Blog entries

Facebook now more popular than Google.com

Administrator — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:25:51 +0100

New figures suggest that social networking is continuing to gain in popularity on the web, and that the way users search the internet is changing.

According to research firm Hitwise, Facebook.com now accounts for 7.07 per cent of all American web traffic, while Google.com is the destination for 7.04 per cent of traffic. Facebook has grown from 200m users in April 2009 to 400 million this February and is continuing to grow faster than Google.com. That means the social netw...

Flickr Co-founder’s Startup Hunch Raises $10 Million

Grace — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:09:11 +0100

Hunch, a New York City-based startup founded by Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake and SiteAdvisor founder/angel investor Chris Dixon, has raised $10 million in funding for its questions and recommendations site.

Nearly a year ago, Ms. Fake revealed her new startup to the world. Her goal: to create a service that would help people make decisions via crowdsourced questions and advice from its users. Hunch launched last June and has been growing steadily ever since (it peaked at nearly ...

BBC tells news staff to embrace social media

Kelly — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:59:50 +0100

BBC news journali...

More referrals from social media than from search?

Pixie — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:06:02 +0100

There’s a startling assumption buried as a throwaway comment on this post from TechCrunch on Google Buzz’s recent arrival. Apparently, links shared on social networks have been growing to the extent that the mighty Goog is concerned that this phenomenon could start taking eyeballs away from all those juicy paid search ads that keep the lights on at the Googleplex. Is there any validity to this claim? It appears so, if these data points are to be believed:
The Big Money: Accordin...

HOW TO: Deal With Negative Feedback in Social Media

Administrator — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:28:10 +0100

The first step to dealing with negative feedback is determining what type of feedback you’ve received. Negative feedback comes in a few different flavors, each of which is best dealt with by a different type of response. Determining which type of feedback you’re dealing with is an essential first step toward figuring out what is the appropriate response.

Straight Problems – Someone has an issue with your product or service and has laid out exactly what went wrong. This type ...

How to use social media to resolve a dispute with a company

Administrator — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:39:07 +0100

Social media is increasingly the battlefield for disputes between David and Goliath. Thanks to the spotlight that social media tools like Twitter and Facebook can shine on these disputes, individuals have more power than ever to get companies to acknowledge their complaints and resolve disputes out in the open.
But that power can be deceptive. Despite the fact that social media can pressure companies to deal with sticky situations in a more even-handed fashion, individuals often waste the o...

Pepsi Refresh: Will the social media halo extend to soda sales?

Administrator — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:26:58 +0100

PepsiCo. is putting social media to the test with its new charity initiative Refresh Everything. The soft-drink giant has notably refrained from SuperBowl ads this year, choosing instead to spread the word for its new campaign through digital and social means.

Pepsi is hoping that changing the way it does business will help improve its bottom line. Bonin Bough, global director of digital and social media at PepsiCo., says:

"This program has to be about a...

Ad Inventory Optimization – Breaking through the closed walls

Ethan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:18:19 +0100

Every content network has walked this rope at least once – ad inventory optimization. Direct sales team can only sell 40-50% of your ad inventory at any given time. The rest is filled with different ad networks, big and small. The math is very simple; push those ad networks which pay you higher CPM all the time. However, the truth is, no single ad network pays highest CPM all the time. It varies a lot depending on geography, time, page/site context, readers, etc. And to top it all, w...

There Is No ROI From Social Media!

Michelle — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:00:24 +0100

There is lots of chatter on the web relative to the ROI from social media. As we...

Media140 – Social Media in London

Pixie — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:10:13 +0100

Almost every event organsier talks about creating an engaged and involved audience. Sadly it rarely happens.

On Thursday I spoke at the Media140, a Social Media Meetup in London. The event was mostly dominated by Social Media agencies and consultants. There was a lively at...

Facebook Facts That Will Blow Your Marketing Mind

Administrator — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:32:09 +0100

At the CMA - Canadian Marketing Association - Digital Marketing Conference today and Mike Murphy - Vice-President Media Sales - for Facebook just finished his keynote address, The Power Of Social Media For Brands. He dropped some Facebook statistics that dropped some jaws (including mine).

1. The average Facebook user spends about twenty-one minutes plus per day at the online social network.
2. The average Facebook user visits four times per day.
3. Facebook is adding abou...

Bill Gates Surpasses 100,000 Twitter Followers in 8 Hours

Pixie — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:05:03 +0100

Eight hours ago, Microsoft founder Bill Gates joined Twitter. Five hours ago, Twitter’s Caroline Mizumoto tweeted about it. And moments ago, @BillGates broke 100,000 Twitter followers.
If you’re looking for the breakdown, that’s about 12,500 Twitter followers per hour, or ~208 new tweeps per minute. In reality though, Bill’s follower count escalated after Caroline’s tweet, meaning his real rate of growth is about 20,000 new followers per hour.
The last tim...

Why Social Media Isn’t for Everyone

Administrator — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:38:13 +0100

Social media has a loyal tribe of disciples. We follow each other on Twitter, connect on Facebook, read each other’s blogs and listen to each other at conferences. We provide each other moral support and though we are a minority, we have religion and we are here to change the world (I’m not joking).

Most importantly, we share stories. These stories are all about finding common ground and building a defensible position on the what/why/how of our new orthodoxy; what is “social...

HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy

Administrator — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:04:03 +0100

Sharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com,

Over the past few months, we’ve talked about whether you should have a social media policy and what should be included in that policy. It only seems logical to discuss the next step in the process, which is what to consider when implementing a social media strategy in your workplace.

Just havi...

Facebook’s Version of the Retweet Has Arrived

Grace — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:45:42 +0100

We’ve long speculated as to when Facebook might get its own version of Twitter’s retweet, and it appears that the time is now. This evening, the site rolled out a “via” feature that lets you repost another user’s shared items, with a “via” link attached for attribution.
It appears the feature is live for everyone. To try it, just go to a friend’s posted item in your news feed, click “share,” and you’ll see a “via [your ...

Impact of Google’s Real-time search on social media marketing

Kelly — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:29:30 +0100

Google’s real time search marks the beginning of delivering a new search result for the future. In a way it has changed the way people find information on the internet.

The real-time search allows users to view live updates from social media n...

Ultimate Truth about Wifes

Michelle — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:15:37 +0100

When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her. - David Bissonette
After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can't face each other, but still they stay together. - Sacha Guitry
By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. - Socrates Woman inspires us to great things, and prevents us from achieving them. - Anonymous
The great question... which...

Facebook: 5 Predictions for 2010

jacob — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:48:57 +0100

Facebook has been around for more than five years, but it hit critical mass and exploded in 2009. As the new decade begins, the fallout is blowing over the entire web. Facebook Connect is everywhere, in case you hadn’t heard. We’re talking 60 million users on 80,000 web sites.
The Facebook web site itself has reached 350 million users — a population size between that of the United States and the European Union. This Christmas, web traffic analysis firm Hitwise said Faceboo...

Social CRM: Can Your Customers Find Your Brand Online?

Ethan — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:30:22 +0100

Think about it, when is the last tim...

Twitter Economics

Administrator — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:58:06 +0100

With a $1 billion valuation, Twitter is becoming, according to Co-Founder Evan Williams, an information network, a practically priceless exchange for connections, information, and the resulting activity that ensues.

Indeed, Twitter appears to have evolved into a human seismograph, a lifeline interweaving people through conversations, reciprocity, and connections inspired by the interests, ideas, passions, causes, and observations that move them.

Twitter’s core and mo...