Nikes Uses Facebook to Push Timely E-Commerce Golf Gear Around US Open

Below are subsequent Facebook posts by Nike Golf that uploads Tiger Woods' and Rory McIlroy's entire Nike outfitting - from shoes to clothing to clubs to balls. It's brilliant in its simplicity, timelines and relevance. It also shows the value of their athlete and sponsorship model: these are Nike golfers head to toe. And with one-click through Facebook, users arrive on Nike.com's shopping channel - where they can buy element by element. The only thing missing is a "purchase all" button. Nike and Titleist have used Facebook previously to tie results into products - but the direct tie to commerce and timeliness here is really compelling and interesting.

nike tiger woods golf

nike golf

LinkedIn's Influencers Now Includes Bill Gates

Like several others (ie Medium, YouTube Channels), LinkedIn has made a strong bet on quality, unique content with their Influencer product. Today, this email arrived which is about as influential as it gets: Bill Gates sharing insights from his influencer, Warren Buffett. It's Bill Gates' first post and he already has 25,000 followers.

And that raises the interesting balance between private and public content and personas. There is now a public persona for Gates (you can follow him) and a private relationship with Gates (the traditional LinkedIn model). We have seen this balance on Facebook: friends vs. followers and now private content with public hashtags:

bill gates linkedin

Twitter's In the River Module for User Messaging

Facebook is the king of in-the-river promotions - perhaps because they roll out so many new features, promotions, toggles, etc and it's the most effective way to alert users of changes. Here is a great example by Twitter and it's worth showcasing for three reasons:

1. It is a balance of really obvious but in-line. The promotion box sits atop the feed and therefore feels natural - as opposed to an overlay of some sort. Nevertheless, it cannot be missed.

2. It is not done to promote a new feature. It is done to message active users. Better than an email.

3. The focus is on ensuring accurate email addresses and user data. The best to do that, per point #2, message active users in line.

twitter in the river

Great Rose Bowl Social Ad From Vizio

You can watch the Rose Bowl (Stanford vs. Wisconsin) on ESPN right now and on WatchESPN. You can follow on the new SportsCenter Feed and ScoreCenter. And you can cheer socially on ESPN's homepage with the current Vizio Fandemonium ad on ESPN's homepage that allows fans to support either Wisconsin or Stanford via Twitter. Very cool, fun experience and very timely given today's game and the engaged audience.

rosebowl

vizio fandimonium

Announcing the SportsCenter Feed for iPhone & iPad

This is the first of a few posts on ESPN's product launches / updates. You can view them all in three places: product.espn.com, Facebook.com/espnproduct and on this blog. I am late to announce the launch of ESPN's newest mobile application, The SportsCenter Feed. The Feed launched for Christmas and is available in iOS for both iPhone and iPad. The Feed delivers personalized news across ESPN's vast array of the content: articles, blogs, videos, highlights, scores, radio, podcasts and more. In addition to general themes like Top News, league specific and video only - fans can access and create personalized feeds by logging in with either their ESPN or Facebook accounts.

The SportsCenter Feed is the perfect compliment for our other core applications: - Feed for news, commentary, highlights, etc - ScoreCenter for scores, gamecasts and alerts - WatchESPN for streaming content, video and games - ESPN Radio for streaming audio and podcassts

These applications will begin to be better integrated and speak to one-another more deeply and relevantly.

Please download the SportsCenter Feed and send your feedback. We are designing and developing the next versions - so your input in welcome and timely.

For iPhone:

scorecenter ipad

For iPad:

sportscenter feed iphone

And afront the iTunes store:

ipad app

2012 - Brought to You By Facebook

Facebook's 2012 in Review 'app' is really fantastic: fun, easy, and surprisingly accurate. In one click, Facebook creates a mini-Timeline of your 2012 highlights... and it sums of the year with the 20 most socially active and visual moments. Again, it's a single click and a valuable, viral output. It brings Facebook's Timeline to life in a way that really hasn't happened since Timeline's original launch at F8. And when the year in review happens, it is both sharable to your own wall / friends - but it sparks users to create their own.

It's a reminder of the power of Facebook: identity. Conversation and the social graph are important - but Facebook's highest value is identity. It's what we have invested ourselves and it is what the web and app ecosystem has invested in such that it is our identity (and authentication, personalization, etc) to much of the world off-Facebook.

In a simple, visual way, 2012 in Review reminds us of this.

2012facebook-year-in-review

Election Day: With Some Help from Facebook, Google, Quora, etc

It's election day. Go vote.And Facebook, Google, Quora and others are here to help how best they can. Three screenshots from those three companies because they have put together really great, on-brand and on-experience products to assist: 1. Facebook's social vote campaign. As only Facebook can do, encouraging voting in a social way.

2. Google's Election hub which is outstanding. Polling info. YouTube streams. Candidates information. It is really outstanding. As only Google can do, a robust search and content hub across Google's properties and the web.

3. Quora's election themed digest - as only Quora can do, delivering great Q&A relevant to the election.