JitterJam® Social CRM

Turntable Interface - Click to Enlarge

A few months ago, I wrote about two services that let you share music legally. Since that time, the social music scene has continued to grow with the launch of numerous new services. In particular, the release of Spotify in the States and the launch of Turntable.fm have generated significant online buzz. Each are still in beta-invite phase, but if one of your Facebook friends is on Turntable (chances of this are good) you can use the service now.

For those unfamiliar with these services, Spotify is a more social version of the personal music library with a pricing structure revolving around music licensing rather than ownership. On the other hand, Turntable is an entirely new service that takes the concept of social music to a whole new level; here’s how:

Service Structure
After logging into Turntable users see a list of numerous rooms they can join to listen to music; rooms with your friends in them are displayed at the top of the list. Songs are played in turn by five DJs, and anyone can step up and play music from their own library if there are less than five people DJing. Users that aren’t DJing hang out in the room and listen to music together. This structure creates a more social music experience than users will find elsewhere.

Social Features
Perhaps the most social aspect of Turntable is rating songs selected by DJs. At any point in the song, you can rate it as “awesome” or “lame.” Ratings from everyone in the room are aggregated to a “room vote,” when this rating falls too low the song is skipped. Crowdsourcing the approval of song selection to listeners motivates DJs to play songs they think listeners will enjoy, not just tracks they want to hear. If you’re especially impressed with a person’s music selection you can connect with them by becoming their fan. Adding to this social experience is an embedded group chat for people to suggest music, request to DJ, or talk about anything else they like.

Platform Integration
When you hear a song you enjoy, float your mouse over its title and six buttons will appear that allow you to add or find the song in multiple music services. The first button is naturally for Turntable, but is accompanied by external links to Amazon MP3, iTunes, Last.fm, Spotify, and Rdio. By integrating these other music services (some more social than others) into their interface, Turntable ensures that you can easily legally acquire new music you discover while listening with friends, fans, and DJs.

These various features make Turntable a very unique music platform that creates an entirely new way to listen to music. Rather than just discovering new music from your friends, Turntable lets you listen to new music with your friends, which will make your music experience more social and more fun!

If you’ve tried Turntable.fm we’d love to hear your thoughts on it! If you’re using another social music service, what do you like most about it?

Social media is increasingly becoming an influential force in business and on the Internet. It has had an irrevocable impact on marketing and has led to positive changes in corporate culture, including increased levels of brand transparency and accountability and, as a result, a heightened sense of corporate social responsibility. This corporate social responsibility has opened the door for a number of brands trying to change the world for the better while still turning a profit.

The social web makes it easier for these companies to spread their social messages, to generate issue awareness and to build their brands, and blogging has become a critical component to driving and delivering that social message. Blog content helps strengthen connections with people that may have originated on Facebook, Twitter or even at a retail store. A blog creates an informal “voice” that the organization can use to build trust and engage people who care for and support specific social causes. Two brands that I’ve seen doing this particularly well, are Impact Foods and Seventh Generation.

Impact Foods – This granola company has an ambitious mission, ending hunger. For each bag of granola they sell, they promise to feed a hungry child for one day. Impact’s blog strategy is narrating their mission, describing the company’s journey as they travel and deliver on their promise to help feed children. This builds trust with consumers because it shows Impact’s credibility, and demonstrates their commitment to the issue at hand.

Seventh Generation – One of the leading brands in green household and personal care products, Seventh Generation strives to make their products from plants and not petroleum, while operating as one of the most environmentally friendly companies. Over the past few years, their blog has become a resource for consumers covering everything from green household tips to advice on cleaning showers. This blogging strategy helps extend Seventh Generation’s mission to consumers, providing people with the information they need to make a difference whether or not they’ve purchased Seventh Generation products. By pushing information that advances their cause and not their product, Seventh Generation shows that the issue is just as important as the brand.

These are two unique blogging strategies, but they are both successful because they build trust and credibility with consumers. Brands that strive to change the world and impact a global issue have to first show they are trustworthy and transparent. A company blog is the perfect platform to accomplish this, while simultaneously building brand awareness and developing a following.

Have you seen other socially responsible corporate blogs that are changing the world? How does their blog strategy help advance their cause, their brand, or both?

Photo Credit: LittleMan

Everybody loves a good viral video. Whether you are watching funny cats or the Old Spice Guy duke it out with Fabio, viral videos are sure to entertain. Companies consistently try to achieve viral status with their marketing efforts, as a single viral video can provide millions of brand impressions and a level of buzz unattainable through paid media. However, creating viral videos isn’t a marketing strategy, rather it should only be a goal. This is because the power to make a video or campaign go viral lies in the tweets and shares of millions of social users and not in the hands of marketers.

One danger to considering viral marketing a strategy and not a goal is focusing more on the video than the actual campaign. By this I mean allocating more time and budget to video production, special effects, and promotion channels than to the execution of the campaign strategy. To ensure the best chance of going viral, try allocating resources in the opposite manner. From what I’ve seen, simple videos documenting complex and creative campaigns go viral more often than complex videos documenting simple campaigns. Here are two such videos, which both went viral because of the creativity of each campaign, and not each video:

Tropicana Natural Energy: In France, Tropicana created a billboard covered in oranges with the words “Energie Naturelle” (natural energy) glowing on the front in neon. The catch was that the oranges provided 100% of the energy needed to light the sign, and this received a very positive reaction from the crowd.

Heineken Soccer (Football) Heist: After creating a fake classical music and poetry concert on the day of the biggest soccer match of the year in Italy, Heineken then recruited girlfriends, professors, and bosses to ask boyfriends, students, and coworkers to attend the phony concert. On game day the concert room was packed, and at game time the heist was revealed and everyone was thrilled.

Why did these campaigns go viral?
As you can see, marketing campaigns with the best chance of going viral use emotion to spark interest. Curiosity, joy, surprise, and awe are just a few of the feelings that Heineken and Tropicana successfully created with these efforts. The second reason they were so successful is that viewers appreciated the brands’ efforts to give something to them. In the Tropicana example, this was as simple as something neat and innovative for a Paris passerby to look at, while in Heineken’s case they gave people the chance to watch one of the biggest soccer matches of the year. Online viewers will likely remember these videos the next time they see a Heineken or Tropicana product. These memorable positive brand impressions are another reason that viral marketing can be so valuable and effective.

What other marketing campaigns have you seen go viral? In your experience, do these viral instances occur more often because of the creativity of the campaign or the video? Let us know what you think!

Videos via Adverblog and Guerrilla Communications

In this day and age, staying organized can be very difficult. To maintain productivity and organization, many have turned to Evernote, a multi-platform application that allows users to create and categorize notes in Evernote notebooks. The application’s expanding user base has led to an increasing number of application add-ons and new social capabilities. Here are three features that will help you get the most out of Evernote.

Twitter and Email Integration – By following @myEN, you can setup Evernote to capture all of your tweets with “@myEN” in the body as well as direct messages to the @myEN account. This integration helps users deal with the here one second, gone the next nature of social media. If you see a tweet/link in your stream that you’d like to save, simply copy the text, send a quick DM, and view it later in Evernote. The email integration works similarly. The application assigns each user an Evernote specific email address, and all mail sent to it is converted to notes. Now when you get an important email, forward it to your Evernote address, and you are more likely to remember to respond.

Sharing Notes – Another way to take advantage of social media with Evernote is sharing notes to Facebook. This can be particularly effective within groups because you can target a specific friend segment that the note or task is relevant to (i.e. “Cycling Club”). The greatest value in sharing notes however, is that sharing also creates a public copy of a note with a specific URL. For convenience, you do not have to post on Facebook to share notes publicly, and you can always stop publicly sharing a note from the Evernote interface at any time.

Public Notebooks – Several companies now offer Evernote notebooks that you can download and add on to with your own notes. The content of these notebooks is usually both a resource and a source of inspiration. Examples include recipe books, photography guides, and art collections. Adding your own recipe to a notebook and then sharing it is just one way brand and consumer co-creation can be facilitated by public notebooks.

These three features may help you stay organized, but hopefully they also add some fun to your social experience! Whether discovering new pieces of art from a public notebook, creating grocery lists, or sharing your grandmother’s famous blueberry pie recipe with relatives on Facebook, Evernote has something for almost everyone.

Do you have any experience with Evernote? Let us know how you use it? What are your favorite features, we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Many people have already acknowledged that the 2012 elections will be the first time social media plays a large role in presidential campaigns. While Barack Obama was able to harness its power in the 2008 election, use and adoption of social media was not what it is today. Since 2008 the number of tweets sent per day has increased from 300 thousand to 200 million, and the number of Facebook users has jumped from 100 million to 750 million.

This growth has led to a similar rise in social media’s public influence, and has made a social presence necessary for political campaign success. This marriage has proved particularly effective because social users are more inclined to share and engage when they are passionate about something. Politics are an area where strong beliefs and opinions create passion, which sparks social activity. Facebook and Twitter profiles are used to capture this activity, but social media is now also being used in more innovative ways in politics. Here are two recent examples:

Politicians on Plus – As of now, Newt Gingrich is one of only two presidential candidates to have a profile on Google+ (the other being Gary Johnson). While both politicians generally post the same content to their Facebook pages and Google+ profiles, Gingrich is also taking advantage of the hangout feature. He has hosted two hangouts so far, and even posted the video to the first here. These group video chats could help candidates create more personal connections with supporters, and should increase candidate transparency as well. More candidates will probably try this approach in the future, and Johnson has already indicated that he will host a Google+ hangout soon.

First Presidential Debate on Twitter – Following the massive participation in Barack Obama’s town hall, conservatives hosted a presidential debate for Republican candidates with the Twitter handle @140townhall. The debate followed a traditional format with opening statements and time limits for questions dictated by moderators. Twitter has proved to be a great platform to host town hall style events because of the digestibility of 140 character messages, and its ability to reach and participate with an audience. Like Google+ hangouts, we will likely see more of these Twitter events in the future.

What do you think of the way social media has influenced the 2012 elections so far? Have you seen other innovative uses of social media in politics? Comment here and let us know, we’d love to hear about them!

Photo Credit: Twitter

The popularity of summer has never dwindled, and I’ve always believed that it’s well deserved. Summertime means rising temperatures, more hours of daylight, and the probable release of numerous blockbuster movie titles. However, many often forget one of the most enjoyable mediums of summertime entertainment . . . books!

Reading lists, like all to-do lists, grow far too quickly and shrink too slowly. Unlike most to-do lists though, these lists are actually fun to work through. With a little effort, summer can be the perfect time to start making progress on your list. All you have to do is set aside a few hours each week, and you will be finishing books in no time. If you have trouble finding the motivation, choose a day when the weather is nice and head outside. Reading outside is usually more relaxing and the pages are likely to pass more quickly.

Another reason to start working through your reading list in the summer is all of the new books on social business that have just been released, or will be shortly. Here are a few that I have on my list:

Enchantment – Guy Kawasaki reveals what it takes for a brand to enchant its customers; sharing his insights on customer experience, influence, and brand loyalty. As the previous chief evangelist of Apple, Kawasaki’s insights on building brand experience are second to none.

Smart Business, Social Business – Michael Brito shares his knowledge and understanding of the social customer for businesses to learn from. In addition to getting a great book, purchases also support the Not For Sale Campaign, an organization fighting human trafficking around the globe.

Launch – Michael Stelzner educates readers on the art of sustaining a successful business through valuable content and relationships. For those of you that want a quick preview, the first chapter of this book is available for free here.

What are you waiting for? Grab a comfortable lawn chair, your favorite beverage, the first book on your reading list (or your eReader), and head outside! What books have you already read this summer, and would you recommend them? If not, what other books are you looking forward to reading this summer?

Photo Credit: Svilen Milev

Here in Bedford, NH we’ve been lucky enough to have numerous new faces come through our office this summer. Some are new full time hires, while others came in from other offices to help out for a week or two. Regardless, each new face brings something different to the table and makes the office more enjoyable for everybody. The following are just a few of the many fun advantages to having fresh faces in the office!

Staying on Your Toes:
Each individual brings a different perspective and set of experiences to the office. Leveraging different perspectives creates new ways to look at problems or scenarios, which can help keep everyone’s mind sharp. When everybody is on their toes and working as a team, there’s a better chance of finding an innovative and more successful solution to a problem, which is certainly more fun for everybody.

Learning about Different Regions:
Whether from the west coast of the United States or a European country overseas, all geographic areas have many unique aspects. You’ll likely agree with me that it’s much more interesting to learn about an area’s culture from an actual resident than from the corresponding Wikipedia page. It’s also likely that each new face will have experience in more than one location or culture, so you can learn even more!

Office Get-Togethers:
New or visiting employees are the perfect opportunity to pull the trigger on your company summer BBQ, which you’ve been “planning” for the past two months. When business is going well it may be hard to find time to plan a company get-together, and when business is slow it may be the last thing on your mind. In any case, gathering employees away from the office can boost company morale and will be fun for everybody. These get-togethers are a great way to get to know new employees, and cement important relationships with employees from different offices that are only in town for a few weeks.

In the past three months, our office has (only) welcomed Kevin, Sam, Chris, Bob, Poonam, Adarsh, Yasir, and myself. And while we aren’t all Bruins fans, somehow we’ve still managed to have fun together!

When was the last time your office welcomed a new hire or visiting employee, and how did your office benefit from the experience? What’s your favorite part about having new faces in the office?

Photo Credit: JayLopez

Photo Credit: Mabroukeh

If there’s one thing everyone could use more of, it’s good ideas. Good ideas are the lifeblood of innovation; they have the power to improve your business, and more importantly to make the world a better place. Last week a friend sent me this video from author Steven Johnson, about where good ideas come from. While watching, social media immediately came to mind, and I think you’ll see why. Take four minutes out of your Friday to watch this fun video, you won’t be disappointed!

What do you think?

One quote that resonated with me was “chance favors the connected mind.” The social web enables minds to connect more frequently than ever before, increasing the chance that you will find someone who can help you formulate and conceptualize your good idea. Twitter, Facebook, blogging, and networking at events are all simply different ways to increase connectivity. According to Steven Johnson, that is precisely what will lead to innovation. If this principle holds true, one apparent conclusion is that social media has the power to make the world a better place, and that’s certainly a fun (and good) idea!

However social media doesn’t only encourage innovation by connecting people. Another one of its great accomplishments is increasing the quantity and speed of information sharing. People can now share whatever they want, whenever they want. As a whole, social media has created a platform to share opinions, thoughts, and any variety of content. This increases the amount and diversity of information that our minds process daily, improving the chance that we will find the “missing piece” needed to complete our ideas. As Steven Johnson mentions, the faster these pieces come together the faster innovation will occur.

So at the end of the day, it seems social media is more than just fun; by increasing good ideas it can even help make the world a better place!

How have you seen social media lead to innovation? Has social media helped you develop your own good ideas?

Within the social media industry, the best way to measure the value of influence is a hot topic of discussion. Last July, Empire Avenue, an interesting new service that lets you “play” with social presence (and influence), was launched. It’s a social hub that is designed to evaluate and raise your social media presence while creating a fun way to drive social activity and connections. Lately, the popularity of this service has substantially increased.

Empire Avenue measures social presence in an imaginary currency (eaves), and allows you to increase your value through a stock market-like interface where you buy and sell Empire Avenue profiles, or stocks. You can link Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Flickr, and Facebook Fan Pages to your Empire Avenue account; this in turn drives your personal social “valuation.”

The true fun of this service lies in the ability to buy and sell stocks of your favorite companies and social media thought leaders. If the value of your portfolio increases, your net wealth in eaves will rise. The value of your stock increases when other users buy shares of your stock, and accordingly decreases if too many users sell your stock. However, there are plenty of other ways to earn more eaves to invest with. These include watching video advertisements, trying free or paid offers, buying magazine subscriptions, and even purchasing eaves with real US dollars (for the serious enthusiasts!).

What’s the point of having all these eaves?

Eaves allow you to add luxury items to your profile, such as mansions, yachts, or airplanes. For newer users with less net wealth, “luxury” items such as bicycles and canoes are also available at much cheaper prices. Eaves are also used to upgrade your profile capabilities, allowing you to buy and sell larger quantities of stock. Essentially, the more eaves you have, the more fun Empire Avenue will be! Apart from fun, eaves also increase the valuation of your social media profile on Empire Avenue.

Ultimately, this service is another way for social web users to connect and interact across multiple online networks in one place. However, the stock market interface, and the amount of control you have over the wealth created by your social activities, makes this a fun and rewarding activity.

Check it out for yourself! How many eaves is your social presence worth? As of now, I’m worth 10.22e per share!

When most people hear the words “music sharing,” copyright violations and lawsuits are the first things that come to mind. But today’s music sharing is not about sharing files and downloads; it’s about sharing what you are listening to and discovering new music through your social connections. Two of the most prominent social music services today are iLike and Grooveshark. Both services enable you to socially share your music preferences through your social networks.

Grooveshark – This service allows users to add songs from Grooveshark’s massive database to a personal library, akin to an online iTunes interface. Personal libraries are accessible through almost any Internet browser and allow you to play your library of songs from their platform. However, you can’t download songs or transfer them to an iPod/mp3 player. One of the most appealing aspects of Grooveshark is the ability to follow your friends and discover new music from their listening habits. Clicking on a “Community” tab provides a news feed depicting what music your friends are listening to and what new music they’ve added to their libraries. Users can also view a friend’s library and any saved playlists they may have. Like most online services, Grooveshark will become more valuable as the number of your friends using the service increases.

iLike – The aim of this service is not in creating an online version of iTunes, but in aggregating music content that iLike determines is relevant to your tastes. It provides an accessory sidebar to iTunes or Windows Media Player that helps you discover new, free music from your favorite artists. If you download the sidebar, iLike will extract information about your most played music and upload it to your iLike profile. Socially, iLike friends can be added via email, Facebook, or MySpace. Another key functionality of this service is alerting you to concerts in your region by your favorite artists. This information can be found on your profile on the iLike website or through the Facebook version of your profile, where the iLike service is seamlessly integrated and simply referred to as the “Music” application.

Both of these social music services are designed to help you discover new music, but the differences lie in how they strive to accomplish that. iLike will alert you when new music from your favorite artists becomes available, while Grooveshark relies on your social community of friends to discover new music. Most importantly, both services allow you to share and celebrate your favorite music with your friends, legally!

Have you used either of these services? Tell us about your experiences with each! Which service do you ultimately like best? Why?