Mediaboss Marketing

29 March 2012 Last updated at 20:22 ET By Fiona Graham Technology of business reporter, BBC News

When movie rental service Netflix took the decision to split the company, forcing customers to sign up to two accounts if they wanted to both watch movies online and rent physical DVDs, it may have expected that some of its users would be a little ticked off.

What it hadn't anticipated was that those users would take to social networks like Twitter and Facebook in their thousands to complain about the move - forcing the company into a massive U-turn.

In a possibly more predictable faux pas, fast-food giant McDonald's launched a social media marketing campaign where it encouraged users to tweet happy tales about dining with the company.

Unfortunately, the #McDStories tag ended up being used to express many people's less than positive thoughts about the home of the Big Mac.

Tales of big business coming a cropper in the brave new world of social networking are becoming commonplace.

But if you're a small or medium sized business, do you need to worry about what your customers are saying about you online?

For Alex Bard of Desk.com, the customer support tool launched recently by customer relationship management specialists Salesforce.com, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

"The conversations are happening already. It's not in the control of small or even big business," he says.

Mr Bard quotes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: "If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the internet, they each tell 6,000 friends."

Excerpt from:
Keep the social media cowboys at bay

People are increasingly becoming aware of the emerging internet monopoly.

Companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and the other (local) social network and media sites are becoming so large and powerful that they can dictate the use of their services in such a way that people lose control over their own information and their participation in these networks.

The services offered by these networks are very appealing, and they are an enormous contribution to the way people can communicate with each other. And, although we can point to some excesses in customer behaviour, by far the majority of users are responsible and greatly appreciate these new methods of communication.

Lack of a permission-based approach

While we did not foresee the arrival and success of these specific services, for over a decade I have been talking about permission-based marketing. We understood the potential of a combination of the internet-as-a-service and broadband as an access technology; and we knew that the combination of these developments would lead to an explosion in the digital economy and digital media activities. However, a decade or so ago we did not know how this exactly would take shape.

These digital media developments certainly did happen, but they are not founded on the permission-based principles that we at BuddeCom advocated during all those years. We envisaged that the digital advantages should appeal to the users and that they would embrace these services; and we also envisaged businesses being able to make use of these developments, as this would allow for personalised and interactive marketing rather than the shotgun approach of broadcast advertising.

Customer experience

We also believed that customers could benefit greatly from these services, as they would be able to receive messages that interested them, rather than being bombarded with a multitude of messages that were of no interest to them. That was going to be a win-win situation. This would lead to a much better customer experience and, given the technical attributes of these services, organisations could start building lifelong relationships with customers, based on personal and interactive communication facilities.

The internet of things

In our internet of things (IoT) reports and analyses we also mentioned the enormous advantages of linking databases together and providing better services to the users in relation to large number of issues such as weather, environment, events, shopping, travel information and so on all targeted at individual users, based on where they are and what they do again, fantastic applications and very useful, but also needing to be permission-based.

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TECHNOLOGY SPECTATOR: Social media's monopolies

The compact flow switch includes an inductive proximity switch mounted in an adjustment dial that senses the position of a spring-supported piston. When the adjustment dial is turned, the position of the inductive sensor moves closer or farther away from the top of the piston. The position of the piston is proportionate to the flow rate. The spring resets the piston to its initial position with decreasing flow of the media. This allows the sensor to be mounted in any horizontal or vertical position and function as a check valve. The switch can be set up to 26 gpm, and the switch's LED indication provides operating status at a glance.

The 24 VDC units have a PNP switching output, pressure rating of 363 psig, and an M12 connector for power. Two units are available: Part number SBN333 has a setting range of 0.26...6.6 gpm with 3/4" NPT process connection; and part number SBN346 with a setting range of 1.32...26.4 gpm and a 1" NPT process connection.

For more information about the SBN Series Mechatronic Flow Switch, visit the ifm efector website, http://www.ifm.com/us. Contact ifm efector inc., 782 Springdale Drive, Exton, PA 19341. Tel: 800-441-8246 | Fax: 800-329-0436.

ifm efector inc. is a premier technology partner for sensors and controls for industrial automation. Products include inductive and capacitive proximity sensors, photoelectric sensors, fiber optics, vision sensors, vibration monitors, pressure sensors, flow sensors, temperature sensors, level sensors, valve position sensors, ID systems, mobile control products, AS-i networking and Safety at Work products,.

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Mechatronic Flow Switch offer fast response, long life.

by Alia Beard Rau and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - Mar. 28, 2012 11:09 PM The Republic | azcentral.com

A fissure between moderates and conservatives within Arizona's Republican party has become more obvious at the state Legislature.

On Wednesday, the political split led to the downfall of a controversial bill to allow employers and insurance companies to opt out of covering contraception for religious reasons. The divide also is the reason bills to allow guns on college campuses and require schools to check students' citizenship status failed to gain traction this session.

But while the death of the contraception bill has Democratic lawmakers celebrating, experts say it's not likely a sign that one of the nation's most conservative legislatures has suddenly had a change of political heart -- lawmakers have still introduced bills promoting conservative causes. And at the Arizona Legislature, nothing is ever really dead until the session ends, probably sometime in mid-April, so the contraception bill is likely to resurface later.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted 17-13 against House Bill 2625, with seven of the Legislature's more moderate Republicans joining all nine Democrats to oppose it.

Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, was the eighth Republican no vote, but only after changing her vote in a procedural move to allow her to ask for a revote, possibly as early as today. Legislative rules allow only a member of the prevailing side to request a revote.

The bill, pushed by the Arizona Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the state's bishops, and the Center for Arizona Policy, a conservative religious-rights advocacy group, has been in the national spotlight. It has drawn considerable opposition from some women's groups who claim it would reduce access to birth control.

And earlier this month Gov. Jan Brewer indicated she had concerns about some aspects of it.

But not even an amendment to clear up some of the confusion and controversy surrounding the bill could save it. The bill would have required employers to cover any contraception prescribed for reasons other than to prevent pregnancy or cause an abortion. The amended version clarifies that women could seek reimbursement from their insurance company for birth control used for reasons other than contraception. There was some concern the bill would have required women to seek reimbursement from their employer.

Barto and bill sponsor Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Glendale, were surprised the bill got voted down because they said they thought they had enough votes to pass it.

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Arizona Democrats, moderates block state birth-control bill

(CBS News) Even though social media sites are taking a strong stance against websites that promote eating disorders, the pages don't seem to be going anywhere.

On one blog covered with pro-ana tags found on a popular site, a woman gives a play-by-play of a three day fast she's partaking in. During one of the days, the blogger wrote she consumed only tea, vitamins, and a gallon of water.

Eating disorders: 9 mistakes parents make Anorexia sufferers five times more likely to die sooner

"I'm super psyched to weigh in," the blogger wrote. "If I can make it til noon Friday I may extend it through the weekend!" Other followers offered support and said they'd join in the weight loss attempt.

While the activity of fasting alone isn't a major cause for alarm, the fact that her messages are posted in conjunction of images of frail women (known as "thinspiration"), positive mantras promoting weight loss and other self-loathing notes about being "pathetic" and having no friends, the blog quickly becomes an online snapshot of a person dealing with an eating disorder.

"A lot of times people with eating disorders use these sites as a means of seeking support," Vazzana tells HeathPop.

While the idea of online websites promoting pro-ana, pro-mia and thinspiration is not a new, the popularity of online blogging sites like Tumblr and Pinterest has made it easier for those with the ED to organize online. Simply tag your post with one of the hashtags on Tumblr, and you automatically get linked to other men and women who feel the same way. Create a board on Pinterest of weight loss tips and images of skinny models, and you have a one-stop site to share with others with your same issues.

In February, Tumblr wrote on their blog that they were adopting a no "self-harm" policy, meaning they would shut down sites that promoted eating disorders. Pinterest soon followed suit on March 27 by updating its terms of services to include banning material that "creates a risk of harm, emotional distress, death disability, disfigurement or physical or mental illness to any person." But a quick online search for these terms shows that these sites exist, either because they were created recently and have yet to be taken down or because the banned user created a different account that has yet to be found by the authorities.

"They are still finding a way with all these regulations," Vazzana says. "Even with all the regulations, Tumblr and Pinterest may try, but they'll get the sites back running under a different ISP."

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders Inc., it is estimated that 24 million Americans have an eating disorder, but only one out of 10 will receive treatment. Currently, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder. One in 200 U.S. women suffers from anorexia, and two to three out of 100 women will have bulimia, the South Carolina Department of Mental Health reported.

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Despite social media bans of "pro-ana" websites, pages persist