Ashton's App

For some time now I've been toying with the A.plus app - Ashton Kutcher's Twitter client which launched in late May. It was a brave move but one that not only cemented Ashton as leader of the Twitter flock, but also changed the game for branded apps. Writing about it further for a case study today at work, it really hit home how Ashton not only understands the needs and wants of Twitter users, but also their likely acceptance of branded content in return for intelligent interface.



Here's how it works. A.plus is a desktop Twitter client which splits into three key content areas. There's your personal Twitter stream and the ability not just to tweet, but also to quickly add links and @ mentions, as well as a slightly dubious "tweet shortening" tool. The tool basically removes vowels and makes for some pretty hideous tweets, but the sentiment is there. Secondly, there is the Live Preview. It's this which really sets the app above Tweetdeck et al - by clicking on a tweet in your stream, the Live Preview shows you the webpage/image/video right there in-app - no more new tabs and clicking back and forth. It's brilliant.



And in return for all this lovely previewing? Streaming content from Ashton world - updates from Ashton himself, his wife Demi Moore, his company Katalyst and his charity, DNA Foundation. Or, by scrolling through the channels listed above, further content from Ashton supported streams linked to Apps, the Arts, Campus Life and so on.



Ashton really is a clever bitch. A.plus has gone beyond hoping that people will actively seek out or notice tweets from brands - or in his case "Celebrities" - and positioned it right there next to your Twitter stream. As Twitter, and indeed other social networks, age and grow, the idea that your brand's voice will be heard through the noise just because you're good at tweeting is not a risk worth taking. What A.plus proves, is that if you have the insight on your audience to give them something they'll truly use - like a great Twitter client - then you have also created the opportunity and right to give your voice, your message priority. Genius.

Check This: CheckThis

Online, there's nothing that says VIP like getting in early on a Beta. "Beta" is the testing period for new tech. It's usually limited-invite only, meaning only people close to the developers and their resulting network get a look in. And, if the product's good, there's really no greater way to build buzz than restricting availability to a few geeky influencers. Especially when those influencers are also doing the testing leg work to make it great ahead of mainstream launch. It's old school marketing in a new school sphere.

One new Beta I was invited to recently is CheckThis - "a beautifully simple publishing tool designed for the new web". At first, I couldn't work out the point of it - if I want to share content, I post it to my blog, or Twitter, or Facebook. So a week went by, and I forgot all about it. I had basically failed as a Beta tester.



But then something came up that made me want to make something - a little collection of content all in one place in a context of its own to be communicated just to the people I chose. And suddenly CheckThis had a point. Because we don't really sit down and write letters anymore, or make mix tapes as a way of connecting with people. To convey our state of mind, feelings and taste now we update, tweet and "Like". In front of everyone. It was time to find a corner of the web that could be personalised and shared, but shared quietly.

Meet checkthis from checkthis on Vimeo.

CheckThis allows you to create a unique webpage and easily add copy, images and video. The page can then not only be protected to just those with the link, but also set to expire after a day, a week, a month. An interesting feature in an age where we're all worrying about that Facebook update from 2008.

Makers can never really be sure how consumers are going to adopt their product into their lives, and that's why the Beta stage can change the whole direction of how that product is communicated on launch. I can imagine CheckThis generating a huge and loyal user base, but I would not be surprised if most of those users are protecting their pages. Saving a small part of themselves online for just one other person, not the networked whole.



ps. I have ONE invite for CheckThis left. Get in touch if you want in.

"We focus on SEO keyword-rich, trend tracking that's had a lot of success on the mobile-to-mobile tablet based client side in the cloud-sourced integration field"



And, by the way, I've decided that were I ever to move to Silicon Valley and create a start-up consulting with start-ups, the over-inflated job title I would give myself would be...

"BAMF of SoLoMo Strat Jazzing"

And by BAMF, I mean Bad Ass Mutha Flippa. And by SoLoMo, I mean Social/Location/Mobile. And by Jazzing, I mean bringing the Tiger Blood.

One day... one day....

(Wo)mandatory viewing

Just found this TED talk from Sheryl Sandberg over on the Watermark website and was absolutely blown away. While I usually shy away from anything with a glimmer of feminist debate about it, this talk speaks only to the value of balance for men and women both in the workplace and at home. Not only did Sandberg's words resonate with me as I push forward with my career and make my "place at the table", but her delivery and style also proved how impactful honed presentation skills can be. Brilliant.

Appiquette

A code of behavior that delineates expectations for social networking behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, tweet-up, or Facebook group. The British word Appiquette, literally made up by Camilla in 2011.

Most of us are now accustomed to the modern table setting - knife, fork, phone (at home) or notepad, pen, laptop, phone (at work). The occasional glance at incoming emails, goes barely noticed by present company. But how are we managing the new wave in location-based social networking? At what point and with whom can one politely check-in on Foursquare, or ping out a Hashable? It's a modern conundrum.

I've noticed three distinct groups emerging.

The Social Show-Offs - The meeting itself will have been organised across so many different platforms, they both turn up late, made even later by the fact that they are texting and DM-ing each other as they approach. The restaurant will have been selected through Yelp, the location Google-mapped, photos from Foodspotting screen-grabbed and the event iCal-ed, and tweeted ad infinitum. Once actual IRL life contact has been made, both then sit in silence for the first 10 minutes updating, before spending the rest of the night looking at apps on each other's phones.



The Denier - This is the trickiest one of all. It's your friend with the Nokia N79, the one you love dearly but who probably still enjoys the occasional CD-Rom of a weekend. You don't want to get into a debate about how "expensive iPhones are, and what's the point anyway?", but equally, you are eating at that super-cool new restaurant and you need (NEED!) to create some content around it. Here, you have two options - keep filling their water glass and pray they go to the bathroom long enough for you to check-in and Instagram a shot of your food. Alternatively, you can re-consider your relationship - either with your friend or with your social media problem.



The Responsible Networker - This person knows just how pretentious all this checking-in business is, but isn't going to let that stop them becoming Mayor of Foursquare. Yes, they may choose meet up spots based on the social cache attached to it ("I'm at Shoreditch House with 5 others"/ "I'm at Heathrow Terminal 5"/ "I'm at The Infinite Loop, Cupertino". And yes, they may turn up 10 minutes early to guarantee some alone time with Facebook and the bar's free wi-fi. And though, once their companion arrives it's phones down and interacting in real-time, they may occasionally be caught in dreamland, wistfully composing a description of the night in 140 characters or less.

@millsustwo: Do you believe 'social' influence will become a key asset going forward for 'individuals' to prosper from?

@Camillastore: Yes. Five reasons why...

1. Being a part of this "moving world". Achieving social influence represents a deep understanding of the nuances and mechanics of the world we live in today, namely one which blurs the line between online and offline. We are fast moving into a place where the relationships we nurture and protect in the digital world are as important and "real" as the ones in the physical world. Just as it is great to be around people who are socially comfortable, so it goes for people who behave engagingly online.



2. Thought leadership. Today, it's easy to share your passion with world - from a simple online portfolio, to a Vimeo channel, to blogging. It's when others pick up on that work and share it with their networks, that influence starts to be generated. It opens doors to other thought leaders in the same sphere and ignites conversation and debate. @millsustwo uses the word "prosper" - financial prosperity may be a by-product of influence, but social influencers prosper mainly through exchange of information and a strong eco-system.



3. Recruitment gold dust. It's exciting to find people who are both passionate about what they do and are great at it. For an employer, social influence is like a whole stack of letters of recommendation. If the people of the Internets are prepared to give the candidate their eyeballs and attention, then so might a client. For any employer, it's reassuring to know they're adding clout to their team and, if they play their cards right, potentially gain exposure to a new network themselves.



4. Going to market. Perhaps where influence as a key asset is most critical is for anyone working to bring a brand, product, service or personality to market. I'm so bored of hearing how "it's important to engage customers online", it's not "important", it's even beyond critical. It's pretty much the norm. That's not to say that it's the only way to reach your audience, the traditional components of the marketing mix are still powerful and relevant. But any brand working without "socially networked" people will be missing conversations, threats and opportunities.



5. SO hot right now. Overall, I think it's worth remembering that "social is so hot right now". Social and Apps - that's all anyone wants to talk about. Insinuate you've got a bit of social influence and they're throwing iPad 2s at you like there's no tomorrow. But there is a tomorrow and eventually everyone and every brand will feel a lot more comfortable operating in the social space. Social influence will still be a key asset, but in the same way being a "Team Player" or "Proficient in Microsoft Office" is today. It will be expected, a given. That said, the cream always rises to the top and the real influencers online will become ever more powerful, constantly turning the tide in 140 characters or less.

What do you think? Is social influence important for individuals? Please comment below or tweet us at @camillastore @millsustwo

The Sunday Times Social List

These days, it's not often that you find something decently digital emerging from a traditional media outlet. And, when you do, it's generally from the stable of the big digital hitters, namely Wired, Fast Company and certain bits of The Guardian. But this morning, I noted a little tweet pointing to The Sunday Times Social List. A clear, well animated video succinctly explained what on earth this was all about and (despite the fact that it was not embedded from YouTube and, thereby shareable) I clicked on through.

After a simple set-up interface and a few nice infographics later, I was told I was a "Pioneer" and 129th on the Social List. Not bad for a Sunday morning with a cup of tea.



I'm interested to see how this develops. Unlike Wired's recent "Most Influential People in Tech" issue which was put together through investigative journalism (read nepotism and favouritism), this list seems to be growing out of real influence across the four key social networks - Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and LinkedIn. Even better, its success and failure will rely on the very people hopefully to be included in it. It's a win-win situation - The Sunday Times has their work done for them and meets the leading lights in Social, while social influencers get their clout verified.

It may not have the smug factor of The Rich List, but I'll be watching my ranking like a hawk! Come on Ashton, please RT me into the top ten!

A wise investment

Very exciting news Camilla's Store readers (yes Mum, that means you!). I've decided to get my game face on about this site. What started in April 2008 as an outlet for my thoughts, has now become one of my most important assets. This blog has got me interviews, got me jobs, and helped me hone my craft as a blogger, writer and, ultimately, strategist. So it's time to give it its dues and show it some love.



My friend Ellen Turnill and her boyfriend Sam Putera are going to design and develop Camilla's Store 3.0 over on Wordpress. So watch this space and get ready for some BAMF upgrades!

Kinder not-very-Suprised

Kinder Eggs clearly had no idea who they would be dealing with when they Kinder Surprised me with an Augmented Reality toy. The only related video I could find on YouTube was this one from the makers - Total Immersion.



Unlike these happy-go-lucky kids rocking out to a bit of Phoenix and enjoying the "Engaging Digital Experience", I was left struggling with a UI exclusively in Polish while waving a marker around. After trying several games (one of which required a different marker to the one in my egg, and another which filled a white screen with red dots), I finally ended up on one where you "bop" the characters in the corners with your head to win points. Fun times.



If I'm 27 and felt more than a little jealous of my friend cracking on with assembling a self-propelled boat, I can only imagine the frustrated tears of a child attempting to get this thing going. The Kinder Magic smacks of a bored creative team attempting to band-wagon on the "cool new thing" yet ultimately alienating the very digital instinctives they were trying to engage with. Kids today may be digitally savvy, but they are still kids - they won't love something just because it's on a computer, they will love it if it's simple, fun and - ideally - in a language they speak.

Gay for Fey

Absolutely loved this hour long Q&A with Tina Fey at Google. Wonderful to see a funny, articulate and ambitious woman achieve so much well-deserved success.



And some sound advice on picking who you work with: "Never work with someone you wouldn't want to bump into outside the bathroom at 3 o'clock in the morning". Fact.

David Armano - Media isn't Social

These days, not many YouTube videos are worth 16 minutes your time, but TED talks are always something special and this TEDx one is no exception. From how to avoid becoming an asshole online, to some pretty sweet and simple graphics on social media, Armano makes some good points.



One part which particularly resonated with me, was his chart on Planning and Improvising. As in life, successful brand strategy in today's world is based on both the ability to PLAN and the freedom to IMPROVISE. Setting guidelines for look, feel, tone of voice, messaging and so on are all vital for the core of a brand, but so too are the more flexible elements which allows the company to respond in real time to its environment.



Right now, social media is one way brands - and the people responsible for marketing them - are able to bring this flexibility to life. But, as Armano goes on to say, "Social media is this hot thing right now. Marketers tend to [go after the new thing] without fully understanding it and doing their homework, or really digesting what's changing." Finding ways to spot and integrate the new and the next, is just as important as being on top of what's hot now.

For a whole treasure trove of charts, graphs and continuums, check out Armano's Flickr set here.

And thanks to Mills at ustwo for Showyou-ing me this vid and disrupting my breakfast!

This...

Just happened! *Puts on game face*

20 Reasons...

Been thoroughly enjoying everyone's feedback to my "20 reasons not to date a digital strategist". Some very funny responses, including a few people who thought they were all very good reasons to date a strategist! Well, we try!

A couple more reasons have been added to the post, so have scroll and check them out. Meantime, thanks to @joesafiend for sending this Twitpic over today - very funny!

OMFG!

20 Reasons Not To Date A Digital Strategist

In response to 50 Reasons Not To Date a Graphic Designer...

20 REASONS NOT TO DATE A DIGITAL STRATEGIST


1. They won’t date you unless you are followed by someone who follows them
2. They only want to eat at places with Foursquare specials
3. They will live tweet your date. Even the third one!
4. They will start a Tumblr about your relationship, with supporting Twitter feed
5. They will try to send you naughty pics via Photoswap
6. They will introduce you to their friends via Hashable
7. Their idea of a gift is to get you in on the Beta of a new app
8. Their idea of sending flowers is to take a picture of some on Instagram and @ you
9. If you make a joke they will LOL
10. When you have sex they imagine Pete Cashmore
11. They saw the new viral video two weeks ago
12. If they had to choose between saving you or their iPhone from a burning building...
13. They crowdsource where you should go on holiday
14. They have no idea what’s going on in Libya, but will send you 5 videos of cats talking before breakfast
15. They dream in 140 characters or less
16. They still won’t let you shop in Gap because of the whole logo thing
17. They judge the seriousness of the relationship based on the number of platforms you are connected on
18. SXSW is just a chance for them to catch up with everyone they’ve ever slept with
19. When you don’t update your status on Facebook for more than a day they assume you are dead
20. When they #ff people, you only find out later they were Furiously F*cking them

.... 21. They call themselves "Digital Strategists"
.... 22. According to Mashable, "Active Twitter Users Have Shorter Relationships".

Let me Showyou

Most of the time when people ask me what I do in my job everyday, my response is "I blog and I tweet". It's simpler than going into some in-depth explanation about brand strategy, and is far more effective in alienating people who do "real" jobs like saving lives and changing the world. As my friend used to say "It's PR, not ER".

Anyway, an app I did the brand strategy for launched yesterday, so I can finally reveal what I get up to during the week. Showyou is an app for the iPhone and iPad which gives people the fun of serendipitously discovering and sharing new videos via their social graph. The Twitter buzz today has described it as "Flipboard for videos".



You can check out the full case study for the project by clicking HERE.

It's still quite a new arena, but I'm really enjoying working on app brands for several reasons. Firstly, the clients are usually from a tech/digital background so they are well tuned in to the "moving world" and up for taking risks. Secondly, stand alone app companies are generally quite small, if not in start-up mode so you are working directly with the founders. It's their baby, they're really excited and you all want to get the best out of a branding exercise. And finally, app brands by their very nature give you room to think right up to the edge, if not off it. Living on a smart phone or tablet, apps can come to life visually, sonically, gesturally and socially - all amazing opportunities to create ownable, branded assets.



Showyou is an absolutely fabulous app. The designer on the team, Marian, and I spent practically a whole weekend passing the iPad between us, drifting through the 'infinite grid' of Showyou videos. I'm thrilled I got to be a part of how it came to life.

Game Changing

I recently read that the Starbucks Mobile Card app has had over 3 million users, making Starbucks "the nation’s largest mobile payment network". Not Amex, not Visa, not Bank of America. Starbucks.

I also read that Google has set aside $100 million to pay for original programming across ten YouTube channels. Fox, CBS, HBO, ABC... looks like you're going to have a new network to contend with - one with in excess of 2 billion viewers per day. That's more than double the prime time viewing figures of all of the major U.S networks combined.

Ten years ago Nokia wouldn't have dreamt that their biggest competitor would be a computer brand. Just as a hundred years ago, Nokia couldn't have imagined moving from making rubber galoshes to mobile phones.



Brands know that competitors emerge from the most unlikely of places and, with today's incredible pace of change, they are doing it faster and harder. It seems if you don't own the platform, the device, or sell caffeinated drinks to Americans, then no industry is safe.

I saw the best minds of my generation...



Picked up O - The Oprah Magazine at the airport this weekend. It's the poetry issue - Oprah shares her private journals, and there's "words that soothe, ideas that delight". For the most part, it's not a bad read. It's poetry lite or poetry for dummies, and I'm all for getting people into poetry at any level. But just when I started to think this could really impress me, I get to "Eight poets accessorized with snippets of their own verse - celebrate freedom of expression". One up-and-coming young poet has this byline:

"By day, Whited is the communications director for Schools That Can, an educational nonprofit; by night, she's working on publishing her first book of poems. "I write a lot about questioning the boundaries of self," she says. "I like experimenting with new things." Case in point: this suede miniskirt, shorter than Whited would normally wear but comfortably balanced by a long-sleeved oxford and cotton sweater."

I'm sure a pink suede miniskirt is precisely what Stephanie Ann Whited has in mind when writes. It's such a shame that Oprah couldn't get to the end of an issue without commercialising the heart out of it. And, without getting all feminist on ya, it points again to a greater issue with publishing. As women, magazines only offer us reasons to hate ourselves and feel ugly, unfit, unhealthy, poor and bereft of Jennifer Aniston's upper arms.



Wired and Fast Company (the other mags I picked up), however, are packed with men's advertising insinuating I am an interloper to these publications, yet they always leave me inspired and excited. You don't see 10 page spreads of "Tech's Hottest App Developers Programme Pool Side in 2011's hottest swim trends"!

Can't now decide if that's a good or bad thing. There's my feminism argument out of the window.

The Art of Hotel Living

In art, literature, film and personalities I've always been drawn to doomed decadence. To me, the journey from having it all to having nothing is fascinating. Whether that "all" is money or talent or social standing, I am gripped by people's ability to waste it all in the most dramatic way.



Caravaggio's astounding painting and genius for capturing light was all set against an infamous backdrop of dead prostitutes, brawling and, eventually, exile. Gatsby had everything he wanted except the flashing green light at the end of East Egg where Daisy lived. The Tenenbaum children were prodigies, making them all flawed and flailing adults, unable to cope in the real, chaotic world. And Edie Sedgwick, raised riding horses in the bosom of a large, wealthy family wound up cast out of Warhol's Factory addicted to drugs and dead at 28.

Deviance, decadence, escapism, denial - these base and torturous human behaviours often manifest themselves in one particular place. A hotel. Since the invention of maid service, room service and the mini-bar, checking out of your life and into a hotel has firmly represented that all is not - or is about to be not - well. A person's state of mind must be considerably altered to find solice in arming oneself with just the bare essentials and take up residence in a hotel.



The Chelsea in New York has a long history of writers and artists in residence. Jack Kerouac wrote much of 'On the Road' there. Dennis Hopper met the man who would eventually produce 'Easy Rider' there. And Leonard Cohen wrote a song about it. More recently, The Chateau Marmont, temporary home to Hollywood's runaways, featured as the third character in Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere". The audience quickly learned everything they needed to know about Johnny's character by his disconnected existence at the Hollywood hotel.



My friend Rosanna told me about Patti Smith's autobiography. Rosanna felt that Patti's stay at The Chelsea was more about looking cool than realising that people in hotels often produce great work because they are alone, lonely and without distractions. My friend went on to explain how she believed that "living in an impersonal space makes you want to create things that defines who you are, and express yourself".

As I enter my third week in a hotel, Rosanna's words resonated strongly. With the clothes in the wardrobe the only link to my real life, to myself even, I recognise the desire to define myself through creating things. Hence why this is one of the longer blog posts.



The Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris embraces the traveller's need to create themselves out of a rut. As you roam the Narnia-esque bookshop, tiny enclaves holding typewriters and rudimentary bunks appear through the gloaming. Artists and writers passing through are welcome to a bed for the night so they can gather their thoughts and, possibly, their minds.



Bur perhaps my favourite study of hotel living is Wes Anderson's prologue to The Darjeeling Limited - 'Hotel Chevalier'. Natalie Portman's character tracks down Jason Schwartzman ordering grilled cheese in a Paris hotel room.

Portman: How long have you had this hotel room?
Schwartzman: I don't know.
Portman: More than a week?
Schwartzman: More than a week.
Portman: More than a month?
Schwartzman: More than a month.

Hotel Chevalier is the perfect capture not only of decayed love, but of the cathartic aloneness one finds at the other end of the world in a hotel bathrobe.



All photos by me, except the typewriter which I stole from here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deanno/3703658172/sizes/m/

Stuff hipsters hate

Thanks to Instagram and Picnik, now you too can create emo hipster photos for your blog!





Speaking of emo hipsters - I'm thinking of moving this blog over to Tumblr. Anyone who
- Has a view on that
- Knows how to do it
- Wants to offer moral and emo support
...please get in touch.