Blockchain

Customer engagement strategies that heed power of social media

Published

2 years ago

October 22, 2018

The power of social media to alter customer engagement strategies — for a product rollout, an executive hire, a policy change — is impressive.

Case in point: Legendary Entertainment did not anticipate the kind of response it would get when it released its trailer for The Great Wall. The decision to cast Matt Damon as the hero in a film centered around the iconic Chinese landmark drew immediate criticism on Twitter and Facebook as another example of a white savior narrative and of whitewashing.

“The whole storyline was meant to be about someone coming into a new culture and learning and growing in that culture,” Matt Marolda, chief analytics officer at Legendary, said at the recent HUBweek, an arts, science and innovation festival in Boston. “But the perception was not that.”

Social media platforms and the swift judgment of the internet are forcing companies to engage in ways they’ve never had to before. And executives from Legendary and Microsoft are sharing their experiences with the new tools for — and rules for — customer engagement.

New tools of engagement

On paper, The Great Wall made sense, according to Marolda. It was 2016, and the U.S. and China were the two biggest movie markets in the world; the East-meets-West film reflected Legendary’s sale to Wanda Group, a massive entertainment company in China. And, based on an analysis Marolda and his applied analytics team did, Damon had an active following and a reputation for taking on high-quality projects.

But what looked good on paper did not translate well to audiences — especially those in the U.S. Marolda said the company reacted to the criticism quickly. For example, the company released a statement from Zhang Yimou, the film’s director whom Marolda characterized as “the Steven Spielberg of China,” defending the casting decision.

After that, the team stood still and observed. “We had time on our side,” said Marolda, adding that the film wasn’t scheduled to be released for nine months. “We could see analytically that the best thing to do was nothing.”

The public ire did cool, but the film couldn’t completely escape the negative press it had received, according to Marolda. The company ultimately decided to shift its marketing strategy. “We then realized that emphasizing the movie’s possibilities outside of the U.S. was as important as emphasizing the movie’s possibilities inside the U.S.,” he said.

The decision appears to have been a good one. While the film bombed in the U.S., it was moderately successful worldwide, and has helped spark a larger conversation about how to make blockbuster films for a global market.

Executives onstage at HUBweek. — Matt Marolda, chief analytics officer at Legendary Entertainment, and Kathleen Kennedy, director of special projects at the MIT Sloan School of Management, onstage at HUBweek.

Customer engagement strategies: Ask three questions

How do companies develop customer engagement strategies that acknowledge the power of social media? A reactive approach — no matter how swift the response or how successful in the short term — doesn’t cut it.

Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer at Microsoft, talked about the role companies should play in the public discourse and stressed that companies need a moral compass today.

“You have to know the issues for which you’re going to take a stand. And you have to be grounded in a certain set of principles,” he said during a fireside chat at HUBweek with Adi Ignatius, the editor in chief of the Harvard Business Review.

Before weighing in on a controversial issue, Smith suggested that companies ask three questions. First, is the issue important to the business? Smith described this question as “an easy space,” and can include tax law or intellectual property law — topics companies have always weighed in on.

Second, is the issue important to its customers? As data has moved to the cloud, companies have entered into a new kind of relationship with their customers, according to Smith. He said it’s vital that they think about the security and protection and actively take a stand on issues like surveillance and privacy.

Third, is the issue important to employees? The company believes a safe work environment doesn’t automatically equate to employee success. Employees could be hindered by issues outside of the office such as an inability to buy the home they want to buy, get the kind of healthcare coverage they need, or marry the person they want to marry, according to Smith.

So when a bill in North Carolina looked like it would restrict LGBT rights, Smith said it “was not a difficult decision” for Microsoft to voice its opposition. The company has a pretty significant presence in Charlotte, employing about 1,000 people there, and Smith said the issue was “important for our employees outside of the workplace.”

In an effort to be as effective as possible and preserve its relationship with the community, Microsoft will often seek out a local business community — a trusted organization that uses its voice to speak up on issues such as these — to partner with. “I prefer a course that’s going to maximize our chances of being effective and not just maximize our chances of being seen,” he said.

Source: https://searchcio.techtarget.com/news/252451024/Customer-engagement-strategies-that-heed-power-of-social-media

Related Topics:Analysis big-data Business China Companies Culture environment Facebook Healthcare innovation Law Legal Markets Movie Security Tax

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Blockchain

How NFTs, DeFi and Web 3.0 are intertwined

Published

3 hours ago

April 10, 2021

Republished by Plato

While blockchain itself provides the technology constructs to facilitate exchange, ownership and trust in the network, it is in the digitization of value elements where asset tokenization is essential. Tokenization is the process of converting the assets and rights to a property into a digital representation, or token, on a blockchain network.

Distinguishing between cryptocurrency and tokenized assets is important in understanding exchange vehicles, valuation models and fungibility across the various value networks that are emerging and posing interoperability challenges. These are not just technical challenges, but also business challenges around equitable swaps.

Asset tokenization can lead to the creation of a business model that fuels fractional ownership, the ability to own an instance of a large asset. While discussing asset tokenization in a previous article, I also mentioned the value of an instance economy in democratizing finance, commerce and global access, as well as in creating a broader global marketplace at a scale never before seen.

With digital assets and their fungibility in a blockchain ecosystem, there are various drivers of valuation. These include: 1) tokens based on crypto economic models that are driven by supply and demand, and the utility of the network; 2) nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, which have an intrinsic value such as identification, diplomas and healthcare records — essentially, tokens that are simple proof validations of the existence, authenticity and ownership of digital assets; and 3) fungible tokens that are valued on various bases, such as the sum total of economic activity in the network (cryptocurrency), its utility (smart contracts and transaction network processing), assigned values (stable coins and security tokens), and so on.

In this article, I address the complex issue of the hyperbolic and rapid rise of NFTs, after a similarly meteoric rise of decentralized finance, or DeFi, creating amazing innovations — with immense promise of democratization, new business models and global marketplaces with global access — all fueled by the basic premise of decentralization and fundamental constructs of tokenization and wallets. While NFTs may be characterized as one-of-a-kind cryptographic tokens with some intrinsic value to a holder or to a market (art, collectibles), the NFT movement is indicative of a larger token revolution that will not only fuel massive innovation and growth in Web 3.0 protocols but also test the resolve of the DeFi movement, along with its ability to intersect and provide platforms and an exchange vehicle for all token types.

Growth in Web 3.0 protocols

The first two generations of web protocols were largely about disseminating information and connecting people. They fueled a massive growth in information and collaboration, and did wonders for connecting the world. However, those web protocols were never designed to move things of value. Also, as the Web 2.0 era reached its fullest potential, vulnerabilities such as “fake news” and the “batched relay” of the movement of assets via a series of intermediaries emerged. Threats to the commerce and financial infrastructure of the system risk destabilizing it.

Web 3.0 promises to safeguard all things we value: information, truth and digital assets — both fungible and nonfungible. Whereas Web 2.0 was driven by the advent of social, mobile and the cloud, Web 3.0 is largely built on three new layers of technological innovation: edge computing, decentralized data networks and artificial intelligence.

The growth of NFTs has not only empowered the ability for artists, skilled professionals and entrepreneurs to encapsulate innovation in a tokenized form but has also fueled the democratization of the platform as one of the promises of blockchain technology. The underlying infrastructure includes decentralized storage technologies, efficient consensus protocols, off-chain computing, and oracle networks to provide connectivity and validation to existing systems.

Collectively, the Web 3.0 set of technologies envisions a connected, trustless, accountable network for efficiently delivering value, thus crafting an infrastructure for things of worth. NFTs represent both transferable entities and nontransferable tokens that we value. The latter include things such as our identification, healthcare records and passports, things that represent us and allow us to participate in the digital economy with our own unique, digital identities.

As we dare to envision a shift toward a world with decentralized control, governance based on distributed technology that challenges every business model, and governance structure built upon centralized business frameworks, we do have to ponder some things. Not only the shift itself, but the motivation, incentive and monetization elements that fuel and power the economic infrastructure to move things that have value — thereby keeping up with our changing perception and subsequent realization of that value.

Intersecting with finance — DeFi

DeFi is the movement in the blockchain applications space that leverages decentralized network technology to disrupt and force a transformation of old financial products into trustless, transparent protocols, facilitating digital value creation and dissemination with few to no intermediaries. It is widely understood and accepted that — due to new synergies and co-creation via new digital interactions and value-exchange mechanisms — blockchain technology lays the foundation for a trusted digital transactional network that, as a disintermediated platform, fuels the growth of marketplaces and secondary markets.

While DeFi aims to deliver the promise of finance democratization, NFTs test the resolve of DeFi by delivering a competitive yet inclusive asset class, plus avenues to provide a medium of exchange, fungibility by other fungible asset classes, and liquidity to a traditionally illiquid market.

Asset classes resulting from DeFi protocols and NFTs avail themselves of the advantages of fractional ownership of the assets, blurring the lines between asset classes and using constructs like digital wallets as a receptacle for them. This is all supported by underlying layers of Web 3.0 that provide security and availability via decentralization, as well as trust and immutability via consensus, extending these principles to basic computer infrastructure like storage and interconnect.

Commercialization of Web 3.0 protocols, which manifest as fungible utility tokens, further blurs the lines with diverse financial innovation products introduced by DeFi (such as base assets and derivatives), products that are also tokenized. So, while decentralization is the underlying theme — and the wallet and the token are fundamental constructs — these blurring lines are quite profound.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Nitin Gaur is the founder and director of IBM Digital Asset Labs, where he devises industry standards and use cases and works toward making blockchain for the enterprise a reality. He previously served as chief technology officer of IBM World Wire and of IBM Mobile Payments and Enterprise Mobile Solutions, and he founded IBM Blockchain Labs where he led the effort in establishing the blockchain practice for the enterprise. Nitin is also an IBM Distinguished Engineer and an IBM Master Inventor with a rich patent portfolio. Additionally, he serves as research and portfolio manager for Portal Asset Management, a multi-manager fund specializing in digital assets and DeFi investment strategies.

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Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/how-nfts-defi-and-web-3-0-are-intertwined

Blockchain

Has the rally ended for altcoins like LINK, ADA, and NPXS?

Published

3 hours ago

April 10, 2021

Republished by Plato

With most altcoins rallying at the current point in the market cycle where Bitcoin is making a comeback, there are a few altcoins that may have ended their price rally. Among these, LINK ranks in the top 10 cryptocurrencies based on market capitalization.

LINK’s oracles may have filled the void left from the removal of XRP from Grayscale’s fund. However, that does not seem to have had an impact that would last long enough to boost the price on spot exchanges. The asset is currently trading at the $32 level, down from its ATH. Though there is anticipation that the price will rally to its ATH, the dropping trade volume across exchanges signals otherwise.

After being added to Grayscale’s fund, LINK’s price went up steadily, however, a boost from institutional demand may not be enough to boost the asset’s price. 93% HODLers are profitable before the asset takes a dip in the current cycle

The altcoin rally may have ended for LINK, ADA and NPXS

Grayscale LINK Holdings || Source: Bybt

LINK’s institutional demand has had only a partial impact on price, and the trend reversal depends on the HODLers profitability at the current price level and the rally of altcoins led by ETH. Historically, Bitcoin’s rally has had a negative impact on LINK’s price and that remains to be seen as Bitcoin traders above $60000 once again this weekend.

Another top altcoin, Cardano has offered HODLers an ROI of over 440% in 2020. This altcoin has been considered to be the one to HODL in the long term based on on-chain analysis and trader sentiments. In the current cycle, 65% HODLers are profitable at the price level of $1.23. This is one of the top altcoins in which the concentration by large holders is low, below 50%, currently at 24%.

Additionally, at this point in the rally, there is a significant drop in ADA’s trade volume across exchanges. This drop in liquidity may lead to a drop in price over the following week. Though large transactions in the past week have been above $30 Billion, the volume is dropping consistently.

ADA price chart || Source: Messari

Unlike ADA and LINK, in the case of NPXS, the price is back to the same level as a month ago. The 24-hour trade volume has taken a plunge with a near 100% drop in 24 hours, and this is a unique position in NPXS’s price cycle. Moreover, the on-chain sentiment is bearish and this may be the ideal time to buy altcoins like these that are consolidating. The confidence is consistently high in top markets on spot exchanges, and the dropping trade volume is a sign of consolidation.

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Source: https://ambcrypto.com/has-the-rally-ended-for-altcoins-like-link-ada-and-npxs

Blockchain

Kraken Daily Market Report for April 09 2021

Published

3 hours ago

April 10, 2021

Republished by Plato

Overview

Total spot trading volume at $1.02 billion, down from the 30-day average of $1.34 billion.
Total futures notional at $417.0 million.
The top five traded coins were, respectively, Bitcoin, Tether, Ethereum, Ripple, and Polkadot.
Strong returns from Waves (+23%), Basic Attention Token (+17%), Keep (+13%), and Filecoin (+12%).

April 09, 2021 $1.02B traded across all markets today Crypto, EUR, USD, JPY, CAD, GBP, CHF, AUD
XBT $57928. ↓0.21% $379.8M	USDT $0.9996 ↓0.02% $197.7M	ETH $2060.0 ↓1.0% $115.3M	XRP $1.0285 ↓2.9% $70.9M	DOT $40.512 ↓2.1% $27.6M
ADA $1.2002 ↓1.6% $24.8M	WAVES $16.972 ↑23% $20.9M	USDC $1.0000 ↑0.02% $20.8M	FIL $173.42 ↑12% $20.7M	LTC $219.62 ↓3.0% $16.3M
XTZ $6.6226 ↑7.5% $13.4M	LINK $31.279 ↓4.6% $12.5M	BAT $1.5112 ↑17% $11.8M	TRX $0.1153 ↓6.5% $11.7M	SC $0.0296 ↑0.6% $10.9M
MANA $1.0222 ↑2.9% $10.6M	XMR $275.91 ↑2.1% $9.67M	BCH $630.11 ↓2.1% $7.69M	XDG $0.0611 ↓1.1% $7.48M	XLM $0.4833 ↓4.4% $7.44M
OMG $10.224 ↑0.04% $7.33M	KSM $448.87 ↓2.6% $7.11M	EOS $6.1909 ↓4.1% $6.45M	ALGO $1.3699 ↑1.3% $6.04M	STORJ $2.5171 ↓3.8% $5.37M
ATOM $20.952 ↑2.0% $4.96M	FLOW $35.168 ↓0.5% $4.69M	UNI $29.463 ↓2.5% $4.36M	NANO $5.6553 ↓0.07% $3.24M	QTUM $15.518 ↓7.3% $3.24M
KEEP $0.7752 ↑13% $3.09M	ZEC $192.44 ↑4.2% $2.58M	OCEAN $1.7433 ↓4.4% $2.54M	ICX $2.6261 ↑5.7% $2.36M	LSK $7.0662 ↑2.8% $2.36M
KAVA $6.9189 ↓4.9% $2.33M	OXT $0.8013 ↑1.0% $2.17M	DASH $264.69 ↓1.1% $2.14M	CRV $2.9409 ↓4.2% $1.96M	DAI $1.0001 ↓0.01% $1.95M
COMP $451.87 ↓0.8% $1.89M	YFI $45278. ↓4.2% $1.66M	GRT $1.7240 ↓1.7% $1.64M	REP $55.361 ↑9.9% $1.56M	ANT $12.048 ↓0.6% $1.5M
AAVE $358.40 ↓3.3% $1.47M	REPV2 $55.869 ↑9.2% $1.19M	KNC $3.3166 ↓0.15% $1.15M	SNX $19.258 ↓3.3% $1.1M	ETC $18.662 ↓4.8% $875K
EWT $17.223 ↓4.9% $867K	MLN $96.553 ↑5.3% $704K	PAXG $1747.8 ↓0.9% $655K	BAL $51.559 ↓4.0% $387K	GNO $169.66 ↑1.3% $134K
TBTC $60244. ↑1.2% $26.7K

#####################. Trading Volume by Asset. ##########################################

Trading Volume by Asset

The figures below break down the trading volume of the largest, mid-size, and smallest assets. Cryptos are in purple, fiats are in blue. For each asset, the chart contains the daily trading volume in USD, and the percentage of the total trading volume. The percentages for fiats and cryptos are treated separately, so that they both add up to 100%.

Figure 1: Largest trading assets: trading volume (measured in USD) and its percentage of the total trading volume (April 10 2021)

Figure 2: Mid-size trading assets: (measured in USD) (April 10 2021)

Figure 3: Smallest trading assets: (measured in USD) (April 10 2021)

#####################. Spread %. ##########################################

Spread %

Spread percentage is the width of the bid/ask spread divided by the bid/ask midpoint. The values are generated by taking the median spread percentage over each minute, then the average of the medians over the day.

Figure 4: Average spread % by pair (April 10 2021)

.

#########. Returns and Volume ############################################

Returns and Volume

Figure 5: Returns of the four highest volume pairs (April 10 2021)

Figure 6: Volume of the major currencies and an average line that fits the data to a sinusoidal curve to show the daily volume highs and lows (April 10 2021)

###########. Daily Returns. #################################################

Daily Returns %

Figure 7: Returns over USD and XBT. Relative volume and return size is indicated by the size of the font. (April 10 2021)

###########. Disclaimer #################################################

The values generated in this report are from public market data distributed from Kraken WebSockets api. The total volumes and returns are calculated over the reporting day using UTC time.