Showing posts with label Blockchain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blockchain. Show all posts

Monday, June 25, 2018

How Blockchain Benefits YOUR Social Media?


How social media can benefit from blockchain technology..

Blockchain has gained increasing popularity over the past year. Having begun as the technology behind cryptocurrency exchanges, it has now shown promise in almost every other sector of the economy as it’s a secure, reliable and tamper-proof way of recording transactions and exchanging data.

So, what promise does this technology hold for social media?



Blockchain helps with verification of information and news

Facebook has been very busy in recent months, digging into and deleting false accounts that have posted fake news for several years now. Blockchain distributed ledger system can work to prevent all of this in the first place.

Verifying identities, verifying information and data that has been posted, etc. are all things that blockchain holds the promise to do. For instance, the 0xcert protocol provides a framework for developers to build powerful decentralized apps (dapps), enabling everyone to easily authenticate and manage their digital or real-world assets (such as original content, ID, university degree, in-game item or a house) on the blockchain. This can also help with gathering and verifying all types of data, including news and other information shared online.

The momentum is growing, and there will be pressure on social media platforms to incorporate this technology, either through third-party providers or by developing their own blockchain environment for verification.


Blockchain can create better user control mechanisms

Social media platforms collect a huge amount of data. Every time an account holder posts; every time an account holder likes or shares a post of another; every time an account holder opens an ad on the platform; and even every time an account holder searches the web and accesses other websites, the data makes its way to their profile or homepage. This is why we see so many ads in our newsfeed on Facebook.

Guest Authored By Andrew Arnold. Andrew is a writer and lifestyle entrepreneur. After working in the corporate world for over 5 years, he resigned and took to consulting entrepreneurs and companies, including Fortune 500 companies like LinkedIn and Cisco. Andrew has particular interest in how people and businesses have deployed/consumed traditional media such as TV, radio, print, yellow pages and outdoor ads for decades and how new media such as social media, blogs, podcasts, computer games, blockchain and virtual reality are taking money and attention away from those. He's out to discover and write about how millennials use and influence the growth of emerging media. Follow Andrew on Twitter.





"The point of all this is that we operate in a noisy media landscape, so brands have to create content uniquely tuned to thrive on the internet to make an impact.

This means making something original and memorable enough to harness a worldwide, internet-connected community and tailor that content for specific platforms.

This is the path to success in social media..

Let's see your print ad get enough retweets to do that.. -BrendanGahan


    • Post Crafted By:
      Fred Hansen Br@nd Alchemist at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
    Published by at No comments:
    Labels: , , ,
    Location: Loveland, CO 80538, USA

    Friday, May 4, 2018

    YOUR Social Media Advertising, Explained?


    Advertising on social media, explained..



    1. Apparently the advertising sector on social media is huge. Is this true?

    For ordinary users, social networks are a way to keep in touch with friends. But with 2.5 bln users worldwide, they have now become indispensable marketing tools.

    It is estimated that $31 billion was spent on social media advertising worldwide in 2016 -- almost doubling over a two-year period.

    As newspapers close and TV dwindles in popularity, the likes of Facebook and Twitter are becoming the main destinations for advertisers to spend their cash.

    Social media's share of digital advertising is continually growing -- rising from 23.2 percent in 2013 to 34.5 percent in 2017. However, the sector is dominated by search engines, where advertising is tailored to the keywords you type into Google.



    2. Does advertising on social media actually work?

    Research suggests that companies who advertise on social media do see public awareness grow -- and their brands are often regarded more positively afterwards.

    You may have noticed that ads can tend to follow you around -- meaning searching for shoes on a retailer's website suddenly means they're in your Facebook News Feed.

    Advertisers tend to like social media because it's easier to reach certain people based on their age, gender, location and interests. As you'd imagine, it's a lot harder to pull off targeted advertising on physical billboards. Not only are they more expensive, but campaigns end up grabbing the attention of the wrong demographics.



    Through social media, advertisers can use metrics to see whether their desired audience are engaging with their campaigns. Not all of this is to say the system is perfect, though, as some ad formats are irritating and intrusive -- redirecting you away from the website where you wanted to be.

    3. So wait a minute… are they using my data?

    Yes -- in more ways than you think. Your level of education, ethnicity, whether you own a home, relationship status, birthday, job, political views, car, internet browser, investments and TV habits are just some of the types of data that can be used.

    Awareness about how social media companies are using personal information has been heightened by the scandal surrounding Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.



    The political consulting firm harvested the data of at least 87 million people after launching an app where hundreds of thousands of people were paid to take a personality test. Participants gave consent for their data to be collected -- but the details of their friends were also harvested without their knowledge.

    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced questions in Congress about the controversy.

    He denied that the social network sells personal data to advertisers, but said: "What we allow is for advertisers to tell us who they want to reach, and then we do the placement."

    In 2017, the social network generated almost $40 billion in revenue from advertising -- a 49 percent increase on the year before.



    4. The drinks are on Facebook, then. Can Blockchain improve advertising?

    Several Blockchain platforms are trying to challenge the dominance of big tech firms by giving users control of their data.

    In the future, Blockchain could be used to allow you to decide which data you want to be stored about you online -- and more importantly, who gets to see it.

    If that information ends up being used by advertisers, it could be you who ends up getting a paycheck rather than tech giants such as Facebook and Google.

    At the moment, personal data worth billions is being sold per year -- but the public doesn't see a penny of this.



    This could have some unexpected, but positive side effects. Advertising could actually prove useful because companies would be working off accurate information. Plus, you could be able to use your own data to personalize apps in an instant.

    5. I’ve heard of social media influencers – what’s their role in all of this?

    Social media influencers are people who have a large following online. They might review beauty products on YouTube, post fitness advice on Instagram, or upload funny videos on Facebook.

    Some influencers boast millions of fans -- and for advertisers, they can be a valuable way of reaching new customers.



    Brands are regularly hoping to get their products endorsed by these stars, or to get their items featured in a sponsored post. In some cases, these deals can be worth hundreds of thousands (even millions) of dollars.

    There has been controversy over arrangements which have seen influencers speak positively about certain products in posts and videos without disclosing that they have been sponsored to do so. This can prove problematic when it comes to influencers who have a large, impressionable and young fan base.

    6. So how do advertisers get influencers on board?

    One common technique is to make sure they are a fan of a product already.

    Influencers often talk about how much free stuff they get -- and this is in part because brands want to be recognized by them. This method is especially popular when it comes to so-called "micro influencers" -- niche talent with a modest following who enjoy high engagement rates.



    One challenge can be making sure that an endorsement campaign has a lasting impact on viewers and followers. A single, discreet mention of a product isn't always going to cut it -- and that's why many campaigns require multiple posts and multiple mentions of a product to succeed.

    The cost of this form of social media marketing is often hugely inflated because of the fees taken by agents and social networks.

    7. Can Blockchain make it easier for advertisers and influencers to collaborate?

    Certain platforms are hoping to boost the earnings of influencers, while simplifying the steps advertisers need to take to get them on board.



    Decentralized platforms such as Patron plan to use smart contracts to make the relationship between customers and creators fairer and more transparent.

    Such systems could make it possible for advertisers to pay influencers for a single post, or to hire them exclusively for a period of weeks or months.

    Guest Authored By Connor Blenkinsop. Connor is a journalist based in London, where he has covered news and business briefs for national news outlets. Away from deadlines, his interests include music and badminton.





    "The cost of this form of social media marketing is often hugely inflated because of the fees taken by agents and social networks.." -ConnorBlenkinsop


      • Post Crafted By:
        Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
      Published by at No comments:
      Labels: , , , , , , ,
      Location: Loveland, CO 80538, USA

      Wednesday, May 2, 2018

      YOUR Social Media And Brand Future?


      Brands and social media will work differently in the future..

      It used to be true that to sell a consumer product like a dress or a man’s jacket you had to answer three questions:

      --Does it fit?
      --Does it look great?
      --Is it priced right?



      Those questions are still very important but now they’re only part of what you need to address.

      What younger consumers want now is values. Things like authenticity, environmental friendliness, fair wages for all workers, artisanal products, local production, ethical behavior and transparency are all important now. These values are not as easily transmitted to consumers as the first three in the bullets above.

      The way companies communicate their values is by creating content and that content is conveyed via social media. Almost all consumers who use social media follow at least one brand. Content has become a critical component of a brand’s presentation and value. Brands that create great, relevant, convincing, authentic content get their followers to buy their products and it’s a great way to stay in front of consumers and build repeat customers.



      If you create an image, you usually own the rights to that image. If the image generates income, it’s usually the creator who benefits from that income.

      That is mostly not true on social media. While there are some people who make money from their social media, influencers for example, most of the money is made by the social media company itself. If you post an image on Facebook, you probably won’t make money from it but Facebook can. The more people you get to look at that image, the more money Facebook can make and the same is true for other big social media like Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, You Tube, Pinterest and virtually all others. We’ve all gotten used to that arrangement so it doesn’t seem strange.

      But imagine this: What if you had a telephone interview and got a job offer from it? Or what if you made a big sale by email? Would the phone company or your email provider be entitled to share in the income from that job or sale? You would think that’s crazy. Yet, when you provide images or text that generates traffic on social media, you don’t make anything from it but the big social media providers often do.



      Social media is like a big pot that you put your content in and you can permission other people to look at the stuff you put in the pot.

      Because the social media company controls the pot, they get to make money from advertisers who put their ads next to your content on their site. Their fee for managing your content is the advertising revenue they collect. Last year over $40 billion was paid to Facebook, primarily through advertising revenue. The value of Facebook in the market today is over $450 billion.

      It doesn’t have to work this way. Changes in technology happening now will allow content creators to benefit financially from the content they create and post on social media. It is based on a technology you’ve probably heard about (and probably makes your eyes glaze over when you hear it) called blockchain. Conceptually, blockchain technology eliminates the need for intermediaries. That’s the role the big social media companies are playing and blockchain is a threat to them. Blockchain eliminates the need for the pot that holds your images, videos and texts and that takes away their control. In fact, it displaces their presence entirely. Most of the $40 billion that Facebook collects annually will wind up going to the creators of the content. That will wipe out the value of the company to its shareholders. In fact, it could just wipe out the company.



      When that happens and the revenue that social media companies now get goes to the creators of content, a lot of talent will be drawn to creating social media posts.

      Brands that now have to spend a lot to create their social media feeds will find a new stream of revenue. They will be incentivized to make their social media more compelling and entertaining. It will be a new stream of revenue for many brands and in a world where margins are under pressure, it will make a big difference. You can already sample what great content looks like on a consumer site. If you check out Glossier and their affiliated site Into The Gloss, or NetAPorter and their editorial, or Food52 and their related shop, you can start to see how great content and products work together and help each other. This is just the beginning. When there’s an economic incentive, there’ll be video and entertainment that will support brands and move even more entertainment time away from TV and on to your phone and computer.



      How Will It Work?

      The user experience of blockchain-based social media will not be vastly different from what you experience today. If you’re familiar with extensions on your browser software, there’ll likely be an extension for each of the social media platforms you engage with.

      It would be as if Facebook, Instagram and others were buttons on your browser that open up the software you use to engage on social media. What’s different is how it is handled in the ways you don’t see. When you use blockchain, everything remains on your computer and not on Facebook’s. More important, it stays under your control. You’ll permission the friends and contacts you choose to see your information or you can choose to let anyone see it in much the same way you do now. The more people you can get to look at your information, the greater the allocation of cryptocurrency you’ll receive and that’s convertible into money.



      Who’s Going To Do This?

      There’s a broad range of companies developing the structure that will replace the big social media companies. What makes me confident that it will happen is that the technology exists, no new fundamental technologies have to be developed for this system to work. What’s not developed is who will be the winners in the new structure. Think about the early days of any industry involving technological change. A lot of entrepreneurs jump in with good ideas and eventually the winners emerge. Here are some candidates that already exist today:

      Steemit – Steemit is a site that works like Reddit. It’s a giant bulletin board capable of handling millions of ongoing text-based conversations simultaneously. It exists today, you can join it right now and if you generate real content and real views on Steemit, you will get a cryptocurrency called STEEM that has value you can turn into money and spend.



      DataWallet – I wrote above that using blockchain, you could permission people to see your content. Along with that, you can also permission advertisers to post ads on your content and to monitor the ads that are presented to you. DataWallet allows you to be the one who collects most of the advertising revenue that comes from the content you create. You set the switches that give the permissions that drive the revenue. When you use their tool your content is measurable and it turns into revenue for you.

      Blockstack – They are building infrastructure that are systems that other companies (like the two above) can use if they want to create their software. If you think about Microsoft Windows, it’s not a program you use, it’s a system that other people build programs for. In this new structure, Blockstack works as the foundation of the network that facilitates the creation of other programs.



      What The Future Holds

      Economics encourages rewards going to the people who create value. Over time, the market will incentivize the people who drive internet traffic with the appropriate reward. When that happens, brands will see quickly that the better their content, the more revenue it will create and ultimately the more products it will sell. Content creation will likely explode. You could see how the interests of brands and production studios could align. The possibilities created by these changes are very broad.

      One caveat – you can’t predict with certainty what will happen with technology. There are some naysayers about blockchain but every day we are hearing about more and more uses for it. The way that brands and retailers interact with social media is important now and that is only going to grow as time goes on.

      Guest Authored By Richard Kestenbaum. Richards firm, Triangle Capital LLC, does mergers, acquisitions and capital-raising for companies in fashion, retail, and consumer products. Follow Richard on Twitter.





      "If you’d like to hear more on the subject, here’s a podcast in which I am interviewed about this topic at the retail trade show Shoptalk.

      It’s just under 12 minutes.." -Richard Kestenbaum


        • Post Crafted By:
          Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
        Published by at No comments:
        Labels: , , , , , , , ,
        Location: Loveland, CO 80538, USA
        Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)