Five things on Friday #168

Things of note for the week ending Friday March 18th, 2016.

Things of note for the week ending Friday March 18th, 2016.

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1. SO, YOU WANT TO GO VIRAL
Or do you?

If you’ve been around or near the Internet over the past couple of weeks, you probably would’ve seen or read this tweet:

It’s funny. Amazing. Saddening. All of the things, basically. And, as you can tell, it went super viral.

You might be thinking ‘Hey, how awesome that is for the lovely Nathalie. She gets an endless amount of internet-adulation-induced dopamine hits and there’ll be smiles all round!’ – right?

Yeah, maybe.

If you ever wanted to know what it’s like to go viral, Nathalie has a good write up (and a healthy pov on the world) – so go read.

2. ADIDAS AND CONTENT

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I read this article last weekend:

‘How Adidas is using newsrooms to create five great pieces of content a week, not just five great ads a year‘

…and I thought ‘Eh? Surely, all brands approaching some level of social media / content publishing maturity have adopted this kind of approach? How is this news?’

I mean, like, what, seriously?

Case in point:

Real-time marketing needs to be about more than just ‘now’ at the world’s second biggest sportswear business. It needs to be laser-focused on telling the bigger brand story rather than content tied to the latest headlines in order to boost the relevance of social communications.

Wait, you mean… we have to tell brand stories? In social? In 2016?

NO. WAY.

I don’t know, maybe I’m feeling particularly bullish after a long week but, to me at least, this just reads like an inconsequential puff piece.

Read it.

Tell me what you you think.

3. GAMES FOR GOOD

I this. SO much.

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I mean, what else is there to say?

Red Cross took a bunch of old arcade games, stuck some collection boxes underneath them, and then whacked them in airports.

It’s called ‘The Charity Arcade‘ and it made me really, really happy.

Well. Done.

4. TWITTER’S METRICS NARRATIVE

Yeah, so maybe it’s just a bullish week.

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What started as a noodle after doing some Super Bowl research for a presentation ended up as a 750 word provocation on what Twitter was, where it is today, and where it’s going tomorrow.

If you follow me on Twitter you’ve probably seen me link to the article already (if you missed it, it’s here) however what you wouldn’t have read is the how.

Larry kicked it off, Flic was my first sounding board, Marshall prodded it further, Annabelle let me read it out loud, Sophie rearranged sentences and created statements, and Rob edited me down (from 1200 words).

In short, it’s rare that something I publish for the trades only goes through one set of eyes. And I thought that a) you should know that and b) the people that help should get thanked.

Oh, while we’re on Twitter.

1. The above article made someone question my use of the word ‘narrative’ – actually made my day.

2. There’s a thing going on about the ‘Twitter Snackarchist’ (you can read the awful press release here (with thanks to the third paragraph of last week’s Web Curios)) – I genuinely can’t explain the level of indifference that’s going on right now on this. The interesting thing however is the (ASA-alert-worthy) faux attempt at getting ‘slebs on board with the thing. I’ve complained to the ASA about stuff before and I considered it for this one too but then I thought that perhaps I’d just playing into the campaign’s hands. So I’m not going to. But hey, if you want to – go for it.

Or you could just never consider Frank PR for a pitch, ever.

One of the two.

5. GNI

One of the better things I’ve read this week. I’m not telling you what it is. I’m just going to let you click through and LOSE YOURSELF.

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

…and a reminder: when you see this BS – call it the eff out.

OK? Thanks.

Have an amazing weekend, y’all.

Whatley out, x

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