Tweet, Tweet: Who's Really Tweeting That Twitter.

After months of repeated criticism and a lack of understanding of the world of Twitter, on Monday I finally gave in and signed up for one (kacierag, if you're interested). My impression was that Twitter was like a watered-down Facebook, saturated with nothing but status updates. In a sense, that is pretty much what it is in a nutshell, but with one major perk: "following" celebrities. One of Twitter's major gimmicks that it boasts is it's rising popularity amongst the hottest of celebrities. But according to an article from the New York Times website that I read, When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking, more often than not, that celebrity you're following is merely hired personnel to keep said celebrity's image going.

For a generation that reads Perezhilton.com religiously and can tell you more about Britney Spears than Barack Obama (who also Tweets, by the way), the opportunity to be so intimately connected with stars' personal lives is quickly making Twitter the newest social-networking phenonmenon. Not only can you follow your friends and celebrities, but businesses and politicians have also taken up the addictive status updating practice. Twitter is the latest and greatest marketing tool out there, and that's exactly why mega-stars need specific people operating what goes on the website under their name.

This article discusses the growing importance of Twitter as a marketing experience. It notes rapper 50 Cent as having a Twitter that is completely maintained by a guy known as Broadway, director of the rapper's web empire. He stated that 50 doesn't actually use Twitter, but "the energy is all him." Kanye West has hired two different people to maintain his blogs, and politicians like Ron Paul has staff members creating and operating Facebook and Twitter personas. Oftentimes, these hired personnel know the star's public image better than they do and can do an impeccable job of imitating them. Since more often than we realize celebrities may not really be the people we see in the media all the time, having a branding expert of sorts can really be an excellent tool for them.

In light of criticisms of this "ghostwriting" that goes on on celebrity Twitters, former Britney Spears consultant Joseph Nejman spoke out saying: “It’s O.K. to tweet for a brand, but the truth is, they are a brand. What they are to the public is not always what they are behind the curtain. If the manager knows that better than the star, then they should do it.”

And he's right. The Jonas Brothers are a brand just as much as Apple is. They have an image, a logo, products, and a very specific consumer perception of them. Why not use Twitter to their advantage? I can understand how it can be dissapointing and misleading for diehard fans who think they're getting a taste of stardom, but if it's all about image, who's to say they aren't still getting that? Who are we to judge what constitutes anything related to fame as being real? Sure, it upsets me a little bit that I may not actually be following Taylor, Zac and Isaac Hanson, although because of their C or D list status, I doubt they actually hire someone to tweet for them, but I would understand if they did. In a world completely oversaturated with brands of all types, everyone has to do whatever they can to stay a step ahead of the game, to make your prescence known. Online marketing is one of the fastest growing mediums for advertising, and smart brands should and will capitalize on it while they can.

Sony steps up to the plate by announcing partnership with Google

We all know that Amazon.com is the world's largest online library, but now Sony is taking a stab at conquering the competition. The company announced Thursday that it will be entering a partnership with Google to make .5 million non-copyrighted books available for their digital Reader device. Sony's Reader is a rival machine to Amazon's Kindle and Kindle 2, an increasingly popular product I recently blogged about. Google has a collection of about 7 million digital books, but currently can only make full copies of texts written before 1923 whose copyrights have expired. Sony hopes that by teaming up with Google it can expand their virtual library and become a more promising competitor to the Kindle, which offers about 250,000 titles, featuring mostly best sellers and popular reads.



Honestly, while I do give Sony an A for effort on combating the competition, I feel like in the long run it may just be a lost cause. Here's why: when people think books, they don't think Sony. Or even Google, really, for that matter. They think Amazon. Amazon has everything consumers want; they offer a quick, easy, and reliable shopping experience, reasonable prices on most items, and an insanely large and vast variety of merchandise. People trust Amazon, especially when it comes to literature. Sony doesn't have that relationship with these types of customer. Sure, they have have the hearts of bright-eyed sports fanatics in dire need of the latest flat screen or the small sector of consumers who still purchase and value cd players, but that's not exactly the type of target market for the Reader. The brand equity just isn't there.

However, I could be wrong. Everything Google touches turns to gold and they will probably end up taking over the world (nation-wide wireless hot spots, step one). Depending on how quickly they can begin supplying the masses with more than just the classics, the better their chances of success in this deal with Sony. But with Amazon already popping out the Kindle 2 earlier this year, they have a lot of catching up too. Without the Twilight series or whatever is on Oprah's Book Club list this month, Sony (with or without Google's aid) could very well get left in the dust on this one.




http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/technology/19sony.html?bl&ex=1237694400&en=c98cbbdc54d8b635&ei=5087%0A

Business is not a sinking ship for everywhere

While the recent recession has left a huge portions of businesses all across the nation scrambling and struggling to make it out alive, according to the time.com article "Business Bucking the Recession," there are six businesses that are still booming, or at least seeing positive growth and not tanking.
The first one, to my surprise, is cosmetic procedures. The article says that the less expensive operations such as Botox injections, chemical peels and fillers were 73% more popular in the last quarter of 2008 than in 2007. Apparently, no matter how depressing times are, women still want to look good. The more expensive procedures like nose jobs and breast augmentations have declined, however. Another business that seems to be smooth sailing is herbal medicine. With so many people losing jobs, they have also lost health insurance and are finding new ways to stay healthy. Multivitamins, cleansing products, and fiber supplements have also been very popular.

Not surprisingly at all, microbreweries also made the list. In typical American fashion, when times are hard, alcohol consumption is up. Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, was quoted as saying "Beer is recession resistant." In the same vein, the candy business is also doing extremely well. Hershey and Cadbury both report positive sales and have optimistic outlooks for 2009. Consumers, in addition to looking good, also like to spoil themselves with sweet and cheap delights.

Another thriving business mentioned was lottery tickets. The Massachusetts lottery boosted sales of $4.7 billion last year, up from $4.4 billion from the previous year. And lastly, strangly, exotic travel made the list. The Middle East and Africa are experiencing much popularity, with travel up 11 and 5 percent in 2008.


This article was enlightening to me because it wasn't about retail at all really and made me think about businesses outside of what we normally discuss in class. Some of them made perfect sense to me and others left me completely perplexed, but now I have an idea of the types of places that may be hiring when it's time for me to graduate, and that's of course highly beneficial.





Source: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1879548_1879547,00.html