We Are Social: Tuesday Tune-Up #22
Murdoch: We screwed up MySpace ‘in every way possible’
After joining twitter at the start of this year, it seems that Rupert Murdoch has been inundated with questions about failing social network MySpace. Murdoch responded curtly:
At Ford, social media is bigger than advertising
Matt VanDyke, director-U.S. marketing communications for Ford has told Ad Age:
At Ford, social media is bigger than advertising
How long will it be before we hear other major brands say the same?
Bad reviews may be good for business
In a report by social commerce company Reevoo, it’s been suggested that bad reviews may actually be good for business. The company found that 68% of consumers trust reviews more when they see both good and bad scores, and if consumers fear tampering if there are no negative reviews.
Facebook places ads alongside social updates in the feed
Facebook rolls out a new way of advertising to friends of fans. Comparable to Sponsored stories, which currently sit on the right hand side of the page, the new Featured stories will actually appear in the news feed. A small difference perhaps, but giving the ad an appearance of being a story rather than a paid for piece.
Although the addition of adverts within the news feed may irritate some users, the adverts displayed will only appear from brands yourself or a friend has already liked. To further reduce a chance of backlash, Facebook have also declared that there will only be one of these ads per day in the feed.
Facebook have also been trialing a new type of coupon promotion. The promotion, which allow pages to post coupons, then promote them with sponsored stories is being used by sandwich chain Which Wich giving fans a little extra for their like. Studies have found, users come to Facebook for exclusive offers and discounts suggesting these vouchers could be a big success if used correctly.
Listen to music with your friends on Facebook
Listening to music with friends has always been seen as a social pastime. Facebook are now taking it that one step further by allowing friends to listen to music on Spotify at the exact same time as each other.
A new button will be rolling out on the ticker and a simple click will have you listening along. The feature will also open up a chat with all of the friends listening in, so when that riff you all love comes in, you can share the moment together.
Google+ added to search, at what cost?
The big news last week was Google’s introduction of what it catchily called ‘search plus your world’ – basically a way of promoting Google+ in its search results. Adam has the full low-down in this dedicated post about the issue.
David Beckham is going Google+
David Beckham is joining the ranks of celebrities already using YouTube to connect with their fans. To ask Beckham a question, fans just have to head over to Google+ and post it including the hashtag #GoogleBeckham.
Of course, Google aren’t going to miss out an opportunity to show of its social network’s functionality, so users of Google+ will be able to hang out with Beckham immediately after the live interview.
Explore the world with Foursquare
The guys over at Foursquare are busy rolling out their new web app, Foursquare Explore. The premise is a bit like Google maps, in that tips and information about local retailers, restaurants and anything interesting are layered over.
Not only does it allow you to search for general recommendations, but also it learns where you and your friends check in to give tailored and accurate results.
TV gets a bit more social
Boxee allows users to find and play video directly from the Internet on their television sets, and now thanks to a partnership with Facebook, TV is to become a little bit more social. The new Boxee live and Facebook intergration allows users to post what they are watching to Facebook for the world to see. Friends can then click the links and ‘check in’ to the shows and find more information about them. Don’t worry just yet; this functionality is optional so your viewing habits won’t be broadcasted to friends without you knowing about it.
Social television seems to be going from strength to strength with TV check in app, GetGlue raising $12M in financing. Not only has the company been successful in raising this amount of money, but they have also announced that over 2M users are checking into their TV Shows.
Latest to hop on the social television bandwagon is MySpace with the announcement that they’re launching a social television experience with Panasonic. MySpace’s service aims to connect viewers with content and each other utilising Panasonic Viera connect TV sets. The package will include Smartphone and Tablet apps so users can access Myspace TV even if they are away from their televisions.
Tebow-mania hits Twitter
Last week during the NFL playoff game between the Denver Broncos and AFC champions Pittsburgh Steelers saw the highest rates of tweets per second (TPS) in Twitter history. As Tebow threw his 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime and secured a win for the Broncos Twitter erupted at a rate of 9,420 TPS – a new record for sports events.
To put this rate into perspective the previous record was 7,196 at the end of the FIFA womans world cup last summer, and it’s even more than Osama Bin Laden’s death (5,106 TPS), Steve jobs’ resignation (7,064 TPS) and Death (6,049 TPS). It’s a large number, but still far from the all-time record of 25,088 when Hayao Miyazaki’s castle in the sky was aired in Japan.
Facebook gives politico deep access to users’ political sentiments
Simple analysis by volume of tweets or user posts rarely reveals the sentiment behind social media feeling. In a bid to understand the sentiment of voting-age users, a study by Politico and Facebook is set to delve deep into posts to discover the true attitudes towards candidates.
The most notable characteristic is that user data will include Facebook users’ private status messages and comments, a statement that may alarm some, however the mentions will be fed through a computerised analysis tool and never seen by Facebook employees.
#SmokedByWindowsPhone
In this short, but sweet campaign by Microsoft, they offered users a chance to win $100 if they could complete certain tasks on their existing phone before the Windows phone could complete the same task. The penalty for losing was to bite the bullet and admit on camera that you got #SmokedByWindowsPhone, a bold but confidant move by Microsoft, however after winning in 88% of the challenges, it seems to have paid off.
Klout to Crown the First-Ever ‘T-Mobile Social King of CES’
A challenge by set out by Klout and T-Mobile, saw users try to aquire the most +Ks during CES 2012. The user who managed to use their Klout in order to gain the most +K during the event was crowned T-Mobile Social King and given a host of techie prizes.
Tiffany & Co. team up with the Sartorialist to showcase true love
Tiffany and Co. have joined forces with fashion bloggers the Sartorialist & Garance Doré in an effort to discover true love from real couples around Paris and New York.
The venture, True Love in Pictures is the latest venture from Tiffany & Co. as part of their Whatmakeslovetrue.com project. The project has see an Instagram gallery created by the couple and now seeks out to find user generated moments of romance, all captured using the Tiffany & Co. downloadable Instagram filter.
Audi partners with Foursquare for a new badge for Skiers
If you’re hitting the slopes this winter and can’t get enough Foursquare badges, the new Audi Winter Ride badge is sure to be up your street. User can unlock the badge by following Audi and checking in at any ski area, unlocking the badge and rewarding the user with a 20% discount on the Audi collection.
Kit Kat to decide new flavour through Facebook
A new campaign by Nestle, asks consumers to vote for their favourite of four new Kit Kat Chunky flavours with the winner being sold permanently.
Fans will be able to vote on their favourite of the four flavours (double choc, peanut butter, orange or white choc) on Facebook until 24th February. To add a little incentive to the campaign fans have the chance to win £100 each day for their entry.
While Cadbury UK turns to Google+ to launch Bubbly Bar
Continuing on with chocolate-based news, this week has seen Cadbury launch their new Bubbly bar exclusively on Google+ to their followers. The post (below) was released to fans and then quickly followed by posts on Facebook and Twitter.
Diet Coke launches fashion and beauty Facebook app
Diet Coke have launched a fashion and beauty Facebook app dubbed the Get Glam app. The app is said to be the ‘perfect accompaniment for getting ready with the girls’ and includes fashion and beauty tips alongside a video chat tool. Launched as part of a three-year initiative across brands to link their activity to fashion, the idea is set to appeal to ‘young, fun loving woman’.