We Are Social Asia Tuesday TuneUp #116

News
cyra.caparros

Sina Weibo Is Going Public
In what could be the biggest social media IPO of 2014, Sina Weibo began the process of going public in the US on Friday. Sina Weibo is seeking to raise up to $500 million in its initial public offering and though not quite as big as Twitter, which has more global appeal, it looks like it’s trying to ride on Twitter’s strong performance following its IPO. Actually, its “selling points” are nearly identical to Twitter’s – which is interesting considering both platforms face stiff competition from messaging applications that are quickly becoming the go-to communications tools for younger smartphone owners, such as WeChat, WhatsApp and Line.

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Thailand now reaches 1.5 million users
Thailand is one of the most social countries in Asia with 24 million users on Facebook and an increasing user base on Twitter. It has just reached yet another milestone on Instagram with 1.5 million users. The number of Instagram users in Thailand increased from 240,000 in 2012 to 1,551,649 in 2013. An infographic from Zocial Inc. published by TechInAsia shows that celebrities with an average of 172, 013 followers make up 0.26 percent of the app’s user-base in Thailand.  

Sources of most Instagram selfies in Asia: Philippines and Malaysia
According to Time magazine’s The Selfiest Cities in the Word report (via TechInAsia), The Philippines emerged as the selfie leader in Asia followed by Malaysia. TIME counted the Instagram photos with #selfie hashtags and geographic locations for two five-day periods between January and March through the site’s API. The high selfie rate may be attributed to the growing smartphone adoption in the Philippines. In 2011, the Philippines was considered the “social capital of the world,” when Facebook became more popular than Google. Malaysia is the second country that has taken the most selfies in Asia led by its Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak who was recently spotted taking a selfie with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Selfies are definitely a popular trend in Asia with Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia cities making it to the top 100 ‘selfiest’ cities list.

Twitter is testing ‘Fave People’ feature
Love Twitter but miss tweets from the people you care about the most? The “Fave People” feature that Twitter is testing now might be the answer. According to TechCrunch, the feature allows users to keep track of their favourite Twitter users in a separate timeline by tapping the star icon on their profiles. It is quite similar to “Lists” which lets you organise users into labelled groups. Looking at the initial reports, the feature seems to be useful but we have to wait and see if it will be rolled out to the wider public anytime soon. Last month, the site also started testing a major profile redesign that has a greater focus on content cards and images.

Image from TechCrunch 2

The State of Social Advertising in 2014
Socialbakers surveyed over 500 marketing professionals to better understand where social media is heading in 2014; analysing both the priorities and practices of marketers and the state of social media advertising. Remarkably, 14% of companies with more than 5,000 employees reported a $0 social advertising budget for 2014, despite the growing need to support organic reach with paid advertising.

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However, most companies surveyed did invest in social advertising, at varying levels. Interestingly, Twitter appears to struggle to attract advertisers; most brands have been quicker to adapt to social advertising on LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook.

Facebook Reveals ‘Premium’ Autoplay Video Ads
Facebook has revealed Premium Video Ads, the long-awaited marketing tool that delivers video ads right into users’ News Feeds and starts playing 15-second clips automatically; similarly to videos on Instagram. The ads will play with no sound unless the user clicks on them, in order to avoid being too interruptive. The ads will start rolling out during late April and will include the ability to target by day-part, along with measurement features supported by Nielsen and Ace Metrix.

A Streamlined Look for Facebook Pages on the Desktop
After recently announcing a redesign of its desktop News Feed, Facebook has announced that there will be a new design for Facebook pages on desktop, to be rolled out over the coming weeks, as seen in the example below.

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Facebook has now notified some page admins that they can join a waitlist to have their page converted to the new design, for those extra eager to explore it. The right-side column of the timeline will show all the page’s posts, while the left will hold information about the page or business. There will also be a ‘Pages to Watch’ feature, allowing marketers to monitor pages similar to their own (i.e. competitors) and track those pages’ performances. It also appears that tabs, with images, have returned to Facebook’s new page design on the left sidebar.

Twitter’s Direct Response Pitch: A New ‘Click-to-call’ button
Brands are already using Twitter as a direct response channel, listening for and responding to tweets that mention certain keywords, hashtags or handles. This month alone, Microsoft and Airbnb launched clever real-time marketing campaigns at South by Southwest, responding directly to consumers. In an attempt to go one step further in developing its advertising capabilities, Twitter is currently beta-testing a “click-to-call” button for sponsored tweets, which would allow mobile users to engage with a Twitter ad by calling the advertiser directly. This feature could potentially help Twitter break into the local advertising market. Location-based apps like Foursquare and Google Maps already have click-to-call features in their apps.

H&R Block Taps YouTube Talent For New Social Media Record Label
According to H&R Block, a ‘tax preparation’ company, 56 million Americans will try to do their own taxes this year. The company claims that last year, taxpayers lost more than a billion dollars thanks to inaccuracies in their tax returns. H&R have decided to enlist ten up and coming YouTubers as brand ambassadors to release original songs and videos on a social record label called “Billion Back Records”, as well as using social media to build enthusiasm around getting a tax refund. H&R is also using its Twitter feed to issue challenges for the chance to win music-themed prizes like concert tickets and a guitar. YouTube, taxes, and rock n’ roll?

March Madness And Twitter Ads 
For anyone not still reeling from the real-time marketing overload around the Superbowl this year, American brands are now queuing up around college basketball’s March Madness period. As NCAA teams look to beat the buzzer on-court, brands are jumping in on highly relevant promoted hashtags with a mix of pre-planned and reactive content with varying degrees of success. There are no clear slam dunks on display which raises an important question: are marketers planning their real-time strategies to deliver value to their business and consumers, or falling into the trap of jumping into conversations without a clear goal? Judging by some of the brands’ efforts there’s still a lot to learn.

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David Cameron’s new Facebook likes
UK Prime Minister David Cameron found himself under scrutiny last week when it was reported that he’d invested an estimated £7,500 to increase his Facebook Like count from 60,000 to 130,000 in one month. He’s now one of the most popular UK politicians on social media (even if not in real life)…

‘Safe Badman’: Argos wins at Twitter
Argos indulged in some top Twitter bantz with a disgruntled customer. When Immy ‘BADMAN’ Bugti tweeted with a complaint about the lack of ‘da PS4 tings’ available at Argos’s Moss Side store, as well as member of staff who had ‘bare attitude’, Argos responded superbly. Its gangsta response has since been retweeted thousands of times, and left Immy satisfied. Respect, yo.