PR and Social InkLings for the Week of October 17

All About iPhone, Remembering Steve Jobs, #OccupyWallStreet, Secret Behind Dropbox Success, X Factor Gets Social and "Super Bass" Girls

iPhone 4S – Ever Heard of It?

The new iPhone has been released to the masses and 4 million were sold in the first weekend alone. This week’s social news continued to be dominated by 4S buzz.  From people sharing autumn photos and amazing videos they took with their iPhones (thanks to its improved camera technology), to positive reception of Apple’s new Retina Display, the 4S is receiving its fair share of props. And although the initial reviews of Siri, the 4S speech recognition “assistant,” are less than stellar, she seems like a quick study to me, as you can teach her cool things…like how to tweet for you. It’s clear that people are excited about the new edition and we’ll continue to learn about new features and tricks (as well as hear some complaints). So, what’s your favorite part of the 4S?

Steve Jobs Memorial

On Wednesday, a company-wide memorial was held for Co-founder and CEO of Apple, technology visionary and all-around magic man Steve Jobs. The celebration of Jobs took place at company headquarters in California, and across the globe Apple temporarily closed many stores so that retail employees could watch the service via a live webcast. We are forever changed by his influence and will hopefully continue to be inspired by his passion. Thank you, Steve Jobs.

#OccupyWallStreet

As witnessed during the uprisings in Egypt and London, social media continues to play an instrumental role in organizing groups of protestors for Occupy Wall Street and similar groups around the world. Sparked by an activist group’s blog post on July 13 (which introduced the hashtag #OccupyWallStreet), the leaderless movement has motivated thousands of people almost exclusively via the Internet. The idea was somewhat slow to gain momentum, but once it did, boom! Other cities’ hashtags began to appear on Twitter and accompanying Facebook and YouTube pages were established to share thoughts, photos and videos of the protests. Read on here and check out protest photos here.

Dropbox: The Inside Story of Tech's Hottest Startup

Digital storage service provider Dropbox has been in the news quite a bit this week. With more than 50 million users and extremely rapid revenue growth, consumers (and Silicon Valley) are taking notice. Created by a 28-year-old software developer, Dropbox is positioned to double its sales in 2012…even if it doesn’t sign on any new customers. So what’s the secret behind the 70-person company that turned down a partnership with Apple? Read on and find out.

X Factor Gets Social

The talent search show’s popularity has reached epic proportions, and now Simon Cowell’s brainchild is receiving an added social boost with the launch of two new digital platforms from sponsor Pepsi. Sound Off allows fans to comment, share posts and gain points to earn X Factor-based rewards and Pulse is a visualization tool that collects X Factor comments, tweets and Facebook posts into a searchable stream. Now, instead of yelling at my TV because Caitlin Koch got cut, I can share my comments and possibly win a trip to the show! Maybe other brands could learn or thing or two from this launch’s success: a loyalty boost for the show, social cred for Pepsi – and Fox doesn’t have to do a thing. Learn more here.

“Super Bass” Girls on YouTube

I had to share this video of these two little British girls singing Nicki Minaj’s popular song, “Super Bass.” They (aka their mom) posted the video on YouTube and viewers watched more than 14 million times. The girls traveled to the States, performed for Ellen and met their idol, Nicki Minaj. Proof that a video with quality content can go viral and open many doors. Check them out here and happy Friday.