Webcurios 05/04/13

Image by Brendan George Ko

SocialMediaMarketingPRAdvertisingCampaignsPlatformDevelopmentStuff
It’s unlikely that I will ever write a word that ugly again. 

Facebook:

• Facebook Home: There was going to be a Facebook phone, everyone said. They were going to MAKE A THING. Turns out that that was sort of half-right; Facebook Home is software rather than hardware, yes, but it’s also software that could (BIG ‘could’ there, obviously) become a default interface layer for the biggest mobile platform in the world. Which is quite smart really, not that you’d expect anything else. As to whether people actually *want* to have their phone’s usage filtered through a Facebook-designed UI…who am I to say (although I don’t imagine anyone will relish the inevitable future where the portable computer in your pocket is just another piece of advert-peddling plastic in your life – THANKS, FUTURE FACEBOOK!)? I barely use the thing any more. I saw a phone the other week which had a physical Facebook button on it – because life is just TOO SHORT for people to put up with more than one click to share pictures of their sodding food with their ‘friends’, it would appear – and nearly recoiled in horror; I’m unlikely to be target audience for this development. You can read more about how it will work here, some stuff about the (inevitable) privacy concerns here (but seriously, YOUR PHONE ALREADY TRACKS WHAT YOU DO) – and the best comment on the whole thing from some kid in the US here.
• Speaking of Ads: More of them, in your newsfeed, tracking you better. I may stop writing about this stuff; we may as well all just assume that EVERYTHING we see on the internet is trying to sell us something and leave it at that. 
• Better Ad Analytics: But seeing as I’ve started…FB has also tweaked its ad analytics, allowing advertisers to easily see exactly how ads have performed against specific metrics such as gaining new followers, ‘engagement per post’, etc. Which is basically just another way of Facebook reinforcing its incredible, symbiotic relationship with media buyers and allowing them to go to their clients “Look! We said we were going to increase engagement by buying adverts and we DID increase engagement by buying adverts now watch as I roll over so you can tickle my tummy because I am a GOOD ad buyer!”. It’s like the people at Ocado proudly demonstrating that they have achieved your stated shopping goal of buying salad, or something (it’s early and I’ve not really thought this through, so it’s entirely possible that that comparison really doesn’t work at all, for which apologies).
• Threaded Conversations on Pages: Comments on FB Pages become more like those on Reddit, so it’s easier to see who’s replying to whom. That’s basically it, although this line is interesting: “Also, the most active and engaging conversations among your readers will be surfaced at the top of your posts ensuring that people who visit your Page will see the best conversations”. Hm, the best, eh? Try telling that to the brand which is dealing with the SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS. 

Twitter:

• More Twitter Cards: No, me neither. Twitter Cards are apparently those bits of code which allow web devs to code pages so that content shared from them can appear as a thumbnail / preview in a user’s Twitter feed. You know – when you share a photo or video or something, and you can see it / play it without leaving Twitter. That. Anyway, they’ve expanded the service – useful to know if you (for some people. Maybe not you, though).
• Vine – Good & Bad Examples: A look at some good and less good examples of Vine used for branded communications. There is something a little silly about this amount of attention / analysis being given to a medium which allows the creation of 6-second video clips, isn’t there?
• Twitter on Bloomberg Terminals: This is my ‘under the radar but actually quite significant news item of the week’ (part of an in-no-way-regular series). Traders on the floor of Wall Street will be getting Tweets fed to them through their Bloomberg terminals – which in terms of rubber-stamping the platforms centrality to the way information moves in 2013 is pretty big. It’s also very big news for large corporates – at the very least, it sort of demands that they use Twitter for news dissemination and media relations, to an extent, as it’s feeding directly into the market and has suddenly become hugely price-influential. Not that it wasn’t already, but, y’know, moreso.

Google:

• Building Apps on Glass: This is a 50-minute developer video, and is NICHE. Nonetheless, if you’re in any way interested about how Glass will work, how developers can work with it, and a few of the tricks it has up its sleeve, it’s worth a skim.
• All of Google’s April Fool’s Gags: In case you’re not bored to tears with all this crap yet. Even if you are, though, you need to doff your cap to the amount of time and effort which Google devoted to make the whole ‘We’re shutting YouTube’ one – there was a whole additional 8 hours of video which they put together to go with it, which is an impressive commitment to a throwaway gag.
• Use Gifs as Google+ Profile Pictures: If you’d like to, you can.
• Visualise Website Analytics: This isn’t by Google, and it’s basically just a marketing tool, but it’s still actually quite cute – service produces a nicely designed poster-style analytics report for your website. Useful for reporting purposes, perhaps, maybe.

LinkedIn:

• Mention and Tag People/Brands on LinkedIn: You know how you can name people and tag them in Facebook posts? You’ll be able to do that on LinkedIn soon. Possibly of use to those few brands who have found a viable use for LinkedIn other than recruitment – all 7 of them.

General Internetty Newsy Things:

• Social Media Usage Habits in the UK: This is actually 3 weeks old. SORRY. In case you didn’t see it, though, it’s some useful-if-you-need-to-justify-something stats on UK social media usage. Everyone uses Facebook! Lots of them on mobile! The kids ARE on Twitter! 17% of the UK population uses Google+! Er, wait, what, hang on? You can see the full report here – which makes it clear that the sample size was 1,000. I’m going to take that Google+ stat with the requisite pinch of salt, in which case. 
• On the Utility of Social Media Marketing: I love this piece, largely as its central thesis seems to be ‘well, this stuff seems to work. A bit. Sort of. Muchlike a load of other stuff. We don’t really know why, though. Or how. But it can’t hurt to throw money at it, can it?’. Which is BRILLIANTLY HONEST. Oh, and I KNOW that the pradvermarketing industries CAN track stuff and SHOULD track stuff and and and. It’s all just lies, though, isn’t it, really, when it comes to a lot of this? What’s that you say? 49billion earned impressions of your campaign across digital channels? Come off it, people, not even you believe this stuff any more.
• How Bitcoin Works: You can’t move on the internet for people writing articles about Bitcoin at the moment, and how it’s changing EVERYTHING (until I am able to pay the aforementioned Ocado man with it, I’m not convinced). The link back there explains how it works – so does this piece, in slightly more detail. Read it, and then nod knowingly and stroke your chin when someone tells you that they are jacking it all in to go Bitcoin mining (this piece explains why they’re probably a little late to that party, in case you’re interested).
• Tracking the Harlem Shake: You remember that Harlem Shake thing? No? Oh you fickle, fickle people. In any case, this is a really interesting look at some of the factors which made it temporarily the BIGGEST THING ON THE INTERNET – there were, unsurprisingly, one or two commercial factors involved. Another nail in the coffin of the phenomenon of natural virality.

Campaign-type Things:

• Crowdsourcing Carly-Rae Jepson’s Lyrical Output with Coke: I think that, after this point, noone is ever allowed to tell a musician that they have sold out ever again. The concept is simply redundant. This is the apotheosis of Simon Cowell’s decade-long forced-mating of music and brand culture, in which American Idol, Coca Cola and doubtless charming internet pop-mopsy Carly-Rae Jepson collaborate to produce what will almost certainly be the best song that has ever been written by anyone, ever, in the history of soundwaves. I don’t really want to write much more about it, as it sort of makes me a bit sad, but you can see the whole campaign thing here.
• WiFi Poster Campaign: This is smart. A poster campaign in Korea included WiFi devices in billboards for a certain film, giving passers-by the opportunity to download the trailer and other bits and pieces quickly and for free. Clever and helpful.
• The Best Job In The Worlzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz: The one certainty in advermarketingpr is that there’s nothing better than a truly original idea – other than a slightly different take on an idea that’s worked pretty well for a load of other people before you! Here’s a hotel chain doing their very own riff on the best job in the world thing, this time advertising for professional sleepers to test their beds. CAN WE STOP THIS NOW PLEASE? Thanks.
• UNICEF Vending Machine: I really like this (video’s in Portuguese, but it should be fairly comprehensible). UNICEF set up a vending machine in a shopping centre, allowing people to directly ‘buy’ vaccines for children. It’s an excellent execution, although if you think too hard about it it does say a couple of worrying things about how hard-connected the ‘make a physical purchase, feel an endorphin rush!’ thing is.
• Rijksmuseum Flashmob: The PR around the full reopening of the Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam has been nothing short of spectacular – it was EVERYWHERE, yesterday. This is one part of that superb execution – I am bored of faked flashmobs, but this put a smile on even my jaded fizzog. Watch.

Lisa Gerber by Jeanloup Sieff

Things of Interest and Wonderment, pt1:

• Soundtrack this section with the SUBLIME Jazzmatic – Nas’ Illmatic, reimagined as being recorded in a 30s jazz style. So much better than it should be based on that description.
• Minuum – A Typing Solution: I think this is a lovely piece of design, particularly for people with fat fingers. A minimalist keyboard interface which allows for fast, non-accurate, auto-correcting typing. Obviously the proof is in the usage, but it’s a clever idea.
• Recalling 1993: I love this. An urban history project taking place in New York City, put together by the New Museum, which allows anyone in the city to access location-specific memories from 1993 from payphones located around the city. It’s SUCH a lovely idea, and a brilliant example of clever urban storytelling and use of civic infrastructure. Can we do this everywhere, please? Obviously London no longer really has working phoneboxes, but RFID tags in park benches which play audio, perhaps, or something to do with those WiFi enabled posters from Korea which I mentioned above…So much potential. 
• Vogue Meets Star Wars: No, really. In 1977, the cast of Star Wars (in character) appeared in a fur photoshoot in US Vogue. Very weird pop-culture/fashion crossover.
• NYT Haikus: Sticking with NYC, this is one of the NYT’s seemingly-infinite stable of websites – this time, showcasing accidently haikus which have appeared in the paper, as picked out by an algorithm. There are some occasionally quite beautiful ones in there, but aside from anything else it’s a pleasingly abstract / pointless project. 
• The 100 Most Significant Websites of 2013 in the UK: As of tomorrow, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, Bodleian Libraries, Cambridge University Library and Trinity College Dublin, will gain powers to archive the entire UK web, along with e-journals, e-books and other formats. This is the list of those websites chosen by the institutions as the most significant / interesting / representative; it’s a fascinating look at what our nation’s curators think of as our national identity as expressed online. 
• The Dead Duck Story: I first heard about this duck thing about 10 years ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since. This TED talk is about how one duck changed a man’s life forever. It’s an…erm…odd story, and one which really does give lie to the whole ‘cuddly nature’ idea. As an aside, I once told the duck story to a room full of civil servants at a party, only to be met with stunned and slightly horrified silence and a slow shuffling away – turns out it’s not as good an icebreaker as I might at first have thought. Oh, and bonus-duck.
• Pictures of Holi: Holi is the Hindu festival of colour, and these are some gorgeous pictures of it from last month. Cheering as we limp, pitifully, into British Summer Time.
• Obscure Hiphop Motherlode: There is SO MUCH excellent music on this site (if, that is, you like 90s=ish hiphop. I do).
• Killing Cool: A website for creatives who are frustrated by their clients persistently failing to acknowledge the genius behind their ideas, allowing them to keep track of ideas that are ‘killed’ and get rewards for milestones hit (500 ideas killed? HAVE SOME STICKERS!). Sometimes ideas deserve to die.
• My Little Pony Love Spat: There aren’t really any adequate words for how odd this is. Suffice it to say that it’s a letter written by a man who seems to seriously believe that he is in love with, and will marry, a character from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (an aside: how LONG is that Wikipedia entry? About as long as the one for ‘Gene’, fyi) to another man who gets his jollies drawing sexually explicit pictures of said pony engaged in heavy-duty acts of congress. It’s entirely SFW and VERY ODD.
• Lifehacks from Quora: Quora’s a bit of a forgotten site these days, but it regularly throws up interesting / useful threads – like this one, which collects some genuinely useful tips for better living. You can see some of the better ones at Quora Spotlight.
• Pictures from Vietnam: Back to Boston.com for this collection of never-before-seen images from Vietnam. Some great photos, from an exhibition which opens today in Portland, OR, USA.
• Every UK Number One Album, Reviewed in Such a Way as to Make You Want to Listen to It: No more, no less. There is some brilliant writing on there, not least the one about Charles & Diana’s BBC Royal Wedding album. Go read.

By E.V. Day

Things of Interest & Wonderment, pt2:

• Separated by a Common Language: A great blog (for people interested in linguistics, culture and the like, at least) looking at the differences between US and UK English. Geeky and technical, but also full of interesting etymology (if that’s not an oxymoron).
• America Hates Atheists: Atheist is a shoe company based in Berlin. They are SUPERHIPSTER! Nonetheless, they ran an interesting experiment to see whether or not their brand name affected the likelihood of their goods successfully reaching customers in the US. Turns out it did – seems that employees of the USPS aren’t only prone to homicidal fits of rage, but they also LOVE JESUS.
• The Crimer Show: This is…well, I don’t know what it is. A website and Twitter account which basically tells CRIME stories in a tone of voice halfway between LOLCats and Clueless Joe. It made me laugh, which is obviously the only important thing about it.
• Polaroid Portraits by Max Galimberti: So this man has photographed MANY FAMOUSES, and so is probably quite famous himself; nonetheless, this is the first time I’ve seen his brilliantly kaleidoscopic polaroid portraits – they are BRILLIANT.
• The Architecture of Density: Seeing as we’re doing photos, these are great – hyperdense cropped views of battery-packed urban living. Screws with your head a little bit if you start to imagine ALL THE LITTLE PEOPLE behind the windows. 
• Neurofiction: I don’t think that this is an April Fool. It seems genuine enough, but it also seems utterly fantastical and a bit…well…impossible. It purports to be tech developed in Scotland, with the support of New Media Scotland, which READS YOUR MIND and then generates stories for you on the fly based on data pulled from an encephalogram (is that what they’re called?). Effectively it can ‘read’ how you are reacting to stimuli and then deliver alternate content based on what you appear to want/like/dislike. Expect something like this to do something spine-chillingly horrific as part of a Hallowe’en event / installation sometime in the next few years (or sooner, if I can get my mitts on it).
• What We Wore: A project documenting the style history of the UK, from the 50s to now. Some great nostalgiapics in there, and some truly dreadful haircuts, Warm, fuzzy nostalgia – you can lose yourself in this one, a bit.
• The Imaginary Poetry of Sally Draper: I don’t watch Mad Men (or indeed any of the HBO megaseries. Sorry about that) but I understand that there is a teenage character called Sally Draper in it. These are her poems, as imagined by Jennica Harper. They’re really good – a touch Judy Blume (with less Ralph).
• Cats Can Be Your Friend: Or so this rather cute photoseries of a small girl and her cat would suggest. Don’t normally do ‘cute’ in here, but these really are rather nice.
• The Best Worst Album Cover You’ll See All Week: I’m sure this practice has a name, but I can’t for the life of me think what it might be. 

Image by Jack Davison

The Circus of Tumblrs (BUMPER EDITION):

• Depressed Copywriter: Undermining the world of fake corporate cheer in advertising, one tear-stained post at a time.
• Benedict Cumberbatch Drawn as Every Single Pokemon: Yes, that. No idea at all why, but it’s strangely compelling. Bonus points for the slightly unhinged URL.
• International Relations as Depicted Through Cats: There is nothing so geopolitically complex which cannot be described or explained via the medium of feline photography and captioning, it seems.
• Videogames in Toilets: One man’s (come on, it’s not likely to be a woman, is it?) quest to comprehensively catalogue toilets in videogames throughout the ages. Obsessive.
• Modernist Architecture: A tumblr collecting B&W shots of modernist architecture. For one person this will be THE ideal mood board or inspiration this afternoon. You may not be that person, though.
• Calvin & Hobbes GIFS: Not sure that this quite works, but here’s a Tumblr full of animated GIFS of Calvin & Hobbes panels. Quite surprised that the famously litigious Wa
• Actresses Without Teeth: In case you’re one of the 13 people yet to see this.
• Stalking GUTS: GUTS was a 90s Nickelodeon show in the US, billed as an ‘Action Sports Quiz’. No, I don’t care either. This Tumblr is brilliantly creepy though, as it goes through and SOMEHOW (and I am really impressed by the fact that they seem to be finding these people) tracks down former contestants on Facebook and posts ‘Then & Now’ photos here. I would like to see a UK version for, say, Knightmare, please. Thanks. 
• Pictures of Blacked-Out NYC: Collecting images taken during Hurricane Sandy. Some really good shots in here. 
• Kilopanorama: Glitched-out iPhone photos. Empty and a bit creepy and quite Lynchian.
• Indifferent Cats in Amateur Porn: As NSFW as the title would suggest. Amazing photobombing, porncats!
• James Franco, With Cats: No porn this time (though for some of you I appreciate that BLOODY JAMES FRANCO might qualify). Included largely for the wonderfully poor photoshop in most of these pictures.
• Vinnie’s Pizza Specials Board: Vinnie’s is a pizza joint in Brooklyn. This is a Tumblr of its daily Specials board. Small businesses! THIS IS HOW SOCIAL MEDIA SHOULD BE USED.
• Distractions in Space: What astronauts might talk about, maybe.
• Who Is That Hot Ad Girl?: Creepy, stalkerish site which invites people to submit screencaps of actresses in adverts so that they can be identified by name. Not convinced that this is ok.
• Street Hijab: Pictures of stylish women, in hijabs. 
• What Ali Wore: I posted this on Twitter last week and the response was ASTOUNDING. Girls in particular were SWOONING over Ali – and it’s easy to see why. As with the actresses/teeth thing, you’ve probably seen it already – I really hope some fashion brand makes Ali PROPERLY famous.

LONG READS!

• Try this as a soundtrack for this little lot – ambient piano instrumental called ‘Every Day We Are Dying And Outer Space Does Not Give One Single F**k’.
• The Man Who Sold Shares in Himself: A fascinating look at one man’s project to turn himself into a company, with shareholders who can dictate his existence. I am quite seriously considering buying some myself, just to see how it works. But that might be a bit too odd, not sure yet.
• The Disbenefits of the Bacon-wrapped Economy: Ok, so this is ostensibly about the Bay Area in the US, and the impact that having all these fabulously rich and very young people dominating the culture out there. The points it makes, though, about how the arts and cultural sectors can and should be funded, how relatively small demographics can skew a whole area’s identity, gentrification, responsibility and urban renewal are pretty universal, and worth reading particularly with reference to East London (yes, I know that there isn’t the money there, but there are still parallels).
• A Very Sad Look at the ‘Erotica’ Industry: I’d always thought that David Foster Wallace’s ‘Big Red Son’ was the defining ‘straight’ look at adult industry awards – this one’s up there with it. You will feel nothing more than grubby when you’ve finished, but the writing is excellent. 
• One Man’s Addiction To Gucci: This will make you feel grubby too, although for different reasons. The story of one very, very rich man and his apparent quest to be made a fool of by a legion of fashionistas. Really, man, TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF. Also, the money involved is just jaw-dropping. Go read. 
• On the Psychology of Extreme Altruism: I like to think I’m quite a helpful person, which almost certainly means that I’m nothing of the sort. I, and almost certainly you, pale into insignificance when compared to the insane willingness to help displayed by US academic Adam Grant – this article examines how he does it, how he benefits, and whether it’s something we should all do more of (answer: we should).
• All About VICE: No question the smartest lifestyle/consumer/publishing company in the world right now, this is a look at the VICE empire, where it came from, how it works and where it wants to go. I wonder if The Man ever turns up to any of their board meetings.
• Hugh Hefner: There have been no shortage of Hefner profiles, but this one’s particularly good and shot through with an elegiac sadness which you don’t often find. Definitely worth reading, this one.

Some Videos That Don’t Fit Down There:

• Post-it Animation: Post-its used as pixels in animations are nothing new, but the effort put into this stop-motion short is astounding.
• Calvin & Hobbes – The Gritty Reboot: This spoof trailer for a Calvin & Hobbes reboot actually makes it look as if the concept could stand up. What would Calvin’s life be like now, if his prodigious and uncontrollable animation had never deserted him. PRETTY SCARY, it turns out.
• This Week’s Odd Internet Art-thing: This is Michael the cat. Michael’s quite special. Also, he turns into a robot at the end.
• Garrett’s Fight: I really don’t know how I feel about this, but the news report is really interesting and throws up a whole host of questions that I’m not about to attempt to answer here. This is the story of Garrett, a Down’s Syndrome man, and his nascent career as an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter. I cried A LOT whilst watching this, I warn you.
• Lana Del Rey covers Cohen: I love Chelsea Hotel No.2 by Leonard Cohen. This is actually a very good cover, whatever you may think of Ms Lizzie Grant.
• Flaming Lips & Bon Iver: This feels a little like it’s trying slightly too hard to be odd, but it’s still worth a watch because it’s the Flaming Lips and Bon Iver.
• Watch Out: Full disclosure – I know the person in this, but nonetheless it’s a really well cut short made by some South London teens. Someone give them some acting / editing work. GO ON, DO IT.

By Matthew Woodson

NOW THE EMBEDDED VIDEOS CAN COMMENCE:

1) This week kicks off with a short, slow motion piece of footage of people blowing bubbles with bubblegum. It’s relaxing and a bit gross at the same time, and really made me think of toads:

 

2) This video is a cross between mid-90s side-scrolling arcade games, The Smurfs and the entire art back catalogue of Robert Crumb. Needless to say it’s excellent, as is the song; this is…er…’Kleenex Girl Wonder’ by NUBBS:

3) Reverso is a short French animation about a man for whom gravity doesn’t quite work like everyone else. Charming, and technically excellent:

4) Staying on the theme of animation, have you ever wondered what it might be like to be the only straight flamingo at the annual flamingo gay pride party? I thought so – in which case, this video’s for YOU:

5) Short, bloody and not very sweet, this is my favourite song of the week. The Thermals, with Born to Kill:

6) Political campaigning is, we all know, becoming more and more sophisticated – I mean, just LOOK at this website, for example! Which makes this video effort by the Tea Party movement all the more odd – it’s just TERRIBLE. A look at the dystopian future in which the FILTHY LIBERALS have their way and all decent, God-fearing people are being taxed 100% and everyone’s so SOMA-d out with benefits that they have lost the entrepreneurial spirit that made America great and…oh, look, just watch it. All served with a healthy dollop of Hunger Games. AMAZING:

7) I know I feature OFWGKTA stuff on here quite a lot, but they do make good songs / videos. The latest from Tyler is for IFHY, and is not only really well put together but also shows off what a good actor the man is. Impressive, I think:

8) I’m not a fan of the song, particularly, but this is the most beautiful video I’ve seen in ages. Another one taking the aesthetic of high-quality B&W gifs and applying it to video, this is Back to Me by Joel Compass. If you only watch one thing, make it this one:

*

9) Finally, this is a really sad little animation about love and losing love. It’s called Howard. HAPPY WEEKEND, EVERYONE!!!

 

That’s it for now

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