Prepare yourselves for battle, because as social media grows, PR battles will be continually grow harder to control. This is a fact that video game developer and publisher TellTale Games found out Monday to their chagrin.
It all started innocently enough with a self-post on the popular social aggregator Reddit. User Boomerjinks (which I’m going to go out on a limb and say isn’t his real name), accused TellTale games of breach of contract after using his semi-famous internet Jurassic Jeep. You can read the full accusation here, along with update. It didn’t take long for the internet to get up in arms about a movie-themed Jeep with minor cosmetic damage. Users on Reddit quickly picked up their digital pitchforks and torches, and started what they thought was their white knight gallantry. Some merely emailed the company saying their purchase decision had been swayed by the negative impression the received by the post, while others took to harassing TellTale employees over phone, Facebook, and email.
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A year ago if you had asked most of my friends their opinion of Netflix, they would have bestowed heaps of platitudes upon the DVD/streaming company. These days, you mention the company around many of my tech savvy friends, and you’ll be greeted by looks of disappointment, and in some cases vitriol. How does a company go from beloved to pitied and by some hated? Through a series of marketing missteps that could have easily been avoided.
Marketing Mishap #1: Splitting Plans and Raising Prices
I shall regard this as “First World Problems Day”. The amount of bitching and moaning that went on because of a price increase due to the splitting of the direct to mail DVD and streaming services, was amazing. We’ve seen a near collapse of our financial system here in the U.S., but I saw 100x the response when Netflix raised prices. Kind of shows where our priorities are doesn’t it?
So, what was the problem? Well, Netflix announced they would be splitting the plans, and charging new amounts for both. Before, for $10 you could have 1 DVD out at a time, and unlimited streaming. For people used to $5 rentals from Blockbuster in the 90s, it was a great deal. In July, Netflix told it’s customers it was time to cough up a bit more dough. The streaming plan starts at $8/month and 1 DVD out a month will cost you an additional $8/month. The 60% price raise caught many people by surprise, and created a lot of negative press for the company.
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Yesterday, my Twitter feed was swarming with people commenting about the “all new” iPhone 4S. The tweets were varied, some praising Apple for their foresight, some just happy to see a few new features on their phone of choice, and many others responded with a resounding “meh”.
First off, I have to give credit where credit is due. The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone out there, but it certainly was the one that revolutionized it. Sure, touchscreen style smartphones had been gradually making their way onto the market, but Apple was the first one to have a dedicated push, and revolutionize it with solid apps. I’m sure many would be surprised just how primitive the first iPhone would look these days, but no one can deny that without it’s launch we wouldn’t be enjoying the plethora of phones at our grasp today.
That being said, this was probably the worst iPhone launch yet. Many expected a radical change in the iPhone, something that would continue to push the market. Instead, the phone seemed more of a response to competitors, rather than a one-up. So, what are the new features?
- Dual-core A5 processor – With the new upgrade in power Apple is put on an even playing field with many new smartphone devices that have come out this previous summer. The chipset is similar to the one in the larger iPad2. Apple claims that it is up to 7x faster than its current model, the 4G.
- Siri – The voice activated personal assistant who will retrieve certain data. Apple claims that you can actually hold a conversation with your iPhone. So, if you are short on friends, just buy a 4GS!
- Updated Camera – New 8-megapixel camera that is faster, and has a larger aperture. Think how much better those pictures you take of yourself in the mirror will look!
- Faster Download Speeds – Still stuck on 3G, but faster than the previous iteration.
- New Apps – Cards the app I saw everyone going crazy over. It allows you to have cards printed of your iPhone photos. I’m really trying to understand why people are so excited about this, but maybe it is because I don’t ever give greeting cards to people? For a digital platform, it seems kind of backwards.
- Notifications – Remember the notifications Android has had for years now? You can finally have that on iPhone too! Yeah, I know, when I heard I went and high-fived everyone I saw, because of how excited I am.
So, as you can see, no design changes, minimal changes to the OS, and upgrades that just move Apple even with the competition. Despite this, the Apple iPhone 4GS is possibly one of the best smartphones on the market, it just doesn’t have as much of a wow factor as previous releases.
What do you think Apple could have done better? Let us know in the comments!
You know something big is going on, when Twitter discussion is dominated by discussion of another social network. Currently my Twitter feed is filled with thousands of comments discussing the recent changes on Facebook, and the upcoming changes currently being discussed at Facebook’s f8 Developer’s Conference. With sweeping changes, it is no surprise that Facebook is the talk of the town. Only yesterday everyone was complaining about the new features of Facebook (which surprisingly I liked this time). Well, now get prepared to be inundated with even more statuses of how Facebook has single-handedly ruined someone’s life because of some changes.
Cue the latest splash Facebook is making in the world of social media, this time with their aptly named Facebook Timeline. The name explains itself pretty well, every embarrassing thing you’ve ever put on Facebook is now available in an easy to use timeline! So, now that awful racial joke you happened to post back in 2006 can be accessed by any future political opponent easily. In all seriousness, there is some great uses to it as well. Let’s look a few of the changes:
- Timeline – This new function is probably the biggest change to social media. It creates a timeline of your life by using existing Facebook items (and items you can add later) and creates a timeline of the most important things going on in your life. It is something better viewed than explained. My timeline will probably consist of my most important life events, like haircuts, not going to the prom, and watching re-runs of Buffy. (I lead an exciting life.)
- Reports – Just an expansion on your Timeline. The reports can be compiled for months or for years, meaning you can see the important events in a friends life in a certain month or a year. I have no witty comment for this, because frankly it scares me too much.
- Photo Headers – Not to confuse with your profile picture, which you still have, but a new photo that tops your profile. This photo can be anything, well anything you could post on Facebook (this isn’t 4chan folks). Doesn’t have to be important, just whatever you feel in the mood for. Want to highlight a spot of photography you did last weekend? Want to show everyone how cute of a dog you have? Have a rash that you can’t identify? OK, so maybe that last one isn’t what should be used for, although I guess they can’t stop you.
- Social App Integration – Add app boxes onto your profile which keep your friends updated on every freakin’ move you’ve ever made. Want someone to know what you are cooking? (I’m not going to make the obvious Rock joke here, this isn’t 2001.) Want to show everyone your superior musical tastes? Want everybody to know that you are patient enough to watch a whole documentary? You can do this all through social app integration through Facebook partners like Netflix, Spotify, and more! (No, they aren’t collecting your data? Why would you ask such a silly thing? They’d never betray your trust like that!)
- Integration of Google + – Haha….just kidding. Those two will be fighting to the death. Which could make a semi-interesting reality TV special. Have each side choose their champion, and the winner takes all? Too primitive? You’re right, they need to do it on a cyber platform…..
OK, got a little sidetracked there. No matter how you look at this, Facebook is pushing for innovation within social media. I can’t help but think some of this was spurred by the competition of Google finally launching a social media platform that could compete if Facebook makes a major misstep. Competition in the market is always a good thing, and now I’ll sit back and wait to see what Google has up their sleeves to trump this. Things could get interesting, let’s just sit back and enjoy the show while all our data is harvested for money.
The internet is beginning to feel a lot like high school to me. The cool kids have their cliques on Twitter, and the trends move so fast its hard for someone who isn’t absolutely absorbed in the world to keep up. Thankfully, the world of social media is one I understand much better than the social hierarchy which took place in the halls of my high school. The latest trend is search juggernaut Google’s latest foray into the world of social media, Google+.
As many people may or may not remember, Google has already tried to carve out a chunk of the social media pie before. Unfortunately, their last attempt, Buzz, failed miserably due to a number of privacy issues that the company did not see as a problem. Add in the fact that the service had little to no innovation attached to it, and had nothing actually “buzz”-worthy about it to create any type of shift or impact in social media.
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