Today’s Mashup reviews three top stories from the past week in the world of sports, entertainment, and social media marketing. Headlines include Monster.com’s new Facebook job network application, the IOC’s decision to allow 2012 Olympic athletes to post social media content during the games, and the brand new partnership between American Express and Foursquare. The Activ8Social team would also like you to check out the world’s newest viral videographer, this seagull.
American Express Partners with Foursquare
Geo-location giant Foursquare has announced it’s largest partnership to date with charge card giant American Express. Founded in 2009, Foursquare now has 10 million registered users loving the mobile check-in software. This coupled with the fact that American Express accounts for 24% of the total dollar volume of credit card transactions could mean a very profitable partnership.
Noah Elkin, an analyst with eMarketer said that, “In 2010 it was all about the check in. Now it’s about checking out.” Checking into places that give exclusive promotions to mobile users is part of the novelty of the check-in that has been taking over cities like New York and DC. Partnering with American Express allows Foursquare’s services to gain credibility over the similar check in services offered by Google and Facebook.
Sports Authority and H&M will be the first business to offer deals through American Express along with a few select restaurants in the New York area. Spending $50 or more will earn people checking in at Sports Authority a $20 credit and people who spend more than $50 at H&M will receive a $10 credit.
The service was tested at this years South By Southwest music festival and people with AmEx who used the program spent 20% more than other AMEX users without the program. Foursquare will not be receiving revenue from the deal, but it certainly should give them a significant bump in users with the potential to profit from it down the line.
Professional Network on Facebook
Last week, Monster announced they were changing their job search function to be compatible with Facebook in a new product called BeKnown. The new site, which went live today, enables Monster users to import their profiles to Facebook effectively setting up a professional network on the world’s largest social platform. Facebook currently has around 700 million users and Monster gets about 38 million unique visitors a month.
BeKnown will not only be targeted at those who wants jobs but potential employers as well. Matthew Mund, global vice president of product for Monster said “This is the path of least resistance, you can manage your professional identity and your social identity in one place.” The offering comes as the recession has hit Monster’s bottom line pretty hard. Monster’s net sales have dropped 11% (annualized since 2008) and its stock price has declined 8.9%. However, the company did post a 23% jump in revenues in its first quarter, which ended March 31.
Obviously Monster’s biggest competition is going to be the professional social networking giant LinkedIn which currently boasts over 100 million members and recently went public at an IPO price of $45. Similar to Monster’s application, BranchOut recently launched on Facebook and currently has over 800,000 users.
BrannchOut is a similar enough application to BeKnown that Monster has added a few special features to their product including Foursquare-like badges for accomplishing milestones in the professional world such as getting your first job. Users can also follow companies and get endorsements a la LinkedIn, features not yet available on BranchOut.
Monster is still the premier job finding website and putting their product on Facebook could result in, for lack of a better word, a monster hit. It’s reasonable to expect people who want to use Facebook for everything to give this product a shot. BranchOut has no name brand recognition and LinkedIn, while incredibly useful for networking, is still not quite as good as Monster for finding jobs. We say that now, but LinkedIn is getting a lot better at this as we speak. The bottom line though is that if marketed and run correctly, BeKnown has the opportunity to be a popular tool for those looking for a new job.
Allows Athletes to Tweet and Blog
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is allowing athletes to post, tweet, and blog during the London Olympics in 2012 but not without a few stipulations. The posts must be in “first-person, diary-type formats,” that do not tread on journalists’ reporting grounds. Athletes must also be sure not to post “vulgar or obscene words or images” which could result in removal from the Games.
The IOC released its social media guidelines for the 2012 London Olympics stating:
“The IOC actively encourages and supports athletes and other accredited persons at the Olympic Games to take part in ‘social media’ and to post, blog and tweet their experiences.”
This is quite different from the 2008 Beijing Olympics where the IOC denied the right to upload videos and restricted picture uploads to prevent copyright infringements. Twitter was also relatively new at the time and did not have the same presence that it currently does. Video and audio taken from inside Olympic venues is still banned by the IOC, but anything outside is free game. The restrictions are mainly to protect the IOC’s intellectual property, as television and media rights make up a large portion of its revenue.
Athletes are expected to respect the Olympic Charter or could have their Olympic accreditation removed, barring them from competing in the Games if they violate the charter. As part of the charter, athletes are prohibited from participating in any political, religious or racial demonstrations and according to the social media cannot “promote any brand, product or service within a posting, blog or tweet on any social media platforms or on any websites.” To read the IOC’s full set of Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for the 2012 London Olympics click here.
