We Are Social: Tuesday Tune-Up #34
News
News
Welcome to your Easter round up of the top stories making headlines in social media.
1. Facebook buys Instagram for $1 Billion
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg announced the acquisition of the hugely popular photo-sharing app Instagram yesterday in a post on his Facebook Timeline. On the future of Instagram Zuckerberg commented:
In order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.
Instagram launched its iOS app in October 2010, and came to Android for the first time last week.
2. Top Australian marketers shift budgets to digital and social
In a recent article from the SMH, Australia’s leading CMO’s from Telstra, Commonwealth Bank, Coles, Unilever and Myer discussed the ‘tectonic shift’ in some of the country’s biggest marketing budgets towards online.
Andy Lark, Commonwealth Bank’s chief marketing officer, estimates that 40-45% of the bank’s marketing budget will have shifted to digital by the end of this year. At Telstra, 30-35% of the budget has moved online. In the retail sector, Myer is doubling its spend each year, although off a low base.
3. Australian designer wins Heineken ‘Future Bottle’ design competition
Sydney based freelance designer Lee Dunford teamed up with Rodolfo Kusulas of Monterrey Mexico to win Heineken’s ‘Future Bottle’ design competition. Heineken invited designers to collaborate with one another through the beer brand’s Facebook page and create a design that represents how people will connect in the next 140 years. The compeition attracted attracted 30,000 entries and six finalists.
4. Problogger launches blogger competition for Tourism Queensland
Darren Rowse aka Problogger has launched a competition for Tourism Queensland to find ten of the world’s most creative bloggers from around the world to win a trip to the Great Barrier Reef and write for the official Tourism Queensland blog.
Bloggers must explain in 150 words why they would make the ideal Queensland Blogger Correspondent. The winning bloggers will get a five day all expenses paid stay in Queensland, trips to the state’s main bucket-list attractions, as well as a blogging workshop from Rowse.
5. Australian social media research update
A Nielsen report found recently that more than two-thirds of Australian Facebook users post remarks about products and companies each month, And 60% ”liked” a company due to a friend’s post in the past month, while 51% of Facebook users and 67% of Twitter users said they were more likely to buy since becoming a fan or a follower.
6. Samsung in search for Olympic bloggers
Samsung is searching for 100 bloggers to blog for them during the Olympics and join their Samsung Global Blogger (SGB) programme. Winners will blog and produce a daily show across the entire Olympic Games period using Samsung products, including the Samsung Galaxy Note, which the company wants to position as the perfect blogging device.
7. YouTube hits upload record, holds Vlogging contest and adds video duels
User uploads to YouTube have hit one hour per second, and to mark this milestone YouTube have launched a website which visualises what happens in a minute on the site.
In addition, YouTube are running a new video blogging competition:
Starting today through April 18, applications will be open for sixteen promising vloggers to take part in three months of intimate educational workshops held on Google+ Hangouts. Each vlogger will receive $5,000 worth of video equipment and more than $10,000 worth of promotion on and off YouTube. Participants will also receive mentoring from industry experts, such as iJustine, one of the most successful vloggers and content creators on YouTube!
Finally, in a busy week for YouTube, they’ve launched YouTube Slam, where users can create their own video duels, and people can vote for which video they prefer. Although YouTube has been experimenting with this for a few weeks, it’s the first time users can manage the game themselves by choosing the videos included.
8. Pepsico and Arby’s offer rewards for engagement
Although they’re doing it in different ways, both Pepsico and Arby’s are offering consumers rewards for engagement through digital channels.
Arby’s, an American fast-food chain is offering Facebook Credits in return for in-store purchases, thereby driving greater football.
In similar news, Pepsico has announced a tie in with reward company Kiip to offer fitness enthusiasts ‘achievement rewards’ when they log a run through fitness apps such as Nexercise and MapMyRun.
After a workout, bike ride or run users are rewarded with PepsiCo’s Propel Zero drinks mix packets.
Econsultancy’s David Moth drew a salient conclusion from the two campaigns:
The two examples are slightly different – Pepsico is offering physical rewards for digital engagement while Arby’s is offering digital rewards for physical purchases – but in essence they are part of the same trend. Consumers have come to expect discounts and rewards and increasingly we are seeing that brands are willing come up with the goods.
9. Barack Obama joins Pinterest
Barack Obama joined Pinterest last week – and although he quickly added 9,000 followers, the Daily Mail chose to focus on his chilli recipe.
10. Crackdown on social media in parts of Asia
In China, police arrested six and shut down 16 websites after rumours spread online that military vehicles were on the streets of Beijing. In addition, the biggest micro-blogging site stopped users commenting on other users posts over the weekend, although they could still post on their own channel.
What was behind the rumours was that a military coup might take place – and it’s clear the Chinese government was worried enough that it took action.
In Dubai, the government is also trying to fight back against social media users stirring the seeds of discontent against the government. The Chief of Police Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tami accused the country’s Muslim Brotherhood of trying to cause trouble through Twitter:
We aim to clean Twitter’s space from any abuse. We want to make it a social networking medium and not a tool to create disharmony and disintegration.