IF YOU WANT BLOOD… YOU GOT IT

Taking Advantage of Social Networking for Good and Bad

A recent event involving copyright infringement elicited a flurry of social networking activity, illustrating the power of the online community to promptly deliver a tenacious response to any transgressor. Even though it was the openness of the web that gave rise to the problem in the first place, that same transparency then allowed for immediate feedback that sought to right a wrong.

The issue at hand: A contributor to a CBS-run website, Smart Planet, wrote a blog about healthcare. To illustrate his essay, author Dana Blankenhorn pulled an image called Big Mother, which was originally produced by artist Chris Buzelli for Boston Magazine. Buzelli was outraged that somebody else would repurpose an original piece of art without offering compensation or asking permission.

Buzelli commented on Blankenhorn’s article, asking him to remove the image. Blankenhorn did so, but not without chastising the artist: “This idea that one must gain permission before doing what comes naturally on the Web has to end. You have the tools to stop it. Use them.”

That did not sit well with Buzelli. He put out a call to his fellow artists, and they quickly hijacked the comments’ section of the offending author’s blog post. Dozens of comments poured in, turning what was intended to be a conversation about the new healthcare reform into a heated discussion about copyright laws and artists’ rights. The comments showed no mercy. “Your views on copyright are appalling,” one contributor wrote. “You are a thief,” another said.

The Internet has blurred the line of who owns what, leading many artists to fear their work will be disseminated illegitimately without credit or compensation. Blankenhorn is not alone in his view that it’s the artist’s responsibility to make sure his work doesn’t get stolen, and that web users have free rein to redistribute anything they find online.

But the openness of the Internet, while threatening in a way, has also ushered in a new level of transparency and accountability to those who make poor decisions. In this case, the “offender” was forced to answer to the community at large – in a public online forum.

When something like this occurs, word spreads quickly and self-policing begins. If the action doesn’t get corrected, the offending party will at least find himself unable to hide from the ridicule he incurs. If you commit a mistake, everybody sees it and lets you know. To their credit, the author and CBS haven’t removed the huge number of mostly negative comments posted. The amount of feedback on Blankenhorn’s blog is large and visible. He attempted to respond with another article that specifically addressed the issue of copyrighted images online, but that only produced more outrage, and the increasingly angry readers following the story again blitzed the comments’ section with negative feedback.

This visible, publicly accessible record of the conversation unfolding is unique to this world of social networking. By making the decision to use somebody’s original artwork without permission or compensation, Blankenhorn taught the online world a lesson: If you take advantage of the freedom of the Internet, it just might turn around and take advantage of you.

Illustration: Jake Sproul (Please don’t steal it)

SIMPLFYING SOCIAL NETWORKING

The tricks of the trade for keeping your accounts organized.

Many companies often discover that to keep up with their audience they have to subscribe to a variety of social networks. Often they find it hard to navigate between the various social sites. which invariably results in one site being favoured over the others — leaving the other deserted.
Success in social networking is found through consistent usage of the medium. How is it possible to effectively manage all of these social networks?

One trick is to leverage the flexibility of some social networks by linking them together. Facebook is an extremely useful social site not for its popularity, but for the fact that it can be linked to a number of other social networks. For example, by linking your Twitter or Plurk accounts to your Facebook profile, every time you tweet your Facebook status will automatically be updated. Also, blog articles can automatically be published as notes on your Facebook page.

Another trick is to employ the use of a social networking aggregator — a program or web application that streams all of your social networking accounts into one user interface. Aggregators such as Spokeo or NutshellMail give you the ability to monitor the conversations of multiple networks and effectively maintain a relationship with your audience.

AARDVARK REFRESH

We’ve been a bit busy. Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to.
		Steezy Endevors Steez, a popular East Coast ski and snowboard magazine taps Aardvark. The magazine, which began in 2007, has quickly earned the respect of winter enthusiasts throughout New England. Steez may be best known for their winter sports events held at various mountain destinations, drawing huge crowds of fans and followers. Aardvark is working with the Steez staff to ramp up design of the magazine. It’s an exciting opportunity for the folks at Aardvark, especially during the summer break as we await next season! Get a closer look at Steez Magazine
		Giving Medical Some Soul American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) is an international organization consisting of the world’s foremost cardiothoracic surgeons representing 35 countries throughout the World. AATS has retained Aardvark to design print and marketing communications. The first effort will focus on the 2010 Annual Meeting, a five-day medical conference bringing together world’s leading professionals to discuss the latest clinical and research efforts. View the work
		B2B Blogging Once again, Aardvark has been selected by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce to design the 2009 Expo website. Expo is largest Chamber-sponsored business-to-business exposition in the country, featuring more than 300 exhibitors and trade professionals. This year, Aardvark and the Chamber decided to raise the bar. Utilizing a fully customizable blogging platform, Aardvark built an interactive online community for exhibitors, presenters, and attendees. While acting as the focal point for all Expo information, the blog also incorporates other well-known social networks, such as Facebook and Flickr, dramatically increasing the Expo’s exposure and visability. Aardvark will be exhibiting at the Providence Business Expo. Come visit us at booth 901. Check out the Expo Blog
Got a new project in mind? Drop us a line at hello@aardvarkdesign.com. We would be honored to speak with you.

ORIGINALITY IS DEAD…HEY, I WAS GONNA SAY THAT!

The difference between being an original and an effective thinker.

I’ve been picking my brain all week and I’ve finally come up with a kick-ass concept for a marketing campaign. With great bravado, I show it to one of my co-workers looking for the level of admiration given off by a religious zealot. “Oh yeah. That’s just like that ad campaign that [insert your favorite brand here] ran last year.” Five minutes later I awoke from my shock induced coma, slough-fully returned to what I thought was my drawing board, but apparently is a scrapbook of other people’s ideas, and tried to keep my shoelaces in their rightful places.

Now-a-days you have a higher chance of winning the lottery than coming up with an truly original idea. That said, we as designers have had to come up with a way to cope with our near impossibility of being original.

Instead of striving for original ideas, we embrace the materials that subconsciously make up our thought process. Anything that we have come in contact with – old movies, music, literature, ad campaigns, a high school lecture – we internally reference during our bouts of creative development. The result is well-informed concepts that aren’t independent from our inspirations, but rather created by them, filtered through our personality, and squeezed into effective ideas.

Related Reading
George Lois on His Creation of the Big Idea

GETTING EMBED WITH OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS

The dirty little secret about sharing web content.

We’ve all seen a YouTube video seemingly out of place on another website. Staring us in the face with a big, fat YouTube watermark. “Why would someone promote YouTube on their own site?” I never understood why some would use another company to display content.  That being said, I can say that I have recently become an advocate for sharing web content and embracing the power of the all-mighty watermark.

The reality is that the ability to share content between a number of social networks is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to leverage online marketing. In fact, by reading this article you’re making my point. Whether you are reading this on our blog or our company facebook page, I am using one piece of content to populate two different channels. By doing so, I am doubling my company’s exposure and reaching a much larger population of readers.

Along with sharing your own content there are many benefits to sharing other peoples content in your social outlets. First of all it gives you creditability. Sharing other peoples content demonstrates that you are active in your field and often read other blogs, watch videos, and visit websites that have the same views as you. This ability to collaborate with others is the foundation of social web. Second, it saves time and money. If you can’t say it better than someone else, why try. Endorsing the work of another author saves you the useless time of paraphrasing. Conversely, when you create a great piece of content, being endorsed by another individual gives you highly-praised exposure to a whole new audience.

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: Use the share link in our sidebar to share this article within your favorite social networks.