Some of this blog’s followers have commented on how much they’ve enjoyed the once-regular feature “Your Weekend Viewing,” a curated collection of cool and useful videos posted here at week’s end. Unfortunately, Flatiron’s client obligations and the emergence of another outlet for this blogger’s musings have sidetracked the capture and sharing of these video views in recent weeks.
This week, however, one could not avoid the digerati’s “Fab Four,” and specifically their product launches, platform upgrades and new marketing campaigns that dominated the social media and marketing spheres. Most were accompanied by both company-“owned” video tutorials and influencer-“earned” third-party video reviews. Here are a few of the more noteworthy:
Twitter set Twittersphere’s tongues-a-waggin’ this week with the private launch of the new new Twitter. This major Twitter re-vamp sort of coincided with the company’s intro of brand pages as a means to compete with Facebook and now Google+ brand pages. I suppose Sheryl Sandberg’s quip to marketers about putting “a little Facebook in everything you do” hit home. Here’s PC World’s look at all three, and earned and owned clips of the new new Twitter.
Not to be outdone, Google went a little launch crazy last week. It put Google Schemer into private beta, bowed both Google Currents and Google Carousel, and integrated Google+ Circles into GMail users’ accounts. Here’s a look at Google Currents for Android and iOS users:
And Google Carousel for image search on tablets:
No new videos from the king of all social nets this week, but that doesn’t mean Facebook is off the media’s radar. (Will it ever be off the media’s radar?) Obviously, the conjecture over Facebook’s IPO continues to rage,and then there was the schadenfreude over someone posting personal photos hacked from Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook profile.
Nevertheless, I did take an interest in a clip posted this week by the BBC in which a reporter questioning Facebook’s VP/Public Policy Elliot Schrage about what happens to those who hit the “Like” button on a branded page, and whether they realize that their endorsement will be displayed like an ad. “It’s a profound question, ” Schrage ultimately admits:
Apple
Never to be outdone, Friday was the day Apple opened its biggest store yet on the balcony in New York City’s landmark commuter hub Grand Central Station. Smartly, the company gave journalists a sneak preview the day before. Here’s a short noisy clip from Friday’s opening.
Finally, as the holidays get that much closer, that deal paving the way for the original Fab Four to finally join iTunes is looking sweeter and sweeter. Here’s Apple’s new TV spot featuring Beatles covers, and one of my fave LP’s title tracks: