Google recently announced that it has  designs on Facebook’s social media crown by launching its  own rival site.  In spite of rumours that it’s going to be called ‘Google Me’, we’re not sure how much of a chance it has.

Since February 2004, when Mark Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com, Facebook’s early predecessor, few could have predicted the speed or the level of impact it would have on the online advertising community. With the imminent launch of ‘The Social Network’, it seems interest will continue to grow, but now, a mere 6 years since it has been available to the public, how do we feel about it?

It has given marketers all over the globe a new medium for communication based on the traditional aspects of word of mouth or referral marketing. It allows advertisers the ability to target an audience by the information they have provided about themselves – information varying from merely their age and gender to their likes, dislikes, favourite films, music and literature.

Adverts on Facebook can be relatively cheap and available to the majority of businesses, allowing nearly everyone who wants it to have the opportunity to advertise themselves online. It begs the question; ‘If everyone can do it, does it lose its effect? Does it become spam and easily ignored by users?’

Facebook was said to have generated between $700 million and $800 million in advertising revenue in 2009, a figure higher than was expected. With Facebook’s 500 million users browsing the site’s pages, it seems the chance to reach that large a number is attractive to advertisers, regardless how many click on their ads.

With its users spending 700 billion minutes a month on the site, such a concentrated amount of people actively swapping information about themselves online has never existed before. But it is the information swapping that made Facebook both brilliant and controversial.

In its short lifetime Facebook has been no stranger to controversy, attracting a number of lawsuits and a wealth of criticism over those who use the site and how they use it. With ever growing reports that Facebook has been used by adults to groom children, schools reporting accounts of cyber- bullying and with tribute pages being set up for people such as Raoul Moat, it could make you begin to doubt Facebook’s future.

Over the past year Facebook announced regular changes regarding its privacy policy, one of which was that it planned to share information with a third party. It’s constantly changing privacy settings have left some users feeling exposed. With Facebook allowing people to display as much or as little personal information as they choose, with as many different people as they choose, the controversy seems unfair. If you don’t want someone to know your phone number, don’t put it on the internet, right? But should the default settings on Facebook be that everything is shared and to hide information so it is only shared with your ‘friends’ and you have to manually change it? This may have been acceptable when Facebook’s members were confined to one campus, but now its users are spreading across nearly the entire globe, is it not time for Facebook to reflect that?

It seems comparing Facebook to Twitter, LinkedIn or foursquare is a little pointless as none have reached the same level of popularity or even offer the same service. Although each are information- sharing social sites, they don’t offer the level of depth Facebook can. Although, as reported recently in The Guardian (23^rd July 2010) it is possible to follow and make contact with a stranger (as one journalist proved) just via their tweets and foursquare updates. So they are still viable for the level of criticism usually reserved for Facebook, if not the success it seems. Even with on-going privacy squabbles, it seems advertising on Facebook shows no signs of waning, and especially as socialmediatoday.com (2010) has predicted a 39% increase in advertising spend on the site this year.

So with nearly a billion in advertising revenue, 500 million users, an MD that goes to meetings in his PJ’s and its own Hollywood film, it seems we may still be a while off asking people we just met in the pub to ‘Google me!’.

The worst earthquake to hit the Caribbean in 200 years struck Haiti on Tuesday 12th January 2010. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the Haitian Capital of Port-au-Prince, where it devastated the tiny nation, causing an unknown number of deaths and widespread destruction.

Social Media was the first to tell the story

Despite being the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti’s Internet connected devices were key implements in telling the rest of the globe about the emerging crisis.

Twitter

Twitter was a key tool for distributing images and information from Haiti — just as it has been in a number of other crises across the globe. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that images sent via Twitpic and other Twitter-based photo services were hitting the Internet long before news agencies produced anything similar. And as Haitian officials were giving their reports on what happened, eyewitness accounts from Haitians in messages of 140 characters or less were already widespread. People were given further insight when the Los Angeles Times published a list of Twitter users believed to be tweeting from Haiti.

Wordpress

A Wordpress-powered blog called Haitifeed is also delivering a steady stream of first-hand accounts as well as mainstream media reports from across the globe.

Facebook

On Facebook, a group called Earthquake Haiti now has over 230,000 members. The group is largely being used for people to show support and trade news reports; however, there are some users who seem to be posting critical information including pleas for help to injured Haitians.
Skype

With telephone service toppled due to the earthquake, those on the ground turned to Skype to speak with the media, aid organisations, or to communicate with loved ones overseas. A Connecticut-based missionary organization that works in Haiti used Skype to communicate with their people there to get a sense of the devastation. Pedre also used Skype to give CBS News and many other media organizations a first-hand report about Haiti’s crisis.

Social media tools are emerging as a new type of news media, especially during times of crisis communications, were such channels are being used to primarily disseminate information about the happenings to the rest of the world as and when it is happening. Even US Rappers such as Busta Rhymes, P Diddy, Kanye West  use their fame via social media platforms to urge donations and spread the word to fans and followers alike http://hhboard.ihiphop.com/hip-hop-news/456798-diddy-kanye-west-tony-yayo-more-plead-haiti-earthquake-relief.html

To read the full version of this article visit Aimee’s Blog: http://easywriting.co.uk/2010/01/18/haiti/

Picture this;

Whilst I am watching some week night TV with a glass of red wine after a hard day at work, I browse at my Facebook status update feed on my Blackberry. The topic choice seems to be inundated with one word statements of colour. Yes, a substantial amount of my Facebook friends are quoting different colours as their status updates. The majority are partial to ‘white’ at least that is what I noticed.

I assumed these bizarre actions were symbolic of the British nation’s fascination with the snow we have been receiving in the last few days… white being the colour of snow etc….

The Answer

Unbeknown to me until I reached work this morning, this heavy shower of colour themed status updates on Facebook was the making of a clever viral marketing ploy, rumoured to have been designed to raise awareness of breast cancer. It seems the idea was for people, namely females, to state the colour of the bra they were wearing, but males were getting involved too.
Right okay, so… I have discovered that most of my friends wear white underwear then…

I Tweet searched ‘Facebook colour’ ‘Breast cancer awareness’ and similar terms to find a plethora of interesting tweets confirming that this was in fact the reason.

How exactly does this help Breast Cancer Awareness?

A question many people were asking across Twitter is “I don’t see how telling all your Facebook friends your bra colour is helping breast cancer”?

Good point! But we need to look outside the box to see the positive impact of this from a PR and Marketing perspective. After all (although the altruistic nature of charities can be debated) the aim of Breast Cancer charities is (or should be) to increase awareness of breast cancer so that the public can spot the signs early and seek medical help. Therefore if the Twitter searches alone is anything to go by, it seems that my colleagues and I were not the only ones out there intrigued to find out what was going on. The social media conversations surrounding breast cancer and Facebook colour status questions have exploded. A quick search on Google further confirms that thousands of us were posting on forums and discussion boards in desperate need to find out why our friends were telling us what colour bra they were wearing.

So whilst this is not curing breast cancer or directly calling people to donate money, it has certainly created a big hype and awareness surrounding the issue… and in the words of one great twitter user, “the fact we tweeted & asked bare Qs raised our awareness!”

What does this mean?

It seems the most effective campaigns are user led rather than brand led. If you notice there is no information to say this viral was started by a cancer charity (in fact rumours on the web say it was started by a group of girls who wanted to confuse their male friends!) who it was started by and its purpose is irrelevant. It sparked the online conversation about a topic and this is the effect that more and more brands are looking to do via social media outlets.

This is not the first and will not be the last example of the power of social media, only two weeks ago we last witnessed the unrivalled power of Social Media, when Rage Against the machine beat XFactor winner Joe to Christmas number one (check out Henry’s blog post on The Rage Against The Machine Facebook Campaign).

Measurable effects of the colour campaign

I will update this blog post tomorrow with some statistics from Google insights to see how search terms were affected during this campaign.

Additional Information

Check out the Guardian’s Review about why 2009 was the year of Facebook: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/28/facebook-users-social-network

Yesterday Rage Against the Machine (RATM) become the first UK Christmas number one from downloads alone. The Facebook group “Rage against the machine for Christmas no.1” boasts 975,476 members and was the catalyst to the most exciting chart battle for years. The Facebook campaign directly challenged the X Factor’s dominance for the Christmas No 1 slot – X Factor winners have dominated Christmas number ones for the last four years.

Over the last ten years we have witnessed a communication revolution. The rise of online shopping, the blogging phenomenon, iPhones and smart phones and online advertising spend overtaking TV advertising. The rise of social media has shaken up the marketing and advertising industry by introducing new dynamics to communication.

The RATM Facebook campaign really highlights the digital revolution we have experienced and thus makes a perfect end to 2009. It proves that online campaigns can make a serious impact on society and firmly reinforces social media as one of the most important technology developments of the past decade (and possibly the last 50 years).

If you think traditionally the X Factor single should have won. It had:

• A 12-14 week show on Saturday and Sunday nights
• A proven history of successful X Factor number ones with four previous winners
• A hugely successful record label financing the single
• High street sales; HMV, etc

The RATM campaign had

• £0 financing and marketing budget
• No store sales
• And a song which was 15 years old

But where it lacked in investment it scored in emotional connections with the UK population. Facebook gave people the opportunity to really make a difference and be heard. The viral campaign spread within days and topped 500,000 members in under a week.

The power of social media cannot be ignored. It has challenged the traditional forms of advertising. Consumers will be heard and must be listened to. Brands which do not listen will simply not be around in the future. Companies need to move their communication efforts to where their target consumers are, and many statistics show that as of 2009 more and more of us are spending time online especially engaging on social media.

Give your followers value

Before you even set up a Twitter account, you must plan a campaign and set goals for what you want to achieve. What is the purpose of your profile and what will your customers gain? If you were a customer what would benefit you? If you wouldn’t want to follow the updates then most probably neither would your customers.

Keep your profile updated with regular tweets, but only if they are useful to your followers. You don’t want to tweet useless updates like “I am hungry” which nobody is interested in. Tweet links to blog posts, discounts, news stories and anything else your customers may find interesting. Once you find a topic that brings in a lot of followers or sparks discussion you can expand on this and even write a follow-up blog post.

Don’t over-tweet and clog up your followers’ profiles because they will most probably be following other companies too. There’s a danger that your tweets may get in the way of other updates and people will just stop following you.

Etiquette

Twitter is not an instant messenger. It is designed to communicate to thousands of users at once. Try to make your tweets appeal to all followers and don’t get stuck in two way conversations. Re-tweet (RT) other relevant tweets which your followers will find valuable. Reply to your followers and find related queries other users might have that you can answer.

Promotion

Use your corporate branding to style your profile so users trust you and don’t think it’s a fake profile. Find other users which are related to your industry and follow them. They might return the favour and in turn pass on their followers.

Research what other people are saying before posting a tweet. Use Twitter Search to see what key phrases are being used and try to include them in your tweets. Use hash tags before and after your key phrases. Tweet at peak times so your tweets don’t get lost. Peak times can vary depending on your industry and country but the majority of users go on just before and after work.

If you have a company blog or website, add a link or feed so that people can see your latest Tweets. Add a link in your email signature.

Tweets

When it comes to writing a tweet, don’t just write “Here is a great article http://bit.ly/crDzc.” Spark conversation by asking a question e.g. “None, sharp, crisp, strong or smooth? Which photoshop anti-aliasing works best? You decide… #photoshop #design http://bit.ly/crDzc.”

Here I have asked a question which will entice followers and hopefully get a response and create even more exposure. I have also added key phrases so it will be picked up in Twitter Search.

Getting the most out of Twitter is a matter of trial and error.  You can only find out what works for your company by trying different approaches.

Guides

Newbie’s guide to Twitter
Twitter Glossary
Hash Tags

Tools

http://bit.ly/ – Use this website to shorten your URLs/Links so you can fit more characters in your tweets.
http://twitpic.com/ – Upload and share photos on Twitter.
http://refollow.com/ – Manage your friends and followers on Twitter.

Transcript

Why is there a need for a tool like this that’s aimed specifically at businesses?

Every company I’ve ever worked for, especially big companies, nobody knows who anybody else is. The bigger the company is, the harder it is to learn who your co-workers are and to understand what other people may be working on. So we saw a need for something that would enable better communication and collaboration within an enterprise. And we do that by applying what we learned from the consumer internet space. In people’s personal lives, they can use these great sites like Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch with their friends. And then, when they get to work, all the tools seem to be really archaic and hard to use. We just thought that the software you use at work should be a lot more like the software that you get to use in your personal life.

Could you give a couple of specific examples of how Yammer improves internal communication?

Someone wrote a blog post about how, as a new employee at a company, they got tremendous value out of the Yammer. Because, before Yammer, it would have taken them months to learn who everybody was at the company, what their expertise was and what they were doing. Yammer provided a way to catch up on the company water cooler-type conversation that had been going on over the past few months. We hear a lot that people like to move group discussions out of email into Yammer because they can really clutter people’s inboxes. So you move it into Yammer where you know you can find it if you want to. It gets archived and preserved for other employees to find it, who may have been left off of the initial distribution list. And it’s searchable, so the knowledge is retained and it becomes a knowledge base over time.

Do you think there’s the risk that it just adds to the amount of information being thrown at people, that it’s just more digital clutter?

Hopefully Yammer is a way to help manage all the information that’s coming at you. I think one of the dynamics right now is that people feel they’re not getting all the information they need but, also, their inboxes are overflowing. So I think people need a tool to help them manage all this information.

Yammer ties in with the concept of flat organisations, in which senior management is more closely connected to the rest of the work force. Is that sort of approach realistic for larger companies?

Yammer helps flatten companies in the sense that it allows information to flow more freely. But you don’t have to be a flat organisation to use Yammer. One of the features that we rolled out after launch was ‘groups’. So you can create a group for your department, your team and just have private conversations within those groups. That the company can ultimately decide who gets to see that information is a very important part of it as well.

Twitter recently announced that it’s preparing to offer an enhanced version to businesses who pay a fee. This is similar to Yammer’s model, isn’t it?

It depends exactly what they do. But what it sounds like is they’re going to have premium accounts to help companies manage their communication in terms of better analytics for figuring out who’s reading you and all that sort of stuff. I don’t think they’re moving into the enterprise space, per se. I think they’re trying to make a more robust version of what Twitter already is that companies will be willing to pay for. We don’t really see that as competitive to what we’re doing.

What long-term ambitions do you have for Yammer?

There are a lot of features that companies tell us that they want to help moderate and control their networks better. The other part of it is just is making Yammer an increasingly good substitute for email. There are still some things that email does very well. But what we want to do is extend the use cases for Yammer so that, over time, you’ll just use email for external communications or certain sorts of one-on-one conversations. We really want to shift all company group conversations into Yammer.

Do you think in the long run that social networks and microblogs will actually replace email?

I don’t know that they’re going to replace email in the sense that new technologies don’t necessarily completely replace old technologies. But we want to cut the amount of email that you get in half so that your email inbox becomes more useful to you. We want to get rid of all those replies to all and those distribution list emails and move them into a tool that really excels for that purpose. So I don’t know that we’re going to completely replace email. But we want to at least replace a decent chunk of it.

Credits

Oliver Hurley
David Sacks, Yammer CEO
Further reading:
Why microblogging could be the new email?

The brief was to explain how the printers frost a security hologram identity onto the ID cards and how it will benefit businesses. After much collaboration we decided that video was the best format to communicate the message and also target customers through the second biggest search engine, YouTube.

The video is part of the online Holokote Tool which we recently built for Magicard.

The Holokote tool is a unique way of encrypting a company logo onto an ID card. The watermarked logo is frosted onto the card creating a secure hologram. It is a really neat tool which we wanted to reflect in the ordering process.

So we built a truly bespoke application which allows customers to upload the background image for their card and their company logo. Once both images have been uploaded customers can alter the threshold of the logo to ensure it is pixel perfect and then play around with sliders to position the logo on the card. The preview stage shows how your card will look, fantastic!

You know something’s hit the mainstream when Phillip Schofield mentions it on This Morning. But Twitter’s apparent overnight success took the best part of three years.

A prototype of the microblogging and social networking tool was built in two weeks in March 2006 and was launched publicly that August. A programmer called Jack Dorsey came up with the idea when he was writing software that provided realtime status updates for taxi companies. Twitter eventually became a company in May 2007. It’s estimated that over 1.78 million people are now signed up to the service, compared to just 100,000 a year ago. The company last year turned down a $500 million buyout offer from Facebook.

Its genius is in its simplicity. Users are able to publish messages of 140 characters or less via the web or mobile phones. Collectively, these form a microblog, such as this one from Zeta. Messages – or ‘tweets’ – are read by ‘followers’, who subscribe to your posts and have them delivered to their own Twitter homepage.

The result is a stream of updates on everything from what someone’s doing for lunch to the fact that they’ve just been elected US president.

Twitter may be the best-known microblogging tool but it’s far from being the only one. Facebook’s status updates and wall posts make unwitting microbloggers out of its users. Its recent redesign was a direct response to the growth of Twitter.

Tumblelogs such as tumblr and Soup extend the short-form format to include multimedia content. Yonkly is aimed at users who want to create niche microblogs. The Google-owned Jaiku offers an open source take on the genre. Plurk provides a quirky, timeline-based aesthetic. And Yammer, which won last year’s TechCrunch50, is specifically designed to provide an internal microblogging tool for businesses.

With email becoming an increasing burden on people’s time, microblogging offers a compelling business communication solution. “Web 2.0 evangelists… say it can facilitate an open-ended corporate culture that values transparency, collaboration and innovation,” says Forbes.com. “Most important, it can be an effective way to build a customer-centric organisation that not only communicates authentically but also listens to customers and learns from that interaction.”

A tool such as Twitter is ideal for following news on a specific topic or for asking questions of your peers. Meanwhile, being able to update your status on the move benefits employees who need to keep in regular contact with one another: a single text can generate an update that is immediately fed to an entire group of co-workers. With the wealth of access points that microblogs offer – from Firefox add-ons to iPhone applications – it’s an elegant way to keep people connected, irrespective of time zones or technology.

The business-focused Yammer allows companies to host the software themselves but this is the exception, not the rule. Most microblogging services live in the cloud, with all the benefits – and problems – that entails. Twitter, for instance, has grown so rapidly that its servers frequently keel over, resulting in the familiar Fail Whale screen.

It’s also worth considering that microblogging is, essentially, an extremely accessible form of publishing and that your posts can appear in Google search results and across the web. It’s something that this Twitter user resolutely failed to remember, with the result that it cost him his job. There’s also the risk that, if not managed correctly, microblogging serves only to add to your digital clutter – not reduce it.

For many of us, microblogs still have the novelty value of the latest web-based cultural phenomenon. But, like email, tools such as Twitter are destined to become a central part of our working lives. Even if you do use them to update colleagues on your lunch plans.

Coming soon to zeta.net: an exclusive interview with Yammer CEO David Sacks