Be Inspired.

The #TwitterBlackOut mobilized in the course of two days. Twitter posted a justification for its move to censor Tweets on a Thursday. By Friday, the Twitter blackout had been organized by members of the Twittersphere. The organization and implementation of a global shutdown of one of the Web’s most highly trafficked sites occurred in less time than it takes to fly to Australia. I think that’s pretty amazing.

So what does that mean for a creative like me?

For one thing, social media has changed the way we concept (come up with ideas). In the past, after being briefed on a project, creatives might go sit somewhere, toss around a ball, thumb through a magazine, and hope to get inspired.

Now, we hop onto any number of social media sites and look at what other people find exciting. Just last week, my partner and I were tasked to come up with the look and feel of a client’s unbranded marketing campaign. So we went online and looked at sites like Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. The resulting colors were inspired by a sports team uniform I saw on a friend’s virtual pinboard. The design was influenced by an old album cover someone had Tweeted about.

When it comes to healthcare advertising, it is often difficult to use the social media tactics other industries take for granted. But that’s no excuse for ignoring the world of social media. Even if the regulatory hurdles make it difficult to implement, we can still find inspiration in what we read and see.

How has social media affected your approach to work?

-Jamie

CouchSurfin' USA

The people asked for social networking.

And God said, "Let there be networking." And so He created MySpace.

But the people wanted more. And they prayed and thumped their chests and cried out for more.

And so God (and possibly Mark Zuckerberg) created Facebook.

But the people were still not satisfied. Neither the Book of Faces nor the Space of Mine sufficiently appeased their desire to be heard.

And so God created Twitter. And He said, “Go forth and speaketh in 140 characters or less.”

And so, the people tweeted.

But the people still were not satisfied. And so God created…

Couchsurfing? 

What is this “couchsurfing” we speak of?

A recent phenomenon (the first couch was surfed, circa 1999), it all began with couchsurfing.org, “a service in which members offer a spare couch – or bed, or floor space – to fellow couchsurfers, at no charge.”

The concept has since grown to include many other sites at which people can rent out apartments and homes all over the world. (AirBnB.com and iStopOver.com are just two popular newcomers to the scene.) 

Couchsurfing takes social networking to a whole new level. Though some say that the very nature of social networking ironically makes us anti-social (interactions are far more limited across a computer screen), this concept allows for entirely new friend-making possibilities.

Couchsurfing networks bring together the virtual and the real. It also brings together random strangers. (Unlike traditional social networks which help us more deeply connect with people we already know.)

So where will social networking take us next? 

And God said, “Ye faithful social networkers, sit back and think about it.”

-Jamie

 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Tweeting

I was browsing the net the other day, thinking about the new movie, The Social Network (which I just saw, by the way, and it’s GREAT), when I happened upon an article that mapped out what Harry Potter’s foray into social media would look like.

One element that The Social Network stressed was the timeliness of Facebook and how nowadays, we all want something that connects us to each-other in a digital setting. It would seem that the world of Harry Potter would be exempt from this desire for intense connectivity. Wizards do, after all, have slightly bigger fish to fry, what with the Dementors kissing and Ogres plundering. In spite of the very Muggle-like nature of the online social network, our favorite four-eyed wizard has, at long last, entered the world of FACEBOOK!

Ok…so Harry has actually been online, having his life tweeted away for quite some time now. But not until recently did an exploratory into what a real-life Harry Potter Facebook page, Youtube account, or Twitter stream would look like, actually exist. Thank you New York Magazine for showing us what Harry would have to say if he were to write posts, update his status, Foursquare himself and “friend“ others. The results are entertaining to say the least, and confirm the fact that if you are not engaged in social media, you’re missing out. 

(My personal favorites are Dobby’s comments. Take a look for yourself!)

And while these parodies offer a few laughs, they also inadvertently demonstrate how a brand can carry it's message and tone across multiple social media channels in a consistent and engaging way.

Enjoy.

-Jamie