Updates from February, 2009

• WOM Ethics Arrive to Japanese Blogs
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 11:26 am on February 27, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: WOM Ethics (72)

  As recently as 2007, it was reported that there existed more Japanese language blogs than English language blogs in the world, at the rate of 37 percent Japanese language to 34 percent English language.
  That was in 2007, and with 26+ million Japanese blogs, it put the Japanese language as the #1 choice blogging language in the world.
  Today, in Tokyo, “Shige Ota, a founding member of WOM Japan and the president of Japanese public relations firm Bilcom, explained that the organisation would hold a ’study meeting’ including 100 selected member agencies, IT companies and alpha bloggers, as a preliminary step to establishing guidelines for blogger marketing.”
  In conjunction with WOMMA’s Ethics Code, Ota expanded that, “We will need to localise the guidelines. Japanese blogging culture is very different…An agency should not order bloggers to write specific content. This is very negative for the entire industry.”

  The full story at Brand Republic: Asia:
  http://www.brandrepublic.asia/Media/Newsarticle/2009_02/WOM-Japan-to-introduce-ethics-code-for-blogger-marketing/34533
  

   

• Just Trying to Do Someone a Favor, and This Happens
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 11:23 am on February 27, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: Brands and WOM (389)

  Jason Roe, Irish freelance web designer/developer, was poking around on Ryanair’s website when he found an interesting usability bug which “allowed users to obtain a 0.00 charge for their flights.”
  In short, Roe found a trick to fly for free.
  Roe was quick to point out that he did not complete any transactions at the steep cost of £0.00, but did think it was relevant that someone from Ryanair should know of the error and perhaps even work to rectify the problem.
  The response he received from Ryanair was unbelievably bizarre, and incredibly, brazenly, rude:
  jason!
  you’re an idiot and a liar!! fact is!
  you’ve opened one session then another and requested a page meant for a different session, you are so stupid you dont even know how you did it!…
  It goes on like this. Check out the full post, replete with shameless Ryanair comments: at http://www.jason-roe.com/blog/free-ryanair-free-flight-bug/.

  The full story at Jason Roe:
  http://www.jason-roe.com/blog/free-ryanair-free-flight-bug/
  

   

• So Close, and Yet So Far Away
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 11:23 am on February 27, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: WOM How-to (382)

  Over on Parramatta Road in Sydney, Australia, certain innumerable riches line a billboard. But you can’t touch them.
  In a concept created by the Glue Society, and in a contest to drive buzz for the Australian Outdoor Awards, “the Outdoor Media Association is giving away a grand prize of 10,000 one-dollar stratchies (scratch-to-win lotto tickets) — all of which are currently being used to wallpaper a billboard over Sydney’s Parramatta Rd.”
  Those out-of-reach scratch tickets can yield cash prizes up to $20,000 (AUS), so it’s no small chunk of change that languishes on the Sydney billboard.
  A billboard truck also drove around Sydney for 36 days to drive up WOM about the Australian Outdoor Awards, and by this point, it’s a sure thing that Aussies are ready to start scratching those tickets.
  If you’re close by to Parramatta Road, and are feeling lucky, take a trip over. But, be warned: “There’s an armed guard standing watch 24/7 in the event some yahoo comes bearing a ladder in pursuit of some luck.”

  The full story at Adrants:
  http://www.adrants.com/2009/02/by-the-time-you-get-those-golden.php
  

   

• Cyworld Sells
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 11:23 am on February 27, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: WOM Trends (540)

  This is mightily impressive: more than 90 percent of South Koreans in their 20s, and more than one-third of the entire population of South Koreans, are registered users of Cyworld.
  Cyworld is doing what Facebook is only trying to do: breaking even, and merging online shopping and social networking.
  Part of the reason seems to be the market that Cyworld is dealing in. As opposed to majority of the rest of the world, Google does not have a major market share in South Korea. It is no coincidence that, as well, South Koreans generally do not prefer simplistic, pared down websites, like Google’s homepage. Instead content-rich, media-dense sites pique South Korean interest. Cyworld fits that bill.
  PluGGd.in has a great analysis of the reasons for Cyworld’s success at their piece linked below.

  The full story at PluGGd.in:
  http://www.pluggd.in/technology/cyworld-unique-social-networking-revenue-model-3771/
  

   

• Facebook? No. MySpace? No. Qzone? Yes.
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 11:23 am on February 27, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: WOM and Social Networks (491), WOM Trends (540)

  Wait, what’s Qzone you ask?
  “The site, part of the larger Tencent internet portal, claims to have had more than 200 million monthly active users in January, according to China Web2.0 Review (a translated version of the release is also available at the Web2Asia blog). Facebook, otherwise considered the largest social network in the world, self-reported 175 million monthly active users earlier in February.”
  If this self-reported number is to be believed, then in fact, Qzone is the largest social network in the world. We were surprised too.
  VentureBeat points out that web traffic analysis is quite poor, and that Chinese investors generally don’t trust third party analytics based in China. Head to VentureBeat and dive into the investigation there.

  The full story at VentureBeat:
  http://venturebeat.com/2009/02/24/who-can-get-the-bigger-social-network-china-or-everywhere-else-combined/
  

   

• Mommy Bloggers as Corporate Sponsors
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 12:38 pm on February 26, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  

  Lindsay Ferrier, a self-proclaimed mommy blogger, had dinner with a group of mommy bloggers while attending the Blissdom blogging conference a few weeks back. It was at this point that Lindsay realized that these women were part of the new line of blogging moms. This new breed of bloggers are women who are as focused on marketing themselves and their blogs to advertisers and corporate sponsors as they are on their blog’s actual content. Lindsay wants to know, does shameless self-promotion, product integration, and sponsor-hunting on mom blogs turn you off, or is it all just part of the game?

  The full story at Suburban Turmoil:
  http://suburbanturmoil.blogspot.com/2009/02/mommyblogging-20-its-not-what-it-used.html
  

   

• Rethinking the Notion of Twitter ROI
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 12:38 pm on February 26, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  

  Pete Blackshaw wants to know, what is the bigger idea: social media as marketing stimulus or social media as a way to innovate business processes? According to Pete, brand managers and CMO’s alike should recognize that it’s both. Brands including Ford, Comcast, Toyota, Southwest, Sony, Denny’s and others are testing new models of customer service on platforms such as Twitter that, under the old “enterprise” rules, would have cost millions to launch or even test. It’s not that everything’s cheap, but the barriers to low-cost learning have plummeted.

  The full story at Ad Age:
  http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=134878
  

   

• Member News
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 12:38 pm on February 26, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  

  Crimson Hexigon’s new white paper, “Listen, Understand, Act: How a listening platform provides actionable insight” is now available in WOMMA’s Member Center. The white paper explores the importance of social media marketing during a tough economic period.
  SheSpeaks, the leading social network for women’s insights and word-of-mouth marketing, announced that the company has grown its membership more than 230% in 2008, and this membership base reaches 12 million consumers through their personal networks.
  Toronto-based integrated marketing agency, Espresso, is pleased to announce the appointment of two talents to the organization: Chrissy Chrzan joins Espresso and its creative department in the newly developed Digital Strategist position. Chrzan was formerly a Word of Mouth Program Leader at Agent Wildfire. Lindsay Blair Holder is Espresso’s new Junior Copywriter. Holder is a recent graduate of Seneca’s Corporate Communications program and the University of Western Ontario.
  The audio and presentation deck of yesterday’s WOM Wednesday Webinar, Talk @ or Talk 2.0: Conversations That Matter, is now available in the WOMMA Member Center. If you missed it, login to hear Molly Flatt, WOM evangelist at 1000heads, discuss why brands are in danger of alienating the very consumers they want to engage with, by using social media to talk at them, rather than listening and collaborating with them in new ways.
  On February 24, over 50 WOMMA members discussed WOMMA’s comments to the FTC Guide Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. If you missed it, log into the members only Member Center to listen to the call.

   

• Creating Email as ShareMail
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 12:38 pm on February 26, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  

  Given that social-network usage is becoming a standard part of the Internet user’s day worldwide, making your emails shareworthy can be an additional means of engaging and adding value to your subscribers. Loren McDonald, vice president of industry relations for email service provide Silverpop, explores some design and content ideas that can lead to increased sharing.

  The full story at MediaPost:
  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=101055
  

   

• Social Media Sites Contain Rich Fields of Customer Insight
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 12:38 pm on February 26, 2009 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  

  As companies experiment with customer engagement through social media, they’re discovering how much they can learn by mining the valuable nuggets of data and feedback from these channels. In fact, in a recent survey “New Media, New Influencers and Implications for Public Relations,” from The Society of New Communications Research, 57 percent of respondents said social media is more valuable today to their marketing activities, while 27 percent reported that social media is the core element to their social media strategy.

  The full story at 1to1 Media:
  http://www.1to1media.com/View.aspx?DocId=31414