Instagram

Instapocalypse and the Permission War

instagram
Image by tres.jolie

How’s your Instagram account treating you now? Feel better now that Instagram restored some of its original terms of service, and recommitted to observing permission marketing norms with photos?

It seems like every four or five months we experience some outrageous Internet drama where tech and marketing bloggers declare the death of a brand.

Instagram, Chick-fil-a, Netflix, Walmart, etc. have all been condemned for some egregious act of anti-socialness. And then of course, the brands don’t die, and in most cases correct the wrong, recover, and prosper. In the case of Netflix, they are making more money than ever before.

Yet the “Instapocalypse” was different. Like other faux deaths, the network’s daily user losses seem to be negligible, but Instagram conceded promptly to its users, and retracted its intellectual terms that harnessed users’ photos for commercial purposes.

Instagram users won a larger mobile battle in the Permission Marketing War.

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Social TV Best Practices

GetGlue, a social network that allows people to check-in, discuss and refer TV programs and movies, now has more than 3 million users and 500 million posts. Representing the crest of a massive wave, GetGlue embodies the spirit of the social TV trend.

Social TV integrates online media experiences with traditional broadcast media, making social (and to some extent mobile) a core feature of the fully transmedia experience.

Marketers can capitalize on this very real opportunity. According to Nielsen, 68% of people view TV while using their tablets several times a week or more. Another 64% do the same with their smartphones.
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Is Instagram Ruining Photography?

Tree Silhouette in the Last Vestiges of Sunset

Some globally respected photographers and critics think Instagram destroys the integrity of quality images.

Others feel the rise of Instagram pollutes traditional social network streams.

Critics decry the mobile photo network because it filters most images with a vintage Poloroid look, the resulting widespread proliferation of Instaphotos across social networks, and/or the additional doctoring that occurs through a variety of apps like Snapseed and Camera+.

Overall, critics feel that consumer access to cheap imaging technologies makes the general state of photography stale, repetitive, and watered down.

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7 Branded Experience Marketing Tips for Artists and Writers

The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Jimi Hendrix Image by jbhthescots

Music biz marketer Corey Biggs interviewed me five times for the book to help artists brand and market themselves.

Based on those interviews, I have accumulated several branded experience marketing tips.

While I have simply protested the personal brand movement in the past, it’s better to offer useful guidance to individuals. This is particularly true for artists and writers who often have no choice but to market creative products and ideas under their names.

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We’re Not Friends on LinkedIn

LinkedIn Network

It’s funny how people want LinkedIn to become yet another social network to hang out with their buddies.

Ironic, because LinkedIn dubs itself “the world’s largest professional network.”

LinkedIn means business networking and conversations to me. The network itself offers about as much excitement as a stale piece of Wonder Bread. Now that Twitter decoupled its stream from LinkedIn, things have become even more boring.
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