Although the Reactor can display various demographics such as gender, age, voting intention, state or country, TV3 chose not to display any of these.  Instead they showed only the studio worm versus the total response from those reacting from home.  It would have been interesting to see how Green voters were responding to John Key and Phil Goff, or the different reactions between over 65 year olds and under 40s, or men versus women.

“This world-leading technology introduces the next level of viewer engagement and interactivity to television,” says Michele Levine, chief executive of Roy Morgan Research.

“We’ve been seeing the popularity of Twitter and voting by text, but this provides the ability for viewers to really engage with a program, not just for a moment but for the entire duration, or when ever they feel they want to give their reactions. The worm provides an extra level of entertainment and engagement, not just for those reacting but for all viewers.”

And its not just useful for taking the political pulse of the nation.

“Roy Morgan Research is talking to networks in Australia, UK and USA about a wide variety of programs featuring The Reactor including Current Affairs, Talent Quests, Game Shows and Sport.”

And it is an invaluable research tool in advertising by measuring advertising persuasiveness.

“Originally that is what it was developed for,” says Levine. ”By adding engagement there is less chance of viewers simply turning off the TV if they don’t want to watch ads. But the real value is in the different display lines available. You can target the audience response from all young men, if it’s a beer ad, or the results from all the people who are planning to buy a car in the next six months who are watching a car ad, ” says Levine.

Twitter Election Worm

It is now also possible to analyse election discussion on Twitter, thanks to Wellington social media agency Catalyst90, who have released a Twitter Election Worm.

“CatalystENIGMA shows us that political activity is hotting up on Twitter in the lead-up to the election,” Tom Reidy, director of Catalyst90 says. “Our Twitter Election Worm reporting shows how people are reacting to recent campaign activity. For the first time in a New Zealand election campaign, Twitter has become a valid tool for taking the political temperature.”

The CatalystENIGMA technology utilises Twitter hash tags to select relevant Tweets, performing a sentiment analysis of each Tweet to capture data relating to emotion and geographic location.

To view the guide and see how the parties are performing across Twitter visit: www.catalyst90.com/socialpoliticsNZ.

Ask not for whom the worm turns, it turns for thee.

“Alcohol and elections have always been an interesting mix. The ‘84 snap election was effectively born of a whiskey bottle,” says Fuehrer.

“The image of a visibly tipsy Muldoon announcing the election is the best known and most parodied moment in our political history. Some people still refer to it as the ‘schnapp election’.”

Recognising this year’s election wasn’t attracting a huge amount of public interest; Fuehrer has seized the opportunity by declaring the return of the schnapp election, albeit this time with a modern twist.

Fuehrer is giving away a bottle of Zumwohl every day of the campaign for the cleverest or funniest tweet about the election. After just four days, the response has been stronger than anticipated and entries have been retweeted to more than 75,000 people around the country.

Fuehrer says Twitter suited his schnapp election well because it makes it simple for people to participate, and doesn’t require a lot of time or concentration.

“Twitter is the intellectual equivalent of a shot, so we saw it as a perfect fit for the schnapp election,” says Fuehrer.

He also says the immediacy of social media means people can jump in and comment on events as they occur in real time. So far the busiest periods of the schnapp election have been the leaders debates, which he says provide plenty of material.

“New Zealand used to have a solid tradition of political satire on television, but it’s just not being made anymore. Social Media has stepped in to fill that gap, that’s why we’re running the country’s first schnapp election on Twitter.”

Views from the Schnapp Election:

…on drug laws

@sputnikbrown ACT welfare policy:  let them eat hash cake #zumwohl

…on minor parties

@radioovermoscow Pirate Party not running this year – guess they downloaded some Rihanna last week #zumwohl

…on poll results

@RFStew Labour slips in latest poll; National just needs a bit of Greece #zumwohl

…on the leader’s debate

@kaupapa Mass poisoning for anyone playing the “actually” drinking game #zumwohl

Anyone can join in the schnapp election by following @zumwohlparty and using the #zumwohl hashtag.

Snaps to holding an election people will want to vote in!

We could tell you about the e-gremlins that meant Fairfax failed to deliver some of its papers yesterday, or the bombshell that Tourism New Zealand’s PR company in the US helped get John Key on the David Letterman show. But we decided this supposed world-first from Wellington digital agency Resn, which brought a whole new, ridiculous and very interactive meaning to the term Twitterfeed, was much more important.

Resn’s digital strategist Andy Williams, who will soon be leaving the Windy City to take up a position at 72 & Sunny in Los Angeles, says the idea was to have a real-time video feed of a feed, where the audience could “direct via Twitter our sexy wait staff and magical hands to make our dynamic dinners dabble in a diverse dynasty of delicacies”.

The ‘first crowd-sourced feed’ was created for FWA TV, which lets creative types from all around the world do something cool/weird/experimental for an hour, but Williams says taking their breakfast public had no real strategic purpose. It was just for jollies, really.

“Basically, we told our dudes to stuff heaps of nasties in them so we could laugh.”

And if laughing was a measure of ROI, then it was probably a successful campaign.

For 24 hours on July 8, Vodafone will invite all New Zealanders to share what is happening in their world by sending in tweets, TXTs, PXTs, audio, video or Facebook status updates. The results will “form the script of New Zealand’s first social media snapshot” and provide an insight into what Kiwis are willing to share with their friends, fans and followers. All the content that’s submitted will be packaged into a short film, which will be released at an online premiere at midday on July 15 on the Vodafone New Zealand Facebook page (let’s hope it’s enlisted the services of a good editor).

Click here to view the embedded video.

“New Zealanders are unique in the way that we use social media. In part due to our geographic isolation, to events such as the Canterbury earthquake, and our population size, we develop close knit groups, and often use it with a broad dash of healthy irony and humour,” says social media commentator Rachel Goodchild. “To my knowledge no one has ever tried to take such an indepth snapshot of Kiwis’ social media habits and I am fascinated about what we may discover. I am sure it will reflect the diversity of our social media users, and uncover a few surprises.”

Vodafone will host an application on the Vodafone New Zealand Facebook page, which will allow anyone to share content. Tweets can be submitted for inclusion via the hash tag #shareeverything. Content can also be sent from any Vodafone mobile via TXTs and PXTs to 256.

“The increasing penetration of smartphones in New Zealand, coupled with the rise in social media has seen people sharing more than ever,” says Vodafone’s general manager of consumer marketing Kursten Shalfoon. “The big and little things are now all updated on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. We want this film to represent all New Zealanders and we’re excited to see what people throughout the country will share this Friday.”

As an added incentive content submitters will be in to win Vodafone airtime credit and 10 Samsung Galaxy S II phones.

Even more surprising was the sheer number of times I heard the old tune of “who has time?” or “why would you want to?” #sigh.

For those who Tweet, like me, I’m sure you’ll join me in an impassioned retort of “because it’s the fastest, most useful way to pass and receive information” and with 21 percent of nzgirls telling us they tweet, we know we’re not alone.

We’re not all geeks and self-promoters (shhh, you in the cheap seats). A quick poll of my followers returned an eclectic mix of occupations: doctor, brand manager, builder, writer, engineer, athlete, developer and ad-man (phew, represent!). When asked why they tweet, mostly they said because they could. So are they just a bunch of extroverts looking to puff themselves up? Nope. Most of them stated they were introverts. They contend that Twitter is a great way to be a little more extroverted than they normally are. This is a common response we get in nzgirl surveys around what benefit the audience get out of online interaction with peers. They feel they can ‘expand upon’ their personalities.

Your individual personality is your choice, of course, and like any environment you’ll turn-on and turn-off people for different reasons. Don’t over analyse it. The point is to be yourself and let that shine through. My theory is that people will help people. They support a person behind a brand, not just the brand. So if your goal for Twitter is to get information passed along quickly, first of all you need to build a community of followers who actually like you and your brand and the best way to do that is to be yourself. Build a personal connection. Humanise your brand. I think this is why we see so many corporate Tweeters state who is tweeting. They’ve understood this concept.

I realise there’s a mountain of information out there on the ins and outs of Twitter (and I wouldn’t dare suggest that I’m an expert) but these are my personal rules of conduct. If you’re new to the habit or looking for a new addiction, you might find these useful.

1. GET STARTED: Use it personally before jumping in as brand. Make your mistakes on your own time, then lend your expertise.

2. PERSONALITY: Tweet with spunk. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

3. GIVE & TAKE: Twitter is a community. You give and receive. It can’t be used just when you have something to share. Build up a trust and relationship with your community by having conversations with them. Then when you have news to share, they’ll happily help you spread it.

4. MANNERS: Remember to thank people who do things for you, with retweets and replies. Retweet for other people where appropriate.

5. HONESTY: Online tends to give voices to over-opinionated people, but as long as you’re honest you’ll be sweet with the people that count.

6. SURPRISE & DELIGHT: Tweeter’s love getting things for free (even little things). Don’t make it disingenuous by being a stickler for rules though.

7. BE PICKY: It’s okay to not follow everyone who follows you. Also don’t get hung up on who “unfollows” you (whatever you do, don’t download the app that tells you, it will just drive you mad).

8. AUTO DM: Don’t send automatic DM messages to people when they follow you. It’s not meaningful, or authentic. It’s a little creepy.

9. NO INSTANT FACEBOOK: Just because they’re your Twitter friend doesn’t mean they want to be your Facebook buddy too.

10. FEEDS: Twitter feeds can be good but watch the appropriateness of matching your environments. Personally I turned off my Twitter to Linked:In feed. It was just not the right place for it.

11. DECORUM: Swearing isn’t generally accepted unless really warranted.

12. NO PREACHING: Don’t bang on about something. Allow people to have their point of view. This is just like a dinner party.

13. NO SWITTERING: Impose a drinks limit and then put the phone away. Step away before you make a tit of yourself publicly. Everything on Twitter is a permanent record.

14. MUM’S WATCHING: Don’t say anything on Twitter that you wouldn’t say to your mum.

15. TWITTER STALK: Don’t just follow people who talk about your brand. Unless they’re talking about you in a way that begs your involvement, it’s considered creepy if the brand starts ‘watching’ you. Sometimes being grateful is considered polite. Simply thank them and if they respond or follow you, then following is appropriate.

Finally, it pays to remember that Twitter is a participation sport. The more you play, the more comfortable you will feel. It’s not for fence sitters. You have to be involved to truly appreciate how valuable it is.

What are your rules? I’d love you to add your additions below.

But after looking at the most popular trends on Twitter in New Zealand, aside from seeing #doubledown at number four, something that stood out was the number one trend which had a “promoted” badge next to it. That trend?  #McDFrozen.

The tweet that stays above the trend page is McDonalds tweet: “See how Lemon & Strawberry met before they became part of the New McCafé Frozen Strawberry Lemonade http://mcd.to/m2Pzzk #McDFrozen. Every other tweet on the page just references #McDFrozen.

Is this just a coincidence that McDonalds decided to buy the trend? Or has McDonalds seen that the #doubledown tag has been so popular in New Zealand (behind #childhoodmemories and #lieswetell) that this was some form of counter measure marketing to take advantage of the takeaway trend?

After talking to one of our in-house web professionals, he said that it is probably just a coincidence. The fact that McDonalds would look at trends in New Zealand and take advantage of it is farfetched, but certainly a big coincidence.

In no way is being a promoted trend really a trend at all. If aything, it’s 100% an advertisement, so the fact it can be perceived as a trend is verging on trickery to the public. This means #doubledown is in fact the third most popular trend in New Zealand. And let’s face it, a lot is thanks to the wealth of media attention the  “burger” received from nutritionists and Otago students alike.

So what can PR companies learn from the veritable chick-storm of the double down’s time in the spotlight? Everyone knows that tobacco is bad for you, so how can British American Tobacco study the double down performance to obtain similar results? Could we see a move from the health conscious menu options we’ve seen at places like McDonalds to more nutritionist-horrifying calorie spectacular meals?

Long answer, maybe. Short answer, no. Not in the sense that the double down’s fifteen minutes of fame has accomplished, at least, because all of the planning in the world cannot predict social, media, and social media trends in an effective manner. If they could, they’d be working for Google or the government.

The sheep that queued outside of KFC from 7:00am or whatever time was reported were sucked into the idea of purchasing thanks to social media. There were “events” on Facebook where the celebration was eating a double down at a certain KFC. And the genius’s that got up early and waited outside to get a double down at that hour (because it’s probably a great breakfast meal) ended up being an accidental flash mob. The mentality was passed and carried like that itch you got when you were 18 and had to get medicine for. This kind of flash mob mentality is unpredictable (or perhaps sadly predictable?) The double down will not be a lovemark, and next week we will have moved on.

Managing director of Eleven PR Kelly Bennett threw in his two cents. “Regrettably I haven’t been able to escape the Double Down debate…I turn on Close up and I have to watch it. Then I drive into work and I have to listen to it on RNZ. Then I open the Herald and I have to read about it. But I don’t have to buy it and I won’t be…because it’s a load of nonsense and the media coverage has been disproportionate to real consumer interest.”

Bingo. The hype is over, the trend will change. #TBC.

One thing that has always struck me is how we are meant to digest the vast amount of content that social media platforms enable. As we all know, there is quality being produced and shared every day, but there is also a lot of rubbish. There are products like TweetDeck that let us manage what we see. But the issue is that we don’t all want to be glued to our smartphone or desktop all day, sifting through tons of updates for the odd gem.

With that in mind, I thought I’d start a weekly Twitter chat on marketing, with particular relevance to New Zealand (but perhaps with some references also to New Zealand export). It’s a model that’s proven quite popular overseas and it will be hosted alongside my PR guy, Alex Erasmus of Bullet PR. We’ll also be inviting various other marketing types to join us as co-hosts. We also hope to have a diverse range of other people stopping by to offer their points of view and asking questions to anyone monitoring the conversation.

So that everyone can follow it easily, we will be using the following hashtag: #markchat. For those who can’t tune in to the chat at the time, all the conversations will be archived online at http://wthashtag.com/Markchat

We’re planning to have the marketing chats every Thursday between 12.30pm and 1pm. Either Alex or myself will send out the weekly topic at around 12.15pm. The topic today will be ‘Heart vs. Head’. We want to discuss how rational people really are when making a purchasing decision. Specifically, what are the primary buying motivators and how marketing and design should connect with those.

As with all social media activity, we encourage your suggestions on future topics or hosting times. Meanwhile, please join us at 12.30pm and be part of the conversation.

• Mike Holt is chief executive of gardyneHOLT design

Activities

According to the Nielsen 2010 Social Media Report of New Zealand internet users:

• 81% sent or shared a photo
• 75% posted photos online
• 73% sent or shared a link

Of regular online activities:

• Reading wikis is up 26%
• Creating social network profiles is up 16%
• Updating social network profiles is up 17%
• Looking at others’ social network profiles is up 16%

Altogether, 1.92 million online New Zealanders have looked to their fellow internet users for opinions and information about products, services and brands.

Platforms

Facebook

72% of New Zealanders use Facebook (source: Saatchi & Saatchi/Colmar Brunton, quoted here)

From the Nielsen report:

• 82% of online NZers have visited Facebook
• 70% have a Facebook profile
• 79% of social networkers say Facebook is their main social networking platform (was 19% in 2007!)
• Of those who have Facebook as their main profile, 54% visit the site at least daily, and 39% are on the site for at least 4 hours per week.
• 84% of mobile social networkers have visited Facebook (the most popular mobile site accessed)

And from Perceptive‘s July 2010 Omnibus, 15-24 year olds engage with Facebook the most frequently (surprise!).

Twitter

From the Nielsen report:

• 27% of online New Zealanders have visited twitter.com
• 11% have created a Twitter profile

From Saatchi & Saatchi / Colmar Brunton:

• 14% of New Zealanders “use Twitter”

From Perceptive’s Omnibus survey, again, 15-24 year olds spend the most time on Twitter.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a bit of a survivor. It’s older than most other social networks (established 2003) and it has successfully evolved from simply a place to post your resume online to a successful, business-focused social network.

LinkedIn has grown like topsy worldwide, and in New Zealand…

• There are more than 200,000 users according to Clifford Rosenberg, LinkedIn’s managing director Australia/NZ
• 8% of New Zealanders use LinkedIn, according to Saatchi & Saatchi/Colmar Brunton
• According to Perceptive, 35-54 year olds engage the most frequently with LinkedIn

YouTube

YouTube is the world’s second biggest search engine. And in New Zealand…

• 15% of mobile social networkers have accessed YouTube on their phone (Nielsen Report)
• Kiwis love engaging with YouTube, with a skew towards the younger audience (Perceptive)

Bebo

Yep, Bebo. It’s pretty much on life support, and virtually unusable for businesses (especially since they’re no longer selling NZ advertising) but it still has people on it. However, it’s on the outskirts.

• In 2007, 35% named Bebo as their main social networking site. Today, it’s 4%. (Nielsen)
• 23% of mobile social networkers access Bebo on their phone.

MySpace

While Bebo was the king in New Zealand just three years ago, MySpace was the king of the world. Not so much any more.

According to Saatchi & Saatchi/Colmar Brunton 9% of New Zealanders use MySpace.

According to Nielsen, more people have a main profile on MySpace now (5%) than in 2007 (less than 1%).

According to Perceptive, MySpace is mostly frequented by 25-34 year olds.

Business

From Perceptive’s Omnibus:

This offers some guidance to companies who often feel caught in the “damned if you do/damned if you don’t” aspect of online engagement.

According to Nielsen:

• 42% of online Kiwis are interacting with companies via social networking sites
• 44% have published opinions specifically about products, services and brands
• 73% have read other consumers’ product opinions
• Almost two thirds of those who haven’t read consumer reviews and discussions intend to do so in 2010
• 44% of Twitter users in NZ say they have followed companies or brands

According to Saatchi & Saatchi/Colmar Brunton:

• 34% of Kiwis want companies to actively interact with them
• 51% want companies to respond to requests on social media
• 41% want companies to solicit feedback
• 56% find companies on social media more engaging
• 57% feel better served by companies on social media

Conclusions

• Social media in New Zealand is mainstream.
• Businesses are active in social media and consumers are welcoming their presence.
• The best engagement is done on the customer’s terms.

Many thanks to Jessica from Perceptive for her help putting this post together. And there’s also some great information from Social Media Club Auckland’s August session on measurement and analytics.

• This article originally appeared on iJump.co.nz.

Twitter’s changes are all with a view to making it more responsive so that you work less for more information. The increased functionality, including the addition of more multi-media content to the stream, could herald some worrying times ahead for the various applications like TweetDeck, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this pans out. And in terms of looks, it’s moving towards an iPad feel.

When I first started using Twitter in 2007 I was told by my ahead-of-the-curve colleague that it was an information and news sharing tool. It wasn’t suitable for every piece of information, but when it came to assembling raw data from several sources that then went into fully baked news stories, nothing beat it. Traditional news was based on the 24 hour cycle, blogs boiled this down to hours and minutes and Twitter was taking it one step further to news sharing and spreading by the second.

As a PR consultant, this fascinated me and I started using Twitter to read news and opinion from around the world that I previously never would have seen. Gradually, I started sharing my own views and sometimes engaging with others directly.

In the three years since, the way Twitter is used has changed dramatically. Or, rather, it has expanded. One of the founders, Jack Dorsey, commented yesterday at a conference in the US that “people defined their own relevancy on Twitter”. He went on to highlight how “Twitter was not relevant when it first launched”. It sounds like an odd thing to say, but it emphasises the importance of simplicity and letting the users define the position in the marketplace where possible.

The problem for Twitter, like many social platforms, is how to make money without going against why it became popular in the first place. As Ben Parr says on Mashable, expanding and enhancing Twitter makes it more of a destination, like Facebook. This means more ads, which means more revenue. Revenue is, of course, essential and this all makes sense, but my concern is that Twitter will move too far away from what I thought was its original selling point. If Facebook is now more like Twitter and Twitter is more like Facebook, why do we need both?

People, especially journalists, still use Twitter to pick up on news stories and get almost instantaneous opinion on various topics. But Twitter is also now used for people to have public conversations, sometimes about specific issues and sometimes about the most banal stuff that hardly anybody else (surely?) is interested in.

Having an online debate around a topic in public is great, so long as people don’t use the virtual wall of their computer to be more vitriolic than is normally necessary. It’s an ongoing joke that social media, and Twitter in particular, is centred around people informing others about information like what they are having for lunch. Unfortunately, this is increasingly true. We should think about what we put online because it’s more permanent than what we say in real life. Also, the less we consider what we put online, the further social media moves away from actually making the world a better connected place.

More links to one another and more information sharing, virtual or otherwise, do not always make us more connected. It means we have more connections, but this is something entirely different. To me, Twitter is more about ‘media’ than it is about ‘social’. Sure, it’s a way for us to interact with each other so it is social. But it’s more about media because it allows us faster and wider access to content previously restricted by geography and other factors.

As people who use social media as part of our daily PR lexicon, we need to ensure we practice what we preach and don’t allow Twitter to just become a diluted, mini-Facebook.

I’m sure there are others out there who have differing opinions, so what do you think?

• Alex Erasmus is an account manager with Bullet PR.