We Are Social’s Tuesday Tune-up #110
News
News
Worldwide mobile connections to reach 6.6 billion this year
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN agency no less, has released figures on the growth of mobile connectivity around the world. There are currently 2.7 billion people online, though increasing figures suggest that, by the end of 2013, mobile connections around the world will amount to 6.8bn. That’s a whopping 96.2% of the world’s population, even if there are some people with more than one handset.
US smartphone and tablet use still on the up
Likewise, smartphone ownership is growing rapidly in the USA at least, according to new research. At the end of 2012, 58% of US mobile phone users had a smartphone, a figure set to jump to 74% by the end of this year and 80% in 2014. Tablet figures are slightly lower, but their growth is no less impressive: from 33% in 2012 to 52% in 2013 and 64% in 2014.
A third of UK social media users don’t use major platforms
A recent telephone poll of 1,003 UK adults has found that one third of social media users don’t use either Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest or LinkedIn. The research points at the growth of newer networks, or potentially the revival of old ones like MySpace and Bebo, but it’s not all bad news for the traditional social powerhouses. Of those surveyed, 56% had a Facebook account, 35% YouTube and 26% Twitter.
New Facebook Insights for all
After offering a new set of insights to a select few in June, Facebook has now rolled them out for all pages. For those that don’t know, there are a fair few changes, with an entire new look to boot. Perhaps the most important is the use of simpler metrics; ‘People Talking About This’ has been broken down into a variety of individual actions including likes, tags, mentions and check ins, to allow greater understanding of how people interact with your page, while positive and negative post actions (think, for example, a like vs. hiding a post) have been collated next to one another in the interest of balance. There are also additional insights about the people who interact with your content, rather than simply those you’ve reached.
Comcast allowing viewers to ‘See It’ through Twitter
Comcast, the US TV network that owns NBC Universal, is partnering with Twitter to allow fans to instantly watch and record TV shows mentioned in Tweets. The tweets, linked to NBC’s cable schedule and its Winter Olympics coverage, will contain a ‘See It’ button. Once clicked, users will need to be signed in to their Comcast account, at which point they can carry out a number of actions, from watching on their set-top box or on a mobile device/on demand to recording it in the future and scheduling a reminder. The move shows a significant move forward in Twitter’s aim to capitalise on the chatter around ‘Social TV’ and convert conversation into viewing figures.
Foursquare updates ads and iPhone app
There have been a couple of updates to Foursquare this week. Firstly, its promoted listings ads are now available for small businesses. Previously only for larger establishments, these ads show up in the explore feed and cost from around $1 to $7 per action. As well as aiming to increase its ad revenue, the network has released the latest version of its iPhone app, with two major changes. First of all, it now has passive real-time recommendations that push directly to the user’s phone when they are in a certain area, previously only available on Android. Additionally, the activity feed has been simplified considerably and now looks as below:
Smirnoff release ‘Mixhibit’ app
Vodka brand Smirnoff has produced an app called ‘Mixhibit’, which allows fans to assemble tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram photos into a custom video with music, then upload it to social networks such as Facebook. AdAge spoke to Michelle Klein, Smirnoff’s VP for global marketing, about the app, whose title plays on the use of the brand’s drink in a variety of cocktails. She also went into some detail about the brand’s positioning within social media, as shown in the video below.
TOMS looking to raise awareness on World Sight Day
Fashion line TOMS looked to raise awareness of World Sight Day on October 10th by asking fans to take a photo of themselves wearing sunglasses in an indoor setting, then share it on a social networking site with the hashtag #BeShady. There was no competition element, with the brand instead focussing on awareness, also creating a limited edition pair of sunglasses.
Tourism Victoria runs live ‘Remote Control Tourist’ social initiative
Tourism Victoria recently ran a live social initiative called ‘Remote Control Tourist.’ For five days, four tourists with camera helmets acted as the eyes and ears of online viewers. The tourists’ actions were controlled by live commands from viewers over Facebook and Twitter. The tourists travelled 109 kilometres, ate 11 burgers, drank 34 coffees and gave out 203 hi-fives and hugs. Altogether, 8726 user requests were made.
Malaysia Airlines celebrate one million fans with YouTube video
Malaysia Airlines has celebrated reaching one million Facebook fans by posting a video to YouTube, featuring their social media ambassador, singer-songwriter Yuna. The brand has referred to it as part of a strategy to show that it’s “serious about social media”.
Pope Francis joins Instagram
The @Pontifex Twitter account has been such a big success that the big guy has decided to join Instagram. With over three million Twitter followers in English alone (not to mention another 180k in Latin) it’s no wonder that Papa Franciscus has decided to expand his social presences, contributing to the photo-sharing network with images of himself meeting followers of the Church, leading prayers and other papal activites.