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News, insight and tips from the social web.
The Hoop blog covers the evolving digital landscape, social media, mobile communications, content marketing and also includes 5 top finds and Fish on Friday. Feel free to make comments.
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5 top finds #40 »
Holla Tupac at Coachella, Mario LEGO art, awesome animated movie quiz, world's safest bike light and High Fidelity meets Twitter with social mixtapes. It's another edition of 5 top finds.
1. Tupac comes back to life à la Princess Leia
[image from The Guardian]
In case you have been like us and swamped in the immense amount of sport on over the weekend (our very own Sophie won £18 on the Grand National!), you might have had a weird moment on Monday when your co-workers showed you Tupac performing at Coachella.
A mixed reaction went about the Hoop office. Were we watching the future of performing or a one off homage to Tupac? It is still quite weird to think that now it seems completely plausible to watch Keith Moon drum with The Who or even a reunion of Paul, George, Ringo and John. Good news is now we don't need The Beatles 2.
If you still haven't seen the creepy resurrection of one of rap's more controversial and outspoken figures, check out the video above. While it is incredibly cool, one can't help but feel a little weirded out.
2. Epic Mario made from Lego
Another Kickstarter project here on 5 top finds with Zachary Pollock's latest project, Epic Mario. The artist has set a $26,400 goal to build the first level of Super Mario Bros. in LEGO bricks, which will take almost 780,000 LEGO studs.
The project is more than just some fun as Pollock is using it as a tester for a potential foundation that will work with children doing 'healing art projects using LEGO bricks'.
This project aims to push the limits of imagination about what you can do with LEGO bricks and particularly to break down stereotypes people have about both LEGO and video games only being toys. I want to show the world LEGO and video games can be works of art as well. Last but certainly not least I, and I think many other people, really want to see the entire level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. made from LEGO because it is just FUN! Right now I think we all need a little more fun in our lives.
3. ABCinema video quiz
Evan Seitz started his movie quiz series two months ago with ABCinema. The short animations uniquely reference movies based on a topic - colour, alphabetical and numerical - which has left thousands of people trying to figure it all out.
Original, fun and aesthetically pleasing, Seitz's work showcases an animator at the top of his game. We can't wait for more.
4. Gotham create world's most secure bicycle light
Here at Hoop, we like to ride our bicycles. However, city cycling can be a dangerous hobby - especially on those dark, wet winter journeys home. One of the best gadgets to aid you in being a safer rider is a good quality light. You know, those things that require you to click several times just to turn off and on and are easy to break or be stolen.
After a friend of Brad Geswein & Slava Menn got knocked off his bicycle, due to his light having been stolen that night, the MIT students decided to create their own.
The Gotham Anti-Theft Bike Light - which is so durable and hard to steal Batman would probably use it on his bike - is one of the latest success stories from Kickstarter, having outdone their goal by nearly $70,000. With specifically designed keys to unlock the bike, no screwdriver available in shops will unlock this thing and there are only three settings; on, off and flash.
5. Be modern and retro, create social mixtapes
"Tweet me later" [Image from The Plays The Thing]
The digital revolution is an amazing thing. The way we access and consume our data has changed forever. If films like Minority Report have any prophetic qualities, we will immerse ourselves in digital tools and, with the analog tower switching off this week, it doesn't look like we have long to wait.
However, many feel that with digitalisation, we lose certain romantic aspects of life. Would Romeo have rushed to Juliet's window had he had Twitter? "@romeo-mon @romeo-mon, where for #art thou, @romeo-mon" "@juliecapz I'm at home. Your cousin freaks me out! Can we just Skype later?" Would we have found it so heartwrenching if The Notebook was instead called The Macbook, with Drake reading out emails on his new 12" Air? And would we have liked Rob Fleming as much if he was whining about his iTunes collection and sending girls his Genius recommendations?
Everyone's Mixtape look set to bring back that personalisation but mixing it with the possibility for collaboration and engagement. It is mashing the romantic and fun days of the mixtape with the connected and social world of today.
Here is the link to our Top 5 finds playlist, why not add a tune!
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags: Everyone's mixtapes, Kickstarter, Social media, Startup, Tupac Hologram
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Startups of the week #16.1 »
While most social networking sites connect you to people you (might) know, CircleMe links you to new like-minded users and places, so you can rediscover yourself.
1. CircleMe
People you may know. People to follow. How many times have Facebook, Twitter and other social sites tried to connect you to more friends. Always more friends. It's as if you aren't using the platform properly unless you are constantly adding more people. The problem is that usually 'friends' are discovered through mutual connections and imported contact lists. While many people do find old friends this way, most of the time it is cluttered with people you definitely don't know or would rather not reconnect with.
So what defines friendship with others? Why do we like the people we do and why do we want to engage with them? More specifically, what defines us? What is it about our self that forms our personality and differentiates us from some, while attracting others. CircleMe believe that it is all down to what we like.
CircleMe was created by Cascaad, a company dedicated to making the social web more 'personal and relevant'. The 12 strong team based in Milan and London have currently raised $15.5million from Innogest Capital. The team includes founder Erik Lumer - who also co-founded Internet TV service BabelGum - and CEO of CircleMe Giuseppe D'Antionio, an ex-Googler and teacher of a digital communications class at the University of Milan.
By importing your 'likes' and information from Facebook, Netflix and FourSquare, CircleMe helps you connect with everything you like and, in turn, yourself. Your profile is not about what you say, who you know and what you look like but rather what you love. With this information, CircleMe can then point you to people with similar tastes to you, helping you discover new things to like, or 'Circle'.
You can also geolocate your Circles with the iPhone app [iTunes], showcasing where you like to read a certain book, listen to a favourite song or watch the best new movie. This also benefits the people who trust you as, when they pass that certain place, a 'Plant alert' will notify them that one of your Circles spots is near by.
We like the idea (geddit) but think the site is a bit complicated and note it doesn't have many users to date. However, with a bigger community, CircleMe could be the new way we discover everything we love.
Categories: Startups of the week
Tags: Facebook Likes, Social media
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Startups of the week 13.1 »
Feeling powerless about being powerless? What if there was a portable charger that rewards you for use, helps you engage with your friends and is environmentally friendly? Step-up Changers.
1. Changers
There are a plethora of portable chargers out on the market, but one start-up's device tops the list as it not only gives you that extra boost of battery power, it is a social energy marketplace.
Changers believes that social energy is the next big thing – and with their A4 sized solar panel, called "Maroshi", you are able to charge your "Kalhuh-fummi", or portable battery. It will take around 4 hours in direct sunlight to charge you Kalhuh-fummi, which is then in turn able to charge around 2 iPhones. For more cloudy climates, the Maroshi will still charge but at a slower rate.
This explains how it is helping the environment but it is in the social marketplace where Changers gets really exciting. The "Maroshi" records how much energy you have generated and each gram of CO2 saved. You then upload this data to the Changer social platform and you are able to engage other users about your contribution to the planet.
To top it off, every Watt-hour of energy you create, you receive a credit or discount voucher to be used with partnering businesses. The device will set you back $149 (£93) and takes four hours of sunlight to charge up.
Changers, founded in Berlin in early 2011, was launched for beta-testing across the Atlantic in California to take advantage of the tech-savvy valley and it's all year sunshine. The company have now made it available worldwide, with people saving energy in such places as New York, Germany and Australia. It seems to be popular as Europe have sold out of the Starter Kit at the time of writing.
As quoted on the GoGreen website, co-founder and CEO of Changers, Markus Schulz said:
"Each of us takes it for granted that we have limitless energy on tap, and as a result we have become completely disconnected from how our actual energy usage impacts the planet. The Changers System aims to shift our attitudes and behavior by enabling each of us to produce our own energy, measure and visualize the real effect of this simple act, and then share our contributions with others. We think that if you can unite people in the pursuit of renewable energy, even small amounts of energy, it will lead to a dramatic transformation in how we source and consume energy."
Changers are looking to improve the environment, both natural and social, through a beautifully designed bit of kit. If it catches on, and we really hope it does, it could change the whole way we all look at energy saving. Rather than a necessity that is hard work and meticulous, it can be fun, engaging and beautifully designed. It also might be essential when 4G is introduced.
Categories: Startups of the week
Tags: Environmental, Mobile, Portable Charger, social marketplace, Social media
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5 top finds #32 »
Doggie paddling, record breaking crowdfunding, tech sings the blues, food art and what's wrong with technology blogging. It's 5 top finds...
1. Underwater dogs
Think pet photography can be a bit boring? We did too – until we saw Seth Castell's work with some canine friends in a swimming pool. Pure genius!
2. Kickstarter goes seven figures (twice)
Last week, disruptive crowdfunding platform Kickstarter (where people pledge money to support creative projects) made history. They had their first ever project, the Elevation Dock, reach $1,000,000 in pledges. Four hours later, Double Fine Adventure broke the $1M barrier – shortly after reaching the project's $400,000 funding goal in just 8 hours. The Kickstarter blog has the details...
3. My printer is a singer
It's not every day you hear an HP printer and a hard drive(!) cover The Animal's hit single 'The House of the Rising Sun' from 1964.
4. Hirst light sliced
We're in love with 'Low-Commitment Projects', the collaborative project between two American artists Brittany Powell and Tae Kitakata. The 'Sandwich Artist' is definitely a tasty treat!
5. It's not about the pageviews
With the slow death of print media, digital journalists/bloggers are having to pick up the pace of publishing content online – more pageviews bring more advertising revenue.
However, quantity does not always mean quality, as ex-professional blogger MG Siegler discusses in this insightful post.
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags: Art, Content strategy, Digital strategy, Photography, Reputation, Social media, Startup
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5 top finds #31 »
Apple attempt to reinvent textbooks (and learning), typographical tube maps, SOPA's good for EU technology businesses, an amusing idea to prevent embarrassing photos and becoming Spiderman. It's 5 top finds...
1. Apple release software to revolutionise publishing – or do they?
Yesterday, Apple debuted two new software products; iBook Author and iBooks 2 – aimed squarely at the education sector and to getting the iPad into schools/ curriculums all over the world.
Whilst the publishing programme iBooks Author does look like a great tool for publishers, there have been some interesting discoveries about the compatibility of its content and the software's licensing terms. We'll be watching how Apple's attempt to reinvent textbooks and classroom learning with interest...
2. A tube map with a difference
The London Underground map is a great thing and a source of inspiration to artists and designers the world over. We think you'll agree TRNSPRTNATION's typographic design is simply stunning.
3. An interesting take on SOPA/ PIPA
The British sense of humour eh? TechCrunch EU editor Mike Butcher published a piece on Wednesday discussing the benefits of censoring the web with SOPA/ PIPA – and gets a few readers riled up in the comments. Well worth a read (but remember, it's a joke).
4. A downside to the social web – blocked by beer
Ever found less than flattering photos of yourself online after a night out? If it's an affliction you suffer from frequently, you may want to invest in South American beer brand Cerveza Norte's 'Photoblocker'. Genius!
5. It's all an illusion. Or is it?
We recently spotted Leandro Erlich's latest installation in Paris – an easy way for anyone to start climbing the walls!
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags: Apple, Sculpture, Social media, SOPA
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What's next for Twitter? »
In the first post in a new series of blogposts (about the future of social media, its impact on business and the potential for innovation), we take a look at Twitter's revenue model.
In just a few short years, social media has changed the way we interact with each other – as consumers, as businesses and as individuals. But there's more to come. We've been covering areas of social interest for a while now here on the Hoop blog, but have yet to discuss where we think the potential for innovation lies.
So we've picked a few of the areas where we think there is room for further innovation...
Twitter needs to start generating (more) revenue
Twitter recently announced they had hit 100m users, who send roughly 5bn tweets every month. To date, the company is valued at $8.4bn after recently closing a funding round that generated $800m. Which is all good and well on the one hand, but not so great when you consider the company doesn't yet have a definitive strategy for monetisation.
Luckily, they have a few options. Twitter currently licenses the 'firehose' – which allow tweets to be searchable in real time – to search engines such as Microsoft's Bing. Twitter did have the sameagreement with Google but it recently fell through. But the firehose surely can't generate enough to cover Twitter's current valuation? So the company needs to also be looking at other revenue generating models.
Arguably the next biggest option would be the potential revenue generated from advertising, be that promoted tweets or trending topics etc. When the model was launched last year, many were happy – as long as the advertising was targeted. Which it was; initially promoted or paid-for tweets were only seen in Twitter search from accounts the user followed. Users seem to like promoted content; with a recent survey showing that around 20% of surveyed users have either used a discount from a promoted tweet or discovered a new brand from one.
Promoted content you didn't ask for
But, at the end of last month, Twitter announced it was rolling out promoted tweets from accounts users don't follow. We were a little uncertain at first – how would this work? How would it be targeted? But then Twitter released a bit more information. These promoted tweets would occur in a user's stream if they followed an account that was subject to these ads. Or, according to All Things D;
In discussions with ad buyers, Twitter is describing the concept, which will roll out to a small subset of users by the end of September, as "Promoted Tweets to users like your followers".
This is a process employed on Facebook when you 'like' a brand's page; you're then subject to advertising from brands that Facebook deems to be similar to the one you've just become a fan of.
So, to justify Twitter's currently large valuation (which will only increase), we reckon we'll be seeing a significant increase in advertising on the social network. Will users cope being subjected from adverts from brands they're not following? If users start leaving the network, what other options will Twitter have to generate revenue instead?
Are there other options?
We'd love to see the site say no to an ad-based model and do something a little different.
Why not use the 5bn tweets a month – a veritable treasure chest of content – as a research tool and turn Twitter into something like a crowdsourced information platform? Or aggregate users and the content they generate into interest groups and sell access to them to advertisers/brands?
Change is coming to the twittersphere, change that will mark a new chapter in the company's history. The outcome is far from certain.
Do you think Twitter will change for better or worse once they finish rolling out the promoted content? Have you got any suggestions or points we may have missed in our discussion about Twitter's future? Feel free to leave us a comment below, via email or of course on Twitter.
Categories: Insight
Tags: Business strategy, Google, Mobile, Social media, Twitter, User centred thinking
