Augmented Reality: The Next Big Thing or a Springboard to Something Bigger?

To stay on the cutting edge of social media, it is important for us to keep up with what new technologies are on the horizon and to keep an eye on the technologies which we believe might be the “next big thing” in social media. It was rumoured a few years ago that the next big thing for 2009-2010 would be Foursquare. While Foursquare has attracted a fair sized following, I would argue that Foursquare acted as a springboard to launch us into the new era of location-based marketing and applications. Similarly, there is a lot of buzz in the social media world that identifies Augmented Reality and Mobile Augmented Reality as the next big thing for social media for 2011-2012. But, I can’t help but ask myself if that will really be the case. Before determining my opinion, however, I felt that it was necessary to explore a bit more about Augmented Reality.

What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented Reality is defined as “a  type of virtual reality that combines real and imagined images in a real-time session” (PC Mag). AR has also been defined as “a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery” (Coolhunting). In plain English, this means that you can now use your cell phone camera to see things that aren’t physically there, but are placed there by digital/virtual markers. This could have some very positive implications for marketers who want to reach potential customers in the areas near their stores. It could also provide a great deal of added value to people who are already using location-based applications or are looking for deals, reviews or specific venues in a city.

How does it work?
So, how does augmented reality work? Since I’m not a technically gifted person, I looked around for some dynamic, visual explenations of how Augmented Reality works from a technical perspective. The best videos I found were by Common Craft and Hitlab who explain in pretty understandable terms how the technology behind AR really works.

It seems that there are several technologies involved and that there are lots of ways augmented reality can work. For Mobile Augmented Reality, the application on your cell phone reads a digital marker and is able to provide you with a secondary visual layer of information super-imposed over the actual reality. When AR is used with books or other physical objects, the objects usually has a card that transmits the information to your web camera or phone camera.

Will it catch on?
As you will notice from the videos above, it has taken a bit longer than expected for augmented reality to catch on . . . But, catch on it has! We are beginning to see Augmented Reality in cereal box toys, children’s books, mobile apps, zombie infested streets and location-based marketing. One of the most intriguing usages of AR that I found while researching the topic was the Axe Fallen Angels campaign. You may remember this ad from the Super Bowl featuring beautiful angels who fell from heaven because of the irresistible scent of Axe’s new body spray. What does this have to do with AR? Well, Axe brought their “fallen angels” to a train station via Augmented Reality.

People in the station could stand on the card which was stationary on the station floor and trigger the Augmented Reality on a screen above. While unsuspecting travelers watched, an “angel” falls and is within reach of people, but not quite close enough to touch. While I don’t intend to go out and buy Axe, I do believe that this is a very interesting example of what is possible with Augmented Reality in the next few years.

What do you think? Is AR here to stay or is it just a springboard for bigger and better technology in the near future? Will we be using AR for everything in a few years? Please share your opinions in the comments box below!

Thanks for reading!
Rebekah Bowen

Presidential Klout: Will social media give Obama the edge in 2012?

“And they’re off!” President Obama launched his re-election campaign today, marking what is definitely going to be a wild ride for social media in the 2012 election campaign. Obama’s launch video gives the appearance of a  highly grassroots support group. in essence, he is using the people to reach out to the people. An interesting move on the part of Obama campaign managers. Obama seems determined to stay ahead of the other possible candidates in the social media arena. His campaign has already launched a Facebook application and asks if you are “in”. Obama also has an active Facebook page with 18,991,226 likes. His Twitter account has quite a following.

But, does this mean that social media is all about helping out Obama campaign? Not necessarily. It will be extremely important for the campaign managers of all candidates this election year to make sure they monitor social media as well as using it as a platform to distribute information. For instance, sites such as social mention can help them keep up with the sentiment about the campaign.

While simply having a social media presence gave Obama a bit of an edge in the 2008 campaign, the Obama social media campaign will prove much more of a challenge for the campaign managers. As seen from the social search above, not all of the comments about Mr. Obama are positive ones. Obama does have a good bit of influence in the social media arena (see Klout score below), but it will be very important that this influence be leveraged correctly. Otherwise, the magnitude of amplification for Obama’s Tweets and updates could cost him the public’s support.

We can’t help but wonder, though, how candidates from the GOP will be able to also leverage social media in their favor. Several Republican politicians who are being thrown into the pool of possible candidates are also gaining Klout.

On the Republican front, the issue with social media is very likely going to be the need for a unified front. Since President Obama is the incumbent, he is the most likely Democratic candidate. In the GOP, however, there hasn’t been a clearly identified front-runner yet and there may not be for a while. It will be interesting to see how this year will play out.  🙂

If you would like to read more about social media and the 2012 election, check out these stories:

2012 Will Be The First And Last Social Media Election

Social Media & the 2012 Election

Sarah Palin Leads Election 2012 GOP Field In Twitter & Facebook Followings

New Red Blue Covers Social Media in the 2012 Election Cycle   
 GOP Uses Social Media to Respond to Obama 2012 Campaign Launch

 

Social Media Expert Lon Safko Speaks To University of Tennessee Social Media Class

At 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, March 22, as many students sat dozing or paying half-hearted attention to their professors, an especially lucky group of students in Advertising 490 sat excitedly awaiting a video call from a special guest. This special guest took time out of an extrememly hectic schedule to volunteer to share his social media expertise via a Skype video call from Arizona at 5:30 a.m. his time.This social media expert was none other than the highly esteemed author of The Social Media Bible, Mr. Lon Safko.

Mr. Safko was very enthusiastic, humorous and informative in his presentation and the entire class greatly enjoyed it. This post, however, isn’t just a way for me to brag about how blessed I was to have this opportunity. Instead I would like to share with you five of the most interesting thoughts and ideas I took away from Mr. Safko’s presentation.

1. The Importance of the Social Media Trinity

In the second edition of The Social Media Bible, Mr. Safko states that “if you understand the Social Media       Trinity, you will have a good understanding of 90 percent of everything you need to be successful using             social media in your marketing strategy.  While Twitter is great for quick timely updates and Facebook is a       wonderful way to connect with your community, I have been learning this semester that blogging is a very         essential element of the trinity because it hosts the content that you will refer to primarily from other social       media sites and performs many other functions that we don’t even consider at first. All in all, I believe the           blog is the glue that ties it all together. Mr. Safko shared with us a story of Bil Marriott, of Marriott Hotels,         who blogs each week because he sees the importance of interacting on social media. While Mr. Marriott         has never turned on a computer, he comes up with what he wants to say and has his secretary actually type     and publish the blog post.

2. Second Life Isn’t A Game

While I’ve never been one to engage in virtual worlds, I have learned a good bit about them in class this             semester. I did not, however, realize the implications of how useful such a technology could be. Mr. Safko         shared a wonderful story with us Tuesday morning about how he was the first person to interview a CEO in   Second Life. Watch below to check out Mr. Safko’s interview with Mark Kingdon, former CEO of Second Life.

This interview shows that there are definetely a plethera of possibilities of how virtual worlds can be used. It is   yet to be seen, however, how long it will take for people to become comfortable using these virtual worlds for     businesses. Several major companies are already taking a proactive approach to building a presence in virtual   worlds and other new outlets such as gaming. Most likely, we will see great growth in these areas in the near   future.

3. Take Personal Branding Seriously

When we Skyped with Mr. Safko, there was an image of his book in the background. Images of his book as       well as his logo for Extreme Digital Marketing, as well as his website and other information are also                   embedded into his presentation. The examples he uses are from his personal social media usage. In Second     Life, you will notice that Mr. Safko’s book appears in a prominent location throughout the interview. If you visit   Mr. Safko’s website, you will see that there is a visible connection between colors and fonts used on the book   and colors and fonts used on Mr. Safko’s personal site. Mr. Safko tweets advice and tips from his                     presentations and his book to share social media insights with his followers. Since we recently studied             personal branding in class, it was very interesting to see how this was done by a social media expert.

4. Interact and Share With Your Community

Mr. Safko is very generous with sharing his insight and advice with others in the social media community.         Not only did he volunteer to present for our class, but he did so by commenting on one of my fellow                   classmates blog posts. This shows that Mr. Safko is very involved in monitoring and participating in                   conversations that relate to the Social Media Bible and to social media in general. Also, Mr. Safko uses HootSuite to publish tweets frequently and share information about social media with his followers. He also has a site on vimeo where you can find portions of his keynote presentations. Below is a portion of the       keynote presentation that Mr. Safko used when presenting to us on Tuesday.

By actively engaging with his audience, Mr. Safko can help promote his book, but also establish himself as       an expert as specialist (via Klout) in the field of social media.

5. Social Media Provides Strong Connections

Who would have thought that I would ever be able to hear a keynote address by the esteemed author of our       textbook, especially in a small audience setting at my own school via social media? I am referncing The           Social Media Bible in my master’s thesis because of it’s easy to understand descriptions of many social           media outlets. I was ecstatic to learn that the author of the one textbook in my college career that I                   voluntarily read from cover-to-cover was actually willing to wake up at 5 a.m. to speak to our class, due to a       post that one of my fellow classmates made. It shows us how remarkable things can happen with social           media.

Mr. Safko also talked about how social media can provide us with so many amazing connections. Mr. Safko     was trying to interview Mark Kingdon of Second Life, but had trouble getting in touch with the busy CEO. As       a last try, Mr. Safko mentioned his need for an interview to his friend Doug. Doug passed it on to a good             friend of his, Greg, who happened to be the best man in Mr. Kingdon’s wedding.  Greg talked to Mr. Kingdon     and within 30 minutes, Mr. Kingdon was getting in touch with Mr. Safko.

Social media provides endless opportunities for networking, making contacts and staying in touch with old         friends, professors, and co-workers. It is our job, however, to work to make those connections. As Mr. Safko     said, “If you want to win the game, you have to be in the game”.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed the presentation and learned a great deal about social media. I would strongly suggest that anyone who is interested in learning about social media purchase a copy of The Social Media Bible and read it. The very ready friendly content is very beneficial to helping you learn about social media, whether you are a newbie looking for a dummies guide to social media or a professional trying to learn how to utilize social media for your business. Once again, thanks to Mr. Safko for taking the time out of his extremely busy schedule to speak for us. I, for one, was greatly honored by and highly appreciative of the gesture.

Is Charlie Sheen really #Winning at Twitter?

While we may not like Charlie Sheen, I believe we would all have to admit to watching Two and a Half Men at least once or twice on a slow day between classes. Recently, rumors of the show ceasing production tilted the spotlight towards actor Charlie Sheen and the bizarreness of his behavior. While Charlies’s “porn star palls insist he’s a good dad“, YouTube users are creating remix’s of his interview craziness which are being shared by fellow celebrities.

After the obvious show of craziness on his part, why do we care about this celebrity and his obvious need for serious rehab? Well, mainly because other people do. There is a redicoulously large following of people who must care what Charlie has to say. He broke a Guinness World Record for Twitter by having the Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers, and has developed a Klout score of 91 in the short time he has been on the site.

Meanwhile, speculations are rising about whether Charlie Sheen’s purpose for his antics was to create publicity, but many people agree that he intends to use his “influence” to make money.  While some celebrities choose to use their Twitter influence to raise awareness for good causes or influence positive change, Sheen plans to cash in on his influence by using his social media presence as a platform for pitching products. If he does so, I can’t help but wonder if he won’t set another world record for Fastest to LOSE 1 Million Followers. I can’t help but be interested in finding out how all this will play out and how Sheen’s antics will actually affect the future production of Two and a Half Men. I guess we shall see!

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess!

 

Today is the birthday of the amazing Dr. Suess. As children, we grew up hearing the funny rhymes, riddles and imaginative tales of Dr. Suess’ world. As adults, we see that many of the lessons that we need to learn in life are weaved into Dr. Suess’ classic tales. On this day, many schools celebrate Read Across America to encourage children to read. Here are five fun ways I found to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday:

1. Take the Dr. Suess birthday quiz

2. Find your favorite Dr. Suess quote and share it with friends via Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites

3. Read your favorite Dr. Suess book to a child (Mine was alway Would You Like To Be A Vet?)

4. Explore Seussville!

5. Check out the political cartoons that Dr. Suess created in Dr. Suess Went to War.