THE SOCIAL TIMES — Yesterday Cisco paid homage to Old Spice’s recent response campaign with their own YouTube response project, featuring ‘Ted From Accounting.’ Just like Old Spice, Cisco announced the campaign in the morning, asked people to send in tweets, and posted a number of personalized videos throughout the day. However, unlike with the Old Spice campaign, you probably had no idea anything out of the ordinary was going on yesterday. With a mere 2,750 views on 18 videos in the first 24 hours, the campaign paled in comparison to Old Spice’s 40 million plus views. So where did Cisco go wrong? Before we get into the specifics of how and why Cisco failed with their ‘Ted From Accounting’ campaign, let’s just take a quick look back at what happened yesterday, for those of you that missed it...

THE SOCIAL TIMES — One of the things that differentiate YouTube from other forms of visual entertainment, like television and film, is the fact that the platform closes the gap between viewers and content creators by opening up channels of communication. Communicating with your viewers not only leads to a much more personal viewing experience, but also gives you the opportunity to listen to viewer feedback and improve your content accordingly. However, a lot of YouTubers aren’t taking advantage of the perks of the platform and communicating with their viewers...

THE SOCIAL TIMES — As a blogger, I’ve always kept in mind the basic rule that you want to attract an audience and retain it. The traditional dynamic is to retain existing readers while attracting new ones, growing your base of loyal followers over time while continually adding to it. There’s nothing complicated in this thinking. Well, even the new media world is changing, and I’m seeing a shift in what has always been a reliable rule of thumb. In the past, when I’ve watched blog analytics, I’ve always looked for steady growth in direct traffic – i.e., readers who come to the site through a newsletter referral, use a bookmark or enter the URL directly into a browser. These are the people who are most committed and have turned reading the blog into part of a routine. Increases in referred and search engine alongside it signal the attraction of new readers. Lately, however, I’ve been seeing a change in this trend...

THE SOCIAL TIMES — Kia Motors has already conquered YouTube with their viral Kia Soul hamster commercial, and now they are taking things to the next level with a new YouTube talent search. Kia Motors, along with YouTube celebrity judges ShayCarl, Lisa Nova and SMOSH, are looking for the next big YouTube star in Kia’s ‘Who’s Next?’ competition. Contestants are asked to submit videos showcasing "a new way to roll", and Kia will fly two finalists out to Los Angeles where the winner will receive a generous $10,000 prize. Kia’s success with the viral Kia Soul video has inspired the company to move forward into the realm of social media, according to VP of Marketing & Communications at Kia Motors, Michael Sprague...

THE SOCIAL TIMES — If you tweet, ask yourself: Would I pay for this service if it started charging? Those polled in the Center for the Digital Future’s annual report on the impact of the internet on Americans answered a resounding "no" – all of them. Not a single person who said they used Twitter responded in the affirmative to the question of whether they would pay for the privilege to tweet. Nearly half – 49 percent – of those polled said they used Twitter...