When Caroline McCarthy sent out a “tweet,” her original message had nothing to do with anyone’s appearance.  But by the time Charlie O’Donnell received the note, “Wow you look *good*” was tacked onto the end, courtesy, presumably, of Twitter.

The comment was labeled a “tip,” yet I’m not sure who, or how, it was supposed to help.  The length of the thing was also a little alarming; McCarthy only wrote seven words, and Twitter’s addition was four.  Should this ratio remain, advertising might make up almost 60 percent of Twitter messages.

That’s assuming, anyway, that the tips become ads.  O’Donnell writes, “Clearly, Twitter is testing out the feasability, useability, and user reaction to things being added on to user twits.  If successful (or if the users are silent) you would imagine that its only a matter of time before this becomes: Tip: Drink Jamba Juice.”

Messages related to Jamba Juice may be better than what could be interpreted as come-ons, however.

The companies say the merger will reach 30 territories with a reach of over a billion mobile subscribers. The newly formed company will retain the US Jamster brand and the worldwide Jamba brand. Lucy Hood, formerly President of Fox Mobile Entertainment, will become CEO of the joint venture.

“This is an important step in News Corp.’s strategy of becoming the world’s leading digital media company,” said Peter Chernin, News Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer.

“We’re the most powerful media company on the web with Fox Interactive Media, our aggressive digital content deals have given consumers access to News Corp. programming on every conceivable platform and we have already demonstrated innovation in this emerging space with the Mobisode and Mobizzo.”

Six-year-old Jamba caught News Corp.’s eye for not only the reach of the company but also for what News Corp. called the industry’s most advanced platforms for distributing content.

The new Jamba will aggregation and distribute original content made exclusively for mobile. Jamba partners include Universal Music Group and Warner Music.

Jamba will integrate Fox properties and content into two products:

MySpace Mobile Store: In an alliance with MySpace, Jamba an m-commerce engine to enable MySpace users to download ringtones, graphics and animations from top music and media companies.

The Simpsons Mobile: Jamba will offer mobile content from via subscription to the popular FOX series, The Simpsons, including wallpapers, screensavers, ringtones and video.

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The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of 2006.

It’s the Jamba case that got it all going. Jan Schmidt writes a good summary of what happened, and draws conclusions valid not only in a German perspective.

Weblogs will increasingly find their place in the communication strategies of organizations. Some of them might use Weblogs as an additional channel for their internal and/or external communication, while others will monitor Blogs for mentions of their products or practices.

Exactly because blogging is not journalism, not private online-exhibitionism and not dysfunctional flaming of other peoples comments, understanding the dynamics of the blogosphere becomes a central task for communication practitioners and researchers alike.

Thanks Klaus for the tip!

Fredrik Wacka is the author and founder of the popular CorporateBlogging.Info blog which is a guide to business and corporate blogging.

Visit Fredrik Wacka’s blog: CorporateBlogging.Info.

In some kind of naive PR attempt anonymous Jamba employees began attacking the author in blog comments. It’s unclear if this was a coordinated damage control attempt, but you can figure out the rest. They got caught and traditional media got interested.

The developments of this story has been flooding the German blogs I read for the last couple of days. Martin Roell has a good summary of the story [In German] [In Google's English translation].

The Jamba Director of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs is interviewed by Klaus Eck [http://klauseck.typepad.com/prblogger/2004/12/4_nachgebloggt_.html] [In Google's English translation].

It seems they haven’t learned much. He draws the conclusion that their employees shouldn’t have commented at all. And he asks himself if a press spokesman should react to blogs… at all.

The obvious alternative – to openly dive into the discussion with serious intents and serious curiosity – doesn’t seem to be an option.

Fredrik Wacka is the author and founder of the popular CorporateBlogging.Info blog which is a guide to business and corporate blogging.

Visit Fredrik Wacka’s blog: CorporateBlogging.Info.