We Are Social Asia Tuesday TuneUp #97

More companies are using social media for recruitment in 2013
How important is your social media presence on securing the job that you want? According to a survey that polled 592 human resource professionals worldwide, some 60% of companies were using or planned to use social media searches as a recruitment tool in 2013. Respondents revealed that they sought information related to candidates’ previous work history, education and recommendations when they reviewed them on social media sites. Yet, some business leaders remained sceptical about the reliability of online information on assessing the suitability of a candidate; only 30% of respondents believe that the data on social media is useful. You never know, what you share online may or may not come in useful for that next job opportunity!

Most free Internet landscapes in the world
Freedom House has published data on where the most free internet landscapes are across the world, based on criteria such as obstacles to internet access, limits on content, and violations of user rights.

According to a summary by Tech in Asia, Japan and the Philippines are the most free Internet landscapes, and Vietnam and China the least. Notably, India is experiencing the greatest decline in internet freedom. This is largely influenced by religious unrest and political conflict in 2012 which have also lead to censorship of content deemed offensive and potentially violent.

Two million microblog monitors in China
China state media revealed last week that the government employs more than two million people to monitor web activity. The monitors, described as internet opinion analysts, are on state and commercial payrolls to “gather and analyse public opinions on microblog sites and compile reports for decision-makers”, say state media. Monitors routinely scan through China’s overseas websites as well as microblogging sites such as Sina Weibo, which now has more than 500 million registered users with 100 million messages posted daily.

Social ad spending on the up
eMarketer has reported that marketers’ budgets for social are set to increase. In August 2013, social ad spending made up, on average, around 6.6% of marketers’ budgets – it’s set to increase to 9.1% in the next year, then zoom to 15.8% within five.

Play.com reaps the rewards from social discovery
Electronics website play.com has noticed a large increase in traffic from social sites in the last year. A study of 300 consumers noted that, year-on-year, the traffic driven from social discovery sites, such as Pinterest, was up 200%, while that from social networks such as Facebook was up 80%. Mobile had grown too, with 23% of sales taking place via a mobile device, up 53% in the same amount of time.

Companies respond faster in social media than offline
Two separate studies from last week, when taken together, show that companies respond faster to consumer queries in social media than they do offline. The first, a survey of Call Centre Association members (whatever they are), found that 59% of organisations take over eight hours to respond to email communication, with 26.5% extending that to 24 hours or more. Meanwhile, a study by Simply Measured concluded that the average response time on Twitter was 5.1 hours, while 10% of organisations got a reply out within an hour. So, if you want your question answered on line, Twitter is the place to be.

Spam on the increase in social media
Social media spam has grown by 355% in the first half of 2013, according to analysis of 60m pieces of content from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn. The research has found that one in every 200 pieces of social content is now spam, which could start to become a real problem if it continues to grow at the same rate. For illustrative purposes, here is a picture of everyone’s favourite processed meat.

The rise and rise of tablet usage
This year, an estimated 20 million people in the UK will use a tablet, accounting for roughly 1/3 of the population. This is set to grow every year until at least 2017, when 34.8 million UK residents will make use of such a device. Over this period, though, the percentage growth is set to decrease, already down from 165.3% in 2012 to 41.5% this year, it will have fallen to 9.4% by 2017 as the market approaches saturation.

Facebook using free wifi to obtain location data
Facebook is set to offer the opportunity for business to attain free wifi for their customers through its partner, Cisco, in a bid to attain further location data. The system will be available to businesses of all sizes, as the network is using cloud-based wifi firm Meraki to connect with small and medium establishments. Facebook can then use the data to create more accurately targeted ads.

Facebook Home to add content from other social networks
Facebook Home, the homescreen created by the network for Android phones, will begin to pull in content from other social networks including Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram in its latest version. The move sees Facebook adapting to a lukewarm user reception; if it genuinely intends to create a socially-led option for phones, allowing greater access to all platforms may well prove a necessary addition.

Post search now available in Facebook’s Graph Search
Graph Search, Facebook’s social search tool, now includes the ability to search for specific posts by what content they contain, when they were posted, where and by whom. In a blog post on the subject, Facebook said:

Starting today, Graph Search will include posts and status updates. Now you will be able to search for status updates, photo captions, check-ins and comments to find things shared with you.

Search for the topics you’re interested in and see what your friends are saying, like “Dancing with the Stars” or “Posts about Dancing with the Stars by my friends.

Facebook introduces new mobile ad unit aimed at app engagement
Facebook has introduced a new ad unit for mobile, which aims ad increasing engagement with apps, once a user has already downloaded them. The ads will encourage people to head back to specific features of the app, which could well be very useful for marketers looking to maintain high levels of engagement with a particular part of an app. The video below gives more detail about the new feature.

Growth in users, ad revenue and losses at Twitter
Leading up to Twitter’s stock market IPO, there have been a fair few stories about it this week. The network has released figures on its huge international growth, as its US user growth begins to slow; in March 2010, US monthly active users amounted to 10 million, while their international equivalent were 20 million; these figures have grown at disparate rates to 49 million and 169 million respectively.

This international user base could prove important for Twitter’s advertising base, as they have seen an increase in both ad revenue and overall losses. In the first half of 2013, revenue was up 101% year-on-year to $253.6m, with 87% coming from adverts, but an increase in personnel had accounted for an increase in net losses by 41% to $69.3m in the same period. And after reports of up to 20% of the network’s users being fake, it has been forced to deny the claims, arguing that the figure is actually more like 5% and that there will be a purge of these before the IPO takes place. All hands on deck at Twitter HQ.

New Snapchat stories
Snapchat has introduced ‘stories’, their equivalent of the Facebook newsfeed. Taking a series of photos and videos, you add the various captions/graffiti and publish, at which point the ‘story’ appears to all your friends for 24 hours, before self-destructing in classic Snapchat style. You can get more information on the changes from the video below, or this in-depth analysis by We Are Social’s own Tom Ollerton.

Spotify introduces ‘follow’ button
Spotify, which has up until now been fairly self-contained as social networks go, has introduced a new ‘follow’ button that can appear on any desktop or mobile site, available in 39 countries. When users see the button, shown below, they can instantly follow them and receive updates in their Spotify activity stream, whether they be an artist, user, label, blog or magazine. The button aims to increase engagement on the network, as well as to introduce new people from external sources. Click below and you can even follow Avicii! (You can’t really, it’s a screenshot).

US government shutdown closes their social channels
It’s not just the national parks that have closed down because of the US government shutdown – their social channels have done so, too. Sign-off tweets, like the below, have been seen, but since then it’s been eerily quiet in some parts of social media.

Diane von Furstenberg’s shoppable Google+ hangout
Google+ had a first last week: designer Diane von Furstenberg hosted a shoppable hangout on the network. Those who took part watched the designer talk through various items from her catalogue, whilst simultaneously able to browse and shop the collection. The video below gives some more detail about what went on.

Dunkin’ Donuts’ Features It’s Top Twitter Fans in New Ads
Dunkin’ Donuts has been on fire with social media recently, launching one of the first Vine-based TV spots in history last month. Now John Costello, the brand’s Marketing Chief, has given a sneak preview of two socially led video ads that will be released on 14th October at the Masters of Marketing Annual Conference. Two consumers were chosen to appear in each advert, based on their positive tweets about Dunkin’ Donuts. It is presumed that the adverts will run on ESPN, aligning with Dunkin’ Donuts sponsorship of the channel’s Monday Night Football pre-game show.

The 1.2 million faces of Facebook (including yours)
A new website designed by Natalia Rojas compiles the 1.2 billion profile pictures on Facebook, all in one place. ‘The Faces of Facebook’ depicts each user by a teeny tiny dot. Click anywhere amidst the multitude of dots, and the page filters down to reveal thumbnails of the faces of a handful of Facebook users. Click on any one, and their public profile pops up. Many people have privacy concerns surrounding Facebook, but Rojas claims that the site doesn’t store anyone’s private information, pictures, or names. The very first thumbnail? Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg.