Skittles: taste the social media rainbow

Have you heard what Skittles is up to? They've abandoned the traditional corporate website for a small toolbar that relies entirely on what's in the public domain. Want to know about their flavours? Click on the link and it takes you to a Wikipedia article about skittles. Want to watch their media? The link takes you to YouTube for both skittles- and user-generated videos. Curious to know what people are saying about Skittles? It directs you to Twitter for realtime updates where you can monitor everything anyone tweets about regarding skittles.

It's a brave move for a major brand to make, because it relies entirely on what's in the public domain. They're relying on user-generated content about their brand. Marketers are quickly realizing that it's difficult to control the message when it comes to social media. They're finding new ways to join the conversation, and learn more about their demographic along the way. How sociable...