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In this video interview, Etsy CEO Rob Kalin describes how Etsy let it's community of users do the heavy marketing lifting for them, talking about the site and the products they sell and spreading the word to their own customers and social circles. Using traditional advertising routes didn't get results for Etsy, and Rob didn't like the way it changed the face of the company. The "real human face" route was the way Etsy chose to move forward, and it's worked for the company thus far.
According to this Advertising Age article, a slew of new announcements from Google, Facebook, and MySpace indicate that closed garden social networks are getting ready to break down their walls -- as a way to survive. Whether this marks the next step in the evolution of the social web or just the next logical conclusion in a user-centric environment, it's certainly worth keeping an eye on. As consumers stretch themselves out, breaking through the confines of the current social network structure, what's on the horizon for marketers?
In a recent ClickZ article, WOMMA Board member Pete Blackshaw takes a Machiavellian look at Twitter, analyzing a slew of its features as well as some of the Twitterati archetypes -- from the TimeTweeters who like to respond first and get that "fresh" timestamp on their posts, to the Tweetniks, who try to turn every post into a work of literature -- that have emerged
Nearly half (48%) of all U.S. internet users report belonging to a hobby-based online community, 41% say they are members of an online social community, and a third belong to an online professional community, according to the 2008 Digital Future Project, which is being compiled by the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future. These numbers are up dramatically from the data gathered regarding online community use in 2005.
Facebook has been working to come up with a strategy that would protect its younger users, while still allowing adult Facebookers the ability to use and navigate the social site without any impediments. The company has reached an agreement with 49 state attorneys to implement a broad strategy for safety which includes: requiring users under 18 to confirm they have read the site's safety tips and a large "report abuse" icon prominently display on the site. The site is currently working on ways to verify the age of its users -- which is one of the big challenges currently tripping it up.
Retailers can't afford to ignore social media, according to a report put together by analysts from Gartner, Inc. The report, which includes a list of the top ten thing retailers need to know about social networks, delves into the differences between social networks and social networking platforms, consumer trends in social network use, and the kinds of word of mouth insights that can be gleaned from social networks -- as well as what retailers can do to best leverage online social networks for their business.
Lego has announced plans for its branded virtual world, an effort aimed at creating a connection between online and offline branded building-block experiences. According to this article from The Washington Post, users of the online space will earn online currency by playing the game. As users play and spend time in the virtual space, they earn building materials and increase the richness of their online experience. The site also contains social elements so users can play together and communicate via an avatar -- which is crafted from Lego bricks, of course.
On the ReadWriteWeb blog, Bernard Lunn offers some predictions about the impact a recession would have on the web -- and specifically Web 2.0. Some of his predictions venture into the world of social media, including perspectives on how online social networking will fare in a recession considering the fact that most of these networks have yet to be sufficiently monetized. The article also looks at the role digital content creators -- from bloggers to online video makers, etc. -- will play in the changing web landscape.
According to new research from search marketing consultancy Tamar, banks and credit card companies are missing a major reputation-improving opportunity by ignoring the things that people are saying about them on social networking sites. The study found that just 30% of the major financial brands it investigated had an online social media presence, while a whopping 80% of them were being discussed by customers in unofficial groups on the sites.
This podcast with Paul Dunay and Mike Spataro from WOMMA member company Visible Technologies takes a look at what to do beyond simply tracking online conversations about your brand. Once you've got an ear to the social media ground, what next?
For as much attention as microblogging site Twitter is garnering among the social media elite, it's still considered a niche platform and hasn't yet gained traction among the mainstream internet users. This article from The Washington Post provides a simplified look at what Twitter is and what Twitter can do -- for the common user. It's worth a look for the Twitter-curious, and worth passing along to your Twitter-oblivious friends.
According to this article from the Chicago Tribune, nonprofit organizations are testing out using online social networks as a way to raise awareness and collect funds. The trend is a departure for most of these organizations, which have long relied on direct mail efforts and financial contributions from an older demographic. Most are hoping that the social media trail will lead to new marketing and funding sources. Overall, social media efforts offer nonprofits increased opportunity for real engagement -- something that the organizations think will drive deeper relationships and, ultimately, more dollars.
Saturn's recently launched online social networking site, ImSaturn, has acquired more than 1,200 in its first few weeks -- more than the company expected to attract in it's six-month projection. The company used existing fan sites and a link on its homepage to tip fans off to the site's web presence. On the site, users can read Saturn news, upload pictures and videos, chat with other ImSaturn members, and weigh in about the company's past and current marketing efforts.
Using the premise that "Social media marketing isn't about optimizing or advertising. It's about socializing," this article from ClickZ offers some tips for how to really dig in and get socially active within your social media marketing efforts. Buying advertising space isn't the same as getting up close and personal and making genuine connections with your "friends" and fans -- which is how social media was intended to be used.
On the Online Spin blog, Joe Marchese examines social media's divided role as both a communication devise and a marketing medium. According to Marchese, social media has yet to rise to the "how did we ever live without it" communication status of, say, cell phones, and -- simultaneously -- marketers are still at the early stages of learning how to use it. How social media's split personality works itself out will influence both its longevity as a communications platform and its ability to be monetized.
To bolster fan interest in some of its top series, MTV has launched several online "playgrounds," in which users create speaking avatars and use them to interact with others in the show-specific playground. MTV is also hoping that the playground visitors take their avatars with them to their other social online destinations. The avatars were created to be extremely mobile, and users can embed them into their Facebook or MySpace pages, their blogs, and other online spaces. Once embedded on the sites, the avatars can act as widgets -- spreading the word about show updates, etc.
In a move that could connect upwards of three million Chicago Public Schools alumni, the district has launched online social hub CPSalumni.org, marking CPS as the first large, urban school district to use this method to boost alumni interaction. The online network contains special areas for each individual school and provides a plethora of ways for CPS alumni to connect, get involved, share stories, and otherwise continue to foster good will for their alma mater.
The majority of the $1.6 billion that marketers are projected to spend on advertising on social networking sites this year is being pumped into small, niche sites. Part of the lure for marketers is the targeted audience these smaller networking sites offer -- something that the larger social sites, with their one-size-fits-all policy can't provide.
MySpace is giving their advertisers control of their own profiles -- as a way to make the advertising process less labor-intensive, as well as to foster the idea of creating relationships between brands and MySpace users. The move is tied directly to advertisers' request for a format that allows them to work to build standing relationships within the social networking space rather than completing a one-off campaign and dissolving their online presence.
According to a new study from the Society for New Communications Research, 72% of consumers use social media resources to research a company's reputation before making a purchase decision. Seventy-four percent of consumers report basing their decisions to do business with a company on their social media research. The study also found that 59% of those surveyed say they use social media as a place to vent their customer service frustrations.
Getting a good grip on a platform as seemingly limited as the 140-character microbloging site, Twitter, can be a challenge for the uninitiated -- which is why how-tos are so helpful. This article from MarketingVOX offers some tips on how to use Twitter right -- especially as a way to build your brand. It includes insights into how to build your contacts lists (follow everyone), as well as how to interact (be personal and responsive).
Johnson & Johnson invited more than fifty influential moms to a three-day conference called Camp Baby, where the company refrained from plugging its brand while it hosted its handful of all-expenses-paid moms. The moms were wined and dined and attended breakout sessions, including panels on how to get babies to sleep, nutritional tips for raising healthy families, and more. The goal of the event was to form experience-based relationships with these socially connected moms -- in the hopes that they'd take their learnings -- and their new-found brand love -- back to their social networks.
There are a variety of reasons for why some companies are resistant to social media adoption. Whether it's friction from the legal department, trouble with the lack of ROI, or fear compounded by lack of internal expertise, there are ways to meet these social-media-skirting tactics and turn them on their heads. This article from blogger Shel Holtz gives some tips for how to counter some of the most common fears companies have when it comes to social media.
We still don't have all the answers about how to best use, best leverage, or best manage microblogging site Twitter, but we've come a long way in building history and knowledge since the site launched. According to this ClickZ article, Twitter has raised the standard of accountability with its instantaneous -- and often off the cuff -- flurry of commentary, so what's a company to do? This article offers some tips for how to navigate the Twitter pond.
The latest to launch a social networking site around its product, Segway's social venture -- aptly named "Segway Social" -- aims to help Segway users create a unique experience around the electric scooter. The site provides ways for users to interact, discuss the product, and even organize Segway-related group outings. The site was created after several Segway groups popped up on social networking sites because the company perceived a desire for community among its customers.
A new whitepaper from the Interactive Advertising Bureau gives an overview of some of the digital marketing techniques employed by marketers -- with a special focus on social media and consumer-generated media. The report includes a variety of tools and techniques that fall under the word of mouth marketing banner as well, including reviews sites, blogs, wikis, social networks, content sharing platforms, and more.
According to Marketing Charts, the number of social network users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico more than doubled between Jan. 2007 and Jan. 2008. During the same year, U.S. Hispanic and Puerto Rican online social network users increased 48%.
On his blog, Robert Scoble makes the case for the value of listening -- or, rather, the increased value of your social networking experience if the people in your network are saying smart stuff. It's not just who you can reach -- which is a push-marketing mentality -- but what you can learn, the conversations you can join, and the overall value you stand to get from your total social networking experience.
Canadian mobile company Telus has created a Facebook application that has taken off. To promote their "My Faves" plan, in which customers can pick five friends regardless of their mobile carrier and get unlimited talk and text services, Telus created a My Faves Fishbowl. Users can add their favorite friends -- each of whom is represented by a different kind of fish -- to their bowls, visually demonstrating their inner circles in much the same way MySpace's top friends feature does. Thus far, the application was downloaded more than 7,500 times.
There's been a lot of talk lately about whether or not Twitter has the social muscle to phase out Facebook -- with parties weighing in on both sides of the divide. On the Direct2Dell blog, Lionel Menchaca lists the functionality pros and cons of Twitter and Facebook and gives a great overview of both sites' strengths and weaknesses.
This article from eMarketer reiterates the idea that consumers trust information from sources that they perceive as being a "person like themselves." A prime example of this mentality in action is the proliferation of social shopping platforms, which pairs social interaction, ranking and recommendations, and point-of-purchase advice.
The How to Change the World blog features ten Facebook usability tricks that everyone should know. These easy-to-incorporate features will add value to your Facebook page. It includes everything from how to syndicate RSS from your blog onto your Facebook page to how to track traffic to your page or group. Facebook aficionados: File this under the "good to know" column.
This article from Mashable takes an in-depth look at what some of the top brands are doing with their online social networking sites. From Disney DXD and MarthaStewart.com to the Toyota Hybrid fan site, brands are doing lots of innovative things with their sites -- whether they're intended as a group-hug hub for fans or as communication centers. This is a great at-a-glance look at what some people in the industry are doing.
With 66 million users across a diversity of demographics, understanding Facebook is essential knowledge for most executives -- in spite of the inclination in some to regard it with doubt. Just because the site -- and other networking sites like it -- are focused on socialization over commerce, choosing to turn a blind eye is a short-sighted strategy. This article from Business Week offers up some take-aways that executives can learn from the site -- from the importance of quick, easy innovation to the value of tapping in to people's need to connect with one another
As people spend more time on a variety of social networking platforms, they are spending less time blogging, and it's having an effect on the blogosphere. Social networks, according to this blog post from Robert Scoble, are replacing a lot of the functions that blogs used to perform -- and are doing them faster, better, and in a way that's more targeted.
According to this article from the BBC, the reported slow down in online social network growth is less a sign of its imminent demise and more a natural phenomenon in the growth of any trend. Eventually, terminal velocity is inevitable with any trend. That said, to stay viable, online social networks are going to have to continue to evolve, taking on new roles within their populations and incorporating new ways to be useful and relevant.
Social gaming is upping the ante (pardon the pun) in the online gaming world, exposing new demographics to online games and giving them an added incentive to use it. Game-based applications on social networking sites have been some of the most popular and have users flocking to use them. And for long-time online gamers, the advent of social gaming allows them to double up their online efforts and communicate with members of their social networks while playing.
A newly launched Facebook application, called Loladex -- a local search engine that uses ratings and recommendations from the social networking site to influence search relevance -- is creating a buzz. As the application is used by Facebook users, it will be populated with ratings and recommendations information, as well as with information from third party sources.
In his Marketing Profs article, Matt Dickman offers up some practical tips for keeping track of all of the conversations going on via Twitter without having to constantly refresh and without revolving all of your daily activities around the site. Some of his suggestions include compiling favorites into an RSS feed reader, using a searchable application such as twhirl, or using a web service such as FriendFeed to aggregate the information. With Twitter as with other social media platforms, the secret is to find a way to get something out of it without having to give it all of your time and attention.
On his blog, Web Strategy by Jeremiah, Jeremiah Owyang discusses the wealth of information available about social media users via the sites they populate -- especially teens, the majority of whom are active social media users. According to the post, these sites house everything from demographic data to information and likes, dislikes, and tastes, their technology uses and preferences, and their social networks. At the same time that this creates an enticing wealth of data, it also raises questions about privacy and what parents and teens should do to keep their private information private.
More and more musicians are taking a step away from popular social networking sites such as MySpace -- which has long been known for the presence of bands and aspiring recording artists -- and are creating their own social networking sites. Why the relocation? Having fans come to their own site instead of a third party site gives musicians more control, access to fans' email addresses, and more options for directly contacting users. The proprietary sites aren't meant to replace a Facebook or MySpace presence, but to augment it.
On the All Things Digital site, Kara Swisher is calling for increased portability of something she claims she should own ... her data. According to Swisher, users should be able to move seamlessly from social hub to social hub, and companies should make it easy for them to take their data with them. While some steps are apparently being taken -- Swisher noted that Facebook joined in a Microsoft initiative that aims to allow social site users to move their data between the various social networking sites -- thus far a real solution doesn't exist.
With the launch of Rockstar Games' "Social Club," gamers who own an Xbox 360 or a Sony PS3 will be able to sign up, log in, and see how their Grand Theft Auto 4 stats stack up to those of other users. Gamers that use the Social Club site will be able to compare their gaming strategies with those of other players, and according to Gigaom, Rockstar Games has hinted that additional social functionality will be added to the site if gamers flock to it.
WePlay.com has launched a new social networking site that it hopes will appeal to young athletes, their parents, and coaches. The site offers social features for the kids; they can set up profiles, chat, swap photos, and post sports-related videos. Parents, on the other hand, can use the site as a way to keep up with their athletic kids' busy schedules, car pool with other parents, or figure out what equipment to purchase. Coaches, too, can use the site to communicate with both parents and team members.
As much as "super poking" and passing along virtual gifts might create a temporary wave of excitement, the way social networks and other social media platforms will stay genuinely viable over the long haul is by creating things of real value for their users, according to this article. Helping users make and keep plans, book tickets, check stock market changes, and communicate with others more efficiently are things the article's author suggests will make users loyal to the social networks they use and increase the likelihood that they'll keep coming back.
Teen prom-goers can get their Facebook friends' feedback before making a prom dress purchase thanks to Sears. The company has made over 70 dresses on their Sears.com site available to forward to shoppers' friends, making the girls' shopping experience more social -- and ultimately driving traffic back to the Sears.com site.
Oh his blog today, Jeremiah Owyang takes a look at how Dell connected with a community of enthusiasts gathered via its Facebook group, which asked the question, "What does green mean to you?" Dell's Graffiti ReGeneration Contest, which was aimed at graffiti artists, prompted users to employ Facebook's graffiti function to create visual representations of what green means to them. The campaign garnered more than 7,300 submissions and more than one million Facebook users voted to pick the campaign's winners.
Navigating long lists of online social network friends -- as well as the plethora of platforms that keep popping up -- is becoming an increasingly difficult task. Figuring out how to blend work and social contacts, as well as how to keep people from feeling miffed if you don't reach out to them or consistently ignore their application invitations, are major concerns regarding online social media etiquette. So what's a social networking novice to do? Mary Schmich's column from the Chicago Tribune takes a look at her own hesitant foray into social networking from a newbie's perspective.
Starbucks has launched a customer hub, dubbed "My Starbucks Idea," which is an online destination where coffee-loving cronies and bitter detractors alike can share ideas, vote on user-submitted concepts, participate in discussions, praise the brand for what it's doing right, or let off some steam (pun intended). The site, which Shel Holtz points out is very similar to Dell's IdeaStorm, represents a great way for companies to establish direct, easy-to-use lines of communication with their customers.
Just three weeks after the launch of its news aggregation service, Buzz, Yahoo is driving only 10% less traffic to publishers' websites than its primary competitor, Digg.com, according to this article from Business Week. Digg, which has long been the king of social news, is feeling the heat, even though Buzz is still technically in beta.
On the Conversational Media Marketing blog, Paul Chaney posits that the trouble with Facebook Groups comes from the fact that there are just too many of them. You get an invitation, you join the group, and don't have time to interact beyond that. Chaney suggests that the same applies to online social networks in general -- that folks are spread too thin over a plethora of sites to give any one site any real, meaningful attention.
New social distribution platform Surge is attempting to change the way digital music is recommended, listened to, and purchased. The platform, which launched at the South by Southwest conference, encourages fans to become more invested and involved in the success of the bands they love. The bands, too, are able to interact more closely with their fans than in traditional music distribution channels. Whether or not this signals a mix-up for the digital music scene, of course, remains to be seen.
This article from Advertising Age answers some of marketers' questions about social media, including where opportunities exist, why they need to get on the blogging wagon, what they should do to prevent/respond to negative social media, and more.
This article from Advertising Age takes a stab at some of the biggest questions that marketers face when deciding to enter the world of online social networks. From weighing in on which marketing discipline should handle social networking, to dispelling some of marketers' misconceptions about social networks, this article takes a swing at some of the bigger issues marketers encounter with social nets.
While AOL's purchase of online social networking site Bebo, -- which has a large reach internationally -- has the potential to create one of the largest social platforms in existence, some still question AOL's motivations and wonder if the combination of two number-twos could really make for a grand slam.
According to this article from Mediaweek's Digital Download, there are a cluster of mobile social networking startups that are intent on moving social networks from the internet to users' cell phones. According to the article, about 50 million online social network users are already opting to use their mobile devices to add content or view their social networks. The move to mobile would give open up social nets to a 3.3 billion person market -- a number that surpasses the total number of internet users worldwide.
Forrester Research VP and analyst Charlene Li posted a presentation, "The Future of Social Networks," on slideshare. In the presentation, Li examines the differences between online social networks and real world networks. She also looks at some ways that organizations could better utilize the data that's found on social networks, and makes some recommendations for how companies can best leverage online social networks into the future.
On the heels of some interesting research highlighted marketers' dissatisfaction with agencies' understanding of social media, this list of nine reasons why agencies "don't get" social media attempts to explain the perceived information gap. The list, which is originally taken from the Marketing Conversations blog, runs the gamut, covering everything from the lack of a revenue model to general technology skittishness on the part of agencies.
On the Spare Change blog, Nedra Kline Weinreich discusses how nonprofits and government agencies can use microblogging site Twitter to spread the word about what they do. Weinreich also provides links to a slew of organizations who have used Twitter successfully, and highlights some of the benefits and some of the limitations of the 140-character format.
In order to give media and entertainment professionals a networking hub to exchange ideas, recruit, pitch, and search for jobs, Variety has launched The Biz, a private, online social network. The Biz will provide an online destination for an industry that has long relied on offline social networking.
Recent articles have suggested the onset of online social networking fatigue, but sites like FriendFeed make it easy for users to manage multiple social networking sites from one online destination. Social network aggregation allows users to keep tabs on their social spaces without taking up more of their time -- and makes it even easier for word of mouth to spread.
Twitter, despite its format limitations, is being used for a wide range of business applications. On the Inspired Business Growth blog, Wendy Piersall suggests several ways that the site can be used to gain information about consumers. Because the format is quick and compact, it can be used to gain instantaneous insights, track trends, find feedback, converse with consumers -- and more.
According to the New York Times, WOMMA member company Yahoo is launching a user-driven service, called "Buzz," which will aggregate the most popular articles from the internet. While user votes will partially determine which stories are featured in the Buzz section, traffic spikes will also influence the content, and ultimately Yahoo editors will have final say regarding which stories will be featured. Instead of turning Buzz into a new destination site, Yahoo plans to feature top Buzz stories on its homepage.
Giant social networks might have their place and their appeal for brands, but that doesn't mean they're going to give you the most bang for your social marketing buck. Finding the social platform that best positions your message is always the way to go. This article analyzes some of the top social network sites -- as well as some lesser known contenders -- in terms of which would work best for specific marketing objectives.
The Financial Times has launched a subscription-based social network for senior media and technology executives. While the forum has been off to a bumpy start -- it has been attracting criticism for being incompatible with the Firefox web browser -- it is intended for executives in the digital, new media, mobile, and telecom categories and is expected to make a splash.
The Baby Einstein Company is inviting moms who love its products it share their Baby Einstein stories through the website, www.BabyEinstein.com. The site, which launched on Feb. 15, invites moms to share their personal stories, submit photos of themselves with their babies, and create a mom-to-mom network around the brand. The site also provides child development education and tips, enabling moms to get the most out of their Baby Einstein products.
This case study from MarketingSherpa details how World Vital Records used a Facebook application to attract new users to the company's FamilyLink.com social networking site. It covers eight tips for how to get the most mileage out of a social network application -- including making the application easy to use and looking outside of "just Facebook" to other public social networking sites.
Using applications and widgets on established social networking sites has proven one way to catapult a company to stardom -- when the application is able to gain traction with the community members. As with viral video, there isn't necessarily a "secret sauce" for getting a widget or application to take off. Here's one example of a company that did it right, with WOM-worthy results.
Because social media campaigns are ongoing consumer communication efforts, they don't have the same hard "start" and "end" bookends as traditional media campaigns. This understanding has a lot of implications for a company considering a social media effort -- such as deciding how the effort will be managed into the future and committing to keeping the program alive even after the initial excitement of "launch" has died down.
Instead of trying to piggy back on standing online social networks -- which have established codes of conduct, as well as established audiences -- some companies are opting to create their own. This article looks at some of the benefits of owning your own online social networking platform and some companies that have had success doing just that.
Online conversational venues -- from forums and bulletin boards, to proprietary social networks and Facebook pages -- are a great way to give consumers a touchpoint with your company. But what happens if you build it and no one comes? Here are some tips both for cultivating an audience for your social networking endeavors, as well as for figuring out what success means for you.
On the Freakonomics blog, a group of professors, professionals, and other big thinkers -- including Martin Baily, Danah Boyd, Steve Chazin, Judith Donath, Nicole Ellison, and William Reader -- present their opinions on how online social networking sites are impacting our society from economic, psychological, and sociological perspectives.
On the Buzz Marketing for Technology blog, Paul Dunay discusses the terminology mistake marketers make when they refer to their social media efforts as "campaigns." Campaigns, according to Dunay, involve defined starting and ending points, while social media marketing is an on-going, two-way communication cycle.
Notchup, a startup social networking site that pays users to interview with employers, irked hordes of LinkedIn users when it gave its users the option of inviting their LinkedIn contacts and didn't have a system in place for stopping redundant invites. Some LinkedIn users were inundated with invites, prompting LinkedIn to close up the gaps in its "wall" to shut Notchup out.
In an effort to connect to social media users, CBS has created an "CBS March Madness Brackets" application on Facebook, enabling fans that use the social network to make their NCAA predictions online. The move is intended primarily to promote CBSSports.com and to drive awareness and viewership of the live online coverage of the NCAA tournament.
Kodak Gallery, an online application from Kodak that allows users to post, view, and print their digital photos, is now letting users take their slideshows with them. Now people can create slideshows of their photos -- complete with background music -- and post them on a variety of social networking websites, including MySpace, Facebook, and Blogger.
Proctor & Gamble's talking stain Super Bowl commercial for Tide detergent has driven enormous amounts of traffic to the spot's microsite, mytalkingstain.com, where consumers can vie for prizes by submitting spoofs of the ad. So far, the site has received more than 30,000 unique visits, and more than 5,500 consumer-generated spoofs have been uploaded in response to the call for CGM ads.
CMO job tenure is generally low, clocking in at around 26 months, according to June 2007 research from Spencer Stuart. One thing CMOs are doing wrong, according to this CNN Money article, is being slow to adapt to the changing media landscape. In the last decade, the role of the CMO has morphed from being someone who oversees the creation of a clever ad campaign, to someone who can make a product or service worth talking about.
Google's recently launched Social Graph API is making it more seamless for third parties to grab up social graph data created by online social network users. This will make it easier for the developers of new online applications to populate their platforms by giving early adaptors easier access to "friends" who exist on their other social networks, and might change the speed and ease with which users transition from one social site to another.
As online social media usage is creeping into older demographics, younger users are feeling creeped-out by the proliferation of adult users. While some social sites offer settings options that allow users to block selected content from certain users, some users are exploring alternative platforms to serve as their online playgrounds.
While many companies are up in arms about employee time spent on online social networking sites and are actively trying to stymie the perceived productivity drain, Silicon Valley's Cisco Systems is going against the grain. Not only does the company encourage its 65,000 employees to use popular social networking sites, the company has created a social site of its own, all of which the company says is intended to inspire internal collaboration.
On her blog, Krishna De outlines some of the qualitative benefits that can act as measures of success when applied to a social media campaign. She also notes that, while hard metrics are available to measure many of the finer points of a social media campaign, having qualitative expectations can help hone your objectives.
This in-depth article from The New York Times takes a close look at MySpace, how it has grown globally, how it is evolving, and how it propelled itself to the status of an accepted media model. While MySpace certainly has competition from others in the online networking arena, it has also shown that it is able to evolve with the needs of its users, providing content guides, international portals, and even forming its own record label.
Today, online social networking is all the rage, but it has its origins in some often under-appreciated networking forums from the past. From bulletin boards to the first popular social networking site, Friendster, the first 20 years of computerized networking weren't flashy, but they represent the first baby steps of a behemoth industry.
Online social networks are being created for nearly every categorical niche, and existing social networks continue to vie for users' attention. With all of the online social static, users are beginning to experience social network fatigue.
As both professional contacts and real-world friends are herded into social network users' corrals of "friends," the walls that exist between the social and professional worlds are beginning to crumble, which is creating tension for some users. This article offers some practical advice on how to manage the balance between work and play within the confines of a single social network.
It's no secret that being featured on social bookmarking sites, such as StumbleUpon and Digg, is a great way to boost website traffic, and part of navigating any online community is knowing its rules. Here are six lessons about what not to do if you're courting social bookmarkers.
The social media landscape is becoming more complex and more competitive, and according to a recent ClickZ article from Dave Evans, this means CMOs need to be more focused than even in how they plan and manage their efforts. Evans offers some of his suggestions on how companies can best navigate social media, as well as some management strategies.
U.K. social network Badoo doesn't allow advertising on its site, but it does allow users to pay for increased visibility, something it calls "Rise Up." People that want a larger audience can easily click and pay for it. Advertisers who want to participate on the site are given the same Rise Up option as other users, putting everyone on equal footing. The site claims that 20% of its community members opt to pay for more visibility at least once per month.
According to a new report from Experian, titled "The Impact of Social Networking," not only is growth in online social networking expected to continue, but companies can get the most from their efforts by targeting "super advocates," a highly-influential and active group of users.
The "if you build it, they will come" theory doesn't necessarily work for online social networks. So what do you need to do to get people to come -- and keep coming back -- to your online social space? Here are seven steps of community building from BtoB Online.
Brands will soon have a new place to connect with consumers with the launch of MSN and WhatOnEarthIsGoingOn's online community. The community will be a platform for consumers who are interested in a variety of social issues and will be a place where brands can showcase their values to these connected users.
On his blog, web strategist Jeremiah Owyang underscores the value of social bookmarking sites Delicious and StumbleUpon as top traffic drivers -- especially for web professionals.
Charities are using Second Life to engage would-be donors and volunteers in a unique way. Via the Nonprofit Commons -- an island where Second Life charities can gather -- the platform is proving fertile ground for many nonprofit organizations.
Twenty-something internet users have been living with one foot in the online world for most of their lives. They do it with finesse and dominate the social network population. So what's a corporate user to do? In what online worlds are business users most welcome, and what are some strategies for being welcomed -- and not shunned -- by standing users?
Email is still the most widely used platform for online social interaction -- the Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that 91% of internet users aged 18-64 send or read email -- and despite speculation that it's losing traction with younger generations, Max Kalehoff posits that social networks aren't going to replace email anytime soon.
When creating a standardized methodology for training professionals to use social media, what better platform to use than the wiki, a social media darling in its own right. And that's just what some folks in the industry are doing. Check it out.
Big players in online social networking have been amping up their efforts to create advertising models that make good use of their standing social functionality. Sometimes successful, sometimes unsuccessful, these efforts still serve to usher in a new way of approaching the social media marketing model.
When Twitter aficionado Susan Reynolds was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was able to tap her Tweeting network in order to raise funds for cancer research. Her online community contributed cash, and supporters of Reynolds changed their profile pictures to peapods to show their solidarity and support after hearing the story of her using a bag of frozen peas to ease her pain after having a biopsy.
Members that participate in social shopping websites have the ability to quickly establish themselves as experts and start influencing the purchase behaviors of other site users. But it's not just about making purchases. Smart companies are also watching what kind of things social shoppers crave and are using findings to influence their own product offerings.
LinkedIn can be a great way to managed your online professional networking, but it can also be difficult to decide who to let in and how to handle invitations from people you don't know. On her blog today, Krishna De offers some tips on how to play gatekeeper to your LinkedIn world, as well as how to be upfront with potential contacts about your acceptance policies.
According to a new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 64% of online users aged 12-17 create online content of some kind. That figure is up from 57% in 2004.
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