There’s a Brand in My News Feed
Motorola’s first Google Android phone, CLIQ, is now on the market. The phone offers an application called MOTOBLUR that aggregates a user’s social networks, creating a “universal inbox.” Users enter their log in information once for email, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and more, and then they are directly connected through a single screen moving forward. Check out Motorola’s launch commercial, which features in my opinion too quick of a cameo by Neil Patrick Harris.
Just based on the description, but without having used it, this seems like a pretty cool feature and one that would be useful online in general – not just via handheld. I would love to have an application that enabled single sign on, linking my email account, calendar, RSS feeds, LinkedIn profile, Facebook network, Twitter feed and so on.
What’s even more interesting about MOTOBLUR is a feature pointed out by David Armano on his Posterous blog. When a CLIQ user makes a Facebook status update via MOTOBLUR, the Motorola logo appears in the news feed.
Although Facebook already indicates when users make an update via the “Facebook for Blackberry” or “Facebook for iPhone ” tool, this takes branding within the news feed to a new level. As Aramano’s blog points out, it also begs the question as to how brands can organically further integrate their marks or messaging into the content of social networks. I couldn’t find any evidence of the same branding via MOTOBLUR in Twitter or other online media. It will be interesting to see what other opportunities it sparks.
The bit about the Moto logo showing up in a CLIQ-generated post is interesting. When BlackBerry users are set up, by default the words “Sent from my BlackBerry handheld” are usually appended to every message – but the user has the option to change it, if they know how. I’d be curious to know if the Moto logo is removable the same way. But I do feel that a logo is more evocative than text, so it’s a great next step.