mi-space

Sofia's Diary airs on Fiver

Following the success of the latest webisode drama 'Sofia's Diary' on Bebo, Channel 5 have brought the rights to the show and are now broadcasting it daily on their newly re-branded channel Fiver.

To catch the show visit Bebo.com/sofiasdiary or watch the episodes daily at 4.55pm with weekend wrap ups on Fiver.

Continue reading on the Guardian.

We know what makes you sweat

A new campaign from MindShare sees Sure Girl, Unilever’s new teenage deodorant range, being integrated into Bebo’s new interactive drama, Sofia’s Diary.

The brand integration sees characters using Sure Girl on the show and the shows star Sofia visiting the Sure Girl branded Bebo profile.

The Sure Girl profile then opens up a two-way dialogue with teens.

Various initiatives encourage the audience to befriend and interact with the profile. For example the audience has the opportunity of winning a cameo role in the drama by submitting their own stories on the theme of “What Makes You Sweat?”

As well as the branded profile featuring in the show, pre-roll ads before it and on-line advertising targeted at teens, running across Bebo and other sites such as facebook and mykindaplace, encourages teens to visit and engage with the Sure Girl profile.

As on-line programming is becoming increasingly influential in shaping teenagers’ viewing habits, Sofia’s Diary, and access to this social networking community, was a key way for Unilever to connect Sure Girl with its target audience. As young audiences are spending less time with traditional media channels, it is important to reach them through a channel that they rely on and trust and consume on a daily basis.

Check it out at -
http://www.bebo.com/whatmakesyousweat
and http://www.bebo.com/sofiasdiary

Hello Kitty social network launches

Following yesterday’s tabloid media outcry over a new online game called Miss Bimbo, today we see the launch of a far more palatable tween girl online world, with the ever-popular Hello Kitty online fansite launching at Sanriotown.com

“Today’s lifestyle sees more and more kids and teenagers spending significant amounts of time online. It’s important to provide them with the best possible entertainment when they surf but never at the expense of safety or by exposing them to unsuitable content,” said Achim Kaspers, vice president of Marketing at Burda:ic, the company responsible for Sanriotown.com

“The new Hello Kitty website gives teens a chance to network with like-minded fans in a safe, controlled environment and share innocent fun and games with their new friends, without having any detrimental effect on its users’ lives,” he added.

Hello Kitty was invented by Sanrio designer, Yuko Yamaguchi, in the 1970s and since then has enjoyed global popularity.

Children’s social network pages ‘must have privacy lock’

Article from The Times  - 2nd April 2008
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3663312.ece

Two and a half million children aged between 8 and 17 have created profiles on social networking sites, according to research. But parents fail to realise that poor security means that about four in ten personal pages are open for anyone to look at.

BBC article on children and social networks

Article discussing popularity of social networking among children and young people, including the results of a survey carried out by Ofcom.

Children flock to social networks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7325019.stmBBC

By Darren Waters
Technology editor, BBC News website

Wednesday, 2 April 2008

The Future Of Social Networks

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Full blog post at http://tinyurl.com/3yc8q5. Presented at Graphing Social Patterns, March 3, 2008 in San Diego. Theme: "Social networks will be like air".

SlideShare Link

Building a Brand with Widgets

Interesting article in Business Week about Widgets - the latest trend / currency in our world of social communications.

The article is also pasted below for reference but a few core considerations when considering whether a widget is the solution to your needs:

• Interest in widgets is rising as marketers become disaffected by other methods of online advertising, especially on social networks
• Content and functionality are the new creativity
• Although there is plenty of anecdotal success, there are relatively few good examples - many widgets have a short shelf life - Widgets are essentially just a piece of portable content and (similar to their predecessor - the viral), to be successful needs to be either useful or engaging.  Always remember the idea should come before the delivery mechanism (i.e. don't just claim you're going to create a widget, come up with the idea and if a widget is a great way of delivering on that then it's win win)
• Widgets are relatively cheap to create so it's worth experimenting
• Remember widgets need a platform - they need somewhere to live and people also need a way of finding them. Facebook may have popularised applications (widgets) but they are not the only choice, and not necessarily always the right choice.
• Mobile widgets ... anyone?
• How can widgets truly work for brands?
• How do we measure and how do we know what is true success?

Useful blog for widgets from the widget master Ivan Pope: Snipperoo