Archive for the ‘media’ Category

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Badgeville CEO Kris Duggan on Loyalty, Game Mechanics, and Launching at TechCrunch Disrupt

Oct 29, 2010 Author: Esteban Contreras | Filed under: analytics, brand, business, creativity, entrepreneurship, featured, gaming, innovation, interview, marketing, media, social media, social networking

Kris Duggan is the CEO of Badgeville, a social rewards and analytics platform. The company was officially announced at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt event, where it won the “Audience Choice Award.”

1. What’s the story of Badgeville and what’s your vision for the company?

We make it possible for any web or mobile publisher to reward users for behaviors that align with business metrics — site visits, pages read, photos uploaded, comments posted, links shared, and more. From the very beginning we wanted to design a clean API and turnkey widgets that could track and reward any behavior that occurs on a web or mobile site. We always wanted to include elements of game mechanics, but didn’t want to just add a game layer on top of a website. Instead, we see our offering as an interactive and real-time loyalty program.

Our vision for the company, which is largely a reality right now, is to partner with customers across many different verticals (publishing, travel, education, health/fitness, retail/ecommerce, and other sites with some community aspect) and continue to innovate in helping web managers increase user engagement and loyalty.

2. How would you define “engagement” on the web and why is it so important to have highly engaged audiences?

“Engagement” on the web means different things for different sites. For one site, engagement may be based on how many times a user returns to a site to shop for a product, and how long they spend on that site. For another site “engagement” might mean how many videos a user uploads to a community, or how many “liked” comments he posts. For any site, it’s imperative to have highly engaged audiences. Many quality sites obtain a certain level of traffic through SEO and other techniques to pull visitors into the site, but once they’re at the site, how do you keep them around and coming back? Adding social reward mechanisms to a site provides a quick and easy way to increase engagement in line with any web manager’s business metrics.

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2,515 Comments

The Social Network: 10 Things I Liked and 10 Things I Disliked

Oct 2, 2010 Author: Esteban Contreras | Filed under: facebook, film, media, pop culture, social media, social networking

I just watched The Social Network, a fictional movie about Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, based on Ben Mezrich’s book “The Accidental Billionaires.” Below are some of the things I liked, some of the things I disliked, and a few final thoughts.

Liked:

10. I laughed every time the Winklevoss Twins were referred to as “The Winkelvii.”
9. The entire cast did a great job of creating believable and likeable characters.
8. About 30% of the movie is accurate, making some of the basic facts of the movie.. well, facts.
7. The scene in which Mark goes up to Case Capital (Sequoia): showing up late and wearing pajamas.
6. The movie can be enjoyed by anyone.
5. The music is great. Nice job Trent Reznor.
4. Many of the geeky computer moments, including the FaceMash hacks, were pretty realistic. I’m glad there were no ridiculous computer scenes a la “Hackers” and “The Net.”
3. The movie is based on a fantastic book you really need to read: “The Accidental Billionaires.”
2. The dialogue (aka conversations, ha!) is awesome. Just like the book, you get hooked from the very beginning.
1. This amazingly well shot, directed, and written movie is about Facebook, and that shows just how culturally relevant Facebook has become.

Disliked:

10. The Winklevii are really only a footnote in the history of Facebook. The movie, and the book, augment their relevance a bit too much.
9. There are too many stereotypes. Geeks are portrayed as loser-jerks without vision. Girls are portrayed as dumb objects. Ivy League students are portrayed as sex-crazed, shallow, and arrogant intellectuals.
8. About 70% of the movie is inaccurate, making most of the conversations in the movie completely false.
7. The scene in which Mark goes up to… Case Capital?? What the? Why make the movie about Mark and Facebook, shoot it in Harvard, and then fictionalize names of companies like Sequoia?
6. The movie can be enjoyed by anyone.
5. I only noticed the music because I wanted to notice it.
4. The most important moment in Facebook history was when it went live for the first time, but it seemed like that moment took less than 5 seconds in the movie. Hmm…
3. Many of the best parts of The Accidental Billionaires, including the ending, didn’t make it into the movie.
2. As great as Mark’s lines in the movie are, the movie turns Mark into something he clearly is not. There should be a big disclaimer at the beginning of the film expressing just how fictional it is.
1. The movie is about Facebook, but Aaron Sorkin is not even on it. Which is enough indication that the movie is only kind of about Facebook, without truly respecting the unstoppable awesomeness and world changing web site/platform that Facebook really is. Not cool that Sorkin can so boldly take advantage of Facebook without actually using it.

Final thoughts:

The Social Network is a great movie that I really enjoyed and highly recommend. However, it seems to have been brought to life by people that just don’t get it. Sure, it’s great entertainment, great filmmaking, and great acting, but without Mark’s name on it and without it being about Facebook, no one would’ve cared about it. The movie will be successful in huge part by osmosis, but it unfortunately does not really comprehend or share the big picture beyond the e-mails, the lawsuits, and the Hollywood fluff: Facebook was (and is) a brilliant idea that was brilliantly executed with a brilliant vision, resulting in one of the most brilliant companies on Earth.

1,796 Comments

It’s Time to Unbrand Personal Branding (A Rant)

Sep 4, 2010 Author: Esteban Contreras | Filed under: advertising, brand, business, marketing, media, personal branding, social media

I have a few problems with “Personal Branding.” I’ve read a lot about the topic and the recommendations provided are all pretty good. Things like creating a blog, signing up to services all over the web, tweeting, podcasting, commenting, getting a yourname.com, checking-in, speaking at conferences, creating content, connecting on LinkedIn, name dropping, making fun of MySpace, etc.

I’ve done most of these things myself and they’ve all been helpful. I wouldn’t be a Social Media Manager if I hadn’t tried all of these. More importantly, doing them has been a fun and rewarding learning experience.

Still, I don’t like that ”personal branding” is sometimes sold as a roadmap to success. It’s sold as a way to make money and become a micro-celebrity. Celebrities are often associated with “personal branding,” as if the average person could ever be Oprah. I’m sorry but Oprah doesn’t need Twitter to be Oprah and if she wrote a book about success, I doubt she would start with “How To Tweet Your Way to Success.” The fact is Oprah happens to be a nice likeable lady that worked like crazy for many many years.

Another thing I don’t like when I read about “personal branding” is that they often fail to mention that actual branding at companies includes a heck of a lot more than just doing social media marketing. Sure, anyone can grab a marketing book and say “see, you can do all of these things, starting with the 4 P’s.” Again, just like with Oprah, McDonald’s did not become McDonald’s over night.

Please don’t get me wrong, I have huge respect for anyone that has ever written about the topic and I know their intentions are probably good (I myself try to share what I’ve learned about and in social media and would love to be able to even start writing a book some day).

My really big problem with “personal branding” is… the term itself. People don’t need to be more like brands. Brands need to be more like people. (more…)

995 Comments

Guide to Samsung Galaxy Tab Initial Web Reactions and First TV Commercial

Sep 2, 2010 Author: Esteban Contreras | Filed under: advertising, android, apps, business, creativity, innovation, marketing, media, mobile, pop culture, samsung, social media, technology

The Samsung Galaxy Tab was unveiled today at IFA in Berlin. As Samsung USA‘s Social Media Manager, I’m a bit biased about all things Samsung (and Android in general), but I’ve seen the Galaxy Tab myself and it is truly an impressive device. I’ll keep sharing my thoughts on Twitter @SamsungEsteban & @SocialNerdia, but here are links to initial reactions from around the web so you read some previews/reviews and watch some videos/photos.

Stay tuned to @SamsungTweets and facebook.com/samsungusa for the latest news about the Galaxy Tab in the U.S.

Disclaimer: While I am employed by Samsung, the views expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of Samsung.

1,937 Comments

OMG: Samsung Galaxy Tab is Coming Soon

Aug 24, 2010 Author: Esteban Contreras | Filed under: android, gadgets, innovation, media, samsung, social media, video, YouTube

The Galaxy Tab is very real. I’ve personally played with this amazing device and it blew me away. Yes, I work for Samsung so I’m a bit biased, but as a geek and Android fan I can tell you that I’m extremely excited. And based on today’s hundreds of awesome tweets to @SamsungTweets, it is obvious that there are many out there who share the excitement.

Here’s a glimpse of the awesomeness that’s soon to come… Get ready.

http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com

83 Comments

SXSW 2011: How to get a Job Using Social Media and Samsung’s Social Media Journey Towards Customer-Centricity

Aug 15, 2010 Author: Esteban Contreras | Filed under: brand, business, creativity, esteban contreras, marketing, media, personal branding, social media, sxsw

I’ve often said that if I could live in “SXSW Land,” I would.
I’m only joking when I say that, but where else in the world can you find such a cool gathering of people creating and changing the future of music, film, and all things interactive?

That’s why I’ve put together two SXSW Interactive panel proposals for 2011 that I believe people will find interesting and valuable:

1. Samsung’s Social Media Journey Towards Customer-Centricity with Cosmin Ghiurau @cosguru

2. How To Get A Job Using Social Media with Sarah Austin @pop17, Brandon Prebynski @Prebynski, Chris Kahle @chriskahle, Joel Cheeseman @cheezehead, myself @socialnerdia @samsungesteban, and moderator Ryan Paugh @paughginney

It would be great if you created a SXSW PanelPicker account to vote for and comment on both of them. Your votes make up 30% of the decision. SXSW has already told me that they like both topics so your votes are extremely valuable.

To help us spread the word, click here to retweet on Twitter and click here to share on Facebook.

While I created this blog as a creative exploration of the convergence of tech, marketing, and social media, I also had two secondary goals in mind: To speak at SXSW Interactive in 2010 and to work full-time in social media within one year. Speaking at SXSW Interactive earlier this year was a great experience and Social Nerdia was definitely the platform that enabled me to join Samsung USA as Social Media Manager. I’ m very grateful for the many opportunities that have come from this tiny spec of Internet data called Social Nerdia. Thanks, as always, for reading. I hope to see you at South By next year.

1,539 Comments

The Engadget Show Lucky Charms Experience

Aug 14, 2010 Author: Esteban Contreras | Filed under: gadgets, gaming, media, technology

Social Nerdia was at the live taping of The Engadget Show in New York City. Lucky Charms is not a sponsor, but the cereal sure got a lot of attention thanks to Fable III’s designer Peter Molyneux. Watch the video with Somerlea to know why.