Even if you don’t follow Playboy on Twitter, you have probably heard about something the company does every Friday using the hashtag #FriskyFriday. Basically, Playboy asks ladies to share pictures of themselves and then chooses a winner at the end of the day.

The company gets tons of entries and needless to say, a bunch of interaction around the content. The story behind how the phenomenon got started is an interesting one that starts with Playboy’s current Social Media Manager Allie Sullivan. That’s right, a guy didn’t start all of this madness.

Sullivan’s story begins with getting the gig of a lifetime at Playboy, turning it into a case study for brands in any vertical, and proof that consistency definitely catches an audience.

The Next Web: Can you tell us how and when #FriskyFriday got started and why?

Allie Sullivan: When I was applying for my social media position at Playboy in the fall of 2010, I had to create a two-year social media plan as the final piece of my interview, and the concept of #FriskyFriday was part of that plan (though at the time I envisioned the hashtag #FlashFriday, yikes!). My goal was to have it kickoff with one Playmate, see how it was received, and invite other Playmates to participate, which would naturally lead to Playboy model participation and female fans as well.

Once at Playboy, I started working with the 2010 Playmates to give them advice on how they could use social media to garner more votes for the online portion of Playboy’s Playmate of the Year 2011 competition. Miss November 2010 Shera Bechard, now one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends, was one of the Playmates that I spoke with and was open to anything, so she was the perfect Playmate to encourage to post a sexy pic on the same day every week, with a fun name so that fans would come to expect and get excited for her pics. That was the only direction that I gave Shera and that week, she posted her first sexy-self shot with her camera phone for FriskyFriday, though the hashtag didn’t come about for a couple months.

For two months, I retweeted Shera’s FriskyFriday picture from Playboy’s Twitter and after a couple of weeks, our followers were asking for it first thing Friday morning! It was time to get more Playmates involved, so Shera and I reached out to her Playmate sisters asking them to join the fun. We started using the hashtag #FriskyFriday so that our followers could view them by checking the retweets out at Playboy, or by simply following along at the hashtag. The hashtag was also an easier way for me to monitor the pictures coming in, since we have over 120 Playmates on Twitter, who tweet a lot throughout the day!

After about two weeks of a dozen Playmates posting their #FriskyFriday pictures, Playboy models started tweeting us their #FriskyFriday pictures too, so we started to retweet them. Our followers were in heaven, they started asking us if it was #FriskyFriday on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Our male following wasn’t the only audience who took notice of #FriskyFriday, our female followers, Playmate and Playboy model hopefuls, started tweeting us their pictures every Friday, and since a Twitter hashtag is opened to all on Twitter, my thought was the more, the merrier!

The Next Web: What type of engagement numbers do you see on Fridays and how has it grown over time?

Allie Sullivan: In 2011, I grew our Twitter account by 300% and the majority of that growth has #FriskyFriday to thank for. If you look at a graph of @Playboy’s weekly growth, you will see that on average, Playboy’s daily followers triple every Friday compared to every other day in the week. When we first started #FriskyFriday after inviting Playmates to join Shera in posting pictures, we would retweet anywhere between 8-12 images on a Friday. Now, we typically retweet about 60 images, retweeting anywhere between 5-10 minutes over 10 hours. There are at least 50K @ mentions on #FriskyFriday, around 350K clicks on tweeted links retweeted by Playboy every Friday, and our weekly Storify posts generate an average of 50K views.

While the success of #FriskyFriday has definitely helped fan engagement, site traffic and follower growth for both Playboy and participants, we’ve also been able to monetize social media through #FriskyFriday. We have worked with our Playmates to create dozens of sponsored #FriskyFriday campaigns, where I give them direction and sometimes props, as well as text and hashtags to use for their tweets. For example, we have worked with HBO for the season premiere of ‘Entourage,’ Spike TV’s show ‘Ink Master,’ and recently, American Pie’s newest movie, ‘American Reunion.’ Our female fans all over the world often catch on to the themes and participate too, giving our advertising clients added value, as well as entertaining our Twitter following in a natural way.

The Next Web: Do you do anything similar on Facebook, if so, how is the interaction different than Twitter?

Allie Sullivan: We do not do anything remotely similar on Facebook as a lot of the images are ‘implied nudity’ which is against Facebook’s guidelines. We do however post and link to our #FriskyFriday weekly Storify post on our safe-for-work blog, www.TheSmokingJacket.com, and it is one of our most liked features on our Facebook page (It’s also wildly popular on Playboy.com I’m told).

The Next Web: Are you thinking about expanding the hashtag efforts into something daily?

Allie Sullivan: Right now there are no plans for that. #FriskyFriday is great because, one I am only one person, but also because our fans look forward to it every week. Having a daily hashtag would take away from the magic of #FriskyFriday. There are hashtags for every single day of the week for aspiring models to post pictures to Twitter, but having one day, and one hashtag that recognizes Playmates, Playboy models and fans is the way to go.

I am leaving Playboy at the end of the month, and while I will miss the baby that Playmate Shera Bechard and I created, I have to admit that I look forward to having my Fridays back! I hope to see Playboy continue to improve #FriskyFriday and for it to grow and get more popular as time goes on.

Twitter + Consistency = Success

While the content that Playboy focuses on is clearly the type that draws eyeballs and attention, there’s a lot to be learned from what Sullivan has done during her time managing the social media direction of one of the world’s most popular brands.

It will be interesting to see where she ends up next, as I’m sure that her services are in pretty high demand after seeing what she’s done with #FriskyFriday. You might think that by having lovely ladies to tweet all day would equal immediate success, but Sullivan has clearly put a great deal of work into curating the photos that are sent in.

Even if you’re not a fan of Playboy, you have to be quite impressed with the longevity of the campaign, and how it’s opened the doors into new ways of generating revenue for the company while making its customers even happier.

Remember when Steve Jobs was going on a tear by answering tons of customer support questions? In one famous exchange in regards to Apple removing an app inadvertently and becoming the “moral police”, Jobs responded with:

Fiore’s app will be in the store shortly. That was a mistake. However, we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy and (sic) Android phone.

Apparently Google doesn’t want that reputation anymore, as it has decided to kick out a fan-created Reddit app called “Reddit Is Fun” for having “sexually explicit material”, according to Android Police.

The creator of the app, which has a lite and pay version, posted this thread on Reddit as soon as he found out that the app was removed:

Wow. I wasn’t expecting this. I got 2 emails from the Google Play Store telling me my apps, reddit is fun lite and pro, have been banned for sexually explicit material.

I’m not sure how to go about appealing this. After all it’s true that reddit content includes NSFW content. Not sure exactly why my app was singled out and the other reddit apps weren’t, though.

Any thoughts? Should I even bother appealing? As always I appreciate your input, /r/android. Thanks.

EDIT: I posted on Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/108576990588738594191/posts/8LfJmKX48R2 maybe it would help to gain awareness through that avenue? Thanks for all your support, guys.

Reddit Is Fun recently updated to version 2.0, which featured subreddits on the main page of the app. For any community site, especially Reddit, some NSFW material is bound to pop up.

The Android Market Google Play has a rating called “high maturity” for apps such as this, so it’s a bit peculiar that Reddit Is Fun got banned. Since Google Play has no official review system that involves humans for such content, it’s likely that some prude concerned Android users flagged the app. Apple on the other hand has an extremely strict review process, and Reddit Is Fun doesn’t appear on the App Store at all, whether that’s by choice or not we don’t know.

It appears that Android isn’t for porn after all. We’ll keep you updated on whether Reddit Is Fun makes its way back into Google Play for download.

More than half of the attendees at The Next Web Conference aren’t from The Netherlands. They fly into Amsterdam early in the week and stay for the weekend after the conference. We love it, and are very proud, that our conference has grown into an event with international appeal.

For our international visitors we have a few tips when it comes to surviving Amsterdam. Here they are, in no particular order:

Bikes
The best way to experience Amsterdam is by bike. The streets are narrow so a car doesn’t make sense, and you can’t park anywhere anyhow. So rent a bike. They are cheap and abundant. Once you have a bike make sure you keep right while driving. The streets are busy and crowded and us locals don’t like those tourists driving on the middle of the road.

Leave your bike at home on Queensday! There are way too many people in the streets to drive safely.

Beware of people on bikes while you are walking too. There are more bikes in Amsterdam than people and the people riding these bikes don’t stop for anything. Find out what the bike lanes look like (red concrete) and stay off of them. When you hear a bike approach get out of the way but follow a predictive path or you risk getting run over. People on bikes in Amsterdam drive fast and aggressive and think they own the city. Don’t challenge them, don’t look them in the eye and avoid confrontation.

Drugs
Amsterdam is sometimes referred to as the ‘Drug capital of the world’. This is a lot more credit than we deserve but it is true that certain drugs are legal and readily available. If you absolutely have to get a taste of that we won’t stop you, but be very cautious. Our soft drugs are very potent and can easily make you sick. Locals usually aren’t too interested in drugs either so be discrete. You can smoke in designated areas but not in the streets. If you can, ask a local to escort you so you won’t get ripped off or take something you shouldn’t take. Apart from that, enjoy!

Flights
Flying into Amsterdam via Schiphol? Get a taxi (you might call it a cab but in The Netherlands we call them Taxis) or the train. Train is cheap and comfortable unless you arrive after dark in which case I would advise to take a taxi. Some local bandits patrol the trains looking for fresh tourists with laptop bags.

Read this excellent article at The New York Times on how to arrive healthily and save. In short: drink a lot of water, keep moving around and take lots of vitamins.

Trains leave every 15 minutes from schiphol – costs 3,80 euros), then take a tram (line 4 or 25 – costs 1,60 euros) and get out at Frederiksplein (right in front of Hotel V). Total travel time 40 minutes.

A taxi into town shouldn’t cost you more than 45 euros depending on where you need to go and should take no more than 35 minutes. Not all taxis take credit cards and not all taxis know their way around Amsterdam. Seriously. Ask before you get in if they know the address and whether they accept credit cards (or bring cash) and how they think it will cost.

More on taxis
When taking taxis within Amsterdam there are some things to pay attention to. Dutch taxis are the most expensive in the world besides Singapore. The rates can be confusing too. You pay 7,50 for the first 2 kilometers no matter how short the ride, and 2,20 for every kilometer after that. Dutch taxi drivers can be obnoxious or just ignorant. Don’t be surprised when a taxi doesn’t want to bring you somewhere because the ride is too short. They will, just say ‘No, that is too close, go and walk’. Don’t argue, just move on, save your energy for something else.

Red Light District
Yes, the red Light District is a major sightseeing opportunity. Lots of sights to see there. Go ahead, check it out but pay attention to a few things. Beware of pickpockets: most people are so distracted by the sight of, well, what they see, that they don’t watch their personal belongings. Also, don’t make photos of the ladies, or men, behind the windows. They DON”T like that and won’t ask you politely to stop if you do take a photo. Don’t risk finding out what they WILL do. One last tip: A lot of those girls in the red light district, aren’t girls.

Where to go and for what
The Next Web Conference will be held in different places in Amsterdam:

- On Wednesday at Felix Meritus building at Keizersgracht 324
- On Thursday and Friday we will be at the Westergasfabriek, Pazzanistraat 41

The best way to get to both places is by bike or tram. We’ve created a map with some interesting places in Amsterdam. We’ll add stuff to the map almost every day.

Also download our conference iphone App, listen to our TNW Playlist and check out our speakers. And if you haven’t bought your tickets yet, do it today before there are all gone.

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If you haven’t reserved your ticket yet then do it fast before it is too late!