Weekly Round-up February 24, 2012

The Oscars and social media

In honor of Sunday night's Oscars - Mashable and mRank have teamed up to provide us with a social media leader board ranking of the top 15 most-buzzed-about terms from this years Oscars. Social media sites include Twitter, Facebook and the blogging world. 

Take a lesson from bad PR

Although Levi's ad slogan "Hotness Comes in All Shapes and Sizes" may seem to address women of- well- all shapes and sizes - the visual advertisements tell a different story. This week Levi seems to have created some bad PR for themselves by ineffectively executing their marketing goal.

Holy Twitter

It was announced friday that Pope Benedict XVI will be opening a personal twitter account enabling him to reach out to his Catholic followers. The twitter account is just the next addition to the Popes growing internet presence - with a youtube channel, a website, a facebook page and an iPhone application. I find it really interesting to see such an old and traditional culture embracing the new age of communication.

Timeline for Brands

Communications and social media gurus are more excited than ever for the highly anticipated new facebook timeline for brands which is launching next week. CEO Reggie Bradford of Virtue claims that brands will "build even more meaningful interactions with social audiences" via this new timeline. 

Weekly Round-Up: February 17, 2012

Twitter condemns fate of Saudi Blogger
This week, Saudi blogger Hamza Kashgari was deported from Malayasia back to Saudi Arabia - per request of the Arabian government. This controversial blogger received backlash from many social media users - including a Facebook group entitled "Saudi people want punishment for Hamza Kashgari -for negative tweets he posted about the prophet Muhammed. His return may result in abuse and possible death punishment for the young 23-year-old. The uproar caused by these tweets certainly sealed the fate of Hamza; it's crazy to think social media could condemn a person to such a fate.

Does your social media presence determine who you are?
Thanks to reports from ComScore, a Mashables article reported this week that in 2011, 16.6 percent of minutes spent on-line were spent on social media websites. The article also highlighted that while 3 out of 4 internet users have a Facebook; sites like Tumblr, Twitter and Google+ are rapidly expanding in monthly visitors. Another interesting article from this weeks news highlights what it means to have a strong social media presence, and just how important it is for you.

Take a note from these guys
This week Voltier Digtial provided insight into the top 5 companies that use social media in the best possible way. Thanks to a neat infographic, we can see just how they did it. From user friendly sharing, to successful hashtagging, many companies (say, McDonalds?) can take a lesson and learn how to better promote their company through the use of social media.


Good news for the luxury market
In business news this week, the luxury market had something to celebrate. After a long slump many luxury goods markets are projected to increase sales for the upcoming year. Claudia d'Arpizio, partner for Bain & Co. in Milan, commented "the surprise was mainly in the US and Europe." She went on to add "Luxury shame is now over."

Weekly Round-up: February 10, 2012

From fairytale creatures to an outer space phenomenon, here are our top news picks of the week from the social media and fashion world.

Pinning Winning
After recieving my pinterest invite via e-mail on Monday, I have been exploring the social media site and all it has to offer. If you haven't tried it yet, I advise you to sign yourself up for an invite - as it has been reported by comScore that website has taken the lead as the fastest growing social media site - with over 10 million monthly users. If you are unsure as to pinterest and it's features, check out this article for a breakdown! Now go get your pinning on!

Out of this world Tweets
Twitter announced this week that it will be teaming with two major companies to provide Twitter access via satellite. This will make tweeting available to virtually everyone everywhere. Read more here.

Analyzing your statistics
Thanks to Ann Smarty, a web and marketing entrepreneur, here you can find 5 useful and extremely information spreadsheets containing everything you need to know about the analytics of your social media accounts. Best of all? It's free!

2012 New York Fashion Week
Thursday February 9 kicked of 2012 fashion week in New York. The ready to wear collection "Creatures of the Wind" by Chicago based Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters was far from ordinary. Inspired by a 17th century fairytale of elves and fairies, these magical creations were the perfect way to kick of this year's show.

Weekly Round-up: February 3, 2012

Happy February!  Let's take a closer look at some of this weeks top news stories from the PR and social media world...

Social bowl, Super media
This year's Superbowl is one for the record books. For the first time ever in superbowl history, a social media command center, made up of 50 social media gurus, has been established in downtown Indianapolis - where the Superbowl is being held - to provide internet users with all the necessary information they need. President and CEO of Raidious say's "it's probably the future of big-event social media." Well, I am certainly looking forward to seeing what changes this may bring!

The new age of media
For any one interested in media relations, here you can find really useful information reguarding the traditional media market, and what you can do to be successful in it.

Valentine Jewels
Thanks to a survey done by the 'NRF' -National Retail Federation - many women (and hopefully me too!) will have a reason to smile this Valentine's Day.  With numbers at the highest they've been in 10 years, more than 8 in 10 men surveyed will be dazzling their loved ones with jewelery this holiday.

Show don't tell
Thanks to social media platforms - businesses are able to gain a following and expand their business by connecting with every different kind of person. But telling people how great you are isn't the best way to do things.  Follow this advice and you're sure to be successful.