Facebook? Twitter? Microsoft tops social media use

(Reuters) – Twitter and Facebook are the bane of many bosses, but a new survey has found that employees at Microsoft Corp are the most social media-savvy in the world.

The survey, the first by sales and marketing contact database NetProspex, ranked the top 50 companies based on their social network membership, frequency of social media posts on Twitter and other blogs, and the friendliness or connectedness of a sample of employees for each organization.

The NetProspex Social Index was determined after an analysis of more than 100,000 business executives from the Fortune 1000 companies in the first quarter of 2010.

“This report shows that in today’s business environment, employees throughout many of the country’s largest corporations are using social networks,” Gary Halliwell, CEO of NetProspex, said in a statement.

“This presents a new opportunity for sales and marketing prospecting and lead generation, as strategies adapt to encompass the landscape of social networks.”

The survey found that almost half of companies analyzed have employees throughout their organization on social networking sites, with Microsoft leading the way.

Not surprisingly, the list was dominated by technology and software companies, while online retailers such as Amazon.com and eBay claimed two of the top five rankings.

Google and Walt Disney Corp rounded out the top 5, while Microsoft’s rival Apple ranked number 10.

Microsoft’s tech-savvy ranking comes almost a week after the company launched two new phones — the Kin One and Kin Two — aimed at the youth market and which will enable users to use Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts with ease.

(Writing by Miral Fahmy, editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Facebook? Twitter? Microsoft tops social media use

Telstra: We pulled out of Second Life to follow our customers – mUmBRELLA

Despite having withdrawn from Second Life, Ganschow argued that brands need to plan that any social media presence is long term, rather than just for the duration of a campaign. Last year also saw Telstra close its Now We Are Talking blog at short notice. However, Ganschow said that Telstra will now stick with any social media iniattives it launches.

She said: “It’s a courtship, not a speed date. It’s like having a great party and inviting your friends and come midnight kicking them out.

“Having learned what we now know, we will keep every new launch live and active.

“We get bored long before our customers have even woken up and worked out what our message is.”

Meanwhile Nielsen’s director of analytics Mark Higginson warned agencies against raising client expectations about what social media can deliver. He said: “If you set up the expectation that buzz will equate to sales, clients will go away inappropriately optimistic. We need to keep the lid on over inflation of hype. Otherwise we’ll be in the same space we were where everyone wanted a viral video.”

And, Nick Love, executive director of business development at Fox Interactive Media conceded that the company’s MySpace had lost its way. He said: “In the bad old days of MySpace, we grew into silos and failed to innovate and as a result we are where we are today.”

He predicted: “In two years time we will be talking about how MySpace has become an integral part of the entertainment space.”

read more via Telstra: We pulled out of Second Life to follow our customers – mUmBRELLA.

TweetPhoto Gets More Social With Facebook, Twitter, And Foursquare

APLINK says – This is good news for foursquare users and businesses implementing foursquare strategies as currently image uploads are not available.

First launched back in April 2009, TweetPhoto has been steadily building out its service with multiple useful features, including Foursquare integration and a partnership with Kodak. Today, the site is getting a huge overhaul with more social features and a new iPhone app.TweetPhoto has now added the ability to sign in with Twitter OAuth, Facebook Connect, MySpace OAuth and Foursquare OAuth so that a user of any one of these social networks can use TweetPhoto as a stand alone photo sharing service. The site will also be rolling out LinkedIn support in the next few weeks. In addition to login capabilities across all four of these services, TweetPhoto users can also link these social networking accounts together. Once you link your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace , or Foursquare accounts on the site, your photos uploaded to TweetPhoto can be simultaneously broadcast to all of the networks.

via TweetPhoto Gets More Social With Facebook, Twitter, And Foursquare; Launches Better iPhone App – washingtonpost.com.

Social media part of life in S’pore, especially among the young: Nielsen – Yahoo! Singapore News

SINGAPORE : Social media has become a big part of life in Singapore, especially among the younger set.

A recent study by The Nielsen Company, found that 52 per cent of the Singapore population are participating in at least one social networking website, with the most popular being Facebook — at 42 per cent.

Trailing behind as the second—most accessed community or social networking website is YouTube at 35 per cent, while Friendster takes a distant third spot with one in 10 locals using it.

The company’s recent study involved 1,000 Singaporeans aged 15 and above.

Nielsen’s findings reveal that 95 per cent of the 15—19 age group are using some form of social networking media, while 89 per cent of those in their 20s form the next biggest users.

via Social media part of life in S’pore, especially among the young: Nielsen – Yahoo! Singapore News.

Web Ink Now: Social media marketing explained in 61 words

APLINK urges you to watch the video embeeded in David Meerman Scott’s post – follow the link below

You can buy attention advertising

You can beg for attention from the media PR

You can bug people one at a time to get attention sales

Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free: a YouTube video, a blog, a research report, photos, a Twitter stream, an ebook, a Facebook page.

via Web Ink Now: Social media marketing explained in 61 words.

Mark Zuckerberg’s grand missive: The translation | The Social – CNET News

CNET Translates Mark Zuckerberg’s message to his LOYAL subjects and commemorating 350 million facebook members – read on

What he means: “Some of my Harvard classmates wanted to brag that they get to live in Buenos Aires or Sydney. Or that they wanted to find hot girls who lived nearby. That worked for a while.”

However, as Facebook has grown, some of these regional networks now have millions of members and we've concluded that this is no longer the best way for you to control your privacy. Almost 50 percent of all Facebook users are members of regional networks, so this is an important issue for us. If we can build a better system, then more than 100 million people will have even more control of their information.

The plan we've come up with is to remove regional networks completely and create a simpler model for privacy control where you can set content to be available to only your friends, friends of your friends, or everyone.

What he means: “I could be deceptively upfront and say that this was just getting messy and that it makes little sense for millions of you with only a passport in common to be grouped under the same label. But let's be honest. I am simply preparing you for the day in the not-so-distant future when you all willfully renounce your national affiliations and become citizens of the Grand Republic of Facebook. And I shall be your Fearless Leader. Did I mention I own a white fluffy cat?”

read more via Mark Zuckerberg’s grand missive: The translation | The Social – CNET News.

Social Proof in a Virtual World – itsReal

If EVER there was a new Virtual World Development occurring I believe we are witnessing one via Yoovolution.com

The program driven by Internet Marketing boasts 3 days 33 thought leaders 30,000 lives transformed  –  the program organisers have married internet marketing tactics with their OWN custom-built virtual world which might be better described as a virtual space. In addition, these internet marketers are trying to grasp social media opportunities via their blog, youtube, and of course facebook & twitter.

check out their promo video:

Whether these marketing claims manifest entirely is not the issue, what is reality is the virtual world that has been created and the social need that Yoovolution is attempting to satisfy, yes in turn making them money.

The tactics of SOME Internet Marketers are considered by a large percentage of the public as infecting in a hideous virus kinda way and I myself are prone to ignore the multiple pleads and email avalanche these consultants persist to do, yet it must work and it is done within the legal framework of the internet. (in most cases)

That said, the yoovolution proposition is compelling and may just be the medicine needed to kick-start virtual worlds again – something that second life the premier virtual world, but who has gone PUBLICLY MUTE and other emerging worlds like Twinity might mimic or make relevant to their worlds.

Yoovolution is about HELPING people, bringing people together to share for their personal development, as well as their personal and business growth – and participants don’t need to catch a plane to be with others also seeking answers and guidance.

So is this the ultimate Positive social influence execution of Social Proof ?

Are existing Virtual Worlds missing the point on what they really should be about ?

Are these Internet Marketers just cashing in on peoples in abilities ?

Can Yoovolution create a herd effect to bring new life to virtual worlds?

I know what i believe this develeopment offers, let me know your thoughts – APLINK – itsReal 🙂

Social Proof source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Proof

Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. Making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation, they will deem the behavior of others as appropriate or better informed. Since observation of others usually provides only inconclusive information about what behavior is most profitable, the term ‘informational social influence’ is superior. Social influence in general can lead to conformity of large groups of individuals in either correct or mistaken choices, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as herd behavior. Although informational social influence at least in part reflects a rational motive to take into account the information of others, formal analysis shows that it can cause people to converge too quickly upon a single choice, so that decisions of even large groups of individuals may reflect very little information

Review: Tough Love – Web in Travel 2009

WIT – 5 years on – Web In Travel celebrated its 5th birthday and even though it was my first WIT, I came away with the understanding that the conference has depth and sincerity that can only be achieved through trust.

Stage for WIT 2009

On arrival, I was handed a program guide and tucked inside was a list of what must be the who’s who of the online travel industry that were attending.

One of the Many Panels of Experts

I am now going to proceed and summarise my WIT 2009 journey in the best way I know – the social media way = keywords.

Enlightening, profound, humorous, creative, conflicting, old ways, new ways, homemade cookies, social media, engagement, search, entrepreneurship, mentors, students, Twitter, status, community, art, opinions, fear, deals, Facebook, style, value, graffiti, empathy, monitor, react, pre-emptive, classic, roses, luxury, budget, holistic, experience, destinations, in your face, google, to serve, passion, tough love, did I say Facebook?

NEW: Twitter Roost @ WIT

Special mention needs to be made relating to the events discussion I witnessed, even with prompting by distinguished moderator – there seemed to be no obvious understanding or relevance or decisive recognition of how social media might have an enormous impact on the events business. I can only direct those in the events business to a review of an event I was involved in that clearly shows how events can deliver superior results if you engage a community online in somewhere like Facebook.

David Meerman Scott speaks Tattoos – http://www.webinknow.com/2009/01/how-an-active-facebook-group-drove-15000-people-to-the-singapore-tattoo-show.html

[Yeoh Siew Hoon our Host]

My congrats to Yeoh Siew Hoon (SHY) and her team on Web In Travel 2009. Happy 5th Birthday. – APLINK.

Willy Foo - facebook guy... leads the crew

All images courtesy of Willy Foo – to see the entire set visit:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=166745&id=719891275

Top 5 Social Media Trends 2010 – Hospitality

As part of the Web In Travel event – I was invited to Brand Karma by Circos Social Media workshop – held at the Singapore Arts Museum. No one would be surprised that I would be a positive and eager recipient of any content that is supportive of social media and how my agreement to the premise of how suddenly social media is making a huge impact on consumer decisions.

But, I am not alone – the attendees at this workshop filled every available seat and then some. My 1st impression was one of amazement – not at the number of people but at their Attire – i then kicked myself as hey this is hospitality – not only service is important – so is how you dress and look… the outfit of choice – smart suit – colour Black or Grey – your look, highly groomed – hmmm my jeans and polo shirt just slightly out of place. That aside – what this also tells me and you is that Hospitality is taking social media very seriously.

Morris Sim (co-founder & ceo) Brand Karma’s high level presentation was awesome and given Brand Karma is a monitoring company, he covered a wide overview of social media activties in 2009 – my biggest disapointment however is when the Top 10 Social Media events in 2009 were presented Tourism Queensland’s Best Job in the World did not make the list – given the global success of Best Job in the World, and that it is to made into a TV program. Best Job In the World centres around tourism & hospitality, with the desired results of creating MASSIVE tourism toAustralia’s Queensland, I would have liked to have seen it get Special mention – it was not SO – I will do it myself in this blog post. – Like the Susan Boyle media coverage – The Best Job in the World also gained significant traditional media coverage and social media drove the coverage – congrats Tourism Queensland.

The Top 5 Social Media Trends closed off the presentation – below is my interpretation.

1. My Story Trumps Brand Story (users talking about you gives more credibility)
2. A hollistic Experience is what i want
3. Design & empathy in hospitality developments will be key drivers as a response to social media
4. Social Media will demand a corporate policy (HR Operations meaning social media moves beyond just marketing & Public relations)
5. A new distribution star is BORN which will it be Facebook or twitter

I needed to rush to another meeting so I missed the full interactive workshops in store for the attendees – but i did take away that social media is still in its infancy – something reverberated today as Web in tavel – WIT took centre stage – more in my next post…

evolution of facebook

where facebook began – its journey – where facebook is today is presented in this finely crafted up tempo video by Simon U ford for his facebook business classes.

http://www.EventsListed.com/SocialTra… Social Traffic’s cracking the code is a 10 week social media training and certification course. Included are 65+ training videos. Personal mentors, weekly Q&A’s as well as group practicum where we launch mini social media campaigns together. This video is an introduction to our Facebook for business marketing course.

BTW – twitter has a new market value of USD 1 billion yeap US$1b – it raised another 100mil from investment firmsInsight Ventures Partners. T Rowe Price and original twitter backers Spark Capital & Institutional Venture Partners.

To Follow me on twitter : http://twitter.com/aplink