A friend suggested Tubalr to me yesterday and I’ve been telling everyone about it since. It’s an app that plays high quality videos back to back based on a search term or phrase. For example, “The Rolling Stones” entry brings up an endless stream of tunes and videos of Mick Jagger, his lips, and Stones’ concerts (see below). You can choose to listen to only the Stones, or similar artists as well. You can register to star your favorites if you are one who loves a customized listening experience.

Sure, it’s kind of like Pandora. Sure, it’s kind of like Spotify. Sure, it’s kind of like YouTube playlists. But regardless, it’s a simple, effortless way to get the tunes and videos you are looking for without any work on your part. Needless to say, we love simple ideas that solve a unique (and very lazy American) problem. Two thumbs up. You can bet you’ll find me over there all day, listening to showtunes The Black Keys.

When you think of Nielsen Media Research, TV viewership and ratings might be what comes to mind first. But the company recently took a look at social media usage among Americans, with some pretty interesting findings. If you have to ask why the firm is paying attention to our behaviors on social networks, just look at what they gathered. For one, we’re spending close to 75% more time on social media than watching videos and movies. And even among the social networking websites, Facebook clearly rules the roost – their third-quarter report shows that Facebook generated 83% more traffic than Twitter.

Check out the full report below – we’re loving the infographics. And tell us what you think – does anything surprise you? How might these stats change how you approach social media?

We all need a good reminder about the basics from time to time. I came across a post on Copyblogger that reminded me that sometimes, when you want someone to do something (wait for it…) all you have to do is ask nicely.

“Thou shalt call to action” is one of the 10 commandments in the advertising world. But sometimes social media marketers get so hung up on engagement and community and all that jazz that they forget to simply ask those folks they’ve worked so hard to build relationships with to, uhm, do something.

So go read Dan Zarrella’s blog post over on Copyblogger and get yourself reminded. He’s even got some sweet graphs about what words get people to act the most – cool stuff.

He’s right. Only in 2011. Hope everyone is safe and sound.

Some of the Push-n-Pull team says hello.

What’s happening? This is what Twitter asks you every time you go to post a new update. Often what’s happening is that I’ve found an awesome picture on the internet or I need to inform the world that I just ate a delicious Five Guys cheeseburger. Sometimes though, what is happening is also happening to a number of other people around you. You’re at the Woman’s World Cup championship, or in the middle of a nationwide protest, or just watched the final space shuttle launch. It’s becoming more and more obvious as Twitter’s ubiquity grows that there is content being created that is worth finding, archiving and organizing in to stories. Enter: Storify.

Storify is, according to their blog, “a company building tools to help journalists, bloggers and experts curate the real-time Web.” You log in a click “Create Story.” You’re presented with a two column web app that lets you search Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Google and other places for content. The content that comes up can be dragged into the second column and ordered into a flowing story of tweets, updates and pictures. It’s awesome. It’s been used to track the protests in Egypt, showing updates from real people, reporters and commentators as things progressed. Here is one of the Joplin tornado, following updates as they tornatdo touched down, as it was going through the city and finally as people started reacting.

Storify has personal uses as well. Last weekend was my friends’ wedding and I used Storify to collect tweets and pictures from the days leading up to the wedding and then the wedding itself. It’s a fun archive for the bride and groom of what friends were saying that day. You could even having a running Storify of your favorite tweets about a particular subject or that you think are funny. The possibilities are almost endless. Storify is the perfect example of how big an impact social media is having on how we communicate, both about our lives and about what’s happening in the world around us.  Are the two even that different anymore? Or is it all one flow of news, data and vicarious experiences that are forming our global culture? #deepthoughts

Today, Mark Zuckerberg took the stage (or the screen, if you will) to announce some changes to the Facebook platform. As they continue to reach huge user numbers (750 million to be exact), the world’s largest social networking site is looking to change gears in the way they manage their business.

While Facebook user numbers are huge, actual growth has plateaued a bit. But while that has slowed, sharing is growing faster than ever. Zuck shared that users are sharing 2x more this year than the year before, and he expects that trend to continue exponentially. This trend isn’t strictly Facebook, however. Sharing with others is growing across the entire Internet (that social feature that we are so fond of). This being the case, Zuckerberg wants to build off of his existing and strong social infrastructure to create apps that are socially enabled. The following three things are the start of this process.

1. Group Chat

Group Chat is the first feature that Zuckerberg announced today. This is a simple change to the chat platform they already have in existence. Over 50% of users already use groups, but it wasn’t easy to chat with a random group of 4 or 5 of your friends effortlessly. The option will now exist in the chat window: just click “chat,” “add people to group,” and voila! If you add friends who are online, you can chat immediately. If not, they will receive a summary of the chat the next time they sign on.

2. New Design

New Chat Design was the second feature that will be rolled out starting today. Zuckerberg didn’t give too many details to what this would actually look like, but he mentioned that chat will now take browser size into account. Organization of friends (online vs. offline) will also change.

3. Video Calling

Video Calling is the third and most important announcement today. Facebook has partnered with Skype to allow seamless and easy integration of video chatting into the Facebook platform. It will act much like Skype, only the process will be simplified. Users will be able to download the app easily and quickly (under 30 seconds) and call other users online. From how it sounds, it won’t matter if users are tech saavy or not.

These three changes are small but influential for the social networking site. It marks the start of Facebook partnering with other companies, as well as taking their focus off of growth and onto expanding the share-ability on their site. We foresee Facebook continuing in its dominance, especially with their unique ability to recognize trends and know what users want.

What do you think of the changes? Will you be using the video call feature?

If there’s anyone you’d expect to hear from through the web rather than snail mail, it would be Mark Zuckerberg. Yet some lucky folks might just see an old-school letter in the mail box from none other than Zucks himself soon – and quite a letter it is. Ben Barry, a graphic designer at Facebook, recently blogged photos of the stationery he designed for the Facebook czar – check it out!

I gotta admit I would love to get one of those grey envelopes myself. Barry said Zuckerberg wanted something “a little more personal and special” for responding to Facebook lovers sharing their stories, and this certainly hits the mark (hehe). I love to hear that arguably the biggest name in social media believes some occasions still call for a old-fashioned letter… at least until he figures out how to make a Facebook message look this slick.

What do you think of Zuck’s stationery?

Last night, I watched the very last episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. As a life-long Oprah devotee, I felt like I was losing my best friend. I am not ashamed to admit that I sobbed to my bewildered husband as she left the stage a final time: “I’m just going to miss her so much!”

Of course, while her talk show will be gone, Oprah will not be far from us. In fact, I think she might be closer to us than ever before. Throughout her show’s 25th season, Oprah’s team has been leveraging the web to engage her devoted fans on a new level.

What’s notable isn’t that Oprah uses Twitter or Facebook – that’s par for the course these days. It’s the #OprahLiveTweets where she @replies regular fans talking about her shows on OWN, her new network. It’s the TwitVids from her home office, reading glasses and all, to prove, yes, it really is her tweeting. It’s the YouTube videos she creates, sometimes while on the treadmill, answering fans’ questions. And it’s the fact that she spent much of her last show talking back to viewers who had used social networks to reach out to her. Oprah’s understanding of the potential and power of social media engagement shows exactly why she is one of our culture’s most seminal figures.

Whether or not you’re an Oprah groupie like me, you can’t deny that she has transformed the medium of television and it’s influence over the past 25 years. But beyond the show, Oprah continues to be an innovator. Whether it’s TV, a magazine or the web, Oprah finds new ways to connect with more authenticity and relevance.

In her final show, Oprah said, “Your real job in life is to figure out what your calling is and get about the business of doing it.” It’s clear that Oprah’s taken whatever means necessary to get about her business – inspiring her followers. Are you?

The Cyphers Agency (TCA) is looking to grow its Word of Mouth department. We are seeking dynamic, creative, fun, and interesting interns who want nothing more than to learn about word of mouth marketing.

We are looking for someone with a thorough understanding of:

• Basic Marketing Principles
• Internet Research
• Social Networking Sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Blogs, especially WordPress
• Online Forums
• Viral Videos
• Flashmobs
• Online Contests
• Flickr, FourSquare, Tumblr, Groupon, Living Social, Wikipedia, Review Sites, etc.

Requirements:

• In college or a recent graduate.
• Advertising, PR, or Marketing Majors are preferred.
• Able to work 20-40 hours per week.
• Prior social media experience is a bonus.

Wanna show you are super awesome?

• Show us your online presence – think personal blog, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
• Send us some writing samples that show your style and voice.
• Share with us some of your favorite blogs, articles, or videos. Bonus if we haven’t read, heard, or seen it yet.
• Get others to talk online about why you should be the next WOM intern. Comments on this post are a start. And hashtags never hurt, either… (#HireMeTCA)
• Show us how you’ve used social media to get results (for school, work or personal purposes).
• Tell us what YOU think is an awesome example of an effective campaign that used social media and/or Word of Mouth. Negative ten points if you say “Old Spice.”

As for that cover letter and resume, you can send it to jocelyn@thecyphersagency.com. Look forward to hearing from you!