While doing some Monday morning browsification, I skidded to a stop at the Skittles website.
They've embedded a little widget like thing, to float above every page, like the opposite of Mac OS' Dashboard function - while linking to the Twitter search result page for Skittles as the homepage. Each of the product pages are links to the relevant Wikipedia spots, videos link to YouTube, photos to Flickr and so on.
And clicking on the 'Friends' button takes you to their Facebook fan page:
All very cool, all very Modernista-like and all the rest of it.
Some questions that sprung to my mind immediately:
Other than the eternal love of Twittophiles and social media experts everywhere, the inevitable shouts of "How cool! How brave!" and the great PR for such a revolutionary step in corporate websitification, what are they trying to achieve? I'm not asking in a "What's the point, fool?" type of tone, more like "What's the objective? Is it permanent? Will you stick with it?"
When people start including Skittles or #skittles in their tweets to get on the homepage and once the word gets out, the 'trolls' (as Eaon pointed out to me a few minutes ago) start flogging viagra, penis extensions and the much sought after dead monarch renumeration via Skittles.com will they stop or let it go? What happens when really vile, un-Skittles like tweets start appearing on the homepage? Will compliance step in and swipe away the filthy people who use the internet?
Let's not get it twisted, I think a move towards brandsparency is awesome and laudable, if it's a concerted move that is embraced in the good times and the bad. Engineering a publicity stunt and then going back to what was before at the first sign of choppy waters (and let's be honest there will be choppy waters) is not cool. Or awesome.
Is this the beginning of a shift in how companies put themselves out on the web? If Mars ask Twitter for a custom API call that filters out 'unsafe words' will Twitter acquiesce? Is this part of Twitter's masterplan to star getting revenue in? It'll be interesting to see how/if the rainbow brings about a change in corporate self-branding or indeed a change in how Twitter and brands interface.
And with regards Agency.com who (I believe) are Skittles' digital agency, did they just rip off the Modernista idea? If so it's another case of blatant copytivity and really quite sad.
And to a certain Will Humphrey: I've told you all along baby, it's ALL about the rainbow ;)
And for posterity:
They've embedded a little widget like thing, to float above every page, like the opposite of Mac OS' Dashboard function - while linking to the Twitter search result page for Skittles as the homepage. Each of the product pages are links to the relevant Wikipedia spots, videos link to YouTube, photos to Flickr and so on.
And clicking on the 'Friends' button takes you to their Facebook fan page:
All very cool, all very Modernista-like and all the rest of it.
Some questions that sprung to my mind immediately:
Other than the eternal love of Twittophiles and social media experts everywhere, the inevitable shouts of "How cool! How brave!" and the great PR for such a revolutionary step in corporate websitification, what are they trying to achieve? I'm not asking in a "What's the point, fool?" type of tone, more like "What's the objective? Is it permanent? Will you stick with it?"
When people start including Skittles or #skittles in their tweets to get on the homepage and once the word gets out, the 'trolls' (as Eaon pointed out to me a few minutes ago) start flogging viagra, penis extensions and the much sought after dead monarch renumeration via Skittles.com will they stop or let it go? What happens when really vile, un-Skittles like tweets start appearing on the homepage? Will compliance step in and swipe away the filthy people who use the internet?
Let's not get it twisted, I think a move towards brandsparency is awesome and laudable, if it's a concerted move that is embraced in the good times and the bad. Engineering a publicity stunt and then going back to what was before at the first sign of choppy waters (and let's be honest there will be choppy waters) is not cool. Or awesome.
Is this the beginning of a shift in how companies put themselves out on the web? If Mars ask Twitter for a custom API call that filters out 'unsafe words' will Twitter acquiesce? Is this part of Twitter's masterplan to star getting revenue in? It'll be interesting to see how/if the rainbow brings about a change in corporate self-branding or indeed a change in how Twitter and brands interface.
And with regards Agency.com who (I believe) are Skittles' digital agency, did they just rip off the Modernista idea? If so it's another case of blatant copytivity and really quite sad.
And to a certain Will Humphrey: I've told you all along baby, it's ALL about the rainbow ;)
And for posterity:
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