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iePlexus Social Media News Brief: April 30,2010

Facebook’s Promotional Stickers

The Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, Calif. received a promotional sticker this week from Tim Kendall, Facebook’s director of product marketing. Included with the sticker was a letter that said, “We invite you to place it prominently on your window or sales counter, since businesses that promote their Page off-Facebook tend to see a 20 percent or greater increase in connections.”

Facebook has been experimenting with the stickers in a number of businesses near its Palo Alto, Calif. headquarters. They are similar to Google’s “Favorite Place” decals, which have been out since December 2009.

New Twitter Statistics

A recent report on Twitter usage in the U.S., conducted by Edison Research, concluded that 87 percent of all Americans are now aware of Twitter, which is up from 5 percent in 2008.  It’s interesting to note that the percentage of Americans who are aware of Twitter actually surpassed the percentage of those who have Internet access by 2 percent.

The report also found that Twitter users are three times more likely to follow brands on Twitter than on any other social networking site.

An Interactive PSA Goes Viral

Today’s viral video was inspired by the Dutch government. The political leaders decided to create an interactive billboard addressing a problem facing public workers who are often the targets of aggression and violence when performing their duties.

One of the issues at-hand is that Dutch citizens are usually unwilling to interfere in others’ confrontation. Thus, the goal of the billboard is to encourage citizens to stand up and become involved in conflicts when public workers are being attacked.

The augmented reality billboard was placed above a bustling intersection in Amsterdam.  It featured a live view of the street below but superimposed a green-screen-filmed street fight into what otherwise was an empty curbside. 

Government leaders wanted to provide pedestrians with a feeling of shame by showing them what they look like when they ignore certain situations. The video has been viewed on YouTube more than 34,000 times.