Super Social - Bonus Marks
Super Social - A regular feature about the best things we spot in the world of social media. Marks and Spencer's struck a little bit of social media gold with their recent Snapchat campaign. More than informative or pretty, this ad was an interactive game. Most people may think that Snapchat's primary audience is youth that wouldn't look twice at a M&S store, but everyone loves food, especially sushi! We spent a fair amount of time playing M&S' Tetris inspired sushi, or should that be sushi inspired Tetris? It was so entertaining that we didn't feel like we were being advertised to, we told everyone about it (you included) and even thought about M&S (and Tetris) the next time we wanted sushi for lunch! We also noticed a supporting patterned-sushi ad on the London Underground. It doesn't get much better than this.
Facebook Stalkers
Those that already use Snapchat and Instagram stories will be familiar with the ability to see who sees your stories. The mainstream media however are taking a slightly twisted take on the release of Facebook stories, with both The Independent and The Daily Star proclaiming that Facebook has endowed you with stalker-hunting abilities. The lack of people actually using Facebook stories will however ensure that you don't have super-human stalking abilities! What it will give you is the ability to update everyone on Facebook with what you're doing - if you want to. We don't see stories taking off in the same way Snapchat has done as most people have developed their Facebook to encompass their entire network and be very open. Social doesn't mean everyone.
Twitter 1 Trump 0
Social media has had it in for Mr President for a long time, with countless parody and alternative accounts. Word on the street is that the Trump administration has been investigating and trying to unmask the most influential of these. The free world wasn't happy. Neither was Twitter who filed a lawsuit against the US government. One can only assume that the Trump administration backed down as Twitter has voluntarily withdrawn its lawsuit. Freedom 1 Trump 0.
YouTube Turn Off
A number of very big companies, including Johnson and Johnson, AT&T and even the UK government have pulled adverts from Youtube recently. This damaging exodus could have spread far and wide as other advertisers followed suit. Having their ads associated with - and funding - racist and terrorist related content was something they could no longer stand for as ground roots American and worldwide activism grows. However Google is implementing systems to help advertisers choose and monitor where their ads are shown. Another safety net was introduced at the end of last year. This prevents adverts appearing on channels with fewer than 10,000 overall video views. At the 10,000 mark YouTube will review the channel and decide whether it can show adverts and be monetised. Small steps to a confidence-inspiring channel.
Anti-Social - The Bad Side Of Social Media.
Anti-social - A regular feature on the not-so-great things we spot in the world of social media. This time around we picked up on a particularly strange ad. One who's brazen copy style we had pondered upon before seeing this ad. With millions of downloads Township Mobile are likely to have a fair amount of cash to experiment with. We took a look at the comments on their advert to see what potential users thought about the honest advert. Some comments reflect that honesty, whilst other users thought the advert was pure desperation. You have to be really bold to pull an advert like this off, especially with the world's opinions being pasted right below it. We don't feel like this ad quite made the cut, but it's commendable for its bravery!
