In 2014, I have decided to start a new weekly round-up of the top 5 “digital crumbs”. I hope you like this format and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
1. Lessons from the NYTimes Social Media Desk (Nieman Lab)
The NYTimes social media team put together a great analysis of their social media activity over the past year. Protocols they used during the Boston Marathon bombings worked so well that they continued to follow them throughout the year. Tweet updates are linked to news reports that have been approved by editors, focusing on retweeting only Times reporters and editors. They also talk about the dangers of social media automation, and how they handled social blunders. Through analyzing times of day, they were able to ascertain that Tuesday afternoon readers liked the same stories as Saturday night Twitter readers.
2. What Changes Will Millennials Force Brands to Make in 2014? (AdAge)
As millennials enter new phases of adulthood and parenthood, their influence on brands will continue to drive marketing in 2014. According to AdAge, “reinvigorated feminism” will be one of the major changes in 2014, backed by high-profile influencers as Sheryl Sandburg, Goldieblox, and Beyonce. A recent Economist poll showed that 42% of millennials considered themselves feminist, compared to 32% of Gen X’ers. As these millennials become parents, they are thinking about how the future of the world will affect their children – from politics to social good to the type of products and entertainment to which kids will be exposed.
3. Make it beautiful: how the fashion industry is giving tech a hand (The Verge)
This year’s Consumer Electronics Show is bringing a stronger partnership between the tech and fashion industries, with alliances like Tory Burch and Fitbit, and Louis Vuitton and Netatmo. With wearables clearly paving the way for the now and future, consumers can begin to expect well-designed and well-functioning devices, instead of one over the other. Pebble also announced stainless steel and black matte versions of its massively popular smart watch, now available for pre-order off their site.
4. Meryl Streep Slams Walt Disney, Celebrates Emma Thompson as a “Rabid, Man-Eating Feminist” (Vanity Fair)
Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson might just beat out Amy Poehler and Tina Fey for the best speech exchange. This week, Streep introduced Thompson as the Best Actress winner in a glowing tribute of the “Saving Mr. Banks” actress, to which Thompson responded in kind. My favorite line is from Emma’s speech: “And Alison Owen, who produced a film about a 60-year-old woman which wasn’t about her being a wife or a mother. When does that happen? Never. Extraordinary.”
5. This Is The Internal Grading System Google Uses For Its Employees — And You Should Use It Too (Business Insider)
Google uses an internal system called OKR, or Objectives and Key Results, for tracking performance across the entire organization. Each objective is linked with 3-5 actionable, achievable results, and employees rate themselves at the end of each quarter. What’s interesting about OKRs is that each employee profile contains all the OKRs so anyone can look up a fellow colleague’s OKRs and ratings. Google says this helps employees gain a better understanding of what everyone is focused on.
See you next week for more fives!
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