A few weeks after the passing of Steve Jobs on October 5, 2011 last year, Walter Isaacson published a book about the legendary founder of Apple called "Steve Jobs" which instantly became the top-selling book on Amazon in 2011. Now comes a beautifully designed infographic entitled “Farewell to a Genius: The Life and Times of Steve Jobs” created by the folks over at Infographic World. (more...)

Activ8Social, in partnership with Kwarter, is proud to announce our first infographic! Kudos to the team at Kwarter Inc who were the masterminds behind the in depth market research conducted to demonstrate how the young San Francisco start-up is poised to "change the game" in terms of how fans experience the games we love.   We really like how Kwarter has positioned its application in the marketplace and how it aims to fill a much-needed niche in the world of sports and social media created by the great abyss of post, tweets, and check ins across today's most popular social platforms. Don't simply take our word for it, read this excerpt from Kwarter's press release on how they envision enhancing the  "Second Screen Experience"  for fans:  

Fully integrated with Facebook and Twitter's social graphs and sharing capabilities, Kwarter is the perfect social companion for your favorite sports moments. Instead of just checking into a location, Kwarter encourages fans to check in to a moment in time, instantly identifying your friends, and allowing you to chat, snap pictures, and share in the excitement of the action on Facebook and Twitter with the touch of a button. Kwarter will also keep track of your game history and offer unique rewards for your fan engagement.   From a business perspective, Kwarter has created an unmatched branding platform connected to real time game scenarios. Capitalizing on the emotions of the game, brands will be able to cultivate bonds with their customers by seamlessly communicating with them. Special in game trophies triggered by specific sports moments such as a homerun, or touchdown will create a new level of engagement and immersion all while never interrupting the viewing experience.

  Curious to see how it all works? If you own an iPhone or iPad, you can download Kwarter's new application from Apple's app store here!   Without further ado, we are pleased to present to you compelling research that helps demonstrate how Kwarter is poised to disrupt the "Second Screen Experience" (be sure to let us know what you think):

 
• Stadiums and arenas rank as the second most checked in locations on Foursquare
• AT&T Park in San Francisco is most checked in to venue on Foursquare and FB
• 81% of fans agree that sports viewing shouold be more interactive
• NBA's 13.4M fans on FB and Twitter is more than the NFL, MLB, and NHL combined
• 68% of fans agree that they do not feel acknowledged or rewarded for their support
• 86% of mobile device users are using their device while watching television

We've had one heck of the week on the east coast between earthquakes and hurricanes, but we survived it and hope you all made it through as well.  In case you missed some of the best earthquake tweets take a look at these and check out Hurricane Irene's own Twitter handle.  For news this week, we've got Ticketmaster and Facebook teaming up to make your ticket purchases more social, Tweetsport for iPhone, Facebook photo filters and the New York Giants broadcasting tweets live on television this preseason.  Here's to a safe and natural disaster free week!  

Ticketmaster and Facebook Make Your Ticket Purchases More Social

    As of last week, Ticketmaster is allowing ticket seekers to see which of their friends are attending an event and where those friends are exactly sitting.  The new Facebook integration rolled out to Ticketmaster customers last week with the hopes that it will help alleviate the issue of the estimated 40% of live event tickets that go unsold.   The feature is available for the 300+ venues that use the interactive seat map to allow customers to choose the best available seats.  When you sign in through Facebook, a list on the left of the screen populates with friends attending the event and the seating map generates Facebook flags in the sections where they are sitting.  When the section is clicked and you roll over a seat with a Facebook icon, a window pops open showing you who is sitting there so you can decide to sit by them or avoid them at all costs by finding a seat on the other side of the venue.  

  After purchasing your tickets, you have the ability to tag friends for the seats you bought, much like tagging a picture, to send them an alert asking if they want to attend.  The feature allows you to share your seat tag, producing a "Check out my seats" post on your Facebook wall with the usual "like" and "comment" buttons.  However, the feature enhance social commerce with the additional "buy tickets" button on the Facebook post.  Ticketmaster CEO, Nathan Hubbard, is hoping with these new features tickets will represent more than entry into an event.  

This isn't just about social. It's about the fan experience.

Take a look at this video to see the new feature in play.    

Tweetsport for iPhone

    A new application has been released for the iPhone called Tweetsport which automatically aggregates loads of information, including the latest in sports news, views, results, headlines and more, straight to your screen.  It is constantly updated with a list of personalities, teams and pundits that it follows on twitter to provide with you all the possible sports news you could want in one place.  Obviously you could do all this yourself and individually follow all of the people that they choose, but given that Tweetsport is a free app there's no reason not too.   Tweetsport was developed by a British company so currently updates will focus solely on sports like Football (soccer), Motorsport, Tennis, Golf, Rugby, Olympics, Cricket, Athletics, Cycling, Horse Racing and Swimming.  You're not getting the updates on sports like American football, baseball and hockey but we'd be surprised if there weren't more apps like this in the near future with American sports.  And frankly we'd be surprised if there weren't more apps like this for a myriad of genres.   With Tweetsport, four filters sit along the bottom of the screen, allowing you to view tweets specifically from the sporting media, players, or all. There’s also a filter for just headlines, which only shows tweets which feature breaking news.  The app also features a level of Twitter integration so you can sign into Twitter and do things like retweet straight from the app.  There's a premium version as well which costs a minimal amount of dough and gets rid of the advertisements and allows you to sort by sport.

Facebook Photo Filters

  As you may have noticed, Facebook has been making more changes lately, especially in the photo department.  Pictures are now available in a larger viewing format and Facebook is soon to add photo filters to its mobile apps.  With the explosion of apps like Instagram, Hipstamatic and PicPlz, it's no wonder that Facebook wants to get its foot in the space.   According to two anonymous Facebook engineers, the photo filters have been ready to go for some time, but Zuckerberg wants more creative filters before the feature is rolled out to the public.  Just as the other apps, Facebook's will have almost a dozen filters in common, but is also currently working on new designs to stand out from the competitors.   Facebook's response in this crowded marketplace may have come after the failed attempt to purchase Instagram this summer.  We're interested to see what Facebook will come up with and how it will integrate in the mobile app.  

New York Giants Take Twitter from the Turf to TV

  The New York Giants will be the first team to broadcast fan tweets live during televised games this preseason.  The effort comes from the organization wanting to move forward in the social media space and connect with fans.  The tweets from fans will appear in the lower third of the screen after big plays on NBC 4 in New York.  Although the franchise is only showing tweets during preseason broadcasts, the team will continue its Twitter integration throughout the season at MetLife Stadium on the stadium's video boards and other channels.   In addition to the screening of fan tweets, a voting system will be set up to allow fans to choose the player of the game by tweeting hashtags.  The results will be tallied in real time and featured on a dedicated microsite.  The merchandise for the player with the most votes will be discounted at the Giants' online store.  The team is also planning to have a player host a Twitter chat with fans every home game.  Giants Chief Marketing Officer Mike Stevens wants to make the game experience the best he can for fans.  

With over 6.4M fans in the tri-state area and one of the largest national fan bases in the NFL, our social media strategy is designed entirely around giving them the best way to share their passion – and the Giants experience – with each other.

We're now less than 365 days away from the London 2012 Summer Olympics (and have been for some time now), but in case you were wondering about Sochi 2014, Rio de Janiero 2016, and PyeongChang 2018, we've got you covered with this cool countdown timer. This week’s edition of the Social Mashup features ESPN exclusive partnership with Foursquare, Skype's acquisition of GroupMe, StumbleUpon's continued rapid growth, and Google+ verification badges.  

ESPN and Foursquare

 

The champion of sports television has teamed up with the leader in geo-location check ins to supply tips on major venues across the United States.  Starting last week, when you check into certain sporting events on Foursquare, useful information such as game time, teams, venue, location, and more are made readily available plus all of ESPN's news coverage of the upcoming games.

  ESPN will provide facts, stats, and more on the brand's venue pages for major sporting events including NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, college football, college basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, racing and more as the year continues.  ESPN now also has their own Foursquare Page, where fans can leave whatever tips they want about any ballpark, arena, or stadium.  One example of a good trivia tip about Camden Yards we saw was as follows:  

"There are two orange seats here. In right-center, the landing spot of Eddie Murray’s 500th home run. In left, the honorary mark of Cal Ripken Jr.’s 278th HR ball, the record breaker for shortstops."

  And for those Foursquare badge aficionados out there, when you check into a venue or event where ESPN has left tips, you are eligible to earn the Foam Finger Badge (pictured to the right).  We actually really dig the design of this badge ... who doesn't love foam fingers?! Totally classic.  

Skype to Acquire GroupMe

   Interesting news is now emerging from the VOIP / SMS technology space. Skype is on the verge of acquiring one year old company GroupMe, a group messaging service.    GroupMe was founded at the TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon in New York last year.  The service focuses on group messaging and conference calling that enables users to stay in touch with groups of people via mobile phones.  Users can send free text messages throughout the group as well as leave voice mails.  The potential acquisition will add group calling capabilities to Sype.    While the purchase price has yet been disclosed (reportedly $85 million), we do know that earlier this year GroupMe raised $10.6 million in funding from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, and several other investors.  Skype, of course, is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft for over $8.5 billion.    Skype plans on keeping GroupMe as a stand alone brand at present but will look down the line to integrate it into Skype's product seamlessly.  Skype CEO Tony Bates had this to say:  

“The group messaging space in general is one of the most important markets for Skype.  GroupMe creates a very sticky instant feeling.  Like Skype, it is an everyday interactive form of communication. Skype’s goal is to get to 1 billion users. Mobile is the place to do that.”

 

StumbleUpon's Dominance

    If you were to guess which social media website drives the most website traffic, what would you pick?  Facebook?  Twitter?  Well ... then you would be wrong.  The answer is surprisingly StumbleUpon.    According to Mashable, StumbleUpon accounted for 50.27% of all referral traffic from the top 10 social sites. Facebook was second with a 38.9% market share, while Reddit, YouTube and Twitter each garnered less than 4%.  Essentially, it's a two horse race at this point.    In case you are unfamiliar with StumbleUpon and its rapidly growing service, it can be summarized as follows (direct from their company description): "You tell StumbleUpon what you like and StumbleUpon takes you to great stuff based on your interests." In recent months, StumbleUpon has rolled out sleek new versions of their website discovery service on desktop, iPad, iPhone, and Android.  

  What do you think of StumbleUpon? Have you ever spent a few hours simply Stumbling across the internet? If so, have you ever tried other niche content discovery services like Pinterest, TasteSpotting, and Foodgawker?

Google+ Verification Badges

Impersonation of celebrity profiles, fake business accounts, and spammers fronting as public identities have long plagued the internet since the inception of MySpace and the social networking boom. In fact, nearly all successful social media services which offer public profiles incur this growing pain.    Now the folks at Mountain View, California have made the decision to roll out Verified Badges to high-profile celebrity accounts on Google+. This is clearly a move toward increased authenticity across Google's new and redesigned social platform and a necessary offering to compete with Facebook and Twitter in the celebrity arena. Say what you might about celebrity accounts, but mass buy-in from Hollywood, music, and sports personalities is a guaranteed ticket to quicker adoption of a service.  

From a management team's perspective or a brand's marketing strategy, Google+ represents a major headache ... simply one more major social account to consider and most likely an afterthought (for the time being) other than syndicating existing updates from Facebook or Twitter for the vast majority of already overloaded and understaffed social media managers.

 

  Verification Badges are of course not a new concept and already exist on other social media services like Twitter which slowly (but surely ... if you know the right person) verifies high profile accounts. Something that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube offer which Google Plus does not yet offer is vanity URLs which coupled with verification badges make it a little easier to identify official accounts.  Google is also not removing fake celebrity profiles, at this time, like their competitors Facebook and Twitter. Take a look at Lady Gaga's profile below as an example of how difficult it is to tell.  

  One aspect unique to the Google+ verification process is that Google is considering a move toward a verified system for all users. Lack of a verified presence for all members of an online social community has long been a contentious point for many and also a service offering that creates much jealousy among B-List, C-List, and D-List celebrity personalities that are passed over for not knowing the right person at Twitter or Facebook.

 

Verified Accounts show a grey check mark. When a user hovers over the check mark, ‘verified name’ displays on the browser.  One criticism and piece of feedback that we have for Google is to make this badge more prominent. Why display an official mark when it's not a focal point and easy for users to spot?

 

Obviously this is tailored primarily to verifying public figures, celebrities, and people who accumulate a large number of Circles but it's possibly it could be expanded in the future. We'd love to hear your thoughts on Google+ and verification for all users.

 

Today, we came across Kwarter, a new iPhone and iPad app, that’s soon to launch to the public, and we are pretty stoked about it. The app sets to reinvent the live television sports experience by giving fans a platform to engage with friends, family and other like minded fans during their favorite team’s game. (more...)

For the past 4 days and ending Sunday (June 22-26), the AT&T National is giving away an amazing package of prizes to golf fans in the streets of Philadelphia. In fact, we're positive you are going to get super excited when you hear what fans are receiving.   Each day an AT&T National pinflag pops up at different locations within the city of Philadelphia. The tournament's official Prize Team posts clues about their locations on Twitter from @TWFoundation and Facebook.   According to the tournament website (and our insider information), those who really want to be in the know should also keep an eye on tweets from the AT&T National Tournament Director Greg McLaughlin. His Twitter handle is @TWFGMAC.

Every day including this weekend, the AT&T National pinflags will pop up at two locations per day, allowing Philadelphia golf fans multiple opportunities to win and win big! You can view the official scavenger hunt map by visiting Facebook which provides all of the location information that you will need find the pin (see above link and screenshot for more information).

As we mentioned earlier, the prizes are absolutely sensational. The first person to locate the Prize Team at each location and touch the AT&T National pinflag wins a prize pack that includes the following:  

a new LG Quantum Windows Phone, two VIP tickets to the 2011 AT&T National (good Saturday or Sunday), on-site parking at Aronimink Golf Club, access to the Grey Goose Lounge and entry to the Philly Sports Zone; and a copy of "Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters" video game. The Prize Team will hang out for at least 30 minutes at each location, so fans who aren't first will win prizes, too! Other prizes include tournament tickets, copies of the Tiger Woods: My Swing iPhone app, Target gift cards and Chevron gas cards.

  Have fun and good luck this weekend golf fans ... it's an awesome promotion!

A few weeks ago, I contributed to an e-book put together by fellow sports and social media enthusiast Jason Peck. The focus of my post was industry predictions for 2010 and given the nature of our work at Activ8Social, I decide to focus on individual athletes. I came up with three primary growth areas to keep an eye on: Promotions, Live Video, and Mobile. (more...)