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Brandweek (@Brandweek) has an excerpt of the book Curation Nation: How to Win in a World Where Consumers are Creators  (@curationnation) by Steven Rosenbaum (@magnify). The book explains that “brands, both old and new, need to stop ignoring the emergence of consumer power and instead embrace it and accept it. They must channel it, and in turn change how they think about customers. Humans, formerly known as either consumers or couch potatoes, are now creators and thought leaders, passive no more.” Rosenbaum goes on to say

Brands begin with the need to lead, the expertise to tell their story, the skill to attract intent, and therefore the ability to be trusted within their communities. Because brands have access to both paid and earned media (advertising and public relations), as well as their own brand space, they are inherently publishers. The big change for the brands that have been built in the post-millennium world is that they are media, rather than buying media. For example, Starbucks sees such remarkable foot traffic and return visits through its doors that it doesn’t need to buy television advertising to reach its customers. Its stores, its signage, its window displays are all media that lets it tell its story to customers....

In order for brands to be present and participate in the new “social” world, they need to have a voice. And a voice that is more than a monologue. A dialogue. And that requires that they develop a curatorial context for the space they’re in — and a way to share ideas that come from their area of expertise, but not necessarily their own content creators....

[B]rands that ignore the need to embrace an editorial voice are bound to be unhappy when consumers use their newfound power to talk about them —whether they like it or not.

Read the full excerpt.

Let Somersault help you effectively communicate your brand using social media. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard that features RSS feeds of articles on the topic of branding and links to services that will help you monitor the social media buzz swirling around your brand.

Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld) recently hosted the webcast “Reader Experience and E-books: What UX Experts Can Teach Publishers.” Here are a few take-aways:

• The digital reader experience isn’t just about the container, but also about the content.
• Readers should be able to control their own digital reading experience.
• Choose the right platform for the right content.
• Think about the experience through the lens of the medium. What’s important in print may not be important in digital.
• Look to textbook and academic journal publishing for lessons in how to integrate digital and multimedia components, online access, and community engagement with printed books.
• Workflow processes must change.
• Ebooks have actually restored interest in a good reading experience.
• Stay open to change.

Read this in full.

Let Somersault help you navigate 21^st century publishing. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard created especially for publishing and marketing professionals.

eMarketer (@eMarketer) reports that according to a survey of social media marketers, the most valuable aspects of social media brand fans go beyond anything with an immediate monetary value.

At the top of the list were the fan’s value as a source of insight and increased loyalty overall. Advocacy and engagement were also important to at least three-quarters of respondents.

Read this in full.

As you set your social media marketing strategy, are you focusing on long-term relational objectives or short-term sales goals?

The New York Times (@NYTimes) reports the Digital Public Library of America (#DPLA) is still in its infancy, but it’s a concept supported by librarians from major universities and officials from the National Archives and the Library of Congress. The project’s ambitious mission, recently described in a four-page memorandum, is to “make the cultural and scientific heritage of humanity available, free of charge, to all.”

The project is playing catch up not only to Google, but also to Europe, where several countries have proceeded with large digitization projects. The European Commission has backed Europeana, (@EuropeanaEU) a website where users can search for digital copies of 15 million works of art, books, music and video held by the cultural institutions of member countries.

Read this in full.

Also see LibraryCity (@LibraryCity).

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TIME magazine (@TIME) reports about a British company that successfully discovers new markets — and innovates new applications — for its product:

Hainsworth (@AWHainsworth), a 225-year-old, family-run wool mill in West Yorkshire, England, has developed niche uses for wool. Its product range includes the uniforms worn by the Royal Guards at Buckingham Palace, the felt lining inside Steinway pianos and the interior headlining used in Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles. But it is one of Hainsworth's most recent, and most unique, new products that's making the company's competitors look sheepish: woolen coffins....

The idea for woolen coffins came about thanks to a bit of sheer luck. A marketing student who was interning for Adam Hainsworth discovered that in 1667, Parliament — hoping to bolster the textile industry — passed a law requiring all corpses be buried in a woolen shroud. Good idea, Hainsworth thought, though clearly in this day and age something sturdier would be required. So with the help of a funeral director he knew, he built a prototype casket — bulked up with recycled cardboard — and took it to JC Atkinson, the UK's largest manufacturer and distributor of coffins. The company liked the idea and agreed to help shepherd further development and act as distributor. Six months later, at a June 2009 trade show, Hainsworth took the wraps off the woolen coffin.

Read the article in full.

Let Somersault help you identify blue ocean strategies for your brand. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Click to enlarge this Infographic by Column Five (@Columnfive) to view statistics regarding the mobilization of today’s digital native and his/her comfort level with consuming content (news, but by implication & extrapolation, also books) electronically.

The percentage of Americans age 12 and older who have a smartphone has more than doubled in the past year, from 14% to 31% of the population according to the new national survey from Arbitron Inc. (@ArbitronInc) and Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2011: Navigating Digital Platforms. Among the many other findings:

• Facebook is now being used by a majority of all Americans age 12 and over (51%); this number was only 8% in 2008.
• A majority of American households now have two or more computers (51%); as compared to 24% of households in 2002.
• Usage of online radio is up significantly, with weekly usage of all forms of online radio having doubled in the last 5 years; self-reported weekly time spent with online radio is now nearly 10 hours (9 hours 47 minutes).
• Daily time spent with TV, Radio, and the Internet combined has increased by 20% in the last 10 years, with self-reported daily usage now at 8 hours 11 minutes compared to 6 hours 50 minutes in 2001.
• Just under 1/3 of all Americans (31%) have plugged an MP3 player such as an Apple iPod into their car stereo systems.
• One in 10 Americans report listening to Pandora Internet Radio in the week before they were surveyed.
• Among the 81% of American households with Internet access, 2/3 now have a Wi-Fi network installed.
• More than 1/10 of all cellphone owners have listened to online radio streamed in their cars by connecting their phones to their car stereo system.

Read the research findings in full.

Also see Warc coverage of the research in the article "Digital change hits US."

What are the implications of this research for digital audiobook publishing and how should your brand take advantage of it?

Remember when? Reminisce about a time (the 1980s) when cell phones, weighing “only” 30 ounces, ushered in the era when “seeing people using cellular phones may seem as commonplace as someone checking time on an electronic watch, figuring on an electronic calculator, or programming on an electronic computer.” Also watch this brief BBC interview with Martin Cooper, the inventor of the first cell phone Apr. 3, 1973.

How will people in 2041 look back at our technology today? What technology will you embrace today to advance your brand? Let Somersault help you. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Watch this video while thinking how publishing must adapt itself to a variety of changes coming our way. As Somersault says, these changes are a playground of possibilities!