Guest post by Ashley Furness of Software Advice When Microsoft announced plans to buy enterprise social network Yammer recently I was a little stunned. The reported $1.2-billion acquisition price tag seemed like a lot for simply replicating social networking functions in the business environment. Would companies really achieve ROI? Or would it be more of a “distraction,” as one user told me? Still, Chatter Product Marketing Director Dave King told me in a recent conversation that “social is more than…
Facebook Groups Give Rise to Social Nicheworking
Facebook announced a new platform for Facebook Groups recently. Rather than jump into the fray to share my immediate reactions, I opted to instead allow the news and its promise settle. Like many, my initial reaction was that of disappointment. After all, I was almost immediately bombarded with emails notifying me that I was added to groups where I did not request nor authorize membership. Plus, I was subsequently hammered with email updates as new group members added their commentary…
Video: The Social Network of the Future
In part ten of a series of conversations exploring the state of social media, Chris Beck, founder of 26dottwo (@26dottwo) and I speculate on the future of social networks. Social networking as it exists today is not scalable nor is it representative of how social beings connect and engage. We are complex individuals we are defined by what we share, consume, and to whom we connect. Our social graphs are woven with the fabrics of our interests, passions, and relations….
Video: Is Social Media Burnout Imminent?
In part four of a series of conversations discussing the state and future of social media with Chris Beck, founder of 26dottwo (@26dottwo), we review the prospect of social media burnout or social network fatigue (SNF). We also explore the evolution of privacy and the willful exchange of what used to be private or sensitive information and content for the semblance of value and rewards. Those rewards could be as simple as reactions, responses I discuss these issues a great…
Are Your Ears Burning? In Social Networks, One-Third of Consumers Talk Brands Every Week
Social media didn’t invent conversations, it provided us with tools to surface and organize them. Conversations about brands predates the mediums used to connect messages and aspirations with consumers. The motivation for brands to engage in social networks varies based on the culture and agility of each company, but what is constant is the aspiration to connect with customers and prospects to earn awareness, attention and connections. On the other hand, B2B and B2C consumers have also expressed desire to…
Think Outside of the Inbox
With the pervasiveness of social networks and the conversations that take place within each, many had hoped for either the reduction in volume of traditional email or the socialization of the inbox. Instead, email remains as the world’s largest untapped social network, with Gmail and Google Buzz offering a glimpse of the integration that looms on the horizon. While many are on the verge of filing email bankruptcy, innovation is focused on how to make email productive once again while…
I Tweet Therefore I Am
The fascination with Twitter has less to do with the number of users and everything to do with the ability to observe and study a notable online community of passionate short-form content creators and consumers. This is of course, not just any online community. Twitter is quickly becoming the lens into all that moves us as individuals and also as a global society. Twitter’s simplicity is part of its brilliance. The ability to interpret, analyze and in turn, predict behavior,…
The Age of Social Networks
Social networks share a common ingredient in design and intent, the connection of people and the facilitation of conversations, sharing, and discovery. What they do not share however, are culture, behavior, and prevailing demographics. Each network is unique in its genetic and cultural composition and it is for that reason that we benefit by becoming digital anthropologists in addition to new media marketers. Demographics are distributed within all social networks, but only concentrated within a select few. Where specific demographics…
The State of Social Media Around the World 2010
If you were to look at Social Media the United States and many other parts of the world, you would believe that the world of Social Media was flat, dominated by social continents including Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, and Flickr. As we zoom in, we visualize other established and emerging social services that depict provinces and outlying settlements of our social atlas. Upon publishing the original Conversation Prism, which was the culmination of a year’s work documenting and organizing the…
2010: Social Network Advertising and Marketing Outlook
In July 2009, experts predicted that advertising on Facebook would surpass MySpace by 2011. What represents a tectonic shift in social media spend is now anticipated in twenty-ten (2010). A new report published by eMarketer, “Social Network Ad Spending: 2010 Outlook” documents the major shifts in social network advertising spending that emerged in 2009 and will ultimately unfold in 2010. eMarketer observes that Facebook is becoming the premier destination for marketers in the U.S. as well as many worldwide markets….
