People's Insights Quarterly Magazine

Volume 1, Issue 1, Jan-Mar 2012

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
MSLGROUP is Publicis Groupe’s
strategic communications and engagement group,
advisors in all aspects of communication strategy:
from consumer PR to ﬁnancial communications,
from public affairs to reputation management and from
crisis communications to experiential marketing and events.
With more than 3,500 people across close to 100 ofﬁces worldwide,
MSLGROUP is also the largest PR network in
fast-growing China and India. The group offers strategic
planning and counsel, insight-guided thinking and big,
compelling ideas – followed by thorough execution.
Learn more about us at:
www.mslgroup.com | http://blog.mslgroup.com
twitter.com/#!/msl_group
youtube.com/mslgroupofficial

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08
People’s Insights
Quarterly Magazine
by Ashraf Engineer and Rooshabh Doshi
Inside
People’s Lab: Crowdsourcing
Insights and Innovation
by Pascal Beucler and Gaurav Mishra
06
Foreword
by Olivier Fleurot
05
Storytelling Mandala:
Purpose-Inspired Transmedia Storytelling
by Gaurav Mishra
10
Amazon Kindle Fire82
Pinterest
52
Path
58
Little Monsters
67
MTV Music Meter
74
#kony 2012
42
Curators
of Sweden
34
Intel Innovators
26
Mahindra
Spark The Rise
18
Byliner
86
Facebook
timeline apps
94
Facebook timeline
for pages
100
YouKu-Tudou
merger
109

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Olivier Fleurot,
Chief Executive Officer,
MSLGROUP

5
Big ideas that are rooted in strong insights and
foresights have never been as important, and
conversations and communities have become
the most important sources of insights.
I am delighted to present to you our People’s
Insights Quarterly Magazine, which pulls
together the best insights from our Insights
Network, in which 100+ thinkers and planners
within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring
Foreword
projects on citizenship, crowdsourcing and
storytelling.
We hope that these insights will not only inspire
you to think about how you can distill insights
from conversations and communities, but also
inspire you to create your own citizenship,
crowdsourcing and storytelling projects that
inspire others.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
The Power of Crowdsourcing
Insights and Innovation
According to the recent PwC CEO Survey
of 1200+ business leaders across 69
countries, business leaders believe that
crowdsourcing people’s insights are one of
the main drivers for leading innovation and
change.
We have a significant body of knowledge
on crowdsourcing now, including business
rationale, application areas, best practices
and case studies. We have seen dedicated
third-party crowdsourcing platforms in
action for almost a decade and learned
from their successes and failures. We have
seen diverse Fortune 500 corporations
design dedicated large-scale platforms
People’s Lab:
Crowdsourcing Insights and Innovation
to crowdsource insights and innovation
across business functions. However, we
saw a gap in the market for comprehensive
solution to crowdsource insights and
innovation and launched our People’s Lab
crowdsourcing platform and approach.
People’s Lab Crowdsourcing
Platform and Approach
The People’s Lab platform helps
organizations build and nurture public or
private, web or mobile, hosted or white
label communities around four pre-
configured application areas: Expertise
Request Network, Innovation Challenge
Network, Research & Insights Network
and Contest & Activation Network. Our
community and game thinking features
Pascal Beucler,
SVP & Chief Strategy Officer,
MSLGROUP
Gaurav Mishra,
Asia Director of Social Media,
MSLGROUP

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encourage people to share rich multimedia
content and vote/ comment on other people’s
content, while our social intelligence algorithm
helps us identify the most influential people,
themes and content.
Crowdsourcing Insights from
Conversations and Communities
The People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform
and approach forms the core of our distinctive
insights and foresight approach, which consists
of four elements: organic conversation analysis,
MSLGROUP’s own insight communities, client-
specific insights communities, and ethnographic
deep dives into these communities. This
four-part approach helps us distill a deep
understanding of societal values, consumption
behaviors and attitudes towards brands, not only
in terms of insights that help explain our world
today, but also foresights that give us a glimpse
of future worlds.
Introducing People’s Insights
Quarterly Magazine
As an example, 100+ thinkers and planners
within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring
projects on citizenship, crowdsourcing and
storytelling on the MSLGROUP Insights
Network. Every week, we pick up one project
and do a deep dive into conversations around
it — on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself
but also on the broader social web — to distill
insights and foresights. We have been sharing
these insights and foresights with you on our
People’s Insights blog. Now, we have compiled
the best insights from the network and the blog
in the iPad-friendly People’s Insights Quarterly
Magazine, as a showcase of our capabilities.
We hope that you will enjoy the magazine and
subscribe to receive subsequent issues. We also
hope that our magazine and blog will inspire
you to start a conversation on how you can
distill actionable insights and foresights from
conversations and communities.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
The People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine
pulls together the best insights from our
Insights Network, in which 100+ thinkers
and planners within MSLGROUP share and
discuss inspiring projects on citizenship,
crowdsourcing and storytelling.
Every week, we pick up one project and do
a deep dive into conversations around it —
on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself
but also on the broader social web — to
distill insights and foresights.
We started with the belief that some of the
most inspiring projects that are shaping
marketing and communications are at the
intersection of citizenship, crowdsourcing
and storytelling. Three months and
thirteen weekly insights reports later, we
People’s Insights
Quarterly Magazine
feel validated that our intuition was right.
In the first issue of the People’s Insights
Quarterly Magazine, we start off with
a framework for purpose-inspired
transmedia storytelling, which weaves
together elements from all the three
drivers of citizenship, crowdsourcing and
storytelling.
Then we look at thirteen inspiring projects
at the intersection of these three drivers.
Many of these projects build upon at least
two of the three pillars of citizenship,
crowdsourcing and storytelling and some
like Mahindra Spark the Rise leverage all
three.
Ashraf Engineer,
Editor, People’s Insights
Quarterly Magazine
Rooshabh Doshi,
Researcher, People’s Insights
Quarterly Magazine

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Citizenship:
• How Mahindra Spark the Rise in India and Intel
Innovators in the US created collaborative
social innovation challenges to tap into the
insights of changemakers.
• How the Swedish government handed over
the country’s official Twitter account @Sweden
to a new citizen every week to showcase its
democracy and diversity
• How #kony2012 became the most viral video
ever, by designing for virality, and reached 100
million views in a week.
Crowdsourcing:
• How Pinterest and Path are creating new
types of social graphs, around curating visual
content on pinboards and sharing private
journals in closed groups.
• How Lady Gaga and MTV are connecting music
fans in innovative ways, with Lady Gaga’s Little
Monsters social network and the MTV Music
Meter discovery engine.
Storytelling:
• How tablets like Amazon Kindle Fire and
social networks like Byliner are leading the
re-emergence of long-form content, including
books, magazines and long-form narrative
non-fiction as Kindle Singles.
• How Facebook and Youku-Tudou are changing
branded content with Facebook’s timeline
apps and timeline for pages and YouKu-
Tudou’s original branded content.
In the coming weeks, we will continue to
track inspiring projects at the intersection of
citizenship, crowdsourcing and storytelling. Do
subscribe to receive our weekly insights reports
and do share your tips and comments with us at
@PeoplesLab on Twitter.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Marketers have always used stories to
share information, change opinions and
influence decisions. Now, as people
create, consume and share brand stories
in new ways, marketers need to go beyond
the 30-sec product ad or the 300-word
press release, and tell purpose-inspired
transmedia stories that inspire, organize
and energize people.
Six Trends in Storytelling
Storytelling Mandala:
Purpose-Inspired Transmedia Storytelling
Let’s start by recapturing the six important
trends that are reshaping how people
create, consume and share brand stories:
• Short attention spans: People are
consuming news and entertainment
in byte-sized pieces, increasingly on
smartphones and tablets, often
on-the-go.
• Narrow interest graphs: People are
selectively paying attention to the
topics and sources they are most
interested in, and filtering out the rest.
• Social serendipity: People are
discovering new content based on what
is shared by their networks, or by other
people like them, via sophisticated
algorithms.
• Community curation: People are
forming on-the-fly communities around
a shared passion or purpose by curating
content around hashtags and trending
topics.
• Remix in context: People are remixing
photos, videos, art and music and
sharing their creative work in the
context of a time, place or event.
• Emergent storylines: People are
curating their own Facebook or Twitter
timelines as work-in-progress stories,
with emergent narratives.
These six trends play an important role in
the narrative arc we will draw next: from
Hero’s Journey to Heroes to Everyday
Heroes.
Gaurav Mishra,
Asia Director of Social Media,
MSLGROUP
Photo from goincase on Flickr

11
The Hero’s Journey is a good example of a
monomyth, or a universal story, that cuts across
all types of stories, including myths, movies,
novels, and ads.
From Hero’s Journey to Heroes to
Everyday Heroes
Hero’s Journey: Storytelling
According to Joseph Campbell, all stories follow
the same three-part narrative structure of the
Hero’s Journey. In “departure”, the hero listens
to the call of adventure and leaves the “known
world” for the “unknown world”. In “initiation”, he
meets guides and allies, falls in love, undergoes
a series of tests and trials, discovers the answer
and receives the gift. In “return”, he reluctantly
returns home, survives a near-death experience,
and shares his wisdom and power with the rest of
the world.
The Hero’s Journey has been used by
filmmakers to create franchises like Lord of the
Rings, Star Wars and Matrix, and by marketers to
tell compelling stories about brands, most often
through 30-second ad films.
Source: Joseph Campbell Foundation

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
However, the six trends that are reshaping
how people create, consume and share
brands stories are also reshaping both the
nature of the universal stories themselves
and the art of how these stories are told.
First, let’s look at the art of storytelling.
NBC’s hit TV series Heroes is a good
example of transmedia storytelling, where
TV shows, graphic novels, video games,
mobile applications, offline experiences
and online communities explore different
aspects of the same “story world”.
While many transmedia “story worlds”
exhibit elements of the three-part
narrative structure of the Hero’s Journey,
they expand it, by incorporating multi-
layered intertwining narratives, complex
social networks of characters, and
storylines that unfold over hundreds of
hours.
In fact, we don’t really consume popular
culture anymore, certainly not as a linear
narrative. Instead, we co-create it, by
deconstructing plot twists in elaborate
blog posts, contributing to extensive
fan wikis that delve into the motivations
of each character, and creating our own
parallel narrative in virtual worlds and
alternative reality games built around films
and TV shows.
As popular culture becomes more layered,
brands have had to rethink marketing.
Increasingly, ads attract audiences to
branded “story worlds”, which try to retain
their interest over the long term, and
convert them first into passionate fans
and then into paying customers, much
like movie trailers with entertainment
franchises. P&G’s Old Spice Man is
not only one of the most memorable
marketing campaigns in recent times, but
also an entertainment franchise in the
making.
Heroes: Transmedia Storytelling
Source: NBC Heroes Evolutions
Everyday Heroes: Purpose-
Inspired Storytelling
Source: CNN Heroes
Now, let’s look at the nature of universal
stories itself.
CNN Heroes in the US and CNN-IBN
Real Heroes in India are good examples
of purpose-inspired storytelling about
everyday heroes acting as change agents,
with a clear call for participation and
action. The phenomenal popularity of the
TED conference is another example of our
innate need to celebrate everyday heroes
with “ideas that matter”.
These stories about everyday heroes
who are changing the world share some
elements with the Hero’s Journey, but
diverge from it in important ways. First,
each one of us is a hero with a different
call for adventure, a different journey, and
a different reward, which means that the
idea of the monomyth itself is problematic.
Second, the most important journey is the
journey within, into the “unknown world” of
our own hidden potential, to search for our
own best self. Third, our biggest battles are
the ones we fight with ourselves and the
only way we can win is by helping everyone
else win too.

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As people have become better at filtering out
the 30-sec tell-and-sell product ad, brands have
had to rediscover their reason for being and
tell stories that inspire, organize and energize
people around a shared passion or purpose. GE’s
Ecomagination and Healthymagination initiatives
are powerful examples of a brand telling
purpose-driven stories that inspire participation
and action.
The Storytelling Mandala
The Storytelling Mandala is designed to help
brands tell stories that inspire, organize and
energize people to participate and act around
a shared purpose. The inner circle consists of a
new three-part universal story that articulates
the purpose of the brand, the change it wants
to catalyze and the quest it has undertaken. The
outer circle focuses on the art of transmedia
storytelling, including the role of content, the
sources of content, the role of channels and the
role of paid, owned and earned media.
1. Create original content
2. Crowdsource content
3. Curate conversations
1. Content repository
2. Content aggregation
3. Content distribution
1. Paid media
(for strangers)
2. Owned media
(for familiars)
3. Earned media
(for promoters)
1. Content tent poles (pull)
2. Content pegs (push)
3. Conversations (two-way)

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
To inspire, organize and energize people
around a shared purpose, brands need to
tell their story in three parts, in sequence:
why (purpose), what (change) and how
(quest).
• Why (Purpose): Who are we and what
is our reason for being? What is our
shared purpose, our Social Heartbeat,
that can inspire people?
• What (Change): What is the change
we are trying to bring about? What
does change mean for individuals,
communities and the world?
• How (Quest): What is the journey we
must go through to catalyze positive
change in the world? What if the only
way we can win is if everyone wins?
Even when brands want to tell purpose-
inspired stories, they inevitably find it
difficult to abandon their tried-and-tested
benefit-driven tell-and-sell claims.
Therefore, it’s critical to build a bridge
between the benefit-driven claims that
move units and the purpose-inspired
stories that move hearts.
Photo from h-k-d on Flickr Photo from alicepopcorn on Flickr
Question 1: The Universal Story Question 2: Role of Content
To tell their story in a compelling manner,
brands need to create three types of
content, each with a different role: long
form tent pole content to pull in people,
short-form content pegs to push out
stories to people, and ongoing two-way
conversations.
• Tent pole content: Long-form content
like minisites, apps, reports, games or
films to showcase the full story in one
place and pull in people.
• Content pegs: Short-form content pegs
like blog posts, infographics and video
clips to highlight and push out different
aspects of the story.
• Conversations: Ongoing two-way
conversations to push out the content
pegs to pull in people to the tent pole
content.
Think of a tent. The content tent pole
holds up the tent and attracts people to
it. The content pegs hold down the tent
and support the content tent pole. The
tent needs both the content tent pole and
content pegs.
Now, think of a movie. The movie itself is
the content tent pole, while the trailers,
interviews, announcements and reviews
are content pegs, leading to different
types of conversations like buzz, gossip
and rumors.

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Photo from aussiegall on Flickr
Photo from aussiegall on Flickr
Question 3: Sources of Content
Brands need to recognize that creating content
requires time and resources and tap into three
sources of content: create original content,
crowdsource content, and curate conversations.
• Create original content: Brands need to create
a critical mass of compelling original content,
including almost all the tent pole content like
minisites, films, games, apps and reports and
at least some of the content pegs like blog
posts, video clips and infographics.
• Crowdsource content: If brands are able to
create compelling original content, they can
use it as a provocation to crowdsource content
pegs from influencers and community
members, often by running crowdsourcing
contests.
• Curate conversations: Finally, brands can
curate conversations around their content
tent poles and content pegs into timelines
(Storify) or collections (Pinterest), and use
them and content pegs, and even content
tent poles.
Marketers and agencies are increasingly hiring
journalists and filmmakers to create original
branded content. Marketers are also creating
contests to crowdsource everything from
personal stories to Super Bowl ads. Finally,
most media companies, and many marketers,
are curating conversations and using them as
content pegs.
Question 4: Role of Channels
Once brands have created, crowdsourced or
curated content, they need to organize them
across channels, knowing that some channels
work best for content repository, some for
content aggregation, and some for content
distribution.
• Content repository: Channels like YouTube,
SlideShare and Flickr are used for storing
videos, documents and photos respectively.
• Content aggregation: Websites, blogs and
Tumblr (and increasingly social and mobile
apps) are used for aggregating content and
conversations.
• Content distribution: Facebook, Twitter,
Google+ and LinkedIn are used for
distributing content to community members
and influencers.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
The purpose of the content repository
channels is to pull in people deep into
the content archive, while the purpose
of the content distribution channels
is to push out the latest content and
create conversations. The purpose of the
content aggregation channel is to link
pull and push, stock and flow, content and
conversations.
Question 5: Role of Media
Finally, brands need to intentionally use
paid, owned and earned media in sync
to attract strangers, convert them into
familiars and then into promoters.
• Paid Media (for strangers): Targeted
display, search or social ads to attract
people who don’t know anything about
the brand, and seek their permission to
join an owned media platform.
Photo by ripton on Flickr
• Owned Media (for familiars): Private or
public online community platforms,
social networking groups, or events
to organize people who have given
permission to the brand to share
regular content with them.
• Earned Media (for promoters): Ongoing
conversations with community
members and influencers to trigger
participation and action and energize
them to become promoters.
However, even as brands are investing to
build permission-based owned media
assets, they are realizing that familiars
and even promoters sometime lapse into
strangers and even community members
sometimes need to be reactivated with the
help of paid and earned media.
In Summary
In summary, brands need to tell new types
of stories, purpose-inspired stories, and
tell them in new ways, via transmedia
storytelling.
If brands do this, they will inspire, organize
and energize people to participate and
act around a shared purpose; build
permission based owned media assets that
will increasingly look like entertainment
franchises; and thrive in a world in which
media is fragmented, content is cheap,
attention is the biggest constraint, but
storytelling can still win over hearts and
minds.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Mahindra
Spark The Rise
Spark the Rise is a digital platform for
motivated people to join forces and tackle
the critical issues India faces. The platform
is about creating and sharing innovative
ideas.
Anybody with an idea can submit
project plans or ‘Sparks’. Mahindra will
provide grants to the eight best plans
every month that fall under one of
five categories – technology, energy,
agriculture and rural development,
infrastructure and transportation, and
social entrepreneurship.
The platform hopes to ‘spark’ a positive
change.
Citizenship
Mahindra
‘Spark The Rise’

19
Mahindra wants to give a voice to individuals,
groups, institutions, organisations, NGOs
and businesses through the ‘Sparks’ or by
participating in conversations, voting and funding
projects.
Participants must be at least 18 years old and
legal residents of India. They need to create their
profiles on www.sparktherise.com, after which
they must submit details of their projects. They
can ask others for guidance and donations.
A press release on the Mahindra website said:
Each entry must clearly state a project name,
category, description and clearly explain who the
project will help to ‘Rise’ and how it will achieve its
goal. Participants can also note down resources
already at their disposal and ask others for help
related to funding, equipment, volunteers and
expertise.
Every month, each of the eight projects will
receive grants of Rs 4,00,000. Six of these
eight will be selected by a jury comprising the
finest business minds, such as Nadir Godrej,
managing director of Godrej Industries. Two will
be selected by the public through a vote.
After six months and six rounds, the top two
monthly Sparks chosen by a public vote (12 in
all) will compete for additional funding in the
‘Grand Finale’. Another six will be nominated by
the jury. These six don’t have to be winners of
earlier rounds.
The finale winner gets a grant of Rs 40,00,000
and three runners-up get grants of Rs 20,00,000
each.
As the Spark the Rise page suggests, entries
will be judged on impact, feasibility and
innovativeness:

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Impact: How much will it affect the target
group’s lives? How many people will it
help? Is it a one-time improvement or a
continuous/long-term change?
Feasibility: Does the project plan look
achievable? If this Spark receives a grant, is
it likely to succeed?
Innovation: Is this Spark creative or original?
Does it demonstrate alternative thinking
that we can learn something new from?
The concept is an extension of ‘Rise’ - the
company’s positioning since January 2011.
Mahindra elevated the communication
platform through ‘Spark The Rise’. The
campaign introduced in August 2011 was
a multimedia movement pegged at Rs 18
crore over four to six months, across media
channels and touchpoints.
What makes this campaign even more
impressive is that digital and social media
are still nascent in India. Most Indian
brands use the digital medium to support
traditional media, but Mahindra has done
the opposite.
Rise was identified as a movement for
people to stand up to the challenges faced
every day. ‘Rise’ was considered an end,
while ‘Spark The Rise’ was the means to it.
Managing Director Anand Mahindra said
this about the campaign:
Rise is a simple call to action. We want
to encourage people to be part of this
movement and to engage with the idea of
Rise - to think outside the box, to be inspired
and ultimately to take action. A big idea
often begins with a tiny spark of inspiration–
a spark that can sometimes even ignite a
revolution. Through Spark the Rise we seek
to not only create a platform for ‘Sparks’
across the country to connect, collaborate
and drive positive change but also lend
financial support to the best idea
The insight was that Indians took great
interest in nation-building because of
Citizenship
Mahindra

21
the challenges they faced every day – lack of
infrastructure, pollution, etc.
As mentioned on the site:
We’re all talking about What India needs to leap
forward. Better infrastructure. Education for all.
Sustainable energy. Support for entrepreneurs.
But who will make it happen?
This is where Spark The Rise steps in. It provides
a platform where Indians can make their voices
heard and make a difference.
The platform also stresses the importance of
working together to transform India through
communication and collaboration.
The community enables connections between
likeminded people. Whether it is finding
volunteers, receiving and giving advice, or
securing donations of equipment and funds,
connections can be built in various ways.
The website’s news section states that winning
the vote is just the icing on the cake; bringing
about a positive change through connections is
paramount.
In fact, in just over a month, thousands of
connections have been made between Project
Champions, volunteers, and experts. It’s an
exciting community. Even after the voting ends,
the microsite can be used to enhance, discuss,
fund and support projects. It also features a
discussion board for people to share ideas and
participate in conversations.
As stated by Anand Mahindra:
Spark the Rise is a platform where ‘Sparks’ can
start projects and ‘Volunteers’ can get involved
in them to help people to Rise. By funding
outstanding projects, Mahindra seeks to empower
Indians to take charge of the future.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Spark the Rise promotes initiative and
innovation by bringing stakeholders
together to work for change. The platform
is meant for all ‘Sparks’, not just those who
receive grants.
As mentioned on the website:
Spark The Rise is a platform to drive positive
change in the lives of stakeholders and
communities around the world to enable
them to Rise. It will enable people to drive
positive change by bringing them together
behind innovative ideas and awarding the
grant money needed to put them into action.
Mahindra considers all Indians as
stakeholders and aims to involve everyone
from a grassroots level.
Stakeholders are called upon to make a
change for other stakeholders. Customers,
communities can suggest ideas that can
make a difference to other stakeholders
such as the government, employees
enhancing the corporate reputation of
Mahindra and internal stakeholders like
investors and the management.
Anand Mahindra said:
When you say you’re a purpose-driven
company, it’s still a one way communication.
What we’re trying to do is move from
talking to people to creating a conversation
with stakeholders, and spark the ‘rise’ in
consumers.
Two years ago, Mahindra decided to delve
into its history and culture to discover
what the group had become. The four core
qualities that came across after consulting
employees, customers and communities
were integrity, compassion, diversity and
empowerment.
Rise is a value system that is about hard
work, ambition, creativity and initiative.
These qualities are something that
stakeholders share and believe in.
Rise defines what it is like to be part of
Mahindra for all the 120,000+ employees
across 100 countries and through the
diverse products and services.
As mentioned in the blog ‘The story of
Rise’ :
We live Rise through our internal culture of
accepting no limits and alternative thinking,
and we live Rise through our products and
services that enable people to build a better
future. Whether you’re a small businessman
insuring your growing company, a family
looking for a comfier car, or a Fortune 500
company navigating information security in
the electronic age, we provide the tools you
need to succeed.
Citizenship
Mahindra

23
Crowdsourcing creates a sense of belonging and
ownership, enhancing the relationship between
stakeholders.
Crowdsourcing works for Mahindra because it
aims to build connections by sparking
conversations around project plans. It also builds
a relationship between the brand and potential
customers.
While crowdsourcing is not new, social media has
taken it to another level by turning consumers
into brand advocates.
Mahindra chose social media as a platform as it
has sparked several discussions around projects,
created connections between volunteers,
supporters, followers and project champions
and provided a platform for people to showcase
their skill sets through projects, increasing their
visibility.
While several brands, such as Kit-Kat and
Starbucks, are turning to customers to help them
develop products, Mahindra used crowdsourcing
keeping the bigger picture in mind.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Mahindra empowers people by allowing
them to shape their future through Spark
The Rise sourcing business ideas.
A report published on Celsias, New
Zealand’s guide to sustainable business
and corporate citizenship analysed why
crowdsourcing was important for corporate
social responsibility (CSR):
When asked why crowdsourcing is
valuable for CSR programs, 36 percent
of respondents said it highlights new
perspectives and diverse options; 25
percent said it helps build engagement
and relationships with key audiences; 22
percent said it invites clients and customers
from non- traditional sources to contribute
ideas and opinions; and 16 percent said it
helps bring new energy into the process of
generating ideas and content.
Other brands crowdsourcing for corporate
citizenship include Ecomagination – GE’s
commitment to imagining and building
innovative solutions to environmental
challenges while driving economic growth.
The Intel Innovators Contest looked at
funding the most innovative ideas in
technology through crowdsourcing.
Spark The Rise is a massive hit, becoming
the first initiative of its kind conducted on
such a massive scale in India.
The first month saw more than 300,000
visitors and 2,000 entries.
The ripple effect on the web led to
thousands of conversations across social
media platforms such as Facebook and
Twitter, with participants asking for votes
and supporters asking friends to fund
projects.
Six rounds have been completed so far.
With Spark The Rise making waves, other
brands are likely to follow suit. If they can
create solutions that impact thousands just
like Mahindra has, they will profit from it as
well.
Citizenship
Mahindra

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Intel
Innovators
Intel Innovators was launched as a contest
on December 1, 2011, on the firm’s
Facebook page. It gives young people
in the US a chance to change the world
through technology by coming up with
ground-breaking business ideas. Every
month, Intel awards up to $100,000 to
the best ideas based on support from
members of the Facebook community and
a live pitch where the top five innovators
face off.
The programme’s initial run is for
three months. It’s possible that, if the
contest does well, it would be rolled out
internationally later this year.
Citizenship
Intel
Innovators

27
Participants register for the competition by
filling a form, answering a few questions related
to Intel and uploading a 30-second video that
explains their business ideas. Once the ideas
are approved, a selection committee comprising
professors, executives and entrepreneurs select
the 20 best that go into the ‘Pitching Room’.
Fans and entrepreneurs are given social capital
(points) to invest in their favourite ideas there.
The five ideas with the most social capital go
into the final round, dubbed ‘The Battleground.’
Participants such as Pascal Wagner (founder
of Wordio) promoted their ideas across social
media to accumulate as much social capital as
possible:
After being selected as one of the top 20 ideas, our
objective was to get as many people as we could to
accept the Intel Innovations Application and invest
“social capital” points they were given into our
idea - something requiring a lot more work than
just clicking the “Like” button. I found that most of
the people who you stay in close contact with are
willing to help you out on these types of occasions
but to get your extended network to help you out
requires an action I don’t enjoy at all - nagging. We
found that other groups in previous rounds made
a video explaining the process on how to help our
team and decided to make something similar.
The finalists make a live pitch to a panel of
four, which awards the winner $50,000. The

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
judges are influential personalities in the
fields of technology and innovation and
include venture capitalists, executives and
entrepreneurs. The ‘Top Fan’, who earns
and invests the most social capital, gets to
give another $50,000 to his/her favourite
finalist.
The Battleground is streamed live on the
Facebook community and is later posted
on Intel’s YouTube channel.
The winning ideas so far have been social-
media-centric. December’s fan’s choice
was Alex Adelman, a 22-year-old from
North Carolina who came up with Cosmic
Cart, a product tagging system that allows
users to buy merchandise from any video
online. The judges’ choice was Virgil Hare
(24) from Detroit for LoginWill, a social
networking website where people can
designate beneficiaries to receive all their
online login information when they pass
away.
Intel positions itself as the pioneer in
technology and innovations. Even though
it has undertaken similar initiatives offline,
it decided to go a step further and use
the online medium to project itself as a
technologically-savvy brand.
The community was created to source
the best ideas from young people. Intel
focuses on this age group because it
believes that investing time, effort and
money in the youth will create a more
fruitful future. As Techcrunch writer
Rip Emspon puts it :
According to Intel, it’s illegal to award
financial prizes to people under 18, so
there’s that, and, really, they want to tap into
college-aged entrepreneurs — to help the
young Mark Zuckerbergs of the world take a
step forward.
The idea also fits perfectly with Intel’s
previous communication taglines
‘Sponsors of The Future’ and ‘Leap Ahead’.
Here’s what Deborah Conrad, Intel’s chief
marketing officer, said:
At Intel, we are on a constant quest to fuel
innovation of all kinds. We never fail to
be impressed by the power of the human
Citizenship
Intel
Innovators

29
imagination or the millions of people who are
fueling the future with their amazing ideas. We
are especially excited and motivated by this
new generation of entrepreneurs. Through the
new Intel Innovators program, we can show our
commitment to these entrepreneurs by providing
tools and resources to help them pursue their
visions. We think we will see some very cool ideas.
This isn’t the first time Intel has focused on
corporate citizenship through technology,
innovations and entrepreneurship. It has always
claimed it is all about fuelling innovation with
programmes like the Global Challenge at UC
Berkeley and the AppUp Fund show. Intel wants
to put its money where its mouth is. Intel’s
official web-page on Technology Innovation says:
Innovation is fundamental to economic growth.
To encourage innovation and prepare today’s
students to become tomorrow’s entrepreneurs,
the Intel Higher Education program offers
entrepreneurship programs designed to help move
technology out of research labs and into local
communities – where it can do the most good.
The Innovators campaign allows participants,
fans and panellists to take part and make
a difference. The competition is useful for
entrepreneurs as it gives them a platform to
showcase their ability. It also gives them the
opportunity to win $100,000 to invest in their
own businesses. Winners also get invited
to participate in NCIIA’s immersive training
programme, VentureLab, where they will learn
to identify potential markets and create
valuable connections with industry

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
professionals. The winners will take away
action plans and get visibility across the
web.
Panellists, on the other hand, get to
contribute to a better future by deciding
which idea is most worthy of the prize.
Fans help judges decide which ideas
go into the final round. Social capital is
earned by fans by taking part in various
activities on the app, such as watching a
video or posting a comment. Fans invest
this social capital in ideas that they like.
The one who invests the most social
capital becomes the Top Fan. Allowing the
Top Fan to participate in The Battleground
and rewarding his/her choice with $50,000
helps him/her feel a sense of belonging
and ownership of the idea, which is
essential in this age of relationship
marketing.
Crowdsourcing is a good way of bringing
a sense of belonging and ownership to
enhance a relationship between customers
and brands. While crowdsourcing is not
new, social media has taken it to another
level by turning consumers into brand
advocates by getting them more involved
and engaged.
Brands are increasingly turning to fans
to help them develop products. Samuel
Adams followed in the steps of Mountain
Dew and Coca-Cola by turning to Facebook
fans and crowdsourcing a new beer. Nestlé
asked fans to help it pick the next flavour
in their KitKat Chunky range to increase its
uptake amongst young men.
Facebook is the ideal social media
channel to source insights. From simple
competitions to complex apps, users are
able to engage with their favourite brands
in a fun way in a familiar environment.
It’s a win-win situation – brands invest in
something their target audience will buy
and give insights on and users feel they are
part of the creation of something tangible.
As blogger Toni explains on his blog,
The Bluedoor:
The theoretical win-win is that companies
are able to not only engage customers and
help nourish brand loyalty, but also get
some great ideas which can be put into
practice. Leading organizations which have
executed this successfully include Starbucks
withMyStarbucksIdea.com and Dell with
IdeaStorm.
Intel differs from most crowdsourcing
efforts as it doesn’t use the ideas for itself
but for the development of society, making
it a form of corporate social responsibility.
Intel Innovators worked on Facebook for
the following reasons, as described by
blogger Frank Gruber on Tech Cocktail:
• Ideas are game-changing businesses or
concepts powered by technology.
• Seeds are spontaneous thoughts
or inspirations about innovation for
the community to share, shape and
potentially evolve into Ideas.
• Fans can interact with Ideas and Seeds
using standard Facebook engagement
tools (share, like, comment, answer polls,
etc.). As they do, Fans earn badges and
Social Capital, the program’s virtual
currency.
Citizenship
Intel
Innovators

31
Social media also offers other benefits such as
dynamism, ability to provide tangible results,
aggregation of public opinion, push-button
curation, etc.
The campaign benefits by combining
crowdsourcing with gamification to attain the
objectives of corporate citizenship.
Gamification comes into play when fans
accumulate social capital every time they
engage with the app and when users use
these points to slug it out for Top Fan honours.
Gamification works for crowdsourcing because
it adds fun to what is a monotonous task. An
editorial on crowdsourcing.com said:
By presenting a simple task in a playful manner
you motivate the user through the introduction of a
competitive dynamic. Tried and tested approaches
are being adopted that are straight out of the world
of electronic games, where settings are created
where tasks are incorporated as actions within
games, often in surreal environments, sometimes
incorporated as part of a story, a journey through
the game.
Other initiatives that successfully used
crowdsourcing and gamification are
freerice.com, a UN sponsored program where
correct answers in a geography quiz amount
to certain quantities of rice being donated to
the poor, and Fold.it, an interactive computer
game that enables participants to contribute to
important scientific research – users are provided
rules and parameters that they have to follow
while correctly arranging an on-screen protein
model into small shapes.
Intel Innovators isn’t the regular kind of
gamification for crowdsourcing, but is
gamification for crowdsourcing for corporate
citizenship, which makes it unique.
However, the idea still received flak, most
notably for restricting the contest to 18 to 24 year
olds in the US.
The campaign has these restrictions partly for
legal reasons – brands cannot award cash to
those younger than 18. The upper cap, 24 years,
was introduced so that Intel could focus on
college-aged students. Twitter user @stagester
said:

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Got to ask. Why is there an age limit? Does
this play in the false assumption that older
people cannot innovate or have good ideas?
If you look at most patents the average age
is over 35. Also Founders Institute has found
that startups founded by older founders
have a much higher average of success
Other criticism centred around the nature
of the ideas being mostly social and basic.
Many questioned whether the innovations
would actually impact society. Youngsters
aren’t venturing outside the comfort zone
of social media, others said.
Even if it has its drawbacks, the concept is
quite a marvel as it has aggregated more
than 1,000 ideas and 100,000 visits in a
little over two months.
There has been a recent spurt of
crowdsourcing initiatives that has saturated
the market; several brands have used it
as a method of engagement without any
real purpose. Without a clear objective, the
idea won’t be taken seriously.
Intel, though, has thought it through.
This sturdy combination of crowdsourcing,
gamification and corporate citizenship has
made it a benchmark for brands aspiring to
use novel crowdsourcing techniques.
Citizenship
Intel
Innovators

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Curators
of Sweden
Sweden was the first country to hand
over its official twitter account to citizens.
Each week a different Swede gets to run
@Sweden, the ‘world’s most democratic
Twitter account’, showcasing the skills,
opinions, lifestyles and experiences that
make the country what it is. The initiative
kicked off on December 10, 2011, with the
first ‘curator’ being Jack Werner, a writer-
editor. Since then, there have been five
other faces of Sweden, ranging from an
advertising executive and an organic sheep
farmer to a coffee-loving lesbian trucker.
The project is christened ‘Curators of
Sweden’. By means of the various curators’
narrations, not one Sweden is conveyed,
but several.
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Curators
of Sweden

35
The objective: arouse interest and raise curiosity
to drive tourism by highlighting Sweden’s
qualities through the curators.
Sweden understood the importance of strong
relations with the outside world. It hoped that
its curators, through Twitter, will showcase the
country in a light not usually seen in traditional
media. Maddy Savage agreed in a piece for the
BBC :
The Swedish Institute and VisitSweden launched
the experiment in December as part of an attempt
to give a more diverse insight into a nation perhaps
best known for its meatballs, flat-pack furniture
and crime novels. They argue that Sweden’s future
prosperity depends on creating a more active
exchange with other countries.
“No one owns the brand of Sweden more than its
people. With this initiative we let them show their
Sweden to the world,” says Thomas Brühl, CEO
of VisitSweden
This insight comes from a study that said that,
when it comes to travel decisions, the people of
a country are as important a factor as
everything else – weather, site-seeing, etc.
Language is an important factor, too, which is

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
why English speakers prefer visiting
countries that speak the language. Sweden
understood that communication is vital,
which is why it chose a platform that would
get people from other nations familiar with
the country through its people.
People seem to identify better with
brand Sweden after it tried to create a
relationship with its followers by adding a
human touch to its Twitter feed. Excerpts
from a blog :
The project, an initiative of the Board for
the Promotion of Sweden is definitely
looking to market travel with the human
element. Ask anyone who specializes in
social media niche jackets– they will tell
you that the more personal and human-like
you can make your company’s social media
accounts, the better. Sweden hopes that by
giving people the chance to see the country
through vastly different sets of eyes, they will
inspire curiosity.
Having a different Swede tweet each week
offers more room for creating relationships
by catering to different kinds of people.
Visit Sweden carefully chose its curators,
making sure they represented the
country’s values and skills, such as gay
rights, fashion and innovation.
The process was lengthy as it was
essential to select the right curators. The
conversations created by them would
have a huge bearing on the perception of
Sweden itself. Curators are nominated by
the public.
The nominator must send an e-mail to
curatorapplication@visitsweden.com,
answering a set of questions about the
nominee. If the answers and evidence
justify the nomination, chances are that
he/she will be selected as a curator.
Citizenship
Curators
of Sweden

37
censorship and don’t shy away from criticising
the country.
Former curator, beekeeper Hasan Ramic,
tweeted:
@sweden The current Swedish welfare system is a
bad joke compared to what it once was
Hanna, a truck driver, criticised an archaic
medical practice still alive in Sweden:
@sweden I do. I think it’s a disgrace that a civilized
country is still doing that. #myownopinion
Almost all governments would be skeptical
about allowing such criticism on their own
platforms. That’s where the Swedish government
comes across as truly open. Allowing curators
to freely express their thoughts is what makes
people believe that
@Sweden is the world’s most democratic Twitter
account. Take for example Ramic’s tweets on what
it was like to grow up in Sweden as a Bosnian
refugee from the Balkan wars of the 1990s:
@Sweden: When the war started in Bosnia, a part
of the conflict was based on religion. We were
Muslim, and forced to flee to Sweden.
@Sweden: In our fight to preserve our Bosnian
Muslim identity we didn’t celebrate Christmas. It
was a Christian tradition and not to be observed.
@Sweden: We still observe our traditional Muslim
holidays, but it’s not about religion for us. It’s
about the spirit.
Blogger Jeremy Stahl said this truly
demonstrated Sweden’s democratic nature:
Thousands of immigrants from Bosnia fled to
Sweden for its open asylum policies during the
wars in the former Yugoslavia, but the nation
continues to wrestle with immigration and
assimilation. Yet in 2010, an anti-immigrant party
gained a foothold in the country’s
The content posted is personal and bold. The
Swedes who run the account face little

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
parliament for the first time. When the
Swedish Tourism board says on its Curators
of Sweden website that “Hasan Ramic is @
Sweden” and gives him the opportunity to
speak for his nation they are telling us a lot
more about the country
Sweden could not have chosen a better
time. Several governments are discussing
the possibility of moderating content
on social networks, which has received
tremendous flak.
However, there is a section that didn’t
like the idea. Detractors felt that the lack
of moderation deterred Sweden from
creating a positive image for itself. No
censorship meant that there was a barrage
of abusive/offensive tweets and some
promoting the curators’ personal ventures.
Sweden
Listen up, folks! I’m @kwasbeb, a regular
swedish dude, and I’m taking over this
goddamned account for a week! Expect bad
sex and slapstick.
Well, ok, I’ll swede the LOT of you: meat
balls äre guud, änd naked girls make me
sæy “jaa!”
Curators of Sweden, on the other hand,
mostly received rave reviews for being
uncensored, innovative, daring, personal
and different. Observers applauded
Sweden for taking a route that most
countries would shun. The very fact
that Sweden aimed to connect with its
followers through its citizens made it a
novel concept.
Blogger Chris Armstrong is a fan:
I tip my hat to Visit Sweden for being daring
enough to go all the way and encourage
a conversation between its citizens and
the rest of the world. Whether it’s called a
social experiment or a publicity stunt, I’m
pretty sure it’ll do its job well in increasing
awareness about Sweden and lead to more
curious tourists.
Citizenship
Curators
of Sweden

39
Expat Swede Anna Dahlström launched a
scathing attack on her blog , calling the initiative
a ‘publicity stunt’ as there were many tweets not
remotely concerning to Sweden.
For all the wonderful things Sweden has to offer I
highly recommend visiting www.visitsweden.com,
just not the twitter account, for now.
An insight picked up across the web was that
there were several disgruntled followers who
seemed to dislike the curators, and not the
campaign itself. This was brought up by Tommy
Sollen (Social Media Manager, VisitSweden) on
the same blog in response to Anna’s attack:
Hi Anna!
Let me begin by saying that I’m very glad you’re
recommending visitsweden.com and that you have
been happy in the past with our Twitter account :)
Now about our new approach on @sweden on
Twitter it seems to me that you like the idea but
you don’t like our first curator, Jack.
Granted, he is an outspoken person and his way
of writing is certainly very different from our
previous more official tone of voice. But if we are
to be transparent and genuine in our presence on
Twitter and truly show the wide range of what we
as a country and as a people have to offer then we
have to let go of some measure of control and have
some faith in our people.
In 2012 you’ll probably have 50+ new curators to
get acquainted with and I’m sure you’ll like some of
them, if not most :)
Media Culpa, a Swedish media and public
relations blog agreed:
Now, what a brilliant idea to turn to the crowd and
let ordinary Swedes share their views on Sweden.
The only problem with letting go of control is that,
well, you have little control. You see, there is one
thing I’m not particulary impressed with in this
campaign so far, and that is the actual tweeting.
The whole purpose of this activity is that the tweets
should be linked to Sweden and create interest in
Sweden. But I have a hard time seeing that tweets
containing foul language, mentions of dreams
of racist jokes or jokes about planning terrorist
attacks on Twitter are what the Swedish Institute
had in mind.
The jury is still out on whether this is a social
experiment or a mere publicity stunt. What is
not in doubt, however, is that @Sweden worked
brilliantly to increase its follower count to almost
23,000 from about 8,000 in early December. The
UK-Based Huffington Post summarised it in a
sentence:

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Of course it’s all a stunt to boost tourism,
but as stunts to boost tourism go, you’ve got
to admit it’s a pretty ingenious one.
If countries aren’t jumping on the
bandwagon, its citizens are urging them to
start something similar, like in England.
marcsettle marc blank-settle Good point
by @jackschofield: @sweden account being
used really nicely. @england is all but
dormant. @twitter - please free up dormant
accts
Canada has also done something
innovative with its most recent campaign
that had the Calgary Philharmonic singing
tweets submitted by the public. The
Calgary board called on Calgarians on
Twitter, asking how they stay warm in the
winter. The tweets were curated and turned
into a song.
There is little doubt that other countries
will also soon use social media to drive
innovative marketing campaigns. For now,
Curators of Sweden sits atop the heap.
Tourism boards around the world have
found social media an effective way of
communicating with their audiences. As
Twitter matures as an information and
sharing platform, people are becoming
accustomed to seeing governments and
tourism boards on it.
Sweden’s campaign stood out, which
led to other countries trying something
different on social media. Australia and the
US are already copying the idea, and it has
been well received.
Citizenship
Curators
of Sweden

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
#Kony 2012
‘Kony 2012’ is an online campaign by the
non-profit Invisible Children that aims to
make one of the world’s most sought after
war criminals, Joseph Kony of Uganda,
famous. The campaign is meant to raise
awareness about him and his crimes,
eventually leading to his arrest.
The official Kony 2012 website said:
Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign
aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to
celebrate him, but to raise support for his
arrest and set a precedent for international
justice. In this case, notoriety translates to
public support. If people know about the
crimes that Kony has been committing for
26 years, they will unite to stop him.
Secondly, we want Kony to be famous so
that when he is stopped, he will be a visible,
concrete example of international justice.
then other war criminals will know that their
mass atrocities will not go unnoticed or
unpunished.
The campaign kicked off with a 30-minute
documentary by Invisible Children co-
founder Jason Russell on YouTube and
Vevo showing Kony’s killings and Uganda’s
struggle against his terrort.
Citizenship #Kony 2012

43
Kony took over leadership of a rebel group in
1987 and renamed it the Lord’s Resistance Army
(LRA), which earned notoriety for abducting
children to be soldiers or wives of his officers.
Over the years, the LRA committed numerous
crimes such as rape, torture and murder, often
with blunt weapons. The LRA has abducted
more than 30,000 children and displaced at
least 2.1 million people.
Invisible Children has been working for nine
years to end Africa’s longest running armed
conflict. It has two broad objectives:
1. Make Kony famous as the world’s worst war
criminal.
2. Push lawmakers in the US and elsewhere
to deploy more forces in Uganda to stop
Kony, and draw up a comprehensive strategy
for disarmament, demobilisation and
reintegration.
Even though Kony has been named by the
International Criminal Court as one of the world’s
most wanted men, not many know about him.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Invisible Children’s documentary was
watched by millions within hours of its
release.
With over 100 million views in the first six
days across platforms, it became the most
viral video ever. The video featuring Susan
Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 hit 70
million views in six days while Old Spice’s
‘Responses’ campaign didn’t hit 70 million
until five months after launch.
Russell said that he would have been
happy if the video got half a million views
on YouTube by the end of the year, but it
had more than 79 million views within 10
days.
The result was #StopKony and #Kony2012
trending on Twitter within hours.
Initially, the response was positive.
Mashable reader Stephwight said:
I think the amount of awareness this
campaign has drawn to Kony and
the problems in Uganda is a huge
accomplishment and shows the positive
power social media can have on the world
Kony 2012 is not a typical viral success.
It is different from videos that went viral
earlier; they usually had slapstick humour
or entertainment value. Kony 2012 has
created a new genre.

45
Russell said in the video:
Celebrities, athletes and billionaires have a loud
voice and what they talk about spreads instantly.
Invisible Children targeted celebrities who could
amplify the message. It also turned to lawmakers
to act on the campaign.
The celebrities and politicians were selected
keeping their credibility, reach and influence on
social media in mind. They included the likes of
Justin Bieber, Bono, George Clooney, Angelina
Jolie, Lady Gaga, Mark Zuckerberg and 14 other
household names.
The organisers made these celebrities tweet on
#StopKony and retweet other #StopKony tweets,
flooding timelines.
Oprah for example referenced Kony’s the LRA,
saying:
Thanks tweeps for sending me info about ending
#LRAviolence. I am aware. Have supported with
$’s and voice and will not stop. #KONY2012.
It showed that a slick, controversial video playing
on human emotion has immense potential
for virality. It portrayed happiness, sadness,
shock and hope in the space of minutes. It also
simplified the issue for the target audience –
the youth. Almost everyone who watched it
understood it and related to it.
The calls-to-action also urged users to share the
video.
Social Media expert Calum Brannan explained
on his blog why the video went viral :
• Viewers are shown ‘Share’ buttons in the first
few seconds almost subliminally now i’m not a
psychologist, but one could hazard a guess this
helps plant that seed
• This video is emotive, its a roller-coaster of
happy to sad to shock
• Film maker Russell invites the viewer to
participate in an experiment, and the use of the
word ‘We’ and ‘Us’ instantly builds a sense of
community and is very personal
• Another point to note is a younger Russell from
a clip a few years ago makes a ‘promise’ to a
child, and I personally was amazed he could
make such a promise, you feel that you almost
want to help
• The end of the video provides clear instructions
on how you can help, leading with financial
ones first, then powerfully suggests that the
least you can do is ‘Share’ the video
• There has also been critics who are shouting
that the facts are wrong, this sort of debate and
emotive reactions are simply more fuel to the
fire for this social media blaze

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Bieber retweeted an Invisible Children
message and looped the link to the video,
saying:
it is time to make him known. Im calling on
ALL MY FANS, FRIENDS, and FAMILY to
come together and #STOPKONY.”
The list of politicians included George
Bush, Condoleezza Rice and Bill Clinton.
The public can message these influencers
directly from the Kony 2012 website.
The campaign had its detractors. Political
and social affairs experts questioned its
legitimacy and many charities and non-
profits picked holes in the strategy and
accountability of Invisible Children. Within
hours, conspiracy theories were floated
and many questioned the objectives of
Kony 2012.
One of the criticisms was that the video
misrepresented the situation in Uganda.
As stated by Mark Kersten in his blog
‘Taking Kony 2012 down a notch’
The campaign reflects neither the realities
of northern Ugandan nor the attitudes of its
people. In this context, this post examines
the explicit and implicit claims made by
the ‘Kony 2012’ campaign and tests them
against the empirical record on the ground.
The truth is that Kony has been inactive
for more than six years, and is said to have
fled to Congo. Much like the speculation
behind Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts,
some reports said that Kony is dead.
Many Ugandans say that the country is now
safe and the video wrongly portrays it as
a war zone. The other criticism is related
to Invisible Children’s donations to the
Ugandan army as brought up by
Mario Shapiro :
The campaign wants to make everyone
feel like they are part of the movement.
The video repeatedly uses the words ‘we’
and ‘us’ to create a sense of togetherness
and belonging to the movement.
By asking people to get more involved
by visiting the website, signing a pledge,
getting the Kony bracelet and action kit for
$30, and donating for the cause, Invisible
Children makes people feel like they are
playing a vital role in bringing Kony to
justice

47
Detractors feel that Invisible Children’s priorities
and motivation are completely out of whack
with the nature of their cause (Invisible Children
is accused of providing funds to the Ugandan
government’s army and other military forces which
allegedly committed rape and looting, though the
charity has denied the allegations).
Reports also alleged misappropriation of funds
by Invisible Children; they said it sent only 30%
of the money collected previously to the anti-war
effort in Uganda.
Another conspiracy theory was that the US
deployed its troops in Uganda with an eye on the
oil found in nearby Congo.
Jlkinsella sums up a lot of doubters’ thoughts on
a blog by Fred Friske :
There is no question that Kony is a bad guy. But,
it is also true that he and his couple hundred
followers are unlikely still in Uganda. So what
is this video really about? Why do we have 100
troops there? What are they doing? Money raised
by this campaign certain goes to the organization
that created the video. Does it do anything else?
unclear.
Meanwhile, there is a story from Uganda that
is largely ignored by our media. Over 20,000
Ugandans (a few killed) have been thrown off
their land by their government so that European
companies can plant trees for carbon offsets.
Why is the land and livelihood of Africans being
destroyed to mitigate the guilty consciences of
Europeans? Is this the true atrocity occurring in
Uganda? Why would we ignore one story and
promote the other?
The controversy certainly contributed to the
video’s virality. As the controversies intensify, the
campaign will attract more eyeballs. But will they
be the eyeballs Invisible Children wants?
One example of this was the screening in the
northern Ugandan town of Lira, which didn’t
go down too well. The angry audience threw
rocks at the screen and shouted abuse as
thousands fled for their lives. The audience felt
that the documentary was factually incorrect
and insensitive, that Invisible Children was
commercialising their suffering through fund-
raising merchandise.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
This incident led to more people viewing
the video online.
Stung by the criticism, Invisible Children
hit back on its website as mentioned in the
National Post :
After a brief period of near-silence in which
it says its website repeatedly crashed from
the volume of hits, has tried to fight back. Its
chief executive posted a long video on the
website in which he attempted to answer
many of the questions posed by critics and
the charity also says it will try to answer
as many as possible of the thousands of
questions lodged via Twitter.
This fuelled the conversation further.
to be riled about crime. Invisible Children
hoped to capitalise on this emotional drive.
Sceptics said Invisible Children targeted
the youth because they are easier
to manipulate. Dalhousie University
International Development professor Dr
Robert Huish told the Peninsula News :
Huish says that the big issue with the use
of social media in the Kony 2012 campaign
is that “truncated (history) into sound bites
and into tweets,” causing individuals without
expertise on the subject to chime in with
opinions which causes false information to
circulate around the web.
The youth, though, heard both sides and
were as quick to question the campaign as
they were to support it.
The video was meant for the masses, but
specifically for the youth. According to
YouTube statistics, the Kony video was
most popular with girls aged 13 to 17 and
men aged 18 to 24.
Some experts felt that the video was
aimed at the youth because many of them
are oblivious of world affairs. They are also
the activists of tomorrow. As the youth are
maturing emotionally, they are more likely
Viewers were able to question the
campaign quickly, thanks to the amount
of information available on the internet
through blogs, articles and social
networks.
Mario Shapiro mentions the impact the
movement had on her son in a blog :

49
However the movement is perceived, Kony 2012
certainly raised awareness about an issue that
not too many people knew of. By becoming the
biggest viral movement ever, Invisible children
met its first objective of making Kony famous.
Timelines are filled with Kony-related content.
Thousands of content pegs, including spoofs,
video blogs and celebrity opinions, were created
on Kony. YouTube has over 50 pages of content
on Kony. As mentioned in the National Post:
The video was produced by the non-profit group
Invisible Children with the goal of making Joseph
Kony a household name among the populace
and eventually congressmen and senators with
the power to take military action. They’re certainly
on track. Not only is the video being viewed like
crazy, but people are posting their own clips and
commentary. In this new age of interactive media,
viewers are investing their own time to record
and upload their own thoughts. As I write, 278
video clips have been uploaded to the KONY 2012
YouTube video campaign. As of the 200th video,
their average length was six minutes.
So, how are teens reacting? Well, I only know
what’s happening in my house. My own son,
after doing a bit of research, has become a bit
soured on Invisible Children. He stopped asking to
purchase a bracelet, and other than a Facebook
post denouncing the video, I haven’t heard another
word about it.
Even though Roxanne Anderson’s views are
different, she agreed that social media gets
important information out faster :
I am also very impressed with how social media
campaign has raised awareness so quickly, and
would like to see that happen more. There are
so many areas of the world where people are
suffering for various reasons of injustice, and if we
can use our media networking to motivate people
to do something about it, that is noteworthy. Some
of our greatest battles are to get people who aren’t
suffering to care about people in another part of
the world who are and to take action. Invisible
Children has done that. Cheers.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Most successful viral movements were
more or less local or national in nature.
However, Kony 2012 transcended these
boundaries.
People across the world are talking about
it. The movement didn’t gather pace in
Africa, but that was probably because of
the low levels of internet connectivity
there.
There will be more twists to this story.
The kind of information – and the amount
– a person consumes impacts his/her
decisions.
Hence, good research is important before
voicing an opinion.
As the Darkest_Omega said on a forum
called 6-sided world :
It’s your choice and I should have no say, do
your own research make your own decisions,
I’m all for helping other people. I personally
think that Mr. President doesn’t make the
best decisions so by you saying that he
trusts that matters almost nothing to me.
(He called the Egyptian president his friend
until the Egyptian people started rebelling.)
Make your own decisions. Research topics.
Live, Learn, Love. Don’t be deceived by
greedy people.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Few people expected Pinterest to be the
smash-hit social network of 2011. It had
strong competition in the form of Tumblr,
Twitter and the more recent Google +, but
the image-based social curation tool was
on fire, making it to the Top 10 most visited
social networks of the year.
Pinterest’s mission statement summed it
up well:
Our Mission
Our goal is to connect everyone in the world
through the ‘things’ they find interesting. We
think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can
reveal a common link between two people.
With millions of new pins added every week,
Pinterest is connecting people all over the
world based on shared tastes and interests
Pinterest
Crowdsourcing Pinterest

53
Pinterest allows users to organise and share
things of interest found across the web in the
form of ‘Pinboards’. People use them to plan
weddings, decorate homes and concoct recipes,
amongst other things. David Lee, a tech addict,
spoke his mind on this:
People use Pinterest to bookmark things they
like and share them with friends and followers.
It’s also fun to browse through things other
Pinterest users have discovered. I’ve found lots
of things that I otherwise never would have. It’s
also plain fun to browse pins.
What really works for it, though, is the fact that
it uses social bookmarking to aid ‘discovery’
through a collection of visuals. Blogger Joe
Murphy cites this aspect as an important reason
for using the platform :
I also use Pinterest for discovery:
I browse what others pin in common areas
such as books, travel, or products, for
ideas to inspire my activities, books to
read, places to visit.
Christmas shopping: I watched people’s
pinboards of products they love or want
very carefully for ideas to add to my
shopping list or wish lists.
Even though there are plenty of social curation
tools around, Pinterest focuses on ‘images’
rather than conversations. When user Kary
Delaria was asked what she thought made
Pinterest different, this is what she had to say:
There’s no talking. Well, very little. Pinterest is a
social bookmarking of visual items. It focuses on
visual sharing.
User Mariam Shahab likes that she can follow
things that are of her interest by following
specific ‘boards’:
For me, it’s much easier to filter my many interests
on Pinterest than on Facebook or Twitter. Sure
Twitter has lists, but people are dynamic and tweet
about things other than what I categorize them
under (i.e. fashion, PR etc). However, on Pinterest,
I can only follow a user’s boards I’m actually
interested in.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012 Crowdsourcing Pinterest
Pinterest is different from Facebook, witter
or Google+ because it doesn’t focus on
starting a conversation through posts. In
fact, people post images of things hat they
love, which eventually gets the conversation
going. Blogger Deb Ng thinks that
Pinterest makes for a refreshing change:
It’s also giving me an opportunity to see
another side of my social media friends.
I can tell you who is renovating, who are
moonlighting as foodies, who are expecting
kids, and what kinds of books everyone is
reading
With users finding new ways to use
Pinterest, the challenge before brands
was how to use its burgeoning success to
their advantage. Pinterest scores in terms
of visual enticement, which plays a huge
role in conversions for an oft-neglected
segment – women in the 25- to 44-year
age bracket who love cause marketing.
Pinterest is effective in creating awareness,
driving conversations online and boosting
consumer engagement through novel
methods. Social media strategist
Constance Aguilar feels Pinterest holds
immense potential for brands:
Pinterest holds immense potential for
brands to interact with their audiences and
to visually entice current and potential
customers. Using the power of image,
companies can create buzz around
products, display more in-depth aspects
of their businesses, and ultimately create
more personal and visually pleasing social
experiences for their audiences.
On the other hand, detractors believe that
marketers are trying to attain first-mover
advantage on Pinterest without assessing
its relevance for their respective brands.
Critic and social media enthusiast
April Jones agrees:
Not every “social” site needs to be a “social
media” site and a source for self-promotion.
I’m already seeing bloggers using Pinterest
as a place to promote their latest article or
ebook or webinar. Pinterest is more visual
and using the stock photo from your blog
post (pinning the orange RSS feed graphic?
really?) doesn’t count. I go there to look, not
read.
Anything new leads to discussions and
contrasting opinions; Pinterest is no
exception. The user experience for most
is pleasant, but there were a considerable
number who had qualms about it.
The positives are that the network is a
visual treat and it makes sharing easy. This,
in turn, makes its core purpose – content
curation – seamless. It is also addictive and
organises content well.
No wonder many like Ky Kow swear by it :
Pinterest is fantastic. Makes you wonder
where all these visually appealing images
have been hiding

55
all these years. The only downside is that it’s
probably setting some very unrealistic expectations
“for the home” and wedding planning :)
Its biggest drawback is that beyond a point there
is not much you can do on Pinterest. It lacks in
variety of utilities.
Pinterest is such a hit partly due to its
developers’ understanding of the need
for structured social curation, which
has been around for a while. It can be
compared to networking in the sense
that it always existed offline.
There was always a need for curation,
as Erica Friedman explains :
Once upon a time, back when we didn’t have the
Internet, I remember folks spending an afternoon
cleaning up their Rolodex files; pulling out old,
unneeded contacts, updating others.
Human nature doesn’t change. Human
needs don’t change. All that’s changed is the
technology.
As social media evolved over the last decade,
long-form content, which can be a barrier
to participation, changed to suit users’
requirements and the way they participate in
conversations.
Pinterest has understood that most users want
to consume content in a structured manner
than create it themselves, which is why experts
predict 2012 to be the year of social curation.
Other social networks understand this, which is
why they are racing to incorporate push-button
features on their platforms. Whether it’s the
Facebook ‘share’, Twitter ‘retweet’ or Tumblr
‘re-blog’, social networks don’t want to miss the
curation bus.
Whilst there are many social bookmarking/
curation websites like Tumblr, Instagram, Digg,
Quora, etc, Pinterest scores over them for a
reason best described by Social Media specialist,
David King:

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
By constructing content in a structured set
versus a stream, sites such as Pinterest
and Snip.It have prevented stream-based
sites such as Facebook from becoming a
compelling place to consume the Pinterest
or Snip.It content (which contrasts with e.g.
Instagram or other stream based sites).
The buzz suggests that Pinterest will
become the next big thing in social media.
This could be because 2012 is expected
to be the year of social curation, and that
no other network or tool provides content
curation in a more simple, structured and
engaging manner.
People think it may be the next big thing
also because the network has carved out a
niche market for itself. Blogger Tilak Joshi
explains how he thinks targeting a niche
market will work for Pinterest:
As the market for social networks begins to
get saturated, niche networks like Pinterest
will begin to prevail. Social networks adding
value to a niche are perfect candidates for
word-of-mouth marketing. Pinterest is one
of the first niche social network successes,
and as the market matures, and the demand
for niche social networks rises, it will be
considered a pioneer in its industry.
Pinterest’s character will be truly tested
only once it moves beyond its invite-only
phase to a public avatar. That’s when it
will face increased pressure not only from
users, but also from rival networks and
new entrants.
One thing’s for certain – its growth and
user engagement suggests that Pinterest
users aren’t going anywhere any time
soon.
Pinterest should not be taken lightly by
other social networks. Its traffic has grown
by 4,000% over the last six months. Its
growth is different from other social
networks as its early adopters were women
– as of December 2011, 58% of Pinterest
users were female.
Blogger Joe Waters recognised this
differentiator in his post ‘Why and how
causes should use Pinterest :
The heavy presence of women 25-44 on
Pinterest is what distinguishes it from other
new social media platforms, which are
generally populated by men 18-24. Here’s a
site that already has the audience everyone
wants: women and moms who make most
of the household buying decisions.
Crowdsourcing Pinterest

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Path
Path started off as a social-networking-
enabled photo-sharing and messaging
service for mobile devices, much like
Instagram, in November 2010.
Later, Path changed its purpose from
sharing only images, to videos, places,
thoughts, etc, to become a ‘smart journal’
through which people could share their
experiences with their closest friends and
family, on the go.
Users can have up to 150 friends because
David Morin, co-founder and CEO, wanted
to create a community with more personal
and high-quality interactions.
Our long-term grand vision here is to build
a network that is very high quality and that
people feel comfortable contributing to at
any time.
Path started off as an iPhone application,
releasing an Android version later. It can
be downloaded from App Store for iPhone
and Google Play for Android users.
Crowdsourcing Path

59
The buzz suggests that Pinterest will become
the next big thing in social media. This could be
because 2012 is expected to be the year of social
curation, and that no other network or
Version 1.0 was all about sharing photos, and
with an even smaller network of 50 people.
Users could tag each photo to people, a place
and with a ‘thing’ in it. Path called it a ‘moment’.
While this picked up initially, the hype subsided
as there were few activities and the number of
people users could share their experiences with
were restricted.
Version 2.0 made up for this by allowing up to
150 friends. Users can now share a number of
activities – friends can stream a song you’re
listening to, where you are or even how much
you’ve slept! Over a million people have shared
when they woke up or slept.
Path’s new ‘Automatic’ mode updates friends
about users’ activities without permission, a little
like Facebook Timeline apps. For example,
Path can track where a user is vacationing
through GPS and update his/her friends about
it. This feature can be disabled if users are
uncomfortable with it.
Stephen Robinson said on Social Steak :
Path 2 is a brilliant way to keep track of your
favourite people and what they are doing in a
sexy, slick and additive to use app. I’ve used Path
2 more in the last week than I did with version 1 in
a whole year, that is how much an improvement
this is.
Path hopes that since friend groups are
smaller and more curated, users will feel more
comfortable sharing these details on it rather
than on Twitter or Facebook.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Simply put, Path allows people to be
themselves without thinking what others
feel about their preferences and what they
share.
Another insight was that social networkers
were craving more intimate interactions
with closer connections. There are only so
many people you can stay in touch with.
While this number differs from person
to person, Morin felt that most people
interacted with only 20 to 30 others at any
given time on social networks and in real
life.
We thought there was a genuinely
interesting opportunity to build … a very
personal, very private network.
Ben Parr explained the reasoning behind
the number in his post ‘With a 50 Friends
Limit, Path Is the Opposite of Twitter’ :
Path calls itself “The Personal Network”
because it’s determined to go against the
example set by Twitter‘s follower model;
you are limited to just 50 friends on Path.
It chose the 50 number based on the
theories of Oxford professor of evolutionary
psychology Robin Dunbar, who claims that
150 is the maximum number of social
relationships any human can handle.
This probably explains why the number
was raised from 50 to 150.
Users can add friends directly from their
phone address books. They can also add
friends via Facebook and invite them
through e-mail or SMS. Additionally, the
‘Suggestions’ menu displays people who
users may know on Path. If users see
someone they want to share their Paths
with, they simply have to tap ‘Add’.
A new way of adding friends is through an
algorithm called FriendRank. Thanks to
integration with Facebook, Path scours
through users’ Facebook friends, photo
tags and other interactions to figure out
five friends that are Path-worthy. If the user
agrees, he/she can add those friends to
Path.
As described by social media enthusiast,
Andrew in an article:
Meh.
Twitter and Path do not compete and
will probably never compete. If you know
anything about graph theory, this becomes
obvious.
Twitter is a directed graph. Connections are
*not* mutual.
Facebook is an undirected graph.
Connections are mutual.
Path is an undirected graph. Connections
are mutual.
You should compare Path to Facebook and
not Twitter.
Here’s another way of putting it:
Crowdsourcing Path

61
more so with the shift to Timeline and mobile.
Facebook’s Timeline apps have been devised
for the mobile, to make people share stories
with friends through ‘actions’ automatically
reflected on their pages. The only difference is
that Facebook lets users share activities with all
friends and acquaintances, while Path lets users
share information with a select few.
This has left certain social media blogger, Jen O
on blog Mama Pop disappointed:
The premise is basically the same as Facebook
– you log on to share pictures and thoughts with
your friends. Oh, wait. That’s not “basically the
same”, that’s exactly the same. No! It’s different
because you’re only allowed to have 50 friends!
So, it’s exactly the same, but smaller? Okaaay…
couldn’t we just do that with Facebook, but limit
the friend requests we accept to just those to
whom we’re closest?
Facebook are the people you went to highschool
with. Twitter are the people who you went to
highschool with. Path are the people who you still
hang out with from highschool.
(of course, they aren’t limited to highschool, insert
“people you work with” or “college” if you want)
With Path’s initial focus on photo-sharing
through mobile platforms, it was compared
to networks such as Instagram and PicPlz. As
mentioned by Cnet writer, Caroline Mccarthy
All in all, it’s like a more tightly restricted
Instagram, minus the artsy camera.
When Path allowed users to share more than just
photos, it drew comparisons to Facebook,

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
Path identifies itself as a companion, not
a competitor to the Facebooks of the
world – an approach that most social
networking start-ups are taking now. It
would be arrogant for start-ups to not add
a Facebook connect or an integration of
some sorts.
Path allowed users to add Facebook
friends through ‘FriendRank’, and in
version 1.5 it added sharing with Facebook
to the experience.
Frommer stated in his article – ‘Path
Launches to Save You From Facebook’
This is sort of the opposite of sharing things
on Facebook. That’s because Facebook
is constantly pushing you to expand your
friend circle and publish more stuff publicly.
Most social networks constantly push
users to expand their circle through
increased interactions. Path, however,
asks users to do the exact opposite. It
encourages users to restrict their friends
list, stressing on ‘quality circles’ rather
than ‘quantity circles’.
“If you look at how these networks are
grown, they start out really high-quality,”
said Morin, “and as more and more people
join, it becomes hard to find people you
care about. With Path, you have to be
friends with them in the real world in order
for them to pop up on your screen.”
This strategy has received a mixed
response. Copywriter Eric Anderson
explained why he liked this logic taken
on his blog post, ‘Path, The Anti Social
Network’ :
People are much more likely share personal
information with 150 of their closest
friends on Path than, say, 500 friends and
acquaintances (many of whom may be
people they barely know or probably haven’t
seen in years) on Facebook.
He also said why he thought it would be
difficult for people to accept a private
social network:
Let’s face it: You’ll let anyone follow you on
Twitter or Google+. You don’t care if 100 or
Through ‘Automatic’, users could post
photos and videos to their Facebook wall,
either publicly or for a select group. Users
can also share and check in on other
networks such as Foursquare and Twitter.
At the same time, Path was termed as an
‘anti-social network’ by some marketing
experts. As Business Insider writer Dan
Crowdsourcing Path

63
This touches on a fascinating trend in our social
relationships. Facebook has transformed the way
we live and think about friendships. 873 friends?
Really? It’s absolutely ludicrous to think that have
enough time, energy and brainpower to manage
relationships with this many people. I think this 50
friends limit is an interesting twist on this social
networking site.
Most Path users tend to be families, especially
new mothers who want to share baby pictures
with close relatives. While you can have up to
150 members, most users have only 10 to 15.
100,000 people know what you ate for breakfast.
And while Facebook is inherently a permission-
based network, you found that girl you dated in 5th
grade and haven’t spoken to in 20 years and you
friended her, right? It’s okay, though, because the
social paradigm has shifted. 10 years ago a phone
call to your neighbour who moved away when you
were kids would be no less than creepy, but it’s
common practice now.
This strategy, however, worked as Path was
downloaded more than 1.5 million times in its
first year.
Experts said that Path was exactly like Facebook
Timeline – “sharing your personal journey in a
journal with the help of actions through Timeline
apps and by sharing images, videos, milestones,
status updates”. The only difference is that it
can boast of a more advanced and user-friendly
design on the mobile, and is far more private in
nature.
Social media enthusiasts have mostly loved
Facebook, but have always pointed to privacy as
a major concern. Path made sure it tapped into
this segment. As mentioned by a social media
enthusiast Vilder on a Mashable article :
Downloads dropped drastically when Path was
rocked by a privacy controversy. A developer
from Singapore, Arun Thampi, detailed on his
blog how the app for iOS accessed users’ contact
information when it added contacts from the
address book, and uploaded that data to Path’s
servers – all without the user’s permission.
This created a firestorm as privacy was the
reason users signed up in the first place.
User and Mashable reader Nicolas Hayek
expressed his displeasure:
It’s a disappointment to adopt a sneaky approach
by a social platform that promised its niche a good
amount of privacy. Guess we’ll always have to be
vigilant when it comes to online sharing.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
The most notable criticism is of the social
media space getting saturated. Critics said
that for a new social network to emerge, it
needed a niche audience and a different
purpose, like Pinterest. Mashable reader
Shop HDE agreed :
Agreed, there isn’t much room for yet
another social network. I get that there may
be a smaller group of friends that you want
to easily share photos and other media with,
but who really wants to open up ANOTHER
account just to do that? Especially with
Facebook’s new group feature. Don’t forget,
Google tried it too with Google Wave, but
now that’s being discontinued
Another scathing attack on Path was
about it not being ‘social’ enough as it
encouraged users to share less with fewer
people, contrary to what other networks
do.
As described by writer Dan Frommer in an
article on SFGate :
Facebook and Twitter are making people
more promiscuous with what they share.
Sure, there will always be some stuff you
don’t share publicly. But the trend is toward
sharing more, not less, so this may work
against Path.
Path was typecast as yet another network
aiming to displace Facebook, but being
too similar to it to make users shift
platforms. Critics said that Path lacks a
USP that has made networks like Twitter,
Facebook and YouTube so popular.
The small user base was also cited as a
concern. Even though there were early
adopters, not too many of their close
friends made the switch. This defeated
the purpose of sharing your path with your
loved ones.
Founder and Managing Director of
UltraLinx, Oliur Rahman said :
It’s great to be part of those “early adopters”
and I’m sure everyone here is in that group
too. Shame we’re too far ahead from the rest
of the world aye ;).
Morin apologised, announcing that Path
had deleted all the personal data on its
servers.
In trying to connect new users to their
family and close friends, Morin said that
pulling in address book and Facebook
data, as a way to “recommend people to
you when you joined”, seemed like a good
idea. “The way we did that turned out to be
not the way users liked,” he acknowledged.
Adding friends from your address book
is now optional and users are asked for
permission.
This immediate response received a
mixed response too, but many like Bob
Ferrin appreciated Morin owning up to his
mistake and correcting it right away:
I don’t use Path, although now I’m interested
to check it out. Based on what you reported,
I can appreciate most of the conversation
with CEO David Morin. I think at least half
of app developers (if not most) don’t want
to step into the wrong side of privacy issues,
since inevitably their apps land in the hands
of many savvy users and their missteps
generate more presence and opinion on the
web than the corrections the companies
make in the end.
The best thing Morin can do is keep the
conversation going, and stay candid
with folks. If he’s deflecting, a better
response might be, “we kept to the letter
of the guidelines, and we could be more
conservative when it comes to privacy
issues.”
Whilst Path has plenty of fans, it has
detractors too.
Crowdsourcing Path

65
Another challenge is creating a sustainable,
scalable revenue stream.
Morin said that he wanted a revenue strategy of
premium features and brand partnerships.
Path began its revenue stream by creating a
premium feature called ‘Lenses’. It takes photos
and videos that users shoot through their phones
and run them through Photoshop-like filters in
real time. Several lenses are free, but a few like
the ambiance of Tron cost 99 cents each.
Path announced Nike as its first API Partner to
build Nike+ GPS to share runs in real time with
friends.
Even though Path has not started advertising,
‘the inner circle’ social graph is potentially
lucrative through advertising. As Frommer said:
The “inner circle” social graph could eventually
-- if enough people buy in -- be worth a lot as a
platform. Advertisers and other developers would
LOVE to get into your inner circle, because it
means the recommendations you make will be
trusted more, and the connections you have are
worth more.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
What can get users to sign up is a network
that helps you deal with time and place
constraints by accessing it anytime and
anywhere. Path’s bet on the mobile did
just that.
What makes it better is that Path makes
sharing simple, seamless and fast. It also
makes viewing simpler because of the
friend restrictions, minimising the content
on the news feed.
Facebook recognised the importance of
mobile as well, which is why it is gradually
changing its focus. Facebook Timeline
and Timeline apps encourage frictionless
sharing through ‘actions’ via mobile.
Path is certainly on the correct path on this
front.
In an age of 12-hour work days, personal
commitments and a plethora of networks
and apps, it is very difficult for new
social ventures to get attention. People
are already finding it difficult to juggle
between Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and
Google+.
Crowdsourcing Path

67
Little Monsters
Lady Gaga’s stupendous success on social media
prompted her to plunge into a bigger project
that would do justice to her digital clout. www.
littlemonsters.com is the pop princess’ attempt
to create a network built around her fans, which
she dubbed as ‘Little Monsters’. Fans now
have an outlet to create or share Gaga-related
content, interact with fellow Little Monsters and
vote on each other’s posts.
The network was built by Backplane, a social
media start-up that helps celebrities interact
directly with fans. Lady Gaga is an investor in the
firm. Matt Michelsen, CEO and co-founder of
Backplane, told Mashable:
Backplane is about bringing together communities
and Gaga’s community just so happens to be
the community we’re using to learn about proper
functionality. We think we can really change the
world.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
The website features an image of the
singer, created with pictures of her fans
and a registration form. The opening
message says:
Register now to be among the first to
experience a new community only for little
monsters. Because you were born this way!
After filling in the name and e-mail
fields, visitors can request an invite. A
confirmation is mailed to the user with an
assurance that he/she will be welcomed to
Little Monsters soon.
Little Monsters makes the most of online
trends by offering users a chance to vote
on content and post video, images and text
on a public board. As described on The
Web/Tech/ Gadgets blog :
With a look like Pinterest and an popularity-
vote feel like Reddit, the Little Monsters
website appears to be latching on to what’s
hot on the web right now: sharing visuals
and rating content
Most social media user interface designers
nowadays want to make networks look like
Pinterest. Facebook Timeline, other social
bookmarking websites and now Little
Monsters have joined in. The site has been
compared to Pinterest (a fast-emerging
mobile app that lets users ‘pin’ locations
and items they like), because of its heavy
focus on aesthetics, imagery and similarity
in design. The design is reminiscent of
Pinterest also because of the grid-like,
image-based content architecture. Clicking
on an image enlarges it and, in some
cases, links to an article or video.
The site resembles Reddit and Digg
because it emphasises sharing and
creating photos and videos, as well as
letting users promote content from others
that they like.
The resemblance is clear in the slide
above. It will take users a while to
experience it as the network is in the beta
and invite-only phase.
So, why does Lady Gaga, who already rules
the social media roost, want to create her
own network? She boasts of more than 19
million followers on Twitter and has more
than 47 million likes on Facebook.
Crowdsourcing Little Monsters

69
Between the two, more than 66 million accounts
interact with all things Gaga. To top it all, she has
more than one billion views on YouTube. This
consolidated fan base seems like just the start of
things to come.
What does a pop star do when she masters most
media platforms? Create her own! That also
ensures that other companies and networks
don’t cash in on her popularity and social media
savviness.
Lady Gaga has always been a step ahead of all
her competition on the web. As user Robyn
Smart said on Mashable:
I like the design of the new site! I think Lady Gaga
and the marketing team do a great job of creating
a digital brand. They use all digital channels
effectively – Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and
even Foursquare. Last year they teamed up with
Starbucks to do a QR code game.
Lady Gaga is a real guru when it comes to
engaging fans with every available resource.
Google executive Marissa Mayer said:
At Google, we’ve seen Gaga build her career by
embracing technology … as well as constantly
innovating for her fans.
Lady Gaga wants a more personalised and
interactive fan experience through Little
Monsters. She wants the quality of engagement
and interaction to improve between fans and
between fans and herself.

Volume 1, Issue 1,
Jan-Mar 2012
As a range of interest groups explore
and find new ways to be part of the
community, Backplane’s ambitions for
Little Monsters are growing: It aims to help
power community sites for a wide range of
interest groups, covering everything from
celebrities to niche topics.
One of the mainstays of the community
could be people sharing and discovering
talent in fine arts, music and stand-up
comedy through images and videos,
popularising talented artistes by voting up
their content pegs. The network could also
be used as a social movement forum, as a
user suggested on Hypable:
I guess its cool if its going to be used a
social movement forum like for organising
protests, political campaigns, etc like with
For example, one Little Monsters user
tattooed her wrist with the site’s name.
Lady Gaga herself ‘liked’ the post, which
made the comments section go ballistic.
Aggregating a variety of interest groups
also helps Gaga reach out to a wider
variety of fans through images, videos, text
and exclusive content. The network aims
to unite people around interests, affinities
and causes.
her Born This Way Foundation but if it’s just
facebook for little monsters I think it could
get weird… and not in a good way.
Lady Gaga set up the network with clear
business objectives in mind: greater
control over fans by leveraging her
popularity through exclusive content,
advertising and merchandising deals,
which would in turn propel the sale of her
albums.
As described by blogger Carlton Jordan
in his article ‘Lady Gaga Breaks Twitter
History and Launches Little Monsters’ :
Crowdsourcing Little Monsters

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