Twit Is The New Black

It seems everyone is jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. Now some Pizza hut has created it's own internship position solely for the purpose of Twittering for the company. Just how do you describe that as a marketable skill on your resume?

From Marketing Daily…………..

Pizza Hut 'Twintern' to Guide Twitter Presence

 

Marketers struggling with the social media zeitgeist might be intrigued by a new idea from Pizza Hut. The QSR has announced that it's searching to fill a newly created intern position specifically dedicated to being the company's "voice" on Twitter and helping to guide its presence on other social media. The paid "twintern" job description from Pizza Hut states that the successful candidate will keep its Twitter followers posted on "great deals and menu items from Pizza Hut," as well as "keep a keen eye on pop culture news, off-the-wall stories or anything else quirky and fun that ... would be of interest to loyal Pizza Hut fans." The twintern will also monitor Twitter and alert the company to any negative buzz. In addition, the twintern will bring perspective to other social media such as Facebook (Pizza Hut has nearly a million fans on its page, which includes an ordering widget), and other digital initiatives such as total mobile access and e-gift cards. Aside from being Twitter-literate, applicants must be enrolled in college and willing to work in the chain's Dallas headquarters for the summer. The chosen one will also demonstrate creativity in the application. (Applications are being accepted on pizzahut.com.) "Forward-thinking brands are now on Twitter, whether it's a CEO tweeting on behalf of a company or a world-class athlete," summed up Pizza Hut chief people officer Amanda Fleming. "We are committed to making Pizza Hut a truly digital brand, where customers can connect with real team members from the company and participate in real, honest conversation. Twitter is another way for us to make that connection. It's important for us to be where our customers are, and right now that's social media platforms, such as Twitter." "The social media interns of today will be the CMOs of tomorrow, as social media becomes a fulcrum for communications strategies," predicts Reggie Bradford, CEO of social media services provider Vitrue, adding that if he were "20 again," he'd take the job even without pay. "Marketers are starting to realize that social media provides the opportunity to make the one-to-one connections that build trust and engagement," as well as "get ahead of the conversation" with a strategy that encourages key customer and employee advocates to "fight back" when virtual communications about a brand start to go sour, Bradford says. The need for strategy, he adds, is one lesson to be learned from the recent fallout experienced by Domino's after the stomach-churning video posted by two employees on YouTube. And while social media can clearly create negative brand impacts, they are also "the way to rebuild customer trust and brand image," Bradford says.

Time Inc.'s Mine Magazine is a Printed RSS Feed

Just another example of blogs becoming the norm, an industry standard even.

Time Inc.'s Mine Magazine is a Printed RSS Feed

BY Ariel SchwartzWed Mar 18, 2009 at 9:07 PM

The news just keeps getting more personal. Hyper-specialized blogs, RSS feeds, and personalized Google homepages let us focus on what we care about and tune out the rest. Thus far, personalized news has been limited to the Internet, but Time Inc. is bringing it to the printed word withmine, a five-issue, 10-week, experimental magazine that allows readers to select five Time Warner/American Express Co. magazines that Time editors will combine into a personalized magazine with 56 possible combinations. Essentially, mine is a printed, expanded RSS feed. Magazines available to the program include Time, Sports Illustrated, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Money, In Style, Golf, and Travel + Leisure.

Ads in the mine run will all be for the Lexus 2010 RX SUV--but with personalized messages for each subscriber targeting their interests.

mine's experimental run is free, with a 36-page print edition available to the first 31,000 respondents and an online version available to 200,000 others. The online edition may not be of much interest to readers skilled in the art of Internet news surfing, but mine's printed edition brings an interesting concept to the table: the minimalization of paper waste with personalized magazines and newspapers. Instead of subscribing to five magazines, why not just subscribe to one that has everything you want inside? And instead of subscribing to The New York Times, The Star Ledger, and your hometown newspaper, why not subscribe to a mash-up of all three?

The print media industry may be slowing down, but it isn't dead. Could personalized periodicals help magazines both adjust to the digital age and do right by the environment?

[Mine Via Chicago Tribune]

Radio: The Cockroach of Broadcast Media

I had a radio journalism professor once decribe radio as the cockroach of broadcast media - it will never die. He was referring to the introduction of television and the transformation radio undertook to stay competative. FM and car radios saved the industry.

Well we are gearing up for another shift. New technology and new channels require a little adaptation but iphones and internet will come the rescue again. We just need to convince advertisers to put there money where the listeners are:

FROM INSIDE RADIO:

It’s official: Internet surpasses radio.
The internet is now the third largest ad-supported medium, behind television and print. Radio’s $100 million lead in 2007 evaporated as internet revenues grew 11% last year to $23.4 billion. That’s $3.9 billion more than radio

You Twit

Twitter is everywhere. But is it just adding to the noise or offering useful information? I love twitter and find it very useful for getting a quick idea of the sentamental landscape - how people react to the current events - in someways better than polling, because a twitter is compelled to respond to their community and the response is raw, where as in a poll the responder is caught off guard a bit.

I have to disagree with Dana (my favorite columnist) though on his concluding question - All of which raises a question: Should these guys maybe spend time fixing the country and leave the Twittering to somebody else?

I, like many mellenials, want to know what's on the mind of our decision makers.

A Tale of 140 Characters, Plus the Ones in Congress

By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, February 25, 2009; A03

It's a case of Twittering while Rome burns.

President Obama spoke of economic calamity and war last night in that solemn rite of democracy, the address to the joint session of Congress. And lawmakers watched him with the dignity Americans have come to expect of their leaders: They whipped out their BlackBerrys and began sending text messages like high school kids bored in math class.

"One doesn't want to sound snarky, but it is nice not to see Cheney up there," Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) announced as Obama entered the chamber.

"I did big wooohoo for Justice Ginsberg," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) broadcast, misspelling the name of the ailing Supreme Court justice. McCaskill could be seen applauding with BlackBerry in one hand.

"Capt Sully is here -- awesome!" announced Rep. John Culberson (R-Tex.), spotting the US Airways pilot in the gallery.

Then there was Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), in whose name this text message was sent at about the time the president spoke of the need to pull the country together: "Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that aren't going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour." A few minutes later, another message came through: "Disregard that last Tweet from a staffer."

It's bad enough that Americans are paralyzed by economic jitters. Now the president has to deal with lawmakers paralyzed by Twitter. At a time of national emergency, when America needs the focused attention of contemplative and reflective lawmakers, they are dispatching rapid-fire thoughts in 140 characters or less.

Some members called it a new age of transparency, a bold new frontier in democracy. But to view the hodgepodge of text messages sent from the House floor during the speech, it seemed as if Obama were presiding over a support group for adults with attention-deficit disorder.

And it wasn't just Twitter. "I'm broadcasting live from the middle of Independence Avenue," announced Culberson, in live streaming video on Qik.com. He jammed his 8-gigabyte camera phone into the faces of three Capitol Police and demanded that they introduce themselves. They did not look happy. "The presidential motorcade will be coming from where?" Culberson asked. "What time are you expecting him to arrive?"

"That's classified," an officer replied.

Culberson continued to narrate his walk to the House floor for the speech: "I think that officer there is carrying a fully automatic weapon. . . . I suspect there's a James Bond type or two around this building, probably up there in the Capitol dome." Huffing and puffing as he climbed the stairs, drawing odd glances, Culberson went on. "I'll do one more broadcast and then I will tweet from the floor."

Some of the adolescence on the House floor could be chalked up to excitement. Even President Bush, at 30 percent support in the polls, was mobbed by well-wishers when he walked onto the House floor. And this president is new and highly popular, with an endearing style: a wink at Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a hug for Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a big kiss for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Even the Republican lawmakers went gaga. When Michelle Obama walked in, one young Republican House member turned to a colleague and mouthed, "Babe." Only when Obama claimed his stimulus legislation was free of earmarks did the opposition party howl with derision.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it "a serious speech but one full of hope and optimism." And that was four hours before the speech.

In the House chamber, all the center-aisle seats were claimed early in the day. Lawmakers were so excited about the speech that they began reacting to it long before it was delivered. "The urgency and tone we heard from President Obama tonight is appreciated," Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.). wrote in an e-mail two hours before the speech.

But on this night, e-mail was so five minutes ago. Lawmakers simply didn't have the attention span for anything longer than a tweet.

"On the House floor. Awaiting State of the Union speech. We need positive solutions," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) proclaimed at 7 p.m.

"In the House on the Floor six seats from center aisle stage left. Sitting next to Jeff Flake R-AZ. Seventh row," tweeted Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).

Some of the text messages were substantive. "Interesting comment that 'our confidence is shaken,' " wrote Blumenauer.

Others were atmospheric. "Place is on fire," tweeted Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-Mont).

Many more were self-referential. "I am sitting behind Sens Graham and McCain," wrote Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.).

Or extraneous. "Fixed the tele-prompter, I think," wrote Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).

Some lawmakers did a passable job giving play-by-play and color commentary of the speech: "Sounds like nationalization -- very bad news." . . . "Not many applause lines. Some in the audience not sure how to react." . . . "First big divide: he thanks Congress for recovery act. D's cheer, R's silent." . . . "Some Republican Senators are standing and clapping, including McCain." . . . "We must stand our ground as conservatives." . . . "Best line: 'For 7 years we have been at war. No longer will we hide its price.' " . . . "Seems to me honoring our troops should come on page one rather than the end of the speech." . . . "Americans are not quitters -- Amen -- what a great story."

And how many were reading these dispatches? Those following Congressman Wittman at 9:40 p.m.: 44. Senator McCaskill: 1. Congressman Blumenauer: 0. The live-streaming Culberson topped them all with 8,216.

All of which raises a question: Should these guys maybe spend time fixing the country and leave the Twittering to somebody else?