Words of Devotion
At the beginning of my first long weekend at @erwwpr, I decided I would take the weekend off from social media, email and pretty much everything outside of actual human contact. Nothing against social media, but as it becomes an increasingly important part of my job, I like to maintain a balance between the real [...]
Jun 01, 2012 | Categories:One Young House, Youth | Tags: Afghanistan, leaders, Marian Salzman, Memorial Day, military, One Young World, ROTC, Social Media, success | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Code Read
QR (quick response) codes aren’t new (they’ve been used for years to track car parts in the auto industry), but they’re relatively new to most of us and their use is evolving quickly. After engineers realized that smartphones can serve as barcode readers, they encouraged marketers to rethink the phone as a means of instant [...]
May 30, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: America, automobile industry, England, funeral industry trends, Indiana, marketing trends, QR codes, real estate trends, scan to win, Social Media, social media trends, technology trends, tombstone company | Leave A Comment »
Here and Now
While anyone would argue that Generation Y’s potential is immeasurable, the reality is that the expectation of immediate results is something unique to my peers. Gratification now comes so easily with social media, smartphones and numerous other ways to access the Internet at virtually any time and place. (Ha. Virtually. Get it?). This “now” way [...]
May 30, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Features, Social Media, Technology, Trends, Youth | Tags: connected, connection, Generation Y, Google, Hyundai, instant gratification, Internet, Jeff Bridges, Kelly Mooney, millennials, now, Social Media, The Ten Demandments, virtual | 1 Comment »
Trendspotting: Pop Goes the Retail
Taking a lesson from the established popularity of fashionable food trucks, the retail industry is going mobile as well—with quirky clothing and accessories stores in vehicles as varied as rehabbed double-decker buses, school buses, Airstreams and Winnebagos. See Wanderlust, which sells vintage and handmade goods in Portland, Ore., from a 1969 converted travel trailer or [...]
May 23, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Fashion, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: boutiques on wheels, e-commerce, Fashion, fashion trends, fashion trucks, L'Oréal, mobile commerce, shopping trends, social, Social Media, taxi shops | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Forbidden Friendship
Lots of us remember grade school for the notes we passed under desks and the secrets we whispered on the playground … to best friends. But some English schools are adopting “best friend bans” to save their students from the pain of “breaking up” with a friend later on. This kind of practice is redolent [...]
May 22, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Technology, Trends, Youth | Tags: best friends, childhood, children, education, education trends, elementary school, friendship, friendship trends, helicopter parents, parenting, parenting trends, psychology, psychology trends, smartphones, Social Media, text messaging | Leave A Comment »
Five Things to Think About as Facebook Goes Public
[Originally posted on CNBC.com.] With the Facebook IPO looming and everybody watching, I’m wondering if the social network to end all social networks is going to live up to the hype. (Could anything live up to all this hype?) With big advertisers not convinced that Facebook is a good platform to propel brands forward and [...]
May 18, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brands, Features, Social Media | Tags: Advertising, Disney, Eduardo Saverin, Facebook, Facebook IPO, Ford, GM, Google, Infographic Labs, Instagram, Kraft Foods, Mark Zuckerberg, Pinterest, Sheryl Sandberg, Social Media, social networks, Wall Street, Yahoo | 1 Comment »
Trendspotting: WWIII
Google co-founder Larry Page is reportedly “obsessed” with Facebook, even “paranoid” about it. Seeing the social network as Google’s No. 1 adversary, the recently reminted Google CEO rolled out Google+ last year and revamped Google’s privacy policy, all in the name of stealing some of Facebook’s thunder. But for each of Google’s successes, Facebook appears [...]
May 16, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: advertising trends, Apple, C-suite, CEO, Facebook, Google, Google Plus, Instagram, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, smartphones, Social Media, Tagtile, Twitter | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Mob Mentality
Is there anyone, marketer or not, who still thinks that Twitter is just a repository for boring one-liners about what we ate for breakfast? Now, research supports the notion that Twitter can tell us significantly more about people than their breakfast food preferences. In the U.K., scientists found clues in millions of tweets posted before [...]
May 10, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Trends | Tags: anger, Bristol University, CIA, Cornell University, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Facebook mood monitoring, Facebook suicide, London, London riots, moods, public anger, public mood, riots, royal wedding, Social Media, Taiwan, Twitter | Leave A Comment »
The Value of Creativity
As a PR professional, I know how crucial creativity is to success in business today. As a socially networked person (is there anybody out there who isn’t?), I’ve watched as network friends draw something, write something or video something. As a trendspotter, I’ve read at length Richard Florida’s thoughts on the importance of the creative [...]
May 02, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Features, Marketing, Media, PR, Social Media, Trends | Tags: @erwwpr, Adobe, Advertising Age, always on, cause, creative class, creative thinking, creativity, CSR, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, France, Germany, global citizens, ideas, Japan, Josh Gracin, Media, New York City, pro bono marketing, Richard Florida, Sears, Social Media, social networks, The French Will Never Forget, the United Kingdom, the United States, Tokyo, trendspotting, YouTube | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Shop It to Me
Molly Sims reports being in a “Santa Fe state of mind” this spring. The supermodel has curated a collection of discounted, Southwest-inspired clothing and jewelry for social shopping site Open Sky. Padma Lakshmi, Kristin Cavallari, Stacy Keibler and dozens more tastemakers have also hand-selected items for sale on the site. Known as “social shopping,” the [...]
May 01, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Brands, Fashion, Marketing, Social Media, Trends | Tags: Facebook, fashion trends, Feyt, Fina File, Kristin Cavallari, Moda Operandi, ModeWalk, Molly Sims, Open Sky, Pinterest, shopping trends, Social Media, social shopping, Stacy Keibler, StyleOwner, Twitter | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Solitary Confinement
It’s been the inspiration for popular classic songs from Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and Elvis Presley’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” to the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.” It’s an inescapable element of the human condition, as old as time. And as solo living becomes more popular, we debate the relationship to a growing [...]
Apr 25, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Health and Wellness, Marketing, Social Media, Trends | Tags: elderly, elderly lonely, Elvis Presley, George Clooney, Hank Williams, Jeff, kodokushi, loneliness, lonely, lonely deaths, lonesome, Marketing, meme, One Lonely Guy, psychology, seniors, seniors lonely, Social Media, songs about loneliness, The Beatles, Tokyo, viral | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Sick Spots
Coming down with something and want to find out what’s going around in your city? Or, better yet, receive warning early enough to have a leg up on prevention? That’s the concept behind new smartphone apps like Influ and Sickweather, which map sicknesses in near real time. Until now, this kind of software was used [...]
Apr 04, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Health and Wellness, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: crowdsourcing, Facebook, flu shot, going viral, Google Flu Trends, health trendsGlobal Public Health Intelligence Network, HealthMap, InFlu, influenza trends, physicians, real time, Sickweather, smartphone, Social Media, Twitter, viral | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Parlez-Vous Parenting?
In case you needed more parenting-related pressure laid on your shoulders, a recent study reveals that a child’s hippocampus—the region of the brain that helps manage stress and strengthen memory and learning—can be up to 10 percent larger if his mother is patient and encouraging. The modern understanding of child development is in stark contrast [...]
Mar 07, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Trends, Youth | Tags: America, Beijing, child development, children, Facebook, France, hippocampus, parenting, parenting trends, psychology, research, Social Media, tiger mom | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Over Divulging
As Facebook prepares to go public, one journalist suggested that, in homage to its transparent nature, “TMI” be adopted as its stock ticker symbol. Works for us, especially considering there has been so much wince-worthy social media activity of late. Some doozies in particular: A woman used Twitter to hash out the good, the bad [...]
Feb 21, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: 50 Cent, Advertising, Facebook, hashtag, oversharing, Sinead O’Connor, Social Media, social media trends, Technology, Twitter | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Siri-ous Contenders
Think of a question, any question. We’re willing to bet that Apple’s much-hyped Siri feature will answer you in her sultry, mechanical voice. After all, “she” holds the answers to a billion burning questions. One technology trendspotter has proclaimed 2012 the year that Siri “stuns the world.” Already it’s done wonders for Apple’s sales, helping [...]
Feb 16, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Technology | Tags: Android, Apple, digital personal assistant, Dragon Go!, Evi, iPad, iPhone, iPhone 4S, Siri, smartphones, Social Media, Steve Jobs, technology trends | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Buy, Cell or Trade?
Since last fall, when millions of BlackBerry owners were unable to send or receive emails or messages for several days, the drone of negative buzz surrounding Research in Motion (RIM) has grown to a roar. The cries of detractors reached such a fevered pitch that co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis recently stepped down, in [...]
Feb 09, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Technology, Trends | Tags: BlackBerry, cellphones, consumer electronics, data security, EMEA market, global market, mobile, Research in Motion, RIM, smartphones, Social Media, stock market, telecommunications, wireless | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: French Translations
With the grand opening of Le Huffington Post creating waves around the Web (Arianna Huffington made the provocative choice of Anne Sinclair, journo wife of embattled ex–IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, to oversee it), it seems an opportune time to look at other businesses making an entrée into Français. In the fall, not one but two [...]
Feb 08, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Technology, Trends | Tags: Arianna Huffington, digital bookstores, e-books, Eventbrite, France, French cinema, French Kindle, global expansion, global markets, global trends, Kindle, Kobo, Le Huffington Post, QuickLogic, Social Media, Technicolor, the Huffington Post | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Internet Intimacy
Coughing up the password to an email address or social media site is the newest test of young love. With this top-secret data in hand, modern high school sweethearts scour one another’s exchanges for clues about faithfulness—often storing ammunition for post-breakup warfare while they’re at it. Adults, too, grapple with the issue of disclosing passwords [...]
Feb 03, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: AIM, cellphones, children, digital literacy, Facebook, Google, love, Netflix, password, password sharing, privacy, psychology, relationships, smartphones, Social Media, teenagers, two-factor authentication | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Heavy on the Spam
Newly single Ashton Kutcher tweeted about sleeping over with a girlfriend, the Huffington Post tweeted its affection for the New York Post, “Modern Family”’s Eric Stonestreet tweeted about miracle diet pills, and singer Nicole Scherzinger tweeted her support of Ron Paul, as did bands No Doubt and Rise Against. If any of these tweets left [...]
Feb 01, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: Ashton Kutcher, Nicole Scherzinger, No Doubt, Social Media, social media trends, social spam, spam, Technology, the Huffington Post, Twitter, Twitter hacking, Twitter hijacking | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: List-o-Mania
St. Petersburg, Fla., is the saddest U.S. city; Austin the funniest; and Nashville the manliest. The loneliest city on the entire planet? Dublin. And the very best city to live in all the world is … (drumroll, please) … Vancouver. Have qualms with any of these or questions about how they were chosen? So do [...]
Jan 25, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Brands, PR, Social Media | Tags: Advertising, Austin, city lists, city rankings, Detroit, Dublin, happiest city, Marketing, marketing trends, Nashville, public relations, saddest city, Social Media, sponsorship, St. Petersburg, Top 10 lists, transportation, urban planning, Vancouver | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Web Fix
Ever experienced a peculiar surge of elation when you watch the “likes” pile up on one of your Facebook statuses? This particular joy—triggered by, say, a small video-game victory, clever tweet or kind text message—is probably derived from the neurotransmitter dopamine, which sets our brains’ pleasure circuits ablaze. More scientists today are comparing this biological [...]
Jan 24, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Health and Wellness, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM, email, Facebook, Internet, Internet addiction, Internet Compulsion Disorder, pathological Internet misuse, psychology, smartphone, Social Media, social media trends, sociology, Technology, Twitter | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Attention, Abbreviated
In just a decade’s time, the average attention span has plummeted from 12 minutes to five minutes; considering that the average office worker checks his email inbox 30 to 40 times an hour, we can see why. Social media looks to be “drastically changing” the way our brains work, resulting in folks who are more [...]
Jan 11, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Trends | Tags: attention span, bad credit, brain, change, credit, Facebook, Facebook brand pages, infographic, psychology, Social Media, social media trends, technology trends, Year of the Brain, YouTube | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: The Cruel Kids
On Korea’s Hug Day (Dec. 14), Twitter was a hotbed of niceness: The hashtag #stopcyberbullying trended when Miley Cyrus tweeted against cyberbullies in defense of her friends Kelly and Sharon Osbourne. Sadly, though, bullying continues—despite widespread efforts to stanch it, including new laws in Michigan, a movement in the U.K. to broaden the definition of [...]
Jan 10, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Trends, Youth | Tags: #stopcyberbullying, anger, anger management, anti-bullying legislation, anti-bullying policies, behavior, bullies, bullying, career, cyberbullying, Miley Cyrus, office, Social Media, Steve Jobs, teen suicides, Twitter, workplace | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: #HashtagHoopla
Researchers are now looking to Twitter, 175 million users strong, to predict global mood, inform scientific research, make investment predictions, even spawn mighty protests—the Occupy movement can be traced back to a single tweet on July 13 urging people to #OccupyWallStreet. Thank not just Twitter but also the all-mighty hashtag for that one. The hashtag, [...]
Jan 04, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Social Media, Trends | Tags: #HurricaneBawbag, 2012 campaign, Babble, Barack Obama, daddy bloggers, hashtag, House of Commons, Kim Kardashian, Nancy Pelosi, Occupy Wall Street, Politics, Reince Priebus, Russian protesters, Social Media, Twitter | Leave A Comment »
