Flickr photo courtesy of Peter GordonWelcome to the Friday Wrap, my weekly summary of stuff I’ve found in the last seven days that didn’t grab the big headlines but is still important, interesting, and/or worthwhile for communicators and marketers. I collect these on my link blog, which you’re welcome to follow.

News

Sobo is Vine for audio—Audio has been proliferating across the web in all kinds of interesting ways lately, even if it hasn’t attracted a lot of attention. Yammer co-founder Alan Braverman thinks there’s something going on, though, which is why he launched Sobo, a “social soundboard” (currently only for iOS), enabling users to record six-second voice messages and share them with friends and followers. “Our beta-testers use it to shout out ‘happy birthday’ to somebody or brag about where they are at or going; if they are at a 49ers game, for instance, you can hear the crowd around them in the sound bite,” Braverman says. Read more

Another user-driven Facebook News Feed tweak is on the way—Two news events were occurring simultaneously. If you were on Twitter, you probably heard plenty about the unrest in Ferguson, MO, following the police shooting of an unarmed man. But if you spent your time on Facebook, you probably didn’t hear much about Ferguson, while you got plenty about the Ice Bucket Challenge. Reports indicate Facebook is adjusting its News Feed algorithm to make sure it surfaces timely, important news items. Read more

Google+ no longer required for Gmail accounts—It’s another sign that Google has abandoned its plans for Google+ to be the hub of all Google activity. The company has dropped the requirement that anyone signing up for Gmail is automatically enrolled in Google+. Beginning earlier this month—without notice—those seeking a new Gmail account can click “no thanks” to the automatic creation of a Google+ profile. Google continues to insist it’s standing behind Google+, but clearly the company no longer sees it as central to its strategy. Read more

Mets hashtag campaign goes wrong (and funny)—Any organization with a lot of critics needs to think twice before launching a hashtag campaign. (You would think McDonald’s would have gotten this messages some time ago.) The latest organization to underestimate the creativity of critics is the New York Mets baseball team, tied for second place 16-1/2 games back in the National League East. The team introduced the hashtag, #ImAMetsFanBecause. Long-suffering fans answered with tweets like, “#ImAMetsFanBecause they were all out of Yankees gear” and “#ImAMetsFanBecause I don’t feel like I deserve true happiness.” I’m wondering why the Dodgers haven’t launched a hashtag campaign, since there’d be little vitrio from happy fans. Read more

Restaurant builds following by asking for bad reviews—A San Francisco eatery is giving customers 25% off if they post a 1-star Yelp review. The restaurant’s owner claims Yelp promoted negative reviews when he stopped paying for ads, leading him to craft his seemingly counter intuitive strategy. The result of the request for bad reviews has led to some hysterical posts, a lot of attention on Yelp, and some great publicity. Yelp sent him a letter telling him to back off, but so far, he’s refusing to suspend the campaign. Read more

Trends

Ello goes viral—Ello (at Ello.co) is the latest in a long line of upstart social networks seeking to provide an ad-free, unmoderated alternative to Facebook. (Remember Diaspora?) For reasons difficult to understand, this one seems to have resonated, though, and the site has had trouble processing the surge of new members, all of whom seek access after getting an invite code from a friend. The network appears to be popular with artists, performers, and the LGBTQ community, but others are gravitating to the site, as well. “It’s like a paired-down (sic) mix of Tumblr and Facebook, only more sleek and clean, with panels and buttons designed to be so sparse that they hardly infringe on the white space of each page,” writes BetaBeat’s Jack Smith IV. Does it spell the end for Facebook? I wouldn’t dump my stock just yet. Read more

Twitter vs. cookies—Cookies, which let brands track user activity on their websites, don’t work on mobile. Marketers looking for alternatives may find Twitter could fit that bill. Users who log in to Twitter via the mobile app rarely log out; they’re also often signed in to more than one device at a time. “This means that Twitter is able to track your behavior and knows if you are interacting with brands on its platform in a multitude of places.” Read more

Digital is top priority for holiday retailing—Sixty-three percent of retailers will use online tools more than any other marketing approach during the upcoming holiday shopping season, with social media topping the list, followed by email promotions and search engine optimization. Nearly 90% of retailers said they feel at least somewhat prepared to capture in-store customer data. Only 32% said they had plans to invest in mobile commerce. Read more

Hotels analyze reviews for renovation guidance—Hotels are spending considerable sums right now on renovations, and the plans for those upgrades are coming from customers who have shared their thoughts on review and booking sites like TripAdvsor, Yelp, and Hotels.com. It may be a cold day in Hell before the airline industry follows suit. Read more

Gamification grows in workplace as social recognition tool—Employee recognition efforts are incorporating badges and other social gamification elements, according to panelists talking about the competition for talent at a Commonwealth Club session. At Salesforce.com, for example, employees can award virtual badges to each other that resemble merit badges sewn to a scouting sash. These types of tools resonate with Millennials, who like feedback and appreciate it in the form of badges. Read more

Apparel company bucks trend with one-hour video—Call it the bucking of a trend: Columbia Sportswear has released an hour-long documentary, “I am #OMNITEN,” featuring 10 of its brand ambassadors on an adventure trip to Jordan. “We know there is an entire audience out there who is completely tuning out traditional advertising, but we know they will watch and respond to our content, as long as it’s truly entertaining and doesn’t contain an overt product message,” according to PR and promotions chief Scott Trepanier. So far, the video has just over 1,500 views, but the comments are full of praise, so the video could develop a fan base slowly via word of mouth. Read more

Social media is reshaping news—The Pew Research Center offered five insights into how social media affects news as journalists convene for the annual Online News Association conference. Among the findings: half of the 64% of U.S. adults on Facebook get news on the social network; that’s about 30% of the U.S. population. youTube is the second largest social news pathway. Half of social network site users share news stories, images, or videos, and nearly half have discussed a news issue or event. Users who click through to news from a Facebook link spend less time and consume fewer pages than those who arrive directly. Facebook users do, however, experience a wide array of stories, with entertainment news topping the list. Finally, social media does not always aid in conversations around important issues. Read more

Mobile

Employees don’t trust employers, reluctant to embrace BYOD—BYOD—Bring Your Own Device—started as an employee grass-roots movement to use their own mobile technology at work; it’s often better than the cheap, hobbled devices the company provides, and many lower-level employees don’t get any company-provided phones or tablets at all. Since organizations have stepped in to turn BYOD into a program, though, the movement has slowed. According to an Ovum study, “employee adoption is hampered by a lack of trust in employers and a lack of faith that individual privacy will be protected.” Read more

Mobile ad uses haptic technology to pump your adrenalin—The spy drama Homeland is about to premiere and to get TV watchers excited, the producers have developed a 60-second youTube trailer that vibrates up to 60 times during the clip’s suspenseful moments. “In one scene of the video, a bomb goes off and the ad makes it feel as if it is actually going off in the viewer’s hand.” The technology works only on Android phones; iPhones don’t have the technology to accommodate such tactile effects. Read more

Research

The role of content explored in Nielsen study—Consumers learning more aobut products and services report they have increased use of a number of information sources over the last five years, including brand websites, user reviews, and third-party expert content. this behavior “has fundamentally changed the way consumers research products and, ultimately, make purchase decisions,” according to The Role of Content in the Consumer Decisions Making Process, a Nielsen study commissioned by InPowered. The study asked respondents about nine categories of products, from cameras and dryers to auto insurance and smartphones, then looked at the impact of expert content, user reviews, and branded content on their decisions. Expert content was the only type of content that performed well across the three phases of the purchase funnel: familiarity, affinity, and purchase. Read more

Offline word of mouth matters to Millennials—Yes, Millennials are highly communicative, producing 689 million word of mouth impressions about brands every day. However, 84% of those impressions come from offline conversations, mainly face-to-face, according to a study from the Keller Fay group. As a result, a lot of marketers could be focusing on the wrong things when trying to engage them. Read more

FedEx finds a way to measure thought leadership—Long considered a thought leader in shaping how the world is connected FedEx maintains a formal thought leadership program called Access. According to global reputation strategies manager Natashia Gregoire, the effectiveness of the program is measurable using “a combination of output- and outcome-based metrics.” Compared to last year, FedEx has experienced big bumps in searches, site visits, article views, and subscriptions, and the Access dashboard indicates the 2014 Access 25 (those people, places, and ideas that reflect global connectivity) played a big part in driving visitors to the thought leadership site. The company has also been able to glean what kind of content delivers the best performance. Read more