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Vine: Will Instagram Kill the Video Star?

By Meredith Lorch

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Photo Credit: Gizmodo

All the foodie photos and selfie snapshots on your Instagram feed are about to be brought to life. Vine has largely dominated the video-sharing world in recent months, but Instagram has just added video features to its iPhone and Android apps, creating quite the buzz. The question is clear: does Video on Instagram mean the downfall of Vine?

Only time will tell whether Video on Instagram will outcompete its rival. Some continue to see real potential in Vine. Gary Vaynerchuk, a brand consultant and industry thought leader, is even creating a talent agency for Vine stars, called “Grape Story.” Despite this, it’s hard to believe that Vine will amount to anything more than a fad. While its novel six-second looping video format is initially charming, Vine’s brief, repetitive nature quickly becomes overwhelming. Add in the effect of camera shake and erratic Vines can be dizzying.

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Photo Credit: Tech Crunch

Both Vine and Video on Instagram employ a simple tap-and-hold-to-record feature, but Vine fails to capitalize on post-production features. The beauty of Instagram lies in the 13 brand new filters created exclusively for video—not to mention an image-stabilization tool called Cinema for capturing crisp, shake-free video. Users can also browse Instagram videos on a website—unlike Vine, which solely allows for video exploration within the app. Overall, Instagram’s new 15-second video capability allows users to share the adventure and splendor of their worlds unlike ever before, posing a serious threat to competitors.

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Photo Credit: ABC News

So what’s on the horizon? Rumor has it Instagram has potential for Google Glass integration. The possibilities are seemingly endless. With its latest update, Instagram has solidified its place as a classic sharing tool that is here to stay—and not just for the foodies.

Everywhere has a robust internship program and we invite our interns to participate by writing on our blog. Meredith Lorch is an intern from Emory University. She authored this blog post.

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Keep it ‘Pinteresting’: Secret to Pinterest

By Leighanne Ferri

I’m sure many can relate when I say that after spending an hour (or five) on Pinterest, I often feel a strong urge to work out, bake, craft or shop. On our personal Pinterest pages, we pin things that apply to our own interests, lifestyles and hobbies.

On the consumer side, we want to see things we are interested in from the people, and companies, we follow. We want ideas on how to put an outfit together, how to bake the perfect birthday cake or plan the ideal vacation. Brands can, and should, use this to their advantage. In order to create advocates for your brand, you must actively engage your consumers. After reading up on some creative ways of how brands are using Pinterest, I’ve come up with a few of my own.

Promote your Brand’s Lifestyle

Free People, a popular boho-chic fashion brand does an impeccable job promoting not just their brand, but the lifestyle they represent. The Free People woman is free-spirited and in tune with her mind, body and soul. One of their boards entitled ‘FP Movement’ boasts gorgeous photos of women in yoga poses, inspirational quotes, health tips and beautiful photography. The ‘Festival Fashion’ board highlights style trends from booming music festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo. This is all a part of the FP lifestyle, and thus, the FP brand.

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Image courtesy of styleblazer.com

Limit the Clutter

The next thing a brand should do is limit the clutter. As a consumer, I want to hop on a company’s Pinterest page and immediately see boards that stand out to me and push me to explore further. Although Walmart is a huge, well-known company, they have 80+ boards that seem repetitive to the buyer. A good example of pinning brevity is the Nike Women page, which has 10 concise boards with relevant content that supports current campaigns, as well as workout graphics and motivation pins.

Be Relatable and Relevant

The Whole Foods shopper is typically a health-conscious individual who appreciates being kept up-to-date with current health trends. Whole Foods Market does a fabulous job relating to its consumers and staying relevant. Their ‘#HealthYeah’ board provides an enthusiastic outlook on getting healthy while tying in the trendy use of the hashtag. Boards labeled ‘Summer Vacation!’ and ‘Savor Summer’ are seasonal and valuable to the follower.

Stay consistent (if it makes sense)

For brands that have a distinct voice or social media presence (like us), it is recommended to carry that presence into your Pinterest boards. Take our example. Everywhere brands its boards by remaining consistent, with titles including ‘Everyday Everywhere’, ‘Infographics Everywhere’ and ‘Events Everywhere’. Notice a pattern? Consistency makes your brand easily recognizable and accessible. This example aside, some companies may benefit from changing up their boards to appeal to different consumers; it’s all about what works for your brand.

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Image courtesy of hongkiat.com

As a Pinterest fanatic, I can vouch for most consumers when I say that utilizing these methods to keep your brand’s Pinterest page up to par would definitely appeal to me. Executing these tactics engages viewers and can immensely benefit your social media and real life presence in the mind of the consumer.


Everywhere has a robust internship program and we invite our interns to participate by writing on our blog. Leighanne Ferri is an intern from Florida State University. She authored this blog post.

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Streaming Music: And The Beat Goes On

Music brings people together, connects them. So it’s only natural that the music scene would move to a digital venue.

This month, music streaming giant Pandora reached 200 million users, 100 million of which registered in less than two years! Upon this achievement, founder Tim Westergren stated that “radio is changing,” and he couldn’t be more correct.

Pandora has yet to implement major social features, but Swedish streaming service Spotify has made a huge splash in the US market after a successful launch in June 2011. The service is heavily integrated with Facebook and Twitter, at one point requiring a Fa1C6896377-TwitterMusic.streams_desktop_mediumcebook log-in to create an account.

We’re guessing Twitter caught wind of Spotify’s success, since today marks the launch of the Twitter Music app, confirmed after longtime rumors (and Ryan Seacrest blabbing about it!). TechCrunch speculates that this weekend’s launch coinciding with the Coachella Music Festival is no coincidence and is on the lookout for marketing at the festival.

It’s rumored that Twitter Music will be split into four tabs: “Suggested,” which consists of music based on who you’re following; “#NowPlaying,” which features songs tweeted by your friends with that hashtag; “Popular,” which displays trending songs throughout Twitter; and “Emerging,” which shows up and coming new music.

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Someone had better let MegaUpload’s Kim Dotcom know about Twitter’s big plans. His disembodied head made some big claims at this past SXSW in regards to music services – going so far as to claim he could take down iTunes.

Everywhere’s office playlist is a big deal, so we’re looking forward to trying out the new Twitter app! Check out some of our past 5:00 p.m. jam sessions here.

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Cracking the Code of Creativity

I used to pride myself on this idea that I was born “creative,” a happy genetic coincidence, one of the lucky ones. I’ve played the part well. In high school my peers paid me to write their poetry assignments, at Halloween I played the role of the costume idea generator for friends and family and year round, I acted as the designated pinch hitter when those “less creative” types hit a wall or needed some flair.

In the agency world, the great divide between the “creative” and “account” sides has been cultivated by a series of stereotypes and stigmas. The “creatives” are often pictured lounging in bean bags, wearing skinny jeans, hair unkempt, surrounded by MAC books, while the tight-laced “account” personalities rotate through an endless array of suits, hurried phone calls and a cubicle dungeon, lest they escape to the dark side of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. This archetype seems rather unfair.

I’ve long straddled the two worlds of left verses right brain, viewed by friends and family as creative with a skill set in the work place that skews towards the account side.

When I heard about “Imagine: How Creativity Works” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012), I decided to explore my creative/account schism. Jonan Lehrer’s new book suggests we all are created equal on the playing field of innovation. He sets out to find the tipping point on creativity. According to Lehrer, creativity has more catalysts than we know, and everyone has the potential to tap into this well. Lehrer sets out to answer the question as to why some companies, some cities and some individuals are innovating far past the competition.

A few insights I found from Lehrer’s book:

Mo’ Problems, Mo’ Ideas. Without problems we would have no need for creation. Therefore, Lehrer suggests the best way to force our brains to detour off the obvious path in problem solving is to hit a wall. It’s when we’ve beaten our brains to a pulp and given up that our brains start to divvy off into the gray. The left hemisphere of our brain wants to confront problems head on, take the literal meaning and find the logical answer. Our right hemisphere is reading between the lines and gathering cognitive intel to play a weird mix and match of all the random info that we carry until…BAM, or as it’s more commonly referred to “light bulb.” Without constraints to work within, our brain would never be forced to find the workaround to solve the problem.

Productive Daydreaming. Seems like an oxymoron right? Humans have a tendency to be absent minded, to let the mind wander down rabbit holes of thought. Studies of fMRI’s demonstrate that the brain is incredibly active while in a “neutral state,” thus giving it time to rummage through its internal database and tap into a fountain of memories and information. This relaxed manner of association helps form connections and relationships — a strategy that many innovative companies, such as Google and Intel, actively promote.

Creativity was not meant to be an individual sport. We rely on our social circles and acquaintances to give us a broader scope for making connections and forming novel thoughts. People who have a large group of acquaintances are more likely to innovate than those with a small group of close relationships. Makes sense right? More brains, more interests and more information brings you out of your closed circle. Networking is vital to the success of innovation.

The potential for creativity is inherent in each of us. Creativity is simply the endless search for answers, the refusal to accept that there is no answer and the will to keep plodding through the obvious. This is what Lehrer refers to as the “ability to stick with a problem until it surrenders.” It is skill to be practiced, improved and capitalized.

What methods and rituals do you indulge in when seeking creative inspiration?

Jonah Lehrer’s Talks New Book on Vimeo