Banyan Branch

How much damage can you cause in 140 characters?

With over 500 million registered users and 400 million tweets sent per day, Twitter has become a staple in our digital culture for how we connect and communicate with others. Whether broadcasting daily musings or breaking news faster than media outlets, Twitter is a powerful force where one tweet can earn you acclaimed fame and another can spark the social media fire of the year.

Last year, we saw Ashton Kutcher turn over his Twitter account to his publicity team at Katalyst Media after sending a tweet in support of Joe Paterno. Kutcher later apologized for not knowing the full story. Meanwhile in Detroit, a disgruntled employee of Chrysler Autos dropped an F-bomb from the company account in reference to drivers in the Motor City.

This year, the Twittersphere didn’t disappoint in delivering more social media blunders. From KitchenAid to StubHub, take a look at how some of the top brands managed to land themselves a spot in our top 3 tweetastrophes of 2012.

KitchenAid

After misfiring an incredibly offensive tweet during this year’s first presidential debate, KitchenAid learned first-hand how quickly social can turn its back against you. Cynthia Soledad, the senior director of KitchenAid’s brand and marketing division, took to the social media site to apologize, but this didn’t stop an ugly progression of tweets expressing disdain for the company and protesting KitchenAid appliances.

Facebook and Google have gone head-to-head for some time now (hello, Google+). But the stakes may be getting even higher with a recent Businessweek report that Facebook is building a search engine. There is no timetable for this, but Facebook tends to move quickly. And the goal here is to take advantage of the mountains of content Facebook users create every day, including likes, comments, status updates, and interactions on brand pages.

What’s in it for brands: The move into search fits with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of a “semantic web,” where users are able to find personally relevant information based on their own interests and that of their friends. If a search engine based on social data takes off, it will increase the importance of brands establishing meaningful relationships with their fans. Likes, check-ins, and recommendations will be even more valuable and can be used to boost social search queries. For example, a future Facebook search may mean the pizza lover in you could easily find local restaurants that have been liked the most on Facebook, or that have the most check-ins. Facebook doesn’t want users to leave the network, and if it can provide personally relevant search, there’s one less reason to click over to Google to find out what time the movie starts.

Here’s your weekly round-up of major news points from the social sphere:

• Can Twitter be used for historical records? Follow the Titanic’s ill-fated journey on the popular microblogging site.
• Google has partnered with publishers on a new kind of paywall. You might not be interested in paying a monthly subscription for the articles you read, but would you answer a short survey question? That’s what Google is trying to find out.
• Top 10 social-media savvy universities. Who said higher ed was in crisis mode?
• Spotify’s Facebook Timeline shows music history dating back 1,000 years.
• Show me the money! $1 on Apple App Store is just $0.23 on Android. On Amazon, that number climbs to $0.89.
• In 2011, a billion smart devices were activated including phones, tablets and computers.
• Wikidata aims to provide a database of knowledge that can be read and edited by humans and machines alike. Big backers like Google, Paul Allen, and more.

We are so excited to host KIRO 7 TV for “Connect with Jenni Hogan” this Thursday night at the Banyan Branch offices! Check out the official press release below for details. Hope you’ll tune in!

KIRO 7 OFFERS VIEWERS A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE OF PRIMETIME TV AND SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT, SHOWING HOW THE COMMUNITY CAN PLAY AN INTEGRAL PART OF HOW NEWS IS DELIVERED

Connect with Jenni Hogan to Include Integration of Livestream Broadcast

That Progresses to Interactive Primetime TV Format

Seattle, WA (March 19, 2012) - KIRO 7 Eyewitness News is announcing a new level of viewer engagement by introducing special programming during March Madness coverage that will mix traditional TV news with online livestream broadcasts and social media.  KIRO-TV anchor and social media enthusiast, Jenni Hogan, will host the show Connect with Jenni Hogan, discussing topics aimed at inspiring and educating viewers about the benefits of connecting online.

Throughout the 22^nd of March, viewers will be able to log onto www.kirotv.com at 10:00 p.m. to capture raw moments and extensive interviews with guests as they prepare to go on live TV at 10:30 p.m. on KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

“We decided to bring this opportunity to our viewers because we are excited about being on the forefront of new ways to interact with the community and provide them with accurate and impactful information and resources delivered to them in the best way possible,” said Todd Mokhtari, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Web Manager.  “Viewers now have the opportunity to engage with newscasts in real time, and can truly impact the direction the show goes by sharing what they’re most interested in, asking questions, or making comments.”

KIRO 7’s Traffic Anchor, Jenni Hogan, was recently recognized as the ‘most followed local female TV anchor in the nation’ on Twitter, and currently has more than 120,000 Twitter and Facebook followers.  Hogan is passionate about sharing with viewers the opportunities and resources that social media can provide.  She will focus on topics aimed to inspire viewers to improve their lives and those around them through the power of connecting online.

The show will begin online with a livestream conversation, and then move to primetime TV.  The audience will be encouraged to interact online throughout the primetime segment by following hash tag #KIROConnect on Twitter, helping to create what the next generation of combined television and social media will provide.  The show will also highlight:

• Top Apps that can help save time and money;
• Ways to use technology to improve your life;
• Local celebrities and how they interact with their online communities; and
• The faces behind the online voices of your favorite brands.

Featured guests:

Josie Bissett, starred on Melrose Place

Ben Huh, CEO of Cheezburger

Blake Cahill, President of Banyan Branch

Porter Gale, Chief Evangelist of Kred

James Sun CEO of Pirq and former contestant on The Apprentice

Jean-Sun Hannah Ahn, Miss Seattle 2012.

“This is a show that can’t be done without the viewers and I’m excited to have them join us,” said Jenni Hogan. “They will be as much of a host as I am, adding their comments and helping to shape the direction as we explore the best ways to connect with each other during live broadcasts, using tools such as our mobile devices and laptops.”

Follow @BanyanBranch & @KIRO7Seattle, plus the hashtag #KIROconnect for tweets during the event!

Still debating whether or not Pinterest is right for your brand? Internet Marketing, Inc. cooked up this sweet infographic highlighting the data behind some of the major strides Pinterest has made in a matter of weeks.

What’s interesting to us are the high engagement numbers detailed in this chart, from time spent on Pinterest versus other networks to its ability to better engage and retain users than other networks can.

What you may think is just hype is getting a lot of solid research to back its effectiveness up. Take a look:

Infographic by Internet Marketing, Inc. Source: SocialTimes

We’re heading to Austin this week to support our client, T-Mobile Bobsled, and friends DMX in their big SXSW events. If you’ll be in town, we’d love to meet you at one of these! Party details and RSVP instructions below:

Saturday, March 10th

During SXSW, the Tweet House has a closed VIP guest list and plans for attendance of around 450 celebrities, social influencers, journalists and SXSW attendees. Past guests of the Tweet House in Austin include Pete Cashmore, Robert Scoble, Jamie Lynn-Sigler (The Sopranos) and Adrien Brody.

From 9 PM – Midnight on March 10th, 2012.
with Tony Lucca & Roem Baur
Located at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop

RSVP at Bobsled.com/SXSW

Tuesday, March 13th

Here’s your weekly roundup of major news points from the social sphere:

• Google’s new privacy policy is now in effect. Did you clear your web history?
• Twitter ads will start appearing on your smartphone soon.
• Pinterest’s potential pitfall is explored along with the question of whether the photo-sharing site will be taken advantage of by marketers.
• Here’s a look at some brands that are “winning” Pinterest—no surprise that it’s mostly style, travel and home décor.

• AT&T eased its unlimited data throttling policy after consumers complained that it was too heavy-handed. Score another one for the people!
• President Obama took the White House in 2008 largely because of the online support he translated into real votes. Grassroots social media are now extending the GOP race.
• Foursquare dumped the Google Maps API in favor of OpenStreetMap, an open-source initiative that calls itself “the free wiki world map.”
• We compiled a list of the new Facebook Timeline features for brands, which bring storytelling and images front and center.
• Kodak announced it is selling its online photo business to Shutterfly for $23 million. Kodak, the photography pioneer, filed for bankruptcy in January.
• Put down the phone and learn to be alone was the message delivered March 1 at a TED talk by Sherry Turkle, a professor of science and technology at MIT. Turkle recently penned a book called “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.”
• LinkedIn unveiled its new “Follow Company” button, which allows users to keep tabs on their favorite companies and organizations.
• The American Journalism Review scorched Twitter for asserting the micro-blogging site “beat” the news media in reporting Whitney Houston’s death.
• Zynga revealed its long-awaited social gaming platform on Zynga.com, called “Project Z.” The move to its own site is supposed to ease the company’s codependence on Facebook, allowing for a gaming environment that’s free of status updates.
• Facebook launches Offers, scraps check-in deals.
• Where did Chinese citizens go when the country’s monolithic internet firewall was breached and they had momentary access to anything on the web? Straight to President Obama’s Google+ page.

Have a great weekend!

It might feel like “social media” popped up all of a sudden just a few years ago. In fact, online communication spans several decades. Take a look at the origins of the business of social in this infographic by Sociable360 and posted on Visual.ly.

Where do you think social media is headed from here?

Here’s your weekly roundup of major news points from the social sphere:

• Twitter surpassed 500 million users this week. How big is the social network this year? MediaBistro has a sweet infographic to explain Twitter in 2012.

• Two ex-Google employees join Twitter‘s global revenue team.

• Facebook could roll out a premium ad service early next week. Looking forward to it!

• Google+ adds Circles to Google Voice.

• Spotify adds new features including gapless playback and crossfade.

• Check out the latest YouTube Creator Playbook update below:

• President Obama rolls out the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

• [Can't] Pin It: Pinterest protects publishers from allowing their content to be pinned.

• Google+ adds a very FourSquare-esque check-in leaderboard.

• LinkedIn acquires Rapportive.

• Facebook makes it easier to discover native apps in iOS.

• The NBA All-Star Game gets social!

• Check out Visible‘s series on social data integration. Great information.

• We analyzed the Twitter buzz on a possible Seattle sports arena for NBA and NHL.

• Watching the Oscars this weekend? Check out our infographic on the Facebook and Twitter buzz over at Forbes, MediaBistro and Reuters.

• Looking to ramp up your social media strategy this year? Check out our list of suggestions for balancing your social media diet, and Soshable’s reading list.

• Need to refresh your Twitter background? We’ve updated our handy guide to creating backgrounds for Twitter.com to reflect the new profile layout!

• We took a look at LinkedIn for brands in our latest “What’s the Hype?” post. Get your company page up to speed with these latest features.

Have a great weekend!

By Orion Gousie, Influencer Relations

There’s talk the Seattle SuperSonics may be returning to Seattle, albeit in the form of another city’s basketball team. Relocation is what took the Sonics from the city in 2008, and it’s what could signal their return if the stars align in the next few months.

It’s an exciting time for many Seattle sports fans. But it’s also a polarizing subject, as many fans still feel the sting of losing the Sonics. Likewise, many Seattleites don’t feel the need to have a professional basketball team at all, believing civic responsibilities should lie elsewhere, like fixing a budget shortfall and alleviating the city’s preposterous traffic situation.

Conversation volume (i.e. the number of people talking about the Sonics on social media) has exploded by more than 5,000% since news broke just before Valentine’s Day that a wealthy Bay Area-hedge fund manager was stepping up to back a new arena proposal. The issue of an arena was the main reason the Sonics left town in 2008, with ownership claiming KeyArena was inadequate for pro sports.

Four Decades of History

The Sonics reigned in Seattle for 41 years, but for many the NBA died the day it left Seattle. Watching the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team that used to be the Sonics, is like watching an ex-girlfriend with her new man. The break-up wasn’t mutual, and it certainly wasn’t pretty. When Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett bought the team from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in 2006, he was prepared to walk out on four decades of history. And that’s exactly what he did.

Circumstances led former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels to accept a $45 million settlement from Bennett in exchange for letting the Sonics leave. To get another NBA team in Seattle someday, Nickels knew the city would have to build a better arena—a long shot at best. The new plans to build an arena and bring the NBA (and possibly even the NHL) back to the Emerald City have energized Seattle sports fans.

Chris Hansen, the hedge fund manager and a lifelong Sonics fan, met with The Seattle Times on Feb. 15 to discuss his proposal. Then, on Feb. 16, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Executive Dow Constantine held a press conference to publically announce the arena proposal for the first time. “On first look, this is an exciting proposal, and it could mean big things for our community,” McGinn said. “It could mean the Seattle SuperSonics play in Seattle again.”

Building Buzz for a New Arena

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In social media marketing, the term “going where your audience is” is often used when figuring out where brands should spend their time.

This infographic by Statista & MediaBistro on Visual.ly shows which sites have the attention of users now – and which don’t.

Interestingly, Pinterest is already seeing much more time on average than Twitter and LinkedIn. For marketers who aren’t taking Pinterest seriously just yet – now is definitely the time.