Twitter goes Geo

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2009/tc20090823_834450.htm

a number of reports lately about the fact that the main site number of twitter apps will allow for geotagging of tweets. Interesting stuff – but how happy would you be to have your tweets tagged?
Recently we interviewed a young Colombian who spoke about how Tweets in Colombia had been used to trace people and their behaviours and ultimately lead to kidnappings. Having seen Biz Stone speak recently, i like his “Quiet American” (check out the book and not the film) style, but his blind optimism of the power of Twitter to be a force for good rather contradicts some fundamentals of human behaviour.

OPEN WARFARE? – Social Networks, moral panics and media battles

Two quick images from the past 24 hours which say a lot about the on-going battles between between traditional and new media companies and within social network giants of Facebook and Orkut.
The first comes from the front page of today’s Sun newspaper in the UK.

I don’t have exact figures on the differing user/purchaser numbers for The Sun and Facebook over the past 3 years but one can imagine they look like opposing slopes of major Alpine mountain. As scare stories about the demonised social network continue, quite what the longer term impact impact on consumer attitudes to both The Sun and Facebook would be interesting to explore. I would be interested to know just whether some of the same scare stories are emerging in the old media of other countries?
The second image comes from my own Facebook page yesterday

Is this all out warfare between Facebook and Orkut? Just what are the relative merits and weaknesses of both social netowrks – please let us know your thoughts…

Corinthians join the Cruisers

Having been to the local derby between Sao Paulo and Corinthians on Sunday I was interested to see that the Timão as they are known (Corinthians for the uninitiated) are just one of a number of Brazilian brands and organisations that are joining the specialist cruise holiday market. Specialist cruises may not be especially new but in the past have been more associated with specialist consumer groups such as the gay market. However in recent years the phenomenon has grown into a number of new areas. One of the most popular and established is the cruise established by singer (and increasingly entrepreneur) Roberto Carlos. Now in its 6th season the cruise will set sail twice this year with the crooner joining his most avid fans (and a host of sponsos – including Nestle) afloat for a few days of hero worship to celebrate the clubs centenary. and just to show that the faithful worship in many forms of church these days, the first Catholic cruise will also depart this year. We just hope no-one gets on board the wrong ship by mistake.

Nova Lima

We’ve been busy in Peru for the past few weeks looking at some of the social and cultural trends in Lima and beyond. We are in the process of creating a micro-site with more detail on the New Peruvian Consumer, interviews with young Limeñas and a host of visual images from around the city. The site will be up and running soon but in the meantime…

Young Lives : Vidas Jovens

TWRAmericas have recently completed a major study of Trends among young consumers (ages 15-19) in Brasil across various cities and with youth of a variety of ages.

The study looked at a range of issues inclusing young peoples values and influences, the role that media and new technologies play in their lives, as well as the role of brands and advertising within their own youth cultures.

The research involved a wide range of qualitative methodologies – from focus groups to online interviews and digital ethnography

If you would like to know more about the project or to see some of the findings please get in touch and we’ll send  a copy of the Vidas Jovens DVD Report to you.

Brazilian football fans – the Pay per View League

Brazilians seem to love questionnaires quant studies with football fans almost as much as the game itself. Recently the members of the Club of 13 (major teams) had access to the first survey conducted among viewers of pay-per-view of the Campeonato Brasileiro. The figures, presented by Globosat will be used as a reference for the distribution of quotas of PPV beginning in January 2009. For the first time, clubs will have better tools to reach their fans and increase the revenues of PPV. President of the Club of 13 Fabio Koffi argues that fans know that in buying the packages for transmission, they will be directly helping their teams of heart.
According to the contract signed for the triênio 2009-2011, there will be a new round of the poll in June. The parameters will be used for the distribution of quotas between July 2009 and June 2010.

In the survey, the two institutes spoke to 8193 people in 11 capitals of the country. Check out the list of percentage of the 10 clubs most often mentioned by respondents in October only between subscribers of the channel PFC:

1. Flamengo – 13.84%
2. Corinthians – 9.77%
3. Sao Paulo – 9.21%
4. Palmeiras – 8.23%
5. Grêmio – 8.17%
6. Inter – 6.87%
7. Cruzeiro – 6.56%
8. Vasco – 6.46%
9. Atletico-MG – 5.94%
10. Fluminense – 5.55%

NBC 08 Senac, Sao Paulo

Some shots from the NBC 08 event at SENAC, Sao Paulo
Huge thanks to Victor at comlimão

discussion group on stage –

Tuesday – presentation 1

presentation 2

presentation 3