So far, Facebook has received many criticisms for not finding their own way of doing things, however, our take is that, if it facilitates sharing and diffusing information, why not? Plus, why invent the wheel?

The new feature allows you to post other people’s shared items in your own activity stream, but of course, showing who the original poster of the item is. To stay on top of the game, or, top of Twitter’s game, Facebook has implemented this tool which makes promotion even more viral.

As shown on the above image, there’s an opt-out option (remove link) at the very top of the window that you select in order to avoid announcing the source from which your post comes from. However, it would make more sense to leave the shared option as default (give credit to what credit is due) and generate virality for the posts.

Another similar functionality which not many users are aware of yet, is the status tagging tool on Facebook. Just like in Twitter, Facebook users can add @ before any person’s name, page, group or company, and the person/business/page/group will be automatically tagged once post goes live. Unlike Twitter, the @ won’t be visible, it only works to activate the tagging feature and once the status update is published, only the selected ‘contact’ will appear for your friends to click on to find out more.

The video runs through some big events of 2009 (mostly from a US perspective), starting with the heroic plane crash landing by Pilot Sully Sullenberg on the Hudson River, the deadly and widely spread swine flu, NY Yankees victory, the Twitter boom, and finally ending with a clip of Barack Obama.

Although is goes by quite quickly, the video provides an entertaining overview of the year, however you might have to watch it more than once.

Check it out:

And it is due to the climbing popularity of these services and tools that brands are embracing these new technologies as new methods for better customer engagement and communication. Those who fail to join the bandwagon will have a lesser opportunity of profiting from the positive impact these strategies can generate as well as the easiness of connecting with their target audiences in an innovative manner that paves the way for an interactive two-way conversation with people.

Below I will highlight some great initiatives which have created significant online buzz.

First up, Quicksilver. Quicksilver The Spot is a video that has been embedded into the brand’s site. What’s cool about it is that just when you think you’re watching an ordinary video, you realize you can’t click anywhere, lower/increase the volume, make it into full screen mode because the spot is the website itself. Skateboarders are everywhere, the more they jump the more they dismantle the site (browser even shakes) and the different pieces that fall apart- Quicksilver logo, text, video window- are used as obstacles to do their tricks. Once video is over, viewers can either share through email or Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.

Prototype, is a new game by XBox 360, which I have to say, has been the coolest use of Facebook Connect I’ve seen so far. Once you go on to the page, it requires you to sign in with Facebook Connect, then it’ll launch the game preview that is actually customized with some of your Facebook personal data. Sit back and enjoy.

Next one up is a different use of phone applications while the previous two were mainly for social networks. The Nissan Cube Accessorizer is an iPhone application that let’s you design and customize your own Nissan Cube. Similar to the Nike ID website, except this time, you won’t be choosing the color of you shoe or gym bag, instead you’ll be ticking boxes for exterior and interior accessories that you’d like to see on your Cube: Fog lights, side mirror covers, roof spoiler, interior accenet lighting, utility pouch, etc.

Last but not least, is UPS’s Virtual Box Simulator. This is a video created using augmented reality or virtual reality, which is a new technology that will blur the line between what’s real and what’s computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell. The UPS Virtual Box Simulator was created to allow Ups customers to use their webcam and the Ups Virtual Box Simulator to project box holograms onto the image from the camera, explained the postal service site, then, compare the size of the real stuff you want to ship to size of the virtual box on your screen.

Agencies, brands and marketers are all dedicating more time and effort to get people’s attention in the online arena through the use of original and creative methods of advertising. The creative campaigns really show how brands are harnessing the power of social media and leveraging these instruments to boost their brands to their target audiences, generate awareness and create massive buzz.

Don’t you sometimes wonder how a video reaches 100,000 views? Usually it’s not necessarily a natural process in which this happens, it’s precisely why we call them ‘viral’, because they spread quickly and widely throughout the Internet.  People share them via emails, sms, social networks (Facebook), forums and blogs of course.

I just ran across a cool site dubbed Viral Video Chart by Unruly Media-the company behind the chart, which classifies videos according to popularity from the different video sharing sites, mainly the three most influential: YouTube, MySpace and Google Video.

Basically, the guys at Unruly Media browse several million blogs a day to see which videos are creating the most buzz. They take two main aspects into consideration, the number of times the video is linked to and the number of times the video is embedded.

Every day, Unruly Media posts up the top 20 videos of the day. Sometimes in their charts you might see videos from the previous day etc, if not, that means they’re obviously not popular anymore and a new list is then cooked up featuring hot, new content.

A cool aspect of the site is that for every video featured on the Top 20 chart, they include colorful line charts and pie graphs displaying a recap on the total views, buzz by language, trends and an entire list of all the blog posts that have made reference to a particular video.

I’ll leave you now with a couple videos taken from today’s Top 20 chart which have definitely made their way into the headlines these days:

CarreerBuilder.com

Cadbury Dairy Milk

In the last few weeks, students, professors, researchers, and almost everyone involved in the education industry, have been protesting in the streets of Italy’s major cities expressing their opposition towards a new law put forward by Minister Mariastella Gelmini and approved by the parliament October 29th 2008.

The newly approved reforms will have an effect on all levels of the education system, from primary schools up to the higher education institutions.In primary education, the principal issue for both teachers and parents alike is the return of the “maestro unico”  – a single teacher assigned to teach all subjects to one class (as done in the UK). There is also discontent with regards to the cut-back in school hours- from 30-40 hours a week to 24, depending on the school.

One of the biggest criticisms is that Gelmini has decided to make drastic changes to the very part of the education system that works well in Italy. European research has shown that Italian primary schooling is one of the most effective systems in the EU. Proposed changes to higher education are currently under debate in the Parliament and the government has shown willingness to listen to the protests. However, we can expect continued protests in the wake of the announcement of indiscriminate cuts and the potential privatisation of the Universities and higher education institutions. Whilst it is generally agreed that the system is inefficient and in need of reform, it has always been considered a public service, based on equal opportunities for everyone.

The protesters particularly criticize the reduction in funding for Universities and research budgets when weighed against all the money recently spent to “save” national airline Alitalia together with recent military spending.

Demonstrations as such have existed in the past, but what distinguishes this from other protests is the use of the internet.  The internet was the principal source of information for many who participated and it enabled the manifestations to be coordinated on a national scale.  Social networks, forums and blogs played a key role in spreading the news virally, allowing numerous people to participate in the debate and plan the initiatives to spread almost instantly across online communities.

Once again the people have chosen the internet as a source of information, a way to meet like-minded people and for coordination purposes.  The internet evidently shows to be an instrument for democracy, where ideas can be generated from the bottom up and where the public can influence and respond to decisions made by policy-makers. If only the Italian politicians were a bit more Web 2.0 and up-to-date with the current communication channels, the people and politicians could “meet each other” on the internet which, in my opinion, could bring great benefit to the country.

Viral equals a positive message. There can be good viral campaigns and bad viral campaigns. The reputation crisis which detonated this past weekend which was witnessed by just about every single mom-blogger existent in the blogosphere gives us the bad version of it.

For those of you who happened to be away from your computers, here’s a quick sum up. The McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a division of J&J, launched an offline/online campaign sending what was obviously, the wrong message to current and future moms.

The advice to moms: “take Motrin to ease the agonizing pain caused from carrying your (innocent and beautiful) baby on your back all the time”

The reply from moms- 48 hrs. after campaign was put online: “How dare you, Motrin!”

Within hours both Twitter and YouTube were flooded with anti-Motrin remarks and anti-Motrin videos. Every single mom in the blogoshere made sure her voice was heard by the people back in McNeil Consumer Healthcare. Take a look at how the online reputation crisis for Motrin was like over the weekend:

Motrin eventually pulled the ad and offered their sincere apologies, as still displayed on the Motrin site.

The Motrin case serves as more than valuable evidence that social networks have an immeasurable potential and really do work. As a colleague of mine says, social media really brings ‘power to the people-we better think twice before publishing any kind of message up on the Web’.

Most importantly, companies today should have a very clear idea who their messages are intended for and know exactly what their target audience is and not just assume that ‘moms feel pain from wearing their babies’.

Then I think of Facebook and realized that there is an official page dedicated to the US election and that a stunning over 4 million people have already expressed their vote…

so who is the President Mr Zuckerberg? I imagine you sitting at home knowing you have access to more qualified expressions of vote that any other exit poll company in the World.

I have not investigated the reasons why Facebook is not releasing in real time the expression of votes received but I guess it it linked to US laws…still what a powerful platform Facebook has become in such a short perion of time.

Well congratulations Mr President Obama. Not only you are probably (did not check this either) the youngest and first black person to become President of the United Stated but you have also reached a 100 years record in people who went to vote. I believe this is also due to the importance of Internet in your communication strategy that brought a lot of young americans closer to politics.

You started with a “Yes we can”

Now it is time to prove us that you really can make things better. Good luck!

Will Sony Ericsson’s new thriller impulse consumers into acquiring the new, out-of-the-oven Xperia X1?

Sony Ericsson is virally streaming a short trailer introducing a man, known as Johnny X, (a hot guy) who has partially lost his memory and the only way to go about investigating on his life is through his handy Xperia X1.

Personally, after seeing the Who is Johnny X trailer, all I could think of was the Bourne Identity, starring Matt Damon.

Wasn’t it something like this? A guy living on the edge, escaping from life-threatening situations, who is then persecuted by…the bad guys.

Sony Ericsson hopes to attract consumers through this viral video which will soon have a sequel to it, but for now, it remains an intriguing campaign.

Cool thing is that adverts for mobile phones generally don’t have much oomph to them. They mainly focus on the phone itself and shooting it at different angles along with the usual hot chick who’s always there.

It’s the first initiative coming from a phone manufacturer to use the viral route to promote a new device.

Check out the trailer!

Michael Moore, the liberal filmmaker is not one to keep his mouth shut about making political statements. Oh, that much we know. Among the many efforts he’s made in addressing America on what he thinks should be the ways of politics, his second to last being: Mike’s Election Guide 2008 available at Amazon.com.

Today, the new buzz sounds more like, “Slacker Uprising,” Moore’s new major film to be released online for FREE!

“This is being done entirely as a gift to my fans. The only return any of us are hoping for is the largest turnout of young voters ever at the polls in November.”
– Michael Moore

Inspirational I would say. The movie will be released this Sept. 23rd and will be available to everyone for a free download, plus, a DVD will be released as well, available at Amazon starting in October.

Let’s go back to the movie one second. It’s the first ever major feature-length film to be released for free on Internet,- not a YouTube streaming-, it’s an actual movie download.

“Slacker Uprising” traces Moore’s odyssey during his 62-city tour of the swing states during the 2004 US Elections and on this tour he recorded the thrilling response he received across the country.

The documentary features Moore trying to persuade and convince the ‘young America’ to give up couch-potatoism, referred by Moore as ’slackers,’ and give voting a try. To encourage these impossibly-to-convince slackers, he offered free Ramen Noodles and promised there would be absolutely no politicians featured during his tour.

His big hope- all slackers to get up and vote in this year’s Presidential elections.

Demand is going to be huge for this, so go ahead and book your download TODAY!

I’m gonna leave something nice and sweet for you today. But I have to clear up one, small detail before I can go on explaining.

I stumbled upon this site for the first time last week and came back to it again today out of curiosity. It so happens something slightly changed- luckily, it still works to prove my point.

Last week, the Natural Confectionery Company was offering a bag of free sweets!:-) which at the end engaged the viewer into putting in their contact details in order to get the treat delivered to them.  Due to the campaign’s utter success, they ran out of treats :-(.

My point though, is that the campaign is a great example of viral marketing through the act of giving away yummy treats. You say the word FREE and you’re virally spreading at the speed of light.

Not only that, but I must admit I love their creativity; it’s a cool/funny/catchy campaign.

Check it out the natural confectionery site!

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PS: Dear 77LABers, tomorrow is national holiday in Italy, dubbed Ferragosto, hence, I will not be posting anything up. You’ll see me up again on Monday. Thanks  :-)