of online marketing and the fact that smart manufacturers make these ads into complete campaigns that stretch over several weeks or months. Whether or not anyone ever puts VW into their consideration set when purchasing a new car remains to be seen. And of course the Today Show had the mini Darth Vader on this morning. George Lucas must be very happy, not to mention VW.

May the Force be with you! (I had to say it).

The Future of Super Bowl Ads?

Every time my friends and family gather around the TV to watch the Super Bowl, there are two main camps: those who watch the game for the football and those who watch it for the commercials.

The high-priced, highly-anticipated Super Bowl commercials are a huge part of the big game experience, and practically every year there are several ads that are teased in the days leading up to the commercial's big Super Bowl reveal.

But Volkswagen is taking a different approach by releasing the full version of their soon-to-be-aired Super Bowl ad on YouTube. 

After garnering 5.6 million views and counting, it's safe to say VW's contrarian approach paid off.

The commercial features a kid dressed in a Darth Vader costume trying to use The Force around the house to avail, until he "starts" the family's 2012 Passat (with a little help from his dad using the keyless remote). It's actually a very well-done commercial that takes great advantage of the Star Wars geek in me. Apparently I'm not alone, given how much attention the ad has gotten.

What's really interesting is that VW's success with revealing their commercial early could lead to more and more companies doing the same thing in hopes of building that pre-game buzz.

Video Post: Phacebook Fones

We're kicking off our 2011 series of Daily Axioms Video Blogs with a new look and a new production team. Our former video intern Pete did a great job in 2010, but has moved on to greener pastures and we wish him the best. Now we're set with our new video intern Nick, and we're excited about the direction we're heading with these video blogs.

To start the year off (albeit a bit late), I look into last week's drama about HTC possibly debuting Facebook-branded phones in the near future. More importantly, I discuss whether or not it's even a good idea to begin with.

Digg Overhauls Itself (Again) To Win Back Users (Again)

One of the most public breakups last year was the online hurricane that hit after thousands of Digg users walked out on the then-popular social news curating site.

It must have been a heartbreaking time for the site, watching all of those who had been so loyal storm out and leave Digg for the younger and more exciting Reddit. Sure, Digg tried to win the users back, but for the past few months we've watched Digg slowly decline into the Internet abyss.

Now 5 months after the breakup, Digg is cleaning itself up and getting back on the market. Digg has overhauled its look based on user feedback, updated profile statistics, and opt-in notifications. But just like anyone who changes themselves based on what an ex said just to win them back, it's probably too little too late.

The new features are a nice touch, but the reviews I've seen don't favor Digg all that much. So while the social curating site is struggling to regain the attention of the Internet, it looks like the Internet may just want to stay friends.