People's Insights Quarterly Magazine Issue 2

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

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Learn more about us at: www.mslgroup.com | http://blog.mslgroup.com twitter: @msl_group youtube.com/mslgroupofficial Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

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Pascal Beucler, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, MSLGROUP

Foreword The need for change is higher every day: business models, products and services, relationships with people, everything has to evolve, as the world around us is changing very fast and deeply.

All surveys confirm that innovation is not an option, whatever the industry. And more and more business leaders agree that innovation has to come from people’s insights, as it is the only way to come out with ‘People Inside’ new products and services.

In this second edition of our Quarterly Magazine, we are happy to share with you what the conversation has been about in the three past months. Whether on Storytelling, on Corporate Citizenship or on Crowdsourcing, the conversation has been very intense, inside our organisation as well as outside everywhere in the world, and you’ll find in the following pages our analysis on it.

I hope you enjoy reading it!

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

People’s Lab: Crowdsourcing Insights and Innovation

Gaurav Mishra, Asia Director of Social Media, MSLGROUP

Pascal Beucler, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, MSLGROUP

The Power of Crowdsourcing Insights and Innovation According to the recent PwC CEO Survey of 1200+ business leaders across 69 countries, business leaders believe that crowdsourcing people’s insights are one of the main drivers for leading innovation and change.

We have a significant body of knowledge on crowdsourcing now, including business rationale, application areas, best practices and case studies. We have seen dedicated third-party crowdsourcing platforms in action for almost a decade and learned from their successes and failures. We have seen diverse Fortune

500 corporations design dedicated largescale platforms to crowdsource insights and innovation across business functions. However, we saw a gap in the market for comprehensive solution to crowdsource insights and innovation and launched our People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform and approach.

People’s Lab Crowdsourcing Platform and Approach The People’s Lab platform helps organizations build and nurture public or private, web or mobile, hosted or white label communities around four pre-configured application areas: Expertise Request Network, Innovation Challenge Network, Research & Insights Network and Contest & Activation Network.

Our community and game thinking features encourage people to share rich multimedia content and vote/comment on other people’s content, while our social intelligence algorithm helps us identify the most influential people, themes and content.

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Crowdsourcing Insights from Conversations and Communities The People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform and approach forms the core of our distinctive insights and foresight approach, which consists of four elements: organic conversation analysis, MSLGROUP’s own insight communities, clientspecific insights communities, and ethnographic deep dives into these communities. This four-part approach helps us distill a deep understanding of societal values, consumption behaviors and attitudes towards brands, not only in terms of insights that help explain our world today, but also foresights that give us a glimpse of future worlds.

Introducing People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine As an example, 100+ thinkers and planners within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring projects on citizenship, crowdsourcing and storytelling

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

on the MSLGROUP Insights Network. Every week, we pick one project and do a deep dive into conversations around it — on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but also on the broader social web — to distill insights and foresights. We have been sharing these insights and foresights with you on our People’s Insights blog. Now, we have compiled the best insights from the network and the blog in the iPad-friendly People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine, as a showcase of our capabilities.

We hope that you will enjoy the magazine and subscribe to receive subsequent issues. We also hope that our magazine and blog will inspire you to start a conversation on how you can distill actionable insights and foresights from conversations and communities.

People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine

Rooshabh Doshi, Researcher, People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine

months and thirteen weekly insights reports later, we feel validated that our intuition was right.

Ashraf Engineer, Editor, People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine

The People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine pulls together the best insights from our Insights Network, in which 100+ thinkers and planners within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring projects on citizenship, crowdsourcing and storytelling.

Every week, we pick up one project and do a deep dive into conversations around it — on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but also on the broader social web — to distill insights and foresights.

We started with the belief that some of the most inspiring projects that are shaping marketing and communications are at the intersection of citizenship, crowdsourcing and storytelling. Three

In the first issue of the People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine, we start off with a framework for purpose-inspired transmedia storytelling, which weaves together elements from all the three drivers of citizenship, crowdsourcing and storytelling.

Then we look at thirteen inspiring projects at the intersection of these three drivers. Many of these projects build upon at least two of the three pillars of citizenship, crowdsourcing and storytelling and some like Mahindra Spark the Rise leverage all three.

Citizenship: • How Starbucks Vote.Give.Grow & GE Celebrate What Works launched projects to invest money in communities through citizen participation.

Crowdsourcing: • How Kyck & Fancy are creating new types of social graphs, around curating visual content 7

on home feeds and sharing content with common interest groups.

• How The Dell Social Innovation challenge provides a platform to young social innovators to tackle various environmental & social problems.

• How The Heineken Ideas Brewery taps into the insights of consumers to share ideas on challenges posed by Heineken, related to product innovation.

Storytelling: • How social networks like Pair are becoming more private in nature by enabling couples to share updates and stay in touch through a single stream of communication on a private timeline.

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

• How Facebook apps like Yoke are pulling information from third party apps to connect users with people with common interests.

• How Vook is enhancing the reading experience of users by incorporating multimedia to its E-books, and how it provides the entire book creation process on its platform, by allowing authors to create, publish, distribute and track sales of their books.

• How GetTaxi made the process of ordering taxis faster, simpler and more convenient for thousands of taxi users in Europe.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to track inspiring projects at the intersection of citizenship, crowdsourcing and storytelling. Do subscribe to receive our weekly insights reports and do share your tips and comments with us at @PeoplesLab on Twitter.

Social Storytelling “I had to know and understand my own story before I could listen to and help other people with theirs.”

Barack Obama, US President

» Finally, stories build and preserve a group’s sense of community. Stories align and motivate by portraying the world in terms that build emotional connections between people and create a sense of shared purpose.

“Once people make your story their story, you have tapped into ‘faith’.”

Seth Godin, US entrepreneur, author, public speaker

As adults it’s easy to dismiss what came so naturally to us as kids. But we are who we are because of our own stories. Perhaps even more so now – “personal narrative has become more prevalent, and perhaps more urgent, in a time of abundance, when many of us are freer to study a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose.” Daniel Pink ( A Whole New Mind)

Working recently on a Storytelling workshop with Dr Mark Chakravarty, a client at P&G, he summed up for me its importance in communications: “[There is] a growing body of research that shows our brains, despite evolution, still look for the story to make sense out of information.”

He noted that researchers Roche and Sadowsky reviewed the most important literature about storytelling and identified four principal reasons underlying the power of story:

But what of storytelling and business?

Let’s stop and think about the world we inhabit; 2011 was all about numbers: Eurozone debt (€22.1tn2 , lobal population growth (c.7bn).

Peak oil prices $113 per barrel. You may well know that Japan’s national debt is on track to exceed 1 quadrillion yen by March 2012 due to aid and rebuilding following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. (A quadrillion is 1,000,000,000,000,000). But do you understand what this number means, for Japan, for you?

Can you comprehend these faceless statistics presented on their own? I certainly can’t.

Jean Luc Godard offered a solution... “sometimes, reality is too complex. Stories give it form.”

Photo from Adulau on Flickr

» First, stories are universal, crossing boundaries of culture, language, gender and age.

Let’s now consider attention spans.

‘The Economist’ says that we are bathed in information. “People choose to read about 10 mb of material a day, hear 400 mb a day, and see 1 mb of information every second.”

Winston Fletcher, the ad guru, used to make the

» Second, they mirror how humans think. All evidence from neurology and psychology leads to the conclusion that humans think in stories (narrative structures). Ideas conveyed in story form – more than concepts explained with logic and analysis – imprint themselves naturally into human minds. » Third, stories define who we are. Our sense of identity is forged by the stories we tell ourselves, the ones we come to believe and those we choose to dismiss.

Photo from simon_shek on Flickr

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point that most supermarkets sell 30,000 skus and the average basket size is 30. In a world in which marketers only had to contend with a superabundance of choice, his point was that your brand was far more likely to be one of the 29,970 left on the shelf.

But that was a world in which we (the marketer) had the power to organise our audience’sattention for them. These days, audiences organise their own attention.

Thinkbox is the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK. Their memabers represent over 90% of the commercial UK TV market through their owned and partner channels. The company’s declared aim is: to help advertisers get the best out of today’s TV. Their business is TV and their research is revealing: » 52% of internet users search for a brand on a search engine in response to seeing a TV ad » Half of online viewers engage in online shopping while watching TV. 27% investigate a brand or ad seen on TV » 1 in 3 claim to engage in 2-screen viewing every day; 60% do at least one a week According to the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA), 80% of Britons are simultaneous media users (use at least two different forms of media at the same time) According to the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA), 80% of Britons are simultaneous media users (use at least two different forms of media at the same time) We’ve shifted from a linear, synchronous, scheduled world controlled by media owners into one that is asynchronous and controlled by the individual. As Seth Godin said recently, “Attention from those interested and able to buy is worth more now than ever before.” It is the premise of Google and Amazon and all those brands shifting ever closer to true social commerce models.

I love my Kindle, for instance. Wherever I am, whenever I want, I seek stories. Not just the ones that used to come on paper but the ones that the reviewers write. Stories of pain, delight, rage, joy, boredom, frustration and tragedy – the stories that I choose to read before the stories I choose to buy.

People now actively ‘manage’ the way they consume content. They choose how and when they engage with stories, and how they talk about and share them online.

This could be saving up a favourite drama series Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Photo from seandreilinger on Flickr

until they can ‘binge watch’ three or four episodes in a row. Or it might mean ‘snacking’ on Twitter or social games during a commute. It might mean watching an online video whilst eating lunch at their desk, or clearing a weekend so they can attend a festival with friends.

Understanding these new patterns of attention allocation and being able to listen and engage with audiences about their own personal stories, is the first step to being a competitive, 21st century company. The most forward thinking organisations go a step further and are building marketing and communications strategies that actively encourage, amplify and reward customers’ stories, rather than assuming that the company is the only entity capable of telling stories about a product. They know how to translate the process of storytelling into a valuable outcome and ensure their own stories are being listened to.

Photo by markjsebastian on Flickr

At MSL London, we work with the highly talented Matt Locke who runs Storythings.com and we think his perspective on ‘new patterns of attention’ is well worth listening to. “The explosion of new digital platforms and devices

has created a plethora of new ways to tell your story, and the old tradition of peak time viewing has morphed into a 24/7, always-on world.

Deciding where and when to tell your story is not just a matter of taking traditional planning techniques to new channels – it requires an understanding of the different kinds of attention we have in different contexts.

One way of thinking about these contexts is as three different categories – Schedules, Sites and Streams.

SCHEDULES are traditionally planned channels for stories, where the context and timing of the story are defined in a top-down way from the channel owner. Attention in these channels is very predictable, as audiences have to plan their time around the strict timing of the schedule.

Anything that is published to a regular timetable – television, radio, cinema, printed newspapers and magazines – has this pattern of attention, where the audience has to wait for the publisher/ distributor before getting the story. Schedules tend to produce synchronous attention, with the bulk of the audience getting the story at roughly the same time, producing a huge spike in buzz and conversation.

SITES are channels where the location of the story is more important than the timing. Outdoor advertising, point of sale, location-based mobile content and destination/portal websites all count as sites for content, sharing the same patterns of attention. Sites tend to produce asynchronous attention, with the audience coming across stories over long periods of time, perhaps with some peak traffic but far more dispersed than scheduled content. Conversation and discussions are equally dispersed over time, with a significant ‘long tail’ as audiences come across the content on physical or virtual journeys.

STREAMS describe the fast-moving, dynamic contexts of social media, recommendation services and other sites defined by networks and algorithms. Stories appear in these contexts as part of a never-ending stream of messages

that the user can order according to a range of options, including time, relevance, size, location or pretty much any feature they choose.

Unlike the previous two contexts, streams are organised by or for the user, depending on the sources of information they follow, or the data used to personalise their stream. Telling stories in streams is a really complex task, as many different unpredictable patterns of attention can emerge, from slowly building audiences around a story to sudden spikes as users share stories around the globe in a matter of minutes.” Where will your story exist? Will it be in a schedule, a site, a stream, or a combination of all three?

Will it be an online game, a blog, or a magazine article?

How can consumers assess the probability of an uncertain event like whether to buy a new brand? People increasingly must rely on a limited number of heuristic principles essentially storytelling techniques, which reduce the complex tasks of assessing probabilities and predicting values to simpler judgmental operations. And it is our role as marketers to help them construct a continuous sequence of narratives that allow them to do this.

Working with stories comes naturally to us. They help us to develop, they help us make sense of our life and they socialise us. Just consider the power of uniting these elements to support your brand. And what is a great brand if not an epic story in its own right, constructed over time from many chapters of communication driven by a series of marketing directors, like an expensive game of Consequences. Things have changed, but the power to direct has now transformed into an opportunity to collaborate.

The stories remain as important, but who tells them, what motivates that telling and how are they told is very different? We have entered the world of transmedia storytelling. Managing this process sums up the complexity of 21st century communications.

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CATCH Conversation Mapping

So to speak, some conversations are quite formal and intellectual.

Others are somehow cold, even if very rich in offering information. Among the other, we can distinguish a particular kind of conversation that are warm, direct, authentic and meaningful.

They are the beating heart of social media conversations.

This latter type, at least in Italy, is often deserted by brands. When people speak most sincerely, the big company names are absent, for some reason.

Consider the example of nutrition3 .

THE BIG WORLD Calories Nutritional guidelines Recepies

Restaurant

Pleasure Diet

SOCIAL CONSUMPTION

Luckily enough, conversations on the web are not all the same. Anybody can easily experience a huge variety of styles, codes and languages.

maps. Each map consists of two major factors, the most relevant from the statistical point of view, that design the bi-dimensional space of the map . In the space generated by the factors thousands of conversation are rubbed.

INGREDIENTS

Do brands participate in web conversations in a meaningful, human manner?

Transgression

AT HOME

This is what emerges from the analysis that have been made by MSL Italy, during last year, with CATCH.

At a glance you can catch the main topics of conversation in the food area. Proximity or distance on the map are also relevant.

1. What is CATCH?

Topics that neighbors on the map, “talk” to each other. This means that people can easily slide from one topic to the other. In the map, for example, you can see an interesting and quite meaningful combination of diet and transgression.

CATCH is a system of applications that allows us to analyze, in a semantic, perspective a large number of conversations (to date, up to 35,000).

In other words, the system permit the analysis of very large conversational contexts. For example, you may consider an issue such as: "what people talk about when it comes to food1?".

CATCH analyzes and provides precise insight of these conversational worlds2 . Inside this talk ambient it is possible to position brands mentioned spontaneously. Or to locate other variables: for example, timeline, main sources, their degree of influence (in terms of links).

Distant subjects, on the other hand, are not well bridged. “Diet” and “nutritional guidelines” are not conversationally connected (even if they have an obvious logical relationship).

For each theme, of course, we can have metrics (percentage on all conversations, most relevant key words, most significant posts, etc.)

3. A stratigraphy of the conversations?

Also, you can pin, on the map it produces, issues that you consider particularly important. In the case of food, for example, you might wish to find out in which kind of conversations people speak about obesity, diet, recipes or pleasure.

The map also represents a qualitative organization of talking points. Indeed, we found out that each area of the map contains very different types of languages.

2. CATCH maps

The analysis we've carried out so far show a common pattern, a sort of scheme in the background, which seems to repeat itself in very

One of the most typical output of CATCH are Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

different conversational areas.

You can visualize this pattern as if we were talking about geological soil sediments. Different layers of language show themselves in the map.

In terms of big picture, the scheme can be summarized this way: we switch from impersonal, ceremoniuos language to slangs. The latter ones are strongly connected to intimate conversations, full of emotions and moods.

Let’s observe this pattern on the “food” map.

considering. On average, we found less than 5%.

In our view this is a very high figure: let us not forget that brands are, in fact, spontaneously mentioned (how often do you quote a brand in your private conversations?).

Again, it is interesting to note that the positioning of the brands tend to have a similar pattern in different conversational contexts.

Let us return, for example, to food realm. The brands we have looked for (Nestlé, Danone, Barilla, Coca Cola, etc..: Each brand is a star in the map) are positioned in the upper part of the map.

THE BIG WORLD THE BIG WORLD

Calories

T E R

FORUM

Diet

SOCIAL CONSUMPTION

BLOGS Restaurant

T

INGREDIENTS

I Recepies

SOCIAL CONSUMPTION

Nutritional guidelines

W

Pleasure

INGREDIENTS

T

NEWS

Transgression

AT HOME At the top right corner, you can find the formal area. The main source is the online press and blogs that “mirror” the press. The contents are informative: guidelines, nutritional components of food. The language is learned, formally impeccable. As far as food is concerned, in this zone you find conversation about what people “should do” with nutrition (which very often is not what people really like to hear, at least in Italy).

At the bottom of the map, below the blue line, there is a very different and personal area. The main sources, in this case, are definitely forums and some blogs. The issues relate to personal transgressions and strenuous attempts at dieting.

In other words, in this zone people speak about what they really do with food! The language is direct, “fast” and familiar. The deeper you go down in the map, the more “lingo” is the language.

AT HOME In essence, brands tend to position themselves in the more formal conversational area. Very few enter the hottest zone conversations.

This situation appears to be the same in the majority of the researches we carried out this year.

5. Are the brands excluded from the conversations more intimate and meaningful?

No, brands are not excluded "a priori" from the most authentic exchanges.

However, they must be helped to find the line with this type of valuable conversations.

To achieve this a precise strategy must be tailored on the base of specific analysis of the conversational area.

4. Where are the brands?

Apart from that, a few key points can be stated, cross boarder to all areas of conversation.

All brands quotation in spontaneous conversations can be tracked and located on CATCH’s maps. The number of citations obviously depends on the area that you are

The language. Compared to other conversation, in the hottest area we witness a dramatic change of linguistic structure. From coded and canonical language (at the top of the map) we experience 13

forms of jargon, slang, community’s dialects. It’s vernacular against Latin. Roland Barthes used the term "idiolect" to describe the language of communities, tribes, subcultures.

The brands must learn to adapt their language in this direction. They have to become much more flexible and nimble in the way they address issues, in choosing the tone of voice and in their expression’s quality. Only in this way messages can be rapidly metabolized by those conversing.

It's like if people in this area of conversation, possessed "linguistic antibodies" and were able to refuse “alien” lingos.

The center of conversational gravity.

In the area of the most authentic exchanges, people mostly talk about their life. They discuss feelings, experiences, emotions, personal achievements and daily difficulties. At stake, here, is the meaning of things, not their capabilities or features.

The language of brands, in many cases, is still too self-centered. Brands tend to talk about themselves, their characteristics, in a direct and pragmatic way. Very rarely they speak about people. Chatting is a bit like dancing: if you do not listen to your partner it is likely to tread on his toes ...

Engagement’s rules. The conversations have engagement’s rules that must be respected. To violate them means to reject the call to linguistic cooperation. Brands must respect this unwritten standards.

Each group generally has its own rules. But then again there are global rules of “courtesy” that, as an example, can be summarized as follows: » Do not impose yourself; » Offer alternatives; » Put the other person at ease.

Pay attention to hub. The conversations are networks of exchange. The networks consist of nodes. Some nodes are more important than others. They are hubs.

This status is determined in part by influence (links, participants, activity level, etc..).

On the other hand, there are also content’s hubs: some topics are better suited than others to “enter” into meaningful conversations. The analysis of the contexts of conversation is a valuable tool for identifying these issues.

1. To date, analysis has been conducted on the following areas: food, nuclear energy, pet food, body care, the mother and child relationship, photography, mineral water.

2. How does CATCH work? In a nutshell, it calculates the occurrences of each word in a corpus of conversations and then all of its co-occurrence. In other words, it tracks all the connections among words. These bonds, thru Burt technique, can be transformed into numerical indices. In this way, you get a world of words with a dense network of mathematical ties. At this point, various statistical operations may be carried out: cluster analysis, factorial, discriminant analysis, etc..

3. 13,000 conversations, Italian language, October 2010 - October 2011, sources: blogs, forums, news and twitter.

Corporate Citizenship

Vote.Give.

Grow

Voting process Users could sign in or register with a Starbucks Card, after which they could vote for an organisation in their community. After voting, users could return every week in April to vote again.

Source: http://votegivegrow.com

Vote.Give.Grow Starbucks invested $4 million in US communities through grants to more than 120 non-profits. The money was allocated as per vote share of those registered on www.votegivegrow.com for April 2012.

Starbucks had labelled April 2012 as ‘The Starbucks Global Month of Service’. To this end, it invested $4 million in more than 120 US non-profit organisations to create a better community.

Source: https://www.starbucks.com/account/card/addcard#1

Money was allocated on the basis of votes on http://www.votegivegrow.com. Voting began on April 1 and concluded at 11.59 pm PDT on April 30; results were announced in May. Voters had to be from the US and have a Starbucks card.

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Corporate Citizenship

Vote.Give.Grow

The top-ranked non-profit got the largest grant, while those that followed got proportionately smaller grants. The smallest grant per region was $5,000, while the largest was $50,000.

Power to the people, for the people

Source: http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2012/04/06/vote-give-grow-atstarbucks-open-thread/

Each individual could make a difference to his/her community. Vote.Give.Grow empowered people by having them vote for a cause that would create a better neighbourhood in sectors like education and housing.

Users had to sign in with or register a Starbucks card to choose an organisation within their community. If a user did not have a registered card, he/she could get a gift card, put $5 on it and register the card online.

The website automatically defaulted to the user’s region and members could vote online each week through April so that the non-profit they supported won the maximum amount of money.

At the end of the month, the money was distributed on the basis of votes each organisation received. Every designated non-profit received at least a portion of the funding.

Break-up of grants The size of the grant each non-profit received was determined by weekly online votes. Vote share determined the final ranking of organisations within a region. The smallest grant was $5,000 and the largest was $50,000.

Starbucks empowered voters by allowing them to decide how much each organisation got.

The Vote.Give.Grow website stated: Each individual has the power to make a difference.

Your weekly votes throughout April will determine how the Starbucks Foundation distributes $4 million to 124 local non-profit organizations.

Add your vote to those cast by thousands of other individuals and help improve your community.

The money pumped in by winning organisations can help their neighbourhoods access better services across sectors like education, infrastructure, employment, pollution and unemployment.

Source: http://www.businessandleadership.com/sustainability/item/34706starbucks-customers-to-help

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Benefits for non-profits

Content for Starbucks

Other than providing financial support, the initiative is a platform for non-profit organisations. The campaign meets Starbucks’ objective of raising awareness by increasing the non-profits’ visibility.

Non-profits created videos and images to send out their messages, giving Starbucks content. An increasing number of brands are turning to content from partners to create a diverse experience for users.

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

Along with the money, the initiative provided a platform to non-profits to get noticed and spread their wings.

The initiative meets Starbucks’ objective of raising awareness by increasing non-profits’ visibility and highlighting the good work they do.

The President of Northern Initiatives, Dennis West, said: It’s going to be great for our visibility, great to see people in the U.P. get behind us and help us be able to compete.

Six results out of 10 for a simple Google search for ‘Vote.Give.Grow’ linked to the websites of non-profits requesting followers for votes. One of the participating non-profits, Access, had a message for its followers (http://www.accessboston.org/component/ content/article/1/363-access-in-starbucksvotegivegrow-campaign): ACCESS is one of only 124 nonprofit across the country chosen to participate. And we have a chance of winning $35,000! But we need your help, and we need your vote. Your vote equals the financial aid that our students need towards their college degree. For every dollar invested in ACCESS, our financial aid Advisors help secure more than $60 in aid. Your vote can mean up to $2 million in aid for the next generation of college graduates

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Corporate Citizenship

In order to bag more votes, non-profits created videos and images to send out their messages and ask their followers to vote for them, giving Starbucks more content to work with. Almost every non-profit had a video on votegivegrow.com.

In fact, an increasing number of brands are turning to content from partners to create a diverse experience for users. Intel did it with its Innovators Contest. Disney World did it as well, so did Dell with Idea Storm and Vodafone with Christmas Laser Graffiti. Even rock bands like Blink 182 didn’t miss the boat with the Stolen Fan Club music video.

Vote.Give.Grow

Virality of the movement

Voting for corporate citizenship

The movement caught speed when the non-profits made the most of their own network by asking supporters to vote for them. This sparked many conversations on the web, making the movement a success.

Many corporate citizenship projects – including Mahindra Rise and Intel Innovators – have a voting mechanism.

This gives people a sense of belonging, involvement and ownership with respect to the community.

Source: http://twitter.com

Source: http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=733665#.

T5UB-JlOBR0

The movement went viral. The Starbucks brand attracts hundreds of thousands of participants in almost everything it does on social media, from a Facebook contest to a YouTube video to a tweet.

Non-profits have an extensive network themselves, which makes them influencers.

Starbucks made sure they leveraged their networks to garner more attention for their work and for Vote.Give.Grow.

Participating NGO, College Mentors, tweeted: Help me win $35,000 for College Mentors for Kids in Starbucks’ Community Card: Vote. Give. Grow contest. Vote here This, in turn, sparked several online conversations by supporters, giving their vote of confidence to a particular non-profit, appreciating Starbucks’ efforts and asking friends to support their favoured non-profits.

Earl Dizon showed his allegiance in the blog post ‘Vote.Give.Grow. at Starbucks’: DC & OFN also showed up in Portland. As much as I like DC, I chose a more local, less publicized one. I can’t wait to taste the MCCF!

Source: http://twitter.com

Many corporate citizenship projects have a voting mechanism. These include Mahindra Rise, Intel Innovators, GE Ecoimagination, Dell Ideastorm and Starbucks’ own MyStarbucksIdea.

A blogger corroborated this on his/her blog ‘Advnturespirit’ (http://advnturesspirit.wordpress. com/2012/04/11/vote-give-grow/): Love feeling like I can make a difference even if it is just by voting. You can also make a difference, it doesn’t have to be something BIG, remember sometimes it is the smallest things that bring about the biggest change. Today you can go unto the Starbucks website and vote for a non-profit in your community or you can simply do a RAOK whatever it is do something, we can all make this world a little better one raok at a time.

Such initiatives urge users to do more than just vote. Vote.Give.Grow urges voters to go to nonprofits’ websites, support them, make donations, join the conversation online, etc.

Mahindra Rise, for instance, asks users to create connections with likeminded people to volunteer for projects, give and receive advice, or give donations of equipment and funds.

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Starbucks’ commitment Starbucks aims to bring people together, inspire change and make a difference. It has initiated an array of programmes around community revitalisation, which foster customer loyalty.

we are committed to helping communities thrive where we do business.

Bringing people together, inspiring change and making a difference in people’s lives – it’s all part of being a good neighbour. And it’s a commitment rooted in the belief that we can balance profitability and a social conscience.

This, in turn, fosters customer loyalty.

As mentioned on the blog ‘Creating Connections’: Why do I find this so compelling? Starbucks knows that promoting its commitment as corporate citizens through meaningful initiatives fosters customer loyalty. They put their values into action and make certain that every employee is engaged in bringing those values to life.

In the ‘Learn More’ section, a visitor asked whether Starbucks will continue with the programme beyond April. The response was: We are always looking for new ways to demonstrate our commitment to helping communities thrive.

We will be evaluating the success of this program and will let our loyal customers know what is next for Starbucks and the Starbucks Foundation.

Source: http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility

Source: http://suite101.com/article/corporate-social-responsibility-atstarbucks-a211758

Starbucks wants to help communities by bringing people together, inspiring change and making a difference. Starbucks has conducted an array of programmes over the years around community revitalisation, which includes job creation, community service and youth action.

Starbucks explains its commitment to corporate citizenship: From the neighbourhoods where our stores are located, to the ones where our coffee is grown –

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Corporate Citizenship

Vote.Give.Grow

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Celebrate What Works

Source: https://www.celebratewhatworks.com Source: www.celebratewhatworks.com

The #Whatworks Project General Electric (GE), in association with Good Corps, launched the What Works Project for non-profit organisations supporting job creation in the US. Each week, $10,000 are raised for the non-profits.

GE, along with Good Corps, launched a powerful, interactive platform this February – the What Works Project. It’s a dynamic digital experience that invites users across the US to submit photos, captions and descriptions of the people, places and things that work in their communities and lives.

Submit Every week, participants are asked to upload images that illustrate their responses to an innovation, technology or job-creationthemed question. $1 is donated to the non-profit of the week for each submission.

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Celebrate What Works

To participate, users must post a photo, a caption and a description relating to the ‘What Works?’ theme that is posted at the time of the entry. A theme is posted every week. For instance, ‘What innovations work in my world?’

Support Every submission is aggregated on the project page, and participants can vote for their favourite submission by pushing the heart symbol on the image.

Benefits for non-profits Till mid-May 2012, more than $113,500 had been raised through the project and, as awareness about the project increases, participation will increase. This will lead to more donations.

Source: http://blog.goodcorps.com/The-What-Works-Project

Even though submissions are restricted to US citizens, users across the digital space can support or vote for entries. Each vote translates into a $1 donation to the non-profits that the project has tied up with.

Win At the end of each week, five individuals whose submissions most creatively illustrate a response to the weekly question will receive a $500 cash reward for their participation.

Source: https://www.celebratewhatworks.com/non-profits

The donations will be used to train unemployed people to create goods that work in the US. In the last 13 weeks, (at the time of publishing) Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Jobs for the Future, College for Every Student and other non-profits working to empower disadvantaged and low-income youth have received $10,000 each.

Focus Hope, one of the NGOs that benefited from the project, said: Focus: HOPE was selected from applicants all over the country to participate in the project because of its success in job training.

Youth Build USA also announced how the $10,000 donation would be utilised: The $10,000 will be used for the Helene D. Stoneman Scholarship and Civic Leadership Program, which awards YouthBuild graduates scholarships for post-secondary education.

GE’s Focus

Source: https://www.celebratewhatworks.com/top-picks

GE’s aim to strengthen the US’ global competitiveness by building a more highly skilled workforce, lowering healthcare costs and supporting the integration of the nation’s veterans into the workforce.

Each week, five submissions that capture the spirit of the project are selected by GE and Good Corps to receive a $500 prize. These efforts culminate into a $10,000 donation to the non-profit of the week.

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Source: http://www.themadeinamericamovement.com/2/post/2012/04/thewhatworks-project-what-do-you-love-that-is-madeinamerica.html Source: http://3blmedia.com/theCSRfeed/GE-Highlights-What-Works-AmericaFocuses-Manufacturing-Innovation-Jobs-and-Trade

Source: http://www.focushope.edu/page.aspx?content_id=367&content_type=news

Source: http://www.genewscenter.com/Press-Releases/GE-HIGHLIGHTS-WHATWORKS-IN-AMERICA-FOCUSES-ON-MANUFACTURING-INNOVATION-JOBSAND-TRADE-3662.aspx

The What Works Project is GE’s effort to give back and empower the US to get back to work.

GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said: There are companies and communities all across the country that are leading the way. We know that renewing American manufacturing works; affordable healthcare works; high-skill training works; investing in people works; supporting customers works; accessing global markets works.

We should have the confidence to act and to restore American competitiveness.

Various blogs and networks working in the field of or covering information about employment and work in the US have spread the word about the movement.

One such blogger said: The theme is gaining momentum, building, expanding; #whatworks works because it works (sorry) for you, me, and everyone else.

What Works on social media The buzz about the project is being spread through Twitter (#whatworks) as well as the Pinterest board. Submissions have been hosted on Pinterest, which is the latest star on the social media firmament.

Spreading the word Apart from the partner non-profit organisations, other networks such as The Made in America Movement are also following and covering the project very closely.

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Celebrate What Works

Source: http://twitter.com

Source: https://www.celebratewhatworks.com/top-picks

Source: http://pinterest.com/generalelectric/the-whatworks-project/

GE has used Facebook, Twitter (#Whatworks), Pinterest, Storify and Instagram have also been used to spread awareness about the project. Users can also submit entries through Facebook and Twitter. The project concept has been captured on Storify too.

Impact

The project is part of a multi-pronged plan to address US competitiveness across industries.

This project will eventually identify what works for the US, in industries ranging from manufacturing to healthcare.

Eventually, what works in the US will be manufactured in the country through training provided by NGOs and others. It’s a high-impact project that will see GE making big investments in people, training and customers, ultimately leading to greater US competitiveness.

It’s a high-impact project for GE. The corporation will witness positive visibility as the project helps identify the goods that work in the US and then trains the unemployed to manufacture those goods in the country.

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Dell Social Innovation Platform

Source: http://www.dellchallenge.org/user/register Source: http://dellchallenge.org

Dell social innovation challenge A platform for young social innovators who tackle problems related to economic development, education, energy, food and sustenance, health and human rights.

The Dell Social Innovation Challenge recognises and supports young social innovators who dedicate themselves to addressing the world’s biggest problems. The issues they deal with are related to economic development, education, energy, food and sustenance, health and human rights.

How to enter Individiuals or teams can submit a project page on dellchallenge.org. Semi finalists have to submit a video pitch and project road map. The final round involves a live presentation and Q&A session in Austin.

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Participants can register on dellchallenge.org The challenge is divided into 3 rounds: Entry, Semi-Final and Final. Individuals or teams must create a Project Page and complete all required fields including information about the members, the idea, why it will work and so on.

Semi-finalists will need to upload a video pitch on YouTube or Vimeo and embed it on the project page. They also need to create a project road map. This includes a checklist of 10 basic elements every team or individual can address to improve their project’s probability of success.

Finalists will have to make a 15 minute live presentation at the Finalist Weekend in Austin, Texas USA to a panel of international judges, followed by a 15-minute question and answer session.

Dell Social Innovation Platform

Eligibility The Dell Social Innovation Challenge is open to university and college students around the world. Participants can create project entries.

Award winners (selected by judges) who will also attend the Finalists Weekend will get: • $15,000 Tomberg Prize in Environmental Sustainability • $10,000 Best Innovation Leveraging Technology presented by Dell 200+ Semi-Finalists (selected by judges) will receive: • 1:1 mentoring by a DSIC-certified mentor to refine the project page and required materials for the finals.

Judging criteria http://facebook.com

The Dell social innovation website says: Anyone and everyone can join our growing online social innovation community and support students on their projects but only currently enrolled university and college students may create project entries and compete in our annual grand prize competition.

The judging criteria are: 1. Clarity of the innovation and significance of social impact.

2. Demonstration of a high probability of success.

3. Potential impact after winning DSIC.

The annual Dell Social Innovation Challenge is open to college and university students across world. The competition has participants from Asia, South America, Africa, Australia among other places.

Awards and mentorship Five grand prize winners chosen by judges bag a total of $105,000. People’s Choice Awards are based on online voting. Category winners get $1,000. Semi-finalists are mentored by DSIC-Certified mentors.

Source: http://www.hercampus.com/founders-blog/dell-social-innovationchallenge-student-innovators-win-big

http://twitter.com

The Dell website explains: We provide university students with world-class teaching and training, as well as with start-up capital and access to a network of mentors and advisors. There are Grand Prizes, Expertise awards and People’s Choice awards.

Five Grand Prize winners chosen by judges bag cash prizes amounting to $105,000. The People’s Choice Awards are based on online voting in 17 categories. The winner in each category gets $1,000 prize. The award list is as follows- Grand Prize Awards • $50,000 grand prize • $20,000 second prize • $10,000 third prize Two Expertise

Dell is looking for social innovators who can create a global impact with ideas that can significantly curtail existing social or environmental problems.

The judges include an esteemed panel of experts from various social and environmental fields from across the world. The 3 main judging criteria according to Dell are: 1. Clarity of the innovation and significance of social impact. 2.

Demonstration of a high probability of success.

3. Potential impact after winning Dell Social Innovation Challenge

Mission The mission is to identify and support promising young social innovators who dedicate themselves to solving the world’s most pressing problems with their transformative ideas.

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information, work experience and educational background. Users can follow projects or people, find project team members, attract support for personal projects or vote for projects as well.

Dell and Corporate Citizenship Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

Explaining the mission, Dell states: The mission is to identify and support promising young social innovators who dedicate themselves to solving the world’s most pressing problems with their transformative ideas.

Dell has undertaken many CSR activities.

Glabally, Dell strives to make “living green” easier for customers and provides underserved youth access to technology, education and training.

Community building Users can create a profile with personal information, join an existing team, find project team members,follow projects, attract support for personal projects and vote for projects.

Source: http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/cr

Dell has undertaken corporate citizenship projects in the past. Previous activities include Dell’s Go Green Campaign. Dell’s CSR mantra on their website is Across the globe, Dell strives to make being “green” easier for customers and provide underserved youth access to technology, education and training so they can unlock their true potential.

Source: http://www.dellchallenge.org/users/search/all?filters=1

Dell has a separate community section where people can get a lowdown on projects, other community members and gather support or support projects through various functions.

A glance at the community shows 93,000 registered profiles with 68,000 general public, 24,000 students and the rest mentors and faculty. Each member has an influence score — something like a Klout score — that is measured on the basis of activity, profile views, projects supported, votes for projects and popularity The page also has a Twitter stream that shows what people are saying about the platform.

Users can describe themselves in the ‘About’ section where they can share personal Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Corporate Citizenship

This philosophy drives the way Dell approaches and engages its communities, people and the planet. Dell believes that access to the right tools and skills, people, organisations and communities can help achieve anything.

Dell’s CSR activities spread across corporate responsibility reporting, environment, communities, diversity and inclusion, corporate accountability, governance and supply chain.

Corporate citizenship through social innovation Several brands are using social innovation to elevate corporate citizenship. Leading companies such as Shell, Abbott Laboratories, Dow Corning, and IBM are using various models of social innovation.

Dell Social Innovation Platform

Corporate social innovation is defined as:

Source: http://www.votegivegrow.com/

Corporate Social Innovation is when commercial companies integrate innovative solutions to a problem or a need on a society level in their core business, through core competences. Like Dell, an increasing number of brands are using social innovation to elevate corporate citizenship. Leading companies such as Shell, Abbott Laboratories, Dow Corning, and IBM are using various models and methods of social innovation.

With the internet strengthening its impact in developed countries and growing in developing countries, social, economical and environmental solutions can now be addressed from one end of the world for problems in the other and the trend is certainly here to stay.

Source: http://www.ecomagination.com/

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Crowdsourcing

Heineken Ideas Brewery

Eligibility The challenge is open to residents who are of the legal purchasing age for alcohol in their country of residence from Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, UK & US. The deadline for submission is May 8th 2012.

Source: http://ideasbrewery.com

Heineken Ideas Brewery Heineken launched an open innovation platform: www.ideasbrewery.com where people from around the world are invited to share their ideas on challenges related to the product and innovation. The first challenge was on the future of sustainable beer packaging.

In March 2012, Heineken launched Ideas Brewery, its first open innovation platform. Through it, innovators were invited to share ideas on challenges posed by the beer major. The first was on the future of sustainable beer packaging.

Heineken was looking for ideas on sustainable materials, sustainable transportation and recycling.

Source:Â http://www.beerpulse.com/2012/04/heineken-launches-ideas-breweryonline-collaboration-platform/

The challenge is open to residents of Austria, Brazil, Canada (excluding Quebec and Yukon), China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Holland, Spain, UK and US (excluding California). The deadline for submission of entries for the first stage was May 8, 2012. Participants must be of legal purchasing age for alcohol in their country of residence.

This challenge runs till June, after which Heineken will launch more such efforts.

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Contest flow In Stage 1, participants signed up, created a profile and submitted their idea with 3 images to accompany the pitch explanation. Shortlisted candidates worked with Heineken experts in a closed online environment to upgrade the selected ideas in stage 2.

The jury – which included innovation, sustainability and industrial design experts – selected a winner.

The jury included Willem Van Waesberghe, global research and development director of Heineken; Jacquelyn Ottman, sustainability expert; and Janne Kytannen, creative director of Freedom of Creation.

Selection criteria Participants were assessed on innovativeness, feasibility and number of votes gathered across social media. The ideas had to cover one of Re-using and re-cycling of packaging, Discovering new packaging materials or Transport

In stage 1, participants were invited to sign up, create a profile and submit their ‘elevator pitch’ (150 words) with three supporting images.

The website said: You can upload one to three images to explain your idea. This could either be a drawing, a mockup or a photograph. Anything that helps sell in your idea.

Additionally, participants could send a PDF with a detailed explanation. The pitch could also be uploaded on YouTube.

In the second stage, shortlisted participants worked with Heineken experts in a closed online innovation environment to refine the selected ideas.

The ideas and solutions had to be in at least one of the following categories: 1. Reuse and recycle packaging

The winner An official jury made up of experts in the fields of innovation, sustainability and industrial design selected one winner from Stage 2. The winner will receive $10,000 and recognition by being awarded a place in Heineken’s history.

Participants would ensure that a large amount of beer packaging will be re-used or re-cycled.

2. Discovering new packaging materials

Participants would suggest new materials that significantly improve the life cycle of packaging.

3. Transport

Participants would share ideas that maximise transport efficiency.

Source: http://facebook.com

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Heineken Ideas Brewery

Promotion for votes Participants were encouraged to promote their ideas via social networks to get more votes. This increased visibility and virality to the brand & cause, and gave voters a sense of ownership to the community through the final results

Source: http://www.sustainabilityreport.heineken.com

Source: http://facebook.com

Source: https://twitter.com/#!/IdeasBrewery

The idea portal fits well with the brand. Heineken aims to lead the industry by example, use natural resources with dignity and respect, and to entertain the rights and demands of employees, stakeholders and consumers.

The first stage encouraged participants to promote their ideas within their social networks as the number of votes accumulated were a factor.

Participants could go to ‘submissions’ and click on the Facebook or Twitter button to share ideas.

Sharing ideas across social networks adds virality to the initiative as friends, family or supporters share the idea and comment on it. This sparks conversations on the web and augments a wordof-mouth buzz for the campaign and the brand.

Voters and supporters get a sense of ownership and belonging to the community as their activities help influence the results.

Heineken : The Brand Heineken is dedicated to sustainability.

It’s ambition is to become the ‘greenest’ brewer in the world through innovation.

The strategy behind this is to ‘improve’ the environmental impact of their brands, ‘empower’ people & communities, and ‘impact’ the role of beer in society.

Heineken is a proud, independent global brewer committed to surprising and exciting consumers with its brands and products, which is why it focuses on innovation.

Heineken is also committed to the responsible marketing and consumption of more than 200 international premium, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders, which include Amstel, Birra Moretti, Desperados, Foster’s, Heineken and Newcastle Brown Ale. As mentioned by the CEO of Heineken in the Heineken Sustainability Report: By living our values each and every day we have the opportunity to create a sustainable business that we will be able to pass on to future generations of employees.

Heineken is dedicated to sustainability and wants to become the world’s ‘greenest’ brewer. The strategy behind the ambition has been grouped into three pillars: 1. ‘Improve’ the environmental impact of their brands 2. ‘Empower’ people and communities associated with Heineken 3. ‘Impact’ the role of beer in society 33

Heineken and Corporate Citizenship

improve and measure their environmental performance, contribute to communities and engage with internal and external stakeholders.

Heineken’s sustainability ambitions are captured in the ‘Brewing a Better Future’ initiative. Heineken have already participated in several activities to support the initiative. They have identified certain green challenges to achieve within the 3 stylos of Improve, Empower & Impact

Heineken released a sustainability report for 2011 to showcase its building of a sustainable business. The report throws light on the green challenges Heineken faced and how it fared. In most cases, it passed the test. The challenges come under the umbrellas of ‘Improve’, ‘Empower’ and ‘Impact’.

Heineken’s global sunrise campaign made responsible consumption aspirational.

As mentioned in the sustainability report: ‘Sunrise’ reinforces the importance of staying in control and celebrates moderate consumption.

The idea is to show that enjoying Heineken® in moderation can be an integral part of connecting and engaging with friends, meeting new people and exploring new experiences.

Launched during the festive season to maximise the relevance, attention and impact of the message, the campaign was seen by approximately 2.5 million adult consumers across the globe via HEINEKEN’s YouTube channel, Facebook fan page (34,000 visits and 27,000 interactions) and heineken.com.

Source: http://www.sustainabilityreport.heineken.com/overview/what-we-said-andwhat-weve-done.html

This campaign is the next step in Heineken’s long-term commitment to encourage responsible consumption.

Co-creation of ideas through open innovation Heineken feels the best way to meet the challenges is by listening to a new world of ideas and connections that could strengthen the case for competing commercially on sustainability through innovation and by eroding boundaries between the brand and the stakeholders.

Source: http://www.sustainabilityreport.heineken.com/impact/case-studies/ global-sunrise-campaign-making-responsible-consumption-aspirational.html

Heineken embarked on its sustainability mission with the ‘A Better Future’ initiative. The 10-year journey is expected to have a significant impact on the way they bring products to market,

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Heineken Ideas Brewery

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-ways-to-do-social-media-crowdsourcing

As mentioned on the Ideas Brewery website: As the world’s most international brewer, we have a relentless focus on innovation. Great ideas and solutions can come from anywhere. From within our organisation or from outside. That’s why we invite you to join us and challenge the status quo.

Heineken believes that listening to new ideas and connections will strengthen its competing power and sustainability. It will also bridge the boundaries between the brand and its stakeholders.

Journalist Phil Drew in his article in ‘The Guardian’, ‘Can crowdsourcing really crack corporate sustainability?’ said: Eroding the boundaries between that business and its consumer-supplier-stakeholder universe can only help to reinforce the ineluctable connection that all businesses today have with the changing environment around them.

Heineken identifies Social Media as ideal Crowdsourcing Channel Brands like Starbucks, GE have used social media to source insights because of its ability to spark conversations, diversify communication through various content pegs, dynamicism, instant interactions with ideas through engagement tools such as ‘vote’, ‘share’, etc.

Source: http://www.ecomagination.com

While crowdsourcing is not new, social media has taken it to another level by turning consumers into brand advocates.

Brands like GE, Dell and Mahindra have crowdsourced ideas for the community and environment, while Starbucks and Coca-Cola have done it for the brand and the product.

While crowdsourcing for Heineken worked for a few, the initiative had a few sceptics.

Wesley, a blogger, loved the idea: I’m not going to pretend to be the biggest Heineken fan in the world. As belgians, we are actually not suppposed to like Heineken at all, period ! However, I love their crowd sourcing campaign Heineken Ideas Brewery . Everybody is invited to share their thoughts on the future of packaging and what to do to make it all more ecological. Some of the ideas are quite wicked , but it’s just by thinking the impossible that the possible gets discoverd (sic).

Guardian reader, David, on the other hand, had his doubts: Perhaps I’m old and cynical but the usual reason for trying outsourcing is that you hope some 35

altruistic experts will solve problems for the company for free. Yes, instead of having to pay experts to do the thinking and come up with bright ideas, the crowd can do it for you for nothing.

Benefits for Heineken Consumers will be better disposed towards Heineken for getting the chance to shape its future and for its transparent corporate sustainability efforts. Heineken will benefit from much deeper consumer insights.

Source: http://facebook.com

Consumers will warm up to Heineken as they get a chance to contribute to its activities and for its transparent corporate sustainability effort. The brand will also benefit from deeper consumer insights and enjoy an enhanced reputation through its corporate citizenship and sustainability initiatives.

Source: http://www.sourceyourcity.com/blog/the-benefits-of-crowdsourcing

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Crowdsourcing

Heineken Ideas Brewery

Pepsi Pulse

Digital dashboard for pop culture Pepsi Pulse – launched on April 30 and part of the beverage major’s ‘Live for Now’ global campaign – is a social-media-driven interactive dashboard for everything on pop culture in real-time.

Source: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/pepsi-music-giveaway_b23318

The platform lives @ Pepsi.com Pepsi Pulse features a fresh set of popculture-based articles that are scored by SocialFlow’s technology to rank interest and resonance of the articles against an audience on Twitter.

Pepsi recently introduced its newest product, but it’s not a soft drink. Pepsi Pulse, a social-mediadriven interactive dashboard for everything on pop culture, went live on April 30 in the run-up to PepsiCo’s celebrity-infused ‘Live for Now’ global ad campaign that premiered on May 7.

Brad Jakeman, president (global enjoyment, brand) and chief creative officer at PepsiCo said: ” ‘Live for Now’ came out of the desire to build a global positioning for our flagship brand, Pepsi.”

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/04/30/pepsi-pulse-live-for-now/

The research revolved around finding out how Pepsi loyalists defined themselves. Jakeman said that what emerged was “the notion of making the most of every moment”. Now, that’s being translated into an overall global campaign statement, anchored by Pulse.

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Pepsi Pulse marks an ambitious foray into social media and a brand-wide re-emphasis on pop culture and entertainment, long a Pepsi staple.

Shiv Sing, global head of digital at PepsiCo said: “It’s not enough for a brand to just say something; it also has to live it.”

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/05/09/joe-jonas-pepsi-live-for-now

In the spirit of what the company is calling the Now Culture, the HTML5-powered Pepsi Pulse will provide engaging aggregated content for users, with immediacy and interactivity. Ultimately, Pepsi wants Pulse to invite and inspire consumers to live in the moment by knowing what’s hot across the web so that they can be the first among their friends to share the information.

Pepsi Pulse serves as a “dashboard of pop culture”, pulling pictures, tweets, and news from premium content sources, filtered by social ranking, to gather the top 10 stories at any given moment. Users can organise content around categories such as music, design and sports.

Aside from producing these pop-culture cheat sheets, the site will live-stream concerts and feature an interactive component, with challenges from musicians and celebrities like Nikki Minaj who endorse Pepsi. Minaj, for instance, might ask her 10 million Twitter followers to send her pictures of their alter egos (her’s is ‘Roman Zolanski’), which will be displayed on Pulse. The dashboard also highlights celebrity Twitter messages and tweets from people using hashtags #NOW or #LiveForNow.

The brand ambassador Joe Jonas, Disney star and musician, will provide engaging content focused around the ‘Live For Now’ campaign, and will tweet using the hashtag #LiveForNow.

Pulse is launching in beta now and Simon Lowden, chief marketing officer, Pepsi Beverages Company, said that over time the brand will build in other features, such as geo-targeting and special offers with selected partners that focus on “how to make the most of now”. Partnerships will include those with daily-deals sites to promote events across the US. Pepsi Pulse, which resides at its own web destination as well as on the Pepsi home page, has been retooled into the new dashboard. This dashboard is the latest installment of a cyber strategy that included last year’s debut of Sound Off, an online destination that encouraged visitors to comment on The X-Factor, a Fox network reality show whose sponsors included Pepsi. In April, the company held an “internet taste test” in which actors used Facebook profiles to impersonate real consumers trying Pepsi products, and shared the spoof videos with participants. This time, PepsiCo has tapped Joe Jonas, the Jonas Brother band member, as brand ambassador for the celebrityinfused ‘Live for Now’ campaign.

The campaign’s social media dashboard will serve not only as a key content source around music, design and sports, but will also be a campaign centrepiece with social media. Consumers will be encouraged to tweet, ‘like’ and pin items from the dashboard.

Some of the most interesting and unexpected news that can be found on Pulse includes information on the Santa Barbara Film Festival, the 15 Sexiest Superheroes, tips on taking your next road trip, Beyonce being named the Worlds’ Most Beautiful Woman and even TED Talks. The initial reviews about Pulse are positive.

Interesting, unexpected news Pulse has had a major impact on the brand. Pepsi now has a fresh and popular culture created especially for it. The number of conversations it has sparked off online is another advantage.

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Pepsi Pulse

Celebrity-heavy The campaign will include celebrity challenges and updates, which urge their fans to participate and respond, ultimately “inspiring and getting consumers to live in the now”.

Source : http://www.sosoactive.com/pepsi-launches-pulse-pop-culture-and-newsplatform/

In a world that’s swiftly being reshaped by technology, even well-established brands have to play by the new digital rules. Pepsi’s ambitious social media strategy, understands that cyberspace is fertile ground for building relationships with customers who might not be reachable through print or TV advertising.

The brand is focused on music to catch the young market’s attention. Over the years, Pepsi has featured musicians such as Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, MC Hammer, Britney Spears and Beyonce in its marketing. Therefore, Live for Now and Pulse sound more like a rite of passage for the brand, which hopes to strengthen its connection with entertainment globally.

Source : http://blog.socialflow.com/post/7120245192/pepsi-pulse-campaignworks-with-socialflow

Inviting and inspiring consumers Pepsi wants its consumers to live in the moment by knowing what’s hot across the web so that they can be the first among their friends to share the information.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/04/30/pepsi-pulse-live-for-now/

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The Fancy

What is Fancy?

Fancy is a store, blog, magazine and wishlist modelled on the lines of Pinterest.

It allows users to discover and curate items into lists and connects them through shared tastes and interests.

Fancy, according to its 'about' page, is ‘part store, blog, magazine and wishlist. It’s a place to discover great stuff, to curate a collection of things you love, to get updates on your favourite brands and stores and to share your discoveries’.

The objective of the social photo-sharing website created by Joseph Einhorn is to connect its users through shared tastes and interests.

Source: http://thefancy.com

The design and functions are modelled on Pinterest – people can ‘fancy’ (curate) items into lists

Pinterest parallels The network lets users ‘fancy’ (pin) products into over 15 categories, ranging from art and apparel to gadgets. It is a social photoclipping/bookmarking service for users looking for unique products.

Source: http://www.stuntedbyreality.com/2012/05/31/i-quite-fancy-thefancy-com/

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Crowdsourcing

The Fancy

more about inspiration, creativity and things to do. As mentioned by ‘Stylist’ writer Diana Nguyen: A similar outline and display to online pin-board phenomenon Pinterest, The Fancy allows users to showcase more of what you want — travel destinations, food and material objects — rather than what’s inspiring or creative. And because the products are “Fancy’d” based on desire, the boards definitely showcase more of a high-tech and, well, fancy scale.

From cars to clothing, users can fancy items into 15 categories.

A step ahead Source: http://www.macstories.net/reviews/fancy-a-social-network-curatingcontemporary-product-design/

Pinterest built a user base of over 11 million but struggled to establish a major revenue stream.

Path beat Pinterest by monetising user-curated collections of images that allowed users to buy ‘fancied’ items.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/02/23/fancy/

http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2012/02/fancy_like_pinterest_but_much_more_about_ buying_stuff.html

Just like users pin their favourite items into lists on Pinterest, users can ‘fancy’ their favourite images into lists on The Fancy.

However, the content on The Fancy is different from Pinterest’s; it’s all about unique and rare items curated on the website.

As mentioned by Macstore reviewer, Lukas Hermann: Fancy started as somewhat similar to Pinterest, where you can “Fancy” the gorgeous products that are found in the site. It’s a social photo-clipping service that’s very popular among people who like looking for unique and rare things.

Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2012/02/23/user-curator-sitefancy-beats-pinterest-to-monetization/

The Fancy is also more about the kind of items/ products that users desire, while Pinterest is 41

While Pinterest gathered a user base of 11 million, it still hadn’t created a major revenue stream.

The Fancy beat Pinterest by monetising its user-curated images. It announced in February 2012 that it would begin conducting transactions directly on its site. Earlier, the start-up linked items to third-party assets if users were interested in purchasing the item they ‘fancied’.

The Fancy takes a cut on each purchase.

This is an interesting strategy – especially for Pinterest, which hasn’t been able to monetise its popularity.

The move was lauded by social media enthusiasts and online buyers across the world.

Forbes contributor Matt Miller wrote : Buying items on the site is also a great financial move for Fancy, because they can take a cut of each purchase made on the site, as Mashable reported. This is an interesting strategy, especially for Pinterest, who hasn’t been able tomonetize(sic) the popularity of its site.

Mashable reader Ben Chua testified: Yet to check out the site so no comments on Fancy.

But if you go to Quora and ask about reasons for the rapid growth of Pinterest, you’ll find Semil Shah’s FANTASTIC answer on how Pinterest can be a potential game changer- if, and only if, they can allow people to buy directly on the site from those pretty things they see there. And Fancy is doing that right now Link to the Quora’s answer mentioned above – http://www.quora.com/Pinterest/What-is-drivingthe-rapid-growth-in-daily-and-monthly-activeusers-of-Pinterest

Strong business model Whenever a user ‘fancies’ an item, brands and retailers can bid to sell that specific product. Once approved, they set the price and quantity; Fancy gets a percentage of the cost.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hannahelliott/2012/06/06/fancy-turnsimpulse-shopping-into-an-art/

As far as the business model goes, what makes The Fancy brilliant is that while other social networks rely on advertising for revenue, The Fancy built a sustainable business model.

The process is simple. When a user fancies an item, brands and retailers bid to sell it. Once approved by the network, the seller sets the price based on the demand (number of fancies) and The Fancy gets a percentage of what the buyer pays.

Forbes writer Hannah Elliot explained the process in ‘Fancy turns impulse shopping into an art’ : Here’s how it works. I spot a photo of a guy wearing Maison Martin Margiela boots on my favorite menswear blog, save the image, add a title and upload it to my Fancy feed. I link to the Margiela site, write a comment and file it under the “men’s” category. As the photo goes live, the notes I added join Fancy’s database, which indexes the boots thanks to the tags, title and key words in the comment section.

Soon after, a sales rep from Margiela checks the site and sees my post—or, if he has an account, gets an e-mail notice. Creating a listing for the new product in his vendor profile, the rep tags it with key attributes and submits it to Fancy, which checks to ensure the link between the photo and seller is legit and the product for sale is of a high quality.

This is different from most social commerce models. While brands and businesses try to reach out to consumers through spam mailers and deals on social media, The Fancy’s users look for products they like, while brands and businesses decide its price.

Founder Einhorn stated his understanding of the model:

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hannahelliott/2012/06/06/fancy-turnsimpulse-shopping-into-an-art/

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Crowdsourcing

What we’re saying is, let’s find out about the coolest stuff in the world through people who have The Fancy

amazing taste, and then we’ll ‘fancy’ it, and, if merchants and brands are seeing demand forming around a place or product that they want to sell, they’ll come to us.

In contrast, most social networks don’t have a monetisation strategy at launch and hope that the revenue falls in place through forced innovations.

Techcrunch reader Dan Farfan wrote: Terrific idea, The Fancy. Well done! Social media turned e-Commerce has tons of potential. I like it when the startup has a clear business model instead of getting huge then breaking itself desperate for revenue. My startup does Social Media turned gaming (selling virtual goods revenue model, with a twist). People already posting billions of new photos on Facebook every month. Lots to play with.

Website analytics Statistically, Pinterest drives more traffic but Fancy users are more engaged. An average Fancy user creates 22 times more content.

Also, 60% of Fancy users are men compared to 31% on Pinterest.

Source: http://facebook.com

This statistic might be obvious given the fact that clicking on Pinterest’s homepage leads to images of a silk taffeta dress, fresh strawberry cake recipe and an expensive pair of shoes, while on The Fancy it leads to images of an iPhone watch and an Audi Sport Quattro S1.

As mentioned by Techcrunch writer Sarah Perez: For starters, Pinterest users are predominantly female, and seem happiest when pinning things like craft projects, recipes, funny quips about parenting, motivational sayings, decorative items for the home, and other types of photographic inspiration. Meanwhile, Fancy’s users are currently 60 percent male, and are more often posting consumer goods of the Fab.com variety; highfashion clothes and accessories and photos of exotic locales.

This is an interesting statistic as, in the US, AdAge reported, women purchase more online.

12.5% of female internet users [made] an online purchase in February 2010, compared to 9.3% of men,” AdAge said.

The Fancy might attempt to incorporate more content that women relate to, in order to increase sales.

Competitor to Amazon, threat to Pinterest Fancy considers itself a competitor to Amazon. While users can ‘collect’ and share products and services, just like on Pinterest, Fancy is a marketplace that enables the purchase of goods and services.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/05/30/fancy-iphone-ipad-mcommerce/

Statistically speaking, while Pinterest has done an impressive job of driving traffic, The Fancy’s users seem far more engaged.

Pinterest’s 11 million users have generated over 32 million posts, while The Fancy – with just 250,000 registered users – has generated 16.7 million posts. Its users are generating 22 times the amount of content that Pinterest users are creating. This means that, on average, every The Fancy user is creating 66 posts, while on Pinterest the number drops to 3. The gender demographic differs greatly too.

About 60% of this new site’s users are men, according to TechCrunch, compared to 31% on Pinterest. In fact, 97% of the people who liked Pinterest’s Facebook page are women.

43

Source: http://www.twitter.com

User engagement statistics prove that if The Fancy focuses more on driving traffic, it could be a major threat to Pinterest, given that it plays the same role with the added purchase option.

While comparisons to Pinterest are understandable because of the similar design and features, The Fancy prefers to think of itself as a competitor to Amazon as it considers itself a marketplace.

For merchants, The Fancy is a fully functional e-commerce platform – they can manage inventory, calculate shipping, print shipping labels.

Einhorn said in an interview with Bloomberg West: We’re actually just trying to be like a newer version of Amazon.com. The big difference being on Amazon, you know what you’re looking for… whereas on our website you are finding out about the coolest stuff from people who have great taste.

As for Pinterest, Einhorn explained: We’re really different in that rather than just being a broad self-expression platform or a broad discovery platform, we’re really laser-focused on trying to get people to buy things on our system, which I don’t think that site is doing.

Social commerce Fancy completes the online shopping experience by combining window shopping and purchase. Pinterest only allows ‘window shopping’, while online stores like Amazon are restricted to ‘shopping’.

Source: http://www.theroot.com/views/thefancycom-pinterest-when-you-actuallywant-buy-stuff

The Fancy turns social discovery into social commerce. It provides the complete shopping experience by allowing users to ‘window shop’ by browsing through product pages. Users can discover products they like by browsing various categories. The advantage that The Fancy has over Pinterest is that it allows users to ‘shop’ as well as ‘window shop’.

‘Forbes’ writer Matt Miller wrote: One thing that you can’t do on Pinterest – that you can do window-shopping or in magazines – is buy the stuff you’re looking at directly. This is where Fancy has the jump on Pinterest.

On Amazon and other online stores, users know what they want to buy and don’t discover new things they would like to buy along the way.

Striking user-curated photos, shopping opportunities via accidental discovery… it’s a new retail model in the making.

As stated by Sucharita Mulpuru, an e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research: On TheFancy.com you never know what you’ll find: gorgeous photos of the Pacific Ocean off Samoa; young women in Fendi and Dior; artwork

by Damien Hirst and KAWS. It’s like listening to Spotify instead of your own playlist, letting serendipity guide your shopping nose. The Web is very much about spearfishing and people looking for things they already know they want—that’s why Google has been so successful.

The Fancy provides a 360-degree online shopping experience.

Source: http://gigaom.com/2012/02/23/the-fancy-makes-play-to-be-theamazon-of-social-commerce/

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Crowdsourcing

The Fancy

Platform for visual brands Experts observe that the layout and user interface of Fancy creates opportunities for brands to build awareness by driving conversations and generating sales through visual enticement.

Source : http://daredo.tumblr.com/post/15507996296/2012-is-the-year-of-socialcuration

The Fancy is a hit partly due to its developers’ understanding of the need for structured social curation, which has been around for a while. It can be compared to networking in the sense that it always existed offline.

Source: http://www.thefancy.com/brands-stores

The platform visually entices customers through its interface. Brands are starting to see the sense in operating on The Fancy, especially those that have visual and aesthetic appeal. Already, more than 800 brands have signed up.

The year of curation?

2012 could be the year of social curation, with users preferring to consume content rather than create it. Part of the success of The Fancy is attributed to social media adapting to push-button content curation.

There was always a need for curation, as Erica Friedman explained: Once upon a time, back when we didn’t have the Internet, I remember folks spending an afternoon cleaning up their Rolodex files; pulling out old, unneeded contacts, updating others. Human nature doesn’t change. Needs don’t change. All that’s changed is the technology.

As social media evolved, long-form content, which can be a barrier to participation, changed to suit users’ requirements and the way they participated in conversations.

Pinterest and The Fancy understood that most users want to consume content in a structured manner rather than create it themselves, which is why experts predict 2012 to be the year of social curation.

Other social networks understand this too, which is why they are racing to incorporate push-button features. Whether it’s the Facebook ‘share’, Twitter ‘retweet’ or Tumblr ‘re-blog’, social networks don’t want to miss the curation bus.

Way ahead: E-commerce social networking http://blog.eladgil.com/2011/12/how-pinterest-will-transform-web-in.html

Discovery and buying behaviour are often influenced by public opinion. The Fancy combines push-button content curation, social networking and e-commerce to create a special online shopping experience.

45

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/05/30/fancy-iphone-ipad-mcommerce/ Source: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/03/22/why-fancy-is-theevolution-of-amazon-one-user-bags-a-250000-investment/

The Fancy also updated its apps for the iPhone and iPad. Previously, the apps limited activity to browsing and collecting images, but they now allow users to make one-click purchases, making a successful transition from e-commerce to m-commerce.

Source: http://www.webaddict.co.za/2012/06/19/the-fancy-future-of-ecommerce/

The incorporation of social networking is said to be the future of e-commerce.

What you discover and buy is often a result of what friends or trusted inner circles recommend.

This is why social networking will play a crucial role in highlighting products tailormade for the people, by the people.

If you follow people whose tastes are similar to yours, chances are that you’ll end up discovering many products that you want.

Social media experts like Elliot think that The Fancy combines the best attributes of networks to create a complete social e-commerce experience.

By doing this, The Fancy has opened new avenues, entering a mobile retail market expected to touch $10 billion in the US this year, according to a Forrester forecast. By 2016, Forrester estimated, mobile retail sales will exceed $30 billion.

The service distinguishes itself via the content and the idea of combining the advantages of social networks with selling products to create a special mobile shopping experience.

The future With over 250,000 registered users, Fancy raises $50,000 in sales every week. Some experts predict an acquisition soon, while others suggest Pinterest will embrace e-commerce and curb Fancy’s growth.

About Einhorn, she said: He’s a dangerous comer in e-commerce. His Fancy lets you buy high-end things on a website as eclectic as Pinterest, as stunning as Tumblr and as money-driven as Amazon.

From e-commerce to m-commerce The Fancy is also available on mobile platforms. The apps initially only allowed browsing and collecting images, but now lets users make one-click purchases as well.

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Crowdsourcing

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57449954-93/zuckerberg-joinspinterest-rival-the-fancy/

The Fancy

basis of your Facebook likes, interests, hobbies or past purchases.

Some practitioners also said that The Fancy’s honeymoon period would end the day Pinterest adds e-commerce. A conversation between Flavio and Mark Evans on the Sysomos Blog indicated that.

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

Since its launch in February 2012, The Fancy has consolidated a user base of 250,000, generating an average of $50,000 in sales every week.

Many social media experts like WebAddict blogger, Yasser Buchana, predicted a social media major like Facebook taking over the start-up: Fresh from announcing the acquisition of Face.com, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO is said to have joined. Furthermore, The site is said to have hit over a million users and growing - one could fancy, The Fancy being acquired by Facebook anytime soon.

It would make sense for both parties as The Fancy would be able to incorporate more social tools and functions.

Perhaps it could get the interest graph more into play by adding a Pandora-like feature by which an algorithm would suggest products to buy on the

Flavio said: I think, like you said, The Fancy is more like “buzzword” right now because is the same Pinterest equation but e-commerce added feature.

Nearly being e-commerce platform i think Pinterest focus is to add “personalization” and “identity” to users engaging brands online. I think sooner or later Pinterest will add e-commerce factor to its platform but Pinterest has much more presence than The Fancy does right now.

Mark Evans added: I agree it’s only a matter of time before Pinterest embraces e-commerce. So far, it seems intent on building the user base and user experience before it turns on the e-commerce engine.

Thanks for the comment. Mark It’s more a question of when, rather than if, Pinterest will incorporate e-commerce. Till then at least, The Fancy can ride high.

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Storytelling

Vook

Multimedia e-books Vook lets users create multimedia e-books with audio, video and images that can be dragged and dropped into the documents,creating an enhanced reading experience.

Source: http://Vook.com

Vook is a public, cloud-based e-publishing platform that allows authors to create greatlooking digital books, distribute them on e-book stores and track sales for a fee.

Vook is an intuitive, easy-to-use cloud-based publishing platform on which authors can create, edit, style, publish and track sales of their e-books.

Vook was founded in 2009 by serial entrepreneur Brad Inman with the vision of lighting up content in the post-PC world. It works with several content partners, including NBC, Simon and Schuster, ABC and Hay House. It also works with all major distribution channels such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Barnes and Noble.

49

Source: http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/Vook-launches-multimediabooks

Source: http://Vook.com

The difference between e-books and ‘Vooks’ is that Vook lets users create multimedia e-books with audio, video and images that can be dragged and dropped into books, creating an enhanced reading experience.

Vook has tools for easy image editing (images can be resized within the e-book editor), granular adjustment (fonts, headings, layouts) and other elements.

Among potential clients are bloggers and individuals interested in distributing existing or new content to which they can add sound, images and videos. For instance, Google chose Vook to create its e-book ‘Winning the Zero Moment of Truth’.

Vook’s system is similar to Apple software, as pointed out by blogger Craig Morgan Teicher: “Vook’s system will be familiar to anyone who has used, for instance, Apple software like iPhoto, iWeb or Pages–it’s all drag-and-drop and easy to use. It’s far simpler to use than professional products like Adobe Photoshop.”

The origins Vook launched in 2009 as a digital publishing specialist, with four titles. Since then, it has worked with household names in the media industry, publishing over 800 multimedia e-books.

Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Storytelling

Vook

Source: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jfk-50-days-ipad-edition/id402259732?mt=8

Vook did not start off as a self-publishing platform. It was a digital publisher working with prominent media personalities. It launched on October 1, 2009, with four titles published in partnership with Atria.

In 2010, Vook partnered with NBC Universal and Perseus Books to launch ‘JFK: 50 Days’, an interactive e-book, and the ‘Video Guide’ series, among other apps and e-books.

In 2011, Vook launched several new titles, including ‘TextVook’ (animated e-books and apps on academic subjects) and ‘Brief Histories’ (historical overviews of popular subjects, enhanced with video and text). In all, Vook has over 800 titles.

Question marks about multimedia books Purists did not take well to multimedia e-books. They felt that reading was all about setting the imagination free and not about images or videos. The charm of a book lies in the reader’s interpretation, they felt.

Publisher to e-book aggregator Eventually, Vook decided to change from a publishing house to a conversion service that enables people to make and share books. This fitted well with its ambition of encompassing the full production cycle.

Source: http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/vook-stops-publishing-content-isthere-a-market-for-enhanced-ebooks/

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/27/ AR2009122701973_4.html/

Purists shunned multimedia e-books as they felt videos and images upset their thought process and imagination. The beauty of a book lies in the reader’s interpretation, they felt.

Avid reader Anna Jacobs was among the skeptics: I like to let my imagination fly when I read a book. I don’t want it cluttered with pictures, interpretations and extraneous info from other people. The Vook doesn’t tempt me at all. In fact, though I can see the uses of e-books, they don’t tempt me personally either. At its most basic, I’m clumsy and drop books all the time. I’d soon break an e-book gadget. And after a ten-hour day on the computer who wants any of these gadgets in the evening?

Karen Wester Newton agreed: I don’t see Vooks as a predominant “literary” form.

It seems to me people who want to watch video will rent or buy a movie and people who want tor read will buy or borrow a book. Plus, they can only be read/viewed on computers, which limits where they can be consumed. They must also be one heck of a lot more expensive to produce than a book.

A minority, though, including Keith Staskiewicz felt that Vooks (video + books) had a place in the market: Book purists — or even e-book purists if those exist yet — shouldn’t be afraid of the Vook taking the place of their cherished texts anytime soon. Atria and Vook intend it not as a replacement for lying on the beach with a Crichton or a Patterson, but as an in-between option, for when your bus is stuck in traffic or your kid’s soccer game goes into overtime.

Source: http://thenextweb.com/media/2012/03/26/Vook-wants-to-let-anyonebecome-an-e-book-publisher/

Vook changed course, turning aggregator from publisher in late 2011, as there were question marks over the success of e-books.

Vook switched to public beta, letting anyone publish and track their e-books. Vook felt that this new cloud-based creation tool would set them apart from the distributors, allowing authors to upload and work on the document from nearly anywhere.

As mentioned on ‘The Digital Reader’ by writer Nate Hoffelder: Vook have just announced that they’re not going to be publishing their own enhanced e-books anymore. They’re now going to make a push to become a conversion service which anyone can use to make an e-book with embedded audio and video.

They’re not giving up on the market niche, but they did pivot and go in a different direction.

This fitted well with Vook’s long-term strategy, as noted by its VP of business development Matthew Cavnar: 51

While the platform is fairly simple and intuitive, its ambition is to encompass the full production cycle of an e-book from start to finish.

Vook also changed its revenue model as there were doubts whether a market for it existed.

We don’t take commissions — but we charge you to use our platform on a subscription model. There are other companies out there that offer a similar model — in fact, we had many potential partners ask us for this model as they wanted to keep all of their revenue.

Revenue model

Stories created faster, easier

Vook changed its revenue stream to a licensing model by which users paid monthly subscriptions. It stopped taking royalties on e-books sold by authors, which meant that the business risk stayed with the author.

Vook makes it easy for authors to create and release their stories by simply uploading a file and making changes to it. The key to it is that authors can release e-books fast, without publishing lags.

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tech-in-twenty/2012/03/22/tech-in-twenty

Vook decided to switch to a licensing model by which users paid a monthly subscription for access to the platform. The licensing slabs were ‘Basic’, ‘Pro’, ‘Advanced’ and ‘Enterprise’.

Vook would not take royalties on e-books, which meant that it created revenue at the author’s risk, as mentioned by Nate Hoffelder in his article ‘Vook, A publisher no more’: Vook are in the process of proving one theory I had about enhanced e-books , e-book apps, and so on.

While I am not sure there is a profitable market for enhanced e-books, I do believe that there is a market for a paid service to make enhanced e-books . The difference between offering a service and releasing their own titles is that Vook won’t be risking as much of their own capital in making an enhanced e-book. They will get paid based on someone else’s risk.

The overall objective is to become an e-book aggregator for major publishing houses, who can connect directly with their audiences. Describing Vook as a “publishing house in a box”, Cavnar explained the rationale behind the revenue stream: Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Storytelling

Vook

Source: http://www.Vook.com

The new platform makes publishing easy and eliminates the lags faced by several authors.

Cavnar called it “just-in-time publishing”.

Editing is easy; users don’t even have to know HTML or CSS. All they need to do is upload their file, add audio, images and documents, and make changes.

As Craig Morgan Teicher said: The Vook platform is essentially an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor, like Apple’s iBooks Author app, but not restricted to one e-bookstore. Users create an account at www.Vook.com, upload a file (the system accepts .doc, .docx, .epub, .css, .png, .jpg, .mp3 and .mp4 formats for text, images, video and audio) and then begin editing. Vook has created a set of templates, though advanced users can import their own style sheets or create their own templates that can be used for other books. With the easy-to-use tools, authors have total control over the look and feel of their e-books, from fonts and text size to margins and design.

Sales tracked in real-time

their own websites or distribution channels as well.

Sales can be tracked in real-time through a tool that resembles Google analytics.

Vook charges no royalties; the authors keep it all.

The only revenue for Vook is an annual fee that ranges from $79 per month ($849 per year) at the basic level to $299 per month ($3,199 per year) for professionals.

Too expensive Critics said that the platform doesn’t do enough to justify its price tag of $79/ month ($849/year) to $299/month ($3,199/year) compared to Sigil, Bookbaby, CreateSpace, etc.

After styling, authors enter meta data and pricing information. The e-book can be distributed to Amazon, iBooks and BN.com or uploaded to e-bookstores. Vook provides a sales-tracking dashboard.

Source: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-ebooks/article/51217-Vook-launches-e-book-creation-and-publishing-platform-. html?utm_

Source: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-ebooks/article/51217-Vook-launches-e-book-creation-and-publishing-platform-. html?utm_

The fee was deemed too high by several writers when compared to free or cheaper alternatives such as Sigil, Bookbaby, CreateSpace and iBook.

‘Publisher Weekly’ reader Laer Carroll said: I use Sigil (free) to create an EPUB for B&N, Calibre (free) to convert the EPUB to Amazon’s format, and OpenOffice.org (free) to convert.doc to PDF for Amazon’s CreateSpace. Vook way overcharges for their services.

Newt Barrett, president at Content Marketing Strategies, a division of Voyager Media, Inc, explained why he loves BookBaby:

After creating the e-book, authors feed in the meta data and pricing. The system generates a preview and e-mails it to the author. After making changes, users can get an ISBN and distribute the book through Vook to Amazon, iBooks and BN.com. Authors can sell their e-books through

Actually, BookBaby.com, which I have used for CMI Books title, Managing Content Marketing, may be a much better deal for basic e-book conversion & distribution. They charge a small upfront fee and a small annual fee to maintain distribution.

The author/publisher keeps 100% of the royalties paid–that would be 70% for Amazon, for example.

Moreover, BookBaby does all the conversion work.

53

You just send them the pdf files for cover and interior and you are good to go.

Many authors like the platform, but don’t think the price tag is justified. Charley Clift said: Seems like the high price is going to turn away a huge number of would be loyal customers from an innovative platform like this… Seems like the technology behind it is top notch though.

Vook works for non-fiction Multimedia content has not worked for fiction as videos stop readers from exercising their imaginations. Non-fiction work, like how-to books, have done better as video can help explain complicated steps.

Source: http://shelf-life.ew.com/2009/10/01/what-is-a-Vook-and-will-it-changehow-you-read

Source: http://facebook.com

Another downer was Vook not working for fiction.

Critics said that videos and images stop readers from setting their imaginations free while reading fiction.

Multimedia is generally considered helpful for non-fiction work like how-to books. As mentioned

by Cindy Blankenship in a comment on an article in the New York Times When it comes to fiction and exercising the imagination, I especially agree. However I don’t think the videos replace the text in a Vook. It sounds like links to videos are added to the e-book to provide supplementary material? This could be very helpful in a how-to book, for example, on a Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2012

Storytelling

Vook

complicated craft. Instead of just a diagram, there could be actual videos on the more complicated steps. I saw this done with self-published cake decorating books I helped with a few years ago.

I love the idea! And while I prefer to curl up on the couch with a book, having an iPod or laptop would probably please me as much as a printed book.

Keith Staskiewicz said in his article ‘What is a Vook and will it change how you read?’ why Vook works for non-fiction only: The format definitely lends itself better to certain types of books than others. Probably the most effective of the four inaugural titles is Return to Beauty by aesthetician Narine Nikogosian, a straightforward how-to manual for making your own mango moisturizers, white bean and olive oil face masks, and prime rib au jus body scrubs. (All right, I made up that last one.) The video demonstrations that punctuate the manual seem pretty helpful, particularly on something as portable as an iPhone. And all that kitchen cosmetology really makes me think that this layout would be perfect for cookbooks (or cookVooks, if you will). A I could see instructional, or even selfhelp, Vooks as a totally viable alternative to trying to re-tar your roof with a book in one hand, a laptop in the other, and a TiVo-ed This Old House playing somewhere downstairs.

Sadly, the fiction titles don’t work quite as well.

The first, a Jude Deveraux romance set in 19th-century South Carolina, tries to use video clips to provide atmosphere, with fluttering shots of cernuous willows and Southern manses set to the book’s narration. But since the text was produced separately from the videos, the clips feel a little redundant and even distracting.

The future of publishing?

Experts say if the price can be controlled, and a need is created for multimedia books, the deadly combination of self-publishing and multimedia books could well become the future of publishing.

Experts said that if the pricing can be revised and a need created for multimedia in e-books, Vook could set a precedent that combines self-publishing and multimedia.

Lorraine Campbell said in a comment on ‘Are Vooks The Future of Book Publishing?’ written by Ty Mcmahon: I believe Vooks have a place in our society, like almost everything else. When I go to sleep I want to read a book, but if I’m traveling a Vook not only be lighter to carry, it might be more entertaining.

There is already a need for self-publishing multimedia for non-fiction titles. If a need for multimedia content is created for fiction, Vook could be a game changer in e-book publishing.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2011/01/18/are-Vooks-the-future-ofbook-publishing

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Glassdoor

The content includes jobs available, salaries offered, tips for interviews, company overviews, ratings, etc, enabling users to browse for all the relevant information on one website.

This information is generated by job seekers, employers and companies, making it more legitimate.

A unique feature is ‘Inside Connections’, a Facebook app that reveals the connections users have at a company – employees and exemployees – from within their Facebook friends list.

What job seekers want

Job seekers look for portals where they can get answers to questions like ‘What’s the job?’, ‘How much does it pay?’, ‘How is the work environment?’, ‘Who is the contact person?’

Source: http://glassdoor.com

What is Glassdoor?

Glassdoor is a free jobs and career community that offers an inside look at recruitments and companies through ‘employee-generated content’ by uncovering ‘Inside Connections’ through Facebook.

Glassdoor is a one-stop shop for online job seekers. It is a free jobs and careers community that offers an inside look at recruitments and companies through ‘employee-generated content’ by uncovering ‘Inside Connections’ through Facebook.

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Glassdoor

Source: http://www.techcareers.com/articles/using-glassdoor-to-find-a-job-10671article.html

Glassdoor co-founder Tim Besse explained: What job seekers really want is all the answers on one page. What’s the job, what does it pay, what is it like there, and who do I know who could help me? Job seekers look for information that can help them get the right job quickly. They also want to know more about the company, its salary structure, working environment, point of contact and so on. It is these queries that Glassdoor addresses.

One-stop shop Glassdoor compiles information on professional networks, job listings, reviews, salary reports, workplace photos and presents them on one platform.

Source: www.libgig.com/glassdoor

Source: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/index.htm

Glassdoor has a massive advantage over other networks as it is said to have details of more than 150,000 companies, including those listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500, and featured in the Fortune 500 list, making it the biggest online repository of information on the job market.

CEO and Co-founder Besse said: We have as many baristas on the site as we do software engineers. And that’s something LinkedIn can’t say.

Useful for potential employees Claire Gordon said in her article ‘Glassdoor Launches Social Network, But Can It Beat LinkedIn’: The Internet is a powerful streamliner. But job-hunting, as millions of unemployed Americans know, is still an inelegant online experience, with separate sites for job searching, company reviews, and professional networking. But Glassdoor has its eyes on the prize: a one-stop shop for all your jobseeking needs.

Biggest company information repository

Job seekers can search for positions, get a perspective on companies and check which friends that have worked there. They can also gain insights on a company’s recruiting process.

Source: http://mashable.com/2009/04/27/glassdoor-interview-reviews

Glassdoor has data on more than 150,000 companies, including those listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500, and featured in the Fortune 500 list.

Source: http://twitter.com

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Job seekers can search for positions, get a perspective on companies and check which friends have worked there. They also gain insights on a company’s recruiting process. The portal is also useful for human resource personnel scouting for talent.

As mentioned by Mashable writer Sharlyn Lauby: If you’re interested in specific companies or you just landed an interview there, look them up on Glassdoor. Glassdoor is a community site where individuals can anonymously post the “inside scoop” on companies, jobs, salaries and benefits, based on their firsthand experiences. The comments answer the questions we’re all dying to know: Does the company offer advancement opportunities? What’s your impression of the management team? Does the company encourage in work-life balance?

Through ‘Inside Connections’, every job or company throws up the number of connections a user has through his/her Facebook friends list.

Mashable writer Peter Pachal pointed out: Now when you connect Glassdoor to Facebook and click on a company, you’ll be able to see which of your Facebook friends are connected to that company — either by being an employee or having worked there in the past. You’ll also see friends of friends who are connected, too.

Why Inside Connections Inside Connections might help users get an ‘introduction’ for the job through friends and family. This is based on the insight that 60% of jobs are found through such networks.

The inside story of a company and some tips could be the difference between an offer and a rejection.

Inside Connections Glassdoor recently integrated a Facebook app called ‘Inside Connections’ that reveals the connections users have at a company – employees and ex-employees – from within their Facebook friends list.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/01/glassdoor-launches-insideconnections-a-facebook-based-job-hunting-tool

The integration of ‘Inside Connections’ was based on the insight that most jobs are found through personal connections. Co-founder and CEO Robert Hohmann said that research showed that almost 60% of jobs were found through such connections.

When people look for jobs, they first turn to friends and family. This prompted Glassdoor to integrate the professional network with users’ personal networks.

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Glassdoor

Hohman said: Friends and family are the most trusted resource for career advice, and with Glassdoor’s Inside Connections, we are bringing together who you know with what you need to know about jobs and companies. Inside Connections allows job seekers to leverage their Facebook network to uncover where they have an ‘in’ at specific companies to help them land the right job.

Glassdoor, therefore, has an advantage over Linkedin through the social integration and through its large database of companies.

As mentioned by Jon on the blog ‘Carve Consulting’: What’s interesting about the latest Glassdoor update is that it’s chosen to integrate the Facebook API, in a way that dramatically enhances its value proposition. Now, if I choose to log into Glassdoor using my Facebook profile, my social graph will be mapped against any companies that I’m checking out. So if I want to work at Google for example, I can see which of my Facebook friends can possibly help me with an introduction. Sure Linkedin has this feature, but it doesn’t have all the rich data on salaries and reviews from actual employees. What do you think? Has Glassdoor now become the onestop shop for all your career research needs?

Leveraging the Facebook friends list It’s more about leveraging a network than expanding it. Enter Facebook, a network that has over 800 million users. Glassdoor’s customers are also younger and more active on Facebook than on other networks.

Glassdoor is more about leveraging an existing network for professional connections that most users weren’t aware of. By using Facebook, Glassdoor makes the most of a network that has over 800 million users. Glassdoor users are also younger and more active on Facebook than on other networks like Linkedin because of its serious approach.

As Besse said: We’ve been taught to think that Facebook is just our personal or social lives and Linkedin is our professional lives, but the reality is that when you’re boots-on-the-street looking for a job, some of the very first people that you turn to are your closest friends. And what Glassdoor does is make it really easy to tap into these connections.

Instead of duplicating the Linkedin experience on Facebook, Glassdoor used Facebook to enhance its own website.

Facebook is the world’s most popular social network but does not have any business features other than the Branchout/Monster apps, so such integration works well for both.

Better for users with more social circles Friends of the most well-connected, diverse and influential people will have access to the most jobs. People with many friends on Facebook, who have many friends in return, will have more opportunities.

Source: http://www.simplyzesty.com/facebook/glassdoor-launch-insideconnections-use-facebook-to-find-your-dream-job

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People who are uncomfortable with sharing personal information can opt for BeKnown, which lets users choose friends they want to list as contacts. Those friends must consent to be part of the list.

Tech Crunch writer Sarah Perez explained:

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

Users connected to the influential, the well-networked and those who have a diverse set of friends will have access to the most jobs. Also, each friend that joins Glassdoor allows users to see more connections at more companies.

The competition Linkedin is strictly professional, while Branchout, Glassdoor and BeKnown are more social. Glassdoor uses Facebook to enhance its website with data on salaries and employee reviews.

Conceptually, the product isn’t all that different from what BranchOut has already been doing, or what Monster.com is doing with its BranchOut copycat BeKnown. Using BranchOut’s Facebook app, for example, you can view which friends work where and who they may know at companies you’re interested in. And, like Glassdoor’s new Inside Connections, the others are also built on top of the Facebook social graph.

The difference is that with BranchOut, the goal is to create a mini LinkedIn right on top of Facebook.

You can post projects, share links, post jobs, search through people and companies and grow your network. Glassdoor’s Inside Connections, meanwhile, isn’t meant to be a standalone experience. Instead of duplicating the Linked In experience on Facebook, it’s using Facebook to enhance its own website.

Glassdoor also boasts of a richer database of reviews from actual employees.

The future More job portals will emerge in the social networking space to maximise the potential of social data. Professional and social networks will make the most of their capacities through strategic integration.

Glassdoor isn’t the first to turn to Facebook contacts. Branchout is the most popular one with 2.5 million unique monthly visitors, according to AppData.

This app, like Inside Connections, pulls information from users’ profiles – work history and education, in this case, to allow them to network without personal information getting in the way.

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Glassdoor

Source: http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2010/05/07/social-networkingfor-grown-ups

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/03/19/career-communities

A purely social network is not the best foundation for a professional application, but neither is a purely professional network. Job portals will emerge in the social networking space to maximise the potential of social data through strategic integrations.

Though Linkedin offers a successful platform for business networking, the Facebook graph is a lot more expansive and can provide useful data.

While social and professional networks are fundamentally different, they both hold useful information and will form a potent partnership in the future.

Glassdoor recognises this. How far it succeeds in bridging the two worlds will be interesting to watch.

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Yoke

Simple, effortless Yoke does not complicate things with too many features or processes. Registration is easy. Users don’t need to create a new profile; they just need to select five photos from an album to share with potential dates.

Source: https://apps.facebook.com/yokeapp/?ref=ts

What is Yoke?

Yoke is an online dating application on Facebook that pulls information from user profiles and pairs users with single friends, and friends of friends who share common interests.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/25/yoke-facebook-dating-app

‘Huffington Post’ alumnus Rob Fishman and Jeff Revesz launched Yoke, a matchmaking app for Facebook, in the last week of March 2012.

Unlike its counterparts, like OkCupid, Yoke attempts to keep registration and profile set-up simple and quick.

An online dating application designed to pull information from user profiles to help them meet their friends’ single friends on the basis of common interests, Yoke managed 7,000 users in its very first week.

Users don’t need to spend much time creating a profile and answering questions like who they are, what their interests are and what they are looking for – steps that often act as an impediment.

The app is already being talked of as a success.

Mashable writer Lauren Indvik said:

Users simply connect to the app and select five photos from their albums to share with potential partners.

The app’s feature set is rather limited, but compared to the other Facebook dating apps I’ve seen, Yoke shows the most promise.

The app pulls their Facebook data (age, sexual orientation, relationship status) to complete their profiles.

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Yoke

As mentioned on the blog Socialite Media: Yoke takes your Facebook profile data and compiles a simple profile for you, including your likes, interests and basic personal information. Yoke also links potential matches on other personal data like educational institutions attended, workplace links, and friends networks.

Not only is registration easy, the process of finding potential matches is very straightforward as well.

‘Techcrunch’ writer Josh Constine said in ‘Dating App Yoke Hooks You Up Based On Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, And Facebook Data’: Dating is already stressful enough, so a calm, straightforward interface is refreshing.

Facebook data to find common interests The app pulls data – age, education, interests – from users’ Facebook profiles to match them up with compatible profiles.

The objective: discover common interests that could lead to a real-world bond.

Pulling data such as the kind of books, movies or music a potential match likes on Facebook can be an important conversation starter for a user who has an interest in that person or author/ director/actor/rock band.

As mentioned by blogger Jennifer Zaino on Semantic Web: Yoke is deeply connected into the Facebook API, Revesz says. With users’ permission, it accesses basic data such as birthday, location, and education history, and also pulls their Likes in music, bands, artists, movies, books and some general areas outside those categories. Ditto for their closest friends (again, with respect to their privacy settings, so no guarantee as to how far it can get for each individual).

The end objective is to explore connections with common interests that could lead to a real-world bond.

Yoke founder Rob Fishman said: Yoke resembles how you date in real life — you meet through friends or at a concert because you like the same band.

Data-driven approach Yoke also pulls data on activities undertaken on third-party applications like Amazon, Netflix and Spotify to set people up with direct matches and similar tastes on the basis of movies watched, songs heard, etc.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/28/yoke

Source: http://semanticweb.com/yoke-brings-ontology-graph-to-facebook-datingto-reveal-connections-and-make-them-too_b27746

Source: http://twitter.com

Source: http://thetechnologycafe.com/yoke-takes-online-dating-apps-to-wholenew-level-using-facebook/#.T6PwqbNOBR0

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Yoke also pulls information from profiles on third-party applications like Amazon, Netflix, Spotify and College Graph to set up potential matches based on their activities. This was done to make the interest graph more diverse and social.

The Amazon API looks at purchase activities, Netflix looks at movies watched, Spotify explores the music listened to and Yoke’s API matches users based on the college they went to.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/25/yoke-facebook-dating-app/

The app doesn’t just set people up with direct matches – say, people who listen to Pearl Jam or who went to the same school – but it leverages third-party APIs to find people with similar tastes.

For example, if a person listens to Wham! and another person to George Michael (who used to be the group’s lead singer), the app will know that the two are a potential match.

Yoke CTO Jeff Revesz said: We’re looking both for similarity information and ontology information,” he explains – that is, for example, how closely two movies might resemble each other, and what entities they might share in common, such as the same director or actors. So, if someone likes one particular movie, the ontology of interest entities can be used to show other people who like similar things.

Josh Constine was sold on Yoke’s data-driven approach : I’m a fan of Yoke’s data-driven approach to matching, which utilizes the APIs of content recommendation engines, Facebook’s Graph API, and its own proprietary college and Facebook Page graphs. Those let it say “You both went to Ivy League schools” or “You Like TechCrunch and she Likes LinkedIn”. It references your Spotify, Rdio, or MOG listening data against Echo Nest‘s graph of how popular musicians are clustered to suggest people with similar but not identical taste. These facts could actually serve as ice breakers: “Yoke says I listen to Daft Punk and you listen to Justice.

What’s your favorite Justice song? I want to check them out”.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/28/yoke/

After identifying potential matches, users can ‘yoke’ people to show interest. If the recipient is interested, he/she can yoke back and start chatting.

Yoke’s communication system is integrated with Facebook messages, so users who aren’t on the app can be contacted through a Facebook Message invite. The message says: “You’re both friends with [friend’s name], see what else you have in common. Yoke is a Facebook app that introduces you to people you might like.”

Mutual friends give vote of confidence If users are unsure about a match, they can ask mutual friends for their opinions.

Shy users can also ask mutual friends to introduce them to interests. A friend’s vote adds confidence to a connection.

Yoke the people you like Users can ‘yoke’ others to show interest. If the recipient is interested, he/she can yoke back and start chatting. Yoke is integrated with Facebook messages, so users not on the app can get an invite.

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Yoke

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

People who have cold feet about yoking someone can ask a common friend for an introduction. Those unsure about a match can also ask a mutual friend for his/her opinion.

the Yoke team wanted to make the most of Facebook’s Open Graph to help users find matches based on information from Facebook profiles and third-party apps.

The friends a user has in common with each potential match are listed below the profile information along with the common interests.

The user can click on the mutual friends to send them a message to ask about the person he/she has been matched with.

As mentioned by Lauren Indvik on Mashable:

A friend’s vote of approval is likely to add confidence to a new relationship.

Facebook as a dating platform Yoke used Facebook to take advantage of the Open Graph for information on potential matches, to leverage the user base, to avoid creating a new network and to consolidate a user base from the start.

Yoke’s featureset is limited but expanding. Fishman tells me that he and his team want to take better advantage of Facebook’s Open Graph to show potential matches that they both listened to the same Spotify song the day previously, or read the same article on The Washington Post that morning

Not only for dating The app isn’t only for people looking for dates. Users who aren’t single can find interesting people and make friendly connections. They can also set up friends who are single and compatible with each other.

Source: http://facebook.com

Most dating apps/sites are only for dating, but Yoke is more than that.

Source: https://apps.facebook.com/yokeapp/?ref=ts

Users in a relationship can explore and meet interesting people to make friendly connections or set up friends who are single and compatible through the ‘Set Up Friends’ option.

Drawbacks Source: http://socialitemedia.com.au/yoke-social-dating-site-takes-facebook-infocreate-profile/1033

Even though most people don’t consider Facebook a dating service, in reality, many use it with that purpose in mind.

This was a fabulous opportunity for a dating portal/service to leverage the world’s biggest online community. Enter Yoke.

This also means there is one less website in the saturated online dating market. And, it saved the trouble of creating a network from scratch and consolidating a new user base.

Based on the insight that, generally, most people are attracted to those who share similar interests,

Privacy is a concern as Facebook users’ personal details on their profiles and on third-party apps are included in the search results.The user interface is a problem too along with certain bugs and glitches.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/25/yoke-facebook-dating-app

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/25/yoke-facebook-dating-app

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One of the biggest drawbacks is that the service connects users with people who have not signed up for Yoke or may not be looking for a date at all.

Yoke connects users to people on Facebook, so it needn’t necessarily be the case that the person a user is interested in is interested in the service.

This creates privacy concerns as images and personal information of users like name, interests, city and activities on third-party apps can be viewed by all in the search results.

This creates the possibility of users receiving spam-like messages of interest from Yoke users.

Even though the app pulls information like the relationship status and sexual orientation from Facebook profiles, it could be far from accurate as there are several people who list themselves as single even though they are not.

Another downside is the poorly designed user interface.

The online dating market is huge. Some studies show that the US’ online dating market has crossed $2.1 billion.

In the last few years, however, new players have struggled to stand out due to the saturation. A start-up needs to clearly differentiate itself from the rest.

Yoke’s dating experience is more social as it pulls data from social apps to find and encourages users to ask friends to set them up with their friends.

Its data-driven nature of connecting to Netflix, Amazon and other APIs to make smart suggestions about what two people have in common is what makes it stand out.

Also, people already in relationships are encouraged to use it just to explore new connections and to play matchmaker.

Revesz said:

Online dating market Online dating is a $2.1 billion business in the US, which explains the large number of players such as OkCupid and Match. Yoke stands out as it provides a simpler, more social and data-driven experience.

That kind of strengthens the connection. The most interesting aspect of data is these kinds of strange, mysterious connections between people, and it’s interesting to see that data come out. That’s never been done before. Even applications like Glancee and Highlight are not doing that kind of similarity information. They are not penetrating deep into the graph, and they are not focused on an application – just on who is around you.

Yoke has integrated features from other networks like OkCupid and Badoo to create a sturdy app.

For example, exploring matches is similar to using OkCupid’s ‘Quickmatch’ feature.

Mashable reader Shirish Agarwal said: They seem to have integrated Badoo, Match.com and few other dating sites features. Although it looks very similar to Badoo, Yoke probably stands out because it connects you to your friend’s friend.

So the issue of trust and the profile not being a fake is resolved.

Source: http://soulseekr.com

The future Using social media and third-party connections to source matches will come next. Expect connections to services like Twitter, better profile customisation, a mobile-friendly site and an iPhone app.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/25/yoke-facebook-dating-app

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Yoke

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/28/yoke/

Experts maintained that the concept of a site using Facebook connections to source potential matches is the logical next step in the partnership between online dating and social media.

Online dating sites are expected to become more social and use APIs of other apps/networks to entice connections.

As for Yoke, it has done well in its first month of service. It will grow from strength to strength as it adds additional services and fixes its flaws.

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/30/data-is-the-new-datingyoke-hooks-5000-users-to-its-app-in-one-week

Yoke will probably integrate more third-party APIs like Twitter and Foursquare and customise the user experience.

With a mobile-friendly website and an iPhone app in the offing, Yoke promises to be the next big thing in online dating.

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Pair

Features Along with sharing pictures, videos, texts, e-mail and locations on the partner’s timeline, there are other fun features such as ‘thumbkiss’, ‘live drawing utility’, ‘thinking of you’, ‘Facetime’ and ‘joint to-do list’.

Source: http://trypair.com

Pair is an app that enables couples to share updates and stay in touch through a single stream of communication on a private timeline. It is available on the iOS and Android platforms.

Pair is an app that allows couples to stay in touch through a single stream of communication. It is available for download on www.trypair.com where it is described as: An app for just the two of you. Texting, sharing videos, photos, sketching together, thumbkiss and more.

Launched on the iOS platform, it is now available on Android as well. Users can send those with an iPhone or Android Phone a request to pair up.

Creating multiple pairs isn’t allowed, though it’s easy to unpair and re-pair.

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Pair

Source: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/05/09/new-app-pair-isthe-social-network-just-for-you-and-your-schnookums-lets-you-texttease-and-thumbkiss-your-significant-other

Similar to other networks Experts labelled it ‘Path for couples’ , a ‘Facebook for lovers’, and a ‘Super-SMS’ with more media. Pair is not the first network for couples; it is similar to Cupple, Duet and Between.

Source: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669435/pair-a-social-networking-app-justfor-couples

Pair has some interactive features like Live Drawing Utility, Thinking of You, Joint To-do List and Facetime.

‘ThumbKiss’ for instance, is a feature where both partners press their thumbs together on their screens. When the thumbprints line up, both phones vibrate and the screen turns deep red.

Founder, Oleg Kostour explains: We thought, if we’re so disconnected, how can we use our mobile devices to feel a little bit closer, to feel like we can touch each other?

Source: http://techland.time.com/2012/03/30/pair-a-social-app-thats-just-forcouples/

When both partners are online, the app acts like a chat programme indicating when the other person is typing and lights up a button on the screen that lets them initiate a facetime conversation.

Couples can maintain a joint to-do list and also send a ‘thinking of you’ message.

The intimate features and ability to express without bothering about prying eyes is what makes the app popular. As ‘Android Police’ blogger, Erin Ravenscraft explains: Now, let’s be real. Romantic relationships are a unique and complex beast. It’s a special relationship between two people and only those two people get to define how it works. It’s beautiful. It can be cheesy, or sappy, or weird.

This app gives couples the freedom to express affection or just manage life in a variety of ways.

You want to play tic tac toe or doodle with your lover? You’ve got it! It’s actually a really neat idea and some couples should absolutely go for it.

Source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/03/28/pair-wasnt-the-first-socialnetwork-for-couples-remember-cupple-duet-and-between

In a way, Pair is a lot like Path. Both networks have a similar UI and features, and focus on sharing moments with a private network.

Mashable Blogger, Sarah Kesslerm says: The app takes the concept behind Path a step further. Instead of sharing personal updates within a small network, it’s a way to stay constantly connected with the smallest of networks — one other person.

Critics could argue that it’s a private Facebook for couples. Social networks for couples were launched before Pair as well. Cupple, Duet and Between attempted to create a private stream of interactive media.

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Super-interactive SMS The app serves the purpose of texting with multimedia like Whatsapp does, but in a better, more interactive and organised format. Pair wants to become the next best thing to physical interaction.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/23/pair

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/23/pair

Unlike other apps, this one was created for personal use by the co-founders. Kostour moved from Canada to Mountain View to build a 3D software startup. Instead, he built an app to stay in touch with his girlfriend. Kostour told Co.Design:

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/23/pair

When we first moved to Mountain View, we found ourselves very disconnected from our significant others back home.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/23/pair

Some also call it the Super-SMS. Pair offers users the option to text, but with a lot more media and at lower costs.

Three of the five men who helped create Pair are in long-distance relationships.

Jamie Murai, a co-founder at Pair explains: In text-messaging, you have to scroll through a list.

Sometimes you think you’re sending a message to your girlfriend, but it’s actually going to your workout buddy. You can be confident that once you tap on the Pair icon, everything you share is only shared with your partner.

Good for long-distance relationships The app was created to be the best medium for couples in long-distance relationships.

It is cheaper than international texting and is a combination of the best communication platforms.

There is also a real market for long distance couples as their number is rising. One recent study, in the journal Communication Research, finds that as many as half of the college students are in long-distance relationships, “and up to 75% will be at some point.”

One-stop shop Communication with partners who are far away is scattered across many mediums/ platforms such as Skype, SMS, Facebook and e-Mail. Pair consolidates all these functions to maintain a diary for couples.

Source: http://twitter.com

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Pair

Some marketing experts call it an ‘anti-social network’ in a way. While Facebook constantly pushes people to expand their friend circles, Pair is all about one person only. Pair can be labelled as an app rather than a social network.

Rise of private social networks With privacy and quality engagement, rather than quantity engagement, being the need of the hour, an opportunity for smaller, more intimate social networks like Path, Family Leaf and Pair is there for the taking.

Kostour told Co.Design: Our girlfriends were in Canada, and we were trying to stay connected with them using Skype, SMS, Facebook, and email. The communication was scattered across many products, and we always felt like there was something missing.

Pair consolidates all these functions. “If I want to talk to her, I don’t have to tap anywhere else,” Kostour says adding, “Just tap one button and I’m talking to her right away.”

Couples like Mashable reader Waegook_Tom have taken to this app

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/business/pathfamilyleaf-and-pair-small-by-design-social-networks.html

Social media enthusiasts are realising the need for privacy and quality.

As mentioned by New York Times writer, Randal Stross

The anti-social network?

Facebook makes sharing easy — too easy, some would say. Because one’s social network often consists not only of actual friends but also relatives and sort-of friends, along with sort-of friends of their sort-of friends, you need to be careful about what you post. Yes, the site does allow you to define smaller circles of friends, but that requires constantly monitoring what should — and should not — be shared with whom.

While social networks push users to expand their circles and go more ‘social’, Pair allows users to only interact with one contact and share stuff for a more personal and less ‘social’ experience.

Networks such as Path, Familyleaf and Pair have created a niche by focusing on smaller groups. Path is restricted to 150 friends, Family is restricted to family members while Pair is as small as a social network can be.

This app is so cute – and such a great idea. I may be away from my partner for a few months next year, so something that’s kind of an all-in-one communication tool, like this, looks incredible. You developers are geniuses!

Dave Morin, former Facebook employee and current Path employee explains: Facebook has made socializing on the Internet normal. But now there is an opportunity to return to intimate socializing.

http://blog.scoutzie.com/post/19874784897

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Mobile: A clear vision Mobile devices are the future of networking.

Saturation of the market, along with an increasing number of people with time constraints, has resulted in social apps going mobile.

Source: http://glassboard.com/blog/2012/05/07/pair-is-your-bedroom-path-isyour-rec-room-and-glassboard-is-your-boardroom

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/06/mobile-could-be-whatmakes-private-social-networks-succeed

Pair, Path and FamilyLeaf are all mobile-first apps for this very reason. The valuation of these companies is impressive. Path is the market leader and was able to raise $30 million at a $250 million valuation. It reportedly had around three million users as of the April funding, with half a million people on it multiple times per day.

Facebook has started feeling the heat and is gradually changing its focus to mobile. Facebook has recently introduced Timeline and Timeline apps to encourage sharing through mobiles.

2012 could well be the year of private social networks. Tech Crunch writer, Eric Eldon said:

Source: http://memeburn.com/2011/12/the-future-is-social-localmobile-says-googles-eric-schmidt

What can get users to sign up is a network that is readily accessible. Private social networks therefore leverage the power of mobile phones.

2012: The year of private networks Sharing via mobile is too personal for big circles, which is why Facebook doesn’t work as well for the mobile. High-quality smartphones sharing intimate content could make 2012 the year of private social networks.

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Pair

With more and more people shunning Facebook because of their lackadaisical approach to privacy and their focus on targeting ads to you, it could happen. We very well ms on a great mobile experience when we created Glassboard. This is the same approach other small social networks are taking, like Pair and Path. Mobile could be Facebook’s downfall. The Facebook mobile experience is clunky. People want something streamlined and simple when they are on their phones, which is what we strive for in our app.

Facebook may never be able to master the mobile experience because it’s too big, you have too many different groups of friends/family/colleagues on it and there are too many features.

An increasing number of people are using highquality smartphones. Great cameras provide a superior photo and video experience and location-based networking allows users to share their locations. Previous generation of web-based social networks cannot offer these features.

A threat to mainstream social networks?

Private networks have created a new category and will not be pitted against mainstream networks; users can be active on both, for different purposes. However, mobile-first apps will be more popular on the mobile

Eldon explains: Will Facebook or other more mature networks compete directly? So far, the market leader has messed around occasionally with list features, but has avoided creating specialized networks. Its mobile app is bloated, it doesn’t pull together social and mobile features in a way that can compete against the mobile-first apps.

The future Pair has signed on 220,000 users with $4.2 million in funding and is predicted to extend its userbase through innovations. Pair is slated to be acquired by one of the social networking giants.

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

http://facebook.com

Source: http://twitter.com

Should Facebook and similar networks feel threatened? Not quite. Facebook still has more than 200 million users. Twitter has around 150 million while Instagram has 50 million users.

In comparison, Path has merely 3 million users while Pair has 220,000 users.

Private networks have split the social network fraternity into 2 different categories — mainstream networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google + — and private networks like Path, Glassdoor, Pair.

Both these can co-exist as they serve different purposes. Networks within both categories will however be direct competition. While Pair wouldn’t compete with Path, it would do so with Cupple As mentioned by writer, Randal Stross in the New York Times: These micro- and supermicro-size social networks aren’t competing directly with Facebook or even with one another. Conceivably, one could be active on all of them. But then we may bump up against a new neurological limit: the maximum number of social networks that the human brain can handle.

When it comes to the mobile though, mobile-first apps will definitely be more popular.

Pair is predicted to extend its user base by introducing innovations. This makes it a market leader in the social networks for couples category.

Even though it doesn’t enjoy first mover advantage, Pair outshone similar apps like Kahnoodle, Duet, Tokii, and Between. Pair had a few things going for it. Firstly, it received assistance, funding and advice from a popular American seed accelerator called Y Combinator.

Pair watched what other networks were doing and incorporated a few special features like ‘Thumbkiss’ that made it stand out. Lastly, Pair got a lot of interest because Morin invested in the company.

Experts have slated Pair to be acquired by technology or social networking giants in the future.

Techland Time writer, Jared Newman says: I can see Pair as acquisition bait for Facebook, Twitter or even Path, which itself aims to be a more intimate social network. It’s not hard to imagine other companies wanting all the personal communication tools that Pair offers, not to mention the aggregate user data that the app is capable of gathering. But Pair is a strong enough idea to grow on its own–much like the relationships it aims to augment.

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Pair

GetTaxi

Simpler, faster With the app, users can get a taxi at the click of a button, in under 30 seconds. Taxis arrive quickly as the app notifies the driver who is closest to the user via GPS.

Source: http://facebook.com

What is Get Taxi?

It’s an app that allows you to order taxis from your smartphone or online. It aims to make the process simpler and faster. The mobile app is available on all major operating systems.

GetTaxi is an app that allows people to order taxis from their smartphones or via the web, at the push of a button.

It was founded by Israeli serial entrepreneur Shahar Smirin. He launched the app in Israel, followed by the UK, Russia and other European countries. It is available on all major mobile platforms such as the iPhone, Android, Symbian and Blackberry.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/06/gettaxi-20-millionfunding-new-york-city-us-expansion

Ordering taxis can be pretty time consuming.

Calling someone and taking down details of the cab and the driver can be laborious. Often, taxis arrive late or don’t show up at all. This is where GetTaxi comes in.

Through the app, ordering a taxi is simple, taking 30 seconds at most.

Taxis usually arrive in less than five minutes.

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Getting control by getting interactive Users can track their taxi on a map with the estimated time of arrival and distance shown in real time. The service links the consumer and driver. Users can view ratings and rate drivers.

Not only is the process simpler, managing expenses is easier through the app. Users pay by credit card, voucher or cash and get invoices e-mailed to them instantly.

From mundane to fun It incorporates gamification elements by allowing users to earn miles for free rides or gifts. Users can share their experiences on social media. This, along with ratings and GPS tracking, makes the process interesting.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/19/get-taxi-launching-in-london-this-isway-beyond-uber

Source: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/get-taxi/id449655162?mt=8

Every taxi can be monitored and displayed in real time on a map, so the consumer knows where his/her taxi is and when it will arrive.

The app connects consumer and driver.

It displays the name, phone number, car number and rating of the driver along with the consumer’s details.

As mentioned by TechCrunch writer, Sarah Lacy: The service links the cab driver and the consumer by name, so the cab knows who it’s picking up, the consumer knows where that cab is and that dramatically cuts down on no-shows.

GetTaxi makes a mundane and monotonous task exciting by incorporating gamification elements.

Users can earn miles and redeem them for rides or gifts. Users can also share their experiences with friends and family on social media.

All this is attractive for the tech-savvy youth.

Better for drivers too Taxi dispatch services are inexpensive and effective for drivers as they can receive unlimited orders for €2.99 per day. The service maximises profits for drivers by connecting them with fares closest to their location.

This gives consumers more control and makes the process safer and more secure.

Easy payments The GetTaxi mobile app makes managing expenses easy. Users can pay by credit card, voucher or cash and get invoices and e-mailed to them instantly.

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

Source: http://twitter.com

Source: http://gettaxi.com/int/for_drivers

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GetTaxi

Taxi dispatch services around the world are expensive and cumbersome. In Europe, a cab driver has to spend $5,000 each year on contractors to run their business.

GetTaxi is more economical and effective.

For €2.99 per day (€1,095 a year), drivers can receive unlimited orders. In fact, the service is free for the first two months, so drivers can try it out.

Launched in Europe The taxi industry in Europe is mostly made up of non-union independent contractors.

By using the web to cut out the middleman, GetTaxi sends cabs to customers in a more efficient manner and at one-third the price.

Profits are maximised by reducing costs in other ways; the system connects drivers to fares that are close by, saving fuel money and time.

Cabbies get a ‘Driver’s Box’ free, so they don’t need any other equipment, hardware, downloads or training.

Useful for businesses GetTaxi can create a profile page for a business. A taxi is sent to the business address when the customised button is clicked. This is good for hotels, restaurants, concert halls and even corporate offices.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/19/get-taxi-launching-in-london-this-isway-beyond-uber

GetTaxi made a wise choice by launching and spreading its wings across Europe, instead of jumping into the US market. The taxi industry in Europe is mostly made up of non-union, independent contractors who hold taxi drivers to ransom by charging exorbitant rates.

Sarah Lacy says: A big advantage is that Get Taxi is skipping the US and launching in Europe, where the taxi industry is a lot easier to disrupt en masse because it’s mostly made up of non-union independent contractors.

As mentioned on the official GetTaxi website

GetTaxi uses the power of the web to eradicate the pricey middleman and offer cabs at one-third the price.

Will you order a taxi for me?” Whether you manage an office, restaurant, or hotel, you’ve probably heard this charming phrase more times than you care to count.

The death of the middleman

Source: http://gettaxi.com/DE/for_offices

GetTaxi is handy for businesses as well.

Businesses can create profile pages on GetTaxi with a customised button. Every time it is clicked, a taxi is dispatched to the business address. What’s more, this is absolutely free for businesses.

This is an attractive package for businesses that require taxi services for customers/employees, such as hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, bars, colleges, concert halls and corporations.

In Europe ,there are 600,000 taxis paying independent contractors $5,000 per year for a dispatch service. Drivers pay €2.99 per day, month-by-month for GetTaxi and sign off if they don’t see the value.

Source: http://facebook.com

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/19/get-taxi-launching-in-london-this-isway-beyond-uber/#comment-box

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Lacy continues:

Competition

Because there’s no unions or exclusivity contracts, taxi drivers can use it as a secondary system. They pay month-by-month; if it doesn’t bring them value, they can get rid of it. If it brings them value, the system quickly pays for itself. And if they’re skeptical, Smirin will even let them try it free for two months to see what it can do.

GetTaxi has competition in Hailo, Uber, Taxi Magic, TaxiPal in the $30 billion per year market. GetTaxi outperformed its competitors because it launched in Europe, and because of its fun features and focus on offline logistics.

There is no reason why this service can’t get popular around the world. When it does, it could signal end of the middleman.

This would also mean cheaper fares for consumers.

Not only is GetTaxi trying to get drivers more customers, it’s also trying to solve pain points for drivers so that they don’t return to traditional dispatch services.

Changing the face of the business Consumers are constantly looking for alternatives to products/services that are more efficient. The mobile is tailormade for those with time constraints and looking for options that make life more convenient.

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

In what experts called a $30 billion per year market, GetTaxi has competition in the form of Hailo, Uber, Taxi Magic, and TaxiPal. As mentioned by PandoDaily blogger, Erin Griffith It’s a crowded market out there for taxi disrupters.

There’s Hailo. There’s Uber. There’s Taxi Magic, TaxiPal, TaxiSelect… They’re solving the taxi problem. A giant market. Ripe for disruption.

Success will depend on the markets selected by the companies. GetTaxi has reaped the benefits by choosing the correct markets so far.

Future

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/06/gettaxi-20-million-funding-newyork-city-us-expansion/

GetTaxi has its sights on the US after making waves in Europe and securing $20 million in funding from Access Industries. It is slated to expand into other markets too.

The digital medium enables systems, processes and technology to evolve drastically for problems to turn into solutions. This is exactly what has happened through GetTaxi.

Consumers are always on the lookout for replacements for services and products that are more cost-effective, convenient, efficient and superior.

In today’s age, where people are stretched for time and are constantly on the go, the mobile is the perfect tool for communication, information, tasks and utility. GetTaxi understands this.

There are already plenty of players in this segment. With the success of GetTaxi, there will be many more.

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GetTaxi

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/06/gettaxi-funding/

It has its sights on the US; it is set to launch in New York soon. GetTaxi recently announced $20 million in funding to help its expansion efforts.

Experts predict big things for GetTaxi, but a lot will depend on the cities it chooses to operate in in the US; the major cities already have several taxi service apps to choose from.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/06/07/gettaxi/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_ medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mashable%2Fbusiness+(Mashable+%C 2%BB+Business+and+Marketing)

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Kyck

What is Kyck?

It’s a social network dedicated to football, a real-time community of fans that delivers content, connects people and brings alive all the action on the field.

Kyck is a social network that connects football fans across the world by enabling them to share content and the latest news. Fans can also share their views on live games in real-time.

As mentioned on Technology Cafe blog:

Source: http://kyck.com

Whether you call it fútbol, soccer, or football, with KYCK, you’ll discover an experience around the sport like none other. KYCK delivers you the most relevant content, connects you with like-minded fans, and brings you all the action of every match, making the beautiful game even more enjoyable.

The advantage of a dedicated network, compared to a Facebook page or a Twitter account, is that moderators have more control. Developers can customise the community to make it more football-friendly and with engagement features.

There are fewer restrictions on owned social networks.

Also, a commitment towards an app or a new social network does a lot more for a brand than a mere ‘like’ on Facebook.

Football is massive in the social space, so it makes sense to leverage its popularity through a dedicated portal.

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Kyck

Logging on Registration is currently by invites only. The team urges users to request for an invite, which gets answered in a day. Alternatively, fans can ping Kyck on Twitter by using the #KYCKme hash tag to sign up.

Source: http://kyck.com

Once Kyckers have registered, they can start off by making a 140-character ‘kyck’, which is similar to a tweet.

Source: http://kyck.com/#register

Users can share photos, videos and other media on their feeds or reshare a kyck. They can also share kycks on Twitter and Facebook.

As soon as users start kycking about an existing team or player, auto tags get generated. For instance, if you kyck about Mario Balotelli and Pirlo running the show in Italy vs Germany, tags such as ‘Pirlo’ , ‘Balotelli’, ‘Italy’ and ‘Germany’ get generated.

These tags are useful for visibility.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/06/21/kyck/

Chances are that a tweet will lead to the request getting accepted sooner.

Kyck to share A ‘kyck’ is a post on the network. Users can share photos, videos or 140-character text updates. Kyckers can also share interesting kycks on Twitter and Facebook.

http://techie-buzz.com/startup/kyck-soccer-social-network-football-fans.html

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Top Kycks discover relevant content

Live social match feed

Users can follow clubs, international teams and their favourite players for information about them, prioritised in ‘Top Kycks’.They can also follow other users.

Each live match is listed as an event. Users can join events to follow the game, get statistics and engage in a discussion. Events are like the BBC or Sky Sports’ live match feeds, with a social element added on.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/06/21/kyck/

Source: http://twitter.com

‘Top Kycks’ generates posts related to a user’s favourite team or player. Users can select their favourites along with those they want to follow.

The Top Kycks algorithm prioritises posts (photos, comments, notes) related to the user’s favourite team and players in a Pinterest-like layout.

Users can also follow others to get their kycks on the home feed.

Mashable writer Sam Laird wrote: A Top Kycks section, meanwhile, delivers content the app’s algorithm deems most relevant to you for quick browsing according to the favorites you list in your profile. Checking in to specific club or international matches means you get game updates and stats delivered within the app or via push notification.

The algorithm is modelled on the lines of Pandora.

It is vital that a user selects the right teams and players to follow, in order to have the most relevant content on his/her Top Kycks stream.

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Kyck

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18355490

Kyckers can continue the conversation during matches in ‘Events’. Each live match is listed as an event.

Users can join events to get related notifications and to contribute to the discussion forum.

Notifications include kycks, score updates, starting line-ups and live stats.

‘Events’ is a combination of a live match feed on BBC/Sky Sports/Goal and a social stream that aggregates conversations related to the match.

Just like a live feed on BBC Sport, there is minute-by-minute text commentary, stats, number of shots, possession and passes updated on the page by Kyck’s content specialists.

Football enthusiasts can get all the live action and buzz without having to switch from a SkySports/ESPN Soccer Net website to a Twitter/football forum.

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

Kyck is a socially enabled media platform providing discovery, curation, consumption and distribution of content and products giving users a 360-degree football content experience.

A Kyck user said on CrossWalk Love the simplicity and ease, yet full of detail and discovery. A must have for all soccer fans and those that want to be!”

A complete football experience

Connecting fans

The platform provides users with a complete football experience by offering curation, discovery, consumption, and distribution of content and products.

The platform enables fans to connect with friends and other fans across the globe. By following, posting, commenting, sharing and through live match features, fans can engage at various levels.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/06/21/kyck/

Founder Jason Yarborough said: We have created a platform that allows all futbol fans around the world to interact with each other during live matches. It is my hope that this will help bring futbol fans around the world together.

With following, posting, liking, commenting, sharing and streaming, Kyck incorporates matches and squads into the network and gives fans the ability to use tags to direct and engage specific conversations (such as #Gooooooooooal).

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Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest connection Kyck incorporates features from popular social networks. It maintains the 140-character limit and ‘tag’ feature like Twitter, shares the home feed like Facebook and curates content like Pinterest.

Football on the go Kyck released an iOS app and plans to launch an Android variant soon. Fans can access the latest updates and engage in discussions even on the go, that is, on the mobile.

Source: http://kyck.com/#/top_kycks Source: http://kyck.com/#/top_kycks

Source: http://facebook.com

Kyck released an iOS app for the mobile market and will soon launch an Android version.

Competitors Football Meister, which focuses on gamification elements like badges and trophies, and Football Social Club, which enhances the football experience for players, are Kyck’s main competitors.

Kyck incorporates features from Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and even Tumblr.

As far as the stream is concerned, Kyck resembles Twitter and Tumblr: Whether photos, comments on live matches or takes on club or international squads — (sic : They ) are delivered to a stream that resembles something of a cross between Twitter and Tumblr feeds.

The home feed resembles Facebook more than Twitter, with users able to comment, like and share Kycks displayed on the stream.

Source: http://thefootballsocialclub.com/

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Kyck

circles and compete with friends to win badges and trophies.

Football Social Club is for players to organise a game, team or tournament with other teams close by.

Scoremobile FC is an app that gives live scores and text commentary on all the matches around the world.

As Mehdi Thierry, CEO and co founder of www.thefootballsocialclub.com said:

Source: http://footballmeister.com

Kyck stands out by being a far more social network than all its competitors

Competitors include Football Meister, Football Social Club and Score Mobile FC App. Football Meister is a social network and mobile app that focuses on predicting results for club and international competitions. Users can form

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Stay

What is Stay?

Stay.com is an online trip-planning service that allows users to discover and create customised travel guides for each destination, and access them from their mobile devices.

The application is useful for exploring, planning and navigating in a new city.

The app has several collaborative features that utilise social networking extensively.

The company, based out of Oslo, Norway, was founded in 2009 by internet entrepreneur Joachim Paasche and was honoured as one of Time Magazine’s 50 best websites for 2010 and featured in its 50 Best websites list.

Source: http://stay.com

Stay mobile Stay is available for free download on the Apple App Store, Google Play and on www.stay.com. With its map facility, the app is useful for navigation and to find interesting places in a new city.

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Stay

Source: http://www.stay.com/

Stay can either be accessed at http://stay.com or downloaded as an app from the Apple App Store and Google Play. With its map facility, the app helps you find interesting sites in a new city.

The mobile variant is more useful as it uses GPS technology to track tourist attractions close by.

Joachim Paasche, founder and CEO of Stay.com, said: We are thrilled to offer users a better way to plan trips and travel on both web and mobile.

Navigate with offline maps Users can download guides and maps of 116 cities. They can discover and add new places to their personal guides even without an internet connection and the risk of incurring roaming charges.

Source: http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/07/11/stay-com-updates-its-mobileapp-with-downloadable-content-to-help-travellers-avoid-data-charges/

The USP of the mobile app are the downloadable offline maps. This way, users don’t incur internet roaming charges.

As mentioned on PR Newswire: Just in time for summer travel, Stay.com’s new collaborative travel app allows users to effectively create a ‘city in their pocket’ by downloading their own guides and enjoying them offline, saving on international data charges.

Users can download guides and maps for 116 cities on their smartphones. The vector-based maps take up less than 5 mb, giving users a smooth panning and zooming experience without long load lags.

Explaining how these maps are better, Joachim pointed out: We use Open Street Map, which is an open source alternative to Google Maps. It’s like the Wikipedia of maps. Foursquare uses it too.

Even though the idea of downloadable travel guides isn’t new (NileGuide’s Guide to Go provides offline access), Stay gives a complete interactive experience as the maps offer suggestions.

User TLWinSF loves the offline maps feature: Love this new app! Very user-friendly and really appreciate the ability to download guides and maps so I don’t have to pay roaming charges. I’m planning to use Stay.com for an upcoming trip to New York. Can’t wait!

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/11/stay-com-mobile-apps/

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Discover new places Travellers can discover new places in a city by viewing an extensive list of attractions such as museums, parks, restaurants and hotels. They can browse through ‘guides’ created and recommended by others.

Source: http://www.macworld.com/article/1167639/stay_com_app_offers_travel_ wisdom_from_experts_friends.html

Experts’ and Facebook friends’ suggestions can also aide the discovery process.

Stay experts have travelled the world to provide insights into the best restaurants, sights and attractions. Users can send links to their Facebook friends for suggestions too.

Plan and customise trips Travellers can identify the best hot spots based on what grabs their attention, ratings and friends’ and experts’ suggestions. They can plan a trip by building a personalised travel guide.

http://www.stay.com/london/

To explore a new place, travellers can either click on a city or search for it. These include major metros such as New York, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Melbourne and Mumbai.

Clicking on a city takes the user to the ‘Highlights’ page that features an extensive list of attractions, including museums, shopping, health and beauty, entertainment, night clubs, restaurants and hotels with ratings and prices attached.

Users can also book rooms directly, instead of moving to another platform.

Each category can be filtered by location, popularity, price and rating. Users can browse through guides created by other users too.

Friends, experts aid destination explorations

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/11/stay-com-mobile-apps/

Stay combines advice provided by its international travel experts, inputs from fellow travellers and friends’ preferences on various destinations.

Source: http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/07/11/stay-com-updates-its-mobileapp-with-downloadable-content-to-help-travellers-avoid-data-charges/

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Stay

In short, users can plan their entire vacation through ‘guides’.

As mentioned by Joel Mathis in his article on Macworld:

Dan Fletcher of TIME loved this element of the Stay experience:

You can do this informally, by soliciting your Facebook friends’ recommendations on places to stay, see, and eat in town—they don’t have to be Stay.com users to offer their highlights.

What really sets Stay.com apart is the ability to make your trip your own.

The app is a huge hit for avid travellers like Jamie Walker: I love love love this app. I just discovered it and can’t get over how easy it is to use and how well it works. You can download city guides and use them OFFLINE. So next time I travel to mexico, I won’t get roaming charges when I’m searching for a restaurant or a good surf rental shop. I also created a few guides of my own city to show people where to go and where to eat. I’m traveling to New York in a few weeks and can’t wait to browse guides and then create one of my own to share with my friends.

Leveraging Facebook Integration with Facebook allows travellers to request suggestions from friends, invite fellow travellers to collaborate on their guides and access Facebook friend checkins. Friends don’t have to be Stay users.

The Facebook integration assists users by showing a list of friends who have already visited a place, through check-ins. Joe Svetlick on Electric Pig said: If you log in to Facebook, it’ll collate all your friends’ check-ins as well, so you can see what people thought of a place even if they’re not coming with you.

CEO Joachim explained the rationale behind the social integration: By providing travellers with a truly social experience, they can create a city guide that’s completely personal combining recommendations from experts and their friends.

Other content integrations Stay is also integrated with TripAdvisor and Timeout, which provide information on local restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues around the world, and Google Places to map these venues.

Source: http://facebook.com

Source: http://stay.com/

Like most new social networks or apps, Stay too tries to leverage the popularity of Facebook.

Stay realises that users are more likely to have confidence in friends’ recommendations, than in paid PR driven reviews.

Users can also collaborate with friends they are travelling with, by crafting personalised itineraries.

Stay has also integrated with established travel content providers like TripAdvisor and Timeout for trusted and accurate information. On offer is the latest on local restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues.

TripAdvisor also has a Facebook app with more than 36 million users, on which travellers can map the cities they have visited with images and extra information.

Google Places, on the other hand, allows users to map millions of local venues.

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Limitations Stay only provides data on 116 cities.

Travellers don’t usually have a problem finding their way in metros, which makes the exclusion of information on small towns and the countryside a hindrance.

Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com

One of the drawbacks is the limited number of places it covers. Most travellers don’t face too many problems while visiting big cities as there is loads of information available. Travellers and trekkers find it difficult to explore lesser-known places like the English countryside, a village in South America or a peak in the Himalayas due to lack of information and language barriers.

This is where an app would be of great assistance.

As mentioned on Macworld: If you’re going even a little bit off the beaten path, this app may not be so useful: There’s no way to craft an itinerary or get an advance view of the sights in, say, Wichita. Stick to the world’s biggest cities, however, and there’s plenty here to use and add to.

Easier, cheaper and fun With Stay, a trip can be planned in a matter of hours. Discovering new places, sharing stories, navigating cities makes trip-planning fun. It is also a cheaper alternative to travel agents and guides.

Besides the fact that Stay only has data for 116 cities, it is undoubtedly a faster, cheaper and a more exciting alternative to other travel guides/ apps.

With Stay, users can plan their trips within hours, and on the move.

Techcrunch writer Anthony Ha said: I’ve played with the app and above all, I was impressed by the speed. It took less than a minute to download the San Francisco guide, then I could open it, zoom in on a location, and scroll around without any noticeable lag — a nice change from the constant load times of the iPhone Maps application.

Stay is also cheaper than travel agents, who often try to push deals of their partners.

Makes conventional travel guides obsolete The app offers solutions to all the problems faced with printed guides and travel agents.

This, along with the incorporation of a truly social experience, both online and offline, makes the app a must-have.

Source: http://twitter.com

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Stay

Apple user Fab.U.Lous said on the iTunes website: No need for big fat guide-books. Stay.com’s guide building app is great to plan trips with friends and with the help of Stay’s expert recommendations.

While Stay might not replace travel agents soon, an increasing number of apps/services will gradually eliminate their need.

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Write to us to start a conversation on how we can help you distill actionable insights and foresights from conversations and communities: Pascal Beucler, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer (pascal.beucler@mslgroup.com) Janelle Dixon, Americas Head of Insights (janelle.dixon@mslgroup.com) Dominic Payling, Europe Head of Insights (dominic.payling@mslgroup.com) Gaurav Mishra, Asia Head of Insights (gaurav.mishra@mslgroup.com)

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