Social Networks

Social networks for more specialized audiences may not be on everyone’s radar, but they could prove valuable to agencies with celebrity clientele or brand clients focused on specific interest areas. The CEOs from two such platforms, WhoSay and Wikia, spoke on a panel at Wednesday’s Digital Hollywood Media Summit in New York to describe their networks.

WhoSay helps celebrities handle and protect their digital presence. Wikia, similar to its sister site, Wikipedia, is a collaborative content site, but instead of serving as an information reference, it revolves around highly targeted topics and passionate users.

The WhoSay platform “handles one thousand famous people,” according to its CEO, Steve Ellis. The start-up launched last year with talent firm Creative Artists Agency and Amazon among the investors. The client list is by invitation only and represents celebrities and influencers from the worlds of film, television, music, sports, arts, and culture.

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If you’ve ever pitched media in New York, then you’re probably familiar with Sue Simmons, who for 32 years has been at the WNBC4 anchor desk with her “Ron Burgundy,” Chuck Scarborough. In an effort to ruin a beautiful spring-like day, the network dropped news yesterday that Simmons’ contract has not been renewed and she’ll be vacating her spot on the 11p.m. broadcast come June.

The big reason for her departure: her $5 million salary. According to the New York Post, the network and its parent company also have a problem with Simmons’ unwillingness to make appearances beyond her anchor duties.

Of course, the Internets wouldn’t let an institution like Sue Simmons disappear without a fight.

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Google launched a new privacy policy today that pulls 60 of the company’s services under one roof so that information about user activity can now be shared across platforms, from Gmail to YouTube, for example. And the policy states plainly that the company is collecting user data in two ways: by asking you to give it to them and by taking it when you’re online. Well, all righty then.

Regulators around the world had asked Google to hold off on implementing the policy while they took a closer look at it, but the Internet giant said that would confuse people. In a separate blog post, Alma Whitten, Google’s director of privacy, product, and engineering, notes that the company isn’t collecting additional information about users and provides links to change settings if you have concerns.

EU regulators are already raising questions about whether this policy breaks European laws. And here in the U.S., MSNBC raises the specter of Big Brother.  ”…[I]t is now better equipped to help out law enforcement officials and the government when it comes to finding out about you,” it writes.

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“Location, location, location” have long been known as the three things that matter in property. A keynote speaker at the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International Digital Marketing Strategy conference (HSMAI) on Tuesday also talked about how important it can be for marketing.

Asif Khan, the Location Based Marketing Association (LBMA) founder and president, defined location marketing as “the integration of people, places, and media,” and explained that it’s more than check-ins, the latest deals, and Foursquare. He also pointed out that location-based marketing takes being at home into account, takes place on more than mobile devices, and is equally popular now with both genders.

Click through for major takeaways.

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AriZona Beverages, the makers of all those drinks you’ve seen in the colorful bottles at the local grocery store, announced last week that it reached three million Facebook fans. So what, right?

Well, the company, a privately-held family-run operation based out of New York, has never advertised in the 20 years it has been around. So having a dedicated, loyal, and large social media following is important. Rather than advertising, AriZona chooses to interact with its customers in a different way, which has become part of the decision-making process for beverage flavors and packaging.

We choose to “involve our fans in our products,” says Jackie Harrigan, the company’s comms director.

“Our product is accessible, at a great price point, and has beautiful packaging,” she continued. “We use our dollars for packaging and flavors that stand out on shelves instead of a traditional media budget.”

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Lots of brands and tons of people are very excited about Pinterest. But news yesterday that Pinterest has armed companies with a special code to keep their images from getting pinned shows that some businesses are worried about issues like copyright infringement.

We posed a few questions via email about brand dangers, copyright, and trademark issues to Deborah Sweeney, who is the CEO of MyCorporation and has expertise in IP law. Sweeney has also written about Pinterest for Forbes.

Click through to check it out.

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Tapping into the excitement over digital platforms not named Facebook or Twitter, Fenton hosted the Social Media Week panel titled “Communicating with Customers Beyond Facebook and Twitter: How Brands Are Accessing Start-ups to Collaborate and Communicate.”

Certainly, the number of social platforms has extended far beyond these two behemoths. Beyoncé and Jay-Z, for instance, opted for a Tumblr page to reveal the first pics of little Blue Ivy (awww!) rather than selling them or posting them elsewhere. Instagram links pop up on our Twitter feed all day.

And, of course, Pinterest is of interest. The “Pinterest” name was dropped a few times at last night’s event.

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As people continue to wrap their brains around Pinterest, writers are offering up some easy explanations for what it is.

“Simply put, Pinterest is a visually dazzling bulletin board, enabling users to bookmark and curate images or virtually fold over pages of their favorite catalogs,” says TIME magazine.

But after some weeks of seeming nonstop coverage of the site, we’re now moving into the phase where people are putting more thought into how it can be used as more than just a hobby. Especially now that we have word that it’s the “fastest growing site ever” and its driving crazy amounts of retail traffic.

This can quickly make things more complicated.

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Ogilvy & Mather, one of the sponsors of Social Media Week (which starts today), has used the occasion to launch Social@Ogilvy, a global practice that brings together the company’s digital experts across companies and around the world.

The division began with Ogilvy PR and now spans across marcomms, sales, and other areas. There are 550 social media experts and another 4,000 digital experts working within the group. John Bell, who is delivering an #SMW12 keynote as we type, is the global MD of Social@Ogilvy, working out of the group’s HQ in New York. Christopher Graves, CEO of Ogilvy PR Worldwide and Gunther Schumacher, COO of OgilvyOne are among the others heading the division.

After the jump, we’ve got a Slideshare deck from the group called “Does investing in social media create business value?” And you can click here to check out the Social@Ogilvy blog.

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