This is Devlin's blog

Twitter is implementing photo filters similar to those of its competitor, with the hope of having less Instagram tweets populated on its platform.

Is this good, bad or ugly? It’s not ugly, since nothing is ugly on Instagram, but it’s definitely not original and makes Twitter look like a weak second- place social network.

Remember the days when Facebook used to copy Twitter (think: news feed) because Twitter was rising in popularity? Well now it seems like Twitter is trying to copy Facebook. I just heard that Twitter is thinking of replacing its “favourite” button with a “like” option, Facebook’s signature tool.

Twitter has been successful because of its ability to be a customized and current news source. Instagram has been successful because it’s essentially Twitter for photos. Both platforms have been successful because they have been simple, straightforward and were designed with mobile users in mind.

Now Instagram is letting users have web profiles instead of just being a mobile application. Will this slowly start to destroy the excitement of seeing artistic photos in real-time? Changes to Instagrams’ unique offering and copycat applications may downplay its dominance.

Facebook has suffered complaints because it has tried to be everything to everyone and lost its purpose of being a way to stay in touch with friends.

Twitter is next. By copying features from other popular social media networks, its purpose and differentiating qualities that made it so great will be lost.

Devlin had the privilege of attending the very first Untether Talks conference that was held in Toronto this past week at the intimate Glen Gould Studio. The Talks, which were an expanded and interactive version of Untether.tv, proved to be insightful and inspiring. The response from attendees was quite positive and another conference is in the works for October, so no worries if you missed out on this past week’s activity.

Highlights from the two days included the following:

Amber Mac – This charming, digital guru, spoke about the ABC’s of social media, which include being Authentic, Bold and Consistent (brands, pay attention!)

Damien Patton – The CEO of Banjo, discussed the holy grail of relationships. He pointed out how location makes social networking more relevant and prevents fragmentation. Location helps one connect with someone or something on a more emotional level, making that person or event special, like the Olympics.

Asif Khan – The founder of the Location Based Marketing Association (LBMA) spoke to the concept of hyper local relevance. We are not far off from a time when every person, place or thing will be geo targeted which poses unprecedented challenges and opportunities to marketers.

When a person checks in and says “Hi, I’m here” a brand or product needs to respond by saying “Welcome! Let me offer you relevant content or an incentive to make your experience more enjoyable.”

Doug Stephens – Founder of Retail Prophet, took this one step further by prophesizing that instead of people checking into places, those places (or brands/products) will check into us. They will know what we’re looking for because all of our apps on our phone will be integrated and in communication with each other, making for a seamless experience.

He expanded on this concept with his analogy of a third shelf, a space that is not a channel, but is a moment in time, when the consumer wants to be targeted. I love this idea because it places the consumer at the forefront and makes his or her life easier and more convenient.

Yasser Ansari – Creator of Project Noah and Jason Segel look-alike, gave a passionate presentation about an app that he created with National Geographic which helps make science accessible and exciting for everyone. Even if you’re not very interested in science or nature, you’ll be blown away by the app’s simple and aesthetically pleasing design.

Sydneye Eve Matrix – This professor at Queens gave a stellar presentation on successful ways of combining social media and mobile devices in the classroom. Man, I wish I had a professor like her when I was in University; she seemed so resourceful and eager to help her students excel by reaching them on channels that they’re already on and are comfortable using.

Whurley – This Dude is one of a kind, which I guess is why he can get away with only having one name (think Madonna, Oprah, Bono, I could go on and on…) His presentation was definitely a crowd favourite, as he made sure that the audience was engaged the whole time by involving them in creating his slide deck, then cleverly answering everyone’s questions without any preparation. Pure genius. Not “Evil Genius” which comes up when you google his name. He seems like too much of a nice guy to be deemed evil and also sounds like one very cool Dad.

As someone who appreciates learning new things and contemplating what the future brings, I was excited when Whurley spoke about the auto industry and how it’s in flux.

How can we change transportation as a whole so that it’s more like one’s house and less like one’s car? How can we make it easier to do everything in a car, perhaps by having someone else (or an app) drive it? Will there even be cars in the Future? Maybe just brain powered skateboards… I loved this rant and read a fascinating article today about the same thing in Fast Company:

Whurley concluded by declaring that there is no such thing as mobile computing; computing has just gone mobile. When computing becomes more pervasive there will be a lot more opportunity for everyone because technology will be cheaper, faster and better.

What a great way to end off a presentation at a conference about being “untethered”. Of course my favourite part of the conference was meeting loads of new people and sharing opinions with them on new ideas that we garnered from the Talks.

Caine’s Arcade, a heart-warming story about a young boy who builds an arcade out of cardboard boxes in his Father’s East-LA Auto Shop, has become a viral sensation, garnering over 1 million hits on Vimeo and another 1 million on YouTube in just two days! Even more remarkable, the video has raised over $100,000 in scholarship money for Caine’s College fund.

Why was this video, which clocks in at nearly 11 minutes – long by social media standards – such a huge success?

Aside from the fact that it was professionally filmed by a gracious customer, it documents an honest story about a young boy’s determination to bring joy to others and himself through basic and inexpensive means. It is emotional, endearing and genuine. It is a nice change to see a viral video that is not about war, sex or politics but instead about the simple pleasures of life and old-fashioned values of hard work and integrity, which are often lost in our fast-paced digital age.

It is refreshing to see a young boy so determined and patient. As we get older, it is easy to become jaded about work and lose our sense of purpose. It is always a pleasure to see that good ideas, clever execution and passion can lead to success. This video is proof that the American Dream still exists. Building something from nothing is still possible and can reap lucrative rewards.

Caine’s Arcade also shows us how technology and old-fashioned values, working in tandem with each other, can create amazing results.  The idea of an arcade and the excitement it contains, must be experienced in person but can be promoted online and spread virally.

At first the Internet was working against Caine, by taking customers away from his Father’s shop and consequently, his Arcade.  However, once news spread through social media, the arcade and this video became instant successes.

Fortunately for Caine, traditional values and new technology worked together perfectly to bring his story to the masses and make it a true winner.

Caine’s Arcade

There are different methods and tools available to calculate the Return of Investment (ROI) of a social media campaign; the tough part is convincing your boss (if he is old-skool) of the value inherent in social media and how this can be quantified.

Old fashioned business managers do not believe that ROI can be calculated from social media. Concerned about the ever-changing nature of technology, they are unclear as to the process for determining success rates through social media channels.

If you are reading this and work for an old-fashioned business manager, (OFBM) you need to ask him or her two questions.

1) Are you interested in increasing revenue?
2) Are you interested in saving money?

Now we are talking in lingo that your OFBM will understand. Once he or she answers YES to both questions, you can explain the following:

Social media offers valuable resources to help save money by decreasing costs spent on customer service and press. Social media allows a company or brand to connect with its customers directly through a two-way conversation at their convenience, when they have decided to log on and pay attention.

This is a much more conducive environment for communicating then cold calling a customer during dinner. It is also free. Aside from the salary that your company is paying to the Social Media Manger, there are no costs for setting up a Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest account.

Best of all, your messages are reaching those customers that are interested in hearing what your company or brand has to say because they have voluntarily “liked” or “followed” your brand’s page or account.

There are different programs available to analyze the results of social media campaigns. But, as demonstrated above, social media needs to be regarded as another communication platform, not something foreign; rather, something simple which your OFBM will understand. That is why using ROI to analyze the success of your social media campaign makes a lot of sense. It places social media on the same playing field as all your other marketing initiatives and helps keep your analysis consistent.

ROI can be determined by looking at the revenue you received from your social media campaign, subtracted by your costs to execute the campaign, converted into a percentage.

Simple right? Just make sure you understand how social media affects traditional business metrics since those may shift once social media strategies are implemented. Take a look at newspapers for example. The average newspaper reader may now be getting their news by following their favourite paper on Twitter, instead of subscribing to a physical paper. This newspaper has to recognize that it is not losing readers, just subscribers.

In fact, its readership is probably growing through social sharing and re-tweeting of articles. The newspaper has to take migrated readers into consideration when examining its overall metrics and advertise accordingly. It is much cheaper to advertise online than in print, so take advantage of targeted online advertising or free social media exposure while you still can.

Pinterest has been garnering a lot of attention recently and for good reason. The new social media website that lets users share pin boards is reminiscent of that very attractive, artsy, fashionable, new girl that moves into the neighbourhood and is instantly the most popular kid in school.

Pinterest generates more referral traffic than YouTube, LinkedIn and Google combined! It hit 10 million monthly unique visitors faster than any other independent site in history and it’s only been around since March of 2010.

Pinterest started out as a platform for fashionistas and wedding planners to gather inspiration and share their concepts. Its simple design, ease of use and collaborative appeal took off quickly. Its daily users have increased by more than 145% since the beginning of 2012!

Pinterest is now commonly used by 18-34 year old upper middle class women, the demographic that tends to do the most shopping. Brands and retail companies should pay attention and jump on the Pinterest bandwagon!

Pinterest is great for brands because it provides free targeted advertising for their product offerings. Retail companies like Barney’s, are starting to adopt a “Pin It” button which lets users pin products from the company’s website directly onto users’ Pinterest boards, for all their followers to see. Plus, when an original image is pinned, it includes a link back to the site where it came from thereby increasing the website’s search rank.

Companies can also leverage Pinterest to showcase their brand’s true identity by focusing on thematic colours, values and interests that make up their brand’s character. The Oprah Winfrey Network, for example, has different boards that feature inspiring quotes, a tribute to Whitney Houston and food that her target audience would enjoy eating. Pin boards help viewers understand a brand’s true personality.

Pinterest also lets users input prices into products that they’ve pinned which can appear in the “Gifts” section, organized by price, making it easy to find the perfect present.

Since online shopping is probably the only thing that’s grown as exponentially as Pinterest, it makes logical sense for brands to create their own Pinterest pages or have a “Pin It” button link directly to a page on their site where consumers are directed to purchase the item.

There are numerous programs that synch Pinterest with Facebook and Twitter for easy integration between different social media channels making the hobby of the consumer or job of the brand manager, much more controllable.

You can follow Devlin’s Pinterest board by clicking here!

References from the following sites were used in the creation of this blog post: http://www.mpdailyfix.com/why-pinterest-should-be-of-interest-to-brands/

http://mashable.com/2012/02/14/pinterest-daily-users-are-up-125-percent/?WT.mc_id=obinsite