In this episode of PRobecast, we had a fantastic discussion with a large group of Topazers. Tony Sapienza, Liz O’Donnell, Justin Martell, Caitlin Smith, Josh DeStefano, and Amanda King joined me in talking about the new wave of social and brand interaction, active video games not doing their jobs, and Yahoo! Japan giving its management team a younger face.

It’s OK to be Antisocial – People are saying retweets are the new comments. Many social media experts insist that a two-way conversation between marketers and consumers is the whole point of social, and anything less than that is a reflection of outdated, broadcast-style thinking. But really – how many conversations do you engage in per day with the brands you follow? The thinking has evolved to reflect people follow brands because they want to hear from them in an efficient manner, and not necessarily talk back.

Active Video Games Don’t Keep Kids Moving – I know! You’re thinking, “That’s crazy. They play sports in active video games, dancing and all that! How could they not be more active?!” However, research has shown that in a normal home setting, kids with Wii or active game systems were no more active than kids whose thumbs got a workout. In laboratories, of course kids were more active, but it didn’t translate to real life. How does this bode for video game companies and marketing? What are some alternatives for them?

Yahoo! Japan gets a younger look – Yahoo Japan Corp. freshened up its management team, installing much younger executives as Chairman Masayoshi Son called for the company to stay competitive in the fast-moving Internet industry. Yahoo Japan, which operates the country’s most popular Internet portal and is one-third-owned by U.S. Internet giant Yahoo Inc., said Thursday that 44-year-old Manabu Miyasaka will become chief executive April 1.Mr. Miyasaka currently heads the company’s online shopping and auction services. Incumbent CEO Masahiro Inoue, 55, will step down from the board in June after an annual shareholders meeting. Seven other new executive officers between the ages of 35 and 44 also are slated to take up their positions in April, and Yahoo Japan said the average age of its executive suite will drop to 41 from 50 as the company looks to keep up with changes in the industry spurred by increased use of social media and smartphones. “Some of our rivals are young, and Internet users are also young,” said Mr. Son, 54, who is also chairman and CEO of Yahoo Japan’s biggest shareholder, mobile-telecommunications company Softbank Corp. Softbank owns 42% of Yahoo Japan and includes the latter’s earnings on its financial statements. “It’s important [for management] to stay young,” he said. Mr. Inoue, Yahoo Japan’s current CEO, said the company needs a younger leader who isn’t afraid to “destroy,” if necessary, what the company has built, as the proliferation of Internet-capable mobile gadgets such as smartphones changes the industry.

Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Is it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.

We chose AdAge’s appropriately headlined story, It’s OK to be Antisocial. It’s the new wave of brand interaction, and it’s important for us at Topaz to discuss this to counsel our clients. We want to hear about our favorite brands through efficient channels like Facebook, but it’s impractical, on both the marketing and consumer ends, to expect a constant two-way conversation. It was nice for a while, but now we’re listening much more effectively!

In this episode of PRobecast, Justin Martell, Caitlin Smith, Josh DeStefano and Amanda King all join me in talking about how social media has changed trademark defense for companies, Pinterest for men, and using Facebook to supplement a job interview.

Trademarks coming down hard on the little guy – Trademarks and patent laws have been in the limelight in the past year or so, with Apple and Google (just to name the most popular lawsuits) working hard to defeat the other. However, social media has been the channel many startups have used to “shame” larger companies. For example, Bo Muller-Moore, a T-shirt maker in Vermont, said shaming resulted in thousands of dollars in financial support. He received a cease-and-desist letter from Chick-fil-A Inc. over his use of the slogan “Eat More Kale” in September. Chick-fil-A’s slogan is “Eat Mor Chikin.” Mr. Muller-Moore created a Facebook page and an online petition that has several thousand supporters—including the governor of Vermont. He also added a “donate” link to his website, and has raised more than $10,000 to defend himself, he said. While the use of social media has not caused any (known) cases of the big guy losing to the little guy, could it still happen? What do you think?

Piggybacking on Pinterest – Pinterest’s boards tend to show pictures of shoes, nail designs, coveted products women choose. But for images of more “manly” items like cars, tattoos and bacon, soon you will be able to go to Dartitup.com, which is expected to launch in the spring. It is one of several start-ups from entrepreneurs hoping to piggyback on the recent popularity of Pinterest—even though that site isn’t yet making any money. The number of visitors to three-year-old Pinterest, which lets users create online scrapbooks to share images of projects or coveted products, has increased tenfold over the past six months, according to comScore. Roughly 68% of the website’s users are women and they account for about 85% of its content, the research firm said. Dartitup founders Brandon Harris, 27 years old, and Michael Byrne, 26, admit they aren’t sure how they are going to generate revenue for their male-oriented version of Pinterest. There is also Gentlemint.com, a photo-sharing site launched last month by Brian McKinney, 33, and Glen Stansberry, 28, of Lawrence, Kan. Gentlemint’s logo is a man’s face with a monocle and handlebar mustache. Anyone can look at Pinterest’s success and want to piggyback, and it’s true that the market for this type of thing is dominated by women. Will Pinterest for men be as successful?

Facebook profiling for jobs – Job Seekers: Are you going on a job interview? The chances are good your profile will be “stalked” by your interviewer. Interviewers: Do you want to know how that applicant you just interviewed will actually perform on the job? Check out his or her Facebook profile.That’s the advice of a new study from the Northern Illinois University, the University of Evansville and Auburn University. The researchers recruited a group of four Facebook-savvy human resources professionals and students to evaluate the Facebook profiles of 56 users. The four perused each of the profiles for about 10 minutes each before grading them according to the so-called Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism). Six months later, the researchers compared the evaluations of the 56 users’ work supervisors and found a strong correlation for traits including intellectual curiosity, agreeability and conscientiousness. The evaluations are, of course, subjective, but job seekers shouldn’t necessarily worry that they need to clean up their Facebook profile. For instance, Don Kluemper, one of the authors of the study, says that contrary to popular belief, a picture of you partying won’t necessarily hurt your chances of getting hired. “I don’t think a picture of someone holding a beer adversely affected them, but [a picture of you] being drunk in a ditch somewhere might be a negative,” he says. Not surprisingly, pictures and references to traveling signaled openness to new experiences and adventurousness, while the number of friends you have indicates extroversion.

We chose the Facebook profiling story as this week’s PR Power Ranker winner. Using Facebook to supplement a job interview will only become more popular, and as younger generations who use Facebook will learn, the internet is a public place. Caitlin mentioned you should never put anything up that you’d be embarrassed about, and Justin reminded us that the same people who are hiring us also are likely to use Facebook, which has both advantages and disadvantages.

Who would you have voted for?

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Technorati Tags: Facebook, Mashable, patents, Pinterest, Start-ups, Trademarks

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In this episode of PRobecast, Justin Martell and Amanda King join me in talking about Facebook’s latest plan to release Timeline to brands, why QR codes haven’t taken off, and AT&T’s latest fee increase.

Facebook to release Timeline for brands – Although the majority of Facebook users don’t approve of Timeline, Facebook will be rolling it out to brands, or fan pages. At the time of the announcement, the company said it would wait to roll out the new feature for brands. David Fischer, VP of Marketing and Business Partnerships, said Timeline for brands would be consistent with the Timeline look, but not an exact copy, of users’ timelines. Numerous polls have reported that most people don’t like the “new Facebook”, but it seems Facebook doesn’t care. What are your thoughts? Should they keep Timeline for brands only?

Why QR Codes won’t last – QR codes seemed to present an accessible and uniform way for people with smart devices to interact with advertising, marketing and media. Those little squares of code seemed to open a world of opportunity and potential. But after using them for a length of time, the perspective shifted a bit. And in many instances, the rewards (received as a result of scanning the code) did not measure up to the effort of the transaction itself. Consider a recent study by comScore, which states that only 14 million American mobile device users have have interacted with a QR code. In essence, less than 5% of the American public has scanned a QR code. So where’s the disconnect? Inadequate technology, lack of education and a perceived dearth of value from QR codes are just three of the reasons mobile barcodes are not clicking with Americans. But it goes deeper than that. Humans are visual animals. We have visceral reactions to images that a QR code can never evoke; what we see is directly linked to our moods, our purchasing habits and our behaviors. It makes sense, then, that a more visual alternative to QR codes would not only be preferable to consumers, but would most likely stimulate more positive responses to their presence. What mobile purchasing technologies do you use, and which do you see as the “clunkiest”, or the ones that won’t last?

AT&T doubles upgrade fees for existing customers – When you get a new phone under an AT&T contract, you pay a one-time $18 upgrade fee, which is allegedly what it costs the company to upgrade your new phone. They’ve raised it to $36, and without a clear explanation, the increased fee will look to consumers like just another way for the company to make money. Last month AT&T reported selling a record number of iPhones during the fourth quarter of 2011, which helped increase revenues to $32.5 billion from $31.4 billion a year ago. However, it posted a $6.7 billion loss, largely stemming from its breakup fee after a collapsed merger with T-Mobile USA.

We didn’t choose a PR Power Ranker this week, because we felt none of them deserved our approval! In reality, we couldn’t agree on which company deserved it.

Who do you think should have won? Or do you agree that none of them were worthy?