Social Media: Facebook v Narcissists, Foursquare v Hyperactive/ Hyperpassive

Special Investigation: Is Facebook Festering with Miserable Narcissists?

A new study suggests that many Facebook users are narcissists with little to no self-confidence. York University researchers inspected the profiles of 100 students and concluded that those “with comparatively lower self-esteem scores and higher narcissism scores not only spent spent more time on Facebook, but also tended to ‘self-promote’ more than the students with higher self-esteem scores and lower narcissism scores,” reports the Huffington Post. It seems that a disproportionate amount of time spent uploading pictures, updating statuses, and appending information to one’s profile are all signifiers of insecurity and self-obsession. A more in-depth description of the study is available online—which is quite self-promoting of the researchers, isn’t it?

Two Types of Consumers Are Using Check-in Apps: Hyperactive and Hyperpassive
The two breeds are emerging and diverging, thanks to the onslaught of location-based services. What’s changing now is that mobile technologies are finally in place to meet both types of consumers. The hyperactive consumer is the one checking in everywhere on Foursquare, racking up badges and mayorships while leaving tips at every venue. The hyperpassive consumer is less of a known entity because there haven’t been as many options to serve him. The one with the most hype right now, if not the most promise, is Shopkick, an app that lets consumers earn kickbucks (all too reminiscent of Schrutebucks from “The Office“) just by walking into stores and potentially even walking into different departments and locations such as the dressing room.

Related articles

Two Types of Consumers Are Using Check-in Apps: Hyperactive and Hyper-Passive (adage.com)
Facebook users ‘more narcissistic’ (telegraph.co.uk)
Facebook lures narcissistic, insecure: study (untreatableonline.com)
Facebook finds fans among the narcissistic and self-loathing: study (techvibes.com)
Facebook draws the narcissistic, insecure: Study (calgaryherald.com)
As Suspected, Facebook Is Popular With Bad People [Antisocial Network] (jezebel.com)
Study: Use Facebook Heavily? Then You’re A Vainglorious Malcontent. (crunchgear.com)
Narcissists, insecure people flock to Facebook: study (ctv.ca)
Are Facebook users really more narcissistic? (salon.com)
New Study Says Facebook Users are Narcissistic, Insecure (shoppingblog.com)
Narcissistic College Students Spend More Time on Facebook (psychcentral.com)
Facebook Activity Correlate To Low Self-Esteem & Narcissism (webguild.org)
Frequent Facebook-er? You could be a narcissist. (holykaw.alltop.com)

links for 2010-05-11

• BP hit by boycott threat amid US oil-spill crisis
  British consumers are planning to boycott BP products in response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which is threatening local wildlife and habitat. The energy company's brand reputation has been hit hard following the spill. A survey carried out for Marketing by Lightspeed Research showed that 15% of consumers intend to stop buying BP products in the aftermath of what US president Barack Obama called 'a massive and unprecedented environmental disaster'.

links for 2010-05-07

• McDonald's to Use Facebook's Upcoming Location Feature
  Facebook is preparing to launch location-based status updates for its users. But the social network is also planning to offer it to marketers, including McDonald's.

  As early as this month, the social-networking site will give users the ability to post their location within a status update. McDonald's, through digital agency Tribal DDB, Chicago, is building an app with Facebook would allow users to check in at one of its restaurants and have a featured product appear in the post, such as an Angus Quarter Pounder, say executives close to the deal.

• Zinio Magazine Reader No. 1 Free News App Downloaded to iPad
  Since the iPad went on sale a month ago, Apple has sold 1 million units, and users have downloaded an average of 12 apps per device, choosing from 5,000 available apps.

  Apple did not sell 1 million iPods until a year-and-a-half after its release, and it took two-and-a-half months to sell a million iPhone units.

  Happy News for Magazines

  The numbers may portend good things for the magazine publishing industry. Zinio, a company that offers digital versions of print magazines, says that its Magazine Newsstand and Reader was the No. 1 free news app downloaded by iPad owners, writes MediaPost. (via MediaBuyerPlanner).

links for 2010-05-01

• Vintage Packaging Designs
  Cretique has compiled a fascinating gallery of classic American package designs. You can see everything from Brillo pads to Jell-o in their former incarnations, along with now-defunct brands.

Statistics: World Warms to USA, Lowest Tax in 60 Years but Teabaggers Don’t Get It

World warming to US under Obama

Views of the US around the world have improved sharply over the past year, a BBC World Service poll suggests. For the first time since the annual poll began in 2005, America’s influence in the world is now seen as more positive than negative. The improved scores for the US coincided with Barack Obama becoming president, a BBC correspondent notes. As in 2009, Germany is viewed most favourably while Iran and Pakistan are seen as the most negative influences.

Taxes at lowest level in 60 years… so why are Tea Partiers angry?
Almost all Tea Party activists have seen their federal income taxes drop over the past few decades, thus Tea Party anger focused on the federal government is misplaced. The financial sector bailouts are also poorly understood by most (not just Tea Partiers). The bailouts imposed stringent requirements on recipients of government funds. The funds were also conditioned upon payment to the government of warrants or senior equity or debt securities (designed to help recoup government losses).

Icons: Glenn Beck, Tiger Woods, Ronald McDonald

Glenn Beck is a Dangerous Fraud

The Glenn Beck Show might seem like the political equivalent of professional wrestling, but it’s not even that sincere. At least with wrestling, we’re all most aware that wrestling follows a script even though some of the moves require a high caliber of strength and athleticism (and occasionally resulting in real injuries to the performers). The difference between Beck and wrestling is that with Beck the fakery isn’t common knowledge and the consequences of what he talks about on his show are very real. This week, Beck attacked the president’s deceased mother and grandparents as being Marxists. What a dick.

Tiger Woods’ Nike Ad
Nike has released a new Tiger Woods ad on the eve of the Masters, which will mark the dominant golfer’s return to the sport following revelations of his sordid sex life. The commercial consists of black-and-white footage of Woods, accompanied a voice recording from his father, who died in 2006.

Claim: Ronald McDonald Will Kill Your Children
One of the groups that led the ultimately successful campaign to banish Joe Camel from advertising now has a new target: Ronald McDonald. “It’s time that Ronald McDonald joined Joe Camel in retirement,” argues Corporate Accountability International on its “Retire Ronald” website. “These tired mascots should be spending their golden years relaxing and sharing tales of their bygone days spent targeting children with deadly products.” CAI is asking like-minded people to submit photos of them holding signs urging Ronald to retire as part of a “photo petition.” The site also contains a 32-page downloadable booklet outlining the case against the clown.

Mobile: VW 2010 GTI

VW 2010 GTI
AKQA San Francisco did a good (if predictable) job avoiding TV spots for the 2010 GTI launch. You have to admire any digital agency that could pull this off – I couldn’t imagine many of the others doing it – even AKQA’s other offices.

They need to buff up their rationale for using the iPhone though – it comes across as tactic first (an iPhone app!) and post-rationalized strategy after. I wonder if the channel choice was a client mandate (in a Volvo S-60ish way) or an agency initiative? They also talk about “80% increases” in enquiries without showing a comparison, which makes it meaningless.

The app/ game itself was made by Aus-based Firemint.

Blah blah blah. All in all a good effort though, but more strategy please.

It’s clever of AKQA to  promote the campaign within FB itself and encourage people to fan their brand through the video clip

Volkswagen ‘launches’ the 2010 GTI on the iPhone with Real Racing GTI game (mobilecrunch.com)
Volkswagen Launches New Car Through iPhone Game [IPhone] (kotaku.com)
Volkswagen Becomes First Auto Manufacturer To Launch a Car Exclusively on a Mobile Device (slumpedoverkeyboarddead.com)
VW 2010 GTI – mobile car launch through the itunes App store (nickburcher.com)
Blue Plate Special: Real Racing GTI For iPhone/Touch (geardiary.com)
Volkswagen launches free version of Real Racing to promote 2010 GTI (tuaw.com)
New VW GTI Launched With iPhone App, Mazda Diesels Could Come To U.S.: Today’s Car News (blogs.thecarconnection.com)

Where’s the fire?

Funny. Thanks to Heather.

Online Video: Stats

Online Video Used by 84% of Marketers

An overwhelming majority (83.5%) of brand and agency marketers in a recent study say they currently are using some type of online video in their marketing efforts, and most expect their use of the medium to grow in the coming years, according to a survey by TurnHere.

Online Video’s Biggest Category: Consumer Packaged Goods
Who knew online video would become so proficient at selling soap? In a down year overall for online advertising, video actually grew 41% in 2009, according to eMarketer, in no small part because the consumer-package-goods category doubled down on the medium and became the largest category in online video in 2009.

• (tags: onlinevideo cpg)

Agencies: Traditional agencies too resistant to digital … Digital agencies not ready to lead … UK shops losing their touch …

Agency bosses too old and change resistant, claims Sorrell
WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell (aged 64) claims that brands are not spending enough online because the people who run their agencies are too old and resistant to change. Delivering the opening keynote session at ad:tech New York, Sorrell criticised brands for investing an average of just 13 per cent of their marketing budget online despite the rapid increase in digital media consumption.

Why Digital Agencies Aren’t Ready to Lead
Ana Andjelic opines: “Any conversation about digital marketing these days includes at least one mention that traditional agencies just “don’t get it.” While this may be correct, it’s equally true that digital agencies are not ready to take the lead. Look at the typical digital agency. It excels in exploring new horizons. It supports a flat and loose organizational structure in which a developer has access to the CEO. And it makes sure everyone’s opinion is heard. It’s one big crazy family. Digital agencies are having fun experimenting with ideas, technologies and strategies to find new alternatives superior to obsolete ways of doing marketing. That’s what they do best. The problem is, this is the only thing they are doing. When they are asked to actually follow through on their ideas, they often come up short. It is because they don’t know the business of marketing (or want to know it, for that matter), and they rarely have the organizational structure or past practices to guide them.”

Are U.K. Shops Losing Their Touch in the Digital World?

The London ad scene, which has long produced groundbreaking TV commercials that are the envy of New York creatives, is suffering through an identity crisis. Slowness in adapting to the digital reality is causing some intense navel-gazing, with many concluding that U.K. agencies and marketers have to get up to speed — and fast. David Droga grew up in Australia admiring British advertising as the best in the world, and at age 29 was made executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi London. Mr. Droga has since moved on — he left London for New York in 2003 — but he claims that U.K. creativity is still pretty much back where he left it nearly seven years ago. “There is no question that TV, press and outdoor are still the primary focus in the U.K.,” Mr. Droga said. “There is less integration there, and a tendency to default to the safety of TV and posters.” I might point out to Dave that this is probably true of the big shops in the US …

Possibly related

“Sir Martin Sorrell: Rupert Murdoch’s pay wall plan is right (telegraph.co.uk)

Profits halved at advertising firm WPP (guardian.co.uk)

Does Sir Martin have another motive for peddling his alphabet soup? (telegraph.co.uk)

WPP profits down by nearly 50% (guardian.co.uk)

WPP sees little evidence of ‘stouter hearts’ needed to spend during downturn (telegraph.co.uk)