the Web Chef's e-Bytes

Evian Viral Video Explodes onto Scene

In yet another example of the power of babies following the successful eTrade baby campaign, Evian has launched a viral video campaign with roller skating babies. The campaign has been placed on YouTube and as of today had almost 3.5 million views. Hitwise reported on the success of the video campaign in a recent blog posting.

Viral Video Takes on United Airlines

Companies often don't get it when it comes to customer service. Airlines are big culprits in this regard. From fees for bags to snacks to possibly even using the toilet (one proposed revenue generator) they fail to remember that they are in the service business. In a video that has gone viral, the Sons of Maxwell, a band traveling on United Airlines to Nebraska, takes on the airline for breaking their Taylor guitar and for the lack of responsible customer service. The video is catchy and is not what you want to have happen to your brand.

No comments needed - Baby dancing...

Find more videos like this on AdGabber
hat tip to Ad Rants

AMA New Commercial (a spoof), plus YouTube enhancement

Interesting to see how on YouTube you can now choose the size of embedded video plus select one of several border color options as I've done with this embedded video spoofing the American Medical Associaton.

New IB Madison Voices Blog Posting - Trends in Internet Use

Interested in finding out more about trends on the Internet? 

Check out my new blog posting "It's the norm, not just for porn" at IBMadison.com.  The posting tracks some of the latest research results on trends and directions in the use of the Internet.  Included are reports showing that 48% of Americans use the Internet at least one hour a day, 82% increase in Social Networking utilizing and 339% increase in video utilization since 2002. 

Web Tidbits - Viral Videos and Internet Trends

The San Francisco Chronicle has published a listing including links of the top 10 viral videos for 2008.  Not too surprisingly the number one viral video was Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.  This video and her interview performance, took not only an unknown Governor to infamy but helped propel Tina Fey and Saturday Night Live into some great ratings numbers for their show.  Tina Fey has gone on to grace the cover of the most recent issue of Vanity Fair as a result of her performance. 

Meanwhile, Pew Internet has published a report called "Future of the Internet" surveyed technology leaders to come up with some perspectives on the Internet in 2020. The biggest change that they foresee is the use of the phone for mobile access to the Internet as technology improves to enable this tool.

Online Video Players Continue to Expand

Online Video is increasingly viewed by a wide range of demographic segments.  The choices of sites continue to expand with innumerable players scrambling for a piece of the pie.  Among the players out there are Vuze, ranked #9 in market share in the UK according to Hitwise (Feb '08).  On the specialty side, we have music video site PluggedIn, offering access to a wide range of music videos; AtomFilms, focusing on comedy and animation; and VideoJug claiming "Life Explained. On Film.. 

We are also seeing expansion in the video search category with companies like Truveo, part of the scene.  Their site has a quote from The Wall Street Journal that claims them to be "the best video search engine I've ever seen".

All of these video players are creating opportunities for content creators and advertisers alike.  Stay tuned for future postings or articles on this topic.

New Article in Wisconsin Technology Network - Conferences are brought to life with social computing tools

I've written another article for the Buzz Networks column that is published by Wisconsin Technology Network. The new article "Conferences are brought to life with social computing tools" describes the ways that web 2.0 tools can be incorporated into your meeting strategies to engage and connect with attendees.

Paul J Gibler

Off Topic - Great Peggy Lee Song...

Hat tip to Crooks & Liars

Slides on Conference Engagement Using Web 2.0 Tools

Earlier this week I was one of the keynote presenters at the 2nd annual National Conference on University and College Conference Centers. The topic of my talk was what Fortune magazine is calling Conference 2.0. For these Conference Centers being able to add value to their University clients as well as for outside users of their centers is something that is being sought. The use of web 2.0 tools like social network groups on LinkedIn, Photo Sharing on Flickr, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts etc. are all part of creating engagement among conference attendess and making meeting planners happy.  As Seth Godin says, you don't want your attendees to say "I flew all the way here for this".

The slides that I used at the presentation were posted on SlideShare and are available here for your reference.

Buzz Networks:conference engagement with social computing tools

View SlideShare presentation (tags: social computing conference tools)