'Net Features : social networks

10 Social Sites You're (Probably) Not Using But Should Be

Allison Howen — Wed, 29 May 2013 20:05:00 GMT

The Web is full of social destinations where people come together to answer questions, discuss news and share interesting information with each other.

In fact, aside from the ’Net’s most popular social sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest, there are myriad smaller, alternative networks where people participate in conversations every day. Most businesses are missing these conversations (a.k.a. engagement opportunities), because they focus their resources on the larger, aforementioned social networks. And while it is important to maintain an active presence on popular sites like Facebook and Twitter, reaching out to audiences on smaller social networks can help a brand foster new relationships, generate traffic, and build authority and recognition within its niche.

However, in order to participate with smaller social networks, you must first find them, which is why Website Magazine has compiled a list of 10 social sites that you probably aren’t using but should be. Check them out below:

Quora

This question-and-answer platform recently released a video on its blog that reveals that in just a year, Quora has grown by more than three times across all metrics. Brands can take advantage of this growth by participating with the Quora service, via answering questions, asking questions and creating blogs on this platform.

StumbleUpon

Many people use StumbleUpon to kill time and discover new and interesting things, however, businesses can also leverage this platform to reach new prospects. The social network offers a Paid Discovery option, which allows businesses to deliver content to relevant traffic. Companies simply need to submit a URL and select targeting preferences in order to get their content put in front of a new audience that is actively seeking interesting content.

Keek

This video-based social network allows users to create, share and watch short video updates. The site has grown its audience with the help of celebrity users like the Kardashians. And even though there isn’t currently a specific place for business users yet, individuals can sign up for the service and create brand-related videos, which can also be shared via email, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

Flickr

Businesses can find success on this photo-sharing site by posting share-worthy images and videos, as these will be more captivating than standard product images. For example, brands can show off behind-the-scenes images of their staffs or products being made as a way to better relate with customers.

Sulia

This platform describes itself as “the subject-based social network.” It connects users with the top social sources on subjects they care about. Brands can contact the company to request to have their content featured on Sulia or to advertise within specific channels.

Klout

You may be using Klout already, however, it is important to know that this platform can be used for more than to just monitor your social influence. In fact, Klout recently launched Klout Experts, which is Q&A feature that allows users who are influential in a specific area to answer a frequently asked topic-related question. Then, when someone searches that question on Bing, the Klout Expert insights are displayed, which helps boost the expert’s visibility and authority.

Tribe

Tribe is a social network that connects people with like-interests. While this platform shouldn’t be used to spam other users or push your brand/product, individuals can participate in conversations with this online community, as well as post information listings and events.

HARO

HARO, which stands for help a reporter out, is a service that helps reporters connect with sources. This social service is particularly useful for B2B businesses, who can sign up to be a source and answer relevant questions in the hopes of making it into a popular blogger’s next article.

CafeMom

Many marketers target moms, as this customer segment is typically a household's decision-maker. Luckily, there are many digital destinations to find moms chatting on the Web, including CafeMom. This momma-based social network is full of ladies discussing everyday events. So even if you don’t feel like participating in these mommy discussions (because you don’t want to come off as a spammer), this site is an inspiring place to come up with content ideas for blog posts and email newsletters based on the subjects moms care about.

Foursquare

Although Foursquare has been around for a while, many businesses have neglected this location-based social network for more popular platforms, like Facebook and Yelp. However, this social network’s business tools make it a valuable way to connect with customers and entice them into brick-and-mortar stores. In addition, Foursquare recently launched a business-specific mobile application that allows brand managers to post updates and monitor activity on the social network.

SEC Outlines Rules for Corporate Social Media Disclosure

Michael Garrity — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:15:00 GMT

Recently, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) went about releasing a brand new set of disclosure rules for social media that detail specifically how businesses can use sites like Facebook, Twitter and a variety of other social networks to share information according to the Commission’s guidelines and requirements.

Now, it looks like members of a company’s c-suite will be free to write a Facebook or blog post if they way; they just have to inform their investors about their “social media strategy” beforehand. It is believed that this change will reduce some spontaneity and limit a company’s social communications to official corporate accounts.

Apparently, the SEC worried that company-related posts from chief executives may violate its Regulation Fair Disclosure act, which ensures that a company publishes all of its information to all investors at the same time, such as in a securities filing or news release.

However, following several months of investigation, the SEC decided that companies can use social media sites as “legitimate outlets” for communicating with investors, just like they would with their corporate websites or the SEC’s public filing system, Edgar. That being said, the SEC does state that corporations must make it clear which of their Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, etc. will be used as outlets for announcements.

Big List of Social Media Sites

Michael Garrity — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:00:00 GMT

At this point, even the most inexperienced Web marketer is aware of the vital role that social media plays in promoting a brand on the Internet. Of course, almost everyone has a presence on at least one of the major social destinations, mainly Facebook and Twitter, but what many people seem to overlook are the seemingly endless amounts of smaller, alternative social networks at their disposal.

In addition to the "Big 5" social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Tumblr), there are a wide variety of different places that users can go to be social on the 'Net. Some of these sites are aimed at specific lifestyle markets, some provide specialized services like user reviews or checking in, and some are simply older or smaller takes on the social network platform that we all know and love.

There are obviously many ways for marketers to approach social media. It would certainly behoove everyone to make their presence felt on Facebook and Twitter, because the number of users and levels of engagment on those two sites are so astronomically high compared to their competitors, but beyond that, the sky is really the limit for companies trying to optimized their Web profiles.

This issue becomes more difficult to address when you consider the very broad defintion of "social media." For some, social networks are only those like Facebook or Myspace that are built around the idea of users having their own unique profiles, which are the focus of the site. Others define social much more loosely, referencing any site that gives users a chance to share and interact with content. Because of this, the opportunities for social media marketing are, in a way, limitless.

Local businesses probably want to seek out services like Yelp or Foursquare, which give users a chance to write reviews or check in to local shops, respectively. Companies that operate in more niche markets by offering products or services most useful to a specific group can seek out social networks that serve the interests of these unique customers. Other businesses have the opportunity to market themselves in unique ways, such as in pictures or video, by jumping on board with specialized social networks that focus on these types of content. Here's a list of some of the best social media sites on the Web today that covers all of these areas and more.

"The Big 5"

Athletes

As someone who runs (or, in my case, has befriended runners) will tell you, it is a very social activity. This website takes the communal nature of the sport to the next level, by allowing runners to share their experiences with like-minded athletes around the world.

Athlinks

Education

The first is a great site geared mostly towards college and high school students to work together and seek help in their schoolwork without having to plagiarize or turn to the unreliable Wikipedia for answers. The second provides a network for teachers to share and get ideas.

Cramster

Teachers Recess

Music Lovers

To many users, the Web and music go hand-in-hand. One of the most popular uses of the Internet for many people is to listen to, share and discuss music with others, making it a natural move to create social networks based around the idea of, surprise, listening to, sharing and discussing music with others.

Last.fm

iLike

Finance

Everyone's always seeking financial advice and/or business information, so why not turn to the Web?

Pet Lovers

People love pets, and for those people who really love their pets, these sites offer a place to turn to get advice and share stories about their favorite four-legged creatures.

Dogster

Catster

Gamers

The classic stereotype of "gamers" is that they're all very anti-social, but with the advent of online gaming over the last decade, it has become one of the more social hobbies in which one can particpate. These sites allow users to connect with other gamers while sharing their individual accomplishments online.

Raptr

gamerDNA

Food and Cooking

Yum! This is the digital-age equivalent to your grandma sharing recipe cards with her friends.

FoodPals

BigOven

Bakespace

Artists

This popular art-hosting site has become a haven for those wanting to share their original content with the world.

deviantART

Travel

Social networks based around travel allow users to seek out information about potential destinations based on actual user feedback, which provides practical information for trip planning.

TripIt

Dopplr

TripAdvisor

Avid Readers

Another group that isn't usually seen as the particularly social, readers now have a variety of places to visit online to share with like-minded individuals about what they're reading and what they've read, as well as get recommendations for new books.

GoodReads

Shelfari

Film Buffs

Like music fans and readers, those among us obsessed with movies also love to talk about them and share ideas and recommendations, and this site allows users to do just that.

Flixster

And more!

There are plenty of other great social destinations that offer a variety of options and services for users, as well as great opportunities for marketers to spread their message on the Web.

LinkedIn Gets into the Business of News

Linc Wonham — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:30:00 GMT

Launched in beta this week, LinkedIn Today is a new social news service that strives to deliver the most-shared business headlines and stories across multiple industries to members of the professional network.

The new product is designed to provide LinkedIn users with access to the most relevant news based on the information in their professional profiles. Members can get news by following what their LinkedIn connections are reading, access a digest of what users in their specific industry are reading or see what headlines are trending across multiple industries throughout the entire network.

Users can also customize their LinkedIn Today accounts and follow up to 22 industries such as Internet, real estate, non-profit and more. They can follow specific news sources from a wide range of outlets to see the most shared headlines by source in addition to industry.

LinkedIn has also deepened its relationship with Twitter to allow users to bind their accounts and share updates on both. Members can tweet trending news to their Twitter accounts as well as post it to a LinkedIn group and email it directly to their existing LinkedIn connections.

The service is the latest in a flurry of new products from LinkedIn, which recently filed for its initial public offering. One of the primary goals behind many of the new features is to make the network more social by getting users to visit the site more often. A personalized news aggregation service is certainly one way to address that.

Twitter Rates (Very) High in Clicks, But Not Much Else

Linc Wonham — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:30:00 GMT

A new study by marketing firm SocialTwist reveals some interesting data about how people share information on the Web. One finding in particular may prove useful for advertisers and marketers trying to identify the potential reach of the enigmatic Twitter.

Analysis of more than one million referral messages confirmed that Twitter is the most effective tool among social networking services for producing click-through rates. While yielding only a 5-percent share of the total number of referrals, Twitter averaged a very impressive 19.04 clicks per message.

In contrast, Facebook was the overwhelmingly preferred service used for sharing, gaining a 78-percent portion of all referrals – but its average number of clicks was significantly less at 2.87. Compared to other services such as e-mail (31%) and blogging (8%), the social networking sites were far more effective in producing click-throughs, accounting for more than 60 percent of the market share – a 16-percent increase in the last year.

And Twitter was the landslide leader in that category, which would appear to be a vote of confidence for the company’s push toward big-time monetization. Twitter recently rolled out its new advertising platform and declared its new CEO in charge of turning the business into a highly profitable one – a development that Twitter’s growing list of high-profile advertisers and Web marketers everywhere are eager to see come to fruition.

Meanwhile, another recent study by analytics company Sysomos revealed that 71 percent of tweets get no response at all, and that only 6 percent are retweeted, or moved forward in the engagement cycle. Of that 6 percent, 92 percent of the retweets are done within the first hour of the initial tweet. Overall, barely 1.5 percent of all tweets make it to three levels of engagement.

Twitter, however, reports that its ads average much higher levels of engagement – in clicks, replies and retweets – than standard display ads typically receive elsewhere in the industry.

Confused about the marketing and advertising potential of Twitter’s platform? You’re not alone – businesses all across the Web are anxiously watching and waiting to see what unfolds.

Let's Minggl: Social Interaction Uninterrupted

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:10:00 GMT

I'm not sure how much time is collectively spent on social media, but my guess is it has far surpassed the total man hours spent building the Great Wall of China. While I'm not exactly sure of that, it should go without saying that consumers (and Web professionals) are using social media for business and personal use and the time being spent in pure hours is truly phenomenal.

But what if you could shorten the amount of time you spend with social media while increasing your productivity? There are numerous tools on the market which ease the burden (namely time spent) of being so social, including Ping.fm, HelloTxt (which both consequently recently released added the ability to post to Facebook Pages) and now Minggl which came across our radar early this morning.

Minggl is what’s called a social interaction manager and their toolbar (that's right, not a Web-based app) makes it pretty easy to manage information, communication, and navigation across and independent of social networks. Minggl is a browser extension to Firefox and Internet Explorer and it adds a “relationship layer” across all your sites. Minggl features inlcude a consolidated friend list to merge friends from multiple networks, the Status Blaster which allows users to update their status across multiple social networks from one place, and the Minggl Stream (which appears in a sidebar of your browser) to keep you in the loop on activity such as messages, comments and status changes.

Interactive E-Commerce on Social Networks

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Results from a survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by e-commerce solution provider Volusion found that consumers are looking to social networks for advice and recommendations on online purchases. How timely considering that Black Friday is just days away!

Among online shoppers, key findings include:

27% said viewing comments on various items for sale would encourage them to shop on social networks
30% said special sales and exclusive products would encourage them to shop on social networks
48% said easy-to-use features as a very important feature for initially attracting them to an online shopping website
92% said brand is at least somewhat important to initially attracting them to an online shopping web site
32% would shop online more if sites were easier to use
24% would shop online more if checkout procedures were easier
50% of correspondents said special online offers would encourage them to shop online more frequently

“Since the birth of e-commerce ten years ago, consumers have come to expect an advanced level of online shopping experience,” said Kevin Sproles, CEO and founder of Volusion. “Beyond easy navigation and check out, consumers want online shopping to be integrated with the way they communicate with their peers, making their preferences and interests known on social networks (such as MySpace and Facebook) and enabling retailers to develop a more intimate relationship with them.”

You may remember that earlier this year Volusion announced its Social Store Builder, allowing online store owners to directly tap the power of social networks. The Volusion solution allows featured products from a merchant stores to be rotated on a social networking page.

TubeMogul Extends Syndication Network

Administrator — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:37:00 GMT

Video tracking and syndication service TubeMogul announced that social network imeem is the company's newest partner on TubeMogul's Load and Track service. Content creator that upload video to TubeMogul can now choose to distribute and track their videos on imeem which happens to be the third largest social network in the US with over 27 million users.

"imeem is taking social networking online to the next level with music and videos, and we are happy that our users can help enrich that experience," said Brett Wilson, CEO and co-founder of TubeMogul.

Jeff Reine, Director of Business Development at imeem, adds, "imeem has built a passionate audience of millions of people connecting around quality music and video. We're excited to add TubeMogul as a valuable new content acquisition partner to enhance imeem's video offering and add to the user experience on our site."

Socials Networks Continue to Grow in UK

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:43:00 GMT

11 million people in the UK visited social network sites in 2007 according to a recent eMarketer report. Facebook continues to trail MySpace in the US, but the online social networking site has overtaken its main rival in worldwide unique users. With almost 20 foreign-language versions of the site, starting with French, German and Spanish, Facebook has seen continuous growth throughout Europe. Now, with the new Chinese-language version, it is beginning its trajectory in Asia.

Western Europe has played a major role in the growth of online social networks. eMarketer estimates that 60.5% of the UK population, or 36.8 million people, went online at least once per month in 2007. Of those, 30% -- 11 million people -- visited social network sites at least once per month.

"The strong growth is an indicator of the level of interest consumers have in online social networks," said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst specializing in social networks. Online social network ad spending in the UK and Western Europe is expected to reach 283 million pounds Sterling in 2008, rising to 804 million pounds Sterling in 2012.

Social Networks and the Mobile Web

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:58:00 GMT

Traffic to social networks comprise almost 40% of the mobile Web according to Opera Software's "State of the Mobile Web" report. Some interesting finding from the report include:

Social networking consumes almost 41% of traffic: The United States, South Africa and Indonesia have more than 60% of their traffic going to social networks.
More than 11.9 million people used Opera Mini in March to browse 2.4 billion pages. Thus far, more than 44 million cumulative users have tried Opera Mini.
One Web will triumph over WAP content: Full Web surfing comprises more than 77% of all traffic. WAP content still generates the remaining 23% of traffic. WAP percentages have declined somewhat as more consumers realize Opera Mini can access rich Web content.

"The mobile Web is also the social Web," said Jon von Tetzchner, Chief Executive Officer, Opera Software. "With social networks dominating Opera Mini's traffic, it is clear that people use their mobile browser as yet another communication tool on their phone. I find it reassuring to see that there is decreasing distinction between the types of Web content people use on the mobile device - it really is one Web, with people using whichever device they choose to connect to that Web."

LinkedIn Adds Company Profiles

Administrator — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:49:00 GMT

The popular social network LinkedIn has added profiles for companies. Don't roll up your sleeves and start crafting that compelling corporate profile just yet though. LinkedIn company profiles are not user-generated but instead is a feature of that property which, according to Mashable, has taken "six engineering, product and operations teams and iterated the company profiles based on LinkedIn’s own data, including recent promotions and hires, search, and analytics in order to create these company profiles, which act as an integrated and interactive aspect of the LinkedIn network."

LinkedIn company profiles are simply an overview of a company's industry data in combination with LinkedIn data along certain key metrics. There are currently over 160,000 profiles of companies ranging from Fortune 500's to philanthropic organizations. LinkedIn users can find these profiles by selecting the logo right next to company titles in any individual's work history. When you arrive at a company profile the information is separated into several modules including people in your network, new hires, recent promotions/changes and most popular profiles. For those of us that simply can't get enough of the valuable information contained in the million of profiles at LinkedIn, the new feature also includes key information modules such as related companies and key statistics.