Yesterday, a federal grand jury indicted a woman who allegedly caused the death of teenager Megan Meier by harassing her on MySpace. Now, I want to make clear that the girl’s death is no frivolous matter, and that I myself was horrified when I first heard the allegations. However I do think that marketers need to take note of the case because it indicates a trend of legal action against those—including illegitimate marketers—who abuse MySpace.

Lori Drew is being charged by federal officials in Los Angeles because there are federal laws that apply to the situation. Prosecutors in Missouri, where the alleged crimes happened, have said no state laws there are applicable to the case. Among the allegations is that Ms. Drew violated MySpace’s terms of service by creating a false account and using it to send false messages.

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Law enforcement agencies should do everything they can to entice the average citizen’s cooperation in fighting crime. In this respect, they’re following the lead of savvy marketers—by using proactive SMS campaigns.

A recent story from the San Jose Mercury News shows that text-messaging is so ubiquitous, so natural of an activity, that it can be applied to serious situations as well as more frivolous ones. The newspaper reports a new trend among law enforcement and legal vigilantes: Using SMS to report crime tips.

Already, more than 30 U.S. metropolitan areas are using, or will soon use, tip-texting, according to Kevin Anderson, whose company makes the TipSoft SMS software behind these anti-crime programs. Officials especially hope to court teens and young adults who witness or have information about illegal activity.

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We’ve already talked about the video marketing and even video seo before, so now I want to look at the major video-sharing sites a bit closer and actually share with my experience submitting content to them.

What I love about all the major video sites is that the upload/submit button is well-seen from any page or section of the site even if you are a complete newbie. They have done everything possible to make this process fast and easy.

The second great thing about these sites is that the entire video submission process is quite simple and user-friendly. Some video-sharing sites are made in a bit more complicated way than the others but in most cases it’s just a great experience to work with almost all of them when submitting video content. Most submissions are straightforward and painless.

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Remember how, before the writers’ strike, top TV shows would go on hiatus for months at a time while their scribes toiled over ways to make their programs better than ever? Um, yeah, that’s what’s happening with mobileStorm’s Outside The Inbox: Video Edition.

To that end, this week we’re offering new viewers the perfect way to get acquainted with our humorous online news program about digital communications, called OTIVE for short: A clip show combining some of the best stories of the past six episodes.

Hey, just be glad we’re not trying to fool you with a “best episode ever” line. You know, the way Seinfeld did with its “two-hour finale” made up of one official clip show followed by an allegedly new episode that was really just more clips cobbled together by a strange-even-for-Seinfeld barebones plot.

But while we won’t call this the “best episode,” this week’s video is sort of like a “best of.” And if you disagree, why, please leave a comment! We love that.

Check out OTIVE episode 7: http://www.mobilestorm.com/videos/Outside-the-Inbox-with-Jared-Reitzin-v126

Eydie Cubarrubia
Marketing Communications Manager, mobileStorm
“I’d rather you text me”