Video: Get More for Less

Philadelphia rapper Lil Dicky recently released a music video turning traditional opulence trend on its head. Most rap videos promote the stars with expensive luxury homes, cars and even jets, not to mention the big rear-ended females. It's become a kind of hyperbolic standard for the industry, the idea that if you look like you're successful, you'll be successful. In marketing, there is a lot of merit to this idea. However, Lil Dicky decided to go the other way. 

The song and video for "$ave that Money" take a contradictory approach towards the embodiment of rap culture, yet still satisfy the format. In the video Dicky is seen going around the Beverly Hills area trying to "barrow" nice cars and use people's estate homes to accomplish his task. In the end, the production of the video was next to nothing compared to the budgets of his contemporaries.

The message from Dicky is an interesting one, especially for rap culture, but it also speaks to the budget nature of quality video production that can be produced today. It no longer costs tens to hounders of thousands to do corporate videos, and better yet, the production can be done in a much quicker manner than ever before. This means content can always be newly generated and stay relevant to the quickly changing times.

So, in the profound words of Lil Dicky, "we gonna save dat money."

Tax-free Online Purchases May Soon be Over.

Recently, new legislation has been placed in front of lawmakers that would level the playing field regarding sales tax between brick-and-mortar stores to online retailers. The Transaction Parity Act was introduced by Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas. 

How will this change the online marketplace? Will this help bring customers back to the brick-and-mortar stores? Only time will tell if the legislation is actually passed. For now, it's a game of wait and see, but it could be a major shakeup for retailers on both sides of the debate. 

Check out the Fashonista article for more details on this story.

Video for All: It's Not Just for the Big Companies Anymore

In a Forbes article released today, it explains how video is changing the game for online marketing, and it's not just for the big companies anymore. Since production costs have dropped dramatically in the last 5-10 years, producing quality video for smaller companies with limited budgets is attainable. 

Video is one of the greatest mediums for getting a message across. It provides a feel for a product or service that cannot be explained by text alone, video is closer to the real experience. Video also provides the personality of people in an organization. Being that business is done by people, video provides a possible client with a feel for who they could be working with. 

Whether it be a software application demo, process for manufacturing or getting to know the founders, video is going to be the best way to get a message across effectively. Don't get left behind.  

YouTube: 301+ is over!

YouTube has announced that the 301+ saga is finally over. For those who don't know about 301, it was the view number where your views would stall for a period of time, even though there were more views taking place. Eventually the count would resume but only after a large increment of views. This was done to stifle any sort of "cheating the system," where bots and whatnot are setup to make the view count synthetically high.

Ultimately, YouTube policies of yesterday may not be effective for today's balance of rating authenticity to accessible user data on a minute scale.  With every view being more highly scrutinized than ever, the detail should be a positive one for the smaller, up-and-coming content providers. 

Facebook Pseudonym Policy Challenged by German Privacy Group

The privacy group, Hamburg Data Protection Authority, came out against Facebook's anti-pseudonym policy. The recent article in  Digital Trends details the group's action. Although, this is not the first time Facebook's policy regarding individuals not using their real name has come up. 

Over the past couple of years Facebook has clamped down on individuals and businesses that use pseudonyms. The social media giant has required in some instances that people provide a copy of some form of legal identification or their account would be closed. There have been many people caught up in this policy, that seems a bit too stringent. On the other hand, the policy does create accountability for what people say and do on the site, although it's pretty baffling at times what people will write having their real name attached.

In many instances, the policy has been evoked regarding a business using a "person" profile page. This is probably due to the fact that Facebook wants every business to pay for sponsored posts. Moreover, business pages don't tend to get the views that personal pages do.

Apple to Use Credit Balance for Ads

In a very bold move, Apple has created a method for using financial information to advertise. Privacy advocates are up in arms over the approach. This brings up the question again; with all the data available, when is the line being crossed with regards to privacy? 

Time will tell with regards to how the market will react to these sorts of tactics. 

Google's New Truth Rankings

Now Google is ranking websites based on claimed statements. In a world of information that spreads like wildfire, so too does misinformation. Google intends on down-ranking any websites that make claims of fact that are contradictory to what is in their Knowledge Volt.

This will most likely have large implications towards anti-science groups. Alternatively, it could also pose issues towards the spreading of new thoughts or ideas in the scientific community. For example, recently a team of researchers found that there are lymphatic vessels that reach all the way into the brain, which contradicts decades of research mapping the body.

Google has done a great job in keeping the trolls out of the top spots with their search algorithm thus far. Hopefully this program will continue the tradition. 

Former Reddit CEO's OpEd in the Washington Post

The recently ousted CEO from Reddit took to the keyboard and published an op-ed in the Washington Post. The article points out some of the flaws with internet culture, trolling in particular. Whether you agree with her view or not, Ellen has an interesting viewpoint.

YouTube: Now Bigger than Cable TV

Google is staking the claim the YouTube is now bigger than cable TV. This has been a long time coming. The old days of passive media are dwindling. People are becoming less and less willing to accept someone else programming their media for them. 

As one can imagine, a large and increasing proportion of the time spent watching YouTube is via a mobile device. This will most likely cause a shift in advertising and digital marketing budgets toward mobile specifically.

The Reddit CEO Saga Continues

The recent Gawker article about the CEO troubles at Reddit are liable to put the future of the social media platform into a death-spin. If anything should be understood about Reddit's community, it's that they're a super intellectual bunch that will stop at nothing to get down to brass tax. Hopefully Reddit's new leadership can make amends with all the fallout, but the future seems very uncertain. 

Getting Fired Over a Social Media Post: It happens more than you'd think

Recently, there was an ASKREDDIT thread about individuals sharing their stories of being fired over social media posts they made. The stories are interesting, but it leads me to a philosophy I've was given by my mother many years ago; "If you're not willing to publish it on the front page of the NY Times, don't write it."

It's a very simple idea of which I try and abide to as best I can, though I'm not perfect. There have been many posts or responses I've deleted before posting, and I'm sure a few slipped by my better judgment. 

The idea that discretion as an employee is just as much a goal as the face of a large corporation should not be taken lightly. This is exactly why we recommend having an audit done of social media exploits concerning individuals and organizations. There are many tools now that allow for scanning of public posts by geolocation, some of which can show safety concerns. For example, if a person working in a refining plant is taking a selfie smoking a cigarette in a non-smoking area, this can be alerted and handled.

In the day of information, an organization or individual cannot be too safe. It's best to know what is going on and deal with it appropriately, rather than a large customer or prospect finding it first and turning away business. 

-Ray Currid

Reddit: Ellen Pao is out

It seems like this was a long time coming. Ellen Pao the CEO of one of the fastest growing social media communities has resigned as CEO. 

After quite a community uprising and some seemingly inside pressure, Pao resigned as the head of Reddit on Friday. The resignation comes on the heels of a major uprising over the firing of a very well liked (by the community) employee, who also happened to be a moderator of some of the most popular sub-reddits on the site. Mostly, it seems the community was very upset because there was no advanced notice or much communication at all about the situation.

Overall, Pao did not seem to be very popular with the Reddit community. There were many high voted articles about her, none of which came across in a very positive light. Reddit has a very intellectually tough crowd, so the typical CEO shenanigans wont fly with the community. If there's dirt, it'll be found out and discussed, if not vehemently criticized.

Hopefully Steve Huffman will have a better chance of gaining community acceptance. The one thing Steve will really need to remember, at Reddit "narwal bacons at midnight!"

Here is Steve's AMA, if you care to see how he is taking on the community.