Lean Viral Ads, Facebook Engagement, Marketing to DNA

The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionados who love the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are the gems you need to kickstart your Tuesday:

Four Lean Advertising Campaigns that Went Viral (HBR)
Harvard Business School marketing professor Thales Teixeira uses eye-tracking technology, facial-expression analysis, and lab experiments to understand why and how people watch online videos.

Here is his take on four lean campaigns from DC Shoes, Blendtec, Speed Stick, and Golden Grahams.

5 Questions Guaranteed to Engage Your Facebook Fans (OPEN Forum)
If you want to engage your Facebook community, you need to inspire your audience.

Remember that great conversations start with even better questions. Here are five examples to get you started.

Marketing to the Big Data Inside Us (MIT Tech Review)
Advertisers leverage data to target consumers. Companies know your shopping habits, age, salary, and where you live.

Pretty soon, your DNA will enter the behavioral targeting equation. Skeptical? Read this blog post, and then decide.

Crowdsourcing the News: Do We Need a Public License for Citizen Journalism? (PaidContent)
Social media platforms like YouTube are becoming hotbeds for breaking stories.

Media outlets and journalists are constantly scouring these resources  — without necessarily providing the right credit. Does the media industry need a formal, legal structure to deal with this media dynamic? Here’s one writer’s take on the topic.