Category Archives: Social Media

Recently Gap rolled out a new logo and already a twitter account impersonating the logo itself is out there – @GapLogo. This is obviously not an official company account, but simply someone who wants to state their opinions and have some fun with the new Gap logo. This is a clear case of trademarked logo infringement — someone has decided to use a brand’s protected image for their own purposes on a social network. What prompted the fake account was apparently an attempt by the Gap to crowdsource ideas for their new logo on Facebook, which has resulted in thousands of unhappy fans and the return to the old logo.

Everyone probably remembers the fake @BPglobalPR Twitter account which was created to make fun of BP’s handling of the gulf oil spill. A lot of people questioned the reasons why Twitter allowed them to continue to impersonate a major brand and corporation, but did you take a look at the logo they used? They took BP’s actual trademarked sunburst logo, photoshopped it black and white and added a few oil drips for good measure. Aside from actively impersonating the company’s PR team, they blatantly infringed on the trademarked image.

Twitter does have a Trademark Violation Policy, which states “Using a company or business name, logo, or other trademark-protected materials in a manner that may mislead or confuse others with regard to its brand or business affiliation may be considered a trademark policy violation.” They do assert they will suspend or release an account in violation, but they appear to be either very slow or very reluctant to take any action on this policy.

This kind of logo impersonation raises the question, what kind of protection do brand and trademark owners have on social networks? If large companies like BP and Gap can be so easily impersonated and have their logos misused with no repercussions, what chance do you think your trademarked brand or logo will have in social media?

Barry Wise is co-founder of the social media trademark and brand protection firm KnowEm.com. KnowEm specializes in protecting trademarks in social media and provides free searches for username and domain name availability.

By Julie Blaustein

Are you tired of looking for a job and looking for it the same old way? I bet you are!

Lucky for you, ResumeSponge has come to the rescue. It is what is known as your Social Career Platform as it provides all the social tools that make it easy for YOU to stand out above the rest that are looking for a job. This awesome service was started by its CEO, Solomon Engel who founded the company based off his previous struggles to find employment. He realized the difficulties of standing out in the crowded job marketplace, as well as the difficulties employers face on a daily basis. He knew he needed to do something to help people and he was determined to provide a way for others not to have as much difficulty in the process as he had.

Through a powerful set of advanced tools, ResumeSponge makes it easy and fun for you to feature your professional work such as any sort of word, excel, powerpoint and pdf documents, your professional videos such as video reel or video resume and your professional photography. You can manage a network of contacts and  connections, along with advanced search technology to help you land that dream job in a fun and interactive way. The best part is ResumeSponge allows you to stand out from the crowd. If your still wondering if its worth checking out, here is a sample profile.

With its amazing and beautifully designed interface, and a faceted user experience, ResumeSponge users can show off their abilities, skills, expertise, and professional work with ease. At this time the site is available in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari with Internet Explorer support coming very soon along with additional features. If you want to have a life changing experience in how you do a job search and an awesome way to market yourself to potential employers, you can Join for Free!

On October 1, a new movie will premiere in theaters around the country and soon in the world that millions of people will find interesting in their lives. Why? Because it involves a product that they use practically on a daily basis: Facebook.

The Social Network claims to be an unauthorized telling of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s life and how Facebook came to be. After seeing it, I seem to have a new perspective on how everything came to be. Sure, a startup has a lot of blood, sweat and tears involved, but the way director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin portrays Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, Eduardo Saverin and the Winklevoss twins is somewhat dark. In fact, one way to look at Zuckerberg is how tech commentator Leo Laporte puts it “socially inept nerd”.

Last Monday, I was fortunate enough to attend a private screening hosted by the social media blog Mashable where dozens of social media and industry professionals came out to watch what was claimed to be the movie of our generation. It seemed somewhat surreal seeing this movie about a product which had not yet reached its prime. In fact, it was like watching a movie about an event that happened just yesterday. Naturally it seemed to be appealing to those who use social networking tools like MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and, of course, Facebook and it might have some draw to non-social media users especially since the producers chose to focus on the beginnings of Facebook from the dorm room where Zuckerberg first got into trouble and then followed along as he dealt with all his legal issues. You’ll get to see his different interactions and the whole cast and crew that he affected and influenced since that fateful day at Harvard and wonder who was really the victim, the winner and villain – well, if there was one, that is.

So who showed up at the Mashable screening? Practically the who’s who of the social media scene, including Rafe Needleman of CNET, Debbie Landa of Dealmaker Media, Danielle Morrill of Twilio, Leo Laporte of TWiT.tv, Cathy Brooks, Eston Bond, Pete Cashmore, Lisa Bettany, Ben Parr, Jolie O’Dell, Karen Hartline, Daniel Brusilovsky, Derek Overbey, Marcus Nelson, Vanessa Camones, Brian Wong, Dana Oshiro, Tara Hunt and dozens more!

Would I recommend The Social Network to watch in theaters? If you’re an avid fan of social media and understand that this is an unofficial telling, then yes, I would. If anything, it’s quite entertaining to watch and see how manipulative everyone was in the movies and the anger that Zuckerberg exuded throughout that people might find would rub them the wrong way. The actors playing Zuckerberg and co-founder Sean Parker are pretty spot-on and the look behind the top social network in the world with over 500 million monthly active users is fascinating.

The Social Network is out in theaters on October 1.

Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

By Julie Blaustein

The Social Email Marketing Conference held in San Francisco, brought together marketing experts, email companies and brands to discuss integrated email and social media campaigns. It was a packed one-day conference held at Hotel Nikko.

A number of great speakers offered expertise including Brian Solis of Future Works, author of Engage! and founder of our very own Bub.blicio.us who talked about the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications and publishing. In other words, Brian spoke about how to be social while reaching out and influencing people. Tyler Willis of Involver who spoke about the differences between email marketing & social marketing and how you can experience social marketing success along with Mark Schmulen of Constant Contact who spoke about email and how it is the hub on one’s social media interactions. There were a number of additional great speakers who spoke on topics such as CRM and other tools to use in social media, Trust and Privacy issues, the power of A/B testing and more. But truly you need to attend the conference to not only hear from the experts but to meet them in an intimate setting where you can have real, in-depth conversations and make real-life connections.

San Francisco was the kick-off for a series of packed one-day conferences scheduled in major cities throughout the US, UK and in Europe. The series of conferences focusing on Social Media including Monitoring, Marketing, Emailing and Advertising will be held in not only San Francisco, Miami, Boston, New York City, and in London and Paris too through December. Murray Newlands and Luke Brynley-Jones are the Co-founders of Influence People and the force behind them. They advise companies and individuals in the UK and USA on how to utilize social media and to connect with people and deliver value. Great people to know and to meet on-hand at their conferences.

And don’t miss the first San Francisco Blog Club Meeting for FREE hosted by Influencer People on October 19th. from 6:30-10:0o pm at 111 Minna Gallery. Hurry and sign up as there are only a few spots left!

Pictures from the Conference below and more here:

The Social Media Email Marketing Conference Audience

Brian Solis signing for his new book, Engage! after his presentation.

Mark Scmulen, General Manager of Social Media, Constant Contact

Tyler Willis, Head of Brand Management of Involver

Chase McMichael, Co-Founder and CEO of Infinigraph and Murray Newlnads, Co Founder of Influence People

On October 21st, marketing strategists, communications managers, bloggers and journalists will come together to learn about the latest trends and techniques in monitoring social media. This fully-interactive conference will include presentations, case studies, Q&A sessions and panel discussions.

The 1-day conference will be followed by a half-day Monitoring Social Media Bootcamp on October 22nd. This intensive series of workshops will be the ultimate ‘how-to’ event for companies and organizations looking to measure the effects of their interactions in the social web.

Confirmed Presenters Include:

• Luke Brynley-Jones - Social Media Consultant, Influence People
• Murray Newlands – Blogger & Social Media Consultant, Influence People
• Giles Palmer – Founder & CEO Brandwatch
• Mark Schmulen – General Manager, Social Media, Constant Contact
• Marcel LeBrun – CEO, Radian6

Topics to be covered include:

• Social Media Monitoring Tools and Services
• Brand and Reputation Management
• Sentiment Detection and Analysis
• Data Quality and Filtering
• Identifying and Connecting with Influencers
• Beyond Listening: Measurement and ROI
• The Future of Social Media Monitoring
• Case studies and Best Practice

Contest: Two lucky Bubblicious readers will get access to the conference for free. Simply submit a comment below with your #1 question or concern with social media monitoring.

Discount: Bubblicious readers can register right now with a 10% discount using the code “bub10”.

Good luck!