'Net Features : social networking

Study Assesses Value of Social Media Users

Michael Garrity — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 17:00:00 GMT

Not long ago, the Pew Research Center unleashed on the world the results of a study highlighting how Internet users, and specifically Facebook users, are much more likely to engage in political activities like voting or attending political meetings. However, another research company, Resonate, was conducting a similar study of their own, and their findings were drastically different.

According to Resonate, "heavy" social media users "don't translate to desired behaviors" offline, and they warn marketers looking to dive into social media that their "results do suggest that the rush to social should be tempered with a little more caution."

The study was broken down to observe the habits of three types of social media users: Heavy, who spend an average of 26 percent of their time online engaged in social media; Medium, who use social media about 4.1 percent of the time; and Light, who are only on social media about .42 percent of the time.

They analyzed these three groups in combination with their online purchase behavior and political activity and their findings seem to suggest that these consumers may not supply the ROI that many marketers are looking for (and investing in heavily).

What they found was that most of the heavy social media users are, no surprise, less involved in the offline world than their counterparts who don't spend as much time on similar sites.

But shouldn't all of that time spent online, and thus in more prolonged contact with all of the ads that can be found plastered on social media sites, lead to more frequent purchasing by these Heavy users?

Apparently not. In fact, the study says that not only are these Heavy users statistically less likely to purchase products or services online, but they typically spend less money than others when they do.

Of course, these are just the findings of a single study, and as I've already mentioned, other research shows that time spent engaged in social media has a greater affect on a users offline activities, so this particular set of data is likely not an absolute characterization of the issue. Still, considering how much money marketers spend catering to social network users, and, presumably, more, uh, heavily to the Heavy users, I wouldn't just sweep this data under the rug, either.

This handy chart explains:

Google+ Starts Sharing

Michael Garrity — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Google added a new, very extensive feature to its popular +1 button on Wednesday, allowing users to share links to the Web pages they like with their Google+ circles by simply clicking the button.

Now, when a Google+ user decides that they like some online content enough to give it their +1 seal of approval, a box will open up on their screen for adding a comment that other users can see. In addition, it lets the user customize the piece of text (aka a "+Snippet") and image(s) that will show up in his or her stream.

The user also has the option of including in-line annotations, like with the Facebook "Like" button, so that the names and faces of Google+ friends who have affirmed the worthiness of the content in question with their trusty +1 buttons will be available to the rest of the original user's circles.

The +Snippet is a nifty feature that bestows upon your feed all of the information that you could want to share, including a link, image and description of the content, which makes sharing on Google+ really easy and really customizable. This allows a Plus user to surf the Web freely and, when he or she comes across favorable content that they want others in their circles to see, he or she can quickly and efficiently post a short review, include an image and link back to the content without ever having to enter G+. This mimics a Facebook user's current ability to share links on their profile, with the added bonus of not requiring users to go to their profile.

Factor in the information just recently released on Google's blog, that their +1 button is linked to over one million sites that get viewed more than 4 billion times a day, and the potential for the +1 button as a marketing tool becomes even more pronounced.

Does this mean that the +1 button is now becoming the more sought after click by those who provide content online? After all, if a user can easily share something without ever even leaving the original Web page, won't they be more likely to use that service over the one that requires a brief jaunt all the way to their profile?

If Google+ continues to roll out these types of features -- you know, the type that make you go, "Why didn't anyone think of that before?" -- they're going to start to win over more and more people. It seems obvious that Facebook will soon offer some type of similar feature to keep up, as well, so this is really a win-win situation for people who operate online. Now, having your business or brand shared and discussed will become quicker and simpler, greatly increasing the likelihood that online social network users will rant and rave about your great brand or content to their friends or circles.

Weekend Warrior: The Impact of Social Media

Michael Garrity — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:00:00 GMT

Democracy reigns supreme for companies that use social networking to market themselves and their products. A new study by Performics reveals that most users agree that the voicing of opinions on social networking sites can influence the business decisions of a company or brand.

Called S-Net, The Impact of Social Media, the study found that 52 percent of the respondents either strongly or somewhat agreed that voicing opinions on various brands, companies or products on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ can influence business decisions.

Eighteen specific industries were included in the study, including apparel, appliances, automotive, education, electronics, entertainment, financial services, food, healthcare/pharma, household, magazines/newspapers, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, personal care, restaurants, sports, telecommunications and travel. Performics also discovered that educational institutions, sports and entertainment were the most discussed categories on social networking sites.

Below is a list of best practices for marketers looking to utilize social networks based on the results of the study:

Understand customer desire for brand interaction in the relevant category
The study revealed that 74 percent of people who purchase entertainment products will go back and discuss them on social networks. Hey, everybody’s a critic.

Create and adapt marketing strategies to cater to participation expectations and desires
Over half of the respondents (53 percent) admitted that they will follow travel companies or brands on social networking sites in order to get coupons or discounts. With the price of gas these days, who can blame them?

Allocate time and resources to the most relevant and appropriate social networks
Forty-two percent of those surveyed said that they will discuss automobiles on social networking sites as a way to compare prices.

Regularly monitor and measure social network activity
Thirty-two percent said that they have made a sports-related product purchase because of something they saw posted on a social network. In fact, I’ll even 'fess up to purchasing a Pittsburgh Steelers Snuggie while browsing Facebook.

Adjust strategies and tactics as necessary to optimize engagement
As with travel companies, electronics companies on social networking sites don’t have a lot of fans who like them based on personality alone. Forty-three percent of respondents said that they will follow electronics brands or companies on social networking sites for offers or chances to win points or online currency that they can redeem for products.

While social media can offer unlimited exposure and huge potential for Web marketers, there isn’t yet a perfect solution for analyzing and evaluating consumers' responses to the messages that businesses and brands are sending out. This study is a great start for those who want to get a solid, industry-specific look at how important social media interaction can be for their particular audience.

“Customers expect, and are already participating in a two-way dialogue,” says Daina Middleton, CEO of Performics. “It’s imperative for marketers to listen to customers and adopt strategies that engage them in every channel of their media mix – across all platforms, devices and screens.”

Google+ Unveils Newest Updates

Michael Garrity — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:30:00 GMT

Continuing their undying effort to take over the Internet, Google Chief-of-Staff Matt Waddell came out with a list of great new updates to the company's new social networking site, Google+. Here are a few of the most important new features.

- Mobile Circles: Users can now re-order their circles by simply dragging them to the left or right on the Circles page. Once done, they will stay in that order consistently all across Google+. There is also now an option to crew new circles in-line from the "Add to Circle" menu, which is also all across Google+.

- +1 Improvements: The site's "+1" button will now render up to three times faster than before. In addition, Webmasters can see and test updates to the button before they launch to all of the site's users. Plus, they can now make things go even more quickly by using a new async JavaScript snippet.

- Huddle Up: Google+ will also provide more choices when it comes to group video chatting. Users can now choose who can start a huddle with them: anyone, their extended circles, or just their circles. This selection can be made by visiting "Google+ Settings" on the desktop or G+ settings on Android.

- Photo Feature: The names of photo albums can now be edited by users directly inside of Google+ by simply going to the "Photos" page, clicking "Your Albums," choosing an album, and clicking on its title.

And, as if that wasn't helpful enough, they've also added a "What's new in Google+" page that will keep track of new features and fixes that take place in the future.

Keeping up with these changes and features that are taking place with Google+ could prove to be very helpful for businesses and companies looking to join the new social networking site when that option becomes available to them in the future.

Most Important SocNet? 60% Say LinkedIn

Administrator — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:45:00 GMT

Web users communicate in a variety of ways (email, IM, forums and social networks) but the bulk of activity occurs on a few platforms. So which is the most important for you as a Web professional to participate within?

Performance marketing agency Performics released results from “S-Net (The Impact of Social Media),” and the report provides one possible answer. According to the survey of 2,997 active social networkers, 59 percent of respondents said it is important to have a LinkedIn account - more than any other social network.

“We may not necessarily be in a double-dip recession but, individuals have embraced social networking as a means to actively manage their personal visibility in the global economy.” said Daina Middleton, CEO of Performics. “Factors including LinkedIn’s recent IPO announcement, the May uptick in national unemployment and signs of a slowed market certainly contribute to LinkedIn’s attractiveness among social networkers.”

As Middleton points out, there are obviously quite a few factors as to why LinkedIn may be top of mind, but what a professional network like LinkedIn provides is visibility and it is successfully living up to the expectation.

Of the study respondents with an active LinkedIn account, 50 percent visit the site at least weekly and 20 percent visit the site at least daily. While visits to LinkedIn decreased since the height of the recession in 2010 (67 percent weekly and 22 percent daily visits), the percentage of people who deem LinkedIn the most important social networking site jumped dramatically from 41 percent last year to 59 percent this year.

HootSuite Releases Simple, Useful, Ridiculously Costly Tool

Mike Phillips — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:30:00 GMT

HootSuite, the multi-social network manager has released a simple, yet very useful addition to their suite of tools. Dubbed HootSuite Secure Profiles, it allows account owners to require a confirmation before an update is published to social profiles. So, if a company profile (or several) is set this way, the user must use a slider (pictured below) as a confirmation before sending the message. It's a great idea – but sometimes what might seem like a good idea at the time, isn't. Just ask @ChryslerAutos.

The rub (and there is one, of course) is that Secure Profiles is only available to HootSuite Enterprise members -- so you have to pay. A lot. Enterprise plans start at a whopping $1,499 per month. Otherwise, just be sure to educate your staff on acceptable social practices. And hire smart people.

It's unfortunate that HootSuite isn't providing this tool for free. Wouldn't everyone be better off -- wouldn't the social Web be better off – with something like this available to everyone? I suspect a rival will soon have this feature available to all, for free, which could actually cause many users to switch their alliances – especially small business operators.

WM Radio: Google's Instant Search, Social Shopping Survey

Mike Phillips — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:20:00 GMT

This week we discuss Google's latest search innovation with Editor-in-Chief Peter Prestipino, and what it means to your Web business. Also, we analyze some recent survey results about how consumers use social networking to discuss shopping, and discuss how you can get in on the conversation.

Listen now, and subcribe to Website Magazine Radio in iTunes!

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If you would like to have your questions answered on Website Magazine Radio, please send email to mike@websitemagazine.com with "WM Radio" in the subject field.

Is Facebook Fatigue for Real, or Just Tiresome Talk?

Linc Wonham — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:00:00 GMT

Maybe the fallout over the whole Facebook privacy issue was bigger than we first thought. After recording monster gains for the month of May — attracting nearly eight million new users while the controversy was at its peak — the second most visited website in the world had a comparatively miserable month of June.

“Only” 320,000 new U.S. users joined Facebook last month, according to the site’s own data. The network actually lost active users in the coveted 18-25, 26-34 and 35-44 demographics while the gains came from younger and older age groups.

So, has the much-discussed Facebook Fatigue finally arrived? Or did the privacy debacle in May fuel a large-scale user outrage that wasn’t apparent until June’s numbers came in? Or was it simply a slow month, or perhaps even a reporting glitch?

Regardless of the answer, the one thing we know for sure is that Facebook hasn’t lost its importance to the digital business landscape, and it isn’t about to anytime soon.

Only Google — which is rumored to be starting a Facebook-like social network of its own, by the way — gets more traffic, and Facebook is currently valued at about $15 billion. Annual revenues are estimated to be close to $1 billion, and, most importantly for marketers and advertisers, there are nearly half a billion active users. And that number continues to grow, if not by exorbitant figures last month.

But we will be watching, and we'll let you know if and when Facebook Fatigue is a real concern for marketers.

LinkedIn Upgrades Yet Again

Mike Phillips — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:30:00 GMT

LinkedIn is on a social roll. They have announced a new feature that allows users to "follow" a company. Pretty standard stuff, but it does hold some interesting potential for businesses as a way to not only network with users, but other businesses and industries. It could prove to be a very nice way to build buzz around company happenings, industry news and more. Now that users can follow companies, expect to see an uptick in press releases, beta invites, special announcements, job postings, discounts to professional services ... you get the idea.

One of the advantages of LinkedIn is its focus on business. Meaning, you don't have to worry about "intruding" on users as you might with Facebook or Twitter. People are there for buisness and news, so it becomes entirely appropriate to act that way instead of worrying about the best way to "join the conversation."

It's another good step forward LinkedIn. Read this previous post about other recent developments and how LinkedIn is appealing to businesses.

LinkedIn Upgrades: A New Appeal for Businesses

Mike Phillips — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:32:00 GMT

When the conversation turns to social networking, Facebook and Twitter are the two most often discussed. For some reason, LinkedIn is often left out of the discussion. That might be due, in part, to its past lack of focus on sharing content. Sure, LinkedIn has positioned itself as a place to connect with other professionals and industries, but few have considered it a "social" experience on par with Facebook. That's about to change. And LinkedIn's prior reputation could actually be a great benefit to the company and users alike.

New sharing features have been announced at LinkedIn, and they closely resemble Facebook features -- such as sharing links with a click that include thumbnail photos and descriptions.

Some other features include:

The ability to share updates and links with everyone, or to select groups and contacts.
Editing of "sample text" (the descriptive text in the box where a link is shared) to whatever you want - including keyword-heavy text to appeal to members of particular groups.
Share your update via Twitter with one click.
A new short URL service, lnkd.in.
The ability to delete and edit posts.
A re-share function, giving the ability to share another user's update with your extended network.

Where LinkedIn's prior reputation comes into play is this: As a business network, LinkedIn has a head-start on avoiding updates and links you might find on Facebook, such as "Joe Smith had a burrito for lunch today". Instead, you're more likely to see something like, "Joe Smith blogged about mobile marketing for small business: lnkd.in/joesmith".

Convenient integration with Twitter makes sense here, too. While Twitter is undoubtedly filled with inane musings of people with too much time on their hands, when you have an active, business-oriented network it can be an invaluable tool for information gathering, branding, networking and traffic generation.

This is a new direction for LinkedIn, and it could be a very good one. One of the biggest gripes about Facebook and other social networks is the lack of focus - they often require a tremendous amount of filtering to get what you really want. As a business-focused network, LinkedIn can offer a targeted experience with a much narrower focus. Perhaps a separation of work and play is just what business networkers have been looking for.

Ping.fm Now Supports RSS

Mike Phillips — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:33:00 GMT

Ping.fm has become an essential tool for many Internet marketers because of its ability to post updates to many social networks at once. Now, bloggers and publishers get a new feature - RSS support. This feature, powered by Superfeedr, can be set up in your Ping.fm dashboard. Enter your feed and each new blog post will be posted as a status update to all of your chosen networks, up to 50 of them.

For now, the service only supports one feed, but plans are already in the works to support multiple feeds.

While this might be enticing for bloggers and publishers, it's also somewhat of a slippery slope. If you publish several blog posts per day, expect some kind of blowback from other users. As noted countless times, we are still dealing with a personal space in other users' social profiles - so tread lightly until you determine if automated blog posting is even wanted by your audience.

Looking for Press Coverage? Get Social

Mike Phillips — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:30:00 GMT

A new survey from PRWeek and PR Newswire shows that more journalists are using social networks and blogs for story sources. In 2009, 25 percent of journalists used a company blog for sources, and 24 percent used social networks (such as Twitter and Facebook). In 2009, those numbers jumped to 34 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

"Journalists are doing more with less," said Sarah Skerkik, VP of distribution services at PR Newswire. "They seem to be acting more aggressively about finding their stories, digging a bit deeper for story angles."

But it's not just broadcasting news, dropping links and providing content on company blogs that is gaining the attention of journalists. What might be even more important is the opportunity for good old-fashioned relationship building - the ever-important virtual rolodex that is and has always been the most important tool for any journalist. According to the survey, 43 percent of journalists have been pitched through social media, up from 31 percent in 2009.

Looking for a head start? Review this list of 100 Retweet Targets for Web Professionals, including many accounts to follow to help get in front of journalists and PR professionals.

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100 Million Users Access Facebook via Mobile

Mike Phillips — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:27:00 GMT

A recent entry on Facebook's official blog states that more than 100 million people are "actively using Facebook from their mobile devices every month." This figure is growing fast, and it's not just limited to those entering via a Facebook app on the iPhone and AT&T. From the blog post: "This usage happens on almost every carrier in the world and comes less than six months after we announced 65 million people on Facebook Mobile."

Contributing to the uptick in mobile users are the Facebook mobile apps available across a variety of carriers and mobile devices, enhanced Facebook mobile-ready Web pages (m.facebook.com, for example) and the ability for users to post to Facebook via SMS (including Facebook's new link-shrinking capability with FB.ME). Should Facebook start providing analytics to users with their URL-shortening service, you might see even more mobile activity.

For businesses, this news puts even greater importance on marketing within the world's largest social network. Mobile is a tricky proposition. But if you can merge mobile with social - and with Facebook, you can - you have a win-win situation. You gain access to the social sphere, as well as mobile users. Consider this when updating Facebook Pages for your business.

To target the Facebook mobile user, keep updates relatively brief and include mobile-friendly calls-to-action, such as brief blog posts, links to maps, and links to specific, mobile-friendly Web pages. Want users to call your business? Link to an offer on a landing page with a highly visible phone number. Many devices will automatically enable click-to-call. Brick and mortar businesses have a great opportunity here to drive foot traffic by providing instant coupons through Facebook updates, for example. Some updates to avoid might include links to resource-intensive Web pages (including Flash-based elements) and other multi-media.

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Google Social Search and the Battle for Social Dominance

Mike Phillips — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Google has announced the release of Google Social Search; promising to bring the most relevant results to your queries by indexing the content submissions of your "social circle." Here's the quick version of how it works:

When you search on Google (through Google Labs) you can select "Social" from the "Show options" link on the top left of the page. This will present results from your social connections that are integrated with your Google account; Reader, Picasa, Blogs, Twitter, Gmail Chat and FriendFeed. So, if you include your Twitter profile on your Google account (more on that in a minute), you will get relevant results from the content submitted by all those you follow on Twitter. In addition, to round out your "extended social circle," you will get results from the followers of those you follow. Mixed with those results will be mentions of your search query in the blogs you follow through Reader, related photos on Picasa, and so on; down to any network you belong to and your contacts within that netowork - as long as they are included in your Google Profile. On the surface, it sounds pretty useful. And for some, it will be. But don't get too excited yet.

Think this will make a big impact on how consumers find your brand? Think again. Sure, millions of consumers have Gmail accounts. But it's a safe bet that a very small percentage of those users have a Google Profile set up, much less take advantage of Google Reader. That number likely continues to shrink for the number of those users who write blogs, and use Twitter or FriendFeed.

Try this - log out of Google then do a random search. Do you readily see the option to build a Google profile? Have you ever seen a complete Google rookie try to set up (much less understand) Google Reader, Twitter, FriendFeed or anything of that likeness? I'm reminded of a common saying in the industry; If you can't explain it to your Grandmother, you're doing it wrong ... or something to that effect. Go ahead and ask 10 random people over your next lunch hour if they've ever used Twitter, FriendFeed or Google Reader. The point is, we're dealing with a small segment of the consumer population.

What's missing from all the buzz on Google Social Search?

Facebook.

Make no mistake, Google and Facebook are at war - that's what this expirement is really about. Social Search is Google's early answer to Facebook Search and the countless connections being made and information being shared through Facebook. This is a war for the very social fabric of the Internet. Facebook (with likely millions more users than registered Google Profile users) will reveal social search in a way that's not limited to information from Google Profiles, but will include Google products - because Facebook doesn't limit anything that users want to share with their online network. Blogs can be included through Networked Blogs, Twitter can be integrated, photos can be shared and tagged, movies can be recommended ... there are even apps for most of that. Facebook has created a hub for social activity that's remarkably easy to use, which is why the age demographic keeps rising. Google is attempting to build a way to patch together a very fragmented social scene - it all has the feeling of a reeling empire trying to corral it's loyal subjects before an all-out desertion.

Google Social Search is not easy. In fact, it's quite confusing. Also, if you want to take advantage of Google Social Search, be prepared to limit yourself to one Google profile and its contacts. At this time, you cannot merge profiles - for those of you who have mulitple Gmail addresses or profiles for multiple reasons ... like me.

Finally, understand that this should serve as a major red flag to those who don't quite yet grasp that everything you publish online is public domain unless you explicitly protect it. Think about it like this: If I use Google Social Search, I might get results from your Twitter account (or Digg submission, or Flickr account, etc.) even though you have no idea who I am. It could be that I follow someone on Twitter who you follow ... one of those 1,000 people you follow in hopes of gaining more followers yourself. Your online network just expanded to all registered Google users ... whether you like it or not. Be careful what you say - Google is listening ... and indexing.

Get Your Brand on Every Social Network with KnowEm

Mike Phillips — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:00:00 GMT

One of the biggest advantages of social media is the ability to get your brand Web-wide recognition among very active consumers across any number of niches, large and small. One of the biggest disadvantages is the massive amount of time it takes to get these profiles set up and keep them maintained. You can also run into problems when someone else has squatted on your brand name within these networks. KnowEm has a solution.

Begin by simply entering your name in the search box. What you'll get in return is a list of hundreds of social media sites - and the availability (or lack thereof) of your business name on those sites. It's broken down into social categories; blogging, bookmarking, business, community, design, entertainment, health, information, microblogging, music, news, photo, tech, travel and video. At the very least, this is a good place to start to see the networks that apply to your business, and whether or not your desired user ID is available. But there's more.

For $99, KnowEm will secure your business name on the top 150 social networks. For $349 they will secure your name, as well as complete basic profile information such as photos, bio and your desired business details across 150 networks. And for $649 KnowEm will add in another 150 networks. And for $49, they will monitor the launch of any new social networks and immediately register your name on them. If you already have profiles on some of the chosen networks, they will simply sign you up for other networks to which you do not belong. Subscirbers to the service also get a dashboard to monitor all the networks, as well as mentions of your name on social feed sites like Digg.com.

Is it worth it? On the surface, some might balk at the idea of paying someone else to set up a social profile or even just secure a name. But when you consider the time investment, and the fact that social media is increasingly indexed by search engines and influencing consumer behavior and buying decisions - it sounds like a downright bargain. Just to be able to own your business name across the most popular social networks on the Web for $99 with minimal effort seems worth it. How (and if) you build out those profiles is up to you, but controlling your business' reputation online is increasingly important.

One other note - KnowEm has a white-label solution available. So, if you're a digital marketing agency, this is a very nice add-on service for you clients.