The Friday Wrap is a curated rundown of news, reports and posts from the past week that, while they didn’t go viral or attract much attention, are still interesting and useful for communications professionals. I select Wrap items from my link blog, which you’re welcome to follow.

Hashtag Hell

Tale #1: Chevron—Hashtag hijacking is nothing new, though it’s still remarkable that there are still big brands with volatile critics that introduce ill-advised hashtag campaigns. What happened with Chevron takes the concept in a whole new direction. #AskChevron “was not started by Chevron at all. This was a promoted tweet setup and paid for by activist group ‘The Toxic Effect,’ according to Inc. And it was promoted during Chevron’s annual meeting, producing a torrent of “negative, horrific feedback” about the company. The article points out that, with Twitter’s offer of advertising to the masses, this kind of activism will only become more common. Read more

Tale 2: Washington Redskins—The National Football League team in the nation’s capital has been fending off an increasingly vocal campaign to change its name to something less horrifically offensive. Seeking support from its fans, the team asked for tweets to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid demonstrating their #RedskinsPride. “Tell him what the team means to you,” the team asked via its Twitter account. And they did. “The @Redskins name means racism,” said one. “Celebrating genocide and touchdowns” said another. Yet another was accompanied by a photo of dead native Americans piled in a ditch, while still another included a newspaper clipping of a massacre in Minnesota. These are just the tip of the iceberg. Seriously, who thought this was a good idea? Read more

News

Yahoo plans YouTube rival—Yahoo will introduce a rival to YouTube this summer, aiming to attract video creators who aren’t happy with the money they’re making from Google’s dominant video service. Yahoo is offering “more generous revenue-sharing deals, or fixed ad rates that are significantly higher than YouTube is currently delivering to creators.” Read more

Zappos dumps job postings in favor of social media—The only way candidates for new Zappos jobs will learn about them will be by joining a social network called Zappos Insiders, “where they will network with current employees and demonstrate their passion for the company,” according to The Wall Street Journal. If they show enough love, they’ll be informed when a job opens up. Read more

Conde Nast drafts native advertising manifesto—Mega-publisher Conde Nast distributed a 4,000 word document to its editors and publishers outlining its approach to native advertising. The document is designed to prevent (or resolve) disputes between the editorial and business sides of the books. It’s a different approach than other publishers have taken; Hearst and Time “have avoided putting their policies on paper.” Read more

Google unveils Panda 4.0—The latest iteration of Google’s search algorithm will “lay the groundwork” for future updates, according to Google’s Matt Cutts, who said the latest version “is a bit softer than previous versions” and should make it easier for small businesses to be found more easily. Read more

Research

See a doctor, not Wikipedia—Scientists writing in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association concluded that 90% of health entries in Wikipedia contain errors and should be treated with caution. The entries “made statements that contradicted latest medical research,” according to the study. Responding to the research, Wikimedia UK “said it was ‘crucial’ that people with health concerns spoke to their GP first.” Read more

Earned media still delivers the most value—A study from research consultancy Insights in Marketing found that the public doesn’t trust marketers and advertisers. While that may seem like a blinding flash of the obvious, it does call into question the value of content produced directly by an organization as opposed that that carrying the credibility of a third party, whether that’s the media or user-generated content. Only 26% of participant agreed that advertisers and marketers are trustworthy; roughly the same number said the images portrayed in advertising reflect reality. Not many people admitted to buying products or services based on advertising. Read more

Top leaders still distant from social media—A Corporate Board Member report on legal risks to corporate boards of directors concludes with some data on social media that shows the boardroom remains well distanced from social media. Only 22% of directors responding to a survey said they have discussed social media and have a good understanding of it, while 45% say they’ve discussed it but need more information in order to have a good understanding. 19% have no plans to discuss social media at all and 14% haven’t yet but plan to. If it seems your company’s social media remains marginalized as a marketing tool, lack of leadership direction could be a big reason why. Read more

Twitter users have better TV recall—Among the data Mary Meeker presented during her annual state of the web presentation is that people who tweet while they watch TV have greater ad recall than those who just sit and watch. They also perceive the brands advertising more favorably and have a greater intent to purchase. Read more

Trends

Are we entering the third messaging wave?—The merger of independent mobile messaging app KakaoTalk with a Korean internet portal signals “the end of the rise of mobile-focused independent messaging startups,” TechCrunch proclaims. That period was a second wave that followed the initial crop of messaging apps from AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft. It’s too early to tell what the third phase will look like, according to TechCrunch, although ephemeral tools like Snapchat that keep messages private have an early lead. Read more

Great Ideas

Deloitte demonstrates how employees can rock a Twitter account—Marketing Sherpa has a case study of a Deloitte Twitter account launched to convey what it’s like to work at the consulting firm. @LifeAtDeloitte is populated by tweets from staff taking turns managing the account. In addition to attracting significant numbers of followers, it has “had a very positive effect on our brand” and has become a destination for Deloitte’s employees. Read more

IBM crowdsources ideas for smarter cities—IBM’s focus on networked devices building a better world includes the “People for Smarter Cities” campaign. For the campaign’s second phase, the company crowdsourced videos “showcasing how residents would improve their cities.” Partnering with Zooppa, which connects creative talent with brands and agencies to create user-generated campaigns, IBM wound up with 80 videos leading to eight winners covering subjects like “repurposing empty spaces and aiding the physically challenged to spur employment.” Read more

Resources

Low-cost tools for evaluating website usability—ClickZ offers up a list of six tools for usability testing that provide the participants and a platform for launching a test in mere hours. Read more