Here at Mashwork we have been hearing constant buzz around Netflix’s release of the entire season of House of Cards on February 1st, 2013.  We wanted to fully understand what this “all in one” release meant for conversation over time and how the buzz generated by this show compared to other top TV shows.

We looked at House of Cards, and six other major network TV programs across Twitter to figure out what this strategic move by Netflix really meant for other regularly scheduled TV programs.

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Now, perfumes, clothing lines, books, and magazines are a thing of the past. If you want to connect to your die-hard fans, herd in new members to your personal empire, the online platform seems to be the only way to reach the most people. Here is a preview of a few highly influential people who signed off Facebook and signed on to creating their own platform:

Lady Gaga: Little Monsters

The Queen of Twitter has finally spawned her own child that goes by the name of Little Monsters where everybody can go to talk about one thing: Mother Monster. Lady Gaga has created an invite-only platform that resembles sites like Pinterest and Reddit where users can browse different images, all relating to Gaga. Users can share, comment and vote on different pictures all while having access to some exclusive content from Gaga herself. With such a large and diverse fan base this can be a place for different communities to connect.

Ask for an invite to Little Monsters here: http://littlemonsters.com/

Pharrell: iamOTHER

iamOTHER is an online network that focuses on art of all forms and targets users with creative minds alike. It’s all about being different on this site. In fact, the more unusual you are, the better. iamOTHER uses music, film, television, apparel, tech, and multimedia to let the “others” have a chance to break the mold and the influence others to change the world. Pharrell has recruited an atypical group of people to join his team such as Awkward Black Girl, Nardwuar, Leah LeBelle, Alyssa Brenal, Buddy and Maxine Ashley. For a few good laughs and some pretty interesting content, this site is worth a look.

Check out iamOTHER and it’s featured contributors here: http://iamother.com/

Jermain Dupri: Global 14

Better known as G14, this social media site is for all the hip-hop heads out there who enjoy cars, women, fashion and of course, music. Dupri believes the direction that online sociability is leaning towards “notifying” rather than actual networking. This is a platform more about sharing material and less about talking or an expectation of a response. This site also features about 500 discussion groups on topics from dating and relationships to cooking, education, music and sex. Dupri has taken it upon himself to be there for his new members by actively posting things he finds interesting. Dupri really stresses the point of finding “friends” and people you really connect with and driving traffic to your own personal site. Some celebrities who have gotten on board with Global14 include Mariah Carey, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Nelly, Kelly Rowland, Bow Wow, Monica, Anthony Hamilton, and Kevin Hart.

Check out G14 here: http://global14.com/

The platforms created by these figureheads are a brilliant way to take them off of other sites and bring them onto their own. It is ultimately easier to connect with other members who are just like you and the artist or person themselves. Other well known figures have jumped on the website bandwagon such as Zooey Deschanel, Gweneth Paltrow and Glee’s Dianna Agron.

SO will you be signing up for a membership to any of these social networking sites?

The new Bitly is awesome

Design.

The new design is clean and beautiful. It’s easy to read, easy to navigate, and perhaps most importantly is very responsive. The only issue I have with the design is the placement of the search box and the add new URL box. I think they should be swapped. I want be able to create links quickly on Bitly.com, searching is a secondary feature and should be placed in the upper right hand corner. Not the other way around.

However, that being said, the search is definitely much improved and much quicker than before.

Stats.

The new stats page is great. It’s easy to read and allows you to get a quick snapshot of which links are performing and which aren’t in a matter of seconds. Additionally, the individual stat pages for each link have also been improved, one of the major improvements is the separation of information between you sharing a link and everyone else sharing the same link allowing you to quickly gauge how much traffic you are driving vs everyone else. While Bitly had this information prior to the redesign, it wasn’t presented nearly as well as it is now.

The new Bitly will help you

Social.

One thing people are saying about the new design is that Bitly isn’t a social network, it’s a link shortener. And that’s true. It is a link shortener, but simply being a link shortener isn’t a sustainable business. The new social aspects of Bitly are going to be more awesome than people realize and will really help the company succeed.

Bitly knows which links are popular and are being spread quickly. By looking at the amount of clicks and shares a link is getting Bitly can determine which articles will go viral. In essence, it could be viewed like a realtime Digg.

Additionally, by knowing what types of links you click on, shorten, and the people you follow, Bitly can provide better content recommendations. Just think of the awesome possibilities!

Apps.

The introduction of the iOS Bitly app is just another way for the company to provide content recommendations on the go. The app also features a great way to share the content via Twitter, Facebook, and email making it a one-stop shop for all your reading/viewing and sharing needs.

#1000thingstodobeforeIdie: What is on your bucket list before your time is up? Here are the Top 5 tweets of things to do before people’s expiration date: (Mentioned 659,518 times)

1. Meet __.
(Top 3: One Direction, Justin Beiber and Drake)
2. Go To __.
(Top 3: A particular concert, Paris and a sports game)
3. Marry __.
(Top 3: One Direction, Ryan Gosling and Justin Beiber)
4. Go skydiving
5. Travel the world

Today Wikipedia, Reddit, WordPress, the Cheezburger Network and many other websites have all blacked out their pages in protest of SOPA & PIPA. These two bills are aimed to eliminate piracy on the internet but in turn are receiving negative backlash, being referred to as “censorship” and “the death of the internet”. People are discussing what these bills mean for them on a personal level, but very few are discussing what this means for the marketing industry.

Over the past few years we have entered a digital marketing revolution. Social media marketing, search engine marketing, display advertising, affiliate marketing, email marketing, and digital public relations now make up large portions of many advertisers budgets. If SOPA passes, this will all change.

Here are some potential effects of SOPA on marketers:

SOCIAL MEDIA

SOPA is a huge threat to the existence of social media. While many people claim that large social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are too big to fail, many smaller platforms that have recently excelled in the social world are destined to be shutdown.

One website that is speculated to have major issues moderating SOPA regulations is Tumblr. Tumblr is commonly known to be full of copyright-infringed content such as videos, photos, and of course, animated gifs. Many companies such as Oscar de la Renta and NPR have set-up brilliant Tumblr accounts that have brought a new dimension to their brands. If SOPA passes, it is a good chance that marketers must say goodbye to their Tumblr accounts.

Other social networks often used for marketing that are in jeopardy include Flickr, Vimeo, SoundCloud and Pinterest.

USER GENERATED CONTENT

If SOPA passes, user-generated content will be taboo. Companies and marketers alike will be terrified to allow or utilize user-generated content, out of fear of users posting copyrighted content, making the company’s website liable for such infringement. Currently, user-generated content is responsible for some of the most valuable and intriguing content for brands, particularly on social media.

Facebook has become one of the most prolific platforms for user-generated content. If SOPA does not completely eliminate Facebook, it will most definitely make marketers weary about allowing users to post content to their Facebook walls or running campaigns that encourage such activity.

For instance, Skittles is currently running a campaign called “Fame the Rainbow” where they pick photos that users have posted on the Skittles Facebook Page and add them to their profile picture and make them the “Rainbro of the Week”. Many of these images contain the Skittles logo, packaging, and slogans. If SOPA were to pass as it is now, this campaign would technically be an infringement despite the fact that Skittles is encouraging its users to use trademark material. Facebook could be shut down, Skittles’ Facebook Page could be removed, and the user could be imprisoned for five years. Those are the worst-case scenarios.

DISPLAY ADVERTISING

Many of the websites where marketers spend their display advertising dollars could inevitably be extinct.

YouTube is one of the websites that is highly threatened by SOPA. A large majority of the content that is uploaded infringes on copyrights, despite efforts to moderate such activity. If they are unable to maintain the restrictions placed by the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the current copyright law, then it is doubtful they will be able to maintain the standards necessary to avoid being removed from the internet. YouTube is a major player in display advertising. Marketers spend over $300 million on YouTube per year. Where will all of these advertising dollars go?

Four out of the top five most viewed websites on the internet have actively voiced their hatred for the bill: Google, Facebook, YouTube and Yahoo. It is no secret that they don’t like it because they believe it threatens the existence of their companies. In an unlikely world where all of these websites become obsolete, there will be over $2,000,000,000 in misplaced display advertising dollars.

Of course, these are all hypothetical situations. Be weary of the implications that SOPA & PIPA may have on you and your career. If these legislations do pass, the marketing industry is in store for a major overhaul.

To join the website, go to: http://americancensorship.org.

What is SOPA?

On January 24, 2012 The Stop Online Piracy Act, most commonly referred to as SOPA, will be brought to Congress along with the Protect IP Act, or PIPA. SOPA will allow copyright holders to seek court orders against websites accused of facilitating copyright infringement.

This bill would make the streaming of unauthorized copyrighted material a crime with a penalty of up to five years in jail. Websites prosecuted of violation could be barred from using payment facilitators such as PayPal, blocked from search engines, and requiring Internet providers to block access to the site.

Much of the language included in SOPA is very vague and potentially harmful to those who do not completely understand the implications of the bill.

Who supports and opposes SOPA?
There has been much controversy surrounding the supporters and opponents of the act. The supporters mostly consist of traditional media outlets, associated organizations, and brands that heavily rely on these outlets. The opponents are majorly tech brands and social media websites.

The largest controversy around SOPA supporters occurred on December 22, 2011 when Go Daddy stated that it supported SOPA. This prompted users across the web to boycott the domain hosting, resulting in the loss of 16,000 domains, including all Wikimedia domains. Soon after, Go Daddy rescinded its support.

Here is a brief list of some of the most prominent SOPA Supporters and Opponents:
SOPA Supporters:

• ABC
• CBS
• ESPN
• Viacom
• Comcast
• Disney
• MasterCard
• Marvel
• Estée Lauder
• Nike
• L’Oreal
• Pfizer
• Scholastic
• Visa

SOPA Opponents:

• Google
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flickr
• Yahoo!
• LinkedIn
• Huffington Post
• YouTube
• Amazon
• Ebay
• Wikipedia
• PayPal
• Blogger

Many Internet companies have spoken about a coordinated blackout protest. So far, both Reddit and The Cheezburger Network have both commited to blackout for 12 hours on January 18th. There has been talk about Google, Facebook, Wikipedia and WordPress’s involvement in this blackout but there has been no official statement.

Why support or oppose?

Support:
Yet, is it possible that SOPA is not all bad? SOPA’s primary goal is protect intellectual property, and in turn protect jobs and revenues for those who legally own such property. Many claim that this will actually help American jobs in the long run because more individuals will be encouraged to generate new writings, research, product and services. This concept of job creation is debatable at best. Yet, what is not debatable is that many organizations that are threatened by piracy employ millions of people.

Another argument in support of SOPA is the protection against counterfeit drugs. Pfizer spokesman, John Clark explains that consumers cannot distinguish the difference between legitimate and counterfeit online pharmacies. This portion of the law would support laws by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Controlled Substance Act that make it illegal to ship prescription drugs from foreign pharmacies.

Oppose:
It is said that SOPA is an act of censorship and is the death of the internet as we know it. Critics say that it is a true violation of the American spirit, a major violation of the first amendment and a “cure that is worse than the disease”.

SOPA would have drastic effects on everyone’s favorite social networks. Websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Tumblr will have to monitor every item posted on their website to ensure that none of these posts contain copyright infringement. For example, YouTube could be shut down if someone uploads a pirated music video. It is inevitable that many of these websites will fail if SOPA is passed.

Critics of the bill believe that it is a large threat to all web-related business. It is also said to greatly threaten the involvement of venture capitalists because of increased hesitance due to possible legal liabilities. In an interview done by Booz & Company, 100% of venture capitalists and angel investors said they would stop funding digtal companies if SOPA passes. Between the websites that will be shut down due to violations, the websites that will be unable to survive the increased cost of business due to regulating all content, and the debilitating nature of beginning a new web based business, SOPA could be the devastating end to the tech industry.

In conclusion
None of us can be sure exactly what will result from this bill on the off chance that is passed. It is believed that if the bill passes through congress, that the White House will not approve it.

To stay updated about SOPA news follow us on Twitter & Like us on Facebook!

Facebook Timeline

Last Tuesday Facebook began rolling out Facebook Timeline, a new layout that Mark Zuckerberg describes as “the story of your life”. Facebook Timeline was released to developers back in September, but due to a law suit from Timelines.com, Facebook has been held up in court and unable to release the new layout to the general population of users. The new layout rollout began in New Zealand, and will soon be appearing throughout the rest of the world. Users will have a 7-day review period where they will be able to keep their new layout private or opt to update to Timeline.

If history repeats itself, it is very possible that this new layout will cause uproar amongst the social community. In the past, layout changes have resulted in groups demanding the “old Facebook” back, and some people to even deactivate their accounts. Yet, realistically, can anyone even remember what the previous Facebook layout looks like at this point?

Twitter Brand Pages & Redesign

Twitter has (finally) launched brand pages, following in the footsteps of both Facebook and Google+. These brand pages have been temporarily rolled out exclusively to a handful of companies such as Dell, Coca-Cola, American Express and Nike, but will eventually be available for free to all companies. The Twitter brand pages contain features such as a header, the ability to lock a tweet at the top of their time line, and separate @ replies and mentions from the tweets which the company’s messaging. This will hopefully improve brand relations with Twitter and encourage them to utilize Twitter’s advertising platforms, thus monetizing Twitter to the potential it has failed to reach in the past. These brand pages are only visible to those who have the new Twitter layout.

Twitter has also released a new design for users that simplifies and streamlines Twitter, making it more attractive and increasing usability. Twitter expects that this redesign will attract new users and make it easier for them to use. Twitter’s new layout is being rolled out randomly across twitter users.

Google+’s Schemer

Google+ announced on December 8^th that they will be launching a new product called Schemer. Schemer can best be described as Google+’s location based social networking with a mischievous mustache. It allows you to scheme with your friends and plan activities that you would like to do, such as “go skydiving” or “visit every Starbucks in Manhattan”. It also allows you to say whether you’ve done things or if you would like to do them. Schemer will even suggest new schemes to you based on your interests and schemes you’ve done in the past. Schemer is partnered with dozens of “accomplices” such as Bravo, Idealist, National Geographic, Rolling Stone and Zagat. Schemer is said to be an attack on Foursquare, the same way that Google+ was meant to be an attack on Facebook. Right now the website is still in beta, but you can request an invite from Schemer.com.

It’s the holiday season of 2004, and my father sits in his office at the Credit Suisse First Boston building in Madison Square Park.  As he reviews a loan proposal for a plot of land off the coast of California, an intern knocks on his door.  He is holding about 10 giftwrapped boxes in his arms and hands one to my father.  He opens the gift to find the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, which has been distributed to everyone in the office by his boss and senior manager of the commercial real estate division of CSFB.  Inside the cover is a hand-written note that reads  “Happy Holidays. Hope this book will inspire you to think outside the box.”

This Friday, film-adaption of the book will hit theaters.  The movie will open the door for boyfriends, who want an inside look at one of the most revolutionary ideas to hit America’s pastime in the past 20 years, to feel comfortable going to a sports movie with their girlfriends, who just want a look at Brad Pitt.  But let’s not undervalue what this story means to business in general, not just baseball.

The irony of my father’s boss handing him that book is that banks such as CSFB were thinking out-of-the-box at the time.  They were selling deregulated derivatives and creating high-risk mortgage loans and slapping AAA ratings on them.  But this type of “out-of-the-box” thinking led to the worst economic crisis in recent years.  This probably was not the message Moneyball was promoting.

Maybe that is why more recent graduates are jumping on David’s side instead of Goliath, steering clear of over-exposed “traditional” companies, and choosing to start their careers at lesser known start-ups and small businesses.  People are attracted to the sexiness of new, unconventional ideas.

If marketers learn anything from Moneyball, it’s that as much as the old guard may resist change, out-of-the-box thinking is the way of the future.   And while companies are allotting more budget to Facebook contests and Google Ad Words, are these efforts really enough to put you on the forefront of ever-changing markets?

The Oakland Athletics were successful in the same way Zynga has earned $500 million for pioneering social gaming; consumers want to be a part of businesses that are on the front lines of thinking.  While CEOs do not need to bet the company on emerging technologies, they would be ill advised to omit investing in innovation.  A brand that scraps conventional ideas is one that consumers will be eager to associate with.  I think Billy Beane would agree with that.

Which other, lesser-known companies do you think are emerging to lead the way in innovation?

On September 22^nd, Facebook is expected to announce the launch of their first major music service.  The rumors of this service have been floating around the Internet since mid-August.  Partnering with Spotify, MOG, and Rdio, the company, now valued at close to $65 billion, will most likely make the announcement at their annual f8 developers’ conference.

This announcement caps off a huge summer for music and social media.  Facebook setting up a platform for music providers was inevitable.  In fact, do not be surprised to see video content sharing on your Facebook home page in the near future.  But while Facebook’s giant IPO casts a shadow over all social media, we cannot forget about two other key players in the summer of digital music, Spotify and Turntable.fm.

While Spotify has been in existence since 2008, the Swedish-founded music streaming service really made a splash when they launched their US based service in mid-July.  Users could not simply just download the service; they had to be invited to do so by either Spotify or a current Spotify user.  Sounds eerily familiar to a popular social media site previously mentioned in this blog post.

And then there was Turntable.fm, the little company that came out of nowhere to take the Internet by storm.  Turntable.fm allows users to take their avatars into listening rooms where they can listen to music, chat with other listeners, vote on songs, and even DJ with 4 other users.  The service recently launched a smartphone app (and landed $7 million in investment funding).  With artists (or rather artists’ avatars) such as Talib Kweli, The Roots, and Sir Mix-a-Lot frequenting their listening rooms, the company could turn into the Twitter of digital music.

Summer 2011 belongs to digital music. And social media was smart enough to enjoy the ride.  Let’s also not forget that Pandora went public.  Any forward thinking company would be well off to jump on the bandwagon before it becomes oversaturated.

Who do you think will be the next company to embrace digital music/social media?

Given the popularity and frequency at which social/mobile applications emerge, we’ve reached a point where it’s assumed that when a new platform is introduced, opportunities for marketers to leverage the platform should be in place at launch. In theory, this makes sense: after all, the only thing you need to do to generate a potential lead on Facebook is to click that “like” button. Of course, debates still rage on as to whether or not Facebook users are truly actively engaged with brand pages, but in theory, this has become a universal truth.

To read the full story written by our CEO Jared Feldman on Media Post, click here.