Archive for Social Media

Measuring Tweets

// March 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // Social Media

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Latest stats from the Twitter Blog

As a member of the Twitter analytics team, part of my job is to measure and understand growth. The graph above tells a story of how we’ve grown over the past three years in terms of number of tweets created per day. Please note that tweets from accounts identified as spam have been removed so the counts in this chart do not include spam.

Folks were tweeting 5,000 times a day in 2007. By 2008, that number was 300,000, and by 2009 it had grown to 2.5 million per day. Tweets grew 1,400% last year to 35 million per day. Today, we are seeing 50 million tweets per day—that’s an average of 600 tweets per second. (Yes, we have TPS reports.)

Tweet deliveries are a much higher number because once created, tweets must be delivered to multiple followers. Then there’s search and so many other ways to measure and understand growth across this information network. Tweets per day is just one number to think about. We’ll make time to share more information so please stay tuned.

Facebook’s Mobile Strategy & Stats

// February 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // SEO, Social Media

Facebook’s VP of User Growth, Mobile and International Expansion Chamath Palihapitiya shared the social networking giant’s current mobile strategy and its plans for the future. Read below:

- Facebook believes 2010 will be a watershed year for mobile
- The service is now actively used by more than 400 million people
- 100 million users (25% of total number of users) actively uses Facebook’s mobile products at least once a month
- 200 million people have interacted with Facebook on mobile at least once
- Facebook now works together with some 200 mobile operators – and they are striving to convince more about the added value of such partnerships
- Mobile users demonstrate twice as much engagement than Web users (2x the pageviews, interactions, consumptions and productions)
- They use the above as an argument to convince operators services like Facebook can help drive more sales for more capable phones and heavier data plans
- Facebook is traditionally strong in English-speaking countries, but that’s not all – for example,every single user in Indonesia apparently uses Facebook’s mobile products

* There are 3 key themes to Facebook’s mobile strategy:
- MOBILE WEBSITE: two versions, one for regular phones and one for touch-screen enabled phones – these have now been translated into 70+ languages, covering about 98% of the world population.
- SMS: interactions through Facebook using shortcodes – so far there are deals with 80 operators in 32 countries
- DEVICES: applications or ‘integrated experiences’, which means Facebook intends to hook its service deeper into the core OS handsets run on

* New developments:
- VODAFONE UK TRIAL: the carrier offered Facebook mobile free of charge for a week, which not only caused an expected usage spike, but also resulted in an increase of 20% of people who kept using and paying for heavier data plans after the trial
- FACEBOOK ZERO: stripped down, text-only version of Facebook’s mobile website – carriers can offer this free of charge for as long as they like, and attempt to transition users to a charged model at a later stage more effectively
- Facebook aims to turn FB Connect into a ‘foundational element’ of the web, whether accessed on mobile phones or not.
- In the future, Facebook Connect should become more of a core integration both on an OEM, app and OS level (naming iPhone, RIM, Windows Mobile and Android as examples)
- Facebook intends to play a more important role in the app developers ecosystem
- The company stressed that their goal is to keep pushing the envelope for users, operators, device manufacturers and developers.

Social Media Snatches Traditional Marketing Budgets

// February 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Social Media

Interesting post by Gavin Dunaway over at Adotas. I personally couldn’t agree more with this trend.

Engagement — the holy grail for marketers. As Twitter use swells and Facebook leaps past 350 million global users, marketers are increasingly foraging for this treasure in the social mediascape, subtracting funds from traditional media.

Alterian’s “Annual Survey 2009? — which included 1,068 marketers, 62% North American, 36% European and 2% from the Asia-Pacific region — found that 40% of respondents were shifting more than one-fifth of their traditional direct marketing budgets toward digital and social media channels. Another 21% said they were moving 10% to 20% thataways.

Overall, 66% of marketers plan to invest in social media, while 67% increasingly important or critical to success. Fifty-seven percent of respondents plan to use their budgets to improve their websites so that they can open dialogues and increase engagement with consumers.

However, while more money is being poured into social media, only 36% of respondents reported investing in social media monitoring and analysis tools, with 64% forgoing what Alterian noted was the key to an effective social media strategy. In addition, 42% of respondents don’t incorporate clickstream data into their customer database.

What does Google think of Twitter?

// September 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Random, SEO, Social Media

When you start typing a search on Google, if you have auto-complete enabled, it will start to recommend different queries based on what you’re typing. So, for example, if you write “Apple,” it will suggest Applebees, Apple store, and Apple.com, Apple trailers, among other popular Apple links/sites.

However, if you’re using Google to try and figure out what exactly Twitter is, the results are a bit insulting. Type “Twitter is ” into the search box and Google will suggest words like retarded, useless, lame, and pointless.

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66% of companies are using Social Media

// August 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media

Nearly two out of three companies in 2009.

As marketers embrace new media platforms, social media and viral videos have seen the largest jump in ranking, according to a survey done by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), BtoB Magazine and in partnership with marketing services firm ‘mktg.’  The survey had the following findings:

  • 66 percent of marketers utilized social media in 2009, as compared to 20 percent in 2007.
  • Fifty percent employ viral videos, up from only 25 percent in 2007.
  • 55 percent of respondents funded new media formats by shifting funds from their traditional media budget, while 48 percent shifted funds from other marketing communications budgets.   Twenty-six percent of marketers created an incremental budget.
  • Top concerns for marketers when considering newer media are:
  • Inability to prove ROI-45%

The top concerns for marketers when considering newer media platforms are

  • the inability to prove ROI (45 percent) and
  • having metrics to properly allocate the mix of traditional and digital media (43 percent).

Among social networks being embraced by all marketers, the top sites used are:

  • Facebook (74 percent)
  • YouTube (65 percent)
  • Twitter (63 percent)
  • LinkedIn (60 percent)

B-to-B vs. B-to-C Marketers

Mobile is used by 32 percent of overall marketers, and it is three times more likely to be used by b-to-c versus b-to-b marketers (52 percent vs. 18 percent).

  • LinkedIn rates first among b-to-b marketers while Facebook is top among b-to-c.
  • Twitter is used more by b-to-b marketers (70%) than b-to-c marketers (46%).
  • B-to-c marketers see much more effectiveness from SEM (76 percent) than b-to-b marketers (48 percent)
  • Webinars are a much more effective platform for b-to-b marketers (48 percent) versus b-to-c (6 percent)

In the next year, blogs are the new media format at the top of the list for all marketers (34 percent), followed by mobile (28 percent) and social media (23 percent), among marketers not already using each respective platform.  Viral video and podcasts are also of high interest for many b-to-b marketers to begin using.

Best Buy’s Latest Campaign “@Twelpforce”

// August 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media

Another big company leveraging social media: mammoth electronics retailer Best Buy is encouraging hundreds of employees to handle online customer service via Twitter. This new initiative calledTwelpforce already has over 7,000 followers and is getting a lot of buzz online not to mention they are airing two commercials (embedded below) reinforcing this effort. Traditional Media reinforcing Social Media…

An excerpt from Best Buy:

The promise we’re making starting in July is that you’ll know all that we know as fast as we know it. That’s an enormous promise. That means that customers will be able to ask us about the decisions they’re trying to make, the products they’re using, and look for the customer support that only we can give. And with Twitter, we can do that fast, with lots of opinions so they can make a decision after weighing all the input. It also lets others learn from it as they see our conversations unfold.

When you start, remember that the tone is important Above all, the tone of the conversation has to be authentic and honest. Be conversational. Be yourself. Show respect. Expect respect. The goal is to help. If you don’t know the answer tell them you’ll find out. Then find out and let them know.

This is a fantastic way to engage with Twitter users and social media. I wouldn’t mind being contact by a Best Buy employee if I twittered something in regards to “What LCD TV to buy” as long as the tone is friendly and personal from someone giving me knowledgeable advice; not pushing a sale down my throat.


YouTube Viral Videos Are Great For Advertising

// July 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // SEO, Social Media, Videos

n a blog post today, YouTube presents a case study on Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz’s wedding party. The video (see below), set to R&B star Chris Brown’s hypnotic dance jam “Forever,” became an overnight sensation, gaining more than 10 million views on YouTube in less than one week. What’s happening is that most advertisers don’t want to associate themselves with user-generated videos (the bulk of YouTube), just the professionally produced videos on YouTube, Hulu, etc. and YouTube wants to change your mind. YouTube presents this as proof that advertising works on viral videos even if they are audience produced.

This traffic is also very engaged — the click-through rate (CTR) on the “JK Wedding Entrance” video is 2x the average of other Click-to-Buy overlays on the site. And this newfound interest in downloading “Forever” goes beyond the viral video itself: “JK Wedding Entrance” also appears to have influenced the official “Forever” music video, which saw its Click-to-Buy CTR increase by 2.5x in the last week.

So, what does all of this mean? Despite compelling data and studies around consumer purchasing habits, many still question the promotional and bottom-line business value sites like YouTube provide artists. But in the last week, over a year after its release, Chris Brown’s “Forever” has again rocketed up the charts, reaching as high as #4 on the iTunes singles chart and #3 on Amazon’s best selling MP3 list.

1-800-FLOWERS.COM Sets Up Shop Inside Facebook

// July 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media

In another testament to the notion that Facebook is quietly turning into the internet on top of the Internet, online flower retailer 1-800-Flowers.com has launched an e-commerce store inside its Facebook Page and it’s the first online retailer to launch a fully functional commercial storefront inside Facebook.

Registered users can now order all kinds of floral products from the popular florist and gift shop without ever leaving the social network.

Currently, 1-800-FLOWERS accepts payment with all major credit cards, but it’s conceivable that it will be quick to implement Facebook’s upcoming proprietary payment platform, which is currently being tested with a handful of developers.

To conclude, a tip: when you become a fan of the retailer’s Facebook Page, you get a discount code. Happy flower shopping!

Fortune 100 CEO’s and Social Media

// July 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media

UberCEO recently did a study with the headline “It’s Official: Fortune 100 CEOs Are Social Media Slackers.” It goes on to analyze the social-media habits of CEOs at large companies and concluded, shockingly, that they don’t use social media much. They looked at Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog.  The results show a miserable level of engagement.  Here are the topline results:

• Only two CEOs have Twitter accounts.

• 13 CEOs have LinkedIn profiles, and of those only three have more than 10 connections.

• 81% of CEOs don’t have a personal Facebook page.

• Three quarters of the CEOs have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those have limited or outdated information.

• Not one Fortune 100 CEO has a blog.

I’m surprised but then again… I’m not surprised. Too many CEOs think there are more important things to do besides identify with and build an audience for themselves and their company. I also suspect the reasons CEO’s aren’t using social media is because of fear and lack of knowledge seeing that the CEO’s that stood out of the pack are all from technology companies – Michael Dell (Dell), Gregory Spierkel (Ingram Micro) and John Chambers (Cisco).

Facebook URL Madness

// June 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media

As you no doubt heard last weekend, the whole Facebook vanity URL grab thing was big. Within seven minutes of the service being available last night, 345,000 users grabbed one. Within 15 minutes, over a half million had, Facebook spokesperson Larry Yu told Bloomberg. Within one hour, over 1 million Facebook usernames had been snapped up.

Facebook was worried that traffic would be so high that Facebook could overload. What numbers am I talking about?

- It took 3 minutes to reach 200,000 usernames registered. That’s an astounding 1111+ registered per second during the first minutes of the feature release.

- After 15 minutes, the number of usernames jumped to 500,000. The pace slowed down, but there is no laughing at 555.5 usernames or so taken per second. How many other websites could handle that type of load?

- By 10:01 PM PT, a full hour after release, around one million custom URLs had been claimed. That’s an average of 278 usernames per second or so.

- Where do Facebook usernames stand now? Well, as of 2:00 PM ET, over 3 million usernames have been taken. That’s 3,000,000 custom URLs during a Friday night.

And of course, not everyone was happy with the results of the landgrab (see pic below). Not surprisingly, people are already trying to sell their Facebook vanity URLs as well. The service Assetize, already has 4 accounts for sale. The accounts listed are: cotman, pokerbook, sexybook and shekhar. The listing amount for each is “best offer” — none have any bids.

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