WebProNews

Tag: Social Media

  • Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg May or May Not Have Signed a Contract

    You may recall last week when reports came out about some guy who claimed to own the majority of Facebook. Paul Ceglia claimed to own an 84% stake in the company, saying that CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed a contract with him in 2004.

    The timing described didn’t appear to line up with common accounts of the founding of the company (such as the one in the book Accidental Billionaires – the basis for the upcoming David Fincher film The Social Network).

    Today, Bloomberg is reporting that a lawyer for Facebook has said that she was "unsure" whether Zuckerberg actually signed this contract or not. She says that Zuckerberg worked as a coder for Ceglia. The alleged contract references "The Face Book", the pre-Facebook version of Facebook, which existed prior to the founding of Facebook the company. The story has gotten a little more interesting, and we’ve surely not heard the last of it.

    The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Nokia is searching for a new CEO, citing "people familiar with the situation" as the source.

    Get Ready for New Android Tablets According to Wired, Asus is working on a new tablet that will run Android instead of Windows. Meanwhile, Engadget is reporting that Lenovo is promising its own Android tablet before the year’s end. Get ready for iPhone vs. Android Part 2: The Tablet Chapter.

    Speaking of Android, Hexus reports that Adobe has demonstrated a p2p video calling system for Android, and they’re calling it FlashTime (as opposed to Apple’s FaceTime). Zing.

    Apple did just post a record quarter though, and iPads were a big part of that (along with record Mac sales).

  • YouTube Users Already Part of Google’s Rumored “Google Me” Social Network?

    Over a year ago, Google announced that it would start requiring all people signing up for YouTube usernames to have a Google account. Now they’re going to start requiring all users of YouTube that signed up prior to that to connect their accounts to Google accounts as well.

    Are you already part of Google’s new social network? Share your thouhts here.

    Here are the reasons Google gives for connecting YouTube accounts to Google accounts:

    – Improved account security. The Google Account system is robust and will help reduce spam across the site; users will get a slew of security and safety features that Google has spent the past decade developing.

    – A single account system. This may not mean much to anyone outside of the YouTube engineering team, but behind the scenes it’s extremely complicated to support two different account systems. Having all users on the same account system not only simplifies matters, but more important, it makes it much easier to use Google technologies to keep the site running smoothly (over two billion views a day and counting), as well as introduce new functionality.

    YouTube - Create an account - A Google Account

    There has been a lot of talk about Google working on a new social network (often referred to as "Google Me"). We still don’t know exactly what that’s going to be all about, but when people assess the success/failure of Google’s social media efforts, they often overlook that Google owns YouTube, which is essentially a giant social network (albeit one that revolves around video). Not everyone uses YouTube as a social network, but the more people that have Google accounts, the more people Google will be able to claim as part of its broader "social network".

    As we have discussed numerous times, Google itself could really be seen as one giant social network, with different products representing different features. If you have a Google account, you are part of that social network, regardless of what "features" you may or may not use.

    Do you think Google is using YouTube to bring its broader social network together? Comment here.

  • Conduit: We’re Doing for Web Apps What iPhone Did for Mobile Apps

    Mobile apps have captured much press and imagination this week, as Google has unveiled its App Inventor project, but Conduit is reminding everyone that web apps are big business.

    The company has announced that its network has grown to over 250,000 app publishers & 170 million users, with adoption of apps by end-users increasing 233% between last July and last month.

    Adam Boyden "While most of the buzz in the media is about mobile apps, the reality of the situation is that 118 million more people use Conduit-powered apps than iPhone and Droid apps combined," says Conduit president Adam Boyden. "In fact, the Conduit Network of app publishers and users is so large that we are able to identify unique trends about web app usage."

    Some of these trends? According to Conduit:

    – 60 million end users consume apps from the Conduit App Marketplace every day.

    – Since August of 2009, the number of web publishers that have more than one million users has grown from 1 to more than 40

    – Over 8 million people got the Coke Zero-Avatar App last December in the first 10 days after launch. After the success of that app, digital agency Mediatronica built another and the recently launched Coke Zero SWAT App, already has 2.5 million users.

    – The Pitsi mini-game app generated more than 66 million engagements during the first 10 weeks of 2010.

    "Conduit is doing for web apps, what iPhone did for mobile apps and in a bigger market – the browser," says Boyden.

    "The last year has been phenomenal for Conduit not only because we have worked with some of the best brands in the world, but also, more importantly because we have leveled the playing field for small publishers and developers to give them exposure and distribution comparable to huge companies," he adds.

    According to Conduit, entertainment apps are the largest segment (no surprise there), but news apps and social media apps are also quite popular. In fact, the social media category has been the fastest growing one of the past year.

    The app network serves apps with content from brands like Amazon, Coke Zero, eBay, Facebook, Fox News, Hulu, Skype, YouTube, and Zynga, to name a few.

     

  • More Employees Visiting Social Networks At Work

    Even though more companies are regulating social networking sites, employees are finding ways around security blocks, according to a new survey from Trend Micro.

    The survey included 1,600 users in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan, found globally social networking at work increased from 19 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2010. The highest increase in social networking in the workplace during the last two years was found among users in the U.K., which had a 6 percent increase, and Germany with a 10 percent increase.

    David-Perry "Social networking is an extremely important tool both for personal and professional-relationship building. And while most companies’ concerns around social networking in the office center around the loss of employee productivity, what they may not realize is that many social networking sites are built on interactive technologies that give cybercriminals endless opportunities to exploit end users, steal personal identities or business data, and corrupt corporate networks with malware," said David Perry, global director of education, Trend Micro.

    "With the right security solutions and social networking guidelines implemented, there is no reason why companies who choose to allow their employees the option of visiting these sites should be overly exposed to these risks."

    Not including Japan, there were no major differences between users from small businesses and those from large companies, but the survey found laptop users are much more likely than desktop users to visit social networking sites. Globally, social networking usage via laptops went up by 8 percent from 2008 to 2010. In the U.S., it increased by 10 percent and in Germany, up by 14 percent.

    In 2010, 29 percent of laptop users compared to 18 percent of desktop users surveyed said they visited these sites at work. In Japan for 2010, small-company employees were much more likely than those from large companies to visit social networking sites – 21 percent from small companies compared to 7 percent from large companies.

    For all countries surveyed in 2010, laptop users who can connect to the Internet outside of company network are more likely to share confidential information via instant messaging, email and social media applications than those who are always connected to a company’s network.
     

  • Millennials Won

    Millennials Won

    Millennials are expected to make online sharing a lifelong habit, according to new research from Pew Internet and Elon University.

    In an online survey of 895 technology stakeholders and critics, 67 percent agreed with the following statement:

    "By 2020, members of Generation Y (today’s "digital natives") will continue to be ambient broadcasters who disclose a great deal of personal information in order to stay connected and take advantage of social, economic, and political opportunities. Even as they mature, have families, and take on more significant responsibilities, their enthusiasm for widespread information sharing will carry forward."

    Some 29 percent agreed with the opposite statement:

    "By 2020, members of Generation Y (today’s "digital natives") will have "grown out" of much of their use of social networks, multiplayer online games and other time-consuming, transparency-engendering online tools. As they age and find new interests and commitments, their enthusiasm for widespread information sharing will abate."

     

    Social-Sharing

     

    Most of those surveyed believed the sharing of personal information online has many social benefits as people open up to others in order to build friendships, form and find communities, seek help, and build their reputations. They said Millennials have already seen the benefits and will not reduce their use of these social tools over the next decade as they take on more responsibilities while growing older.

    "The majority noted that new social norms that reward disclosure are already in place among the young," said Pew Internet Director Lee Rainie.

    "Some experts also expressed hope that society will be more forgiving of those whose youthful mistakes are on display in social media such as Facebook picture albums or YouTube videos."

    Nearly 30% of respondents said the abundant sharing of personal information on social networks by young people will fade, most of them noting that life stages and milestones do matter and do prompt changes in behavior.

    Among other things, many of the dissenting experts also said Millennials will not have as much time in the future to devote to popular activities such as frequently posting to the world at large on YouTube, Twitter or Facebook about the details of their lives.

    "Some of the experts said an awkward trial-and-error period is unfolding and will continue over the next decade, as people adjust to new realities about how social networks perform and as new boundaries are set about the personal information that is appropriate to share," said Janna Anderson, director of the Imagining the Internet Center and a co-author of the study.

     

     

  • NASA Invites Its Twitter Followers To Tweetup

    NASA is inviting its Twitter followers to a special Tweetup with astronaut T.J. Creamer at 3 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 29.

    The event will take place in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. SW, Washington.

    While in space, Creamer set up the International Space Station’s live Internet connection. He posted updates about the mission to his Twitter account and sent the first live tweet from the orbiting outpost.

    NASA-Live-Tweets

    This NASA Tweetup is a chance to meet and speak with Creamer, the people behind NASA’s Twitter account, and other space-exploration-minded participants.

    Registration for the event is open from now until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 13. NASA randomly will select 100 participants from web registrants. Additional applicants will be placed on a waiting list.

    Creamer spent 161 days living aboard the station as part of the Expedition 22 and 23 crews. He launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in December 2009 and returned to Earth June 2, 2010.
     

     

  • More Businesses Using Social Media To Gain Customers

    More than one-third (35%) of U.S. businesses have had success using social media to attract new business, according to a new survey from Regus.

    The U.S. lags slightly behind the global average, with 40 percent of businesses globally having successfully used social media for business development.

    Globally, social networks are still used for their original purposes. The most popular use of social networks is staying in touch with business contacts, with 58 percent of respondents globally indicating they use networks in this way.  Joining special interest groups is also popular (54 percent).

    Businesses-Social-Media.jpg

    Although a number of skeptics (34 percent) believe social networking will never become a significant method of connecting to customers and prospects, 51 percent of companies globally organize, connect to or manage customer groups via social networks. Fifty four percent of firms use social networks to find useful business information. Only 22 percent of respondents had found new employment through social networking, in spite of the specific job search functions of networks such as LinkedIn.

    In the U.S. specifically 28 percent of businesses have set aside a proportion of marketing budget for social networking activities.  Fifty four percent of respondents used social networking to keep in touch with contacts, slightly lower than the global average. Notably, 44 percent of U.S. companies use social networking to join special interest groups, well below the global average of 54 percent.

    "While the most popular function of these networks remains that of keeping in touch with contacts, businesses are also successfully acquiring new customers, supporting their retention efforts and interacting with customer groups," said Sande Golgart, vice president for Regus.

    "With 55 percent of online Americans registered on Facebook, any reservations towards using social networking for business purposes seem misplaced. This survey indicates that organizations who have not yet ventured into the world of social networking may be missing out on sizeable business opportunities. This is particularly the case in the Netherlands (48 percent), India (52 percent), Mexico (50 percent) and Spain (50 percent), where the highest level of new customer acquisition via social networking was reported."

    The survey also analyzed company size differences and found that overall small companies were slightly more likely to use social networking. In the U.S. 38 percent of small businesses, compared to 27 percent of large companies, successfully found new customers through social networks

     

     

  • Do You Experience Facebook Fatigue?

    Facebook may be in big trouble. Mashable is pointing to a study from Roiworld that surveyed 600 teenagers, and found that while 80% of them are spending two hours per day online (on average), they are also showing signs of Facebook fatigue. According to this survey, one in five who have a Facebook account are either using it less or no longer visit it at all.

    Is Facebook fatigue a threat to Facebook’s future? Share your thoughts.

    You may recall that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg gave a speech at the Nielsen Consumer 360 conference recently indicating that email is "probably going away". The reason for this that she gave is, "In consumer technology, if you want to know what people like us will do tomorrow, you look at what teenagers are doing today, and the latest figures say that only 11% of teenagers email daily. So email (I can’t imagine life without it) is probably going away. So what do teenagers do? They SMS and increasingly they use social networking."

    If the aforementioned survey is indicative of the bigger picture, than Facebook Fatigue is what many of us will experience tomorrow. Uh oh…

    Some other interesting stats from the survey:

    – 16% are leaving because their parents are there

    – 14% leaving because there are "too many adults/older people" there

    – 13% concerned about privacy

    Ok, let’s get to reality now. Facebook is not in any immediate trouble. It’s growing like a very stubborn weed. That may not last forever, but even if teenagers stop using it, it has become so ingrained in society at this point it may be around for quite some time anyway.

    Other noteworthy stats from the survey:

    – Facebook still the most popular social network among teens
    – 78% have created a profile
    – 69% still use it

    Even with all of the recent privacy uproar, Facebook managed to keep growing. Then there’s the fact that all surveys should be taken with ample grains of salt, and are almost never truly indicative of the entire picture.

    That’s not to say that there is nothing to the survey, because frankly, I think many of us have felt some amount of Facebook fatigue, and it’s up to Facebook to keep itself interesting and relevant. However, that is exactly what the company has been trying to do, as it has expanded across the web via the open graph, and places more emphasis on Facebook credits (very related to gaming, not to mention huge e-commerce implications).

    Yet more noteworthy stats from the survey:

    – A third of the teens who play games on Facebook spend at least 50% of their time on Facebook playing them

    – 75% claim to play games on the web

    Like email, Facebook isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Email is doing just fine and so is Facebook for the foreseeable future. Though email has proven a lot more than Facebook has so far.

    On a related note, Gartner is saying that wireless email users will reach a billion by the end of 2014. "People increasingly want to use mobile devices for collaboration to share content, information, and experiences with their communities," sayd Monica Basso, research vice president at Gartner. "Social paradigms are converging with e-mail, instant messaging, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and presence, creating new collaboration styles"

    Wow, could there be room for both Facebook and email? What a concept.

    Do you experience Facebook fatigue? Let us know.

  • Disney Reportedly Acquires Tapulous, Makers of Tap Tap Revenge

    Disney Reportedly Acquires Tapulous, Makers of Tap Tap Revenge

    TechCrunch is reporting that Disney has acquired Tapulous, the makers of popular iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge. Very few details are given around this news or its source, but the publication says Tapulous founder Bart Decrem, who will join Disney as a VP.

    "We have over 30 million users and have been #1 on the App Store 5 times over, with Tap Tap Revenge 3 at #1 for 20 straight days," Tapulous boasts on its about page. "In February of 2010 we debuted Riddim Ribbon, a ground-breaking music racing game co-produced with will.i.am. Riddim Ribbon became the #1 grossing app on the App Store within 3 days after launch."

    Tap Tap Revenge

    Recently the company announced a partnership with Warner Music Group, which includes labels like Atlantic, Reprise, Roadrunner, and Warner Bros. The company made headlines earlier this week when it launched a Nickelback-themed game.

    I imagine the Disney-related details will be available soon, provided the news is accurate. Erick Schonfeld promises more soon.

    Update: Mashable says it has confirmed the news, though still does not name sources. Ben Parr does give more alleged detials, however. These include Tapulous staying put in Palo Alto and Decrem and COO Andrew Lacy  becoming Senior VPs , and reporting directly to Disney Interactive President Steve Wadsworth.

    Update 2: Disney has confirmed the acquisition with this release.

  • Google, ITA Software Talks Causing Stir in Travel Industry

    Google, ITA Software Talks Causing Stir in Travel Industry

    Reuters is reporting that Google is in discussions to buy ITA Software (which has been rumored for months), an airline IT and services provider. The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and provides airfare info to airlines, travel agencies, and travel web services.

    According to Reuters, there is a great deal of concern about such a deal among the travel industry. (hat tip: Greg Sterling).

    ITA Software

    Last week, Salesforce made Chatter available to everyone. This has been described as a "Facebook for the enterprise." It’s also been described as "more than just Facebook for the enterprise." Either way, the company has now published a Best Practices guide for using it.

    UnwiredView.com reports on some alleged details and specs for the next (after FroYo) version of Android – Gingerbread.

    MeeGo announced "Day 1" of the MeeGo proejct. The MeeGo handset baseline source code is now available to the developer community.

    TechCrunch points to an interesting new service that launched from Appsfire. It’s called AppTrends, and it aims to rank iPhone apps based on how much people are talking about them on Twitter. This may not only be a good tool for discovering new and interesting apps, but it also illustrates a practical use of real-time search.

    Microsoft has issued a reminder that its Windows Anytime Upgrade offer will come to an end on July 3rd. Engadget points to more details from Geek.com.

    Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna issues have received a lot of press since the release of the phone. Most recently, there is a lot of discussion about Apple’s hiring of antenna engineers, a job posting that appeared the day people started complaining, as Engadget points out. Meanwhile, Boy Genius Report has an interesting article about Apple’s troubleshooting process.

    I personally seem to have been caught in some “old experiment” of Google’s which is now preventing me from seeing Google’s recently rolled out interface in Firefox. While I can see it in other browsers, and until today could in Firefox, I am no longer able to see the new UI, and am instead presented with the old version of Google results pages (where I have to click a link to bring up the search options).

    I asked Google about this, and Jake Hubert from the company’s Global Communications and Public Affairs division told me, “I’ve verified that what you are seeing is likely related to an old experiment. We have no plans to remove the left-hand panel.”

    Has this happened to anyone else?

  • IMDb Rolls Out Android App

    Amazon.com’s Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has launched an Android app and a new mobile and social feature called "IMDb Everywhere."

    IMDb’s Movies & TV App for Google Android devices features voice search, sharing and option menus. The Android app allows users to look up local movie show times, TV listings, watch trailers, buy movies and share.

     

    IMDb-Android-App

     

    IMDb’s new "Like" and "Share" buttons allow users to indicate their favorite movies, TV shows, actors and publish their preferences on Facebook and Twitter.

    IMDb has added "Like" and "Share" buttons to all movie trailers, character pages and news stories on the site.

    IMDb has also launched a Twitter page @imdbbot that allows users to tweet a question about a celebrity name or movie and receive an answer.

    "We’re making a significant commitment to our ‘IMDb Everywhere’ initiative, expanding our footprint across the web and onto emerging technologies and platforms," said Col Needham, IMDb founder and CEO.

    "Our customers want to socially engage with IMDb’s comprehensive and authoritative entertainment content anywhere they are – from IMDb.com to their mobile phone to Facebook and Twitter."

     

     

  • Foursquare Gains $20m, New Investor in Andreessen Horowitz

    Foursquare has announced that it’s closed a new $20m Series B round of funding with Union Square Ventures, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and new partner, Andreessen Horowitz.

    Fousquare - Gets new round of investment"The two big names behind Andreessen Horowitz – Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz – are each legends in Silicon Valley," says Foursquare Founder and CEO Dennis Crowley. "They know better than anyone how to transform startups into successful organizations. As we continue to rapidly expand to take advantage of the opportunities in front of us, Ben and Marc’s expertise in growing companies will be invaluable."

    Horowitz says on his blog that his company invested in Foursquare for three main reasons: a great Founder/CEO, a killer product, and a gigantic market.

    There’s no question that the market for what Foursquare offers is heating up. However, so is the competition. Clearly Foursquare is leading the way right now, at least in name recognition and press coverage, but the market is going to continue to be flooded with various check-in offerings, and it may be hard for one service to truly dominate.

    Also consider that Twitter now has its Places feature in place, and Facebook will be coming out with its own location features any time. It will be interesting to see how these impact the future of services like Foursquare.

  • Facebook Thinks Email is “Probably Going Away”

    Facebook thinks email is dying. Classic. How many times have we heard this now? Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg gave a speech at the Nielsen Consumer 360 conference recently, essentially claiming as much.

    Do you think email is dying? Comment here.

    "In consumer technology, if you want to know what people like us will do tomorrow, you look at what teenagers are doing today, and the latest figures say that only 11% of teenagers email daily. So email (I can’t imagine life without it) is probably going away. So what do teenagers do? They SMS and increasingly they use social networking." (hat tip to WebGuild.org)

    First off, Facebook couldn’t exist without email. You need an email address to sign up and to log-in. Many of us rely on email for notifications from Facebook to know when someone has sent us a message, commented on our posts, invited us to an event, tagged us in a photo, etc. In fact, I’d be curious to see how frequently the average Facebook user would come back to Facebook daily without email notifications.

    Facebook Wants Your Email Address Too

    Email lubricates social interactions on Facebook, and I’d be very curious to see how successful Facebook would be without any email integration. I suspect it would die.

    To be fair, Sandberg was looking to the future, and not the present when she made this claim. She even said that she couldn’t imagine life without email. It’s interesting, because Facebook is in some ways helping keep email relevant for the reasons mentioned above (though email certainly doesn’t need Facebook’s help to stay relevant).

    Facebook requires you to use email to sign-up and log-in, but we are seeing more and more open protocols being used around the web for ID authentication. There are also not-so-open protocols in use, like Facebook Connect. I can log-in to a wide variety of sites/apps with my Facebook ID, but I can’t log-in to Facebook with anything other than my email address. If Facebook thinks email is dying, does that mean it will adopt some other open authentication protocols? Don’t these protocols generally come back to having an email address in the first place anyway?

    We’ve written about why social media isn’t killing and will not kill email several times in the past. I don’t want to rehash all of the same points here, so I’ll simply reference a couple of these articles:

    – 10 Reasons Social Media isn’t Replacing Email
    – Spam Will Not Keep You Away from Email

    The popularity of specific social networks comes and goes, but email has been around for a while, and has really shown no signs of going anywhere. Here’s something to consider – how many years has your inbox been flooded with spam? Has it caused you to use email any less? Granted, Facebook does continue to grow, even in the face of massive privacy concerns, but that’s hardly an indication that it could replace email. Sandberg didn’t suggest Facebook itself would replace email, but that SMS and social networking in general would. We’ll see. If Facebook hopes to be a significant part of that replacement on the social networking end, they’re probably going to have to play a little nicer with the open web movement.

    I’ll come back to the conclusion we always reach. There is room for both email and social networks. Just like there is now, there will be in the future. As far as marketing is concerned, social networks appear to be greatly enhancing email campaigns. A recent study from GetResponse found that campaigns utilizing these networks were able to increase click-through-rates by 30%.

    Do you think email is in any danger of extinction at the hands of social networks and/or SMS? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

  • Twitter Breaks its Tweets Per Second Record a Week After Setting it

    Last week, Twitter announced that it had broken a record for tweets per second (3,085), courtesy of the Lakers beating the Celtics in the NBA Championship. Now they have already topped this a week later.

    Today, Twitter announced the new record of 3,283 tweets per second, this time coming as a result of Japan’s 3-1 victory over Denmark in the World Cup. These tweets came in as the final whistle was blown in the game.

    We saw a new record at Twitter yesterday: 3283 tweets per second! http://t.co/QRQuFPbFri Jun 25 18:45:55 via TweetDeckKevin Weil
    kevinweil

    "The second week of the World Cup continued to see consistent spikes in TPS after goals that are remarkable increases over our average of 750 TPS," says Twitter’s Kevin Weil. "However, we caution to call any goals a record this week both because many of the games were played simultaneously with another one and total numbers were fairly similar to the first week when only one game was being played at a time."

    They felt confident enough to call this one a record though, because the other game being played ended six minutes earlier.

    I’ve still been seeing a lot of Fail Whales this week, but it has obviously not stopped people from using Twitter too much. Rather the amount of people using Twitter is the cause. Meanwhile, Twitter is expected to keep growing strongly at the international level.

  • Farmville Launches On The App Store

    Zynga said today it is launching its popular social game Farmville for iPhone and iPod touch.

    The company said this week marks the one year anniversary of the game and Farmville has attracted 75 million users worldwide.

    The move by Zynga builds on its strategy to bring social games to a broader audience across a number of platforms. The Farmville App offers players a new social gaming experience via the touchscreen. By swiping a finger or double tapping to zoom in and out, players can view their farms, harvest crops or drive tractors.

    iPhone users will receive alerts about the status of their crops and farm through push notifications. In addition, current Farmville players can tend their farms on the iPhone or Facebook at any time or place.

    "Mobile devices are an extension of people’s daily social lives everywhere in the world and the Apple iPhone is the most innovative breakthrough in this area," said Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive officer of Zynga.

    "We are excited to bring FarmVille to the Apple iPhone and introduce our social games to a new audience of mobile users around the world."

    Zynga says it will soon introduce additional in-game features for the iPhone 4 and iOS 4 including multi-tasking functionality and improved graphics to highlight the retina display. Zynga’s catalog of iPhone and iPod touch games also include Live Poker, Mafia Wars, Vampires: Bloodlust, Scramble 2 and Street Racing.
     

  • Rude Behavior Causing Americans To Tune Out Social Networks

    More than one-third (34%) of Americans are "tuning out" social networking sites, with 39 percent doing so because of rude behavior, according to a new survey by Weber Shandwick and KRC Research.

    "We prefer to communicate through social networks the same way we do in everyday social settings. We tend to congregate around shared interests. We want to know who we’re talking to. And if there is a difference of opinion, we expect respectful dialogue. If not we tune out," said Weber Shandwick’s President of Digital Communications Chris Perry.

    "This reality should be top of mind as companies and institutions increasingly operate in social media. It’s a personal medium. Same rules of shared interest, transparency and respectful discourse apply."

    Nearly half (45%) of Americans have defriended or blocked someone online because of uncivil comments or behavior, while 38 stopped visiting an online site because of its incivility. In addition, 25 percent have dropped out of a fan club or online community because it had become uncivil.

    Tuning-Out-Social-Media

    The survey asked Americans to rate the civility of 18 aspects of daily life. Blogs rated more uncivil than social networking sites and Twitter (51% vs. 43% vs.35% respectively). While half of Americans say blogs are uncivil, a much larger 72 percent view the political world and government as uncivil.

    "Let’s face it. Incivility can be found everywhere today. Blogs, in particular, are mostly open terrain – practically anyone can comment to a post, often anonymously," said Leslie Gaines-Ross, Weber Shandwick’s chief reputation strategist. 

    "On the other hand, social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, are usually tighter communities with little anonymity and greater accountability for who is speaking."
     

     

  • Google And Apple Trusted More Than Facebook And Twitter

    Nearly half (49%) of U.S. adults trust Apple, Microsoft and Google, according to a new Zogby Interactive survey.

    Twitter and Facebook were rated much lower, with trust levels of 8 percent and 13 percent respectively.

    Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Google are all more trusted than traditional media, which had a trust level of 8 percent.

    Zogby-Trust

    While Microsoft, Apple and Google were each trusted by 49%, the percentage expressing little or no trust was higher for Microsoft and Google (both 46%) than it was for Apple (35%).  The percentage of not sure responses was higher for Apple (15%) than for both Google and Microsoft, both 5%.

    Adults under 30 had the least trust in Microsoft and Apple. Among those under 30, 34 percent had trust in Microsoft and 41 percent in Apple. That age group’s trust in Facebook (20%) and Twitter (15%) was also higher than that of older age groups.
     

     

  • How The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is Marketed Online

    Online ad firm Unicast reached out to us to talk about how it is helping the makers of The Twilight Saga engage the series’ fanbase online "where others have failed", and how the film industry is increasingly looking to online ad platforms to drive sales.

    "With $710 million box revenue for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, it’s no surprise the film’s distributors are looking to go bigger in its marketing efforts and ensure they promote to its loyal fanbase to score a similar or bigger theatrical climactic success around the July 4th weekend," a representative for Unicast tells WebProNews. "Online marketing continues to grow in this sector year over year, with up to 20% of ad budgets being spent in this space."

    Twilight Eclipse ad from UnicastShe says with New Moon’s (the second film in the series) rich media online campaigns, they successfully leveraged geotargeting and Movie Finder formats to allow users to buy theater tickets locally, post showtime information to social networks, download an iPhone app and view trailers. 

    Working in partnership with Unicast again, four rich media campaigns for Eclipse (the third installment, opening later this month) have been developed as homepage roadblocks on MySpace to target core audiences. The campaign for this film allows fans to once again use Movie Finder/Geotargeting to book local tickets, to post to social media networks, and to view trailers, but has also extended its interactive ad units to allow audiences to track fellow fan buzz via social media, organize viewing parties with other fans, and buy the soundtrack.

    MySpace obviously plays a huge role in the marketing of this film, but fans are engaging via Facebook and Twitter as well. This Eclipse Facebook page has over 21,000 likes, and the official Twitter profile for the series has over 321,000 followers.

  • As YouTube Offers More “Credible” Content, Perception Still Lacks

    YouTube has a lot of influence on people’s daily lives. It is often touted as the world’s 2nd largest search engine, and is by far the top online video destination.

    Ipsos released some new research, seeking to understand how consumers engage with media brands, with a specific focus on popular online video and TV brands. YouTube was found to be the most engaging online video brand, as Google is happy to point out.

    However, YouTube is (unsurprisingly) scored much higher in the entertainment department than the credibility department:

    YouTube Credibility Measured

    Interestingly enough another study was released this week, looking at credibility of content in different online environments. This research from the Online Publishers Association found that consumers are more likely to trust content on media sites than on portal channels and social media. There appear to be some parallels here.

    YouTube has been doing plenty to raise its credibility as a destination for professional and important content. Three very recent examples come immediately to mind. This week, YouTube announced that it is a testing news feed feature, which aims to bring breaking news via YouTube into one stream. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answered user-submitted questions on YouTube following a speech from President Obama, and YouTube partnered with the Guggenheim on an interesting contest. There are plenty more examples.

    Still, it appears many users still consider YouTube just a place to find sill cat videos, and other entertaining, but not necessarily important content. A number of our Facebook fans who took the time to comment, said they wouldn’t use YouTube’s news feed as a news source.

    Regardless of credibility status, more people are watching and sharing online video, and YouTube is the biggest contributor to this. The credible content is on there. It’s just a matter of finding it, and users acknowledging it.

  • Consumers More Likely to Buy From Ads on Media Sites Than Social Media?

    Consumers More Likely to Buy From Ads on Media Sites Than Social Media?

    The Online Publishers Association has revealed some findings from research on how brands are perceived across content in different online environments. Specifically, it looks at how environments like media publications (such as ESPN.com, iVillage, NYTimes.com, Wall Street Journal, etc.), portal channels (such as AOL News, MSN Money, Yahoo Sports, etc.), and social networks (Facebook, MySpace, etc.) impact content and its advertisers.

    OPA President Pam Horan "The goal of our research was to help brand marketers better understand why consumers receive and respond to online brand advertising differently depending on the content environment in which the message appears," explains OPA president Pam Horan. "Our findings show that site destination matters as trust and relevant content are perceived differently across content environments.  This study concludes that consumers perceive and take action differently depending on where the advertiser’s message appears."

    According to the research, 80% of participants who have purchased brands as a result of online ads say they have a strong, positive emotional connection to the sites where the ads ran.

    The OPA and Harris Interactive ran statistical correlations to understand whether there is a relationship between how content is perceived in these environments and how advertisers are received and responded to. For reference, correlations measure the strength of the relationship between two variables, and can range from -1 to +1, with zero being no relationship. With that in mind, here are some key findings:

    – Sites with relevant content correlate strongly with audiences being loyal to these sites (a correlation score of .445)

    – Sites with trusted content correlate strongly with the sites’ advertisers being perceived as reputable (a correlation score of .388)

    – Brands perceived as relevant are more likely to have a response to their online ads (a correlation score of .353)

    More interesting yet are the environment-specific findings. According to the research, consumers are more likely to trust content on media sites (72%) than on portal channels (60%) and social media (23%). Audiences on media sites are significantly more likely to believe these sites’ advertisers are high quality and reputable (24%), compared to portal channels (20%) and social media (8%), the OPA says.

    "The study clearly concludes that online media proprieties offer advertisers a distinct brand halo effect for their advertising messages," says Horan.

    Of course social media gives advertisers a direct connection with consumers, by letting them become fans/followers, which can be a brand’s most loyal customers.

  • TripAdvisor Goes Social With Facebook

    TripAdvisor Goes Social With Facebook

    TripAdvisor has introduced "TripAdvisor Trip Friends" feature, which allows users to get advice from their Facebook friends about planning their next vacation.

    When researching a destination, hotel, attraction or restaurant on TripAdvisor, users who have logged in using Facebook will now see a list of friends who have been to that location, via TripAdvisor Cities I’ve Visited (CIV) application on Facebook.

    Users will be able to directly message their friends, or post a message to group of friends, to get travel information. TripAdvisor says CIV has been one of the most popular applications on Facebook for almost three years, and it has more than five million monthly users.

    TripAdvisor-Facebook

    "Facebook has always provided people with an easy way to connect with friends around the world, whether from Internet cafes or through sharing photos," said Ethan Beard, director of Facebook Developer Network.

    "By integrating with Facebook, TripAdvisor is enhancing the exchange of trusted referrals, travel do’s and don’ts, and good stories from abroad, and making the travel experience more relevant and social to each person who interacts with the site."