Marketing Brekky @ Tarts_Friday 13th Feb 2015

Agenda

1.    Start off with an introduction: Name, Role, What are you currently working on?
*Flexible and open to all members, with some interesting topics thrown in where required…

 2.    Sydnee Carter
Sydnee Carter (Perth X Factor Contestant). Check out her website www.sydneecartermusic.com

Her original song film clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0vDV8b05js
Sydnee’s song is on ITunes & Spotify

LINKS:
· View Sydnee’s Original X factor Audition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPW1znwXc_c
· View one of her X-factor live performances: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RnSvMoGFtI   
· Listen to originals on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Siddels97
· The infamous Redfoo cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc19y9I6MKg 
· Ashton Kutcher link: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/ashton-kutcher-likes-sweet-sound-of-perths-x-factor-sydnee-carter-20140907-10djmx.html

3. Free Hotel for Instagram Celebrities: The Sydney Hotel where you stay for free if you have 10,000 likes on Instagram: http://www.1888hotel.com.au/#!our-story/c1udm

1.    Amcom supports Space Cubed: helping startups turn their ideas into the next big thing. The program is open to any idea providing it incorporates some software. http://spacecubed.com/2015/02/10/introducing-amcom-upstart-perths-newest-tech-accelerator/

2.    TV Ad Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9ZUGCM2L-o

3.    Cool Technology

Google Cardboard
How It Works
Get it, fold it and look inside to enter the world of Cardboard. It’s a VR experience starting with a simple viewer anyone can build or buy. Once you have it, you can  explore a variety of apps that unfold all around you.

Microsoft’s creating ceiling lamps with light beams that will recharge your phone
Microsoft is developing a system it calls AutoCharge, which is a highly technical, almost insanely complex way of removing almost all of the steps we need to take before power floods into our phone.

AutoCharge really aims to solve the problem of remembering to charge our phones at all, by using solar charging through a light beam projected from lamps on the ceiling. To make sure you don’t even have to remember to place the phone in a specific area, there are cameras to track the location of a phone in the room, then focus the charging beam on it automatically. This isn’t sci-fi either, Microsoft Research has published a paper on the system, which has reached working prototype stage.

Microsoft’s HoloLens headset drops digital creations into real life
Microsoft is going beyond virtual worlds with the announcement of Windows Holographic and Windows HoloLens.

It’s a holographic world, after all Windows Holographic is, at its core, Microsoft’s take on augmented reality, but it utilizes holograms. Powering it all is Microsoft HoloLens, a headset that the company describes as “the most advanced holographic computer the world has ever seen.” The HoloLens headset is equipped with see-through, holographic lenses. It projects holograms that are powered by an unspecified CPU and GPU, alongside a dedicated holographic processor. The HoloLens headset incorporates spatial sound, which allows you to “hear” holograms around you, as well as a wide array of sensors.

Apple Watch
Buyers already interested in the device can explore these menus in great detail, as featured in iOS 8.2 beta 5, as they offer a hint of what Apple has prepared for them. Divided into five categories, including contacts, health, messages, calendar and “more,” the settings menu will let each Apple Watch owner set up the device according to his or her preferences.

For example, users can set up preferred contacts lists and create a list of people to block on the device to limit the number of people who’ll have messages and notifications displayed on a watch.

2015 Sees Hover boards become a reality
Get ready, October 21 2015 will be seeing the launch of the first ever hoverboard technology to the global market. For years children and adults alike have dreamed of owning ‘hover technology, especially after movies such as “back to the future” caught our attention and interest in the mode of travel. October 2015 sees American company Hendo release their 18th prototype of their Hoverboard to the masses for a hefty $10’000 or if your budget is slightly smaller, a five minute ride will set you back $100. Hendo is looking to introduce purpose built skate parks for Hoverboard users. 

5.  Social Media

Twitter struck a deal with Google

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo confirmed reports that Twitter and Google and partners once again. Although no comments have been made regarding what kind of data will be shared between the companies, Costolo commented that the deal with Google was another stepping stone for Twitter in their bid to become “One of the top revenue generating internet companies in the world.” Experts are predicting that it is likely for Tweets to be showing up in Google searches again, as Twitter and Google were doing back in 2009 for a two-year period. This is extremely exciting seeing as Google still commands 75% of the web search market and remains the number one most-trafficked website globally.

Facebook Launches Missing Child Alerts

For years now Facebook has been used as a platform for creating awareness and tracking down missing/abducted children/people and reconnecting long lost family members with each other. In January of this year Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is rolling out Missing Child Alerts that will specifically help families find lost/missing or abducted children. Zuckerberg commented that his team were inspired by seeing people using his social network to track down loved ones and wanted to build a better tool to enable families to be reunited. Zuckerberg commented that “It’s about helping our community be a force for good in the world.”

Instagram rolls out sponsored posts/adverts in Australia

As of the end of 2014 social media giant Instagram rolled out their unique advertising oppourtunity to Australian clients. The ability to advertise to customers via their Instagram photo news feeds. Using age and gender to target consumers is most likely however Instagram has gone to extreme lengths to ensure adverts are artistic and blend in with users feeds to seem like any other photo and not like an advertisement at all. Instgram also launched 15 second auto-play adverts from companies such as Disney and Banana Republic, Instagram has taken a unusually hands-on approach with brands reviewing all clips and images to ensure they contain mostly fresh contant, fit with the vibe of the platform and are not simply repurposed TV/Web commercials.

6.    Updates with Google

SEO/SEM Predictions for the New Year: Update and Refresh Predictions about Google Penguin, Pigeon, and Panda in 2015 Penguin: Expect the trend for Google algorithms to be updated/refreshed on a much more frequent basis. In terms of Google Penguin in 2015 specifically, I absolutely expect more frequent refreshes and updates. I also have a feeling we might see some Penguin activity very soon in January after holiday vacation ends, something about the Penguin 3.0 update seems like it isn’t quite over yet.

Pigeon: Pigeon was a new algorithm for Google in 2014, rolling out slowly last summer and since becoming a fixed staple above the organic listings on SERPs. So, as far as Pigeon goes in 2015, my best guess is that it will continue to be refined and implemented, not only for English queries (its current status), but other language queries as well. Since the rollout of Pigeon is also expected to be continuous, you can pretty much bet that Pigeon will be updated or refreshed either in January or February, especially for Canada/UK/Australia users.

Panda: Google Panda, besides Google Caffeine (the Google web indexing system), is perhaps the most nurtured Google algorithm to date. Pushed out in early 2011, Google Panda is responsible for removing low quality, irrelevant, redundant content from SERPs, i.e. getting rid of thin content sites and boosting great quality content sites. Refreshed regularly, Google Panda keeps the most relevant, robust sites for user search queries in the top ranking spots on SERPS. We can guess that Panda will refresh in 2015 on a continual basis (anywhere from a few times a month to a few times a week), and will continue to track user behaviour and (think bounce rate and time on site for certain keywords and keyword phrases) to fine tune the algorithm even further.

The last Panda update was identified as Panda 4.1, which rolled out in October 2014. In my opinion, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a Google Panda update of some sort in the new year, as early as January or as late as April, with continuous refreshes of Panda 4.1 effecting search queries as much as a few times  a week, maybe even daily refreshes towards the end of 2015.

http://wojdylosocialmedia.com/january-2015-google-pigeon-penguin-algorithm-update-imminent/  

7.    Technology News

How the Sony attack grew from a nuisance to a firestorm
The Interview is removed on December 18, after the studio cancelled its theatrical run." Three days prior to thanksgiving Michael Lynton entered the Sony headquarters to find images of his severed head being displayed on all 700 employees computer screens. Shortly after Sony shut down all computer systems including those in overseas offices. Leaving the company in the digital dark ages: No voice mail, no corporate email and no production systems.

Sony’s biggest mistake in the matter was their disregard for the seriousness of the situation. To begin with Sony merely treated it as an IT matter and a colossal annoyance, taking their time contacting the appropriate law enforcement agencies. Three weeks later however Sony was to become the focal point of a global firestorm over a growing digital attack on its corporate identity and data; its movie ‘The interview’ about the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un; and its own handling of the ensuing crisis.

By December 1, a week after Sony discovered the breach, a sense of urgency and horror had penetrated the studio. More than a dozen FBI investigators were setting up shop on the Culver City lot and in a separate Sony facility near the Los Angeles airport called Corporate Pointe, helping Sony deal with one of the worst cyberattacks ever on an American company.

Mountains of documents had been stolen, internal data centres had been wiped clean and 75 per cent of the servers had been destroyed.

Everything and anything had been taken. Contracts. Salary lists. Film budgets. Medical records. Social Security numbers. Personal emails. Five entire movies, including the yet-to-be-released Annie.

The tech controversies of 2014 (and what we learned from them)
It was a year of controversy, missteps and interesting debates in the tech world. Here are some of the biggest moment’s tech companies faced in 2014 – and what we can learn from them.

Microsoft In an interview with Harvey Mudd College president Maria Klawe, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said that women should have "faith that the system" will reward them, rather than asking their bosses for raises and promotions explicitly. His comments were immediately challenged by Klawe, who politely told Nadella – while still on stage at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing – that she disagreed with him on that point.

Lesson learned: the words that come from the mouths of leaders matter. Nadella apologised within a day for his remarks, saying that he was "completely wrong" and that women should absolutely speak up when they feel they aren't getting equal pay for equal work. "[When] it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it's deserved, Maria's advice was the right advice," Nadella wrote. "If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask."

Google Google found itself at the centre of a case in Europe this year over the so-called "right to be forgotten" – that is, the right to have the links of web sites that embarrass you scrubbed from search engines. The case was brought by a Spanish physician who found references to a debt he'd paid still came up prominently in searches for his name, damaging his reputation. Europe's highest court found in his favour, and ordered search engines – most prominently Google, which argued heavily against the censorship – to begin taking requests for link removal.

Lesson learned: We've certainly all come to believe that what happens on the internet will always be there – some sort of permanent digital record from which there is no hiding. What's interesting about what Google (and others) faced in this instance is that it's clear there is now some backlash against that idea – a development that itself spawns more questions about whether it's possible to regulate the web without hampering its free-flowing nature. That larger debate will only grow more prominent as more countries around the world look to pass laws regulating the online world.

Apple Apple made a lot of news this year, what with the introduction of its new iPhone models – and the mini-controversy that followed when they seemed kind of bendy. But the biggest dust-up the company faced this year came after it appeared that the iCloud accounts of several celebrities had been broken into and looted by hackers, along with compromising pictures of several female Hollywood stars. The theft prompted several people, including hack victim Jennifer Lawrence, to call for stronger privacy laws.


Lesson learned: Apple demonstrated it had learned a lesson in a very clear way; it introduced some new security measures, such as more expanded two-factor authentication, that are aimed at making it harder to hijack iCloud accounts. While companies should look at the hack as an impetus to provide better options to their users, consumers should also be spurred to improve their own security measures.

Facebook Facebook ended up apologising for its "Year in Review" feature, which showed off the most popular post of the past 12 months – in some cases, those weren't welcome memories. That controversy capped off a year of some rough sailing for the social network in terms of how it dealt with users. A summer dustup arose over news that Facebook manipulated users' newsfeeds to measure the effect that the changes had on their moods. Users were also infuriated that Facebook added features that let people inquire about a user's relationship status.
Lesson learned: There's little doubt Facebook knows how to profit off the personal information and preferences on its social network. Now, the company has to show users that it can navigate the line between spinning that information into something useful or seeming exploitative.

Twitter Twitter was at the centre of a long debate this year over how companies should deal with online harassment, as a series of events pointed out just how horrible the digital abuse can be. From harassment of the daughter of late comedian Robin Williams, Zelda Williams, to the digital barbs and outright threats traded during the "Gamergate" controversy, there was a lot of attention paid to the social media site and its role in facing threats – and policing civility – online.


Lesson learned: Twitter has taken some steps to address online harassment while also promising that there is more to come. Changes include allowing other people to report harassment and making the reporting process easier. But many users – particularly feminist activists and anti-bullying groups – say there's a lot of work ahead for the company.

Sony After an unprecedented hack in November, reporters combed through the thousands of internal documents, bringing wave upon wave of embarrassing internal feuds and backroom discussions to light. Meanwhile, the situation took a strange turn when the US found that North Korea was behind the attack in retribution for a film –The Interview – that portrayed the assassination of the country's leader, Kim Jong Un.

But, one could argue, the company came out on top after hitting the depths. Not only did small, film art houses that probably wouldn't ever have carried a Seth Rogen film come to its rescue, so did big streaming companies such as Google and Microsoft. The Interview made $US15 million from online sales in four days; two million watched or downloaded the film. Doing so became an almost political act; something that certainly wouldn't have happened if the movie hadn't been identified as the motivation for the hack.


Lesson learned: Corporations need to spend more time (and money) on cyber defences, since anyone can become a target at any time. It's also, yes, another reminder that there is always a record of the things you say online.

#bye2014: the year of the hashtag What happened in 2014, and who made it happen? 

The hashtag was invented by Twitter users to highlight certain things. Like a highlighter pen online. By clicking on it, it is possible to find out what everyone else in the world who shares the same interest has to say. 

But as the medium has evolved hashtags have become more than just a signifier, and they have moved well beyond Twitter. They have become a code and a rallying cry for those with no political power except their internet connection - a flag, if you like, to stand under.

Let's start locally with an extraordinary example. When Man Horan Monis shocked Australia by capturing those hostages in central Sydney's Lindt café, wielding a weapon and a Muslim banner (a benign one, as it turned out), the Iranian criminal and two of his innocent captors ending up dead as day one of the siege rolled into the next, he became a touchstone for the rising tide of Islamophobia in this country.

Berserk warriors from the extreme right saw it as proof that Muslims not only couldn't be trusted, they wanted to kill or convert us all as well.

Brisbane woman Rachael Jacobs was on a train in Brisbane during the height of it and noticed a lady looking at her phone then beginning to take off her headscarf. 

Jacobs got off with the woman from the train and offered to walk with her. "Our near silent encounter was over in a moment," she wrote later. She told Facebook what happened, a Facebook friend shared it, then someone else on Twitter made the hashtag #illridewithyou. It went viral internationally, tapping into two kinds of fear: the fear of an unhinged hostage taker with a weapon and the fear felt by those made scapegoats for the actions of others.

Also during 2014 young cricketer Phil Hughes was killed while batting for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match in Sydney. He was struck on the neck by a fast bouncer and died the next day. Hughes was important to Australia because he was humble, friendly and determined. He was from a country town. His death was confronting and upsetting.

Kids' cricket teams all over the country honoured him in the days that followed with silence or memorials and the lovely hashtag #putoutyourbats, conceived by Sydney man Paul Taylor, a former grade cricketer, was a phenomenon.

"I'm just Joe Blow from the suburbs," he said later, but at the time, with Hughes only just declared dead in hospital, Taylor picked up his cricket bat, cried, then put it at his front gate with his blue Mosman cricket cap and photographed it, and tweeted it. It became one of the most viral hashtags in history.

Pistorius, of South Africa, would be considered superhuman were it not for his failings. During his long and vigorously broadcast and tweeted trials he was found to be mentally sound enough to face the murder charge and his defence was centred on the claim that he thought she – in another room – was an intruder. He was found guilty of the lesser charge of culpable homicide and sentenced to only five years in jail.

The hashtag in response was one from the internet age. It was cynical, sarcastic and hipster, and invited a response -  #ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence. Some of those responses were 'the sentence in South Africa for stealing a car', and, to cite another 2014 newsmaker, 'A Kardashian's Marriage.'

That Kim Kardashian thing that pledged to 'break the internet', by the way. She's one of three American Kardashian sisters whose first names begin with 'K' and who all seek attention through various strata of celebrity culture. 

Kim, 34, is married to rapper Kanye West and they have a kid called North. Last month she posed nude except for gloves, a necklace and a fallen down gown for a magazine, her back to the camera, her enormous oiled-up bottom (aka booty) floating like some kind of fetishist's blimp in the centre of the frame. The magazine's website got 15 million views in a day.

The internet survived, celebrity culture evolved in a revolting new direction, and apparently there was even an article to go with it.

 
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Quote of the Day:

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” Dolly Parton


Well, that's it for this month and I'm looking forward to the next Marketing Club. At this stage we are thinking April.

Christina Marie Giuffré