The MoPR Blog

Pumpkin carving by our own Holly Woolard!

Trick or Tweet: Twitter as a terrorist tool? According to a document by the U.S. Army obtained by various media outlets this week, Twitter is being regarded as a possible tool for terrorists. According to the report [the emphasis is ours],

“Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences.”

For example, terrorists [including “radical” vegetarians we presume] could theoretically use Twitter social networking in the U.S. as an operation tool. However, it is unclear whether the same theoretical use would be available to terrorists in other countries and to what extent, says the report.

According to the National Terror Alert there are three possible scenarios using Twitter:

Scenario 1: Using cell phones and a Google maps/Twitter mash-up to plot where they are, terrorists use Twitter to communicate near-real time to update each other about troop movements and plan an ambush.

Scenario 2: The first terrorist has two mobile phones - one for using Twitter and another which is connected to an explosive device or a “suicide vest.” The second terrorist also has two mobile phones - one for Twitter and the other to detonate the bomb. They communicate using Twitter to coordinate the “precise” time for the attack.

Scenario 3: A cyber-terrorist finds the Twitter account of a member of the armed forces. The terrorist gets information about the target and uses it for identity theft, hacking or physical attacks.

On a lighter side, who wants to be a national hero and tell the U.S. Department of Defense about Twitter’s real-time search?

Who let the blogs out? The number of people who read blogs at least once a month has grown 300% in the past four years, and what they read strongly influences their purchase decisions, playing a key role in ushering them to the point of actual purchase, according to a BuzzLogic-sponsored study. “Harnessing the Power of Blogs,” a research study of more than 2,000 online consumers in the U.S., was conducted by JupiterResearch, a Forrester research company.

For frequent blog readers, ads on blogs are on par with sponsored search results, one of the most prevalent and successful forms of advertising on the web - and trust of blog advertising exceeds that of social networking site advertising.

According to the study, blogs are becoming trusted guides, steering users who are seeking very specific information to places of interest online. “Being able to identify where this is taking place across the blogosphere gives us a window into user intent and a means to better target advertising to a qualified audience. This is great news for advertisers looking to maximize value in today’s environment,” said Rob Crumpler, CEO, BuzzLogic.

Maybe we should consider selling ad space?

Mobile video still not quite ready for prime time. According to comScore, Inc., a mere 6.5 million Americans tuned into mobile video in August. Among the top operators in the United States, AT&T claimed the most mobile video viewers, with 4.4 percent of subscribers accessing either programmed or on-demand mobile video.

According to the study, on-demand video was the most popular format, with 3.6 million viewers.  With 1.3 million viewers, amateur videos, such as those on YouTube, represent the most popular type of content, followed by music videos and comedy videos.

Music videos are the top choice for programmed mobile broadcast video users, followed closely by full television shows or films and movie trailers.

The small amount of eyeballs though has a silver lining – younger viewers might be ripe for advertisers.

“At under three percent penetration, the mobile video audience in the United States remains small, but it is composed largely of males between 18 and 34 years old, which could make it attractive to advertisers seeking to reach multi-tasking early-adopters who don’t have time for appointment television,” said Mark Donovan, senior analyst, comScore.

Is the bulletin board on the fridge obsolete? A national survey of 2,252 adults by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that households with a married couple and minor children are more likely than other household types, such as single adults, homes with unrelated adults, or couples without children, to have cell phones and use the internet.

The survey shows that these high rates of technology ownership affect family life. In particular, cell phones allow family members to stay more regularly in touch even when they are not physically together. Moreover, many members of “married with children” households view material online together.

Overall, respondents in the survey see much upside and little downside in the way new technologies have affected the quality of their communications with others.

“Families are becoming networks,” said Prof. Barry Wellman of the University of Toronto and an author of the study. “Each household member can be her own communications hub and that changes things inside and outside the household. Family members are neither isolated individuals nor traditional actors in Fun with Dick and Jane homes. Rather, their households are active sites of the interplay of individual activity and family togetherness.”

When you spot that tourist asking everyone in sight for directions, do you immediately hop on your cell phone…only to speak with your imaginary contact on the other end to avoid giving out directions? Or how about when you are in an uncomfortable social gathering and need an excuse to escape, do you pick up the phone, even when no one is actually calling? If you answered yes to either of the above, or have even thought about it, then chances are you fall in line with about one-third of the population: you’re a “communifaker.”

And you’re not alone. Yahoo recently posted in their Tech blog a study by 3 Mobile that found “‘43% of women, almost a third of men (32%) and three quarters (74%) of all 18-24 year olds are guilty of pointless phone fondling.”

So when did we become so insecure that we create fake conversations on our mobile devices?

Psychotherapist Lesley Haswell gives us some insight stating that “people experience the need to appear socially busy at all times and ‘just waiting’ is a no-no. Our basic human instinct is to be part of a group. Alone we can feel more vulnerable.”

We’ve heard it dozens of times before, but now it has reached an entirely new level: have the advancements in technology really affected our social lives and the way we interact with our fellow human begins? It’s quite possible.

John Downes-Angus, a student at Trinity College, wrote an article recently titled “Technology’s Rewiring of Human Interaction” after he experienced his first ever, since beginning college, cell-phone free evening out.

“How, I wondered to myself, could I avoid speaking to people by feigning a text? How could I frantically scroll my contact list in the event that I had to get away from a boring or awkward situation? Armed with a penciled contact list consisting of about eight people, I undertook the night’s festivities feeling like an unarmed soldier.”

But before we ban technology altogether and blame it for our deteriorating human interactions, we can’t alone punish technology for our social shortcomings. It is technology that has enabled us to contact family more easily; granted us 24/7 connectivity and even helped us in dangerous situations.

Still, as John Downes-Angus points out, it’s important to recognize the way that technology has depersonalized our social interactions- but that ultimately it’s still up to us if we want to continue our communifaking ways.

“The next time I am with my friends, I hope to make a conscious effort to ignore the distractions. It is better and more rewarding to experience and appreciate the company I already have around me.”

So next time you’re standing in line at the grocery store or stuck at the post office, check out who is on their cell phones. There are communifakers all around us. Besides, you know how to spot one. Chances are you’ve communifaked at least once in your life, too. But remember- it’s OK to put down the phone and interact with those around you. We promise not to bite.

Hold the presses: Email, not social networks, influence young buyers’ decisions. A new poll on internet marketing by ExactTarget has revealed that young adults (18-34) are more likely to shape their decisions based on information from direct and email marketing than they are via social networks.

Mike Bloxham, director of insight and research at Ball State University’s Center for Media Design, said that Internet marketing professionals should not assume that the media chosen by consumers to receive information is the best channel to transmit advertising.

“This is a dangerous assumption to make in a time when consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their level of control over their media experiences,” he continued.

Chalk one up for email marketers, we suppose.

Using Twitter for more than just boring personal updates. More and more organizations are using Twitter to push messaging, talk to customers and “join the conversation.” The latest to join in is Make magazine (a personal favorite here at MoPR). According to Folio magazine, Make is using Twitter for customer service, providing information about magazine events and even offering exclusive deals for Twitter followers. The Make Twitter feed gives readers a personal direct line to the senior editor – who answers each Tweet himself.

Says the Folio piece, the Make editor reads, “…everything from subscription requests to changes of address which number 30-40 a day. With Twitter, users expect a response right away.”

Mobile phone usage increases but users still want easier access to information. Azuki Systems, Inc., announced the results of its first annual U.S. mobile phone user survey to profile trends and emerging behavior. More than 54 percent of those surveyed said their mobile phone usage had increased by more than 25 percent over the last two years, and one in five respondents said it had increased by more than 50 percent. A significant catalyst behind this growth is smart phone adoption, with 62 percent of respondents indicating they either own or will own such a device in the next 12 months.

Despite increased adoption, almost 80 percent of those surveyed said they wished it were easier to access information from the Internet on their mobile phones, and an equal percentage stated they wished it were easier to access rich media on their mobile phones. (We’re working on it!)

Surprisingly, older users are accessing the Web via smartphones more often than their younger peers. The 35 to 44 year-old crowd is spending 60 percent of their mobile usage time each week surfing the Web. Perhaps fueling a significant portion of this growth was iPhone adoption, which according to the survey results appeared strongest among 23 to 44 year-olds.

The survey results also proved good news for mobile advertisers. Almost 70 percent of mobile users surveyed would prefer mobile ads in exchange for free access to mobile content. Additionally, if their mobile phones had location tracking capabilities that would present them with promotions for local businesses, more than 65 percent say they would take advantage of this opportunity.

Cool campaign of the week. File JetBlue under “they get it.” Last week their gorgeous new terminal opened at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). One way they promoted it was through a short-term WordPress blog called T508. Posts were all filed in one day, starting in the early morning, continuing through the afternoon and late into the night. Most posts were very short on copy and long on photos – photos of the lounge, restaurants, services, but most importantly of the people of JetBlue – and their customers. From a reader perspective it looked like one big, cool party. And if you were media and didn’t get the traditional press release [believe me, they promoted it through other outlets as well – we saw articles and news segments during the week] there’s a simple blurb and link that lets media get in touch.

Blogging doesn’t have to be a boring, corporate affair for organizations. It can be fun while being informative and supporting the brand. Kudos, JetBlue.