For those of you who didn't know, Wikipedia launched its own search engine, Wikia Search, in January of this year to very mixed reviews.
The site, similar to Wikipedia in that it relies on user generated content didn't launch with the expected celebration everyone expected; as for the most part it has arrived largerly un-noticed.
Its founder Jimmy Wales has however been quick to come to the company's defence as because it relies on content from its users he believes 'like a fine wine, it will get better as time goes by and more and more people contribute'.
I guess we shall just have to wait and see whether this is the case or not.
Friday, 8 February 2008
MySpace leads the way in Social Responsibility
MySpace claims to have 'made their site safer for kids' by introducing age guidelines and building in parental controls which means that its going to give parents access to an email registry to block their kids from receiving unsolicited emails and content.
This on the surface of it seems to be a very noble move by the social networking giant however its widely thought that there are underlying business decisions behind the move. Making the site more socially responsible, and reducing the amount of negative press surrounding the site will make the site more attractive to the business market. Many have until now shyed away from a presence on the site for this very reason.
It will be interesting to see once the dust settles on this new strategy whether there will be a flock of brands staking a place on MySpace.
This on the surface of it seems to be a very noble move by the social networking giant however its widely thought that there are underlying business decisions behind the move. Making the site more socially responsible, and reducing the amount of negative press surrounding the site will make the site more attractive to the business market. Many have until now shyed away from a presence on the site for this very reason.
It will be interesting to see once the dust settles on this new strategy whether there will be a flock of brands staking a place on MySpace.
China catches up with the west online
Many may view China as a backwater for the internet, with its population being denied access to its information for the vast majority of its existance, however this has changed dramatically and will continue to do so in the future.
China's use and influence on the internet has outstripped any other country over the past year and looks certain to do so for the foreseeable future. In fact every month is like seven UK years, which is a phenominal statistic.
What is evident though is that the way that China's 1.3 billion population utilise the internet is very different from the west, and marketing messages have to be very different than when communicating with a western consumer. If a brand wants a relationship with a chinese consumer they need to understand the business etiquette and the concept of 'face'.
Face is the perception of reputation, respect an honour - all very important aspects of Chinese society. Its the key to personal relationships and is something that must be at the forefront of a brand's thinking when planning marketing communications.
Its vitally important to have local knowledge when dealing with the Chinese market, which is why Organic Digital has partnered with one of Shanghai's leading digital marketing specialists to help clients achieve the goals in the Chinese market. E-mail us at grow@organicdigital.co.uk for more information.
China's use and influence on the internet has outstripped any other country over the past year and looks certain to do so for the foreseeable future. In fact every month is like seven UK years, which is a phenominal statistic.
What is evident though is that the way that China's 1.3 billion population utilise the internet is very different from the west, and marketing messages have to be very different than when communicating with a western consumer. If a brand wants a relationship with a chinese consumer they need to understand the business etiquette and the concept of 'face'.
Face is the perception of reputation, respect an honour - all very important aspects of Chinese society. Its the key to personal relationships and is something that must be at the forefront of a brand's thinking when planning marketing communications.
Its vitally important to have local knowledge when dealing with the Chinese market, which is why Organic Digital has partnered with one of Shanghai's leading digital marketing specialists to help clients achieve the goals in the Chinese market. E-mail us at grow@organicdigital.co.uk for more information.
Sony Pictures looks to Facebook to launch new Rambo film
Sony Pictures have teamed up with digital agency Spinnaker to develop a Facebook application for the new Rambo film due to be released on the 22nd of February. It will form part of a full digital campaign covering a number of mediums.
Many of the big brands have decided to take advantage of Facebook's increasing popularity, creating applications solely for use on Facebook. It is currently the only large scale social networking site that allows third party developers to add custom applications to their site; something that has opened up a huge number of opportunities for brands to interact with their target markets through this social network.
With an estimated 62 million active users from across the world, you can't blame companies for taking advantage of this exposure. The good news is though that this opportunity isn't just available to the big names, companies of any size can do the same, as long as their applications are deemed acceptable for inclusion by Facebook.
Many of the big brands have decided to take advantage of Facebook's increasing popularity, creating applications solely for use on Facebook. It is currently the only large scale social networking site that allows third party developers to add custom applications to their site; something that has opened up a huge number of opportunities for brands to interact with their target markets through this social network.
With an estimated 62 million active users from across the world, you can't blame companies for taking advantage of this exposure. The good news is though that this opportunity isn't just available to the big names, companies of any size can do the same, as long as their applications are deemed acceptable for inclusion by Facebook.
Big brands monitor social networking
The Yell Group, including Yellow Pages, Yell.com and 118247, has joined the growing band of big names tracking how their brand is being discussed in blogs, podcasts, online videos, photo-generating sites and social network sites. There is no doubting the influence such media can have on a brand's image and a number of big names have realised this to their cost recently.
Tracking discussions of their brand, what is being said and who is likely to see the comment can produce some valuable information, and can help brands to evaluate marketing and even handle crisis situations.
The company helping the Yell Group track this activity is London based Prompt Communications - www.prompt-communications.com
Tracking discussions of their brand, what is being said and who is likely to see the comment can produce some valuable information, and can help brands to evaluate marketing and even handle crisis situations.
The company helping the Yell Group track this activity is London based Prompt Communications - www.prompt-communications.com
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Welcome to our Blog
Welcome to the Organic Digital blog. We have added this feature to our website as we, as independent consultants, wanted the freedom to comment on news and new technology in the digital industry, so we thought what would be better than a blog?
We'll post regular news from the industry, adding our comments along the way which we hope will be of interest to you.
We'll post regular news from the industry, adding our comments along the way which we hope will be of interest to you.
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