Daily Digisphere

Strategy, March 1, 2010

Why are women so hard to please? Companies have been targeting them for years. They know women are a dominant force in the economy; they influence up to 80% of purchase decisions. Yet, as hard as companies try they just don't succeed with women. Study after study shows women are underserved in most consumer categories. For the first time in history women make up more than 50% of the U.S. workforce (47.6% in Canada). So where do you start if pink isn't your answer?

• Pay attention to the details to show women you understand them. Start by recognizing that women are literally wired differently. They process more language. They absorb both the logic of words and the emotional subtext.

• Understand what really motivates her. Recognize that accomplishment for women is about improving, being her best self. Men might care about winning and beating the other guy but a woman measures herself against the bar she has set for herself, whether it's realistic or not.

• Harness the power of her trusted tribe. Women are social animals. They have an innate craving to connect. Her "tribe" gives her emotional support, advice and information. Around the globe, social networks, blogs, communities and forums are dominated by women, in many cases at twice the rate of men.

Frito-Lay understood that women were skeptical of promises of guiltless, crave-able snacking, brought on by too many companies under-delivering on this promise. So when they launched the new Smartfood brand, Frito-Lay tapped into women's trust of each other to tell their story with an online series. "Only in a Woman's World" explored the hilarious moments and rituals around food, exercise and relationships that make sense only to women. The program included 18 webisodes, numerous cartoons and games. It was a huge undertaking that appealed to women and leveraged a medium that they use to talk to each other.

The International Herald Tribune, February 25, 2010

Remember when the internet was supposed to kill off television? That has not been the case lately, judging by the record television ratings for big-ticket events. The Vancouver Olympics are shaping up to be the most-watched foreign Winter Games since 1994. The Super Bowl this year was the most-watched program in U.S. history, beating out the final episode of the popular series ''M*A*S*H'' in 1983. Awards shows like the Grammys are attracting their biggest audiences in years.

Many television executives are crediting the internet, in part, for the revival. Blogs and social websites like Facebook and Twitter enable an online water-cooler conversation, encouraging people to split their time between the computer screen and the big-screen TV. Nielsen, which measures television viewership and web traffic, noticed that one in seven people watching the Super Bowl and the Olympics opening ceremony was surfing the web at the same time.

Seeking to capitalize on the online water-cooler effect, NBC showed the Golden Globes live on both coasts for the first time this year and reportedly wants to do the same for the Emmy Awards this fall, so the entire country can watch (and chat online) simultaneously. ''People want to have something to share,'' said Alan Wurtzel, the head of research for NBC Universal. He said the effects of online conversations were ''important for all big event programming, and also, honestly, for all of television going forward.'' If people cannot share television in the same room, the next best thing is a chat room or something like it, said Chloe Sladden, director of media partnerships for Twitter.

CRM Magazine, March 1, 2010

While some companies are starting to see that customer experience is critical to their business processes, few understand the role of social media tools. The Carphone Warehouse (CPW), an independent retailer of mobile phones and services, with more than 2,400 stores in nine European countries, faced having to publicly acknowledge customer complaints in the cloud. "Customer service is increasingly generated by peer-to-peer interactions, on their terms, in value relationships and networks they create," CPW executives said. "We realized we can't control customer complaints in the cloud, but we must interact with customers where they are."

A customer turns to Twitter because: 1) her complaint via traditional channels seems to have fallen through the cracks; 2) she feels her complaint has not been taken seriously; 3) the digital ecosystem allows agents to be more objective/empathetic than traditional service channels; 4) she expects immediate resolution to issues that require cross-departmental solutions; and 5) she avoids the contact center, where she has come to expect a raw deal.

CPW's strategy? Bravely change customer-company interactions by harnessing the power of social media to say, "I'm sorry." CPW has found Twitter offers a new opportunity to listen and engage, to address customer complaints and feedback more quickly, and to positively influence customer opinion--all without the need to increase staff to field tweets. CPW uses Twitter for "first-line" customer queries about handset setup, repairs, stock availability, and delivery issues. If a customer wants to know whether a certain town has a CPW store, CPW can twitter a link to the store. Even geographical boundaries become a nonissue: A European traveling on a United States train once sent a tweet to CPW asking how to remove a SIM card from his phone. CPW twittered the solution.

And yet CPW has learned that Twitter is only one ingredient in a larger mix of customer interaction channels, and that conversations that start in Twitter may end up in traditional channels (email, phone,or chat).

South Bend Tribune, February 28, 2010

More and more of us are doing business online, making friends online, managing financially valuable assets online. So what happens to all of that once you're gone? It's a classic case of the law essentially not keeping up with technology. Most people ultimately put together a traditional will on paper saying who gets the house, the car, the property. But what about your computer account passwords and your online identity? Who would get access to those?

There are a slew of online upstarts getting into the business of helping to manage your online life after your death. One of them, "My Webwill" based out of Sweden, has an ad on YouTube that asks, "Where do all the photos, blogs and social network accounts end up? How do you want to live your life online after death?" The hope at My Webwill is that you will pay them a monthly fee to let them answer those questions for you.

There are other businesses out there like My Webwill, and they have some provocative names: "Slightly Morbid," "Deathswitch," and "Legacy Locker" are among them. Essentially, Legacy Locker and businesses like them offer ways to set up an account where you name who gets your online passwords and access to your online identity after you die. It literally puts you in control, even from the grave. To access that information, documentation of death has to be received before your designee can get into your Legacy Locker.

Some of the sites also offer a service where they let you send out online messages and videos after you die. So as much as the digital age has changed our lives practically from the time of birth, that influence can now continue even past the time of death.

AFP - RELAXNEWS, March 1, 2010

There has been a great shift from traditional news platforms to online and mobile news sources in the last couple of years. Having your dog bring you the freshly delivered copy of the latest newspaper headlines seems like a memory from the past in today's world where social networks such as Twitter can provide instant updates in the event of breaking news.

The wider availability of nearly instantaneous micro newsfeeds has changed the very notion of our news consumption. Younger generations and technological savvy individuals are relying on news sources that are delivered in the form of community-sourced information. These "news sources" are often supplied in the form of friends status updates, blogs, trending topics and retweeted news headlines.

According to a report published by Pew Internet on March 1, 92% of Americans use multiple platforms to get their news during a normal day. Only 7% turn to one single media platform to read their news. In the digital era, humans have turned to news platforms that let them customize information according to their personal tastes. Twenty-eight percent of internet users have created a personalized homepage that delivers news and information about topics that interest them.

They also expect to be able to access news headlines from their mobile phones when they are away from their computer. More than 30% of mobile phone owners use their device to read news headlines.