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We chat to Viocorp about the future of online video and online advertising

Candymaker Mars Inc. recently launched a massive Social Media campaign, cutely titled "Interweb the Rainbow". 

Rather than use one Social Network over another, they launched a full-on assault, using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia.

Its Twitter account initially was bombarded with off-color tweets. But the online campaign also has drawn more than 1 million fans to Skittles' Facebook page, where they are trading thoughts on everything from Skittles-infused vodka to whether the tart candies are tastier than M&Ms.

The cleverness of the campaign is largely coming from its integrated and interactive approach to Social Media. First they created some catchy videos, then they stormed each Social Media site, turning their skittles homepage into a live feed from that social network.

Check out some of their videos
 

We interview Sydney locals about their use of Social Media and Social Networking sites
 

Thinking outside the box with web 2.0 technology can lead to some truly interesting ideas. The team at Botanicalls have come up with an ingenious use for Twitter. Their invention "is a system that was developed to allow plants to place phone calls for human help". Their DIY Twitter watering project uses moisture probes to allow your plant to tweet you a message when it needs a drink.

Sexy use of interactive technologies for a Viral Campaign.

In this campaign Mentos are making use of some great filmwork, to draw the user into the viral experience. 

Some casual searching on Google Insights gave this interesting fact. The number of people searching for the term “social networking sites” is really starting to take off.

Take a look at this graph from Google.

That is an exciting graph. In the last year it appears that has doubled. And in the last two years that amount of searches have more than quadrupled.

Not only is this happening for searches for Web 2.0 companies but for buyouts of smaller Web 2.0 companies as well.

For example just a week ago twitter, a microblogging website, with no income, got an offer for $500 million and turned it down.

Additionally businesses seem to be getting more and more interested in social networking for their business. This article from the August Newsweek shows businesses how they can have social marketing being a marketing tool.

The increasing traffic, high values, and personal and business importance are just going to prove that Web 2.0 is here to stay.

Viral videos can spread through the global consciousness with unparalleled speed. Here is a nice example of a Viral Video from Ogilvy & Mather in Toronto, for their DOVE campaign, using stop-motion photography and Photoshop retouching...

So, the US has a new President.  And one that is well aware of the potential of Web 2.0.

By targeting Gen-Y through the use of new Social Media platforms like Facebook, mySpace, youTube and Twitter, Obama has succeeded in effectively spreading support for his campaign across the Internet.

Make no mistake - Web 2.0, Social Media and Social Networking are a very real force in the world of PR. Harness those forces, and you will see very real results.

Obama has done just that. From social networking to his blog to his Fight the Smears campaign, Obama has made his Web 2.0 presence known. He has over 1.5 million friends on MySpace and Facebook, and he currently has over 45,000 followers on Twitter. This personal activity in social networks allows him to quickly get the word out across multiple platforms.

Obama has spent millions on his online campaign - from generating revenue indirectly by working out conversion ratios using GoogleAdwords, to sending campaign movements via SMS, and drumming up community support in online communities.

Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook, knows a thing or two about social networking, and has been heading up Obama's campaign. Obama's wooing of the social networking whiz may not have made headlines at the time, but it's been a major factor in Obama's success.

On Oct. 21, for example, Obama raked in more than 84 million views for his YouTube videos while McCain posted 22 million, according to TechPresident, a site that charts Web 2.0 election statistics. Over the past six months, 13,702 Meetup members have used the site to organize offline groups and events to support Obama, while 1,472 members are using it to rally around McCain.

For the seven days ending Oct. 22, Obama was mentioned 10, 291 times in the blogosphere, according to Technorati - which tracks blogs - compared to 3,924 mentions for McCain.

And Hitwise - which tracks Web traffic - noted that Obama was pulling in 67% of all Web traffic directed to presidential candidate sites while McCain was pulling in 32% of that traffic.

Obama has also continued to dominate on Facebook, with 2 million Facebook supporters on Oct. 9, compared McCain's 564,000 for McCain. The Democratic candidate also leads on MySpace, with 749,000 supporters as of Wednesday compared to McCain's 190,000.

Google has just published a patent application for Network Node Ad Targeting, in which Google hatches plans for identifying the most influential of a circle of friends and providing this 'influencer' with 'financial incentives from advertisers in exchange for permission to display advertisements on the member's [social network] profile'.

Doing so will 'provide advertisers with the option of targeting either all members in the community or advertising only on the profile of the influencer, thereby targeting the entire community,' explains Google. Who says you can't buy friendship!

What is Android?

It's the new operating system for mobile phones, funded by Google and set to revolutionise the phone industry.

Heard the same thing about the iPhone a few months ago?  Well, let it be known that this operating system is a serious contender for best phone OS available.


- This exciting new mobile-phone software wasn’t created by Google and isn’t owned by it, though its development was largely funded by Google via a body known as the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). This loose confederation of tech firms includes handset makers, mobile-phone networks and Google.

- The OHA allows phone makers to run Android on a suitable handset, without charge. Several have signed up, including Samsung, LG and Motorola. T-Mobile is the first UK-based mobile network to join. Others may soon follow.

- Android is less demanding of a phone’s hardware than traditional smartphone software such as Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and runs quickly, making its rivals seem sluggish by comparison.

- As Android is open source, anyone can create programs for it. These are available to download to the phone from the online Android Market. Many are free; others must be paid for via Google’s payment. system. Innovative new programs include ShopSavvy, whereby you scan a product’s barcode with the phone’s camera and it checks for the best online price, then shows you the nearest store on a map.

- Android’s open-source approach also means that a handset maker or mobile network could hobble its version of the software by removing features such as a phone’s ability to make free calls over the internet.

- As the software is self-policed by an online community of fans, Android raises security concerns. That said, this already works well for Linux, the computer-based operating system upon which it is based, and the Firefox web browser.

- Despite Android’s multimedia pretensions, it cannot yet play videos in either Apple’s QuickTime or Adobe’s Flash format – both popular on websites. Google has at least fixed this problem for fans of YouTube, which uses Flash.