The Power of YouTube

Sarah Perez wrote an article on a study that Google initiated which measured YouTube’s influence on what toys were being advertised and purchased.

It is no question that YouTube has a power of influence, a video archive that has become not only a major hub of entertainment but of income for many YouTube stars. YouTube stars are known for not only vlogging their lives, but opinions. Many “vloggers” upload clothing hauls, makeup tutorials, and lifestyle hacks. Another popular upload for vloggers right now is filming the opening of new toys. This is where google comes in.

Perez states, “According to the search giant, (Google) at least four of the top 10 most searched toys were among those heavily featured in YouTube unboxing videos — subsequently turning them into the most in-demand and best-selling toys of the holiday season.” YouTube is being seen now as a more powerful tool in advertising and the sharing of information than television. The medium of video, paired with comments, likes, and subscriptions – allows for a more interactive and accessible platform. Google’s search engine serves as a review finder – and instead of reading comments, viewers can now hop onto YouTube and see toys visually. The toy unboxing video of the most sold toy “L.O.L Surprise” is what made Google look into their numbers. The L.O.L Surprise toy made it onto Amazon’s “Top 10 List of Best Selling Toys” Not only is visually watching a toy be used and hear people’s opinions on its quality beneficial. The power of YouTube videos being accessible any time rather than on a certain channel at a certain time of day – makes for the perfect advertising tool.

Perez, Sarah, and Sarah Perez. “Google’s Search Data Shows YouTube’s Influence over This Season’s Hottest Toys.” TechCrunch. TechCrunch, December 10, 2018. https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/10/googles-search-data-shows-youtubes-influence-over-this-seasons-hottest-toys/.

 

Bezos endangers the Enquirer

A couple of weeks ago, the National Enquirer published a news article that Jeff Bezos had been texting with a mistress, including inappropriate pictures. They claimed to have access to both the messages and the photos, and threatened to leak them.

Bezos had announced via Twitter that him and his wife were separating prior to the article, and accused the National Enquirer of extortion and blackmail after the article was published.

The Enquirer prides itself on being a celebrity/entertainment gossip site, and hasn’t ever had any real news published (you know.. the stuff people should care about). They use words like “SHOCKING STORY” and “ROYAL TROUBLE!” in all capitol, bold, red letters to entice readers, similar to the way checkout lane magazines do.

Their Bezos stunt was nothing more than a ploy to gain attention and get a reaction out of the public. Thankfully, it really didn’t. They posted a link to their Twitter article twice, and neither time got more than five retweets and two replies.

Publications like the Enquirer endanger real journalism by publishing information that is so far off, and often incorrectly sourced. It is nothing more than gossip, and hurts the reputation of sites like the Washington Post (owned by Bezos) and the New York Times. The owner, David Pecker, has been under investigation multiple times for a variety of things including accepting hush-money from the Trump administration.

Bezos recognized the ridiculous stunt and harm it could cause to more than just himself and published a response to the stories on website called Medium.

Be assured, no real journalists ever propose anything like what is happening here: I will not report embarrassing information about you if you do X for me. And if you don’t do X quickly, I will report the embarrassing information.

I appreciate Bezos’ recognition of what true journalism is, and investing in it (owner of the Post) rather than stooping to the level of indecency that the Enquirer was. His response was professional and humble, and I think it was the perfect way to end the quarrel.

 

 

Developing an Investigative Mindset

This past weekend, I attended the Investigative Reporters & Editors Watchdog Workshop at Texas State University with two of my coworkers from KACU. I decided to attend the workshop just because I was offered free food and I wanted to see what it was about. I don’t usually do reporting for KACU; I’m an on-air host and producer. I did not have any expectations and I had no idea what I was even going to be doing. Coming out of the workshop, I was persuaded to do less hosting and try more reporting.

The workshop was geared towards reporters and students who wanted to learn about investigative reporting. I got to hear fantastic stories and presentations from individuals that work for KXAN in Austin and the Houston Chronicle. I even got to meet Kimbriell Kelly from The Washington Post and Melissa Del Bosque, a writer for the Texas Observer and the author of Bloodlines (which she gave me a copy of!).

A major element the workshop focused on was the Freedom of Information Act and filing FOIA requests. IRE wanted to emphasize the importance of finding as much information as possible when doing an investigation, and taught attendants how to be extremely specific about the information they want to request. The spokespersons also offered tips for what a reporter can do if a request is denied. Most importantly, they wanted to make sure that all reporters know their rights when they are trying to dig for information that a government entity might not be too keen to share.

Overall, I had a great time and learned so much (and now have a million ways to search for information about people). I have decided to try reporting more for KACU and taking a small step back from hosting. Hearing the stories that Kimbriell Kelly told about her own reporting inspired me – and networking with dozens of other reporters from NPR member stations all around Texas was amazing.

Trouble for Twitter?

After publishing their fourth quarter earnings report, Twitter had many positive things going for them, such as increases in revenues and ad sales. However, there is one portion that is tarnishing the report. User numbers for Twitter have dropped by approximately 9 million users since the third quarter. While this may not initially seem like a big problem for a company who has over 300 million users, however the news of decreased users has affected Twitter’s stocks with a drop of 8% once the news hit. This drop would not have been as significant had the company not also increased expenses for the year.

 

Twitter however, is not concerned with the drop of users.

 

The reason is they believe the drop in users directly correlates with their efforts to cut down on users who are abusive and takeaway from the desired experience on the social media site. Is this really a direct correlation? Or is there a different reason for the sudden drop in users?

 

Most social media sites have moved towards trying to eliminate fake accounts. Facebook and Instagram both have made headline news with their efforts to rid their sites of these bots. Instagram in particular has received the most attention since the number of followers and likes per a post displays popularity which sometimes results in product promotion offers and other benefits. However, I have not been able to find anywhere that talks about there being a direct affect on the company’s stock prices after these purges.

 

Despite the user numbers dropping, Twitter has had one of their strongest quarters to date. For that reason, I don’t think the loss of users will have much of an effect on Twitter’s profit in the next quarter.

“Lower User Numbers Tarnish Twitter Earnings Report.” Odwyerpr, 8 Feb. 2019, https://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/12025/2019-02-08/lower-user-numbers-tarnish-twitter-earnings-report.html.

Blurred line: Ads and normal content

Do you know that more and more people are willing to pay for subscriptions just to avoid looking at ads?

It should come to no surprise that consumer hate being bombarded by ads, especially embedded ads that are irrelevant and adds no value. Consumers are taking measures to avoid ads at all cost these days – statics has shown that adblocker users are on the rise – and advertisers know that.

This trend has forced advertiser to get creative to lure their target audience. And their solutions? Native Ads.

Native ads are not new. Buzzfeed is one of the pioneers of commerce content creator or “native advertising”. An article that reads “14 People Making The Best Of Bad Situations” might seem like just a typical Buzzfeed-style article but take a closer look and you will see that the post is sponsored by Volkswagen. In fact, almost all of Buzzfeed contents are sponsored post. Some may argue that native advertising is a deceiving to the consumer –it wastes consumer’s time to read an article, only to find out later that those are just promotional message to get them to make a purchase.

But to be fair, a piece like the Volkswagen post is not harmful at all because Volkswagen was just hoping to market the message “Get in. Get Happy.” The real issues are native ads like this: Clinton Corruption, an ad paid by Donald J. Trump on POLITICO telling “truth” about Hilary Clinton that disguised like a news article and a paid content ran in The Atlantic congratulating the Church of Scientology and its leader milestone” years (that has since removed following backlash), where publishers are compromising their reputation to ran sponsored content.

Unfortunately, the trend for native ads is rising. In 2016, The New York Times also jump on the bandwagon of native advertising to move away from standardized “banner” ads. It’s not hard to understand why The New York Times is trying to keep away from traditional ads. Research conducted by the Dusseldorf Institute for Competition Economics found out that “a 10% increase in ad time will reduce the audience size by 15%.” Consumers are really actively shunning away from ads content.

However, successful examples have shown that sponsored ads are not necessarily bad if publishers maintain their editorial standard. A well done sponsored ad is one that is relevant, educational and delivers facts.

Stühmeier, T., & Wenzel, T. (2011). Getting beer during commercials: Adverse effects of ad-avoidance. Information Economics And Policy23(1), 98-106. doi: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2010.09.002

DELTA faces backlash for “creepy” napkins distributed on flights

This week in Social Media, Delta is facing backlash after a creative collaboration with Coca-Cola. Originally the campaign was targeted to encourage passengers to communicate with one another, rather than continue to promote a culture that is strictly focused on themselves.

Delta distributed the napkins on their airplanes these last few months. The napkins had spaces for names and phone numbers to be exchanged if someone felt lead to pass one to a neighbor. However, some people went on social media and voiced their disgust for this idea on twitter saying that it was “disgusting” and “creepy”. Others, however, thought it was a great idea. Some people appreciated Coca-Cola’s attempts at trying to connect others with the real world. Todd Bernstein voiced his opinion on Twitter, saying that he sees nothing wrong with trying “to get people to actually interact with each other outside of their phones…”. I agree with Todd. I think that it’s a great idea to get people to get out of their comfort zone and start communicating with one another.

I don’t think that Delta should necessarily apologize for these napkins, but rather just an explanation as to why this is a good idea. Our culture is raising a generation that does not know how to truly associate with their peers without messaging them on their phones first. I truly think that this is a great move from Delta and Coca-Cola. I applaud their efforts to try and get people to talk to one another again, even if they are a stranger.

Skittles Broadway Super Bowl Commercial

In the weeks before Super Bowl Skittles announced their unorthodox take on advertising for the coming game. They would be creating one of the most over the top Super Bowl commercials to date that would not air during the Super Bowl or for that matter would not be broadcasted anywhere. This decision was made to combat one of the largest problems companies like Skittles face.

“People buy snacks for Super Bowl parties in the days leading up to the game, not during it.”
-Ari Weiss, DDB’s North American chief American creative officer

This leads to a rather large problem to solve. How does a company like Skittles create enough buzz before the Super Bowl to promote sales before the game? In order to battle the noise before the Super Bowl, Skittles would have to come up with a very unexpected commercial that could not just be simply ignored and, with that, the idea of Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical was conceptualized.

This commercial musical hybrid was designed with the full intent of not being aired or broadcast leaving the only insight into the production to the teaser video or viewing the performance live at Town Hall. This musical features four songs within a thirty-minute time frame which feature commentary on advertising which can be streamed on Spotify for everyone who missed the performance.

Since this “commercial” is being hailed as not only an advertisement but also a work of commentary art, how does the Skittles method of advertising affect how this ad will be received and by who?

Patagonia’s Anti- Advertising

Many of you know who Patagonia is. Known for their outdoor wear fit for the adventurer, Patagonia is known as one of the top clothing brands for outerwear. We know who Patagonia is but how? They do not invest in ads or advertisements, so how is it that virtually every individual knows who they are?

Patagonia is radically different than any other company. They are advocates as well as a retailer which appeals to consumers. Patagonia is less concerned with marketing and more concerned with their products and the environmental impact their products have. Patagonia’s brand message is the brand itself. They recognize that the production of their products cause environmental harm which is why they dedicate themselves to sustainability. With their 1% campaign, the company dedicates 1% of all sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. Personally, I am intrigued by Patagonia’s many outlets and the ways they employ unique marketing strategies to boost sales while helping the environment. Additionally, a reason Patagonia’s brand message is the brand itself is that they do not rely heavily on ads and marketing strategies. Rather, they focus on what their brand is doing for others and the environment, as well as consumer loyalty to their products.

Patagonia recently launched their first commercial EVER. Coincidentally, this commercial was not about their products but rather the commercial stressed the important need to protect America’s public lands. Patagonia’s cry for help received a ton of support and their social media posts about their new commercial became one of their top liked. Patagonia chose now to air their commercial in response to President Trump’s to review some of America’s natural monuments. The review sparked controversy and Patagonia took a stand on the matter. True to their nature, Patagonia invested $700,000 in a one-minute ad not to promote their product but to stand up for what they believe to be right.

On top of their clothing lines, Patagonia has invaded several other markets such as foods and beverages and used clothing. Patagonia has an online store for food and beverages specializing in organic and farm to market foods. They offer recipes, gift boxes, dry goods, beer, and much more. With every purchase they donate meals to those in need including hurricane relief, wildfire relief, food banks, and many others. Their used clothing store takes used Patagonia brand items, repairs them, reuses them, and recycles them. Patagonia states that the best thing we can do for the planet is to keep gear longer and cut down on consumption.

The reason Patagonia’s advertising-free methods work is because they are immersed so deeply into the community and the environment. They use sustainability and activism to build their brand and fierce consumer loyalty. Patagonia’s mission statement sums up their methods and their company beautifully, it is to “build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”

YouTube Discusses Dislike Button

YouTube is talking about finding a different approach to disliking videos on their website. In 2018, YouTube’s video “YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind” became the most disliked video with 15 Million thumbs down. Some of the dislikes came from a place of true disconnect between YouTube’s audience and the content they produced, however many were the result of users just disliking because it was the trend. YouTube wants to find a solution to “dislike mobs” who dislike a video as a group without even watching it and viewers disliking videos without any real reason.

Some proposed solutions are removing the dislike button all together, removing the like to dislike ratio display, and having the viewer provide an explanation for disliking. They are asking creators for feedback and suggestions on how they think they can make this change the best. Some have replied with only having the option to dislike after a certain percentage of the video has been watched.

The removal of the button threatens the ability for creators to see how well they are relating and interacting with their audience. It also prevents viewers from having the opportunity to communicate to the creator whether or not they are enjoying their content. Having no feedback can be harmful to the community that YouTube fosters.

YouTube faces a major decision to make in trying to come up with a reasonable solution that does not upset the creators on their platform or the viewers who use it. As of now, YouTube is not currently making any changes.

After Rewind, YouTube wants to make it harder to dislike videos

https://www.videomaker.com/news/after-rewind-youtube-wants-to-make-it-harder-to-dislike-videos/ 

YouTube is trying to prevent angry mobs from abusing “dislike” button

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/youtube-doesnt-like-dislike-mobs-will-try-to-prevent-dislike-button-abuse/

#boycottPrada

Prada’s Sambo keychain that was recalled for looking like blackface
hypebeast.com

In December, Prada received backlash on its Sambo figurine keychain. After companies like H&M received lots of backlash for its “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” sweatshirt, you would think companies would be more careful as to how they portray monkeys and the history of black people in American history. Between their Sambo keychain having big red lips and looking a lot like blackface, a lot of people are unsure on how this keychain made it out of distribution.

Prada’s PR tweeted after the incident, “[1/2] #Prada Group abhors racist imagery. The Pradamalia are fantasy charms composed of elements of the Prada oeuvre. They are imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface. [2/2] #Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery.  In this interest we will withdraw the characters in question from display and circulation.” Prada’s public relations team not only received a lot of backlash, but they find no wrong in not being culturally aware. A lot of the internet doesn’t see how Prada could make a move like this with how culturally aware but a lot of people forget Prada is an Italian company and American History isn’t a part of what they learn just like we as Americans don’t learn Italian history.

A lot of celebrities, like Spike Lee and T.I., have decided to boycott Prada recently for its actions and lack of sensitivity in its keychain and answer to the situation on Twitter. Do you think Prada’s PR was right in its answer or are the celebrities boycotting insensitive to the fact that the company is Italian and they didn’t know there was harm?

Prada. “Prada Twitter.” Twitter, Twitter, 14 Dec. 2018, twitter.com/Prada/status/1073614897207017481.