For the Content Hungry: The Eat Media Blog

From the “It’s-never-too-late-to-learn-a-new-trick” category, the Vatican has launched its very own YouTube Channel.

It’s pretty basic so far, but you can have it translated into Italian, German or Spanish. Currently, there are only 18 videos on the site and they are almost all of Pope Benedict XVI speaking, but the potential for the site is amazing.

There are links to Radio Vaticana, the papal state’s radio service, Centro Televisivo Vaticano, the Vatican’s television station, the Vatican’s official website and the official website of the Vatican state (in Italian only).

On the YouTube channel, I’d like to see way more from the history side of things, as well as a video library of Pope John Paul II’s greatest hits, but it’s early in the process.

What happens next will say a lot. Launching a social media portal is one thing; nurturing a social media portal is another. How much are you investing in the care and feeding of your social media assets?

— Jonathan

True, the micro-blogging service has been a social media darling in 2008, attracting plenty of attention. And sure, it has been growing by leaps and bounds, but how does it stack up against the titan of social media, Facebook?

Not so well. In fact, so poorly, that it’s largely irrelevant. The same report stated that despite Twitter’s skyrocketing growth (in terms of registered users), it would take 36 years to catch up to Facebook, and that’s if Facebook stopped growing today. Twitter may have 5 million or so users, but Facebook is adding that many in a little over a week.

So, Tweet all you want, but you’ll remain on the fringe of the social media universe. It’s an elite fringe, for sure, and it’s probably a good way to connect with influencers, but Twitter’s a long way from being a smart or viable marketing platform.

- Jonathan

Have you ever dialed a phone? I mean really dialed a rotary phone.

Not many people have.

In fact, fewer and fewer Americans are dialing a phone of any sort at all in their homes.

Nearly 18 percent of U.S. households no longer have home phone service and rely completely on wireless phones. This is up several percentage points over the previous year.

(An interesting footnote: wireless-only households tend to be occupied by people who have a tendency toward smoking and binge drinking. Go figure.)

Big whomp, you say. Landline phones have been in decline for years and many cell phone users are drunken chimneys.

But consider this: by 2020, the majority of people worldwide will be accessing the internet primarily through their mobile phones.

So if you want to get a little ahead of the curve, work on your mobile marketing and mobile storytelling right now. Cell phone novel, anyone?

-Jonathan

The instant gratification of digital cameras has largely killed off the market for film cameras. One of the early—and greatly lamented—casualties of this evolution, has been the Polaroid. You remember the Polaroid—Aunt Gloria would always trot one out at Christmas—and snap small, fuzzy photos of everyone in the room. But, unlike every other film camera, Polaroid photos would develop themselves right in front of your eyes.

It was magical.

Now the magic may be coming to a close—as Polaroid plans to stop producing the film in February 2009—but fret not. Those of you with a flair for the vintage, but who have long since sold your Polaroid camera for 25 cents at a garage sale, now have a digital option.

Go to www.poladroid.net and follow the simple steps.

Here’s how one recent photo of my son went from 2008 to 1977 in a flash.

This is one of those rare moments when digital technology both killed off and preserved one of its analog predecessors. So the lesson to be learned is: Nostalgia is a powerful force; don’t forget that when you are planning a content strategy. But, fer Gawd’s sake, make sure you use 21^st century technology to implement that strategy.

-Jonathan

Check out—Facebook Ad Battle

Another example of “lots of people probably thought of it, but someone executed it.” Do you have a drawer full of ideas you can’t get to because you’re busy with________?

Content-Branding-Design: In that order, for a reason. Open that drawer—the busy work will always be there.

-Ian

The Olympics were all abuzz this summer about the new Speedo LZR suits the swimmers were wearing. Speedo’s technology meant swimmers were able to use 5% less effort to achieve the same speed. Less effort, better results—that makes sense.

In the past few months, we’ve been working with a number of companies transitioning from the old rules and old technologies to the new rules and new technologies. And I am here to say that transition isn’t always pretty and organizations are working too hard for mediocre results—picture the 400 medley in a 3-piece suit.

A few of the Old School to New School challenges we have seen are:

Refusing to be Nimble—Today’s organizations need to pace themselves according to the technologies that are dictating their future. Applying 1980s project management techniques and meeting schedules to a 2008 landscape virtually assures your organization will be playing catch-up. Things move fast today and if that means you need to re-org to streamline, do it. Don’t let politics and poor project management be the difference between success and failure.

Hot Potato—When transitioning from the old rules to the new rules there are two schools of thought. One, champion the hell out of the new rules and fight the underlying tide that is the status quo. Or, try to appease the status quo and move forward with your plans while never really taking ownership (or creating a confusing hierarchy) of the project. If the first plan works, you’re a hero, and if it doesn’t…well it will. If the second plan works, you’re a hero, and if it doesn’t, no one knows who to blame.

The Safety Dance—Yes, there are industries that require curtsies to regulations and legal verbiage but at a certain point the marketing department has to get legal to bend a bit. Try this; “They won’t be able to sue us if we don’t differentiate ourselves because…we won’t be around anymore.”

A Website is Not the Answer—If you are placing ads in magazines you should have a social media strategy in place. I recently worked on a campaign for a company who was on the fence about putting their URL in the print ad. I am one of the few who think print isn’t dead but I do realize that it needs an overhaul. (If you can name 10 friends who have an e-book reader, email ian at eatmedia.net and I will jump into panic mode.) Until then, the case is clear—if you are using your website as a business card only (i.e. Home/Products/Contact Us) and your organization doesn’t have a blog, news feed or a content strategy, start worrying.

In the end, it is all about budgets and approvals but it’s also about speed and selecting the correct strategies and tools for the job/race. Big fan of the suit and tie here, but I wouldn’t jump into a pool with my 3-piece suit against my competitor wearing a time-shaving Speedo.

Back in my MIT days I saw E-Ink at a MITERS club event. Back then it was wires, leads, vellum and batteries (as I recall). It has tickled my head with possibilites ever since—looks like it may be en route finally.

Check out this article at BoingBoing