Websites like Klout are giving individuals and companies an insight into their ‘sphere of influence’ with ratings and graphs to show how well you infleunce others, and how others influence you. Moreover, these tools can be helpful to see how valuable your relationship is with other users on popular social networks.

How does this have any relevance to what you do? Whether you have 100 fans or a million, if you can’t inspire your followers to take actions, then your influence is fairly dismal.

It is unlikely that anyone would have a million Facebook fans and not have some form of influence for them liking you, but then what? What do you do once you have your fan base for your company? For singers and film studios like Paramount, Facebook fan pages and twitter accounts are a good way to pump out regular news bulletins about upcoming products. With a dedicated readership, you can sell whatever you want in your niche.

So is influence more important than the number of fans you have? Definitely. If we take a look at conversion rates, that is, the percentage of people clicking on your product links, this can indicate how well you are reaching out to your customers/fans. Of course, with Twitter and Facebook there are millions of other users clamoring for the same spotlight, and you are effectively competing with other people even within similar niches. How you get your fans to buy into what your selling depends on your influence and how they perceive you.

For bloggers, writers and journalists, being influential on the web can help bring big audiences to written articles, but if those audiences are not in to what your writing, or just added you to make another friend count on their own profile, then it is of little use.

Websites like Klout give an indication over how you affect other users, measuring interactions, which brands, film studios, small businesses and individuals should take note. If you know an influential Facebook or Twitter user with a niche audience, it might be worth reaching out to them about promoting your products, instead of a google ad word campaign.

What do you think? Does influence matter for you?

Check out Klout.com to test your level of influence.

It was announced today that digital ad network Specific Media acquired Myspace for a figure that was close to $35 million. While Myspace may have suffered a steady decline in recent years, it is not the only social network feeling the pinch. Triumphant and unbeatable Facebook is also losing members in the US, and has notably passed saturation point and its inevitable dip. The nature and high speed pace of change on the web is making it more difficult for other social networks to even make an impact as new technologies continue to alter our needs. With iPads and Iphones selling by the truck load in many markets, the web is going micro, but will social media have a home on the go?

Well, as for the price tag for Myspace, $35 million is a bargain compared to its initial purchase price tag of $580 million, a bet that proved catastrophic for News Corp.

Even though Myspace is widely seen as ‘yesterday’s social network’ it still has close to 130 million members according to CNN. This makes it a formidable marketing engine for advertisers, and will prove its worth in the market. However, for Specific Media, turning a profit on a brand that is struggling to maintain its once dominant presence, won’t be easy.

Let’s take the minimal word count for an article, a typical 175 words is your average nowadays, but some agencies and blogs are sticking to 125 words or less. Surely Google should be placing more emphasis on word counts now that the market has been flooded with people just looking to turn a dime on advertising.

There is money to be made with ads but there is also quality to be lost, and non-engagement. As readers will find out over the next few years, more and more blogs will scramble for higher readership over quality.

The faster stories are turned out, the quicker they can get indexed, but at a cost to your audience and the information they seek. You may have the right keywords in your article, but if it’s just to sell out and get the people searching for those terms, its a lose-lose situation.

Sites like the BBC or CNN have professional journalists with years of experience in their fields. They spend their time, writing lengthy essays, analysis and perspectives on key areas of news.

For us in the entertainment industry, there tends to be less focus on in-depth coverage, but more on celebrity gossip, getting those short, quick bulletins out there with the latest trend, but without value.

What do you think? Is the quality of what you read online falling, or do you have a good choice of outlets that give you what you want?

What about the ipad and its equivalent devices which now put the news in your hands digitally? Will you want to read less because there is more choice?

Facebook may still be the largest social network in the world, but its application in the media cycle is far from the likes of twitter.

In fact, twitter has become such a mainstream tool for media agencies, that news is now regularly quoted from the site.

What is the big deal about 140 character messages? Speed. Delivery of timely news content from the actual source is the fastest way to go, and now that twitter has an army of celebrities, PR agencies, Chuck Norris fans and Justin Bieber lovers, their messages are instantly quotable and verified.

So why is Facebook losing this influence war in the media cycle? Privacy issues have made Facebook less secure, less open, and most of all, less quotable. The site has become over saturated with fake user accounts, spam emails, and fan pages that don’t have the branding that speaks out to news agencies to quote them. Twitter is far more practical for news agencies, and most importantly, a majority of twitter users don’t hide their tweets. Although Facebook still provides a great outlet for people to communicate with friends and family, it doesn’t push the news cycle agenda, nor does it really need to.

In the period of near universal transparency on the web, privacy has become the ‘enemy’ of the free movement of information. Twitter is the source that keeps the news flowing.

Would you quote Lady Gaga’s facebook fan page, or her personal twitter account?

What is the iCloud exactly? Think of it as a fancy digital wireless hard drive with the Apple software integration you get on your mac between devices.

The iCloud stores apps, pics, music, and basically all the data you would have stored on your hard disk and makes it available to your wireless devices.

In a way its a good management tool for those hardcore Apple fans who have endless gadgets at home, but it’s not a game changer.

This will come in handy for those only with multiple gadgets (more than 2). If you have a macbook with an iphone, getting an iCloud won’t make sense. Yet another clever device from Apple, but don’t go rushing to buy it.

The mobile phone market is opening up to movies as short form content and viral videos head to cell phones like the iPhone. Although you wont be watching videos with your phone attached to your ear, the risks of mobile phone radiation are still unknown.

Cell phones have not been around long enough for us to truly understand their causes, but studies are continuing on the matter. Despite today’s announcement by the WHO (World Health Organisation) no direct link between mobile phone radiation and humans has been established but there is a plausible risk.

Do you watch movies on mobile phones, or browse the internet using 3g or wifi networks?

Useful links : Assessing risks using mobile phones

Digital piracy has had a huge negative impact on the film industry because it has taken away profits from physical sales like DVD, Blu Ray and also rentals. With millions of illegal downloads daily worldwide, the entertainment business is suffering from huge losses. Investment in movies is much more selective, with fewer medium budget movies getting made.

Studios like Paramount are looking for alternative ways to beat digital piracy but ultimately government regulation is needed to stop widespread illegal file sharing. How would this happen? Will ISP’s start cutting people off from the internet, or should corporations sue individuals?

The problem is so widespread that the negative impact on the film industry is forcing retailers as well as filmmakers out of business. India and China are two markets with rampant illegal file sharing, that DVD sales are dwarfed by pirate copies.

Can governments truly stop digital piracy without touching on people’s freedoms? The internet, is after all, still very new, and regulation, on a global level, has never been done before.

For celebrities, twitter has become a digital news outlet because with so many followers, including agencies and bloggers, who needs an official press release?

With tweets taking less than 10 seconds to create, and countless articles being published thanks to those celebrity tweets, are publicists feeling left in the dark?

News releases are not something new, but the technology to deliver them has changed, and while twitter is still a social tool, it has the reach to be so much more.

So will twitter become a personal digital publicist to replace PR? Not likely. Having an account on twitter, facebook or other platforms doesn’t guarantee people are going to listen to what you have to say. In fact, getting a reputation for what you say comes from your ability to do something ‘unique’. If you have 100 fans on facebook and you write a press release, will bloggers and magazines do a write up? Highly unlikely.

PR and online marketing is integral to the success of companies and individuals. Twitter is a great outreach to fans, but releasing news needs the skill of a capable publicist.

With the huge growth in apps and a massive increase in sales for both gadgets, and in general, for mobile phones connected to the web, it is likely, many news agencies will pursue this with intrigue.

It is no secret that the revenue model for newspapers has changed because of a shift in advertising from print to the web. Competition is also much more fierce because even blogs are capable of delivering timely news content to niches.

How will mobile apps and portable ‘media centers’ impact your news experience? One thing is certain, with a growing market for content delivered via small portable devices, it is inevitable that news content must be available to a new set of eyeballs.

In a few years time, we can expect these devices becoming the first place for where news is read. This changes the relationship of the media and its readers. Also, with apps, who knows how far the customization of your reading experience will go? Expect a more interactive future.

Websites for apps via ipad and mobile phones
News.me
Snaptu

From personal branding strategies to web marketing approaches, celebrities as well as companies are using social media as the first outlet for their pr campaigns. Social media provides an outlet to target fans, and consumers of products in any niche, and with the viral nature of the medium, it can mean big money.

One recent web marketing approach that succeeded through social media was Charlie Sheen’s twitter world record. There was a huge amount of buzz surrounding an interview he did on ABC, and various controversies surrounding his life. This captivated people to want to hear more. Sheen set up a twitter account, and soon, the viral nature of that interview encouraged a huge following of millions of fans. Without social media in 2011, Charlie Sheen would not have been able to capitalize on business opportunities without having his ‘brand’ available online.

So what did Sheen benefit from? Being able to promote his upcoming concert, radical hilarity and news using direct marketing approaches to his fans he accumulated on twitter. Social media in this instance not only earned him over 7 figures, but his branding now reaches a lucrative online audience ready to buy ‘Charlie Sheen’.

Does a 3D TV make sense when the technology seems to change at an ever faster pace? When the Blu Ray came out, it was already made obsolete by online HD streaming. Although this is still far from being deliverable to a majority of customers due to the speed of the internet, will they want to take on 3D as another addition to their home viewing experience?

At the cinema there is a huge demand for 3D movies, especially for big blockbusters and animations like James Cameron’s Avatar. But will there be a point when 3D movies replace the home viewing experience or is this just a fad?

The film studios are piling huge resources into the 3D box office phenomenon, and 3D is slowly getting translated to the home. What do you think the future of 3D is?

A look at 3D

3D Format Wars

’3D is the future’ : Dreamworks

The world has become so reliant on these huge networks that global communication could be affected drastically if all three were taken offline at the same time. As skype replaces global phone calls, twitter becomes the news station, and facebook the ‘everything I do in the day’ centre, what would happen if they all failed?

Have we become so dependent on technology that the evolution of our existence is dependent on it? Going back to the 90s none of this was even imaginable to most people, but now it feels like a birth right.

The world economy’s future will inevitably feature websites and applications such as these to run businesses, but they may be too big to fail. Should government step in when they do?

Twitter

With millions of tweets a day, constant news from celebrities and companies, mainstream media can’t keep up.

The speed in which twitter delivers breaking news always outpaces TV networks and online news portals. Only when the tweet is up, can they start to digest what it means.

Celebrities have made the site more of a news phenomenon and thanks to the viral nature of the web, their tweets are always followed and seen by millions.

More news headlines today are getting created through the news that breaks on the service. Does this mark the beginning of a new chapter for journalism? The answer seems to be a big yes.

The landscape of indie filmmaking constantly evolves, and with the DSLR becoming the standard, the industry is adapting to the fast production turnaround. The HD workflow has always been an issue, but as the technology for data storage improves, and edit suites get faster, shooting HD makes sense.

What gives these filmmakers an added boost is the ability to earn money with their cameras through site profit shares like youtube. The advertising model is slowly turning mini films into money for content makers, but there is still a long way to go.

What the DSLR represents in the film industry today, is a an affordable solution for high end filmmaking. How will this evolve, and will the format become even more consumer friendly with new Panasonic and Sony Cameras. Is the era of the Red Camera already over?

Films Shot on the Canon 7D

These talented filmmakers have created visually stunning music videos and shorts. Below are just a few we have chosen from the many available online. Check out their fan sites and web pages.

Philip Bloom – Timelapse over Dubai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-v-h9zJaco

Philip Bloom is a talented DP and world renowned filmmaker. His innovation using the Canon 5D MKII and the 7D are some of the most inspiring short movies on the web. Check out his website for more videos and how tos.

Merlyn Haycraft – Boxed Man Short Film

Merlyn Haycraft is an independent filmmaker based in London. Merlyn made his latest short film ‘A Boxed Man’ which depicts the story of John S, a man who lives in a boxed life. The visual metaphors in this short film are well conceived, entirely shot on the Canon 5D and brings out the best in his own personal creativity. This kind of film is the perfect project for these small DSLR cameras

Cinnammon Chasers – Winner of the 2010 SXSW Festival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8Y1MalRrDc

Shot on the Canon 5D Mark II, film director Saman Keshavaraz created a visually stunning ‘video holiday’ in the form of a music video with a tourist feel and a great story. It won the Best Music Video award at the 2010 SXSW festival and has been highly praised by the film industry. Saman’s use of a custom face mounted rig allowed him to devise the concept of an ‘ego trip’ which blends the beauty of the Canon 5D full frame chip, and quality editing to make this a fun visual ride.

Do you like these films? Have you used the Canon 7D before?

Brandchannel, the webby-award winning website from Interbrand the leading global brand consultancy, today published it s annual Brandcameo Product Placement Awards

Since 2001, Brandchannel has tracked brands appearing in top movies, as well as those in numerous other independent, mainstream, and foreign language films. Its cross-referenced database contains thousands of product placements in over 330 films.

Highlights of the 2010 Brandcamero Product Placement Awards include:
Apple wins the 2010 Award for Overall Product Placement for a second consecutive year by appearing in 30% of all top box office films in 2010. This caps off a decade during which Apple products appeared in a full third of 334 films that reached number one status at the U.S box office. With roles in film from Kick Ass to The Other Guys to Toy Story 3, Apple product placements bested those of runner ups Chevrolet, Ford and Nike.

Oscar nominee The Fighter wins the Award for Product Placement Achievement by an Oscar Nominated Film for its heavy, and character-building use of Budweiser. Adam and Cat Stone, credited product placement coordinators on the film, said the Budweiser placements were a matter of historical accuracy and really the only choice that made sense in the film.

After 22 years of invaluable free advertising from Hollywood, handgun maker Glock is recognized with the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award for Product Placement. Proving itself an onscreen necessity for action films, Glock has grown from the mysterious foreign firearm (1989′s Johnny Handsome) to a common onscreen costar (2010′s Salt, The Other Guys, The Town).

Iron Man 2 wins in two categories, receiving the 2010 awards for Achievement in Product Placement in a Single Film and for Achievement in Press Coverage. Featuring 64 identifiable products, Iron Man 2 both contained the most product placement of any top film in 2010 and was the most mentioned by the press for overboard product placement.

Complete results, including more data, are available online